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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cal papers upon physical and manual train- 

 ing, the moral problem, Froebel's theories, 

 the school curriculum, elementary science, 

 character and school education, citizenship, 

 and industrial reform. More speculative are 

 those upon the education of the soul, our di- 

 vine relationships, and woman as an educator. 

 From the latter we learn that " woman is 

 provided with sensitive, man with muscular 

 tissue," and also that " woman looks into the 

 mystical unseen." Possibly this does not in- 

 clude clairvoyance or spirit-rapping, but is 

 only a poetical phrase for some indefinable 

 power contingent upon the finer feminine 

 structure. 



The Nationalization of Health. By Have- 

 lock Ellis. London : T. Fisher Unwin. 

 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 244. Price, $1.25. 



The author pleads in this book that the 

 primary conditions of health should be rec- 

 ognized as of first importance to the commu- 

 nity ; and he regards it as a blot on modern 

 civilization, setting it in an unfavorable light 

 as compared with such civilizations as the 

 Roman and Moorish, that they are so neg- 

 lected, as the chief element of rottenness in 

 it. " We postpone," he says, " laying the 

 foundations of our social structure in order 

 to elaborate its pinnacles. We are acquaint- 

 ed with all possible openings for commerce 

 through the world; we have explored the 

 psychological ramifications of sentiment; 

 and we do not know the course of the main 

 sewers in our city, and we pollute the sources 

 of the water we drink. We have not yet 

 learned that a great civilization is all built 

 upon the bodies of men and women enfeebled 

 and distorted by overwork, filth, and disease." 

 The present is regarded as a peculiarly favor- 

 able time for taking in hand seriously the 

 organization and socialization of the element- 

 ary conditions of health, on account of the 

 public and official attention that has been 

 given to the matter in recent years. We 

 also possess to-day, the author affirms, a 

 closer grip of the conditions of health than 

 has ever been possible before, and are better 

 able to unravel their complexity and to show 

 clearly what a man should do who would live 

 a healthy life. " The key-word of our mod- 

 ern methods is not cure but prevention, and 

 while this task is more complex it is also 



far easier. It is to a gigantic system of 

 healthy living by a perpetual avoidance of 

 the very beginnings of evil that our medical 

 science is now leading us." The present 

 condition of the new movement for the pre- 

 vention of disease, here referred to, is 

 sketched ; then the present position of the 

 more ancient system of t.'ie treatment of dis- 

 ease — by the medium of friendly societies, in 

 private practice, in hospitals, and infirmaries, 

 with respect to special classes of disease; 

 the registration of disease ; and industries as 

 related to health are discussed; the evils of 

 the laissez-faire system are exposed, as illus- 

 trated now in Russia ; and the conclusion is 

 reached that the maintenance of the condi- 

 tions of health is not a merely national ques- 

 tion, but calls for international co-operation 

 and action. The recognition of this fact is 

 already seen in the holding of International 

 Congresses of Hygiene, which have done 

 much to consolidate, unify, and stimulate the 

 various movements connected with public 

 health. 



TnE Great Enigma. By William Samuel 

 Lilly. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 334. Price, $4. 



Mr. Lilly may always be trusted to pre- 

 sent the broadest comprehension and ablest 

 exposition of the Roman Catholic view of 

 controverted questions. The present work, 

 which is composed chiefly of articles already 

 published in leading English reviews, where 

 they have been read widely and appreciated, 

 is an inquiry, supposed by the author to be 

 from the point of view of a class of readers 

 " practically outside the Christian pale," into 

 the tenableness of the religion "which for 

 more than a thousand years has supplied the 

 foremost nations of the world with an an- 

 swer to the great enigma of human exist- 

 ence." It presents, in aid of the solution 

 of that question, certain considerations which 

 have been helpful to Mr. Lilly, with special 

 reference to the religious difficulties peculiar 

 to these times. " Possibly they may be of 

 use to some who find themselves unable to 

 employ the old theological symbols." In 

 the first article, or chapter, which is entitled 

 The Twilight of the Gods, the present condi- 

 tions of religious doubt are described ; it is 

 assumed, for the purpose of the argument, 

 that the solution of the enigma presented by 



