126 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" Gave us the doctrine of the enclitic De 

 Dead from the waist down," 



but really we don't feel quite sure 

 that the cause for which the old gen- 

 tleman struggled was quite worthy 

 of such desperate heroism. The 

 world could have got along fairly 

 well for a while with an imperfect 

 knowledge of the subtle ways of the 

 " enclitic De," and indeed a large 

 portion of the world has neither 

 concerned itself with the subject 

 nor felt the worse for not having 

 done so. 



What we fear is that some people 

 are " dead from the waist down," or 

 even from higher up, without being 

 aware of it, and all on account of a 



furiotis passion for " enclitic de's " 

 or their equivalent in other lines of 

 study. Gentlemen, it is not worth 

 while ! You can not all hope to be 

 buried on mountain tops like the 

 grammarian, for there are not peaks 

 enough for all of you, and any way 

 what good would it do you? There 

 is need of specialization, of course; 

 we began by saying that the drift 

 of our remarks is simply this, that 

 he who would go into minute spe- 

 cializing should be careful to lay in 

 at the outset a good stock of com- 

 mon sense, a liberal dose (if he can 

 get it) of humor, and quantum suff. 

 of humanity. Thus provided he can 

 go ahead. 



Scientific %iXtxnXnxz. 



SPECIAL BOOKS. 



The comparison between the United States in 1790 and Australia 

 in 1891, with which Mr. A. F. Weher opens his essay on The Growth of 

 Cities in the Nineteenth Century* well illustrates how the tendency of 

 population toward agglomeration in cities is one of the most striking 

 social phenomena of the present age. Both countries were in nearly a 

 corresponding state of development at the time of bringing them into 

 the comparison. The population of the United States in 1790 was 

 3,929,214; that of Australia in 1891 was 3,809,895; while 3.14 per cent 

 of the people of the United States were then living in cities of ten thou- 

 sand or more inhabitants, 33.20 per cent of the Australians are now 

 living in such cities. Similar conditions or the tendency toward them 

 are evident in nearly every country of the world. What are the forces 

 that have produced the shifting of population thus indicated; what the 

 economic, moral, political, and social consequences of it; and what is 

 to be the attitude of the publicist, the statesman, and the teacher toward 

 the movement, are questions which Mr. Weber undertakes to discuss. 

 The subject is a very complicated and intricate one, with no end of puz- 

 zles in it for the careless student, and requiring to be viewed in innu- 

 merable shifting lights, showing the case in changing aspects; for in the 

 discussion lessons are drawn by the author from every country in the 

 family of nations. Natural causes — variations in climate, soil, earth 

 formation, political institutions, etc. — partly explain the distribution of 

 population, but only partly. It sometimes contradicts what would be 

 deduced from them. Increase and improvement in facilities for com- 

 munication help the expansion of commercial and industrial centers, 



* The Growth of Cities in the Ninettenth Century. A Study in Statistics. By Adna Ferrin 

 Weber. (Cf.lnmbia Univernity Studies in History, Economics, and Public L:iw.) New York: Pub- 

 llflhed for Columbia University by the Macmillan Company. Pp. 495. Price, $3.50. 



