568 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



brief presentation of the subject of partici- 

 pation by employes in the profits of the 

 business in which they are engaged. In the 

 words of the preface, " It is an attempt to 

 state, in the shortest and clearest terms, the 

 theory of profit-sharing, to explain its meth- 

 ods, and to describe its results." A visit by 

 the author to Paris and Guise in 1886 and 

 to Geneva in 1887, in addition to study of 

 the literature of the subject, has furnished 

 the material for this essay. A brief state- 

 ment of the arguments for profit-sharing is 

 first given ; this is followed by descriptions 

 of the ways in which the practice is carried 

 on by a number of concerns in France and 

 neighboring countries ; the relation of profit- 

 sharing to pure co-operation, and the aid it 

 may give to industrial reforms, are then 

 pointed out, while in the last chapter cer- 

 tain ethical and economic objections to 

 profit-sharing are answered. 



The Union of the Societies for Ethical 

 Culture began with April, 1888, the publica- 

 tion of a quarterly organ, called The Ethical 

 Record. The subscription price is $1 a 

 year, and the address of the publication 

 committee is Post-office box 772, Philadel- 

 phia. The purpose of the " Record " is to 

 present news of the ethical movement, and 

 articles stating the spirit and aim of ethical 

 culture. The third number, now before us, 

 contains an address by S. B. Weston, Lect- 

 urer of the Philadelphia Society, on " The 

 Final Aim of Life," in which Mr. Weston 

 gives reasons for discarding the ancient 

 Greek and the Christian views, and states, 

 as the modern rationalistic idea, that the 

 highest human purpose is " the development 

 of life to its fullest perfection, physically, 

 intellectually, morally." Another paper in 

 the same number is part of an essay on 

 "The Ethics of Insolvency," by Leo G. 

 Rosenblatt. There are also " A Responsive 

 Exercise," in use by the children's classes of 

 the St. Louis Society, a selected poem, sev- 

 eral pages of notes, and two pieces of music. 



Tlie Agnostic Annual for 1889, which is 

 its sixth number, is edited by Charles A. 

 Watts (W. Stewart, London, &d.), and con- 

 tains eight essays and three poems. The 

 leading article is by Samuel Laing, and is a 

 criticism of the position taken by Mr. Glad- 

 stone in his controversy with Colonel \n"&v. 



soil. Miss Constance Naden contributes a 

 paper on "The Atrophy of Religion," and 

 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton one on " Women and 

 Agnosticism." The other essays are " Life : 

 the Agnostic Definition," by Albert Sim- 

 mons ; " The Sublimity of Nature," by 

 Charles Watts; "Science and its Detract- 

 ors," by John Wilson ; " Agnosticism among 

 the Moors," by H. J. Hardwicke, M. D. ; and 

 " The Alonencss of Man," by G. M. McO. 



Ruth, the Christian Scientist, by John 

 Chester, M. D., D. D. (Carter & Karrick), is a 

 novel with a purpose, which is to present 

 various theories in regard to the effects of 

 mind in the cure of disease. The doctrine 

 of "Christian Science" is put into the 

 mouth of one character, that of "Faith- 

 Healing " into that of another, while mate- 

 rialism is represented by a young physician, 

 and other characters fill in the background. 



In The Human Afystery in Hamlet (Fords, 

 Howard, and Hulbert), Mr. Martin W. Cooke, 

 attempting " to say an unsaid word," main- 

 tains that this great tragedy, far from be- 

 ing a mere play-writer's happy thought, 

 was wrought out, under an inspiration cre- 

 ated by the achievements of earlier poets, 

 with a definite end in view. This end was 

 to show in the hero typical man, as he was 

 moved under the force of the interior spirit- 

 ual struggle of the passions for prevalence, 

 under the domination of supernatural law. 

 His arguments are well considered and forci- 

 bly presented, and are strengthened by illus- 

 trations from the "Electra" of Euripides 

 and of Sophocles, and Vergil's " Ji^neid," 

 illustrations which show great resemblance 

 in motive and methods of treatment between 

 Shakespeare and the classical poets. 



PUBLICATI0X3 RECEIVED. 



Adams, Herbert B. Thom.is Jefferson and the 

 Uniye.-sity of Virginia. Washington: Government 

 Printing-Offlce. Pp. 308. 



Allen, Grant. Force and Enerp-y: A Theory of 

 Dynamics. London and New "iork; Longmans, 

 Green & Co. Pp. 161 . 



Atwater, W. O., Director. Storrs School Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Mansfield, Conn. Pp. 11. 



Austen, Peter T. Chemical Lecture Notes. New 

 York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 9S. $1. 



Bliss. V. L., Detroit. Mich. Keport of the Prin- 

 cipal of the Detroit High School concerning Over- 

 work. Pp. 23. 



Boehmer, George H., Smithsonian Institution. 

 Systematic Arrangement of the List of Foreign Cor- 

 respondents, July, 1S^8. Pp. 56. Additions and 

 Corrections to the List of Foreign Correspondents. 

 Pp. 32. 



