LITERARY NOTICES, 



853 



Tokology : A Book fob Every Woman. By 

 Alice B. Stockham, M. J). Chicago : 

 Sanitary Publishing Company. Pp. 27Y. 

 Price, ^2. 



Tokology concerns the function of ma- 

 ternity. This book aims to teach women 

 how they may build up their physical con- 

 stitutions and those of their daughters, so 

 as to fit their systems to endure safely what 

 maternity demands of them, and to convey 

 health and vigor to their offspring. Besides 

 precepts concerning general physical devel- 

 opment, particularly that of the womanly 

 structure, it gives instructions for regimen 

 and hygiene during the period of pregnancy, 

 directions for the care of infants, hints for 

 the alleviation of the pains of labor, obser- 

 vations on the disorders of pregnancy, and 

 the alleviations of them, and on ventilation, 

 baths, and gymnastics, with more than thirty 

 pages on dietetics, embracing upward of a 

 hundred recipes that are the outgrowth of 

 experience. 



The Man verms the State: Containing 

 "The New Toryism;" "The Coming 

 Slavery;" "The Sins of Legislators;" 

 and " The Great Political Superstition." 

 With a Preface and a Postscript. By 

 Herbert Spencer. New York: D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. Pp. 113. Price 30 cents. 



Under this title the several articles by 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer on social and political 

 subjects, which have recently appeared in 

 "The Popular Science Monthly," are now 

 reprinted separately. As our readers know, 

 they are vigorous protests against certain 

 pronounced political tendencies of the times, 

 which, as Mr. Spencer and many others be- 

 lieve, are full of danger to the cause of free 

 government, and which at any rate deal with 

 questions of great importance. The papers 

 are issued in a cheap and attractive form, 

 and the collection forms a very strong cam- 

 paign document. 



It may be thought singular that these 

 discussions should be so classed, and many 

 will be surprised that they should be pub- 

 lished at this time, as they are not in the 

 int(?rest of any party, and will hardly be 

 considered as belonging to the proper lit- 

 erature of a presidential canvass. But what 

 can be more proper than to distribute 

 through the community at the present time 

 so able an examination of the principles 

 which lie at the basis of free institutions ? 



Every four years we in this country profess 

 to remand to the people the whole subject 

 of government policy, which is to be recon- 

 sidered, revised, embodied in new platforms, 

 and represented by newly chosen men for the 

 future guidance of the nation. This would, 

 therefore, seem to be an especially suitable 

 occasion to look closely into the tendencies 

 of legislation, and to restate the principles 

 which will best promote the true objects for 

 which government is established. Pure par- 

 tisanship is, of course, unfavorable to any 

 such serious work, its objects being wholly 

 incompatible with the grave consideration 

 of primary political principles. So true is 

 this, that the time which of all others would 

 seem most appropriate for taking up funda- 

 mental questions of political policy is just 

 the time when such questions are intention- 

 ally and systematically excluded from pop- 

 ular thought. So effectually are the most 

 important suhjects evaded and ruled out of 

 the platforms that, as between the two great 

 rival parties to-day, there is nothing of mo- 

 ment at issue. An election is to be won, 

 and the canvass is to be made subservient 

 to the personal ambition of the candidates, 

 the getting possession of offices, and the 

 distribution of patronage; and the intro- 

 duction of fundamental issues of principle 

 might disconcert the calculations of the poli- 

 ticians. 



Butunpropitious as the time might seem 

 to issue a serious non-partisan document, 

 appealing to intelligent and independent 

 thinkers, there are strong reasons, neverthe- 

 less, for doing it, because the prevailing jjpl- 

 icy of the parties is- far from having the 

 unanimous approval of our most thoughtful 

 citizens. There are many who protest ve- 

 hemently against the vicious working of our 

 partisan tactics. There are multitudes, and 

 their numbers are increasing, who have be- 

 come restive and are growing rebellious un- 

 der these despotic party exactions, and that 

 rule of intriguers which is fast making Amer- 

 ican politics the scandal and by-word of the 

 world. Decent men are more and more dis- 

 gusted with the empty pretenses, hypocrisy, 

 and hollowness of our political life. They 

 may acquiesce at last and vote the ticket x)f 

 their party associations, but they denounce 

 the system, and are ashamed of their own 

 agency in supporting it. It is to such men, 

 to whom the common literature of the can- 



