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The Review of Reviews. 



February 10, 1906. 



LA REVUE. 



In the first December number of La Revue we have 

 the concluding part of the symposium on "Morality 

 Without God," edited by Paul Gsell. 



MORALITY WITHOUT GOD. 



The opinions of two sociologists are quoted. E. 

 Durkheim, the author of "La Division du Travail 

 Social."' is of opinion that morality is the result (if the 

 Customs of society. We may discover by historical ana- 

 lysis and by the aid of facts furnished by moral sta- 

 tistics what are the causes which have created and 

 which maintain the moral precepts which we practise. 



Eugene Fourniere, the director of the 7.'' one So- 

 daliste, thinks morality ought to be founded on scien- 

 tific experience, biological and sociological. 



A few days before his death Elisee Reclus wrote his 

 contribution. He said it was not possible to found a 

 popular morality entirely on reason. Reason alone 

 will not teach us the art of conduct: to set in mot ion 

 our morality we need all the forces of the living 

 being. Amongst these forces may be mentioned love 

 and enthusiasm. 



Ill l : TURKISH I'RKSS. 



P. Risal writes on the Press in Turkey. He Bays 

 that present-day journalism in Turkey hears up re- 

 semblance to the journalism of fifty years ago. The 

 Turkish press ,,t the past was distinguished by the 

 greatest, freedom of language: to-day the press is char- 

 acterised bv all almost absolute absence of party or 

 opinion. It is terrorised by the severest censorship, 

 excluding every manifestation of originality or inde- 

 pendence, so that it is now not any more flourishing 

 or powerful than it was when it was created. The 

 Turkish press is in no sense a power. It has no voice, 

 no authority. It is a quantite negligeable. 



A HAPPY IDEA. 

 Under the title of "A Happj Idea," Henry Coullet 

 has a short article on the Free Restaurants for poor 



mothers in Paris. Maternal feelings ot infants, argues 

 the writer, is better than any other, and the cheapest 

 and most satisfactory way of providing the natural 

 food for infants is to teed the mothers suitably, be- 

 cause by this method both mother and child are pro- 

 perly nourished. The idea of the tree restaurants 

 originated with the writer and his wile, and the firs! 

 restaurant was opened with a capital of ten francs. 



THE BEES AMI THE COLOUR OF FLOWERS. 



In the second December number Gaston Bonnier has 

 an article on this subject. About twenty-five years 

 ago he published the results of his observations — 

 namely, that the development of colours in flowers and 

 the development of nectar are not always found to- 

 gether, that the flowers with the most colour are not 

 those most attractive to insects, and that the insects 

 go to the flowers in which nectar is most abundant, 

 and easiest to get. It may be they perceive a perfume 

 in the nectar by some special sense, for bees can 

 always find sugar, which has no smell to us, in the 

 darkest place. His theory that the insects have no- 

 thing to do with the colour of flowers has been recently 

 borne out by M. Plateau, a Belgian scientist. 

 THE COMMITTEE OF INTERNATIONAL RECONCILIATION. 



Baron d'Estournelles de Constant contributes an 

 article entitled "The Two Policies." He says every 

 country will no doubt continue to increase its naval 

 and military forces, and on every side the result must 

 be discontent and the paralysis of labour and com- 

 merce. And the more the external situation is 

 strained, the more difficult does the internal situation 

 become. The progress of militarism precipitates so- 

 cialism, and revolution and anarchy supersede so- 

 cialism. 



Already, however, several countries have been feel- 

 ing the necessity of opposing to the contagion of 

 militarism a new policy of peace. This is not the 

 peace of poets and philosophers, nor it is disarmament. 

 On all sides an irresistible need for intercourse be- 

 tween nations i.s manifest, and it is to meet this need 

 for intercommunication, exchange and mutual educa- 

 tion that the Committee of International Conciliation 

 has been founded. 



THE REVUE DES DEUX MONDES. 



There are several articles on the question of Peace 

 in the French reviews for December. 



THE SECOND HAGUE CONFERENCE. 



An anonymous writer in the first December number 

 of the Revue des Deux Mondes says that because the 

 first Commission of Enquiry on the basis of the Hague 

 Conference was such a brilliant success, it does not 

 follow that international arbitration woidd solve all 

 the difficulties arising between different governments. 

 Hut though the idea of suppressing war and making it 

 impossible is illusory, every sincere attempt to avoid 

 pretexts for war or to lessen the serious effects of it 

 is worthy of attention and recognition. The second 

 Hague Conference, therefore, deserves the sympathies 

 of all nat ions. 



WHEN SEPARATION IS VOTED. . . . 



Ferdinand Brunetiere has an article on the Separa- 

 tion of Church and State, in which he endeavours to 

 show what the French Catholics ought to do when the 

 Separat ion has been voted. The law of Separation would 

 be better defined as a law of spoliation or confiscation, 

 he says, sine,, the only thing in question is, Which will 

 hi- the most advantageous way for the State not to 

 pay its debts and to take from the Church what wealth 

 it still possesses. Yet the law is to be accepted as a 

 law of liberty because it is not altogether a law of 

 proscription, and as a system of sincere tolerance when 

 it is only one more step towards " Decatholisation.'' 

 -M. Brunetiere urges a meeting of the French bishops, 

 and hopes they will abstain from recrimination of 

 every kind in their discussions of the new law. Among 

 other questions requiring immediate attention there is 

 that of the nomination of bishops. At the present 

 moment sixteen bishoprics are vacant, and M. 

 Brunetiere hopes the nominations will be made under 

 similar conditions to those which obtain in the United 

 States. 



REFORM IN MOROCCO. 

 In the second December number Rene Pinon writes 

 on the Moroccan Conference, and asks. Who is to un- 

 dertake the reforms in Morocco Y The only reasonable 

 solution, he says, is that France be entrusted with the 

 direction or the execution of them. The programme of 

 reforms is international, but the carrying out of the 

 reforms cannot be international. On Germany alone 

 depends the success or the failure of the Conference; 

 neither England, or Spain, or Italy, or Russia will 

 oppose the just demands of the French, and if Ger- 

 many will only permit France to superintend the re- 

 forms, the success of the Conference w ill be assured. 



Dali/ity's Review for January lias a finely-illus- 

 trated article under the title of " Naval Defence of 

 Australia." descriptive of the H.M.S. "Powerful," the 

 new Australian flagship. Mr. W. J. Allen writes on 

 "Irrigation in Australia," and gives a deal of very 

 useful information with regard to details in connec- 

 tion with certain stated crops. Other articles are 

 "Foreign Competition in Dairv Produce," "The Scotch. 

 Shepherd," "The Home of the Mohair Trade," etc. 



