Remev, of Review). tO/HOS. J fie RCVlCWS RCVieWed. 41? 



may be built in four months, and without special LA REVUE. 



knowledge. Only two men are recjuired t« work it; In the first February number ot La Bevm tmile 

 the price is about 75,000 frs. The new model seems to Faguet gives us an article on Jutes Michelet. 

 combine many advantages, and the writer hopes the JirLES MICHELET. 

 navy will soon be provided with a large number of Michelet. we are told, suffered much from a kind 

 these "mosquitoes of the sea," whose sting must in- of hysteria', which, however, he cultivated assiduousl.T. 

 evitably produce none but mortal wounds. jj^ \^..^^ ^^^^ happj' in his first marriage. After his 

 wife's death there was a period of Platonic com- 

 panionship with Madame Dumesnil. His second wife 

 THE REVIEW DES DEUX MONDES. „.as a writer like liim-ell, and the two soon became 

 , „ , , . „„^ collaborators, useful to each other, inseparable. This 

 The articles in the February numbers are not par- ^^^.^^^^ worthily crowned a beautiful life, laborious, in- 

 ticularly interesting to English readers. tellectual, and fruitful in work.s. some of which come 



near to being masterpieces. 

 THE L.\CK OF ELECTOEAL LIBERTY. .^^^ HUMAN BVDGET I.V FRANCE. 

 Writing in the first on Electoral Liberty in France, -pj^^ second February number returns to the ques- 

 Gcorges Picot (h'scribes the various ways in which ^j^,j ^j Deixipulation in France. Dr. Lowenthal ex- 

 electoral liberty is stifled. First, there is the Parlia- piaj„s that in 1901 the French Government appointed 

 mentan- or electoral register. Revision of the lists is ^ Commission of Inquiry, consisting of seventy mem- 

 snpposed to take place every .January, but this revi- |^p^^ ^j,,) tlioug], more than four years have passed, 

 sion is ([Uite illusory. The names of dead electors and jj^^ ^^.^„.^ ^,, jlii^ lij^l^. parliament is far from being 

 electors who have "left the locality still figure on the achieved, owing to absence of funds, not to indemnify 

 regi.ster. The first guarantee of electoral rights is the ^jj^ niembers, but to pay the ex|)enses of printing and 

 keeping in order of the register. The importance of distributing the reports. 



the birth, marriage, and death registers is recog- What will be the probable ixisition of France in 



nised; why not add a fourth, the electoral register, ,K)int of population in fifty years? He makes answer 



to he kept" as rigorously, and In- submitted from time „iti, the following table, estimating at the present 



to time to the inspection of the magistrates-' Secrecy rate of progression the population of the eight Great 



of the ballot is not maintained as it ought to be, and Powers in I'J.JO : — 



proiwrtional representation is nuicfv to be desired. 170 millions 



Pe.4onal lib.Mt.v. he concludes, does not exist in a Russia m^Europ*^^. 170 millions. 



nation which does not enjoy electoral liberty. Ciermany 95 



In the second number Augustin Filon has an inter- Japan .. 75 



esting article on the English elections. Austna^Hun^ry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 „ 



Italy SO 



MII.LIONAIRBS OF OTHER DAYS France *! 



Vicomte Georges d'Avenel writes on the French Thus France, which at the beginning of the nine- 

 millionaires of seven centuries ago. The enrichment of teenth ceiituo- stood first, will in 19,50 find that she 

 individuals in the Middle Ages «as not due to the j^. j,, jj^^ lowest place. The writer compares depopula- 

 force of the law, but to the law of force; it was the ^j„„ ^f ^ .-ace with a deficit in the budget, it may 

 displacement of existing wealth, and not the creation 1,^ caused bv a small natality, or an excessive iiior- 

 of new wealth. In tliose days the law considered the talitv. or both, and as a deficit in the budget may 

 inequalities of wealth natural and just; to-day the law ),^. ,|',ej \,y an increase in receipts, or economy in ex- 

 considers them unjust. Yet the ancient inequalities penditure. or both, the population may find its 

 were not good any more than the inequalities of to-day remedv in an increased natality, or a decrease in 

 are a social evil.' In comparing the mode of expendi- the mortality, or both. The truth is. however, that 

 ture of the rich men of former times with that of the 1,0th the financial budget and tlie human budget in 

 rich men of our day. we see that it is not merely the France are badly managed, and the depopulation is 

 source of wealth which has changed, but the use which cau.sed. not by lack of resources, but by the frightful 

 is made of it. waste of infant and adult life in the country, in 



towns, in the army, etc. 



THE FEEBLE-MINDED AND IKRESPONSIBLE. ^^^ MOST DE PIETE. 



Professor J. Gra,sset gives us a study of Half-Mad or \nother social study is that bv G. Renard. on the 



Half-Responsible Persons. It is scientifically impos- ^^^^^ ^j^ p-^^^^ ^f paris ; What It is and What It 



sible, he says, to classify all men as more or less re- ^^^i„ht be. For years, he savs. reform has been felt 



siMjn.sible, or to divide them into classes of mad and to^e urgent. The heads of the establishments as 



irresponsible and reasonable or iesiM)nsible. But it is .^^jj ^^ ^l^^, employes want it. 



scientifically necessary to admit three distiiict and j'^^^ Paris Mont de Piete has a complex character, 



separate classes: — the reasonable and responsible, the being half commercial and half philanthropic. To 



mad and irresponsible, and the half-mad and half- (-be poor it is a u.seful institution, and they form its 



responsible. The existence of partially mad persons niost numerous cUeiiteh'. To them it advances money 



naturally includes the existence of half-responsibles, <>„ articles of small value, usually to provide the 



and it is the role of the medical expert to examine means of subsistence. The.se are called loans of cmi- 



the condition of the nervous system of such indivi- .tomtnatinn. But it is also an establishment of popu- 



duals and the influence which this condition may exer- ]ar credit, and as such is used by coinmercial men 



cise over their actions, and decide wliether they are and manufacturers, who are, indeed, its best cus- 



responsible from the biological and medical point of tomers. In thi.s case money is advanced on new 



view. A jury ought not to condemn a criminal whom wares deposited there temporarily to extricate their 



the medical expert declares to be irresponsible. Among owners from some diflSculty. These are called loans 



the half-mad are to be found many men of talent — on production. It is also a bank of deposit for the 



Comte, Gogol, Dostoievsky, de Maupassant, Nietzsche. wealthy classes— that is to say. these people, when 



p(.p, ■ they go away, frequently deposit their valuables at 



