402 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE SPANISH REVIEWS. 



The sketch of the history of the See of Elna, which 

 forms one of the three subjects treated in " Catalonian 

 Literature " in Nuestro Tieinpo, furnishes some httle- 

 known details concerning the small town and its 

 splendid ruins. Elna once belonged to that part of 

 Spain called Catalonia, and although it passed into 

 the possession of France long ago, is still affectionately 

 regarded as part of their district by the Catalonians. 

 It was harassed and plundered by Vandals, Visigoths 

 and others, it suffered at the time of the Crusades, 

 and in the early part of the seventeenth century it 

 went through further troubles and sank into decay, 

 the seat of ecclesiastical authority being removed. 

 The next contribution, on Moral and Philosophic 

 Scepticism, while interesting and thorough, is on the 

 usual lines ; the writer's conclusion, however, may 

 be quoted : " The moralist of the old school was a 

 metaphysician, a theologian and a philosopher ; the 

 moralist of the future will be a psychologist, physio- 

 logist, hygienist, and sociologist." The following 

 article outlines the protection afforded by patents, 

 trade marks, designs and similar legal registrations 

 or regulations. It is full of information. 



La Lectiira opens with a description of the ancient 

 city of Cordova, as it presents itself to the modern 

 visitor. The writer's description of the life, light and 

 colour of the cathedral in ?Ioly Week, with the religious 

 services, as compared with the inactivity and dreariness 

 of the deserted temple of the former inhabitants, is 

 striking. There is, among other articles in this review, 

 an important one on the cultural influence of the 

 Spanish and Portuguese languages. There is too 

 much French in modern Portuguese ; if this could be 

 weeded out, and some modification effected in the 

 Catalonian speech, it would be possible to establish 

 one language for the Nvhole of the Iberian peninsula, 

 affecting the South American Republics as well. 

 Consider the result of this on the culture of the world ! 

 The French language is spoken by forty-six millions of 

 people, while Spanish (including Catalonian) and 

 Portuguese are spoken by more than seventy millions. 



Ciudad de Dios prints an address on " Social Duty " 

 by 'J'eodoro Rodriguez, whose essays on social questions 

 are well known to the readers of this review. The 

 present contribution is in the usual thoughtful vein, 

 and the social duty of those who are well placed is 

 emphasised. Among the other contributions, that on 

 " The Science of Customs " may be mentioned. The 

 writer urges the necessity for distinguishing between 

 social and moral customs, natural and moral actions. 



Professor Adolfo Posada gives us some more informa- 

 tion about liuenos Ayres in Espana Moderna. The 

 banks are enumerated. There are twenty-two, the 

 chief of which is the Argentine National Bank, with 

 magnificent offices. Newspapers are next considered, 

 one of the chief being La Pretua, founded in 1869. 

 The Briti.sh colony has a paper of its own, so has the 

 Italian and otjicr colonies. In " Modern America " 

 there are manv facts in connection with the Panama 



Canal that afford food for meditation. One effect of 

 the canal will be the increase in Chinese and Japanese 

 emigration to the South American Republics, perhaps 

 not to the advantage of the latter, while a tendency 

 to migrate to Asia will spring up among the people of 

 the United States. The geographical position of Cuba 

 will cau.'^e it to be greatly influenced by these two 

 streams. 



THE DUTCH REVIEWS. 



De Tijdspiegel contains the first instalment of what 

 may be termed a history of the national debt of 

 Holland, which will celebrate its 114th biithday on 

 May 4th next. Of more general entertainment, how- 

 ever, is the article on Magic Plants, in which a veritable 

 mine of information is given concerning the use of 

 plants as charms and the like. In Persia may be 

 found an example of a curious custom ; a tree has a 

 great number of spikes thrust into or little stones filled 

 into it, these being tokens of gratitude for some 

 marvellous recovery from illness, possibly regarded as 

 due to the good influence of the tree. Similar trees 

 have been known in Holland and other European 

 countries. Speaking of evil spirits and night, the 

 writer points out that attempts have been made to 

 connect the two French words nuit (night) and tiuire 

 (to injure), while the pranks of wicked elves at night 

 have also led to the opinion that there is a connection 

 between elf (and its plural elves) and the word eleven, 

 which is elf in Dutch and German. However, there 

 is also a daylight hour of ele\en, which seems to 

 upset the theory. 



Elsevier is full of illustrations, as usual, and good 

 ones. The article on C. A. Lion Cachet, the decorative 

 artist, contains many reproductions of fine specimens 

 of his work ; the contribution is prefaced by a quota- 

 tion from Edward Hulme to the effect that a distinction 

 has of late been drawn between fine and decorative 

 art. There are some, however, who think that the 

 decorative artist is as great a genius as the painter 

 of pictures. Lucas van Leyden, who lived during the 

 first half of the sixteenth century and painted a 

 wonderful picture of " The Last Judgment," as well as 

 Hercules Zeghers, who flourished a century later and 

 achieved fame for paintings and etchings, are also 

 represented in this issue. An excellent article on 

 bead work done in Piorneo, Dutch North Guinea, and 

 neighbouring places, is interesting, both in regard to 

 illustrations and text. 



Vragen des Tijds has a long article on the German 

 elections, in which we have a review of the evolution 

 of Social Democracy in that country ; it commences 

 wiih the time of Frederick the Great. The right of 

 trade organisations to parley with the employing 

 authority, with special reference to employes on the 

 State railways, is discussed in another contribution. 

 The third article concerns the JIannheim School 

 System, according to which (in large towns) the 

 scholars should be divided so that the clever ones are 

 not hindered by the presence of those inferior in 



