8o 



The Review of Reviews. 



July 1, woe. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 



The X'.rth American Beciew for April discusses the 

 need of L:fe lusurance Legislation in the light of the 

 recent scandals. Vernon Lee discourses at some 

 length, and not to rery much purpose, on Tolstoy as 

 a prophet, ili". Henry James describes his impres- 

 sions on revisiting Philadelphia. Miss Harper pays 

 a tribute to Susan B. Anthony. Miss Wilcox's ' Re- 

 cent Speculations upon Immortality ' is interesting. 

 In the first article, ' A Jeffersonian Democrat " nomi- 

 nates a Southern Democrat for the Presidency. He 

 says : — 



We submit tli.it such a man ma.v be found in Woodrdw 

 Wilson, of Virginia, now President of Princeton University. 

 Woodro%v Wilson was born at Stanton. Virginia, on De- 

 cember 28tli. 1856. and is not yet. tberefore. fifty .vears of 

 age. He is known to a multitude of thoughtful readers as 

 the author of " Congressional Government: a Study of 

 American Politics": of "The State; Elements of Historical 

 and Practical Politics": of "Division and Reunion. 1329- 

 1889": of a life of "George Washington": and. finally, of 

 an elaborate and comprehensive History of the Ameri- 

 can People." 



THE DUBLIN REVIEW. 



The Bisliop cf L'n:erick's article on ''Irish Univer- 

 sity Education " has been referred to separately. 



SPI.XNING THEORIES: THE LAST WORD. 

 Mr. Bertram C. Windle criticises rather severely 

 Weismann's Germ-plasm theory of evolution. The pith 

 of the article is contained in the following: — 



In this theory we have the assum'^tion. the re-assumption, 

 the re-re-assumption and the all-embracing King-assump- 

 tion. It is assumed that the substance of the germ-cell is 

 not simple but complex; it is assumed that this complex 

 body is made up of determinants tor different parts of the 

 body; it is assumed that these again are built up of vital 

 unit3 each living its own life, struggling with its neigh- 

 bours, influenced by the nutritive stream by which it is 

 bathed, and. finally, by an all-embracing King-assumption, 

 these unseen, ui-provable vital units are erected into a new 

 family of living beings, the ' Biophoridie." and we are 

 told they were spontaneously generated, and that no man 

 can prove the contrar.v. for the.v are. and must alwavs be. 

 invisible. Surely the spinning of theories can go no further 

 than this. 



II. JArSES AND if. CLEMEXCEAU CONTRASTED. 



A French contributor contrasts the temperaments of 

 M. Jaure.s and M. Clemenceau. They are perennially 

 disputing about the conception of patriotism, and the 

 ex-steiice and purpose of the army, yet both are ardent 

 freethinkers and revolutionarie.i. " M. Jaure.s disap- 

 proves the tactics and extreme views of M. Gustave 

 Herve. famous for tlie declaration that he hopetl "to 

 plant the French flag upon the dunghill," but will 

 not entire'y repudiate him. M. Clemenceau attacks 

 the military spirit run mad, but would not abolish 

 either the army or the conception of patriotism. M. 

 Jaures' political peisonality is complex; that of M. 

 Clemenceau is "all of one piece." He is essentially a 

 duellist, sind, like the duellist, always on his guai-d. 



The idea of following any leader is repugnant to 

 him. And we have not seen the last of the contrast 

 and conflict between these two men. 



The other ai-tielcs seem to me not to lend themselves 

 at all well to quotation and summary. 



THE WORLD'S WORK. 



The May number is very good, the opening paper 

 on the Channel Tunnel projtct being separately no- 

 ticed. 



FOR THE TOURIST. 



The needs of the summer holiday season are catered 

 for by two articles: one by Mr. Henry Xorman, M.P., 

 on ■ Motors and Men,'' giving most practical details 

 for a motor tour — cost, outfit, tools to take, eto. ; the 

 other dealing with the new railway among the Chiltern 

 Hills, Buckinghamslure, which has just cost £40,000 

 to construct. Delightful little trips are thus rendered 

 much easier among country villages associated with 

 Milton, Gray, Beaoonsfield. Penn, and Hampden. A 

 Useful mileage table from London and the railway sta^ 

 tions is given, and there are pretty illustrations. Yet 

 another article deals with highway signs, such as 

 finger-posts and C.T.C. danger-boards, and how they 

 mig.it be made much more useful. 



PARIS SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. 



An article by Frederic Lees deals with the immense 

 superiority of Paris slaughter-houses over those of 

 London. He gives a certain toficahty to the paper by 

 citing Sir Edwin Cornwall's words in praise of the 

 Paris system of abattoir at the time cf the London 

 County Council's recent visit there. In Paris: — 



the detection of disease in meat is not left to inexperienced 

 slaughterers: it is the work of an ample staff of properly 

 qualified inspectors; and you certainly never hear of any- 

 one being discouraged, as in some Loudon boroughs, to 

 declare unwholesome or diseased meat. The whole of the 

 meat of the cit.v passes through two immense mtmieipal 

 abattoirs — one situated at La Villette, and the other, of 

 more recent construction, in the Vaugirard quarter. Pri- 

 vate slaughter-houses have t>een done away ^vith since 

 1818. 



Each carcase, after being dressed, is examined and, 

 if found to be sound and wholesome, stamped in violet 

 ink by one of the many inspectors of the Prefecture 

 of Police, Not a single pound of meat is ofl'ered for 

 sale in Paris without liaving been examined. About 

 16s. lid. per ton is paid as '■ slaughter-house tax." 



An interesting paper also describes the herring in- 

 dustry in the North, and the making of " kippers." 

 Tobacco-planting in Sumatra is also dealt with as a 

 possible career for young men. 



In the June number of "' The Review of Reviews " 

 appeared an article on "The Ta.smanian Elections." 

 The writer of the article asks us to correct two 

 printer's errors on page 4.54. The word ''thereby" on 

 line 3 of page 4.54 should read " and that by," and 

 the word " data " should read " orator," 



THE FORUM. 



The April-June number of the Forum reviews the 

 thrte months under the various heads — Political, 

 Scientific. Financial, Musical, and Educational. Count 

 Okuma, writing on "Japan's Policy in Korea,'' urges 

 that the Korean Railway should be Japanned. In the 

 Educational section Mr. 0. H. Lang, writing on the 

 Roligious Difficulty, says: — 



The really greatest opportunity of the common school is 

 that of training children in social service. This is the key- 

 note of the new education. Social service develops unsel- 

 fishness, zeal in a brother's cause, a humanitarian attitude, 

 and moral efficiency. Holiness is not the supreme aim, but 

 efficient loving-kindness. One interesting item of informa- 

 tion was brought forward by Superinteiideut Raymond, of 

 South Dakota. He stated that the Teachers' Association of 

 his State had appointed a committee to investigate the 

 subject of moral and religious instruction, with a view of 

 elaborating a series of tenets upon which people of all 

 creeds could agree, ^d which might then be taught in the 

 scliools. My person," conviction has been for some years 

 that two or three religious ideas inav well be adopted by 

 the common schools of the United States as fundamental 

 in a suitable scheme of teaching morality. Morality with- 

 out religion is devoid of dynamic power. Religion is the 

 heart of morality. 



