Septjember 6, 191 7] 



NATURE 



together with the condition of the great eUminat- 

 ing organs, the Hver, kidneys, skin, and bowels — ■ 

 are abnormally affected by life at the front — 

 factors which must control the psycho-physical 

 connections. 



We know that intellectual and emotional 

 manifestations depend greatly upon changes in 

 the blood, in the internal secretions, and in the 

 vital organs, but the authors seem not to recog- 

 nise fully the implications connected with such 

 physical changes, or they appear to underrate 

 them, yet we have daily proof of their importance ; 

 witness the influence upon the emotions of visceral 

 derangements, of changes in the circulation, or 

 in the supply and distribution of blood to the 

 great depurating- organs. The brain must depend 

 for its normal action upon the healthy co-operation 

 of all the vital functions, and although the 

 biological response of fear is of far-reaching im- 

 portance, mental influences are not always the 

 predominating factors in the causation of shell- 

 shock, which may be more the result or the con- 

 sequence of physical changes. The highest 

 intellectual and emotional powers by which well- 

 balanced adiustments are reached and well- 

 balanced feelings are maintained require a full 

 flow of nervous energy from all the bodily organs 

 acting with unimpaired harmony, and whilst 

 mental influences, positive and negative — exulta- 

 tions and agonies — count for much in the 

 soldier's life at the front, the bodily state must 

 -not be neglected if the partnership is to prove 

 effective. Robert Armstrong-Jones. 



SCIENTIFIC HOME-MAKING. 

 (1) The Mothercraft Manual. By Mary L. Read. 

 Pp. xviii + 440. (London : George G. Harrap 

 nd Co.) Price 55. net. 



The Home and the Family : An Elementary 

 Text-book of Home-making. ("The Home- 

 making Series.") By Prof. Helen Kinne and 

 Anna M. Cooley. Pp. vi + 292. (New York : The 

 Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1917.) Price 35. 6d. net. 



(3) Food Gardening for Beginners and Experts. 

 By H. Valentine Davis. Pp. vii + 44. (Lon- 

 don: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1917.) Price 6d. 

 net. 



(4) One Hundred Points in Food Economy. By 

 J. Grant Ramsay. Preface by Prof. W. D. 

 Halliburton. Unpaged. (London : G. Bell 

 and Sons, Ltd., 1917.) Price is. net. 



(i) ^"PHE author of "The Mothercraft Manual," 

 J- who is a director of the School of Mother- 

 craft in New York, complains that the word 

 mothercraft is coming into general use, especially 

 in England, in a much narrower sense than 

 it was intended to bear. Certainly the aim 

 of her book is a wide one. It is, briefly, to make 

 available to "home-makers, present and prospec- 

 t'lve" some of the wealth of knowledge gained 

 by students of biology, hygiene, child-psychology, 

 and other sciences bv translating it into the 

 language of everyday life. 



XO. 2497, VOL. too] 



The early chapters deal with the evolution of 

 marriage, the duties of the State and of parents 

 so that reasonably early marriage may be pos- 

 sible, the establishing of the home on small means 

 — a sense of humour is named as one of the 

 chief essentials — preparation for parenthood, and 

 j the present state of knowledge of heredity and 

 eugenics. 



The last sections are too much compressed to 

 be of value in themselves, but a bibliography to 

 each chapter is appended, and one of the avowed 

 objects of the book is to enable the student to 

 follow out in more technical works any of the 

 subjects touched upon. The most advantageous 

 age for parenthood is stated to be twenty- 

 five to forty for the mother and "over 

 twenty-five " for the father ; " two or three 

 years " should elapse between births ; four 

 children are required on an average to maintain 

 the family, but ethical control on the part of 

 the parents is the only method of limitation con- 

 sonant with the highest ideal of matrimony and 

 with the welfare of the child. 



The keynote to the section on growth and de- 

 velopment is, that to live fully the life normal to 

 any particular stage is the best preparation for 

 the succeeding one. Many charts and tables of 

 normal physical and mental acquirement at 

 different stages are given, and these will be useful 

 as a guide to fresh observation. 



The practical part of the book begins -with a 

 discussion of the health, habits, and general well- 

 being of the mother and the influence of these on 

 pre-natal life. Much space is devoted to the 

 actual care of the infant, and its daily, indeed 

 hourly, regime from birth onwards is mapped out 

 with meticulousi care. In regard to the food 

 tables our chief impression is that the stomach 

 of the American infant must be very diff^erent from 

 { that of the kind of baby we are accustomed to 

 I if, at eighteen months, it is advisable to add to 

 I its dietary a purde of fresh or dried peas, celery, 

 I onions, or corn, or if the following is a "typical " 

 midday meal for a child of six : Half portion 

 i macaroni, one tablespoonful cooked cheese, four 

 j tablespoonfuls string beans, lettuce with oil and 

 ! lemon-juice, bread and butter, and a raw apple ! 

 The tables of food composition, however, are very 

 ' clear and of general applicability, 

 i The succeeding chapters deal with the education 

 , of the child in the home, and they follow in the 

 main the now familiar principles laid down by 

 Froebel, Stanley Hall, Prof. Dewey, and Mme. 

 ! Montessori, The value of play as a factor in 

 I education is recognised, and we are glad to see 

 I that no great regulation of plav, as distinct from 

 j games, is recommended. Abundant plavthings 

 ' suited to the visual capacity and muscular de- 

 I velopment at each stage are enumerated, highly 

 finished toys which leave nothing to the resource 

 ' and imagination of the children being ruled out. 

 ' Organised games should begin at about four years 

 ; old, and can be used as a training in group-action, 

 in competition, loyalty to a leader — in short, to 

 lav the foundations of nearlv all the civic virtues. 



