272 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tunate people. Not only was their land con- 

 fiscated, all commerce and manufacture le- 

 gally restricted, their religion made a crime, 

 but premiums were put upon bribery and 

 treachery. The feeling in England was car- 

 ried to such an extreme that petitions were 

 presented to prohibit Irishmen from catch- 

 ing herrings, because they might forestall 

 English markets ! According to Burke, " the 

 Irish were treated as a race of savages who 

 were a disgrace to human nature itself," and 

 even the poet Spenser advocated their sub- 

 jection by systematic starvation. The ob- 

 ject of English rule seemed at first to wipe 

 out the Irish race rather than their religion ; 

 later, it assumed the phase of a war of 

 creeds. 



It is shown by Mr. Lecky that the Irish 

 were naturally tolerant. They harbored 

 Quakers and Huguenots, sheltered Protest- 

 ant clergymen, and did not indulge in the 

 burning of witches. The English, on the 

 contrary, were relentless persecutors, and 

 although there was no summary destruction 

 of Papists in Ireland, such as there had been 

 of Protestants in Spain, yet the results of 

 legislation were further reaching and more 

 pernicious. " The law did not suppose any 

 such person to exist as an Irish Roman 

 Catholic." Every office and profession was 

 closed to him ; it was even a penal offense 

 to pick up the crumbs of learning as an usher 

 in a school. Land he could not buy, nor 

 own a horse over the value of five pounds. 

 He could not appoint a guardian for his own 

 child, and if he married a Protestant, the 

 ceremony was null and the priest who per- 

 formed it could be hanged. The degrada- 

 tion of the Irish by this penal code was un- 

 paralleled, since it affected not a minority 

 but three fourths of the population and was 

 in force nearly a century. A perusal of the 

 laws in the light of the present day is enough 

 to make one blush for English ancestry. 

 Judged even by the intolerance of the age, 

 they were excessive and short-sighted, and 

 form an indelible blot upon English govern- 

 ment. The disputed character of Irish his- 

 tory necessitates frequent reference to origi- 

 nal materials ; these include the correspond- 

 ence and records of the English and Irish 

 Governments and a vast number of private 

 papers and letters. The reader is thus en- 

 abled to judge the truth for himself, and, far 



from finding the narrative a dull one, is al- 

 most persuaded that he is in the current of 

 events. 



The limits of this work do not correspond 

 to those of the History of England, previously 

 issued. They include the rebellion of 1798, 

 the legislative union of 1800, and the events 

 of the two succeeding years, as properly be- 

 longing to the same epoch. 



THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SENSES. By JOHN 

 GRAY MCKENDRICK, M. D., and WILLIAM 

 SNODGRASS, M. B. New York : Charles 

 Scribner's Sons. Pp. 318. Price, $1.50 

 net. 



IT is the aim of this book, which is one 

 of the series issued under the name of Uni- 

 versity Extension Manuals, to give a suc- 

 cinct account of the functions of the organs 

 of sense in man and the higher animals. 

 The authors have refrained from discussing 

 with fullness of detail either the compara- 

 tive physiology of the senses or the numer- 

 ous interesting questions of a psychological 

 character that are connected with the study 

 of the sensory mechanisms. The volume 

 has been written so as to be readily under- 

 stood even by those who have not made 

 physiology a special subject of study. Some 

 comparatively simple experiments have been 

 given, by which the reader may test certain 

 of the statements for himself. The last 

 chapter is of a speculative character, being 

 an attempt to elucidate the nature of the 

 physiological basis of sensation. The vol- 

 ume is illustrated with one hundred and 

 twenty-seven figures. 



BRITISH FOREST TREES AND THEIR SYLVICUL- 

 TURAL CHARACTERISTICS AND TREATMENT. 

 By JOHN NISBET, D. (Ec. New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 352. Price, $2.50. 



ONE more evidence of the growing at- 

 tention that is being paid to forestry is fur- 

 nished by the appearance of this work. It 

 is devoted to what may be called the larger 

 considerations of sylviculture, such as the 

 choice of kinds of trees for plantations, the 

 mixing of different kinds, so that they will 

 help and protect each other, the proper 

 density of forests, underplanting, etc., de- 

 tails of such matters as sowing, planting, and 

 tending being omitted. The greater part of 

 the volume is devoted to special considera- 

 tions regarding the growth of individual 



