LITERARY NOTICES. 



557 



hau Institute, where Froebel's spirit pre- 

 vailed, the gymnasium at Koltbus, and the 

 University of Gottingen, and after a serious 

 illness began to prepare himself for his life 

 work. He relinquished the study of the 

 law, which he had begun, and was attracted 

 to Egyptology. He had no guide, but found 

 an adviser in Jacob Grimm. Grimm told 

 him he was beginning at the wrong end. His 

 decipherment of hieroglyphics could only 

 make him a dragoman, while he must be- 

 come a scholar in the higher sense, a real 

 and thorough one. " The first step is to lay 

 the linguistic foundation." He obeyed this 

 counsel, studied, with Lepsius and Brugsch 

 to oversee and advise him ; and after he had 

 studied, wrote his sketches and novels. In 

 teaching this example of thorough prepara- 

 tion the book, besides the pleasure it gives, 

 furnishes a valuable lesson. 



BUILD WELL : THE BASIS OF INDIVIDUAL, 

 HOME, AND NATIONAL ELEVATION ; THE 

 PLAIN TRUTHS RELATING TO THE OBLIGA- 

 TIONS OF MARRIAGE AND PARENTAGE. By 

 C. A. GREENE, M. D. Boston : D. Lothrop 

 & Co. Pp. 233. 



THE rough self-regulation by which so- 

 ciety protects itself against evil influences is 

 seen in its treatment of books of this class. 

 Written so often by charlatans from purely 

 mercenary motives, and hence appealing to a 

 widely prevalent craving for loose literature, 

 it has happened that all books upon this 

 theme done in a popular style are considered 

 disreputable if not positively pernicious. 

 This feeling keeps down their circulation 

 and prevents a great deal of mischief that 

 would arise from the perusal. But in creat- 

 ing a feeling that prevents the proper study 

 of these subjects in the family other grave 

 evils are begotten for which the only remedy 

 is a more discriminating public opinion. Cer- 

 tainly there is no other form of knowledge 

 that so vitally interests the individual or the 

 nation as this relating to the obligations of 

 marriage and parentage. 



It concerns the one function to which all 

 others are subservient, which governs our 

 actions in a greater degree than any other, 

 which has the greatest power for happiness 

 or misery over our lives, and which, above 

 all, owing to the more or less unnatural posi- 

 tion in which modern civilization places us, 

 is not satisfactorily governed by our instincts 



and desires. It seems very irrational that 

 this central function about which all others 

 are grouped should be a tabooed subject, not 

 to be read about or even thought about till 

 the individual has suffered oftentimes irrep- 

 arably through his ignorance. 



This work, Build Well, has evidently 

 been written with an earnest and devout de- 

 sire to help the public in this greatly needed 

 direction. And nobody can understand more 

 truly the perishing need there is of such help 

 than its author, who for more than thirty 

 years has been in charge of a successful 

 sanitarium for the treatment of the diseases 

 of women. If profound learning, wide expe- 

 rience, marvelous powers of intuition, and 

 the tenderest sympathy with suffering are 

 a proper warrant for treating this subject, 

 Dr. Greene can certainly claim her right 

 to a hearing. It is a work that ought to 

 be read and pondered over by every father 

 and mother, and it will be the greatest help 

 to any young person of either sex about to 

 join fortunes with another for life. It is a 

 book that will do much toward correcting 

 many false impressions regarding not only 

 purely physiological questions, but also some 

 social fallacies, more especially having to do 

 with the marriage relation. In the first 

 chapter, entitled Introductory Thoughts and 

 Inquiries, the author asks the question, " Are 

 all the unfortunate results of heredity a ne- 

 cessity ? " and answers it strongly in the 

 negative. Chapter II, headed Man, deals 

 with the outward results on face and form 

 of certain ways of living and habits of 

 thought. Chapter III is given over to an 

 embryological excursion, and sums up with 

 the conclusion that " dual force is indispen- 

 sable in our world to the full conservation of 

 all living things." Chapter IV gives in de- 

 tail the more important physiological facts 

 relating to and governing the phenomenon 

 of reproduction. In Chapter V the author 

 treats of the same subjects, but more in 

 their dual and emotional aspects. Chapter 

 VI deals with the proper care of the mother 

 during intrauterine life. Chapter VII is de- 

 voted to a discussion of the Proper Conduct 

 of the Marital Relations. The remainder of 

 the book with the exception of two chap- 

 ters, The Love of Manhood and The Love of 

 Womanhood consists of a consideration of 

 some of the various diseases, both mental and 



