352 



The Review of Reviews. 



The study of English is compulsory, and English is. 

 the official medium in all seientilic and technical 

 branches. Books of science and technology are most 

 in demand for translation. One of the most popular 

 books is Carlyle's " French Revolution," with vvorks 

 by Darwin, Rousseau, and Huxley close behind. The 

 writer urges on English visitors to China to show less 

 arrogance and more sympathy. 



PLEA FOR THE .ANIMALS OK THE EMPIRE. 



Animals in their relation to Empire is the subject of 

 a most laudable paper by Mrs. Charlton, who has gone 

 through the length and breadth of India with a view to 

 promoting measures for the prevention of cruelty to 

 animals. She reports the horrible practice of flaying 

 goats alive, in order to obtain longer measurements, 

 which being done within closed doors does not come 

 under the control of the law. She grants that the 

 Indian people as a whole are but little addicted to the 

 commission of brutal acts, but the poor beasts still need 

 protection. She recommends that there be a central 

 council established for the supervision and further 

 protection of the animals of the Empire. 



OTHER ARTICLES. 



Mr. J. G. Snead-Co.\ explains the dispute as to the 

 Papal decree Ne Teinere and the Canadian marriage 

 law, and urges that in Quebec province an exception 

 similar to what prevails in Germany should be made in 

 the Papal ordinance. Canon Moves pronounces Pere 

 Hyacinthe's marriage to be against the laws of the 

 Church, and so incapable of approval by the Church, 

 and quotes the Roman Archbishop who was said to have 

 blessed the marriage as witness against that statement. 

 Professor Lindsay puts the case for and against 

 Eugenics. Lieutenant-Colonel Pollock indicates a 

 number of reforms intended to attract more recruits 

 to the colours. Major Clive Morrison-Iiell, M.P., 

 presses for redistribution and a General Election before 

 Home Rule. Sir H. T. Prinsep pleads for the adoption 

 of measures to make British judges in High Courts of 

 India more respected by the native Bar. 



THE ITALIAN REVIEWS. 



Scir-io SiGHELE contributes to the Nuova Antologia 

 an interesting appreciation of Francesco Crispi and 

 his Imperialism, pointing out that his ideas were in 

 advance of his time, and that the occupation of Tripoli, 

 ten years afterhis death, is the realisation of one of his 

 favourite schemes. In his own day Crispi's policy was 

 held to be disproportionate to Italian potentiality ; 

 to-day Italy has risen to his level and is carrying out 

 his ideas. E. Buonaiuti discusses sympathetically the 

 Irish Home Rule Bill, and marvels at the opposition 

 to it of English Catholic Conservatives. The Deputy 

 G. Sannarelli writes in a very pessimistic vein of the 

 prevalence of tuberculosis in the human race, and 

 quotes many melancholy facts concerning its ravages. 

 He notes especially the prevalence of phthisis in all 

 the big European armies, and the fatal susceptibility 



to it of persons coming from an uninfected to an 

 infected district. Furthermore, it is civilised man who 

 carries the disease to the uncivilised. On the other 

 hand, the author states that the Jewish race continues 

 to show itself singularly immune from tubercular 

 disease, and he quotes the I'.nglish as a striking example 

 of what he calls " the inevitable biological process of 

 collective immunisation," to which, far more than to 

 hygienic progress, he attributes the fact that con- 

 sumption has now been reduced among us to quite 

 tolerable proportions. G. Posta describes the military 

 preparedness respectively of Germany and of France, 

 making a comparison very unfavourable to the latter, 

 and sums up in favour of the probability of a European 

 war in the not distant future, one reason given being 

 that the Itahan conquest of Tripoli has " brought 

 Europe back to a more correct appreciation of realities," 

 and has shown what a proud nation can accomplish. 



The magazines, indeed, all continue to express com- 

 plete equanimity as regards the progress of the war, 

 and especially as to the moral results of- the " raid " 

 into the Dardanelles. The increasing internal troubles 

 of Turkey are naturally regarded with satisfaction. 

 Of articles dealing specifically with the campaign the 

 most noteworthy is one in the Rasscgna Contewporanea, 

 describing, with the help of photographs, the town of 

 Bengasi, the capital of Cyrenaica, and the transforma- 

 tions it is undergoing at the hands of the Italians. 

 Water and electric light are being laid on, the Arabs 

 have been induced to work, and plans are on hand 

 for the construction of a large port, the most urgent 

 need of all. 



Ca'nohium, written partly in Italian and partly in 

 French, continues to represent advanced religious and 

 non-Catholic thought on the Continent. A discussion 

 as to Bergson's conception of God by Marcel Hebert, 

 a destructive examination of the miracles recorded in 

 the Gospels, and a learned essay on t^e spiritual 

 evolution of religion, form the principal topics of the 

 current issue. 



The Rivista Irilernazionale gives the history of the 

 recent efforts to establish an international federation 

 of Catholic Peace Societies. This now exists, thanks 

 mainlv to the initiative of M. Vanderpol, of Lyons, and 

 some five or six nations are afliliated. England being 

 represented by the Catholic Peace Association, of 

 which Cardinal Bourne is president. It is now contem- 

 plated to found an institute for the study of Christian 

 international law. the seat of which will be at Louvain. 

 In an article on " Alcoholism among Women," Dr. 

 Rinaudi gives appalling statistics concerning the 

 results of the drink habit, which he sums up in the 

 single phrase " destruction of family life." Although 

 intemperance is far less common in Italy than in 

 Northern countries — while the average annual con- 

 sumption per person in the United Kingdom is two 

 gallons of pure spirit, in Italy it is only half a litre — 

 yet the evil is on the increase, and the writer is anxious 

 to enlighten his countrymen as to the consequences 

 they will incur. 



