January 4, 1907] 



SCIJiJNCE 



27 



society. A recognition of these two facts 

 is essential not only to clear thinking, but 

 as preliminary to any practical solution of 

 the great problems of human betterment. 

 We are doubtless to-day in danger of too 

 much socialistic experimentation ; but noth- 

 ing can be gained and much may be lost by 

 ignoring or condoning the opposite evils of 

 individualism. In fact, the menace of so- 

 cialism can best be met if we understand 

 and acknowledge the evils which it is in- 

 tended to remedy. The preliminary to 

 remedy is diagnosis, and an accurate diag- 

 nosis will save us from the error of both 

 extremes — the extreme, on the one hand, 

 of an overdose of socialism, and the ex- 

 treme, on the other hand, of omitting all 

 medication whatever. 



Irving Fishee 

 Yale Univebsitt 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Sociology and Social Progress: A Handbook 

 for Students of Sociology. Compiled by 

 Thomas Nixon Carver, Ph.D., LL.D., David 

 A. "Wells Professor of Political Economy in 

 Harvard University. Boston, Ginn and 

 Company [1906]. Pp. vi-(-810; 8°. List 

 price, $2.75; mailing price, $2.95. 

 This is a timely and valuable book. In 

 these days when social questions are attract- 

 ing the attention of all, even the scientific 

 specialists, and when an undigested mass of 

 contemporary literature is being poured forth 

 upon the public wholly incapable of appraising 

 it, it is of the greatest importance that the 

 utterances of the masters of thought, science 

 and literature bearing on the subject should 

 be made accessible to all as guides to public 

 judgment. To do this is the purpose of this 

 volume, and even a partial enumeration of the 

 authors and works that have been drawn upon 

 is sufficient to indicate the value of the com- 

 pilation. The most important are: Comte's 

 ' Positive Philosophy ' (Harriet Martineau's 

 English condensation). Buckle's ' History of 

 Civilization,' Darwin's ' Descent of Man,' 

 Adam Smith's ' Theory of Moral Sentiments,' 



Bagehot's ' Physics and Politics,' Piske's 

 ' Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy,' Herbert 

 Spencer's ' Data of Ethics,' Kidd's ' Social 

 Evolution,' Tarde's ' Imitation,' Gallon's 

 ' Hereditary Genius,' Machiavelli's ' Prince,' 

 Aristotle's ' Politics.' 



When we remember that about two thirds 

 of the space is devoted to these works and a 

 fair share to others ranking second only to 

 these, we can well pardon the introduction of 

 a number of lesser works and even some quite 

 insignificant ones. 



The selections from large works, which is 

 no easy task, are judiciously made. For ex- 

 ample, the three most important subjects 

 treated by Buckle, viz., the influence of phys- 

 ical laws on society, the role of intellectual 

 development, and the influence of religion, 

 literature and government, are introduced here 

 without abridgment. Darwin's chapters on 

 sexual selection in relation to man are given 

 in full with the exception of the scientific 

 details, so that it is quite readable. And so 

 of the rest. Those who read these works in 

 their youth and retain only a vague impres- 

 sion of them, have an opportunity here to 

 refresh their minds with the cream of them, 

 and those who never read them at all can gain 

 from this digest a fairly adequate idea of 

 them. 



But Dr. Carver has intended that the book, 

 as its title implies, should be something more 

 than a mere compilation. In the first place, 

 he has supplied an introduction to it of his 

 own, in which he sets forth as clearly as has 

 ever been done the true scope and method of 

 sociology. His treatment is thoroughly sane. 

 He is an economist of the modern school 

 which has arisen from the recent revised 

 definition of value, and which brings the 

 great sciences of economics and sociology into 

 sympathetic touch with each other. If he 

 lays somewhat undue stress on social progress, 

 he only does what others, including the pres- 

 ent reviewer, have done before they had de- 

 voted themselves to a serious study of the con- 

 ditions of social order. The doctrine which 

 he specially emphasizes as his own, and which 

 he had earlier set forth, is expressed in these 

 words : 



