22 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX , No. 205 



As Miss Buckland's primer is one of political 

 exposition, so Mr. Ealeigh's ^ is one of philosophi- 

 cal exposition, and it rises to a very high plane 

 indeed. For obvious reasons the author's illus- 

 trations are drawn principal I j^ from English his- 

 tory and English institutions ; but as society and 

 civilization are not national, but international, 

 Mr. Raleigh's able volume should attract much 

 attention and find numerous readers in this coun- 

 try. In his preface the author states that most 

 controversies vp^ould end before they begin if the 

 disputants vp^ould only define the terms that they 

 use. The pages that follow are an attempt to de- 

 fine and make explicit the terms used in political 

 argument. As the author himself allows, his book 

 will stimulate rather than satisfy inquiry ; and for 

 just that reason it is capable of becoming, in the 

 hands of a competent teacher of civics or politics, 

 an invaluable text-book. It is eminently impar- 

 tial, and for that reason might in some parts mys- 

 tify rather than satisfy the beginner ; but, propei-ly 

 interpreted, it can be made of the greatest service. 

 The author begins by summarizing (the whole book 

 only contains 163 small pages) the principles 

 which lie at the basis of society and civilization ; 

 then he examines modern society and the modern 

 state, and passes to elections, party government, 

 economic terms and principles, the functions of the 

 state, and propositions looking to reform. Lack of 

 space forbids our quoting as much as we should 

 wish from Mr. Raleigh's compact volume, but to 

 a few salient points we must call particular atten- 

 tion. He enforces, from many points of view, the 

 position that no al^stract theory of government, 

 nor any radical law, can give the prosperity and 

 satisfaction demanded by certain theorists who 

 call for revolution and reform. "The cardinal 

 error of revolutionary politicians is this, that they 

 assume the possibility of breaking away from 

 custom and tradition. They look on institutions 

 as if they were purely artificial, and therefore 

 alterable at pleasure. In point of fact, institu- 

 tions are rooted in the natures of men who are 

 accustomed to them. If all our laws were de- 

 stroyed in a day, our habits and ways of thinking 

 would remain, and out of these a new set of laws, 

 not very unlike the old, would soon be developed. 

 If we desire great changes, we must not put our 

 trust in revolution : we must work steadily at 

 those reforms which seem most likely to improve 

 our habits and ways of thinking " (p. 127). And 

 in connection with this subject, reform, there is 

 this timely warning given : " When social re- 

 formers put forward schemes by which the strain 

 of competition would be lessened, we must exam- 



^ Elementary politics. By Thomas Raleigh. London, 

 Oxford univ. pr., 1886. 16°. 



ine their proposals carefully, to find out whether 

 they do not involve an appeal to the selfishness of 

 the weak, which is just as dangerous in its way 

 as the selfishness of the strong " (p. 97). Mr. 

 Raleigh's remarks about speculation (p. 99), the 

 effect of state help (p. 130), and his summary of 

 how far state interference can safely go (pp. 150 and 

 157), are as scientific in form as they are satis- 

 factory in contents. We most unreservedly com- 

 mend the book as a clear, strong, and healthy 

 primer of politics, and heartily wish that it 

 could be studied and appreciated in every high 

 school and by every citizen of the United States. 



A SANITARY convention under the auspices of 

 the Michigan state board of health was held at 

 Big Rapids, Nov. 18 and 19, 1886. Dr. Stoddard 

 read a paper on the injuries of every-day drug- 

 taking. It partly came from mothers dosing 

 babies with soothing-sirup, paregoric, worm-loz- 

 enges, etc. The remedy was to educate the 

 people in the injurious effects of drugs. Dr. 

 Inglis of Detroit closed his remarks on alcohol as 

 a medicine by saying that he should like to pro- 

 duce the continually accumulating evidence of 

 the positive harm caused by such indiscriminate 

 use of all kinds of alcoholic drinks, bitters, and 

 tonics, and that physicians should let alcoholic 

 liquor be the last, and not the first, remedy in the 

 treatment of disease. Professor Ferris of the In- 

 dustrial school read a paper on hygiene of schools, 

 dwelling upon the lack of ventilation in the schools 

 of Big Rapids, in several the air-space for each 

 pupil not exceeding two hundred cubic feet. 

 Papers were read on Pasteur and preventive medi- 

 cine, public-health laws, and the prevention of 

 communicable diseases. 



— Intubation of the larynx, which has been in- 

 troduced recently as a substitute for tracheotomy in 

 cases of diphtheria and croup, is coming into gen- 

 eral favor with medical practitioners. The credit 

 of its introduction is due to Dr. O'Dwyer, a New 

 York physician. Already one hundred and sixty- 

 five cases have been reported in which it has been 

 practised, with twenty-eight and one-half per 

 cent of recoveries. The introduction of the tube 

 into the larynx is a very simple operation, and 

 requires no anaesthetic nor trained assistants. In- 

 asmuch as no cutting operation is required, as in 

 tracheotomy, there is no difficulty in persuading 

 parents to consent to the intubation of their chil- 

 dren, when the more formidable operation of 

 tracheotomy would not be permitted. This per- 

 centage of recoveries will doubtless be much in- 

 creased as physicians become more accustomed 

 to the method. 



