DfcXKMHER 9, 1887.] 



SCIENCE 



283 



The author finds that the " study of history in Scotland " is some- 

 thing which does not exist. He says franfcly that " history is in 

 reality excluded from the curriculum of Scottish universities." At 

 Aberdeen and St. Andrew's it is not taught at all, except when 

 some historical information is necessarily imparted in the course of 

 instruction in literature. He is hopeful, however, that a new act of 

 Parliament will remedy this glaring defect, and afford history at 

 least a decent recognition in the land of Robertson, Walter Scott, 

 and Carlyle. 



With Cambridge and Oxford, Professor Fredericq was very much 

 impressed, and he grows quite enthusiastic over the system of fel- 

 lowships which permits men like Max MLiller and Mr. S. R. Gardi- 

 ner to secure an academic income while devoting their lives, not to 

 teaching, but to advancing the cause of science. The historical in- 

 struction at the two universities is outlined for us by the author, 

 and we learn exactly what courses each professor and fellow gives, 

 and how he gives them. The description of Professor Seeley as " a 

 master whose first care is to make his pupils think for themselves," 

 is a very pleasant one, and his adaptation of the German Seminar 

 method is highly praised. Mr. Oscar Browning, well known in this 

 country for his pedagogical writing, also comes in for a special word 

 of praise. 



At Oxford it was found that the programme of the historical in- 

 struction was more grandiloquent than the instruction itself justified. 

 The lecturers are referred to as generally restricting themselves to 

 an elementary style of teaching, and as not using any of the scien- 

 tific equipment on which the continental student depends so much. 

 Professor Fredericq notes that " the remarkable development in his- 

 torical instruction that has taken place at Oxford since 1870, and at 

 Cambridge since 1875, leads one to think that the practical course 

 will soon be felt a necessary complement to the already brilliant 

 theoretical course." The corps of instructors at both universities 

 is ample ; and, when modern methods and quelleiistudie shall 

 have replaced much of the present antiquated instruction, then, we 

 are led to believe by the perusal of this essay, little else can be 

 asked for. 



Dr. Adams's paper on the study of history in American colleges 

 and universities is quite as painstaking and far more comprehensive 

 a study than that of Professor Fredericq. The substance of some 

 of the chapters has previously appeared as articles in Education, 

 but they are now reproduced with many additions. Dr. Adams 

 traces the study of history at Harvard from its foundation up to the 

 preparation of Mr. Winsor's ' Narrative and Critical History of 

 America,' and at Yale from the seventeenth century to the founda- 

 tion of the courses now given by Professors Wheeler and Dexter. 

 To Columbia College the writer awards the honor of being the first 

 institution in America to recognize history as worthy of a professo- 

 rial chair. His sketch of the historical teaching at Columbia, which 

 ■embraces the work of Vardill, Anthon, McVickar, Lieber, and 

 Burgess, is in many respects the most interesting in the volume, 

 and to it a very appreciative account of the School of Political 

 Science is added. The University of Michigan and Cornell receive 

 separate and generous treatment. The chapter on the Johns Hop- 

 kins University is a slightly revised reprint of Dr. Adams's earlier 

 paper on the subject. We were very much interested in reading of 

 the excellent instruction being given in the colleges for women, par- 

 ticularly at Wellesley. The paper concludes with an extract from 

 Mr. Carroll D. Wright's impressive address before the Economic 

 and Historical Associations at Cambridge in May last, and some 

 statistical tables. 



Read in connection with each other and together with Professor 

 Fredericq 's articles on the teaching of history in Germany and 

 France, published some little time ago in the Revue Internationale 

 del' Enseignenient, these pamphlets afford us the data for deter- 

 mining with some approach to exactness the comparative value of 

 the historical instruction now being given at the world's great col- 

 leges and universities. We find advance everywhere, — promising, 

 hopeful advance. The spirit of Savigny, Ranke, and Draysen is 

 abroad ; and the work of Freeman and Seeley in England, and of 

 Burgess, Emerton, Adams, and Channing in this country, is in the 

 right direction, and productive of excellent results. But the next 

 generation will be even better able than our own to appreciate what 

 the modern method of studying and teaching history really means. 



The Family : An Historical and Social Study. By Charles 

 Franklin Thwing and Carrie F. Butler Thwing. 

 Boston, Lee & Shepard. 8". 



Books on sociology increase in number and interest. The one 

 under notice is indeed a very good summary upon the subject in its 

 historical, social, and moral aspects; but it gives no hint of a defi- 

 nite purpose other than can be ascertained by reading it. It is 

 without a preface, — an omission which we think a defect in so im- 

 portant a discussion. 



The first chapter treats of the prehistoric family, and examines 

 this institution in the Semitic and Aryan races, as a type of differ- 

 ent social structures. " The Semitic family is patriarchal, the 

 Aryan is individual : one makes the father the unit, the other makes 

 the family itself the unit ; one is polygamous, in the other monog- 

 amy prevails ; one gives all duties to women, the other gives some 

 duties to men, and some rights to women. The patriarchal Semitic 

 system is the germ of monarchy ; the Aryan family is the beginning 

 of the political commonwealth." The patriarchal system is shown 

 to prevail among the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews, with the 

 strict responsibility of woman for fidelity, and considerable laxity in 

 tolerating male infidelity. Then Christianity modified this system. 

 Two characteristics mark its influence and improvement upon pre- 

 vious conceptions of the family : monogamy and mutual chastity. 

 The same rule of purity was applied to the husband as to the wife, 

 which had been limited previously to the latter. The middle ages 

 are considered to mark a conflict between the Roman patriarchal 

 system, and the republican conception of the family in northern 

 races, based upon the capacity to bear arms. It is a chaotic period, 

 the first of which shows little respect for woman. The decline of 

 virtue in the Roman Empire had to burn out its course ; but the 

 rise of chivalry was the restoration of the Christian conception, 

 which in one form or another continues to make improvement. 



The general contrast between modern and ancient conceptions of 

 social life is that between the individual and the family. The in- 

 dividual is the legal and social centre of modern life; the family, of 

 the ancient. In modern jurisprudence the individual is made to 

 suffer for his own crime alone ; in ancient, the family and kins- 

 folk were also made to suffer for the crime of a guilty member. 

 This is important for illustrating the tendency in individualism 

 to distribute the rights and responsibiUties among a larger number 

 than the centre of a group or community. This elevates woman 

 above the position of a servant or of property. 



The drift of rural into urban population is noticed, and is thought 

 to endanger the family in such a way as to require correction by a 

 re-action in the opposite direction. We think, however, that eco- 

 nomic forces have determined this more than moral, although the 

 latter are strong factors in the movement. Fourierism, the Oneida 

 Community, and Mormonism do not pass unnoticed. 



The last two chapters are an elaborate discussion of divorce in a 

 very scientific manner, but with some unconsciousness of the diffi- 

 culties in the way of correcting the evils of it, due to social cus- 

 toms which must first be amended before the problem of divorce 

 can be solved. The causes of divorce are assigned to two classes, 

 — general and special. The general are, (i) growth of individualism, 

 (2) secularization of marriage, (3) change in social and political con- 

 dition of woman. The special are, (i) husband's belief in ownership 

 of wife's person, (2) property, (3) wife's failure to assume her share of 

 the burdens of the family. The remedy lies, as the author thinks, (i) 

 in a proper conception of a woman's responsibilities, (2) in a higher 

 standard of belief and practice as to domestic institutions, (3) in 

 the restoration of marriage to a religious basis, and (4) in uniform- 

 ity of law as to marriage and divorce. 



We will not criticise this. The subject merely suggests the 

 remark that there is a growing tendency to make married life a 

 commercial matter, one of the most dangerous influences that ever 

 affected human life. On the other hand, both as a corrective of 

 this, and as a check upon population of which Malthus may not 

 have dreamed, there is a tendency to enfranchise woman, socially 

 and legally, so as to make her independent of the marital relation 

 for her support. It is not a little remarkable, that, just as popula- 

 tion is beginning to approach the limits of its expansion by occupy- 

 ing all the material resources for its subsistence, the combined in- 



