January 20, 1888.] 



SCIENCE 



33 



Virchow points out that part of this ancient culture is probably due 

 to Phoenician influence (Zeztschr.fttr Ethnologie, 1887, No. v.). 



Prehistoric Skating. — As is well known, the art of skating 

 is a prehistoric one. In man->' parts of Europe bones of domesti- 

 cated animals have been found which had been used as skates or as 

 runners of small sledges. It is of considerable interest to learn that 

 similar implements are found still in use in several parts of northern 

 Germany. In the Journal of the Berlm Ethnological Society, 

 sledges are described which consist of a board resting on the bones of 

 a horse. But, besides this, skates are used the runners of which 

 consist of the lower jaw of cattle, the curvature of the lower side 

 serving admirably the object of the skate. 



BOOK -REVIEWS. 



The Early History of the. English Woolen Industry. By W. J. 

 Ashley, M.A. Baltimore, American Economic Association. 



" I CANNOT but be sensible," says the author, " of the honor 

 which the American Economic Association has done me by permit- 

 ting me to join in their work." The members of the association 

 might say in reply, that they are sensible of the honor which Mr. 

 Ashley has done them in consenting to take part in their work. 

 The co-operation of English and American students in economics 

 is most encouraging ; at least, we on this side of the water appre- 

 ciate very highly such papers as the one which forms the subject 

 of this notice, or as lately appeared in the Quarterly Journal of 

 Economics from the pen of Professor Foxwell of Cambridge. 



There are two points of interest in the preface to this mono- 

 graph. In the first place, Mr. Ashley explains, very properly we 

 think, the revival of economic studies in the United States. This 

 country, he says, " exhibits the forces of competition and capital 

 working on a larger scale than elsewhere, and in a freer field, un- 

 crossed by any of the influences of decaying feudalism." England 

 is no longer " the classic land of capitalistic production," as Karl 

 Marx once caUed her : that honor now belongs to the United 

 States. It is, then, chiefly because economic questions have lately 

 come to be of such importance, that Americans are studying them 

 with earnestness ; and it is because the field offered for their solu- 

 tion is comparatively free that European peoples regard that study 

 with peculiar interest. But, in the second place, our author cau- 

 tions American students against being too greatly influenced by 

 the teachings o' German universities. " No observer of German 

 thought," he says, " can fail to see, that, though most vigorous 

 within its range ' .s range is exceedingly narrow. German writers 

 seldom realize the atmosphere of individual initiative in which Eng- 

 lish and American thought moves." And he adds, " American 

 teachers will be compelled, by the traditions of their country, the 

 needs of their pupils, and the criticisms of their opponents, to give 

 due weight to the forces of competition and to the arguments of 

 more recent English economists." This view is certainly correct. 

 There is a radical difference between the German and the Ameri- 

 can. Whether we consider poHtical or industrial affairs, the closer 

 we observe, the more strongly do differences impress themselves 

 upon our minds. German thought does not fit American affairs. 

 The only lesson of abiding importance brought from the universi- 

 ties on the continent pertains to methods of investigation. 



Turning now to the monograph itself, we find it to be an emi- 

 nently satisfactory sketch of the history of the English woollen indus- 

 try from earliest times to the period of the great inventions. The 

 peculiar interest in such a sketch lies in the fact that the history of 

 the woollen industry fairly represents the development of all indus- 

 tries. Whether we consider the relation of artisans to early local 

 government, or the internal organization of trades, or the social and 

 political influence of changed methods of doing work, we find a 

 true picture in the history of the woollen industry. The author 

 divides his sketch into four parts. He first treats of the establish- 

 ment of the guild system ; second, of the education of the English 

 workman by the importation of foreign skilled workers ; third, of 

 the rise of the merchant class ; and, fourth, of the growth of the 

 domestic system. For us in this country the part which treats of 

 the separation of the merchant class from the main body of work- 

 ers is perhaps the most instructive. Americans pride themselves 



on being cosmopolitan, and it is true that their love of travel makes 

 them familiar with the existing habits and customs of many peoples ; 

 but when it comes to history, their minds are essentially provincial. 

 They are prone to regard the nineteenth century, out of which 

 their minds have never travelled, as the natural and therefore the 

 permanent order of society. Their conservatism is, on this ac- 

 count, unreasonably strong. It would be a good thing if every 

 business-man could be brought to see that there once existed a 

 successful industrial society, in which a separate class of traders 

 was not known. They then might regard with less suspicion cer- 

 tain tendencies in modern times looking towards further industrial 

 changes. 



But professed students of history, as well as business-men, will 

 find in this monograph much instruction. It is a common error to 

 say that machinery and steam-power are responsible for the crea- 

 tion of a clearly defined laboring-class. Mr. Ashley shows that 

 such an assumption is not correct. His sketch closes with the 

 establishment of the ' domestic system ' of industry, but the lib- 

 erties and rights then exercised were very nearly the same as those 

 which laborers now enjoy. It needed only the great inventions to 

 fully establish the ' factory system ' as we now know it, and to 

 bring about the era of great industries. Failure to recognize that 

 the social position of the workman was quite the same before and 

 after 1760 is responsible for many misinterpretations of industrial 

 history. 



In closing we can only say that American students are always 

 grateful for reliable information on English industrial history. 

 They feel that the society with which they deal is as much the re- 

 sult of English life during the middle ages as is English society it- 

 self. But this they cannot study at first-hand, because of paucity 

 of material, and on that account they read with eagerness all that 

 English scholars may write upon the subject. Mr. Ashley, then, 

 has the thanks of American students for his excellent monograph 

 on the English woollen industry. H. C. ADAMS. 



A Plea for the Training of the Hand. By D. C. GiLMAN, 



LL.D. 

 Manual Training atid the Public School. By H. H. Belfield, 



Ph.D. New York, Industrial Education Association. 8°. 

 Primary Methods. By W. N. Hailmann, A.M. New York, 



Barnes. 12°. 

 Industrial Instruction. By Robert Seidel. Tr. by Margaret 



K.Smith. Boston, Heath. 12". 

 The Manual-Training School. By C. M. WOODWARD, Ph.D. 



Boston, Heath. 8". 

 Each one of these books bears evidence in its own way to the ed- 

 ucational Zeitgeist. Each one, had it appeared ten years ago, would 

 have appealed to perhaps a few score readers : it is safe to say that 

 at this time they will be read by thousands. Educational thought 

 and educational practice are in motion. In all parts of the country 

 and in all grades of schools the signs of progress are seen and its 

 effects are felt. The dominant trait of this progress is a demand 

 for reality in education, for practicality in the widest and best sense 

 of the word. Teach the child to know not merely words, but 

 things, objects ; teach him not merely to know, but to use and 

 apply what he knows. Teach him literature, teach him arithmetic, 

 teach him geography, and so on, but also teach him something 

 about the busy, active life of which he is so soon to form a part. 

 Teach him not only to perceive and to remember, but to compare, to 

 judge, to execute, to manage. This, if its opponents did but know 

 it, is the philosophy of manual training ; and because this philosophy 

 is so certain and so sound, the manual-training movement is carry- 

 ing every thing before it. The best educational thought of the coun- 

 try is enlisted in its service ; and its advocates are making rapid 

 and successful progress, while its handful of vociferous opponents 

 are asserting that it is useless, crude, and destructive of the school. 

 The success of manual training, and the thought and inquiry it has 

 aroused, call for a literature. All of the books whose titles are 

 given above are in answer to this call. 



The first is a handsomely printed pamphlet, the first of a perma- 

 nent series of educational monographs to be issued under the editor- 

 ship of the president of the Industrial Education Association of 



