LITERARY NOTICES. 



129 



" Eat an apple going to bed, 

 Make the doctor beg his bread," 



which is only a striking way of saying — 



That apple eaten upon retiring 

 Is better than the doctor hiring — 



a statement that may not be in accord with 

 the teaching of the theory and practice of 

 modern medicine. 



The book before us is full of weird things 

 that cast a peculiar light upon the past, and 

 add new luster to the present. The human 

 mind in the early centuries was saturated 

 with unaccountable notions of the wildest 

 sort. Prof. Dyer has shown a master's hand 

 in dealing with the occult theme. He has 

 been happy in his selections, conscientious 

 in treatment, and clever in the grouping of 

 the otherwise almost isolated and independ- 

 ent fables, superstitions, and legends. 



International Law. By Henry Sumner 

 Maine, K. C. S. I. New York: Henry 

 Holt & Co. Pp. 234. Price, $2.75. 



The series of twelve lectures here pub- 

 lished was delivered before the University of 

 Cambridge in 1887, by the late Sir H. Maine, 

 then Professor of International Law on the 

 foundation of Dr. Whewell. In speaking of 

 the sources of international law the author 

 says that a great part of it is Roman law 

 spread over Europe by a late stage of the 

 process by which the general body of Roman 

 law had obtained authority over the same 

 territory. It was the part of Roman law 

 which had been called " Law of Nations," or 

 " Law of Nature," and which was originally 

 a collection of rules and principles common 

 to the institutions of the various Italian races. 

 The author next considers the history of the 

 conception of sovereignty, and how a state 

 acquires unappropriated territory, also what 

 degree of occupancy constitutes a valid claim 

 over a given area. A consideration of the 

 law in regard to jurisdiction in territorial 

 waters, and on board merchant ships on the 

 high seas, leads up to the subject of naval or 

 maritime belligerency. The Declaration of 

 Paris occupies part of the chapter on this 

 subject and also a separate chapter. The 

 author thinks that the condition on which 

 the United States offered to assent to the 

 prohibition of privateers in this document, 

 namely, that all private property be exempt 

 from capture, would be a very favorable ar- 

 vol. xxxr. — 9 



rangement for Great Britain, whose food- 

 supplies and the goods sent to pay for them 

 have to travel such long distances by sea. 

 The mitigation of war is next taken up, and 

 the means of injuring an enemy commonly 

 prohibited are named, the subject of spies 

 and stratagems is discussed, and the dis- 

 posal of the wounded and other prisoners 

 is treated. Certain relations of belligerents 

 on land, comprising military occupation, ca- 

 pitulation, and flags of truce, together with 

 the subjects of captures and requisitions, oc- 

 cupy the next two chapters. In the statute 

 regulating his professorship, Dr. Whewell 

 enjoined upon the occupant of the chair that 

 he should make it his aim, in all parts of his 

 treatment of the subject, to lay down such 

 rules and suggest such measures as might 

 tend to diminish the evils of war, and finally 

 to extinguish war among nations. Accord- 

 ingly, the professor devotes his closing lect- 

 ure to the measures for the abatement of 

 war proposed within recent years. In this 

 chapter are considered the opposition to war 

 on religious grounds, the substitution of ar- 

 bitration for war, touching upon the defects 

 of international courts, with a mention of De 

 Molinari's proposal that it should be one of 

 the duties of neutrals to combine to thwart 

 the spirit of belligerency. These lectures 

 were not prepared for publication by the au- 

 thor, but have passed through the press un- 

 der the direction of Mr. Frederic Harrison and 

 Mr. Frederick Pollock. 



The Economic Interpretation op History. 

 By James E. Thorold Rogers. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 547. 

 Price, $3. 



Prof. Rogers develops English history 

 from the standpoint of an economist, and 

 brings to his task a rich mine of records 

 hitherto neglected. As readers of his " Six 

 Centuries of Work and Wages " are aware, 

 he has been a diligent delver into the elabo- 

 rate accounts kept in England since the thir- 

 teenth century by farmers, builders, and land- 

 lords. These and the court rolls of manors 

 have enabled him to ascertain the variations 

 for six hundred years in prices, wages, rents, 

 and taxes. We are told what people ate and 

 drank, how they were housed and clothed, 

 and what some of them were able to save. 

 This new light shed upon the hearth, ward- 

 robe, and dinner-table evidences in a very 



