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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



striking way how progress and retrogres- 

 sion have succeeded one another in England. 

 Prof. Rogers's work is a notable contribution 

 to the modern view of history, which looks 

 not so much at the conspicuous and pictur- 

 esque elements of national life, the contests 

 of courts and battle-fields, as at the daily 

 life of the common people ; which busies 

 itself with their progress in the arts and sci- 

 ences, their success in translating justice into 

 law, and the consequences due to change of 

 conviction as to the rights of the citizen and 

 as to truth in religion. 



Prof. Rogers shows that in many ways 

 the common people in the middle ages were 

 better off than they are now. Although the 

 standard of living was low, want was rare. 

 The best workmen, associated together as 

 guilds, purchased lands and houses through- 

 out England for charitable service to their 

 order, and so in a spontaneous, wholesome 

 way effected an insurance for old age and in- 

 firmity. In the fifteenth century skilled work- 

 men, such as carpenters, and masons, worked 

 but eight hours a day ; this, too, without in- 

 voking legislation for the purpose. So skilled 

 were some of these men that they combined 

 the talents of both design and execution, 

 and planned the churches, guild-halls, and 

 cathedrals they afterward helped to build. 



Rent was at first a tax imposed by the 

 lord for the protection he extended. For 

 arable land in six centuries rent has been 

 multiplied tenfold in comparison with the 

 price of grain. Competitive rents were of 

 very gradual introduction by the landed 

 classes, who in the main have been grossly 

 unjust in evading taxation and in increas- 

 ing privileges while ignoring the responsi- 

 bilities originally attached thereto. Once, 

 property was almost universally diffused, and 

 at that time Prof. Rogers believes the re- 

 spect for property, still so characteristic of 

 Englishmen, to have been implanted. Be- 

 cause its sheep-pastures were secure from 

 the invader and untouched by the thief, Eng- 

 land for three centuries enjoyed a monopoly 

 of wool production in Europe, enormous in 

 value. Prof. Rogers is of those who accord a 

 supreme molding potency to circumstances 

 and conditions; he holds the drunkenness 

 and unthrift of the English working people 

 to be largely chargeable to the demoraliza- 

 tion of unjust poor-laws, and the oppres- 



sions of a landlordism which at last extorted 

 famine rents. While he has devoted his life 

 to the study of political economy, he sees 

 that that science takes but a partial view of 

 man and not the highest view ; and that 

 no one can understand political economy 

 who does not take some trouble to un- 

 derstand human nature — its sentiments, af- 

 fections, passions, and hopes. It is refresh- 

 ing to find an economist who has had the 

 expanding experience of a long parliament- 

 ary career and a varied knowledge of men 

 and things the world over. Such a man, pos- 

 sessed of a new and rich store of fact, brings 

 a new treatment to the well-worn themes 

 of currency, pauperism, colonial policy, and 

 the extension of the sphere of government 

 into the field of business. His chapters, de- 

 livered as lectures at Oxford, have the free- 

 dom if albeit the dogmatism of a veteran 

 discoursing to his juniors. Still they have a 

 ring of manliness and humanity which much 

 heightens the effect of his teaching. He has 

 some plain words for the economists of the 

 arm-chair who give verbal symmetry to in- 

 complete and second-hand impressions — men 

 who are plainly in sympathy with those who 

 have wealth and comfort rather than with 

 those who create these things. 



Beauty, Health, and Strength for Evert 

 Woman. By Oscar B. Moss, M. D. Ann 

 Arbor, Mich. : The Register Printing and 

 Publishing House. Pp. 3*76. ■ 



"I am not able to recall," says Miss 

 Catherine E. Beecher, " in my immense cir- 

 cle of friends and acquaintances all over the 

 Union, so many as ten married ladies, born 

 in this century and in this country, who are 

 perfectly sound, healthy, and vigorous." A 

 large share of the women in any one's ac- 

 quaintance in America are delicate, or have 

 frequent fits of sickness, or general poor 

 health, or are chronic invalids. There is 

 little of this disease that is not preventable 

 by faithful use of the medical knowledge that 

 we now possess. To make this knowledge 

 known to the women of America, and to im- 

 press them with the importance of guiding 

 their mode of life by it, are the objects of 

 Dr. Moss's volume. The first practical sub- 

 ject which the author treats is diet, and this 

 is followed by a chapter on the dress of 

 young girls. In the next chapter the physio- 



