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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 



TTTE have read with considerable 

 V V interest a book by Mr. Henry M. 

 Boies, elsewhere noticed in this num- 

 ber, having for its title Prisoners and 

 Paupers. We have read it not only 

 with interest but with sympathy, for Mr. 

 Boies is much in earnest, and his aim is 

 the noble one of serving the community 

 by checking tbe evils of criminality, 

 pauperism, and mental and physical de- 

 generation, which in these latter years 

 have been assuming so threatening pro- 

 portions. With much that the author 

 says we entirely agree, and many of his 

 suggestions seem to be of a very prac- 

 tical and useful kind. Here and there 

 is perhaps a touch of undue national 

 vaingloriousness which does not harmo- 

 nize very well with the fact that the 

 book is in the main a revelation of the 

 weaknesses of American society. Here 

 and there, too, the author seems to con- 

 tradict himself, as where, on page 95, 

 he speaks of the upward tendencies in 

 this country being more powerful than 

 the downward ones, and afterward (page 

 258) says that, while "we are listening 

 to the delusive enchantments of physical 

 prosperity and national growth, millions 

 of remorseless teredos from the lower 

 depths are honeycombing the hull of 

 our ship of state " ; and again (page 259) 

 that "the condition politically is desper- 

 ate, but not hopeless " ; and again (page 

 278) that " signs of a general degeneracy 

 are attracting public attention." The 

 important thing, however, is that, in the 

 statements and observations he makes, 

 Mr. Boies gives us plenty to think about, 

 and makes it very plain that something 

 more than thinking is called for — that 

 prompt, strenuous, and intelligent action 

 is an urgent necessity of the moment. 



It all amounts to this, that, while the 

 men of this generation are eating and 



drinking and taking their ease, marry- 

 ing and giving in marriage, running po- 

 litical machines, and blowing hot or cold, 

 as the case may be, upon the stock mar- 

 ket; while luxury is on the increase, 

 and practical Science is recording her 

 most magnificent triumphs, the founda- 

 tions of society are being sapped by the 

 incessant growth of unsound social ele- 

 ments. In early ages mankind, in only 

 less degree than the lower animal tribes, 

 had the benefit of the rude but effect- 

 ive surgery of Nature to keep them 

 up to a certain level of physical effi- 

 ciency ; and in a later period the ex- 

 treme severity of the laws had the effect 

 of removing from the community large 

 numbers of those who were least adapt- 

 ed for citizenship. As a result of these 

 processes the civilization of to-day, with 

 its more humane and philanthropic 

 spirit, became possible ; but it is now 

 beginning to be found out that philan- 

 thropy, as heretofore practiced, is no 

 match, so far as the physical purification 

 of society is concerned, for the methods 

 of Nature, as described by Malthus and 

 Darwin, or even for the penal discipline 

 of our forefathers. Mr. Boies fully ac- 

 cepts this view of the matter, as the 

 following extract from his book will 

 show: 



" The civilized man is the product of 

 the survival through all the ages of the 

 strongest, most stalwart, and capable 

 savages. In the progress of his civiliza- 

 tion the development of the sentiment 

 of human brotherhood and the princi- 

 ples of Christianity has caused an inter- 

 ference with the natural law provided 

 for the extinction of the unfit by impel- 

 ling the strong to maintain and care for 

 the weak and defective. At the same 

 time, advances in the sciences of hygiene, 

 medicine, and surgery enable many of 

 the unfit to survive the tests of child- 



