534 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 97. 



and when the environment in general is conducive to 

 prosperity. Since the evil effects of inter-breeding 

 become more marked as the environment becomes 

 less favorable, and as male births are then in excess, 

 he believes that the excessive production of males is 

 an adaptation which has gradually been acquired by 

 natural selection, for the purpose of preventing close 

 inter-breeding at the time when it is injurious; but, 

 as an injurious property cannot be established by 

 natural selection, the evil effects of inter-breeding 

 cannot be primary. The end which is advantageous, 

 and which has been secured by natural selection, is 

 the crossing or sexual union of individuals which 

 are not closely related. As the object of crossing 

 is to secure variability, it is most necessary when 

 change is needed; that is, when the conditions of 

 life are unfavorable. 



Natural selection has accordingly acted to secure 

 this by rendering the offspring of a cross more able 

 to resist an unfavorable change than the offspring of 

 closely related parents, or the parthenogenetic chil- 

 dren of a single parent; and the excessive production 

 of males under an unfavorable environment is for 

 the purpose of securing variation, rather than the 

 prevention of inter-breeding. 



This very suggestive topic opens many fields for 

 research where our information is very scanty; and 

 any readers of Science who are able to contribute 

 information regarding the number of births of each 

 sex in wild or captive or domestic animals will help 

 to a clearer insight into an extremely interesting and 

 important problem. The writer will gladly receive 

 and tabulate information upon this point, and will 

 give proper credit to contributors. 



W. K. Brooks. 



Johns Hopkins university, Baltimore. 



CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM. 



Contemporary socialism. By John Rae, M.A. 

 New York, Scribner, 1881. 13 + 455 p. 8°. 



Among the merits of this volume may be 

 mentioned the spirit with which the subject of 

 socialism is approached. The author, under- 

 standing that his position is not that of an ad- 

 vocate either of existing societ}' or of any pro- 

 posed future social form, attempts to present 

 an impartial but critical account of the schemes 

 which contemporary socialists assure us will 

 inaugurate an earthly paradise. Mr. Rae in- 

 dulges neither in abuse nor declamation nor 

 frightened outcry, but manifests a judicial 

 calmness of temperament, befitting a man of 

 science. 



The scope of this work is indicated by the 

 titles of the chapters, which are the following: 

 Introductory, containing a preliminary survey 

 of the field ; Ferdinand Lassalle ; Karl Marx ; 

 The federalism of Carl Mario; The socialists 

 of the chair ; The Christian socialists ; Russian 



nihilism ; Socialism and the social question ; 

 Progress and poverty ; Henry George. 



The arrangement of topics is not at all what 

 one might expect, and is due, perhaps, to the 

 fact that the book consists, in part, of articles 

 previously published in the Contemporary re- 

 view and the British quarterly. These have 

 been enlarged, and supplemented with addi- 

 tional chapters, and the old and new are not 

 well joined together. It exhibits more or less 

 of the character of patchwork in many places ; 

 each chapter not leading naturally to the fol- 

 lowing, nor being an outgrowth of what has 

 preceded. Thus Lassalle, who built on Marx 

 and Rodbertus, and who simply interpreted 

 their doctrines to the common people, kindling 

 in their breasts a fire of enthusiasm not yet 

 extinguished, is treated in the second chapter ; 

 while Karl Marx, his logical predecessor, fol- 

 lows. Rodbertus, the father of scientific so- 

 cialism in Germany, of whom Marx is only a 

 further evolution, receives no separate treat- 

 ment at all, and is barely alluded to in the 

 chapter on Mario. The greatest figure in 

 modern socialism is thus passed by in scarcely 

 half a dozen words, in a work professing 

 to give a picture of contemporary socialism. 

 French socialism fares scarcely better, receiv- 

 ing only three or four pages in the introduc- 

 tory chapter, and that in a work of four 

 hundred and fifty-five pages. This is certain- 

 ly inadequate. Henry George, on the other 

 hand, who, it is acknowledged, is not a socialist 

 in the ordinary acceptation of the term, re- 

 ceives sevent3 r -seven pages. 



The book is a disappointment ; because it is 

 a series of detached essays, instead of a con- 

 nected whole, and is not what a perusal of 

 the author's articles in the Contemporary re- 

 view might reasonably have led one to expect. 

 The entire work betrays either indolence, or 

 lack of sufficient time for the adequate per- 

 formance of the author's task ; for it ought 

 to have been re-written, the style improved, 

 a more philosophical and symmetrical arrange- 

 ment secured, and more careful attention 

 given to the most recent phases of con- 

 temporary socialism. Parts of the book were 

 written several years ago, and, though per- 

 haps true then, are not accurate now ; and, 

 even in the apparently more recent additions, 

 there is an oversight of what is transpiring 

 at the present time. Thus, on p. 56, Mr. 

 Rae uses these words: "England is the 

 only great country where socialism has at 

 present neither organ nor organization that 

 reaches the public eye or ear." This sounds 

 strange, for in this country we hear frequently 



