246 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 162 



and the child remained longer dependent upon 

 the parent. But with the constant association of 

 near relatives an aversion was acquired to close 

 intermarriage, resulting in the custom, or rather 

 instinct, that now characterizes all classes of man- 

 kind. The chief factor of change thus ceased its 

 operation, but the formation of races had already 

 occurred. 



Thus the author would account for those primi- 

 tive and wide divergences that must once have 

 taken place. With his development and acqui- 

 sition of language, man became the most cos- 

 mopolitan of animals ; tendency to further diver- 

 gence was checked, and is now rather toward 

 homogeneity. Antliropologists are fast recogniz- 

 ing the futility of separating tribes and classes by 

 cranial classiti cation. Very great variations are 

 found between dolichocephalic and brachycephalic 

 types among all civilized or uncivilized races. 

 The pure Germanic race of the blond type is dis- 

 appearing, as Virchow has shown, and greater 

 racial uniformity is becoming apparent. The 

 larger part of the German people is a mixture 

 between the light-skinned indigenous race and the 

 dark-skinned Indo-European races. Free crossing 

 prevents the further formation of striking changes; 

 but. with the development of civilization, a new 

 and subordinate factor is taking, in a measure, 

 its place, — that of national and social caste, 

 which tends to the formation of minor variations. 

 The peasant and the noble, the Jew, the German, 

 Frenchman, or Englishman, — all are differen- 

 tiated by very tangible characters, the result of 

 partially restricted crossing, from social causes. 

 Thus in man's history we see the unrestricted 

 crossing of bestiality, fruitful in change ; the ac- 

 quired humane instincts averse to pairing between 

 blood-relations, and eager for remote and strange 

 mates ; and, finally, the prejudices of social and 

 political castes that lead to the formation of minor 

 variations. 



AN OLD-FASHIONED BOOK. 

 This volume seems to be in its principal features 

 an abridged translation of Weber's ' Lehrbuch der 

 weltgeschichte,' to which, indeed, Dr. Fisher ac- 

 knowledges his great indebtedness, especially as 

 to ancient and mediaeval history. As to the need 

 of some such book as the one under review, there 

 ran be no question. Teachers still, even in many 

 of our best colleges, use the old mechanical 

 method of teaching history. We call it the 

 mechanical method with no intention of dis- 

 crediting it ; for there is no doubt but that, in the 

 case of the great majority of our history teachers, 



OutliiuH of ii ni n-rsal history. By G. P. Fisher. N»»w 

 York, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor <£ Co., 1885. 12°. 



the safest way is to put a good book into the 

 hands of the student, and make him commit to 

 memory so many pages a week. To be sure, he 

 forgets most of his facts as soon as possible after 

 the examination. But, on the other hand, if the 

 book is a good one, he has learned very few things 

 which will have to be carefully unlearned in after- 

 life. The best example that occurs to us, of the 

 working of this system, is with regard to the teach- 

 ing of botany in one of our smaller sectarian col- 

 leges not so very many years ago. The text-book 

 was large, and well supplied with poor pictures. 

 The class came in regularly : they could not be 

 absent without excuse. As soon as the man in 

 charge had satisfied himself that all were present, 

 he said to N. or M., 'Proceed.' N. or M. pro- 

 ceeded to recite from memory the opening para- 

 graph of the day's lesson. When the man in 

 charge thought he had recited enough, he ordered 

 another boy to ' proceed.' Then came reviews and 

 second reviews. At the end of the term or year 

 the boys knew the book by heart. As they had 

 never analyzed a flower, or applied the knowl- 

 edge thus gained in any way, their botanical wis- 

 dom was very slight. To this day, most of them 

 know absolutely nothing of botany, though still 

 able to recite page after page of the large and 

 very dry text-book. So it is with history. A 

 man may know a hundred dates. He may know, 

 for instance, that Magna Charta was signed by 

 King John on June 15, 1215 ; but if he knows 

 nothing about the document itself, what it meant, 

 who drew it up and why, under what circum- 

 stances it was signed and why, he may be said to 

 know nothing about the most interesting document 

 in the history of the Anglo-Saxon race. He may 

 know, too, that the first perfect parliament was 

 summoned by Edward I.; but, if he knows no 

 more, he may with truth be said to be utterly 

 ignorant of an event which John Richard Green 

 has denominated 'the most important event in 

 English history.' Still, books giving such gen- 

 eral knowledge of the world's history have their 

 place. 



Professor Fisher has undoubtedly put much 

 time and labor into the making of this book. Por- 

 tions of it are well done — exceedingly well done. 

 It is also very well proportioned, and in its ar- 

 rangement no fault can be found. We art con- 

 scious, too, of the enormous labor involved in get- 

 ting out such a work. But all these considerations 

 only add to our regret that Dr. Fisher did not use 

 still more care in his original writing, and exer- 

 cise very much more vigilance in his proof-read- 

 ing ; then lie might have produced a hook that 

 would have remained the standard work, of its 

 size, for a very long time. Let us call attention to 



