[March 
1 66 Analyses of Books. 
from denying their value. He concedes that they lead even 
more diredtly than the German gymnastics to the power of 
executing compound movements. Still, he considers that the 
selection of exercises to which long experience has led in Ger- 
many ensures a greater and more thorough equability of bodily 
development. Just as a well-trained mathematician is provided 
with methods for every conceivable problem so the German 
athlete can easily accommodate himself to every required phase 
of bodily exertion. 
He glances at another advantage of the German system. It 
requires less space, less expense, fewer outward appliances, and 
may be pursued everywhere by any given number of pupils of any 
age or condition, whilst English sports require for the most part 
large open spaces. The author might have added that though well 
adapted for country gentlemen, for yeomen, farmers, and for the 
general population of villages and small towns, they utterly fail to 
reach the bulk of the dwellers in our great cities. But as the city 
population is increasing, and the country population is decreas- 
ing, it follows that a relatively smaller and smaller portion of the 
nation partakes of any bodily culture. In the commercial classes 
physical inferiority is signally manifest. It is painful to reflect 
that the proposal to submit the boys in our Board Schools to a 
course of military drill is vehemently opposed by a certain 
fadtion. The volunteer movement, which gives a slight 
modicum of physical training to at least a fradtion of our town 
population has been opposed from the same quarter. At the 
risk of possible execration we will venture to say that apart from 
all political considerations, which lie quite outside our compe- 
tence, compulsory military service would prove an inconceivable 
boon to this nation. The improvement in the physique of the 
Germans, even within the memory of persons now living, is 
startling, and must give them an advantage which is far from 
being confined to military affairs. 
Chronicles of the Photographs of Spiritual Beings and Pheno- 
nomena Invisible to the Material Eye : Interblended with 
Personal Narrative. By Miss Houghton, Author of 
“ Evenings at Home in Spiritual Seance.” London : E. 
W. Allen. 
We have here a work not easy to criticise. The authoress, who 
is evidently a sincere believer in what she narrates, teaches us 
that under certain conditions, if the photograph of a living person 
