race that shall justify splendidly the ways of God to His children of the New World. After all, it was not only to the individual and the family, but in a special manner to all Western mankind, that He gave on the one hand new and boundless opportunity, while on the other He anchored deep in their hearts a sacred instinct of religion that to not a few wise men seems the surest uplift and prop in the battle that stretches before us for whatever is good and desirable, fair and becoming in the social order, whose highest perfection, however, can never he reached unless both the individual and the family are first secured in all the native elements of their well-being, BOOK DEPARTMENT NOTES Allen, Horace N. Things Korean. Pp. 256. Price, $1.25. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1909. Twenty-two years' experience in Korea as a medical missionary, and consular and diplomatic representative, especially qualify Dr. Allen to interpret Korean customs and politics. This little volume is arranged in the form of a series of sketches on different phases of Korean life. Interesting episodes of the period when Korea was being opened to western influence occupy most of the pages. Dr. Allen is a sympathetic interpreter and finds much to praise where the average traveler has found only incompetence and corruption. The latter portion of the book gives some wholesome advice to newly arrived missionaries, outlines the difficulties under which foreigners labor in Korea, and presents a brief sketch of the extinction of Korean sovereignty. There is a veiled criticism of the inaction of the United States during the period when Japan was completing her control. The book is attractive not only because of its contents, but also because of the pleasing style which at times recalls Lafcadio Hearn. Andujar, Manuel. Spain of To-day from Within. Pp. 220. Price, $1.25. The author New York: F. H. Revell Company, 1909. Travel and religion divide the pages of this easily read volume. was born in Spain in the Catholic Church but was later converted and joined the Methodist branch of Protestantism. About one-fourth of the book is taken up with the story of the change of belief. Past training and temperament explain many highly prejudiced statements made throughout the book, for no opportunity to have a fling at the mother church is lost. The last three-fourths of the book tell of a journey through the Spanish peninsula, in which interesting descriptions of men, events and places are presented. The title leads one to expect an interpretation of one of the most interesting countries of Europe by one who has long lived within it and feels the pulse of the national life, but there proves to be little material of this sort at the author's command. Anson, William R. The Law and Custom of the Constitution. Vol. II. Pp. xv, 283 and xxiv, 347. Oxford: Clarendon Press. In the two parts which constitute Volume II of Mr. Anson's monumental work on "The Law and Custom of the Constitution," he devotes himself exclusively to the development of the power of the crown. No existing work gives so clear an idea of the present position of the executive in the English political system. The author traces, step by step, the development of the prerogatives of the crown and of its powers. Probably the most illuminating chapter in the book is the one dealing with the crown and the courts. The study of this chapter enables the student to see clearly how the liberty of the citizen was acquired through the minor judiciary. The courts of inferior jurisdiction were the first to emancipate themselves from executive control. The legal fictions resorted to in accomplishing this purpose furnish one of the most fascinating chapters in English history, and illustrate the real genius of the English people for self-government. Another portion of the work which throws a flood of light on the operation of the British system is Chapters II and III. In his treatment of the historical development of the Privy Council, the Ministry and the Cabinet, the wide gap between legal form and constitutional practice, so characteristic of the English system, is clearly brought out. This work is so full of material that it is impossible to summarize the contents of these two volumes. It is sufficient praise to say that they are indispensable to the student of English political institutions, and of hardly less value to students of American political development. Bainbridge, William S. Life's Day. Pp. 308. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1909. It has become a very necessary part of medical effort and teaching to popularize for the layman the principles of hygienic living and more widely and speedily to disseminate among those who have little time for deep study, the sensible, ordinary knowledge requisite to a good physical and mental condition. In this volume of "guide posts and danger signals to health" is found a most comprehensive and instructive compilation of suggestions, covering the various periods of human lifetime from birth to death, prefaced by a concise, elementary discussion of the influences of heredity and environment. The critical periods, those of childhood and adolescence, are treated with unusual care. The characteristic note is one of moderation in all things, whether it be diet, exercise or parental guidance. Barnett, Canon, and Mrs. S. A. Towards Social Reform. Pp. 352. Price, $1.50. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1909. It is a rich experience that Canon and Mrs. Barnett have had in their lifetime of work and thought in East London, of which period a full quarter century has been spent in Toynbee Hall. An earlier volume embodied some of the conclusions derived from that experience. The present one, in the same general style, is made up of a series of essays, many of them previously published elsewhere, dealing with social reformers, poverty, education, recreation and housing. The authors write as those who, guided by an ideal. yet realize the painful slowness of progress toward it. The book necessarily deals with things from the English point of view, but its problems are universal, and the reflections of these lifelong students have their interest for all thinking men. The point of view is sanely and progressively conservative, as befits those who have long dealt at first hand with the difficult task of social reform. Becu, Carlos A. La Neutralidad. Buenos Aires: Arnold, Moen & Her mano. In a monograph on neutrality, Dr. Becu has made a very important contribution to the subject. The author has given special attention to the practice of the American nations, and in this respect his book presents material which is not to be found in any other publication. It is to be hoped that at some time or other this work will be translated for the use of American students. Beveridge, W. H. Unemployment-A Problem of Industry. Pp. xvi, 317. Blandin, Mrs. I. M. History of Higher Education of Women in the South Prior to 1860. Pp. 327. Price, $3.00. Washington: Neale Publishing Company, 1909. Mrs. I. M. Blandin's "History of Higher Education of Women in the South" presents an accumulation of data concerning the southern schools that would probably be difficult to duplicate. Several hundred schools, in the various southern states, are described. Most of the descriptions are very minute, some of them practically amounting to a catalogue of the school, academy or institute, as the case may be, enumerating the branches of study taught there, the faculties of successive years, the graduates, and their respective degrees. The curricula described in most cases provide an education far different from higher education as we now conceive it, and come rather under the head of elementary education. The book disintegrates rather than integrates the data presented, and gives no definite conclusion concerning the result of this education. As a whole, it is rather a detailed history of the schools themselves, than of the resulting education. Bordwell, Percy. The Law of War Between Belligerenis. Pp. 374. Chicago: Callaghan & Co. Reserved for later notice. Bruce, H. A. The Romance of American Expansion. Pp xiii, 246. Price. $1.75. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1909. This book is the appearance in book form of an engaging series of articles which were originally published in the Outlook. The style in which they are written shows that the author has tried to popularize certain typical events of American foreign policy-the romance is always in the foreground. The chapters are devoted to the work done by eight men prominent in the growth of our country-Boone, Jefferson, Jackson, Houston, Benton, Fremont, Seward and McKinley. The author's enthusiasm in his description of these men leaves him in little less than hero worship. But it would be unfair to judge the work strictly from the standpoint of the historian |