Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/811

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 795

tect the minor from moral contagion by evil association. At the moment of arrest and in the police court the child, delinquent or dependent, is kept from contact with old offenders and with others of his kind as well, by all possible devices. This principle is followed in the places of detention, and separate cells are provided for each young person.

The prison for boys and young men is the Petite-Roquette. It provides a separate cell and exercise ground for each boy. Even in chapel the boys see only the officers and not each other, since each is in a separate box. Every hour is full of work, study or recreation. The lads are visited by "patrons," who give them counsel. The young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty are accommodated in the second story.

The prison of Saint Lazare is for women and girls, and complaint is made that

classification and separation are not complete Young persons suspected of evil

habits are kept under observation until the judge can secure information and advice, and when it is possible they are cared for as dependent children without a criminal record or contact with criminals. — Revue pinitentiare, February 1896, p. 224.

Female Stenographers and Typewriters in Berlin. — The imperial stenog- rapher estimates that of the inhabitants of the respective cities there is one member of a stenographic union for 382 in Breslau, 444 in Berlin, 542 in Leipsic, 593 in Hamburg, 612 in Dresden, and 950 in Cologne. Yet many stenographers do not belong to the unions. With this number, there is no wonder that women enter into sharp competi- tion with the men. Statistics were gathered of 188 female stenographers in Berlin. Their wages per month were found to be as follows : i,$3; 3, $7.50 to $10; 9, $10 to $12.50; 15, S12.50 to S15; 32. S15 to 817.50; 33. £17-50 to $20; 20, $20 toS22.50; 23, S22.50 to S25; 16, S25 to S27.50; 4, S27.50 to S30; 4, $30 to S32.50; 3, S32.50 to t35; 3. S35 to S37-50; 3. S37-50 to $40; 3, S40 to 842. 5'- ; 16, not definitely stated. Their ages were as follows: 3, 14 to 15; II, 15 to 16; 15, 16 to 17; 17, 17 to 18; 29, 18 to 19; 19, 19 to 20; 58, 20 to 25 ; 15, 25 to 30; 8, 30 to 35; 7, 35 to 40; 3, 40 to 46; 3, unknown. Their hours of labor: I, 4; i, 5>^ ; i, 6^; 9, 7; 9, 7X ^"d 7/4 ; 37, 8; 32, 8K : 42> 9 ; 10, 9K ; 16. 10; 5, loK ; 2, II ; I. 13; 7, indefinite: 15, not stated. — Dr. Fr. Specht, " Die weiblichen Stenographen und Maschinenschreiber Berlins," in Zeitschrift fiir die Gesamte SlaatswissenscAaft, No. 2, 1896.

The Theory of Social Evolution in Vico and in the Modern Sociologists. —

The theory of evolution has been applied in the historical and social sciences with no less success than in the field of the natural sciences, revealing rational connection and continuity in human affairs, and showing the development of the social organism from a simple to a more complex form. Vico applied this theory to the philosophy of his- tory in " Principii di una scienza nuova d'intorno alia commune natura delle nazione " (1725). He fancied evolution to be practically the same throughout every great his- torical period. His ideal history is a metaphysical conception without historical veri- fication. He recognized that the history of one nation is not a mere repetition of the history of another, his recurrences being approximately of ideas not of events. The ricorsi of Vico are somewhat similar to the survivals of Tylor, both holding that human nature, in its changes, retains some primitive characteristics; but Vico thought there are repetitions of entire cycles of history, while Tylor held simply that there are repetitions of certain social manifestations. Vico compared the development of humanity with that of the individual, describing its childhood, manhood, and old age, its growth and decay. This view may be compared with Hegel's trichotomy and with Schaffle's evolution, transvolution, and involution ; but Vico did not see, as Schiiffie did, that there is no true involution in the social organism as there is in the animal organism. The position of Letoumeau (La Sociolcgie ifapres Fethnographie, p. 567) is similar to that of Vico, but more adequate. Vico regarded the history of Rome as an epitome of all social and institutional history, and took that history idealized and generalized as the basis of his system. This is analogous to the conception of Hackel, who holds that the evolution of the individual reproduces the evolution of the species. Lili^nfeld and G. Jager, applying the principle of Hackel, hold that the historical development of a people presents a recapitulation of all past states of the race.