Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/443

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 429

Le probl^me irlandais. — The "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- land" presents little of the unity which this designation is supposed to represent. Ireland is not the sister isle of the official phraseology. Today she battles, not, as formerly, for her political independence, but for the recovery of her historic patrimony and for her economic emancipation. The conflict is between the local population and the landlord — the odious representative of English domi- nation. However, England at last realizes that the most sure means of repres- sing the sentiment of national individuality is to remove the principal cause of hostility between the two races ; consequently recent Parliamentary legislation has been directed toward the transfer of Irish landed estates to their actual tenants. The Land Act of 1903 went some distance in achieving this result, but it has proved inadequate, and the situation in Ireland is again extremely critical. The Land Bill now before Parliament, embodying the "compulsory purchase" principle, is an effort to approach a definite solution. — H, Marchani, Quest. Dipl. et Colon., August, 1909. E. F. C.

The Significance of Advertising. — There is necessity for widespread and continuous appeals upon the hurry and forgetfulness of the time if public atten- tion is secured. It is not a question of indifference, or lack of cordiality and appreciation. But this is a time of independence, of tepid preferences, of facile change. The advertisers today are manufacturers of a particular article or articles, and the market is the entire country and often other countries. They do not exaggerate and grovel as formerly. A developed public taste calls for restraint and dignity. But advertising is ubiquitous, and the protest of the public has barren results. The billboards reflect the trend toward the city, the interest in rational diet, the nervous strain of fast living. Advertisers, through organization, could easily dictate the policy of the press. However, the course of development has been from servility to dignity, from hysteria to calmness, from narrowness to breadth. — Frederick Dwight, Yale Review, August, 1909.

R. B. McC.

The Relative Strength of Nurture and Nature. — From investigations in the school populations of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Manchester these conclu- sions are reached. It seems only too true at the present time that the physically and mentally weaker stocks are reproducing themselves at a greater rate than those of sounder physique and intelligence. So far as our investigations have gone at present they show the small influence of environment ; work of the mother, an unhealthy trade of the father, and the drinking of the parents seem to have very little influence on the physique of the children. So far our re- searches demonstrate the effect of a large hereditary factor. The only way to keep a nation strong mentally and physically is to see to it that each new gener- ation is derived chiefly from the fitter members of the generation before. — Ethel M. Elderton, Eug. Lab. Lee, Ser. III. R, B. McC.

Influence of Heredity and Environment on Race Improvement.— The term "inheritance" should be limited to those physical characters which are deter- mined, we know not how, in the germ cells. Thus defined inheritance is re- lieved of much that is ascribed to it. It seems clear that our first duty is the elimination of the unfit, that they may not become parents. The great majority of children in America are born normal and with average possibilities. We live and think too much in vicious circles. Bad living conditions, poor nourish- ment, low ideals breed poverty, vice, and crime. Nature is impersonal. To an increasing degree man determines. The race stock remains practically unchanged. Each generation starts on the same physical level. To realize that our prob- lems are chiefly those of environment which we in increasing measure control gives us a hopeful outlook. — Carl Kelsey, An. Am. Acad., July, 1909.

R. B. McC.

The Causes of Emigration from Greece. — The conditions due to the meager industrial development in Greece have within recent years been accentuated by a marked agricultural depression. This has made it very difficult for the ordinary peasant to secure even a moderate return for his labors. The marked rise in