Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/881

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 867

increase of sexual diseases, increase of mental affections and decrease of desire for procreation cause a decrease in fecundity. Thirty years ago, the command "Be fruitful and multiply" held these factors in check, but with the breakdown of the old intense religious faith, the Jews have entered the third period of growth in population. — Wasserman, Zeitschrift fur Socialwissenschaft, Novem- ber, 1909. E.W.B.

Zur Phychologie das engUschen Gsistes. — The Roman tjrpe of mind de- manded clearness, logic, and unity as life conditions ; the ground concepts of Teu- tonic culture were the manifoldness and individuality of the works of nature. In England the Germanic characteristics crystallized in pure and typical forms. The English gather up vast quantities of disorganized knowledge, which must await systematic treatment by foreigners. The empirical procedure has been the leading method in English intellectual history from Bacon to Mill. The great English inventors and discoverers of scientific laws have relied more upon inspiration than upon systematic inquiry. Conservative regard for ancient customs and in- stitutions is exhibited by a modern democracy expressing the will of the people through mediaeval forms of government. The success of England in social, political and colonial affairs is largely due to adapting measures to needs and circumstances and not to preconceived dogmas or rigid general laws. — Ernst Bernhard, Jahrbuch filr Gesetzgebting, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft, January, 1910. E.W.B.

What the Poor Want. — The poor do not want to be treated as a subject race, but as equals. They want to be hobnobbed with, their wives to be intro- duced to the wives of wealthy folks, their children to be educated for the kind of life in which they will have to make a living. They want to have a say in social legislation, to get value for their rent-money, i.e., better homes, to progress by their own efforts, to be treated in a spirit of understanding, of patience, of good-fellowship. — Stephen Reynolds, Quarterly Review, January, 1910.

E.S.B.

International and Inter-racial Relations. — Nearly the whole world has be- come an area of connectedness. Purposive action for ideals has been extending its sway ; the means has been increase of power. Has the natural obstructive- ness of racial differences been mitigated by racial intimacy? Perhaps not. But there is a greater potency for good in the co-operation of diverse peoples discharging varied functions than in a world simple and unified in structure. The progress of nations and races, if not toward uniformity, is toward unity of thought, of sentiment and of life. — A. Caldecott, Sociological Review, January, 1910. E.S.B.

La criminality juvenile. — A law regarding the treatment of juvenile crimi- nals seems absolutely necessary. Private initiative, however, may go ahead and show what may be accomplished. The Eighth Correctional Chamber is now specialized for dealing with these cases, but all rests with the men on the bench as to how long this will be kept up ; a new set of judges may change things considerably. Another reform should be a better regulation of the audience in the court. In spite of the care taken to keep out the public often sixty or eighty persons who have no part in the cases are there. The law ought to bar them out as in other countries. The tolerance of the officers in not arresting the child for the first offense helps to make the latter a criminal. The judge may put the child in prison or under the guardianship of an individual or send it to the country. But all of these separate the child from the parent. It may be acquitted, but there is no sanction for this in the idea of justice. The best method seems to be that of American probation, which has now been practiced three years in Paris. — M. Julhiet, La ref. soc, January, 1910.

R.B.McC.

Private Conscience and Corporate Right. — Private conscience is regard- less of corporate right; juries will permit their antipathies for the genus cor-