Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/281

 REVIEWS 267

discussion of the general problems of acclimatization and the aptitude of the various European nationalities for life in the tropics, the author says : " Summarizing the views of authorities upon this subject, the almost universal opinion seems to be that true colonization in the tropics by the white race is impossible " (p. 585). " In the face of such testimony there can be but one conclusion : to urge the emigration of women, children, or of any save those in the most robust health to the tropics, may not be to murder in the first degree, but it should be classed, to put it mildly, as incitement to it" (p. 586).

A special word should be added with reference to the very com- plete bibliography of the Anthropology and Ethnology of Europe, pub- lished as the second volume of the work by the Boston Public Library ; to the large number of maps which greatly enhance the value of the book; and to the superb collection of portrait types.

Arthur W. Dunn.

The Life of William Morris. By J. W. Mackail. Two volumes, illustrated. Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. viii + 375, 364-

For many, interest in William Morris has centered around some special point of his work, and acquaintance with his life has been made by reading various studies, each portraying some one line of his activi- ties. It is now a satisfaction that the telling of all these pursuits and triumphs in chronological order is made into both an alluring life story and also a complete narrative with logical sequence. The task has been an exacting one, the demands made upon the chronicler of a most unusual kind. Morris' genius and endeavors were so multi- form that it is required of his biographer to possess sympathies for widely different energies and ideals, and most varied powers of judg- ment and appreciation. The best has been done, we think, in that the chosen biographer, Mr. J. W. Mackail — the son-in-law of the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones — entered upon the work at the desire of this lifelong friend, and the biography is written from a human stand- point.

The enthusiastic saga-convert, F. Buxton Forman, author of The Life Poetic, as Lived by William Morris, may not hold the same esti- mate each time in the literary field, and Mr. Bernard Shaw may claim the right to deny some statement regarding socialistic dogma, as he does with quite amusing wit in his own review of the biography