Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/857

 REVIEM^S 841

Care and Treatment of Epileptics. By William Pryor Letch- worth, LL.D. New York and London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. Pp. 246. S4.

There was need of a book to reveal to the public the special character of epilepsy and the most suitable treatment of epileptics. Mr. Letchworth is eminently fitted for this task, and he has given us a beautiful, instructive, and inspiring volume, a witness to his learning and his philanthropy. The discussion of the characteristics of the dis- ease, its heredity, and of the best methods of institutional treatment rests on eminent medical authorities and on the wide observations and trained judgment of the author.

The greater part of the book is a critical description of the best institutions already established, in Europe and .\merica. The illus- trations are numerous and valuable. All friends of this class of unfor- tunates will be glad to have at hand a clear, adequate, and convincing work, the best means of educating and directing public opinion. The movement to establish separate asylums, farms, and colonies for epi- leptics is now urged by all competent persons, and a wide reading of this volume will be one of the most efilicient factors in promoting the measures advised by experts.

C. R. Henderson.

A Municipal Program. New York : Published for the National Municipal League ; The Macmillan Co., 1900. Pp. xii -(- 246.

Ln the bewildering diversity of municipal charters in this country it is an accomplishment to secure the substantial agreement of students and reformers from many states to a model charter. As the prospec- tus of this volume says:

This book is the outcome of a unique experience in reform movements. Criticism and denunciation of the maladministration of our cities have been increasing in volume for many years, but practical constructive work for improving municipal government upon any well-defined and well-grounded general principles has been conspicuously lacking.

In May. i8q7, at the Louisville meeting of the National Municipal League, it was decided, however, that an effort should be made to utilize the facts that had been accumulated by the league at its previous meetings, and to formulate on the part of the league a plan or program which should set forth succinctly the essential principles that must underlie successful munici- pal government, and should, if possible, embody those principles in a form which could be enacted into a law or laws and thus put into practical opera- tion.