Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 12.djvu/121

Rh revolutionary machine, which is so intimately interwoven with the development of civilization, is itself a part of that development, and as much a product of evolution as an oak a thousand years old. The interesting story of its unfolding from early germs, through long and laborious experiments, to the complete integration of the mechanism, will be told by Prof. Thurston in successive papers, which will be freely and elegantly illustrated. The accompanying "portrait-gallery" of the great inventors who have contributed to this grand mechanical achievement will be the finest and fullest afforded by the historic literature of the subject.



Holy Roman Empire dates from the year 800 when a king of the Franks was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Leo III.; and it is on the inner nature of this empire, as the most signal instance of the fusion of Roman and Teutonic elements in modern civilization, that the author dwells, treating of the influence which it exercised over the minds of men, and the causes that gave it power; speaking less of events than of principles, and describing the empire, not as a state, but as an institution created by and embodying a wonderful system of ideas. The forms which the empire took, in the several stages of its growth, are briefly sketched. A glance is taken at the condition of the Roman world in the third and fourth centuries, in order to make clear out of what elements the imperial system was formed.

Expiring antiquity had bequeathed to the ages that followed two great ideas a—world-monarchy and a world-religion. The Roman dominion, giving to many nations a common speech and law, broke down the differences of race and nationality—when foreigner and enemy were synonymous terms—and made citizens of them irrespective of their religious beliefs, which were purely local and national. For these, Christianity substituted the belief in one God, and the doctrine of the unity of God enforced the unity of man; and there was thus formed a community of the faithful—a holy empire—designed to gather all men into its bosom. Thus the Holy Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire were one and the same thing in two aspects. As divine and eternal, its head was the pope, to whom souls were intrusted; as human and temporal, the emperor, commissioned to rule over men's bodies and acts.

Chapters are devoted to the subjects "Imperial Titles and Pretensions;" "Changes in the Germanic Constitution;" "The Empire as an International Power;" "The City of Rome in the Middle Ages;" "Effects of the Renaissance and Reformation on the Empire;" its last phases and end in 1806 by the abdication of Francis II., 1,006 years after Leo the pope had crowned the Frankish king. A supplementary chapter is added on "The New Germanic Empire," and an appendix of notes on "Imperial Titles and Ceremonies." To the whole is prefixed a "Chronological Table of Emperors and Popes," and "Dates of Important Events in the History of the Empire."

The treatment and style of the work are judicial and scholarly, and the book will doubtless be a standard one on the subjects of which it speaks. It has been remarkably well received on all sides, having already passed through seven editions.

years ago, Dr. Maudsley issued a large, well-elaborated volume under the title of "The Physiology and Pathology of Mind." It was well received, and a second edition was called for, which has been now for some time out of print. After several years' further study of the subject, and availing himself of the great activity of investigation in this branch during the last decade, Dr. Maudsley has revised his work, and so extended it that it became desirable 