Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 42.djvu/142

132 is devoted to selection, in which the theory of natural selection is stated, and criticisms upon it are answered, and the theory of sexual selection is discussed. There is an appendix dealing with some technical points in the arguments from paleontology, and several supplementary notes. The text is illustrated with 125 excellent engravings.

is one of a number of text-books that have been called forth by the recent sudden increase of interest in the teaching of ethics. Its arrangement is based on a list of objects, such as food and drink, dress, exercise, property, time, fellow-men, the poor, society, and God, and it is designed to show the proper relation of the individual to each of these objects. In each case the author sets forth the duty with regard to the relation, the virtue which secures the performance of this duty, the reward which is the natural consequence of the particular virtue, the temptation most likely to lead one away from this virtue, the vice of defective and that of excessive activity in the relation in question, and the penalty of the more common vice. The author makes religion the consummation rather than the foundation of ethics. The style of the book adapts it more especially to college students.

study of folk lore is in the elementary stage which consists in the gathering of facts belonging to any part of its field and wherever they may be found. Mr. Gomme in the book before us has taken a step toward raising it above this stage into one in which its facts shall be grouped so as to show their hidden significance, and to point out lines of still more fruitful research. He has chosen ethnology for his special theme and marshals the available facts of folk lore so as to throw light upon the history of races. Thus, he maintains that practices and beliefs which are preserved among European peasantry, and are in marked contrast with the prevailing civilization, "are to be identified with the rude culture of ancient Europe, which has been swept over by waves of higher culture from foreign sources." The fact that such practices are most conspicuous among the descendants of a conquered race, where such exist side by side with the descendants of their conquerors, gives support to this idea. An interesting example of this is found in the village festival of southern India, in which the Pariahs—the casteless remnant of a conquered race—appear as the chief functionaries, although the dominant race takes part in it.

In a chapter on The Ethnic Genealogy of Folk Lore, evidence is presented which indicates that many beliefs and practices relating to the dead are derived from a primitive custom of eating dead kindred—a custom that still persists among some tribes of savages. There is much that now seems hopelessly obscure concerning the origin, early movements, and mingling of races, but the thorough and systematic study of folk lore, in such lines as those that Mr. Gomme has traced, promises to throw light into many dark places.

author states in his preface that "this work is addressed to women who are desirous of fulfilling properly their duties as wives and mothers, and is designed to assist them in exercising an intelligent supervision over their own and their children's health." It is a notably full and thorough treatise, dealing with all the incidents of pregnancy and confinement, describing the proper care of the infant, and telling how the common diseases of children may be recognized. The accidents of miscarriage and premature confinement are described, and the extra precautions which they necessitate are specified. In the part devoted to the child, one chapter tells the average size and weight of the child at birth, the usual rate of growth, at what age the teeth appear, the power of walking is developed, and the ability to talk is gained. The style of the book is simple and concise; it is not marred by useless words or mystifying technicalities. The author takes especial care to tell what may be expected to occur during the period of gestation and after the birth of the child, giving the range of