pression that he is a genuine scientific man doing his best to illustrate an obscure and important province of human nature.

At present there are two main theories about sexual inversion; according to the first it is congenital, according to the second it is the result of habit and suggestion, and therefore curable through counter-suggestion by the hypnotic physician. Mr. Ellis adopts the congenital theory with due allowance for the secondary influence of the other factors. "In sexual inversion we have what may fairly be called a 'sport' or variation, one of those organic aberrations which we see throughout living nature, in plants and in animals."

In the practical conclusions with which he ends his work Mr. Ellis is commendably cautious. The whole study is yet in a somewhat elementary state, and more data must be accumulated before any conclusions can be more than probable. He speaks, however, with some emphasis in condemning the hypnotic methods for the “cure” of sexual inversion. They are, he argues with reason, both futile and repulsive. It is a mistake to encourage inverts to marry and perpetuate an abnormal stock. "Sometimes, indeed, the tendency to sexual inversion in eccentric and neurotic families seems merely to be Nature's merciful method of winding up a concern which, from her point of view, has ceased to be profitable." It is useless, he says, to try to change the invert's nature. It is better to influence him to a good life and to direct his homosexual sympathies into channels which will make him a useful and happy member of society.

Mr. Ellis further recommends a relaxation of the severe English law against unnatural vice. Here he is less convincing. Our present law is not very logical, but, from the general common sense of those who administer it, seems to work fairly well.

There are some who would raise the general question whether a subject like the present can fitly be made the matter of a published treatise. Many excellent persons have a horror of everything related to the homosexual tendency. Their feeling commands our respect, and yet it seems better to have the subject brought out into publicity. That all sorts of immature and half-educated people should read Mr. Ellis's book is, of course, most undesirable. But in view of the prevalence of sexual inversion it is necessary that every schoolmaster, every criminal lawyer, we had almost said every head of a family, should be acquainted with its phenomena. Were the subject better understood, mistakes would be avoided that have ruined thousands of lives. H. S.

THE WONDERFUL CENTURY: Its Successes and Failures. By Alfred Russel Wallace. 8vo. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1898. Pp. 400, twelve diagrams, portrait.

This is an interesting appreciation of the successes and failures of the nineteenth century by an illustrious veteran who has spent his life in the service of science and his fellow-men. Railways, steamships, electric telegraphs, the telephone, lucifer matches, gas illumination, electric lighting, photography, the phonograph, Röntgen rays, spectrum analysis, anesthetics, antiseptics, the theory of the conservation of energy, the molecular theory of gases, the measurement of the velocity of light and the earth's rotation, the uses of dust, the principle of chemical combination in definite proportions, the study of meteors and the meteoritic theory, the study of the glacial epoch, the discovery of the antiquity of man, the establishment of the idea of organic evolution, the cell-theory and the foundation of embryology, the germ-theory of disease and the discovery of the function of leucocytes,―these are the achievements of the nineteenth century in science and its applications. The author contrasts them with what was gained in all preceding ages, so as to justify his title, "The Wonderful Century."

On the other hand, there are failures,-the neglect of phrenology, the depreciation of hypnotism and psychical research, the delusion of vaccination, the failure to perceive the fallacy of militarism, competitive individualism, and earth-plunder. The general conclusion is that the material and intellectual advance has been unprecedented, but that ethical and social development has not kept pace with this.

J. A. T.

NEO-MALTHUSIANISM: An Inquiry into that System with Regard to its Economy and Morality. By R. Ussher. 8vo. London: Gibbings & Co., 1898. Pp. 325.

This book is intended to show that recourse to Neo-Malthusian methods is morally and economically pernicious. It is argued that the counsels of the Neo-Malthusians tend to reduce marriage to monogamic prostitution, by suggesting a method whereby the sexual passions may be indulged irresponsibly as far as the possibility of progeny is concerned. It is also argued that the methods are economically fallacious, since they do not touch the social evils which have led to their adoption. Raise the moral ideals of control, chivalry, and chastity; let the human character have a chance

to develop into its rightful supremacy over the animal instincts; press on with economic reforms, and the morbid practices of the Neo-Malthusians will cease to find even an excuse: this is the author's position. But does not this solution seem very far off, while our problem is one of to-day? We agree with the author that the Neo-Malthusian suggestions may lead to even worse evils than those which they are intended to obviate, and we distrust any solution which does not rest upon slow organic changes of constitution and character. On the other hand, for particular cases we see at present no solution but the pis aller of Neo-Malthusianism. We doubt if the author has quite realized that there are many NeoMalthusians whose appreciation of the sanctity of marriage, the responsibility of parentage, and the fundamental, ethical, and social importance of the family, is quite as strong and clear as his. Neo-Malthusian methods may become loop-holes for lasciviousness; but so may the most conventional marriages. It appears to us certain that there are many cases where it is in every conceivable way better for a married couple not to have more than two or three children, and we cannot believe that this restriction can be attained by continence except in a very small percentage of cases. NeoMalthusian methods may lead to an abyss of immorality, but they may also be consistent with and conducive to a high-toned morality, -everything depending upon the ethical pitch of the whole life. J. A. THOMSON.

EDINBURGH.

STUDIES IN LITTLE Known SubJECTS. By C. E. Plumptre. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1898.

This book is a reprint of various Essays that Mr. Plumptre has published during the last thirteen years. The Essays are quite detached. The author divides them into Studies in Times Past and Studies in Times Present. The best Essays in the first division are the two upon Bruno. The writer is very appreciative of the great Italian philosopher, and very severe upon a Scottish reviewer who had devoted two articles in the Scottish Review of 1888 to an onslaught upon Bruno. Mr. Plumptre, however, does not manage to throw any fresh light on Bruno's philosophy. He deals rather with Bruno as a man. The position of Plumptre in this respect seems good as against that of the Scottish reviewer who represents Bruno as a worthless "creature." The Essays in the second part deal with more popular subjects, such as the Progress of Japan,

Thackeray's Letters, Charles Bradlaugh, etc. The author's observations are a little trite. For example, he discourses on the duty of being true to our convictions, on the advantages of looking on the best side of things, and so on. Every one knows all these things. The difficulty lies in carrying them out in practice. But doubtless there is no harm in reminding people of them. The author, it may be noted, is very agnostic.

EDINBURGH.

W. F. TROTter.

8vo.

FOOTSTEPS IN HUMAN PROGRESS, SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS: A Short Series of Letters to a Friend. By James Samuelson. London Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1898. Pp. 113.

Mr. Samuelson seeks to show that the course of civilization, in spite of its many apparently devious and deeply shadowed turns and twists, has been "slowly but surely towards a far distant goal designed and prepared for the human race by a higher Intelligence." The book might be described as a series of concrete illustrations of the theological doctrine of Providence, or of the philosophical doctrine of the rationality of history. After reading the genial chapters, one feels sorry to be unable to accept the author's protest that he is not optimistic.

J. A. T.

COMMUNISM IN CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION. By Karl Kanbsky. Translated by G. L. and E. P. Milliken. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 16 shillings.

This volume, which originally formed part of "Geschichte des Socialismus," deals with the history of heretical communism. In it the history and customs of the Bohemian Brethren, the Taborites, and the Anabaptists are described at considerable length. The descriptions bear evidence of much learning and research; the book is full of curious information, and the events which are related in it have been little known or studied, although they have no unimportant bearing on many problems and theories of the present time. Unfortunately, the style of the author does not do justice to his material; if what he has to say interests the reader, it is in spite of the way in which it is said.

Throughout the book Herr Kanbsky sets himself to prove that the popular representation of the period has up to the present time been a false one. For example, he says, "according to the usual popular representation of history, the only question at issue VOL. IX.-No. 2

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during the gigantic struggles of the Hussite war was essentially whether or not the Holy Communion ought to be administered in both kinds;" but, according to his view, "what the various flags are to the nations of to-day, the chalice was to the Hussites. It was their standard, round which they rallied, and which they defended to the last; but it was not an object of strife. It was precisely the same with the different forms of the Holy Communion which made their appearance in the Reformation of the sixteenth century.” Such statements seem to indicate that the point of view from which Herr Kanbsky interprets the period is also limited, though from the opposite side to that taken by the historians who are responsible for the "popular representation."

LONDON.

F. M. BUTLIN.

THEORIES OF THE WILL in the History of Philosophy. By Archi-
bald Alexander. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1898.
Pp. 365.
METAPHYSICS. By Borden P. Bowne. Revised Edition from new
Plates. New York and London: Harper & Bros., 1898.

Mr. Alexander's "Theories of the Will" is a valuable contribution to the study of philosophic problems. The author adopts the method of historical exposition, and traces the development of metaphysical thought on this subject from its first beginnings in the primitive Greek philosophers down to the last theories of Lotze. Platonic, Aristotelian, Epicurean, and Stoic doctrines are fully described; the Satristic, Scholastic, and Reformation teachings are fully given; and, finally, the theories of Locke, Hobbes, Hume, Reid, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Descartes, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Schopenhauer are minutely described; closing, as we have already stated, with the latest theories of Lotze.

An immensely valuable feature of the work is its wealth of accurate references; on each page are foot notes giving the exact references on each point in the works of the author under discussion; while in the body of the work itself a free use is made of the very "ipsimma verba" of the philosopher himself in Greek, Latin, English, and German; it need scarcely be pointed out how very valuable such features are for the accurate student and for reference. Mr. Alexander's work deserves a high place in the literature on this subject for its high scholarship and vast amount of information.