animals [Organisms]. Chapters VIII to X give some of the most important facts and principles of neurology. Chapters XI to XVI cover the whole field of psychology in a concise fashion. . . . Chapters XVII to XX state the most important facts with regard to the beginning of social evolution. . ." (pages viii-ix.).

The book will undoubtedly meet with the fervent disapproval of many experts in the fields from which Mr. Parmelee has topped the choicest grain. None the less it brings together the data in a small compass, and discusses their more obvious bearing on social evolution. The method is interesting. Mr. Parmelee insists that phenomena requiring extra-phenomenal explanations are extra-phenomenal, or else capable of scientific explanation, in which case they belong once more to the category of phenomena (e. g. pages 287-288). He attempts the scientific explanation, by arranging and discussing the work of actual investigators of (and authorities on) phenomena. That he prefers to stand rather with H. S. Jennings and Jacques Loeb than with Titchener, Bergson and others is apparently due to the fact that the theories of Jennings and Loeb seem to him capable of considerable experimental verification.

In but one part of the book is there a lapse from ample clarity. The chapters devoted to neurology are so bestrewn with terms far beyond the lay mind that they are confusing and not helpful.

The bibliography is a monument to recent progress. Two hundred and thirty-seven titles are quoted, of which ninety per cent have appeared since 1890.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.

F. A. DEWEY.

Republican France, her Presidents, Statesmen, Policy, Vicissitudes and Social Life. By ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY. Small, Maynard & Company. No date.-x, 511 pp.

Boston,

This is a fascinating book; less a history than a gallery of portraits, a narrative of historical incidents, lacking in perspective yet crowded with data, revealing an intimate knowledge of men and things but more like a work of reference than a record of personal experiences. The fascination lies in the material rather than in the way in which it is presented, and yet, the very commonplaceness of its reflections are so in tone with its easy journalistic manner that, accepting it for what it is, one is forced to admit a sort of charm in the narrative as well. Graphic touches in personal description lighten up a sort of encyclopædic treatment of biography; and many a hint of personal eccen

tricity or obscure trend of public opinion makes the historical treatment both valuable and interesting. There might, apparently, have been much more of this incidental material had the author chosen to give it, for as the correspondent of the London Illustrated News and the Pall Mall Gazette in Paris, he had ample opportunity to penetrate into corners where one may gather that kind of information which gives the charm to the indiscretions of memoirs of the senescent. But our author is anything but indiscreet. He seldom intrudes himself upon the reader, and then only in the plural" we." He was apparently present at many famous incidents, saw both Thiers and Gambetta in their homes and had the entrée to salons where politics was largely "fixed" in the days of intrigue under MacMahon; yet only a faint reflection is given of these intimacies.

The special value of the volume lies in the light it throws upon the complexion of the successive ministries through the history of the republic. There is little here of original contribution; but only those who have had the opportunity to study France at first hand and have the time to trace through journalistic sources the varying attitudes of parliamentary groups as well as of their leaders, can really understand the internal history of the republic. Mr. Vizetelly has drawn together much of this information, and presented the material with an impartiality which one could not expect from a similar survey written by a Frenchman. His standpoint is in general that of a fairly conservative republican. He has little understanding of the social problems which are fronting France to-day and not much interest in them. But when ideas incorporate themselves in men and the men begin to act, the deeds are recorded by our chronicler. Altogether, one is thankful that he has not intruded more philosophy and has told his story in journalistic fashion, with its rambling, newsy, irrelevant items strewn along it. Any other treatment by him would have been a failure, and this is a success.

J. T. SHOTWELL.

BOOK NOTES

Studies of government by the so-called comparative method usually furnish a picture so blurred in its outlines as to be of slight service to one who seeks to know the organization and the operation of any single institution. Accurate inspection and comprehension of particulars is sacrificed for the supposedly broad view of general aspects and tendencies. The isolation for the purpose of analysis and comparison of what may seem separate and distinct features of the various governments considered is misleading and unsatisfactory where the elements thus abstracted are in practical operation invariably interdependent. The dangers of this method are largely avoided by Dr. Delos F. Wilcox in his volume on Great Cities in America (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1910; xi, 426 pp.) through the special and separate treatment accorded to the problems and the government of the cities of Washington, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Boston. The history of each city is briefly outlined, its relation to the state government is presented and the organization, composition and inter-relations of its various departments are set forth. Consideration is given to the finances and to the various activities, public and semi-public, in which each city engages. The balance in the relative. attention devoted to structure and to function deserves commendation, with the possible exception of that in the chapter on St. Louis. The introductory and concluding chapters deal in a more general way with the problems of great cities, but the discussion of these topics does not enhance the value or the merit of the book.

Professor W. B. Munro, who provided students with a standard textbook on the government of European cities three or four years ago, has now brought out a companion volume on The Government of American Cities (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1912; ix, 401 pp.). "In an age," he says, "when men appear far too ready to proceed with a diagnosis and to prescribe remedies without much preliminary study of the anatomy and the physiology of city government, too much stress upon the latter branches of the subject can scarcely be laid." That his attention, in this case, is confined to the structural aspect of government by no means implies a failure to realize the importance of the functional aspect; this has been postponed for later treatment. Believing that the roots of the present lie deep in the past and that only through a knowledge of our institutional history can the present

organization and its probable line of development be understood, the author begins with a sketch of municipal evolution. Subsequent chapters explain the powers and duties of the city as a municipal corporation, describe the organs of government and their relations with one another, and in the light of most recent changes discuss parties and politics, nominations and elections, direct legislation and the recall. With so wide a field to cover it has been necessary to indicate the sources of further information; and unfortunately the bibliographies at the end of each chapter have been put together somewhat carelessly. Even in the text misstatements occur, as for instance where Pittsburgh is included among the cities having a bicameral council. But minor defects should not be allowed to obscure the great merits of the book: an admirable sense of proportion, a detachment of view and fairness in considering controversial questions, an independence of judgment and originality which are rarely found in such systematic studies. Professor Munro often shows the influence of his Canadian origin and of his familiarity with conditions in Europe. Thus, having in mind the nominating systems which prevail in other countries, he refuses to accept the direct primary as a final solution. "It is based upon the assumption that the voters will act wisely without leadership, rather than upon the principle that they will follow wise leadership." If the reformers "assumed the inevitableness of leadership and strove to make it responsible, the results would undoubtedly be better." A simpler device is needed. The reason why so many candidates come forward for a place on the ballot is that it is so hard to get on the ballot; nominations, being difficult to obtain, are sought for their own sake as an honor. Due recognition is given to the real significance of the commissiongovernment idea. The advocates of that plan "were the first group of municipal reformers to bring forth a proposal to abolish the traditional separation of legislative and administrative powers, and consequently the first to urge a complete reorganization, on a simplified basis, of the whole municipal framework." Professor Munro dates the renaissance of our city government from the events which followed the Galveston flood a dozen years ago.

In his European Cities at Work (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913; xiv, 370 pp.) Dr. Frederick C. Howe is not concerned with the machinery of government, but with those functions of government which contribute most to community living. Having written of British cities in an earlier volume, he now devotes only five of twentyone chapters to them; and this may be also due to the fact that, aside from the striking success of municipal ownership and the development

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of garden suburbs, there is not a great deal of inspiration to be gathered in England by our struggling reformers. Municipal ownership, of course, has amply justified itself, both in the improved service given to the public and in the profits which go to the reduction of taxes. Street railways carry passengers at an average fare of about two cents, provide everyone with a seat even in rush hours, pay taxes and yet make a profit. The city of Bradford maintains an express and delivery service which is a great boon to tradesmen and shoppers; the charges vary from four cents for seven pounds to ten cents for 56 pounds. But it is the German cities which Dr. Howe regards as an experiment station for all of us." Nowhere else does the civic ideal contrast more strikingly with our own. In America, to put the facts baldly, the city is given up to exploitation; it is made ugly and unhealthy by obtrusive industrialism; it is everywhere shackled with limitations to subserve property interests. Our failure in the citythat "singular relapse into barbarism," as Wells says of Chicagocannot be attributed to rapidity of growth; Dr. Howe shows that German cities have emerged as recently and grown as fast. The explanation lies in the psychology of the people, he says. In one case the end held in view is private right, in the other public service. "It is the bigness of vision, boldness of execution, and far-sighted outlook on the future that are so amazing. . . . Germany almost alone among the civilized nations sees the city as the permanent centre of the civilization of the future, and Germany almost alone is building her cities to make them contribute to the happiness, health, and wellbeing of the people." How that is being done Dr. Howe tells better than it has anywhere been told before. He writes with an authority which comes of practical experience with city affairs in this country and of a familiarity with European cities gained by many visits-one of them as an agent of the United States government. He writes also with a brightness and freedom which will make a wide appeal. A general description is given of two communities, Frankfort and Düsseldorff, of which the latter, though governed by business men, has carried municipal socialism farther than the most radical suggestions proposed in this country. Each of the other chapters treats of some one line of municipal activity-such as city planning or protection of the workers-and draws illustrations from various parts of the country. The tone, it must be said, maintains a monotonous level of enthusiasm throughout. The least successful part of the book is that in which an attempt is made to explain the German city and its elements of superiority over our own. It is absurd to suppose that "home rule" bred