quarrel with Hamilton, involving as it did alienation from the more aristocratic section of the Federalist party. In other words, John Adams, "the statesman of the Revolution," and the courageous second President of the United States, differs appreciably from John Adams the writer whom Dr. Merriam quotes.

Two men are omitted from the list of contributors to political theory whom many would rank among the first, namely, Alexander Hamilton and John Marshall. Hamilton, it is true, as one of the writers of the "Federalist," receives in chapter third an undivided share of moderate recognition. But he deserves far more than this. His essays in the "Federalist" constitute the smaller portion of his contribution to political theory. In the chapter on "Political Theory in Relation to the Nature of the Union," he and Marshall should receive as founders of the national theory no less consideration than Webster.

In conclusion, I venture to express the hope that in future editions room will be made for a more adequate recognition of Hamilton and Madison in chapter third; for a full consideration in chapter seventh of the nationalizing services of Hamilton and Marshall; for a more extended study of the period since the civil war, not omitting an inquiry into the relation to political theory of recent changes in State constitutions, and in general legislation, both State and national; and lastly, for an investigation of the influence of party and party government upon American political theory. The excellence of what is here presented prompts the wish for the enlargement of the plan.

Amherst College.

ANSON D. MORSE.

An Introduction to the History of Western Europe. By James Harvey Robinson. Boston and London: Ginn & Co., 1903pp. xiv, 714.

In this volume Professor Robinson of Columbia University has written in the space of about 700 pages a sketch of western European history from the period of the Germanic invasions to recent times. Aware of the temptation among writers of text-books to set down lists of names which, except for enforcing the fact of continuity, can have small significance to the young student, and furthermore, knowing how prone writers are to lay stress upon extraordinary episodes and particularly on political incident, the

author, striving to avoid too sharp outlines and in general the "leading fact" tendency of interpretation, has made a careful attempt to render clear past conditions through sketching social, political, economic, intellectual, and to some slight degree, artistic development and achievement. Of course he gives close attention to the Church as an institution affecting every stage of European life. Among men in the long course of history, he selects only those of first-rate consequence, such leaders as Gregory the Great, Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa, Francis of Assisi, Petrarch, Luther, Calvin, Louis XIV, Napoleon and Bismarck; these he throws into the foreground of his narrative. Episodes hallowed chiefly through assiduous repetition Professor Robinson neglects or omits mentioning. In other words, the author means to interest the young student or the general reader in the history of the development of European culture. The divisions of the subject are conspicuously well balanced: there are 273 pages of text given to the Middle Ages; about 187 pages cover the Renaissance and Reformation; and there are 222 pages on more modern times. The book is subdivided into forty-one chapters.

The volume merits close attention. As a whole it is as painstaking an effort to meet the needs of young college students, beginners in European history, as is to be found. Whatever its faults of method and style, it is so thoroughly inclusive in its field and so much more carefully written than similar books have usually been, that it deserves to be put extensively to the test of experiment. A consecutive reading of its chapters leaves the impression that the less satisfactory part of the book is that on the Middle Ages. Matters are necessarily treated somewhat summarily. The chapters read like a series of brief essays. The movement of history could escape no reader, but continuity is not by any means always clear. The language is simple enough and lucid, seldom really incisive, and always conscious and over-finished. Notably good is the chapter on Feudalism, and that on The Culture of the Middle Ages. Less telling is Professor Robinson's treatment of the rise of the Communes. Frederick Barbarossa is one of his most lifelike sketches. And there is no better account easily accessible of Francis of Assisi. On the other hand, the average student will gain no adequate idea of Frederick II. The importance of the Arian controversy is barely touched upon, and then in no incisive manner. A paragraph on Clugny and its reforming spirit would have strengthened the account of the Hildebrandine epoch. It seems simply whimsical to

make no mention of the battle of Bouvines either in connection with the development of the empire or the reign of Philip Augustus.

The really admirable part of the volume which no text-book writer has equalled is that on the Renaissance and the Reformation. Here the author is at his best. He traces European (including English) history through many complications, writing incisively, selecting carefully from an abundant knowledge, leaving clear impressions of Luther, of the Church, of the Empire in its declining condition, and of society at large. There is quite enough not only about doctrine, but about the more general economic and intellectual changes to give the spirit of the period. It is this impression of the spirit of the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation which such a book as Professor Schwill's "History of Modern Europe" quite fails to convey. Professor Robinson's study is well arranged, clearly coördinated, organic in its relations to the past and to the future. The eighteenth century, especially in its bearings on the intellectual and economic situation of the French Revolution, is well developed. The era of Napoleon, notably in its later phases, seems relatively rather overcrowded with incident. Of the nineteenth century the author has enough to say, and writes with force of the development of the German people in particular. With perhaps rather a tendency to follow Green on England in the seventeenth century, Professor Robinson touches very briefly on some of the significant constitutional features of that period. Whomever he may follow for the facts, his judgments are always his own.

By frequent references in the foot-notes to such authors as Professors Emerton, G. B. Adams, Dr. E. L. Henderson, Mr. Bryce, J. R. Green, J. H. Rose, and H. Morse Stephens (among others) the author has intended to direct the student to more specific and easily accessible statements of facts. The volume is to be followed, it should be said, by a supplementary volume of "Readings," in which fuller bibliographies and numerous selected passages from contemporary literature are to be found. The book is, however, so much more than an ordinary text-book that it should make some appeal to the general reader. In its pages many of the things best worth knowing in the history of European development will always be readily found. It has been suggested that it be printed in a good library edition.

The book is not free from errors. The map, pp. 26-7, gives no indication that the crossing of the Vandals from Spain to Africa was probably not by way of the straits of Gades. "Becket was

a Norman" (p. 142) is not an admissible statement in view of the undisputed fact that London was his birthplace. The date 1056 (foot-note, p. 180) is a slip for 1059. The English ships at the time of the Spanish Armada outnumbered the Spanish boats (p. 463). The author is needlessly summary in his treatment of the Navigation Act of 1651. Taken alone, it would probably not have led England into war with Holland (p. 488). The single mention of the Golden Bull of 1356 (p. 117) seems inadequate, if a student is to gain an intelligent notion of it. Cromwell died in September, 1658, not in May (p. 489). The foot-note reference to Green's "Short History" (p. 490) should be supplemented for the quotation from Cromwell by a reference to Carlyle's "Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell," II. 409, Amer. ed., 1845. "Anne died childless" (p. 524) might easily be misinterpreted, for Queen Anne was the mother of a numerous progeny. A definite word on the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI. would certainly strengthen the passage on page 518. The errors, in view of the work in the volume, are not numerous. It is a distinctly remarkable contribution to text-book literature.

HENRY BARRETT LEARNED.

Social Origins, by Andrew Lang, and Primal Law, by J. J. Atkinson. London, New York and Bombay. Longmans, Green & Co., 1903 pp. xi+311.

The really original portion of this work is the posthumous essay on Primal Law. This production has been edited by Mr. Lang, partially as a labor of love, and has been equipped with an introduction of some 207 pages designed to exhibit "the present state of the discussion as to the beginnings of the rules regulating marriage among savages."

Mr. Lang's pen has lost none of its facility, and one again stands amazed at the degree to which he has been able to inform himself upon a new and abstruse subject. The subject is, this time, none other than the origin of Totemism; and the author's studies have led him to very positive opinions. He emphasizes with force the attitude of the savage mind toward the animal kingdom; and refutes, if it needs refutation, the view of those who hold that the scarcely human savage deliberately legislated with conscious ends in view. He believes that exogamy tended to rise while each little human group was still anonymous, becoming fully developed when the tak

ing-on of totem names "evolved the totem superstitions and fables." The totem-names, he thinks, "were imposed upon each group from without," in the form of animal sobriquets. These names are then explained by myths, to which little scientific importance is to be attached. The views here presented concerning the amalgamation of totem-groups into larger bodies, phratries, etc., seem to be in better accord with what we are learning of the succession of events in savage societies, than are those of authors who produce their "moieties" by the introduction of an artificial "bisection" of an original "undivided commune."

To this theory of Mr. Lang, the essay of Mr. Atkinson furnishes the starting-point, viz., the explanation of the origin of exogamy. This sketch, by a man confessedly "far from books," is as dignified and impersonal as its introduction is sprightly and controversial. It is based, as it were, upon the few remarks uttered in the Descent of Man regarding the origins of human society. The inhibitions laid upon the marital relations are all reducible, in their lowest terms, to the sexual jealousy of the older male, who by physical force expels the just maturing males from the polygamous and incestuous group of which he is master. The earlier stages of the development of this theory are more convincing than are the subsequent and less simple portions, e. g., those which have to do with the introduction of other males into the "Cyclopean" group. Nevertheless the theory, as a whole, offers a not unreasonable explanation of what has been so long chaotic and ill-understood; and its value in accounting for certain "avoidances," which have, with many inconsistencies and much strained reasoning, been laid at the door of resentment originating in wife-stealing, is not to be denied.

The two essays combined in this one volume do not stand or fall together. The "Social Origins" is especially acute in its criticisms, is of undeniable scientific value, but is not convincingly constructive; the "Primal Law" impresses one as perhaps the sole interest of a thoughtful life; it is Darwinian in temper and reasoning; but it has not, and very likely could not hope to possess, those arrays of facts which rendered Darwin's careful conclusions so impregnable. This the author, a man apparently of the utmost modesty and scientific candor, does not fail to realize; "if the theory shall prove in itself to have merit," he says, . . a hundred other details

in favour of my view will be at once perceived by more experienced students. Should my hypothesis really furnish the clue to the problem of the prohibition to marry within the family name, or totem