it hard to believe that the Greek historian had never seen those positions which he describes with so great minuteness. One notes with surprise, however, that Professor Freeman seems to have retained to the last that persistent misunderstanding of American institutions which made it inexpedient for him to continue his "History of Federal Government to the Disruption of the United States of America "; he compares the dictatorship of Dionysius (p. 555) with that of Abraham Lincoln "during the great American Civil War."

F. W. KELSEY.

CONVERSATIONS WITH THE SIMIANS. *

Mr. R. L. Garner has recently contributed to various popular periodicals accounts of his conversations with the Simian family, and now gathers his narratives and his results into a small volume entitled "The Speech of Monkeys." The work is extremely unsatisfactory, and in more than one portion becomes decidedly unscientific, not to say sensational. The author had the happy idea of studying the chatterings of monkeys by recording them in a phonograph, reproducing there cords before other monkeys and recording the effect produced upon them by the sounds; but it is one thing to have a good idea, and another to be possessed of the proper ingenuity, patience, and scientific habits, to carry it out.

Mr. Garner is so entirely convinced at the outset that monkeys, and in fact the entire range of animals, have a language composed of definite words with definite meanings, that he spends very little time in adducing any evidences of the fact. We are treated very generously to Mr. Garner's opinions and beliefs and suppositions and preferences, but the number of facts and concrete experiments is very limited indeed. It is quite clear that when the phonograph sounds are produced in the presence of a monkey, the sounds attract his attention, and in some cases are followed by definite gestures and actions. The accounts of this process are interesting, and, if the observations are carefully made, of great value; but it is questionable whether these sounds are words in the human sense, and Mr. Garner has hardly done more than guess at the meaning of a handful of these quasi-emotional gestures. At any rate, we are told that it is im*THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. By R. L. Garner. New York: Charles L. Webster & Co.

possible to write the sounds, and the result is, as if the monkey meant this, or felt that, or thought something else. And yet Mr. Garner tells us that with this meagre linguistic equipment he was able to chat with his monkey friends for hours, interpret their innermost thoughts and sympathize with their troubles. Far too much of the book tells of the names, habits, "cute doings," loveable qualities, and other social virtues, of his pets among the Simian tribe; and while this is entertaining enough, and good reading for children, it is utterly irrelevant in a scientific book such as this professes to be. Furthermore, such experiments as are here detailed very frequently have nothing to do with the speech of monkeys, but with their general intelligence; and, indeed these are the most valuable in the book. The method of testing the counting powers of monkeys is ingenious, and some of the tales illustrating their successes in adapting means to ends form welcome contributions to our stock of observations. The main thesis of the book, however, is distinctly not proved. No one doubts that monkeys have some limited means of sound communication, though few would use the extravagant language in describing them in which Mr. Garner indulges; no one doubts that Mr. Garner's method of studying them is an original and most promising one; but why presume and suppose and theorize upon an inadequate handful of illdefined observations?

In the second part of the volume, the theories of speech are treated, and the views presented, in so far as they are plausible, are commonplace, and when not commonplace are somewhat fanciful and improbable. Mr. Garner supposes that the man of science is extremely jealous, surrounds his acquisitions with a high wall, and repudiates everything not properly authorized; he believes, too, that man is afraid to do justice to the animal world, and succeeds perfectly well in overthrowing these men of straw he has thus set up.

When we contrast this contribution to a most important phase of an important topic, in style, content, method, and results, with some such contribution as Sir John Lubbock's studies on "Ants, Bees, and Wasps," we fully realize how imperfectly Mr. Garner appreciates the patience, the repetition of experiments, the accurate records, the endless variation of conditions, the ingenious elimination of rival deductions, by which science makes its slow but valuable advances. It must be understood,

in spite of all this, that Mr. Garner's book contains several ingenious and promising suggestions; but the suggestions are not clear enough nor numerous enough to warrant such sweeping deductions as he draws.

Mr. Garner is to go to Africa to continue his studies upon the monkeys in their native haunts. He certainly carries with him the best wishes of all interested in the study of mental powers. By using proper precautions, eliminating the possibilities of error, and utilizing to the fullest the advantages of the methods he has initiated, some measure of success surely awaits him. May it be granted him at some future time to give us a better insight into the speech of monkeys.

An American canoeist down the Danube.

JOSEPH JASTROW.

BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.

MR. POULTNEY BIGELOW's new book, "Paddles and Politics Down the Danube" (C. L. Webster & Co.), contains the rather amusing account of a canoe trip on the "European Highway," as the author styles it, from Donaueschek in the Black Forest to Widin in Bulgaria. Mr. Bigelow's experiences were of a pleasant, if not very surprising, character,though perhaps the uniform courtesy shown him by the dwellers along the banks may seem "surprising" enough to the Anglo Saxon mind. Tenderness toward the stranger within our gates is not one of our strong points as a race. The author, who is a thorough "canoeist," put up at all sorts of out-ofthe-way places en route, fraternized with the boating men at Vienna, Budapesth, and Ulm, picknicked, danced, and "skylarked" with picturesque peasants and gypsies, and, in short, had such a good time generally that the "Politics" promised in his title cut a rather secondary figure in his text.

There are, however, some interesting observations touching the relations of Russia to Servia and Bulgaria, and the chapter on the German Emperor merits attention. Mr. Bigelow is warm in his praise of the Magyar character, and almost exhausts his adjectives in the effort to do justice to the sprightly daughters of Hungary. "If I have one of the gentle sex looking at this page, permit me to say that the fashionably dressed dames of Piccadilly and Fifth Avenue appear dowdy-positively behind the times compared with the ladies of Budapesth. . . . Then as a housekeeper, what a treasure is the Hungarian! She can teach her cook everything worth knowing, relieve her when necessary, manage the house into the bargain, and never once let her guests suspect that she ever gives it a thought. Where the Anglo Saxon mistress retires to her bedroom to cry with vexation, the Hungarian lady fills the house with her melody, and concocts a

new sauce to the tune of a tschardasch." This sounds like hyperbole. As for the inevitable Jew, whom everybody everywhere seemed trying to fumigate and drive out and fend off, as if he were the cholera, Mr. Bigelow paints him in the usual colors : "In Russia I heard the Jew characterized by American and English merchants to say nothing of consuls. Their language, when boiled down, left as residuum the opinion that the Czar had done but one good thing since he came to power namely, abating the Jewish nuisance." Even the Russian revolutionist, not usually squeamish, will have none of them, alleging that "their love of money was such that they would make a trade of selling secrets." The author's drawings, originally intended to amuse his children, are very primitive and could be spared.

Glimpses of court life in Russia and England.

ENTERTAINING and useful material for the study of the courts of the Czar and of St. James, is furnished by the "Diary of George Mifflin Dallas" while United States Minister to Russia (1837 to 1839) and to England (1856 to 1861), edited by Susan Dallas and recently published by the J. B. Lippincott Co. Lippincott Co. This work supplements the "Letters from London, 1856-1860," edited by Mr. Dallas's daughter Julia (1869). Mr. Dallas wrote with much interest and understanding of the social life of the diplomatic circles at these courts; and gives us valuable views of contemporary European politics as seen through American eyes. Perhaps

one would expect more extended treatment of the diplomatic affairs of the United States, particularly in the portion of the diary which treats of London. In illustration of the relation of American diplomacy to the slavery question under Buchanan's administration, the episode related in the following passage, under date of July 16, 1860, is worth quotation: "The International Statistical Congress opened its fourth session to-day in this city. I had declined being a member when invited a month ago by the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Milner Gibson. On Saturday last the Committee of Organization sent special cards to the members of the Corps Diplomatique, and, in order to manifest my respect for the Prince Consort, I went to hear his opening address. Lord Brougham took the opportunity, after the delivery of the address, which was really very good, abruptly to call to me by name, hoped I would observe that there was a negro in the assemblage'! I perceived instantly the grossness of the act, and seeing the black in the very centre of the philosophers, hadn't a doubt that it was a premeditated contrivance to provoke me into some unseemly altercation with the coloured personage. I balked that by remaining silent and composed. The gentleman of colour, however, rose, and requested permission of the Prince Consort as chairman, to thank Lord Brougham for his notice, with an emphatic conclusion, I am a man.'

and

Query Is not the government answerable for this insult? Or, must it be regarded as purely the personal indecency of Lord Brougham?"

An economic study of the French

M. BETHAM EDWARDS'S "France of To-Day" (Lovell, Coryell & Co.) is peasant-proprietor. an instructive study, chiefly from the economic standpoint, of the rural population of the French provinces. The celerity with which France has thrown off her late fiscal burdens makes the conditions and character of "Jacques Bonhomme,' upon whose broad shoulders such burdens finally rest, especially worthy of study; and the present volume, the work of a scientific observer who describes nothing that she has not seen with her own eyes, leaves little to be desired in the way of general information as to the French peasant proprietors. For the convenience of those unfamiliar with French geography, and to avoid the cut-anddried manner of a mere compendium, the author has thrown each section of her work into the form of a journey, beginning and ending in Paris. Statistics, bibliography, and other extraneous matter, are given in an appendix, and there is a good introductory chapter, generally expository of the evolutionary and historical phases of the subject. One gets, on the whole, a very favorable idea of the manners and morals of the French peasantry - M. Zola to the contrary notwithstanding. Touching this point the author says: "The novelist may have seen here and there types loathsome as those he portrays. Every population has unhappily its scum, its dregs. Two facts suffice, and more than suffice, to rehabilitate the French peasant, and redeem him from the foul imputations of so-called realistic writers. It was the uncompromising self-denial, foresight, and laboriousness of the peasant that freed French soil from the conqueror twenty-one years ago. It was his unerring common-sense, coolness, and love of peace and liberty, that lately saved France from a band of reckless spoliators, civil war, and perhaps Europe from a conflagration. The Republic triumphs, France is saved, La Terre crushingly refuted." Is it then possible that the nastiness of French "realism" is the result of deliberate picking and choosing?

A readable and useful book about Samoa.

MR. R. L. STEVENSON'S "A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa" (Scribner) gains its interest largely from the author's pleasant, if at times a little over-calculated, style. The book is written, in general, in such direct clean-cut Anglo Saxon that an occasional hint of studied singularity is the more regrettable. The "Footnote" covers some 320 fair-sized pages, and supplies, beside the story of the late international tempest in the Samoan teapot, a careful summary of the present status of affairs in the island, and an analysis of historical antecedents. There is a capital description of Polynesian character and manners, and the story of the late fatal hurricane in Apia Bay is retold

with graphic force. The advent of the European, the author thinks, is decidedly not an unmixed blessing to the Polynesians no longer, as heretofore, permitted to pleasantly enjoy their little provincial wars and the restful intervals of peace, in "islands very rich in food," where "the idleness of the many idle would scarce matter." Of the neutral territory near Apia, Mr. Stevenson says: "Here, then, is a singular state of affairs: all the money, luxury, and business of the kingdom centred in one place; that place excepted from the native government and administered by whites for whites; and the whites themselves holding it not in common but in hostile camps, so that it lies between them like a bone between two dogs, each growling, each clutching his own end." The true centre of the trouble in Samoa would seem to be the German firm. The firm, with the indomitable Weber at its head and the consulate at its back, there has been the chief enemy of Samoa." But, says the author, "even on the field of Samoa, though German faults and aggressions make up the burthen of my story, they have been nowise alone. Three nations were engaged in this infinitesimal affray, and not one appears with credit. They figure but as the three ruffians of the elder playwrights. The States have the cleanest hands, but even theirs are not immaculate." On the whole, this Samoan émeute suggests not remotely the squabble of three pickpockets over the coat-tails of an unsophisticated stranger. Mr. Stevenson's book is readable, and is not without descriptive and political interest.

66

Preliminary studies in Philosophy.

WORKS on philosophy are commonly very difficult reading for one unversed in metaphysical terminology; even those claiming to be elementary are generally weighted down with words and phrases and allusions to schools of thought to a degree that implies considerable knowledge of the past history of philosophical inquiry. A happy exception to this rule is presented by William M. Salter's "First Steps in Philosophy" (C. H. Kerr & Co.). Every system of philosophy, from the days of the old Greeks to our own, starts from the same fundamental questions; all have the same aim to offer a consistent theory of the universe, yet none, whether theistic, monistic, or materialistic, can make any advance without first declaring its attitude concerning these elementary ideas. Mr. Salter's little book takes two of these fundamental conceptions — namely, Matter and Duty, and attempts to arrive at some clear notion of what we mean by these familiar words. The method is entirely scientific and thorough, yet so simple as to language and illustration that the word " Philosophy seems robbed of the abstruseness with which it is commonly associated. Admirable, also, is the justice which Mr. Salter does to the theories of others; the frankness with which he discusses the difficulties presented by his own views; the courage with which he looks forward to a humanity perfected'

through a recognition that duty means a harmonious development of all the faculties and that whereever man is there the ends of man shall be accomplished. Readers of the "First Steps" will not shrink from following Mr. Salter in that further walk which he promises, leading to philosophy proper and presenting the outlines of a consistent theory of the universe. What name he will give it, he does not yet know. But that it will be the result of clear and original thinking, this preliminary work is sufficient evidence.

An authoritative volume of Peruvian history.

A SEASONABLE book for this Columbian year is Mr. Clements R. Markham's" History of Peru," the first of a series of histories of the Latin-American republics to be published by Charles H. Sergel & Co. In point of historic interest Peru stands first among the Spanish commonwealths of the South. "It was here that the civilization of the red race attained its highest development. It was in Peru that the most romantic episodes in the story of Spanish conquest were enacted; and the Peruvian capital was the centre of colonial power. Here, too, the colossal fabric of Spanish domination was finally shattered; and in this classical land of the Incas an emancipated people have, during more than half a century, been painfully but hopefully struggling in the face of many difficulties, to establish a national existence based on well ordered liberty." Mr. Markham is well qualified for the work he has undertaken. If his style is sometimes careless, his scholarship is exact, and the present volume fully sustains his reputation as the highest living authority on Peruvian history. The work covers the period from the Incas to the present day, concluding with a description of the condition of the people and literature, and a general view of the resources of the country, "those rich products which are found together only in the land of the Incas, and which, outside Peru, would have to be sought for in every region of the world." The appendix contains the constitution of the republic, a list of authorities, and additional material concerning trade and finance. There are numerous maps and illustrations.

IN preparing his "Police and Prison A useful compend of facts about crime Cyclopædia" (Cambridge: The Auand criminals. thor), Mr. George W. Hale, of the police department of Lawrence, Mass., has labored under the difficulties attendant upon pioneer enterprizes of all sorts. No work of the kind has previously been produced in this country, and the author was obliged to collect his materials by direct correspondence with the police authorities of this and other countries. This fact, of course, although it made the labor of preparation considerable, will be recognized as a distinct advantage by those who have occasion to use the work, for the material is all first-hand, and consequently may be taken as trustworthy. In the preface, Mr. Hale speaks briefly of the difficulties and delays encountered in

Mr.

his task. In many cases he had to repeat several times his request for information, and the authorities of some cities failed to respond to as many as five successive demands. Many foreign governments furnished the information required, but Germany maintained a sphinx-like silence. Hale's work includes definitions of crimes and criminal terms, a chapter on the duties and rights of police officers, a rather inadequate chapter upon citizenship and naturalization, a chapter upon extradition, and a vast amount of classified statistical information relating to the police departments of the United States and Europe.

A serviceable manual for the book-collector.

A VALUABLE little manual of bibliographical lore is Mr. J. H. Slater's Book-Collecting" (Swan Sonnenschein). The amateur who has been seized with that devouring and incurable disease known as bibliomania will find here many interesting and curious bits of information, including stories of bookhunters in the past, fashions in book-collecting, references to bibliographical aids to serve him in his own researches. Here he may learn some of the reasons that make a book valuable, the meaning of such technical phrases as "uncut" works, "made up" copies, "laid down" pages; may find what to do with his own volumes when they have become injured by damp, grease-marks, surface stains, book-worms, or other pests. Chapters on "The Aldine Press," "The Elzevir Press" and "The Early English Presses" give very complete accounts of these little-understood subjects, with fac-similes of their respective title-page devices. The concluding pages are given to advice on what to choose and what to avoid when buying books mainly for their pecuniary value. It seems a little strange that one who knows so much about good and bad qualities in book-making should himself have sent one into the world unprovided with an index, or even with a table of contents, adjuncts valuable to any book and almost indispensable for one of this nature.

Two handsome volumes, with the Fifteen hundred years of English beautiful typography of the Oxford history. Clarendon Press, present to us a historical work of great value, entitled Lancaster and York." Sir James H. Ramsey is the author, and the volumes published are but part of a series designed "to supply a verified connected narrative of the first 1500 years of the history of England.” Since the two volumes before us (which are really the last of the work, although the first to be published) only cover the years of the fifteenth century to the date of Bosworth Field, we must expect that the entire work will be of no small magnitude, and we are not surprised when the author tells us that twenty-one years have been devoted to it, "to the exclusion of all other tasks." It is strictly a work of original research, and the list of authorities consulted is a very lengthy one. It is a constitutional