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Ashley: Surveys, Historic and Economic 793 Mikhail Romanov a descendant of Ivan (p. 65), and as saying (p. 161) that Alexei Mikhailovich intrusted the work of revising the sacred books to Maxim the Greek (who lived a full century earlier), and that serfdom was instituted about the middle of the seventeenth century, whereas the decisive steps were taken in 1597. The mention (p. 88) of " the strug- gle with the Turks (1736-1739), peacewith whom Anna after losing 100,- 000 men obtained through the mediation of France," does not convey a correct impression of a war where the Russian arms met with nearly uniform success even if the treaty of peace was unsatisfactory. For what possible reason in the previous sentence is Augustus II. called "Auguste"? He was not a Frenchman, but a German named "Au- gust," which is also the Polish way of spelling the name. Finally let us charitably assume that it was a slip of the pen which caused (p. 118) Constantine and Nicholas to be described as the sons instead of the brothers of Alexander I. As for the last chapter, " The Future of Rus- sia," its various conclusions and prophecies need not detain us. Archibald Gary Coolidge. Surveys, Historic and Economic. By W. J. Ashley, M.A., Pro- fessor of Economic History in Harvard University. (New York: Longmans, Green and Co. 1900. Pp. xxvii, 476.) To those who have followed Mr. Ashley's scattered contributions to the periodicals, this collection of his minor writings will bring little that is unfamiliar. About two-thirds of its contents have appeared in various economic journals. One-half the remainder is from the pages of The Nation or The American Historical Review. Less than one-eighth, of the whole is now printed for the first time. The subjects treated range from "English Serfdom " to "Harvard Scholarships," and from "The Canadian Sugar Combine " to " The Tory Origin of Free Trade." But the book, in spite of its superficial diversities, has elements of essential unity. It is informed by a vigorous personality, it is dominated by definite convictions, and it faces in the direction in which much histori- cal work is now looking. " We who concern ourselves with economic history," declares the author, " have with us the current of the world's thought." The period of constitution-making which followed the French Revolution produced its political historians, its Guizots and Hallams and Grotes. The centuries following the Reformation show an imposing procession of historians of the Church. " Precisely in the same way the pressure of modern economic problems is certain to produce, has already begun to produce, a whole literature of economic history." Of the extent and character of much of this literature, Mr. Ashley's Sur- veys afford a good indication. Out of his forty-five articles over thirty are reviews — some of them elaborate reviews — of recent works dealing with economic history. Indeed not more than ten of the whole number appear to be altogether independent of some specific book. The essays and reviews thus brought together Mr. Ashley has arranged in eight "well-marked groups" entitled: (i) Preliminaries (already VOL. VI. — 52.