1 3 2 THE AMERICAN JO URNAL OF SOCIOLOG Y
sense, and the field covered is too great for final treatment of any one topic. Perhaps there is no absolutely new argument in the volume. And yet it is a useful book for its purpose, which, the author says, is to interpret the scholar to the people ; and for this task his experience as a newspaper man has fitted him in a high degree. The industry of compilation is in itself impressive, and the explanations of many social phenomena show power of thought and insight which only a man in daily contact with business is likely to reveal in details. The materials in the footnotes often interrupt the flow of the argument, but they are convenient to have at hand, and the survey of opinions, richly illustrated with quotations, is brought up to date. The spirit and temper of the writer seem to be eminently judicial and fair.
C. R. H.
L'Alcooiisme et les moyens de le combattre, juges par I'expe- ricucc. Par JACQUES BERTILLON, chef des travaux statis- tiques de la ville de Paris. Paris: Victor Lecoffre, 1904. Pp. 232.
IN the earlier part of this volume the statistician considers the physiological aspects of the problem, and reaches the conclusion that alcohol, even in moderate doses, if taken regularly, is poisonous. In the later part he discusses the results of experiments with regulation in various countries monopoly, license, local option, prohibition, the Norwegian system, and all the forms of suasion. His conclu- sion is in favor of the Gothenburg system and the instruction of children in the schools. There is no use to reason with a drinker; he is beyond argument. And the prospect for France : " On ne fera rien. Laissez faire! Laissez passer! .... La France perira done pour ce double motif : moindre nombre des homnes, moindre valeur des hommes. Le pis est que la France mourra deshonoree." Sterility and drunkenness will destroy her. A lugubrious outlook for the final sentence. C. R. H.
A Handbook on the Prevention of Tuberculosis. Published by the Charity Organization Society, New York city, 1903. Pp. 388.
MEDICAL men are primarily the fountains of knowledge in respect to the nature of a disease and the best methods of dealing
