Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 19.djvu/875

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
LITERARY NOTICES.
855

they interfere with the labor of our people; that they send money out of the country; that they have set up a quasi government of their own upon our soil; and that they do not accommodate themselves to the requirements of our life." That they are a vicious people has been argued from their sexual immorality, which, however, is not greater than would be expected in a celibate community like that of the Chinese in California.

4. As to the fear of an overflowing immigration of the Chinese, in case immigration should be freely permitted, the fact is that the Chinese are not, and never have been, a migratory people, but are, on the contrary, more strongly attached to their native soil than the people of any Western nation—except, perhaps, the French. They have not even "settled up" their own outlying districts, as Formosa, central and northern Manchooria, and the vast regions of inner Mongolia. And it is to be added that the demand for Chinese labor in California lessens yearly as the country is cleared up. The whole question is one that could safely be left to the operation of natural laws, social and economic. As it stands, it has been sadly muddled by governmental interference.

Mr. Seward does not deal with the philosophic aspects of the question, though they are constantly suggested by his book. One can not leave it without perceiving, for instance, the strong side of the Chinese conservatism. The rulers of China see that conservatism, ancient routine, the established order of things, mean a condition of stable equilibrium for the people, or, in the terminology of our day, that the individual nation is adjusted to its environment; and they wisely refuse to break up this adjustment by the too hasty introduction of foreign works or devices of any kind. At the present writing the Chinese policy seems to us a sounder one than that of Japan, where the changes introduced within twenty years are such as to imperil the institutions which had been perfecting themselves for many centuries. But inquiries like this are outside of the province of this work; meanwhile, Mr. Seward has given us a full, intelligent, and temperate treatment of the whole question of Chinese immigration, which, he thinks, within bounds, would be wisely encouraged.

Discovery of Palæolithic Flint Implements in Upper Egypt. By Professor Henry W. Haynes. Pp. 5, with Seven Plates.

MM. Brugsch, Mariette, and Chabas, have denied that any palæolithic implements occurred in Egypt; M. Arcelin, Dr. Hamy, M. Lenormant, the Abbé Richard, and Sir John Lubbock, have asserted that they have found them. The general impression has been that the stone implements of Egypt, which were always used ceremonially in the embalming process, were all neolithic, and of historic times. The author went to look for himself, and claims that he found near Cairo, and near Helouan, in the desert, and in the valley west of Thebes, palæolithic implements of the true St. Acheul type, with the other forms that usually occur with them, some of which were exhibited in Paris, and have been referred to in articles by M. de Mortillet and himself, which have been published in "The Popular Science Monthly." Sixty illustrations of the implements are given in the plates to the present work.

A Memorial of Joseph Henry. Published by order of Congress. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 528.

A public commemoration of the services of Joseph Henry in behalf of the Smithsonian Institution and of scientific progress in America was held, under the auspices of the Regents of the Institution in conjunction with the two Houses of Congress, on the 16th of January, 1879. The present volume contains the verbatim report of the proceedings on the occasion, published under the direction of Congress, together with the addresses which were delivered at other memorial meetings, of Princeton College, and several scientific societies. In the memorial services at the Capitol, Professor Asa Gray, in behalf of the Board of Regents, gave a brief statement of the life, studies, experiments, discoveries, and general scientific work of Professor Henry; Professor W. B. Rogers made a special review of his electrical studies and discoveries. Mr. Garfield showed how, when