scend our utmost efforts of intuition or imagination." Yet, she continues, "we can not surely fail to recognize that partial manifestations of that nature are taking place within and around us at every moment of our lives." Science has revealed how the First Cause proceeds in the creation of a particular kind of plant or animal; it has shown, as no other testimony has been able to show, that "his ways are not as our ways," and that he is "without variableness or shadow of turning," and it has made men feel that every right or wrong act is sure to have its proper recompense. The presence of pain and strife in the world has long been a mystery. The great scientific doctrine of natural selection first gave a clew to their usefulness.
In both the animal and the vegetable kingdoms the author points out that species and individuals that satisfy the conditions of their surroundings flourish, while those that behave differently perish. From this she draws the lesson that in order to attain the highest life of which he is capable, man must adapt his conduct to the will of the Author of all things, as expressed in the laws of the universe. Although one's conduct is largely influenced by heredity, this is no excuse for resigning one's self to a downward course. From the very beginning of animal life we see a power of choice developing together with consciousness, and out of this power springs responsibility. The success and the enjoyment achieved by disregarding moral laws are only a short-lived success, and an imperfect enjoyment.
The question of immortality Mrs. Fisher deems a profound and difficult one. Regarding it as intimately connected with all higher morality, she feels obliged to state her conviction upon it, which is that "our moral nature and the conclusions of science, even apart from religious belief, all point to a continuation of individual existence beyond the few short years we pass in this world."
The reasons that she gives in support of this opinion are not, however, as clearly teachings of science as are those which she finds as a basis of moral conduct. The chief argument is that persons who suffer inherited disadvantages in this life ought to have compensation. Thus it will be seen that the book accepts the main principles of religious ethics, and supplies reasons for obeying moral laws in addition to those which the most enlightened religions contain. Its influence on the adult or the young reader can not fail to be elevating, and it should prove to be a valuable textbook for the teaching of pure ethics.
Principles and Practice of Plumbing. By S. Stevens Hellyer. London: George Bell & Sons, 1892. Pp. 294. Price, $1.25.
This is one of the Technological Handbooks issued by the London publishers, George Bell & Sons, and edited by Sir H. Trueman Wood, Secretary of the Society of Arts. It appears to cover the subject quite completely though briefly, and contains much information that the householder would find it advantageous to know, though it is addressed primarily to the plumber. The contents of the volume range from a consideration of the metallurgy of lead and tin to the proper fixing in place of the various apparatus which it is the business of the plumber to know about.
The Elements of Politics. By Henry Sidgwick. London and New York: Macmillan & Co., 1891. Pp. 632. Price, $4.
Prof. Sidgwick has undertaken in this volume a general survey of the field of politics, with the object of determining what work a government may properly undertake to do, and what form of structure is best suited to the purpose. Holding to the individualistic view of social organization as contrasted with the socialistic, and seeking his sanctions in the main in the principle of individualism, he yet departs widely at times from the laisser-faire school of political thinkers. He rejects the strictly individualistic test of what things a government may properly attempt to do as being inadequate, and adopts instead the "general welfare," as the test of what things are permissible and what are not. From this point of view he is able to find adequate sanction for 6uch extensions of government activity as public education, the care and relief of the indigent, public hospitals, public parks, sanitary supervision, etc., and the carrying on of certain businesses that are semi-public in character, such as the transmission of mails and
