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Feet of Proterotheriidae from Ameghino. A, fore foot of Proterotherium cavum A megh. B-C, Fore and hind feet of Diadiaphorus majusculus Amegh. D-E, Fore and hind feet of Thoatherium crepidatum Amegh.

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of progressive evolution. The author holds that sensation is a cause of effects which would not appear in its absence, and that its presence conditions progressive evolution. The author holds this to be proven not only by the direct effect of consciousness as observed, but also on the other ground that there is no sufficiency in the inorganic and unconscious organic energies to effect progressive evolution. This is because the well-known tendency of the latter is to the integration of matter and the dissipation of energy, which leads always away from vital phenomena. The author believes the entire vegetable kingdom to be degenerate, its vitality being the expression of automatic energy which derived its self-sustaining character from ancestors endowed with sensation which occupied a position between animals and plants. The Mycetozoa he believes to be existing near relatives of these types.

The book is illustrated by 120 plates and cuts. One of these illustrative of homoplassy, we extract from the chapter on kinetogenesis, with the following explanatory remarks:

"Before reviewing the subject, I cite what is the most remarkable example of homoplassy in the Mammalia which has yet come to the knowledge of paleontologists. Ameghino has discovered in the cenozoic formations of Argentina a group of Ungulata which he calls the Litopterna, and which I regard as a suborder of the Taxeopoda, allied to the Condylarthra (p. 128). Ameghino placed the group under the Perissodactyla, but the tarsus and carpus are of a totally different character, and indicate an origin from the Condylarthra quite independent of that division. The carpal and tarsal bones are in linear series, or if they may overlap, it is in a direction the opposite of that which characterizes the order Diplarthra (=Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla). But the Litopterna present a most remarkable parallelism to the Perissodactyla in the characters of both the feet and the dentition. No genus is known as yet which possesses more than three toes before and behind, and these are of equal length (Macrauchenia Owen). In this genus the teeth are not primitive, but are much modified. The most primitive dentition is seen in the genus Proterotherium (Ameghino) where the superior molars are tritubercular, as in many Condylanthra. In this genus (Pl. X, fig. A) there are three toes, but the lateral ones are reduced, about as in the equine genus Anchitherium (p. 148). In the next genus, Diadiaphorus Amegh., the superior molars are quadritubercular and crested, while the lateral toes are reduced still more, being quite rudimental (figs. B C), as in the equine genera Hippotherium and Prothippus. The superior molars have not progressed so far as in these genera, but are not very different from those of

Anchitherium. In the third and last type (Thoatherium Amegh.) the lateral digits have disappeared from both fore and hind feet (figs. CD), so that the condition is that of the genus Equus (fig. 81), but the splints in the Thoatherium crepidatum Amegh. are even more reduced in the known species of horse. The superior molars have not assumed the pattern of the genus Equus, but resemble rather those of Macrauchenia, and could have been easily derived from those of Diadiaphorus.

Here we have a serial reduction of the lateral digits and their connections with the leg, and increase in the proportions of the middle digit and corresponding increases in the proximal connections, exactly similar to that which took place in the horse line, in a different order of Mammalia."

The publishers have done their work well, and are especially to be commended for having made the book of a convenient size to be carried in the pocket or satchel.

The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought.-(The Child in Primitive Culture); by A. F. Chamberlain; New York, Macmillan & Co., and London, 1896. Pp. x and 464; with bibliography and three indexes; price $3.

Dr. Chamberlain's work is not, as its chief title might lead one to suppose, a mere collection of folk-lore about the child. It is rather an attempt by this means to study the position of the child in primitive society. The author has brought together a great mass of material from every hand, and arranged it systematically under appropriate headings; as a result we find every phase and aspect of childhood represented in his book.

The opening chapters, on the Lore of Motherhood and Fatherhood, have in some places only a remote bearing upon the main topic, but they may be regarded in the light of a general introduction. Following these are a number of chapters which aim to show the attitude of society toward the child; folk-lore on the soul of the child, legends connecting children with animals or plants, stock answers of the adult to the child's questions, superstitions concerning children, etc., together with stories of education and training among uncultured races. A large part of the work deals with the influence of the child upon society -the effect of child-language in modifying adult language; the child's position in many tribes as oracle, judge, physician, or priest, etc. The final chapters are a selection of popular proverbs and sayings bearing upon childhood, from the literature of various races, cultured as well as

uncultured. The bibliography at the end is thorough, if not exhaustive; it consists of over 550 titles, covering the entire field.

The author claims no originality of investigation; but he has culled his material from a host of authorities, and his selections are well made. He has no conclusions to draw; he simply presents the material as data, with a view to a complete survey of the subject. The chief criticism that can be made upon his method is that it frequently leads to a curious intermingling of fables and traditions with actual race customs. Thus in the chapter on the Children's Food is described (p. 150) the practice which holds among several tribes of placing food on the grave of a dead child, to refresh its soul on the way to the spirit-land, and almost immediately after follows the legend of how the infant Hercules obtained immortality. The book is exceedingly interesting; it treats its subject as thoroughly as the breadth of the task together with the limits of the volume permit; and it is wonderfully conducive to further reading.-H. C. WARREN.

Stockham on the Ethics of Marriage.'-This book is written with the view of securing an excellent object, the increase of the happiness of marriage. As the authoress is an M. D., and as she treats the subject at the outset with a seeming respect for scientific truth, we anticipated something valuable from her point of view. But we are compelled to say that the grains of truth are overlaid with such a quantity of error, rhapsody and sheer silliness, that we can only recommend the book as a study in feminine psychology. That there is one element of common sense running through it we are glad to admit. The authoress sees nothing degrading or indecent in the sexual relation. For this we must praise her; but it was surely not necessary for her to apologize for her good sense, by pages on pages of religious rhapsody. The gist of her method of promoting marital happiness is that sexual intimacy may take place without completing the act. This proposition is as old as the rational faculty of man; but, as rationality is usually less directed to sexual subjects than to any other, it is quite possible that her advice on this point may do some good. There are some amusing passages. Fearing to appear to fall into the Charybdis of" hedonism" she runs high and dry on Scylla, as follows: "Before and during the time some devotional exercises may be participated in, or there may be a formation of consecration of an uplifting character in which both unite!"

Karezza; Ethics of Marriage, by Alice B. Stockham, M. D., Chicago. A. B. Stockham & Co.