"The environment was educative in itself, and in spite of limitations we believe Camp Liberty succeeded in providing a life experience whose value to city boys and to their future citizenship is hardly to be measured in immediate returns."

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of New York City, have issued a valuable series of instructive booklets dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease. The Company have also published "The Metropolitan Year Book," which contains a calendar for each month of the year, together with practical information, helpful hints, serviceable suggestions, all making for health and happiness.

The Duty and Discipline Movement exists to combat slackness and indiscipline. The Movement is forming two branches, to be known respectively as "The Parents' Branch of the Duty and Discipline Movement" and "The Children's Branch of the Duty and Discipline Movement." A booklet of "Suggestions for Workers" has recently been issued. Full particulars regarding the aims and work of the enterprise may be obtained from Miss Binns, Duty and Discipline Movement, 117, Victoria Street, S. W.1.

The British Esperanto Association, Incorporated, 17, Hart Street, W.C.1, have favoured us with copies of their official journal, The British Esperantist (single numbers, price 3d.), together with a number of their leaflets and booklets. The Association is a Union of Esperanto Societies throughout the Empire, and exists "to promote in every way the spread of the international auxiliary language Esperanto.' The Association consists of members, fellows, and affiliated groups, and the annual subscription for members is 5s., and for fellows

IOS.

6

At the Royal Institute of Public Health,

37, Russell Square, W.C.1, on June 5, 12, 19, 26, and July 3, at 2.30 p.m. Special demonstrations and discussions on Venereal Disease are being held.

In connection with the forthcoming National Baby Week, July 1-7, a Mass Meeting will be held at the Central Hall, Westminster, S. W.1, on Monday, July 1, at 3 p.m.

The College of Nursing is holding a Conference on June 6 and 7 in the Rooms of the Medical Society of London, II, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, W.1.

The National Baby Week Council offer prizes of five guineas for essays from teachers on "How to develop the ideal of motherhood and fatherhood in one's pupils?" and "How can we best lay the foundations of moral training in infants? Particulars from 27A, Cavendish Square, W.1.

The London "Safety First" Council, the offices of which are at 31, Westminster Broadway, S. W.1, are holding a Conference at the Mansion House on Wednesday, June 12, at 4 p.m.

Staff-Sergeant C. A. Claremont will deliver three Montessori lectures as follows At University College Club, 19, Gower Street, W.C.1, on June 12, at 5.45 p.m., on "The Education of the Will"; at King Alfred's School, 24, Ellerdale Road, N. W.3, on June 12, at 8.30 p.m., on "A Montessori Talk"; and at St. George's School, Harpenden, on June 13, at 3 p.m., on "What Dr. Montessori is doing for Humanity."

Under the auspices of the Faculty of Insurance, an address will be given by Lord Leverhulme on "Reconstruction, Employment, and the Health of the Nation," in the Central Hall, Westminster, on Tuesday, June 18, at 7 p.m.

In connection with Queen Alexandra's House Gymnasium, Kensington Gore, S.W.7, a Gymnastic Display is being held on Saturday, June 22, at 2.15 p.m.

66 Married Love: A New Contribution to the Solution of Sex Difficulties." By Marie Carmichael Stopes, D. Sc., Ph.D. With a Preface by Dr. Jessie Murray and Letters from Prof. E. H. Starling, F.R.S., and Father Stanislaus St. John, S.J. Pp. xvii + 116. London: A. C. Fifield, 13, Clifford's Inn, E.C. 4. 1918. Price 5s. net.

This outspoken, scientifically expressed and eminently practical contribution to sex education is dedicated "to young husbands and all those who are betrothed in love," but it is a work which every medical adviser, minister of religion, magistrate, and educator of coming citizens will do well to peruse. The importance of securing a sure, pure, serviceable foundation of sex hygiene is now generally recognized. The question as it relates primarily to child welfare is wisely expressed by Dr. Jessie Murray in her sympathetic preface: "In all civilized lands there is a growing sense of responsibility towards the young. The problems of their physical and mental nurture attract more and more attention day by day. Eugenists, educationists, physicians, politicians, philanthropists, and even ordinary parents, discuss and ponder, ponder and discuss matters both great and small which have a bearing on the development of the child. By common consent the first seven years of life are regarded as the most critical. It is during these years that the foundations of the personality-to-be are laid-well and truly, or otherwise. It is during these years that the deepest and most ineradicable impressions are made in the plastic constitution of the child, arresting or developing this or the other instructive trend and fixing it, often for life. And it is during these years above all that the parents play the most important rôle in the inner history of the child's life, not so much by anything they directly teach through verbal exhortations, warnings, or commands, as by those subtler influ

ences which are conveyed in gesture, tone, and facial expression. The younger the child, the more it is influenced through these more primitive modes of expression, and quite as much when they are not directed towards itself, but are employed by the parents in their intimate relations with one another in the presence of their apparently unobserving child-the infant in its cot, the toddling baby by the hearth, the little child to all appearance absorbed in its picture-book or toy." Professor E. H. Starling shows that in regard to sex "it is better to acquire knowledge by instruction than by a type of experience which is nearly always sordid and may be fraught with danger to the health of the individual and of the family." Dr. Stopes has written a book which will bring safe guidance to many lives and conservation for much true love. It is a manual based on profound psycho-physiological study, extensive researches, and patient investigation of individual cases. There is a highly suggestive chapter on "Children," which contains much sane and serviceable information and advice respecting birth control, although doubtless much condemnation will come from some ecclesiasticallyminded critics. The closing paragraph of this chapter indicates the high and pure purpose of the author's aim: "It is a sacred duty of all who dare to hand on the awe-inspiring gift of life, to hand it on in a vessel as fit and perfect as they can fashion, so that the body may be the strongest and most beautiful instrument possible in the service of the soul they summon to play its part in the mystery of material being." The book is primarily written "for those who enter marriage normally and healthily, and with optimism and hope," and to such we earnestly commend it. Dr. Stopes has accomplished a difficult but highly serviceable task with discernment, scientific skill, and no little literary distinction.

By

'Christianity and Sex Problems." Hugh Northcote, M. A. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Pp. xvi + 478. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company. London: Stanley Phillips, 45, Brondesbury Road, N.W. 6. 1916. Price 12s. 6d. net.

This is a work which merits the ciose study of all students of Christian ethics and social servants working for human betterment. Psycho-physiological, hygienic, sociological, moral, and religi ous aspects of sex activities all receive serious and scientifically directed exposition. The author is well versed in the best literature of his subject, and his monograph is particularly valuable for the wealth of references. To educationists and workers for child welfare the chapters on "Sexuality in Childhood" and "The Mixing of the Sexes in Schools and Institutions" will be of particular interest and value. The differing views of various authorities on the question of sex education are well expressed. The sexual aspects of co-education are helpfully discussed: "It is maintained in some quarters that the promotion of free social intercourse between the sexes tends to diminish the force of sexual attraction on its animal side. It is urged that the immorality existing in boys' schools, and in other institutions where boys or men are grouped together and isolated from the other sex, would disappear if the masculine element were softened and purified by the influence which girls and women if admitted as members of such institutions would exert." With such opinion the author is not in agreement, although his doubts seem to be based on academic considerations rather than actual experience. "It is, in fact, extremely difficult to think that the force of sexual desire usually experienced by a growing boy would not be largely increased by the nearness to him of girls toward whom he would have no reason whatever for feeling a sexual distaste. Sexual attraction would make itself felt at least as much as-almost certainly more than it does in ordinary circumstances." Mr. Northcote contends that "the theory of a free, and at the same time a platonic, social intercourse between the unmarried members of the sexes is not sound." He holds that the

advantages of a system of co-education must be considered as outweighed by the disadvantages. "It is true that in early youth the direction of the sexual impulse is undetermined, so that under the present system of grouping the sexes in different schools there is a danger in certain cases of homo-sexual tendencies being developed, but the presence of this moral danger is not so marked as to justify as an alternative the introduction of the more certain dangers inseparable from co-education." We commend Mr. Northcote's able work to the consideration of the advocates of co-education and all educationists.

Alcohol: Its Action on the Human Organism." Pp. xii + 133, with an appendix, pp. 10. London: H.M. Stationery Office, Westminster, S. W. 1. 1918. Price in cloth, 2s. 6d. Popular Edition, 1s. net.

Every worker for child welfare is compelled to give serious study to the so-called alcohol problem. The present manual consists of a cautious pronouncement regarding established physiological facts relating to the action of alcohol on the human body. The monograph is in reality a Report compiled by a Special Advisory Committee of the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic). The members of the Committee were as follows: Lord D'Abernon, G.C.M.G. (Chairman), Chairman of the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic); Sir George Newman, K.C.B., M.D. (Vice-Chairman), Principal Medical Officer to the Board of Education, Member of the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic); A. R. Cushny, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Pharmacology at University College, London; H. H. Dale, M.D., F.R.S., Head of the Department of Bio-chemistry and Pharmacology under the Medical Research Committee, National Health Insurance; M. Greenwood, M.R.C.S., Statistician to the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, and Reader in Medical Statistics in the University of London; W. McDougall, M.B., F.R.S., Reader in Mental Philosophy in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; F. W. Mott, M.D., F.R.S., Pathologist to the London County Asylums, Consulting Physician Charing

Cross Hospital; C. S. Sherrington, M.D., F.R.S., Waynflete Professor of Physiology in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; and W. C. Sullivan, M.D., Medical Superintendent of the Rampton State Asylum for Criminal Lunatics. The work deals with alcohol as a food, mental effects of alcohol, action on the performance of muscular acts, digestion, respiration and circulation, and body temperature. There are also chapters on the Poison Action of Alcohol and Alcohol and Longevity. The conclusions are concisely summarized by Lord D'Abernon in his suggestive preface: (a) That the main action of alcohol (apart from the effects of its continuous use) is confined to the nervous system; (b) that alcohol is narcotic rather than stimulant in action; (c) that its nutritional value is strictly limited; (d) that its habitual use as an aid to work is physiologically unsound; and (e) that the ordinary use of alcohol should not only be moderate, but should also be limited to the consumption of beverages of adequate dilution, taken at sufficient intervals of time to prevent a persistent deleterious action on the tissues. We gather that the present volume is merely a preliminary one "prepared as a provisional basis for further research," so it may be hoped that in subsequent publications the important question of the relationship of alcoholism to child life and eugenic generation will receive full consideration.

"

64

"How to Collect and Dry Flowering Plants and Ferns." By Harold Stuart Thompson, F.L.S., Author of Alpine Plants of Europe,' &c. Pp. v 56. London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., Broadway House, 68-74, Carter Lane, E.C. 1917. Price 7d. net.

This compact, concise, and practical guide to the collection and preservation of flowering plants and ferns is one which we commend to parents and teachers and the youth of both sexes. At this time of the year in every healthy adolescent there should spring up the spirit of the botanist. Mr. Thompson is an expert in plant collection, and in his suggestive and informing little volume he provides a clear and serviceable exposition on equipment, col

lecting, and methods of drying, "poisoning” and “mounting." There is a sensible section on "How to send Pressed Plants by Post." The manual contains a wellarranged glossary. Mr. Thompson is just the counsellor which many a boy and girl stand in need of to start them on sound lines in the formation of an instructive and pleasure-giving collection of plants.

"The Child's Food Garden: With a Few Suggestions for Floral Culture." By Van Evrie Kilpatrick, President of the School Garden Association of America. With illustrations. Pp. 64. Yonkers-onHudson, New York, U.S. A. World Book Company. 1918. 48 cents.

This is the first volume of the new "School Garden Series" edited by John W. Ritchie. America is now engaged in a scientifically directed endeavour to increase food production, and this concise, informing, attractively presented handbook is just the work needed to secure the loyal and effective co-operation of school children. It will stimulate and direct teachers and scholars to take a patriotic, practical, and educational interest in outdoor work with living serviceable plants. The book is artistically illustrated.

The Reason Why Geography: The British Isles." By T. W. F. Parkinson, M.Sc., F.G.S. Pp. 256. With illustrations, maps and diagrams. London and Glasgow: Wm. Collins, Sons & Co., Ltd., 144, Cathedral Street. 1918. Price 2s. 3d.

This is Volume II of a new series of geographical readers prepared in accordance with the recommendations made by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Mr. Parkinson is the Principal Geography Master at the Manchester Central High School for Boys, and Lecturer in Geography at Sedgley Park Training College, Manchester, and is an expert in the exposition of geographical facts and principles in accordance with the new methods and widening conceptions which control the best educational work in our public schools. The reader is intended for young scholars. It deals with the fundamentals relating to life and work in our own land. There is novelty, freshness, and a stimulating

atmosphere about the book which should appeal to the teacher, and are likely to go far to win the interest of the pupil. Moreover, the manual is a scientifically designed introduction to a serious study of geographical phenomena and their relationship to man's activities. We commend the book to the notice of all teachers of geography.

Baby Welfare: A Guide to its Acquisition and Maintenance." By W. E. Robinson, M.D., B.Ch., B.A., Assistant Physician and Pathologist to the Infants' Hospital, London. Pp. xiv + 206. London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., 1, Adelphi Terrace, W.C. 2. 1918. Price 7s. 6d. net.

It

This practical handbook on the management of infancy is based on lectures delivered to nurses at the Infants' Hospital, Vincent Square, Westminster. provides a serviceable guide to essential matters relating to the health of babies, which should be of special value to the large number of women now taking part in infant welfare work. The book is one which potential, prospective, and expectant mothers may well be advised to study. Dr. Robinson wisely provides a simple exposition of the chief points in the development of the normal infant. In a series of lucid chapters essential anatomical and physiological facts are set forth. Helpful chapters also deal with elementary features of the pathology of nutrition, inflammation, and bacteriology. The most practical portions of the manual are devoted to an exposition of the feeding of the infant, and descriptions of the characteristics of such abnormal infants, as are met with in the toxæmias, rickets, scorbutus, and certain accidental conditions, such as intussusception, appendicitis, and strangulated. hernia. The concluding part provides hints on the care and management of infants in disease. In the appendix notes are given of the requirements for a pure milk supply and the care and preparation of milk at home. There is also a special section on certain modifications of milk and the system of percentage feeding which has proved so effective in the service of the Infants' Hospital.

Recalled to Life. A Journal devoted to the Care, Re-education, and Return to Civil Life of Disabled Sailors and Soldiers. Edited by Lord Charnwood. Published periodically by John Bale, Sons and Danielsson, Ltd., 83-91, Great Titchfield Street, Oxford Street, W. 1. Single number, 2s. net.

The third number of this unique periodical has recently been issued, and contains a number of highly important and intensely interesting articles on the care, training, re-equipment, and education of disabled combatants. The journal is one which doctors and nurses and all other true patriots seeking the betterment of our crippled and disordered heroes should study with care.

School Hygiene. A Quarterly Review for Educationists and Doctors. Published by Adlard and Son and West Newman, Ltd., 23, Bartholomew Close, E.C. Single number, 1s. net. Annual subscription, 4s. post free.

This is the official organ of the Medical Officers of Schools Association. The April issue contains a on paper "Standard Measurements for School Children," by Dr. James Kerr; an opinion on "School Cadet Corps," by Dr. A. A. Mumford; and a communication on "School Doctors and School Dentistry," by Mr. C. Edward Wallis, L.D.S.

The Scottish Educational Journal Published weekly at 34, North Bridge, Edinburgh. Single number, Price ld. Annual subscription, 6s. 6d. post free.

We extend our warm welcome to this new journal, the official organ of the Educational Institute of Scotland. It incorporates the Educational News, the Secondary School Journal, and the Scottish Class Teacher. It makes a fine start with its first number, dated May 3, and promises to provide a worthy record of educational work in Scotland.

Everyman. Published weekly at 161a, Strand, London, W.C. 2. Single number, price 3d. Annual subscription, 15s. post free.

This virile, original, outspoken critical review has now firmly established itself by