ought to take. These are the very points upon which they seek to be informed. What they know is that they have certain kinds of pain, or that their appearance is unnatural. To find out what these symptoms signify they have no recourse but to wade through many pages of their "domestic guide," until by some good fortune they come upon the chapter which incidentally mentions them. Properly, such books should be classified according to the symptoms, while under each of these heads the diseases and the remedies should be specified. At anyrate a copious index should be supplied by means of which a person may know in what chapters his special sufferings are referred to.

The book before us is, of course, not medical and therefore cannot altogether cover the ground we have indicated. But so far, at least, as bodily appearances go, it serves, in part, a similar purpose. Perhaps it will be followed by another dealing with pains and their causes, in which case the two together will form a very handy and useful supplement to ordinary popular medical works. The present is well written, interesting and instructive, and is likely to prove a useful adviser in the household. Diseases are too often allowed to have their own way until they become serious for no other reason than the general ignorance of their symptoms. It is astonishing and pitiful how little even intelligent and educated parents know about the commonest tokens of disorder and how grossly they neglect their children in consequence.

A PLAN FOR THE RELIEF OF THE TRADING AND WORKING CLASSES WHEN OUT OF EMPLOYMENT, by M.M. London: Kent and Co.

This Pamphlet purports to be the substance of a letter addressed many years ago to the late Sir Robert Peel and published now for the consideration of the present premier. Its application is, however, to our own day and generation. The author is clearly in earnest and, though

visionary in the sense that he hopes too much, is not, in this prosaic, materialistic age, any the worse for that. That the scheme he propounds for utilizing the waste lands of England and the Colonies will ever be carried out in its entirety we do not believe, and his paper money scheme is fated to fail, because it omits to recognize the fluctuations in the value of money itself. If the country is over stocked with any commodity, the price of the article must be lowered. Not less surely will the increase in quantity of money reduce its value. Money will not buy so much as formerly. Nevertheless, there is much earnest and suggestive thought in this little work, and it would do some of our slow going, groove-loving legislators good if they were to carefully consider it. Perhaps one of its great points of merit over the usual schemes which are put forth for the amelioration of the condition of mankind is that it declines to recognize any equality between competence and incompetence. M. M's plan, if carried into effect, would be for the benefit of the industrious, not of the idle. The central feature of it is simply to provide work for those who are willing to work.

HUMAN NEEDS AND INCREDIBLE CREEDS, by E. J. S. Leek: Imprinted by the Author's License for W. L. Sugden, 29, Queen Street, Amateur Dealer in Free-thought Works: are to be sold only by Charles Watts at his shop 84 in Fleete Street, London. Anno 1879.

It is alike surprising and refreshing, in these days. of degenerate printing, to see a book or pamphlet really artistic in form. For good work of this kind we must go back to the last century. Now-a-days the cry is all for what is called cheapness,-a word which signifies, to the populace, plenty of paper and printers' ink. The motto of the day in literature is Quantity, not quality. Even the works of masterminds are rarely granted a worthy setting. The little tract whose curious title we give above is an exception to the general rule,

It has been "got up" in imitation of the ancient style and is, in its way, quite a curiosity. There is a large paper edition as well as two others, and all do much credit to Mr. Sugden's taste. The little poem itself is well-written, and though, as it seems to us, the writer shows an unnecessary antipathy to what he calls "incredible creeds," he gives token of his power to wield the pen in rhyme with effect. The antipathy is due, we suspect, to his failure to apprehend the spiritual significance and value of the various doctrines he attacks. We do not know how far this publication is for general circulation, but we commend it to such of our readers as may be able to obtain it. They will value it according to their individual tastes, some for the sake of the subjectmatter, others, as a literary curiosity.

BETWEEN THE BRADLAUGHS, bv "Mr.

Published by the Author.

ONSTRAIGHT."

This pamphlet is noteworthy chiefly on account of the needless eccentricities which characterize it. The pink paper on which it is printed makes it painful to read, and by way of contrast, the colour of the cover is bright green! After laboring to the end the impression is one of regret that the time has not been otherwise employed. The author discusses, superficially, the teachings of Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, the well-known Free-thinker, and of his brother, Mr. William Bradlaugh, an obscure adherent of Evangelical Christianity, and takes his stand between the two. He expects to confound Christians by asking them whether the birth of Christ was of Heaven or of men, and he asserts that Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, whatever he may himself say or think, is not an Atheist. This is, of course, a mere question how the word is to be defined. What little of value there may be in the book is not enhanced by rough, slangy, and ungrammatical forms of expression which abound and which the author may possibly mistake for hearty and easy humour.

A FEW REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THINGS, ENDING WITH A SUGGESTION.

THE historian George Grote has said, "that which the people require at the hands of their government is protection for their persons." But a person may be injured by something besides a robber; he may be struck down by poverty, and that brought about by no fault of his own. In that case, how does government protect his person? The answer is the workhouse, as that protects him from death by starvation. True, but before such protection can be given, a man's home must be broken up, his household gods scattered to the winds, and he and his wife and children separated, with little hope of ever living again as one family. Government, by the food it provides for him, certainly protects his body, but it has broken his spirit; his energies, his individuality are gone, and, if sensitive, he soon sinks in hopeless despair into a pauper's grave. And this is in enlightened England, the most wealthy country in the world,-in the nineteenth century. This is all she can do for her poverty stricken sons, though she has greater resources than almost any other nation. In the matter of land, she has millions and millions of acres in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, New Brunswick, West India, Cape of Good Hope, and other colonies; besides millions of acres at home, in a state of waste for want of cultivation. What infatuation is it that prevents England from adopting means to bring these millions of acres into cultivation and, by so doing, enriching herself and giving her stranded sons a chance of doing something better for themselves and their families than going into workhouses? It cannot be for want of money, for gold is so abundant at the present moment that it is said bankers will not give one per cent. for it. Here, then, is capital allowed to lie idle, while,

owing to circumstances over which it has no control, labour is also idle. Holders of capital may be able to afford to allow it to lie idle for a time, but can or will labour remain idle and go on starving much longer? So hard is poverty pinching the mass of our population that statistics prove that one third of the people of Scotland are living in houses of one room; and the people of England are not much better off. If there was hope that the present state of things would mend, we are a law abiding nation and would continue to struggle on till good times once more made their appearance; but where is the chance of this hope? Up to the end of last century there were no such extremes as we now have, of wealth and poverty, and the majority of the working classes were living in comparative comfort until the introduction of machinery and other wonderful discoveries tending to enrich the nation; and, while we held the monopoly, which we did till very lately, all classes were lifted up, and all were sharers of the increasing wealth. But that monopoly is held by us no longer. Other nations have now got machinery and skilled labourers, and are competing with and beating us in almost every market, so that we can no longer call ourselves the workshop of the world. This accounts for the distress among the artizan classes. Now there is another competition growing up which will affect all who have to do with land, whether as labourers, farmers, or landlords. America is in the field, and rivalling and underselling us in our own markets with fresh beef and mutton; with cheese and pork and corn. A writer in last month's Liberal, in a very able paper on the "Probable influence of American Competition on the land laws," tells us that "these articles are raised on vast tracts of unexhausted fertility by men free from every restriction, who have no rents to pay, and whose virgin lands need no manures." It will be impossible for our home growers to compete with such rivals, and, already, statistics show that one third of the workers in Scotland have transferred themselves to other employments in ten years. In England and