burst in upon him, and under the compulsion of this new light he delivered his famous sermon, "The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness," which is here produced in literal translation and which embodies the teachings that the true course of life lies in avoiding the extremes of absorption in sense perceptions, and especially the indulging of passions and appetites, on the one hand, and on the other hand of extreme asceticism or self-mortification. By following the middle path, Buddha held man would find his eyes opened, his understanding illumined, and he would enjoy peace of mind, the highest wisdom and full enlightenment. The middle path required those who would follow it to observe eight things: "Right views; right aspirations; right speech; right conduct; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; and right contemplation."

"The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness" is followed by "On Knowledge of the Vedas," "All the Asavas," "The Last Days of Buddha," and "Dhammapada." The presentation of the great religious and moral concepts of the masters of ancient Indian thought is followed by selections from the teachings of Zarathustra, the light of Persia, and by extended extracts from the writings of K'ung-fu-tsze, the latter embodying the heart of the ethical teachings of the great Chinese sage who lived five hundred years before our era.

The second volume is devoted to the religious concepts, the civil and political institutions and the philosophical ideals of Greece, and here we have a treasury of intellectual wealth that alone would immensely enrich the culture of almost every educated man and woman who has not made a special study of the historical development and philosophical ideals of the great mother of Western civilization. The religious ideas of the Hellenic peoples as they related to the beginnings of things and the future state are well set forth in the selections from the two great master writers whose works constitute the bibles of Greece, Hesiod and Homer. Here, in The Theogony of Hesiod and Works and Days we have the great legends and wonder-stories that relate to the beginning the attempt of man to explain the why and wherefore of his being on earth; after which we have Homer's views of the under-world and the after-life, and relevant poems from Pindar, together with a brief extract from Isocrates on The Mysteries.

From the religious concepts we pass to a consideration of the political institutions or government, by Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution and Plutarch on Lycurgus and the Spartan institutions.

It is, however, in philosophy that Greece contributed most to the civilization of the ages, and here are found illuminating thoughts from the master thinkers, from Thales to Socrates. Of course the exact utterances of many of these masters have not been preserved, but from ancient sources and the accredited reports of their utterances it is possible to follow them. Liberal extracts are given from Plato. These, indeed, occupy about 150 pages, while more than 70 pages are given to the views advanced by Aristotle. Among other thought-molders whose ideas are given are Diogenes, Zeno and Epicurus.

As Greece is preeminent for philosophy, so Rome's great gift was law and well-digested ideas of orderly government, adapted for the larger administrative duties of society. It is fitting, therefore, that one-half of the third volume should be devoted to Roman institutions, laws and pictures of Roman life and political conditions in the days of her glory and her shame, as given to the world by her greatest writers. Following this are extracts from the master philosophers, orators, speculative scientists and ethical teachers, including Cicero, Lucretius, Pliny the elder, Quintilian, Philo Judæus, Plutarch, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

These three volumes give us a luminous picture of the religion, the philosophy and the development of law and government in the ancient world, down to the time when Christianity began to color the thought, of civilization.

The subsequent volumes trace our civilization as it has been reflected through the most fundamental ideas in religion, government, philosophy, science and invention, down to the present day.

Volume four shows the march of the early Christian church through the fires of persecution, and the development of Christianity as expressed by the great master theologians of the early centuries. It also devotes considerable space to "The New Peoples," including the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks, and describes "The Era of the Arabs," the rise of feudalism and "The Church Empire."

In the consideration of "The State" we have the Saxon, Norman and English institu

tions and customs, the Magna Charta, the popular uprising under Ball and Tyler, and Marsilius of Padua on "The Beginning of the Modern Theory of the State."

Volumes five and six deal with one of the most momentous pages in the annals of civilization. They carry us from the birth of Modern Times to the gray dawn of the epoch of Democracy. This wonderful age was a revolutionary period. It ushered in the Renaissance and the New Learning, which were followed by the rise of Protestantism and the counter movement of Jesuitism. It was marked by the decay of feudalism and the advance of centralized and responsible government. Under the spell of the new order liberty of thought and a greater degree of freedom in research came on the heels of the weakening of the power of the church over the state and the individual; and with this unloosing of the human mind, science, invention education and social idealism budded and bloomed as never before. It was also the summer-time for art and the Golden Age of discovery. Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape and opened up a new highway to the Indies. Magellan's ships circumnavigated the globe. Columbus gave to civilization a new world, and Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler by their discoveries beat down the ignorant and fanatical superstition of the Roman Church and gave to mankind a new heaven. Erasmus blazed the way for the Reformation, whose master spirits, Martin Luther and John Calvin, left an indelible impress on the world's thought. Loyola came as a powerful aggressive leader to stem the tide of the Reformation, and during this period science gave the world many illustrious names, such as Newton, Huyghens, Anthony von Leeuwenhoeck, Boyle, Boerhaave, Linnæus, Franklin, Black, Priestly, Cavendish, Lavoisier, James Watt, Hutton, Herschel, Laplace and Volta.

Speculative and social philosophy and education also were greatly enriched by the works of such men as Montaigne, Bacon, Comenius, Descartes, Spinoza, Liebknecht, Hobbs, Locke, Mun, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Adam Smith. And as Luther shone forth as a splendid luminary in the dawn of this period, so Wesley arose as a commanding figure in the religious world of the later day.

In these two volumes are found short sketches of these master names, with some of their most significant and illuminating ut

terances, sufficient, indeed, to show the general trend of the thought and ideas which they represented and which have so largely colored the concepts of present-day civilization.

Here, too, are found great political documents and utterances-papers that hold special value for our age, such as the Dutch Declaration of Independence, the English Petition of Right, Pym's speech against Strafford; and here is Voltaire on Toleration. Furthermore, we are taken across the ocean to the New World and view the Aztec civilization as Cortes saw and described it, and we are present at the founding of St. Augustine and of Quebec. Here, too, is Morton's "Customs of the Indians" and much other authoritative data of interest and value.

Volume seven deals with the advent of democracy-the great political revolutionary epoch which proclaimed the rights of man and established popular government. This most significant of all happenings in the realm of politics or government was heralded by the civilization-influencing ideas of such thinkers as Hobbs, Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau. Before the American Revolution opened, certain great instruments and facts in English history are given, such as the Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights and Robert Clive on his conduct in India. Here, too, are the great utterances in England on the all-absorbing question of the rights of the American Colonies, by Chatham, Grenville, Mansfield, Burke, and Adam Smith.

While England was preparing to adopt a reactionary and coercive course that cost her her richest possessions, the political horizon was broadening in the New World. The noble philosophical concepts which formed the ground-work of modern democracy, had crossed the Atlantic. Strong, vigorous, liberty-loving and independent minds had seized upon these fundamental truths and enlarged and amplified them. Nay, more, they prepared to put them into practical operation. In this volume are given many of the most vital utterances of ante-Revolutionary and Revolutionary days-utterances of men like Otis, the Adamses, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine.

The forming of the Constitution is also treated by the publication of the debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, while the volume closes with the French Revolution.

The last three volumes are devoted to the ideas that have most profoundly fostered the march of civilization since the adoption of our Constitution. They are concerned chiefly with political, social, economic, philosophical and scientific advance. One of the most important discussions deals with the development of political ideas in the United States since 1787. A number of the most important memorials, state papers and resolutions are given, together with the most significant utterances of such great statesmen as Jefferson, Hamilton, Marshall, Clay, Benton, Calhoun, Hayne, Webster, Monroe, Jackson, Garrison, Phillips, Seward, Douglas, Taney, Davis and Lincoln.

The state papers here given and the utterances that represent the ideals that have been vital in our history in themselves constitute a compendium of information brought together in the compass of one work, that cannot fail to prove very helpful to students of political development in the Republic. But of almost equal importance are the contributions to the world of social and economic thought, dealing with great movements that have developed during this period. They are represented by such papers as Malthus' "Essay on the Principle of Population," Ricardo's "Theory of Rent," Karl Marx's "Manifesto of the Socialist Party," and Friedrich Engels' "Scientific Socialism," together with discussions equally as timely, though less radical, such as H. W. Macrosty's essay on "English State Socialism" and a "Comparison of Municipal and Private Ownership," by the Commissioner of Labor, of 1894.

In speculative philosophy the following papers are given: Fichte's "Outline of the Doctrine of Knowledge," Hegel's "The De+ velopment of Spirit," Schopenhauer's “The Will in Nature," and Comte's "The Positive Philosophy."

Education is represented by Pestalozzi, Fröbel, and Horace Mann; while the marvelous advance in the realm of natural science rightly occupies a very large portion of these three volumes.

In the domain of physics and chemistry we have important discussions by such men as Sir Humphry Davy, John Dalton, Avogadro, Faraday, Count Rumford, Thomas Young, Hermann von Helmholtz, Kirchhoff, Bunsen, James Clerk Maxwell, M. Henri Poincare, Roëntgen, W. H. Preece, Mendeleef, and Sir Norman Lockyer.

Biology and evolution are represented by Bichat, Jenner, Lamarck, Cuvier, Sir Charles Bell, Charles Lyell, Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin, Ernest Haeckel, August Weismann, Robert Koch, and Louis Pasteur, and psychology by David Ferrier and Sir William Crookes.

From this brief and partial survey of the subject matter presented in this work, it will be readily seen that it is one of the most vital compilations that has appeared from the press. Its value is greatly enhanced by the presence of a large number of magnificent photogravure illustrations which illustrate the advance in painting, sculpture and architecture throughout the various periods, from the dawn of historic time to the present day.

The Training of the Human Plant. By Luther Burbank. Cloth. Pp. 100. Price, 60 cents net. New York: The Century Company.

TH

HIS book, though small in size, is great in value. It is one of the most important works for parents, teachers, and, indeed, all thinking people, that has appeared, because the subject is the most fundamental and vital quesBooks intended for review in THE ARENA should be addressed to B. O. Flower, Editorial Department, THE ARENA, Boston, Mass.

tion with which the civilization of the morrow is concerned, and the treatment is as sane and practical as it is fundamentally sound. That such works as this are appearing and attracting general and favorable attention is most encouraging, because until men and women realize that the bringing of children into the world and then leaving them to grow up with an environment that is destructive to physical health, mental development and spiritual enfoldment, is one of the gravest possible moral crimes, there will be little

Mr. Burbank has done more than any other living man in the development of plant life, and his studies and research have shown him what may be accomplished by proper care and training, in the right kind of environment, in the plant world. He is philosophical, and he utilizes his knowledge of the miricles he has wrought with flower and fruit to illustrate what may be done with far less effort, by parents, if the children have the right environment. He very wisely opposes the mill-run method of popular education in our cities.

"I wish," he says, "to lay special stress upon the absurdity, not to call it by a harsher term, of running children through the same mill in a lot, with absolutely no real reference to their individuality. No two children are alike. You cannot expect them to develop alike. They are different in temperament, in tastes, in disposition, in capabilities, and yet we take them in this precious early age, when they ought to be living a life of preparation near to the heart of nature, and we stuff them, cram them, and overwork them until their poor little brains are crowded up to and beyond the danger-line. The work of breaking down the nervous systems of the children of the United States is now well under way. It is only when some one breaks absolutely away from all precedent and rule and carves out a new place in the world that any substantial progress is ever made, and seldom is this done by one whose individuality has been stifled in the schools."

He holds, and we think rightly holds, that the country is the proper place for the child during the first ten years, and he insists that the master environing influence of the child must be love. Very impractical and visionary, the money-grubbing materialist will cry, but Mr. Burbank knows what is demanded in

people the greatest race the world has ever seen, and he knows that if the right and necessary ideals are held before the people and if they are presented with steady and everincreasing insistence, they can be made the master thought of the nation, and the master thought will be realized. To raise the ideal is to solve the greatest problem that has to do with the republic of to-morrow.

"Not only," he says, "would I have the child reared for the first ten years of its life in the open, in close touch with nature, a barefoot boy with all that implies for physical stamina, but should have him reared in love. But you say, How can you expect all children to be reared in love? By working with vast patience upon the great body of the people, this great mingling of races, to teach such of them as do not love their children to love them, to surround them with all the influences of love. This will not be universally accomplished to-day or to-morrow, and it may need centuries; but if we are ever to advance and to have this higher race, now is the time to begin the work, this very day."

He is very insistent on looking to the physical development of the child. It is the foundation for sanity, for mental supremacy, and for spiritual domination. Child-labor, the massing of children in the cities, the indifference of the people to the right kind of environment during the first ten years of the child's life, are crimes-moral crimes, for which our slothful civilization is responsible and must suffer; and this serious fact is burned into the consciousness of our people in this book. And more. It opens new vistas of thought to parents and teachers. Its every page is pregnant with suggestions of the gravest importance. It would be difficult to overestimate its value, and we heartily recommend it to our readers.

A STATESMAN ON THE CABLE RINGS: THE ARENA is very fortunate in being able to present a paper from the English statesman who is justly preeminent in the Anglo-Saxon world for his long and effective battle for lower postage, a more efficient parcels post and other reforms that vitally affect the millions. For years no member of Parliament has

been more prominent or insistent for the advancement of every movement calculated to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost in the various branches of the postal service. Mr. HEATON has now turned his attention to the great cable trusts or monopolies, and in two remarkably brilliant papers he makes powerful argument in favor of the cables for the millions instead of for the millionaires. The first

of these contributions appears in this number and is entitled How to Smash the Cable Ring. It is written in a popular and fascinating style. The second paper deals with the statistics of the subject and makes a powerful, statesmanlike argument.

George Wharton James on Galveston's Splendid Success in Municipal Government: In this issue of THE ARENA We open a series of six papers from the brilliant pen of GEORGE WHARTON JAMES, on civic progress and municipal art in typical Southern cities. These papers will be concerned with New Orleans, Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio. The splendid success which has marked the commission government of Galveston is admirably set forth by Mr. JAMES in the opening paper of this series. One thing, however, is very necessary in order to make Galveston's government a model of effective democratic city rule, and that is provisions similar to those that obtain in Los Angeles, where the citizens enjoy the right of the initiative, referendum and right of recall. Only by such measures can a city provide against the possible despotism of a corrupt ring which sooner or later will appear in any city where the people do not reserve to themselves the rights which must distinguish a democratic government from class-rule. Under a model commission a city may prosper splendidly, with a government such as Galveston enjoys, but under a commission dominated by certain special interests, as would soon be the case in many cities, the rule would be not one whit better than the rule of the bossridden cities at the present time. The only sure protection that the people have for the righting of municipal wrongs is found in the initiative, referendum and the right of recall.

The Season's Social Drama: In Mr. MAILLY'S very thoughtful review of many vital social and economic plays produced in New York last season, we present the second important paper in our series of critical discussions of vital dramas and leading representatives of the histrionic art. In our May issue we presented a sketch of Mr. KLEIN. In the present paper Mr. MAILLY discusses social and economic plays from the view-point of a scholarly Socialist, and while we do not agree with all his conclusions, they represent the views of a large number of deeply thoughtful people. Shortly we shall publish an illustrated study of Mrs. FISKE and her work, prepared for THE ARENA by KENYON WEST.

Christian Science Philosophically Considered from Two View-Points: All great theories, whether they relate to religion, philosophy, science, economics, government, or, indeed, life in any of its multitudinous relations, have been sturdily assailed by thinkers whose view-points have been opposite from those of the advocates of the new theories. Thoughtful discussions, when free from personalities and representing the honest convictions of the thinkers, are productive of moral and mental growth and lead thinking people to further investigations. This month we are able to present two philosophical views on Christian Science. Mr. FARNSWORTH is a poet and essayist of much ability. His criticism of Christian Science is for the most part concerned with what he considers to be the philosophical

objections or fallacies of the Christian Science philosophy, and is therefore in marked relief from the miserable personalities and reckless charges that bave constituted so much of the alleged criticism of Christian Science and its founder in magazines and the daily press. The objections of Mr. WILLIS, A.M., of the editorial board of the Christian FARNSWORTH are replied to by Mr. JOHN BUCKLEY Science Publishing Society. Mr. WILLIS is a fine thinker, a ripe scholar and presents the Christian Science views as they relate to the questions with which Mr. FARNSWORTH is concerned in his discussion. These two papers give both sides of the philosophical concepts as they relate to Christian Science, and this will close the controversial papers on this subject, as our space renders it impossible to prolong religious criticisms.

"What is Truth?" Rev. WILLIAM R. BUSHBY, LL.M., in this issue of THE ARENA replies to the papers that appeared in our April and May issues, from the pens of Rev. ALGERNON S. CRAPSEY and the Rev. A. R. KIEFFER, presenting the conservative views in regard to certain religious teachings that at the present time are engaging the attention of a large number of the leading scholars in Europe and America. While personally we do not share the views of Mr. BUSHBY, his paper is, we think, the most scholarly and lucid presentation of the subject possible in the compass of a short magazine

article.

In

Important Discussions on Direct-Legislation: We wish to call the scpeial attention of our readers to the exceptionally interesting and able presentation of Massachusetts' Historic Attitude in Regard to Representative Government: The Teachings of the Fathers, by the Hon. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, Jr. this paper the worthy descendant of one of the illustrious signers of the Declaration of Independence shows most conclusively what the great master spirits who founded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts understood by representative government. As an enemy of mob rule on the one hand and of corrupt class-rule on the other, Mr. PAINE, in common with all persons who believe in the principles of democracy as opposed to class-rule, believes in direct-legislation as firmly as did the great founders of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,-men like Samuel Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock. In this issue we have devoted the space of our editorial leader to answering three chief objections to direct-legislation that are continually being made. These have been recently set forth by Professor WYCKOFF of Princeton University and embody the objections as advanced by the reactionaries and friends of class-rule.

The People's Institute of New York: A paper of great interest to friends of constructive social work is found in Professor CHARLES SPRAGUE SMITH's admirable description of the People's Institute of citizenship along democratic lines. In our August number we hope to notice at length some splendid work along very similar lines that is now being carried forward in Italy. It is the purpose of THE ARENA to notice from month to month constructive movements of this character that are being carried forward in all parts of the world.