Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/280

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

gain to the community; 3, that the equitable adjustment of compensation would be extremely difficult; and, 4, that the administration of the land as public property by state officials would entail all the vices of officialism—by no means involve the belief that private landownership should continue without change. Immense estates should not be allowed to be held in permanency; but a fundamental change in land tenure is not required for remedying this evil. In England, abolition of primogeniture will do it. Recognizing the right of the state to restrain the use of land in ways at variance with public welfare, we may at the same time hold that there are cases in which it is both politic and practicable to exercise that right. The publication frees Mr. Spencer beyond all doubt from any possible charge of inconsistency between the views formerly published by him and those which he has more recently expressed.

Memoir of Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay. By Sir Archibald Geikie, with Portraits. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 397. Price, $4.

Sir Andrew Ramsay was one of the leaders in the geology of his time, and, by virtue of his pleasant and strong qualities, exercised a wide influence over his contemporaries. He joined the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom when it was still in its infancy, and remained on its staff during the whole of his active scientific career—a period of forty years. "So entirely," says Sir Archibald Geikie, "did he identify himself with the aims and work of the survey and so largely was he instrumental in their development, that the chronicle of his life is in a great measure the record also of the progress of that branch of the service. Recognizing this intimate relation, I have woven into my narrative such additional details as might perhaps serve to make the volume not only a personal biography, but an outline of the history of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom." From the summary of Ramsay's work given by the author, it appears that his earliest and his latest labors—beginning with a pamphlet on the geology of Arrau, and ending with the second edition of a monograph on North Wales—were in structural geology. "Between these two limits he accomplished a large amount of investigation directed toward the elucidation of the geological structure of Britain." His two presidential addresses to the Geological Society mark a distinct epoch in stratigraphical work, in that in them he indicated the historical meaning of the imperfection of the geological record which had been pointed out by Darwin. His physiographical work was abundant, remarkably original, and important, and bore on denudation in general, the history of river valleys, and the results of the operations of ice. Connecting his stratigraphical with his physiographical researches was a series of papers discussing the former existence of continents or of terrestrial conditions, during-the deposition of the geological record. His principal contributions to the literature of the history of geology were two inaugural lectures at University College, and his address as President of Section C of the British Association of 1881, which embodied historical reviews. He was a thorough uniformitarian in his theories to the end. His literary work included criticisms and lively articles in the Saturday Review. A still wider view of the extent of his influence is afforded when it is recollected that for nearly thirty years he was a teacher of geology, that he was an able debater in the Geological Society and a brilliant lecturer, and that he had the practical training of men on his staff in the Geological Survey who have since become conspicuous in educational life.

The Evolution of the Massachusetts Public-School System. By George H. Martin. International Education Series. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 284. Price, $1.50.

Two very significant statements are made by the editor in his preface to this book. The inhabitant of Massachusetts receives, on an average, nearly seven years of schooling, while the citizen of the nation at large enjoys only four years and three tenths of such training. In the same State the average earnings apportioned to each man, woman, and child would be seventy-three cents per day; elsewhere in the United States this amount is represented by forty cents.

"There would seem to be some connec-