Ja^TTabt 9, 1886.1
��35
��One imprcBsioii gatbercd rrom the pages of this work is the almost religious Tenor with which communists are devoted to their peculiar social creeds. Ridicule in unable to turn them aside from their purposes, nnd repeated fail- ure does not shake their faith. Speaking of the charms which the community at Brook Farm found in their life, aud their unwillingness to change it for the ' luxuries of F.gjpt,' Dr. Shaw remarks: —
"Some such feeling as lliat seems to be peima- nently retained b; nimost alt who have ever engaged in community life. It is a iiolable fact that many of these people nho have enlisted [n the work of human ■melioration have their wits wonderfully quickened thereby, while the one-sldedness of their develop- ment tends to deepen and confirm opinions once re- ceived. The ill-fated colonies of Robert Owen had passed into the history of 'extinct socialisms' a
Seneration ago; and yet the writer himself might eaignate one and another and another of llie now venerable associatesof Owen, still fresh with enthusi- asm, and warm with gympntliy. for every proposed social reform. The last of the Fourltrisi pbaianste- riea disappeared before the war; bill many of the men who were engaged in them may still tw found wres' tling with the problems of co-operation, or pounding away at nnmetlilng more radical. Icaria once num- bered its hundreds of disciples. Most of them have disappeared, seemingly swallowed up in the mass of American society; but. If ibe Iruth could be ascer- tained, they would, in all probability, still be found to be communists at heart" (pp. ITl!, IIT).
A second lesson which Icaria teaches, is thot tbe difficullies in the way of a realization of communism have existed largely in the imper- feclioDs of human ualure. Attempts to erect a social fabric of a new design have shattered, iKcause the building-material was not strong enough to resist the strain to which it was sub- jected. It is a sweet thing for iirelhren to dwell together in unity, hut truly a most diffi- cult thing. Whilc in Nauvoo, 111., their first aettlement. Cabet early leads one party of lea- rians in violent attacks on an opixtsite partj-: and the controversy waxes warm and bitter, until a disastrous split separates the two sce- tious permanently. Cabet dies i>oor and broken-hearted in St. Louis, his adherents are soon scattered, while his opponents found a new settlement in Iowa. But lliese latter, Rnite<l in poverty and trial, are unable lo en- dure prosperity; and a young and progressive parly, unwilling to accede to the policy of theii- more conservative elders, etfcct a separation. Peace and prosjierity have never remained long with the leaiians, but they have never ceased to persevere in hojw of better things.
One of the most interesting and at the same time touching passages in Dr. Shaw's book is that which describes the beginning of a system
��of private property, and llic i-elenllcs.sness wilh which it was suppressed as soon as discovered. It appears that the priiilege had been granted each family of cultivating a small plot of ground surrounding the house, in euch manner as the members thereof thought good: this was the origin of the question of the ' little gar- dens ' (■ lea petitsjardim').
"Everywhere else in Ibe cnnimunity lb Icariao motto lali tor each, each for all) was the invariable rule. If, in the one matter of these liny plots environ- ing their humble domiciles, ibe Icarlnna allowed Ihe Idea of 'meum el luum' Insidiously lo enter, and if they found a keener enjoyment in the fliiwers or the grapes because of Ihe forbidden but delicious reuse of orenersliip, we must not condemn them ton harsh- ly, nor Impeach their communism. There was anme- tblng noble and pathetic in Ihe manner wlih which these 'clloyens' and 'citoyennes' put away the ac- cursed thing when Ihey awoke to a realizallcin of the fact that the gardens were introducing a dangerous element of individualism and inequality" (p. 101 1.
This unpretentious little hook on Icaria may be commended as a contribution to social science well worthy of careful ])erusfll. It may be proper to state, in conclusion, that the book was presented by its auliior to the au- thorities of the Johns Hopkins university as a tUesis for the degree of Ph.D.
��This is the best sketch of plant-life that we have seen. The author criticises Sachs's view that the cell is merely passive, and shows that we must recognize both the separate indi- viduality of the cell and the cor|X)rale unity of the complex plant, though in the higher plants the independence of the cell is largely subordinated to the general weal. He also rejects Sachs's • Fundamental system ' of tissues as being n heterogeneous assemblage, and as in no sense a physiological unity- Tbe right classification of tissues is shown to deijend neither on embryology (for mature tissues show no ombryologicnl unity) nor on collocation (whether outside or inside the thickening ring), but on their actual structure as related to their functions. Thus the tissues are arranged as protective and nutritive, — the protective iucluding dermal and skeletal (or mechanical) systems; and the nutritive includ- ing absorbing, assimilating, conducting, stor- ing, respiratory, and secreting organs. The bulk of the book is occupied with the anatomy of the plant as dei>endent on its functions.
Phi/'iolngiirhe fjlaaicnmalomif, im gnmi/rl" iargfitllt. Vqti r>r. ti. Haberunot. Lelpilg, Kngiiutann. l«m. 1I+3M
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