raneous in the great producing countries, and whether, as to duration, severity, and periodicity, they had been similar in such countries. The outline also comprehended the collection of data relating to the variation of wages in different countries and in different parts of this country, variations in the cost of living in the same localities, and in the cost of production, with all such alleged causes of industrial depressions as might offer opportunity for illustration through classified facts, and the suggestion of remedies for depressions. Five agents were employed in the investigation in foreign countries—Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy—and fifteen in this country. The results of their inquiries are given in detail, and summarized in this report.
Socialism and Christianity. By A. J. F. Behrends, D. D. New York: Baker & Taylor. Pp. 308. Price, $1.50.
Dr. Behrends was invited by the Trustees of the Hartford Theological Seminary to deliver a course of lectures before the students of that institution on the "Social Problems of our Time." This book is the fruit of his studies on the subject, in which he spent a year. In the constructive part of his work, he claims that he has been careful to maintain an independent position. "I have copied from no one, and have frequently found myself in agreement and at variance with the most opposite schools of thought. The method of criticism was fixed for me in my conception of Christianity, and in my settled conviction of its adequacy to solve the pending social problem." In the successive chapters are considered social theories and their history, the assumptions and economic fallacies of modern socialism, the rights of labor, the responsibilities of wealth, the personal and social causes of pauperism, its historical causes and its cure, the treatment of the criminal classes, and "Modern Socialism, Religion, and the Family." The last-named, the closing chapter, is marked by an extended discussion of the true doctrine of the family, which "grew out of the deepening conviction that, in all radical and permanent social reform, a high view of the sanctity of marriage must lead the way."
Political Science Quarterly. Edited by the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia College. March, 1866. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp. 152. Price, $3 a year; 75 cents a single number.
The "Political Science Quarterly" is intended to furnish a field for the discussion of political, economic, and legal questions—the latter heading embracing chiefly questions of constitutional, administrative, and international law, from the scientific point of view, and by a scientific method. Such topics will be preferred as are of present interest in the United States, but no topics will be excluded which can throw light upon the problems and tendencies of our own country. The present number contains an introductory article on "The Domain of Political Science," by Professor Munroe Smith; "The American Commonwealth," by Professor John W. Burgess; "Collection of Duties," by Frank J. Goodnow; "American Labor Statistics," by Professor Richmond M. Smith; "Legislative Inquests," by Frederick W. Whitridge; "The Berlin Conference," by Daniel De Leon; and reviews of new books.
Persia: The Land of the Imams. By James Bassett. New York; Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 343. Price, $1.50.
The author is a missionary of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, and gives in this work a narrative of travel and residence during fourteen years, or from 1871 to 1885. In the first eleven of the sixteen chapters of the book, he gives narratives of extended tours, and such information as seemed to him to be profitable and interesting. The itineraries include the journey from Constantinople to Persia by way of Trebizond and Erzeroum, and to Oroomiah, with accounts of the Nestorians; from Oroomiah to Teheran, with a description of that city; a journey to Ispahan; from Teheran to the Black Sea and back; and from Teheran to Mashhad. In the remaining chapters is given a general review of Persian affairs, including facts which the author obtained in his travels, chiefly from his own observations. They relate to the general account of the country and its social and economical condition, its government, the prevailing religions, and the condition and prospects of missionary work there. Concerning the
