Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/576

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ple exposition of essential principles and important facts, which shall give force and definiteness to the ideas growing out of the doctrine of equality of right to the use of the land, make manifest their conformity with historical experience and religious truth, put them in such a relation that the recognition of common rights in land may strengthen, not weaken, the recognition of individual rights in the products of labor; and supply answers to the arguments urged upon the other side. Mr. Thackeray begins his thesis with a history of land tenure in England, divided into the pre-feudal, feudal, and post-feudal periods, in which the subject is treated with special reference to the rights and interests of the community as distinct from the individual interests involved. The origin of the present system is traced to the acts of 1656 and 1660, "which turned military tenures into free and common socage." Community rights were trampled upon or ignored under these acts, the custom of making settlements grew up and was recognized, and lands before common were inclosed without effective resistance till about half a century ago, when laws were passed restricting the right. The key to the future of land tenure may be found in the exercise of the right of eminent domain, which the author regards as an assertion of the state's ownership and its right to change tenants on condition of the new tenant indemnifying the old one for the damage he may suffer. The right of the community to resume its possession of the land being, as the author believes, shown, a second part of the work is occupied with the questions relating to compensation. The rights of the community may be reasserted and secured by requiring those who occupy or cultivate the land to pay to the community a full equivalent for the special privileges which they thus enjoy—that is, through the appropriation of ground-rents by taxation, and applying the proceeds for the benefit of the whole community. A plan is outlined for effecting the change with the least harshness; and the beneficial effects anticipated from it are enumerated. As to those who may be supposed to be injured by the change—reduced to landlords—the conclusion is reached that most landlords would lose nothing without receiving advantages nearly if not fully compensating them; while the others, if not relatively as great gainers as other classes of the community, would not be absolute losers. The landlords' claims for compensation are examined and found not good, either in law or equity—in fact, the claim of the community against them is assumed to be the better one; and, finally, they are invited manfully to accept the situation, and themselves lead in recognizing the justice of the new dispensation.

Studies in Pedagogy. By Thomas J. Morgan. Boston: Silver, Burdett & Co. Pp. 355. Price, $1.15.

The author, Principal of the Rhode Island State Normal School, and before that of normal schools at Potsdam, N. Y., and Peru, Neb., has embodied in this volume the fruits of many years of observation, reading, thinking, and experience in the exercise of his profession, and makes in offering them "an earnest effort to contribute toward the promotion of higher ideals of education and better methods of teaching." His view of education in the general sense is a broad one, and embraces all that marks the difference between what a child is by nature at birth and that which he becomes by growth, training, and experience. In this sense, nature is embraced as one of the greatest forces of education. In the narrower sense, to the consideration of which this book is chiefly devoted, education is restricted to the effect produced upon the young mind by those who seek purposely to influence it, or the direct influence of teachers and schools. Its most important factor is training, which here signifies such a control exercised by the teacher over the pupil as will lead him so to use his faculties as to secure their completest development; and which has for its immediate end the evolution of power. These faculties may be grouped under the heads of acquiring, understanding, reproducing, using, and expressing knowledge, each of which, again, includes its own several topics and means. More nearly than any other work of the teacher it meets the ideal of education; it is an essential preliminary to a successful work of instruction; and is the process that best prepares the student for the active duties of life. The special applications of training discussed are those to the