IRISH AGRICULTURAL Now that the question of land ownership in Ireland is settled by the recent act of Parliament, it is necessary that farmers be encouraged to develop the resources of their holdings to the utmost extent. By improving the methods of production, and by obtaining better markets for their produce, the new peasant proprietors will soon enjoy increased prosperity. The competition from other countries will force the adoption of co-operative principles. To provide the assistance needed in this direction is the special scope of the Irish Agricultural Society,* which has a branch already established in New York City represented by the Hon. John D. Crimmins and many other devoted friends of Ireland. One of the most effective workers in this industrial movement is the Rev. Thomas A. Finlay, S.J., of University College, Dublin, who came to the United States a short time ago as a member of the Mosely Commission, to study various phases of educational progress in relation to commercial advancement. In one of his lectures in New York on the subject, Father Finlay related how Sir Horace Plunkett went about endeavoring to persuade Irishmen, independently of their political proclivities and of creed, to combine together for industrial selfimprovement. The great wave of emigration had well-nigh drained Ireland of all that was best and most representative in her manhood and womanhood, and while good men here and there endeavored to stem that awful drain, nothing was really accomplished, as the cause which lay at the source of the difficulty had never been met. When men could not earn a decent living at home it was not to be expected that patriotism would deter them from going abroad. Sir Horace Plunkett seemed to realize this, but he endeavered to convince the farmers to whom he had access that in combination lay a new source of power. He met at first with the usual apathy and inertia which such a reform is sure. to encounter, for Irishmen, in spite of the bad name they enjoy in certain quarters, are the most conservative of conservative men. But the movement spread, and the figures show that, whereas but a decade of years ago some five-and-thirty book," and the short sentences, childish language, and efforts at humor in these pages give that impression. The best language, and clearest explanations, are not too good in books of instruction for the young. Those who have experience in the education of children know that it is better for the language of a book to be a little ahead than a little behind the mind of a pupil. There is much useful and interesting matter in The Insect Folk; she is quite at home with her subject. the interjections, and "made-up" speeches of "Mollie" and May" and "Master Ned," and impart her excellent information in pithy paragraphs, the book would increase in dignity and value. THE SHIP OF STATE. and the author proves If she would leave out The Ship of State* is a compendium of interesting and timely articles, dealing with the various offices of our government. The papers are written by able men, some of whom have held the offices of which they treat, and others who write and judge equally well of the dignity and responsibility of these positions. The first paper is "The Presidency," by Theodore Roosevelt, and was written long before he was called to be the head of the nation. Twelve papers make up the volume, and all are enriched with excellent illustrations. The book has a decidedly instructive value, and is the best lesson on civics that could be put into such a small compass. MEMORIES OF A REDLETTER SUMMER. By Eleanor Childs Meehan. This charming diary of travel,† with its refined finish and illustrations, is one of the pleasantest companions we have had for some time. Its descriptions are graphic, its historical allusions correct, its information true, and we judge it both an admirable addition to the supplementary reading of classes, and an ornament to the library table. Mrs. Meehan has conferred a favor on the young by publishing this admirable account of her travels abroad, and we cordially recommend it to all our readers, for old as well as young will be interested in its pages. *The Ship of State. By Those at the Helm. Boston: Ginn & Co. + Memories of a Red-Letter Summer. By Eleanor Childs Meehan. Cincinnati: Robert IRISH AGRICULTURAL Now that the question of land ownership in Ireland is settled by the recent act of Parliament, it is necessary that farmers be encouraged to develop the resources of their holdings to the utmost extent. By improving the methods of production, and by obtaining better markets for their produce, the new peasant proprietors will soon enjoy increased prosperity. The competition from other countries will force the adoption of co-operative principles. To provide the assistance needed in this direction is the special scope of the Irish Agricultural Society,* which has a branch already established in New York City represented by the Hon. John D. Crimmins and many other devoted friends of Ireland. One of the most effective workers in this industrial movement is the Rev. Thomas A. Finlay, S.J., of University College, Dublin, who came to the United States a short time ago as a member of the Mosely Commission, to study various phases of educational progress in relation to commercial advancement. In one of his lectures in New York on the subject, Father Finlay related how Sir Horace Plunkett went about endeavoring to persuade Irishmen, independently of their political proclivities and of creed, to combine together for industrial selfimprovement. The great wave of emigration had well-nigh drained Ireland of all that was best and most representative in her manhood and womanhood, and while good men here and there endeavored to stem that awful drain, nothing was really accomplished, as the cause which lay at the source of the difficulty had never been met. When men could not earn a decent living at home it was not to be expected that patriotism would deter them from going abroad. Sir Horace Plunkett seemed to realize this, but he endeavered to convince the farmers to whom he had access that in combination lay a new source of power. He met at first with the usual apathy and inertia which such a reform is sure to encounter, for Irishmen, in spite of the bad name they enjoy in certain quarters, are the most conservative of conservative men. But the movement spread, and the figures show that, whereas but a decade of years ago some five-and-thirty farmers were hardy enough and resourceful enough to attempt the new methods, now there are some 35,000 farmers throughout Ireland who are joined together in what is practically one of the greatest agricultural leagues ever known in modern industrial times. Father Finlay pointed out very pathetically the contempt and opposition which Sir Horace Plunkett met with in his early endeavors to teach Irishmen to help themselves. He was a Protestant, and so was looked upon with distrust; he was a Unionist in politics, and so was hated by those he endeavored to befriend; he was a landlord, and so was counted a natural enemy by the men whom he wished to make independent in his own class. Fortunately the Catholic clergy of Ireland joined very early in the movement, and the success was beyond all expectation. Up to the present the funds requisite for an undertaking as vast as this have been practically supplied by Sir Horace himself and a few other philanthropic gentlemen, but owing to the enormous proportions the movement had assumed there were necessarily great expenses incurred, and more money was needed to carry it into districts which still held aloof. It was for this purpose that the Irish Industrial League of America was formed. OUTLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY. Professor Royce's new volume is the expansion of a sketch written years ago, for the purpose of outlining the elementary principles and practical applications of Psychology. In its present form the work appears in the Teachers' Professional Library, a series under the editorship of President Nicholas Murray Butler. This gives us to understand that the book is intended primarily to meet the needs of the studious teachers referred to in the General Editor's Introduction. Beyond this, however, the author has had another end in view, namely, the interesting of technical psychologists in certain original views and suggestions here for the first time made public. The present reviewer labors under the embarrassment of his conviction that the really valuable part of the book is precisely that which has no right to be in this volume at all. Although meant, as announced above, to introduce teachers to those find *Outlines of Psychology. An Elementary Treatise, with some Practical Applications. By ings of psychology which may assist them in the practical duties of instruction, the work before us seems to include much material calculated to confuse those readers to whom it is professedly addressed. On the other hand, however, this element, apparently so foreign to the proper purpose of the book, is of such a nature and influence that it may, on the whole, be productive of larger good than what would have replaced it had the writer followed orthodox lines with scrupulous exactitude. At the same time we must concede that the general gain is apt to be the Teachers' Library's loss, and that critics may with justice re-echo Professor Muirhead's reproach, I made in the October issue of Mind. What teachers themselves need most just now, perhaps, is such a book as the present one would have been, had the usual classifications been retained and the construction of a psychological theory reconcilable with the author's views on the individual will been eliminated. In furtherance of the same end, similar treatment might well have been extended to the discussion of the single, double, or triple dimension of feelings. As the volume stands one cannot but feel that these complications hinder rather than help its practical utility-a defect all the more provoking because, in so far as the text follows its proper purpose, it is luminous, convincing, and full of "actuality." Elsewhere let us hope the author will return to a further development of this attractive though intrusive psychological theory of Initiative. What he has here advanced is, of itself, calculated to make these pages valuable. While true to his pledge to keep clear of all discussions concerned with the philosophy of mind, he has not failed-who expected that the author of The World and the Individual should fail ?-to illuminate, from the discoveries of psychology, the opinion that "the associationist point of view must have its limitations." He does this by an original interpretation of "Initiative" in the light of the biological phenomena grouped by Loeb under the general name of "tropism," i.e., a certain general and elemental tendency to respond to stimuli, in a characteristic way, independent of and persistent through the various special activities. What is erected on this substructure is, indeed, as the author remarks, far enough from the views of Professor Loeb, but at the same time it should, we think, do something |