BOOK NOTICES

New Zealand Tablet, 13 February 1919, Page 39

BOOK NOTICES

The Beginnings of Science, Biologically and Psycholor gically Considered. By Edward J. Menge, M.A., Ph.D., M.Sc, Professor of Biology, Dallas University. (The Gorham Press, Boston; two dollars net.) ';, Backgrounds for Social Workers, by the same author. (Gorham Press; 1.50 net.) Seldom has it fallen to our lot to notice two books which we can recommend as cordially as the foregoingvolumes by an American Professor. They are not books for those who merely want a pastime they are for people who have brains and who like to use them. To the clergy and to Catholic laymen who take an active interest in social questions both books will prove a real boon. The beginnings of Science may not seem to be a title that promises help in this direction ; but inasmuch as it examines the very foundations on which so many social and controversial theories are based to-day it is an excellent groundwork for a student who wants to deal intelligently with such matters. It is a strong argument for clear thinking and sound reasoning, and even students of philosophy will read it with profit and interest. The second work, Backgrounds for Social Workers, is in a manner the application of the principles of the first. The chapter of Training is of special importance, and might be studied advantageously by our State educationists in this country. The powerful advocacy of a teaching in early youthbefore fifteen . at leastwhich will educate children to act and speak and think for motives of Right and Wrong, rather than, for fear or expectation of consequences is worthy of attention. On such subjects of actuality as Birth Control, Sterilization, Sex-Instruction, and Eugenics the author speaks with the authority of an expert. His keen sifting of evidence, his dissipation of fallacies, his elevated standpoint on the grounds of moral Right and Wrong make the treatment of these subjects particularly interesting nowadays when so much irresponsible writing and loose thinking is done about (.hem. The studies of the family in past ages —the Primitive Family, the Medieval Family, the Renaissance Family, and the Reformation Family throw a flood of light on the root-errors from which so many queer theories of our time have sprung. The author's respect for scholastic philosophy and his frequent reference to Catholic teachers are a guarantee of the soundness of his principles ; indeed his book may be described as a valuable contribution to Neo Scholasticism. It is undoubtedly a book for intelligent parents, for social students, and for the clergy. ■ Both volumes have good bibliographical ."notes which will help readers to a deeper acquaintance with the subjects of which they treat. A long list of the names of scientists and 'their religion appended to the first volume will be found interesting, though the author makes it quite clear that he holds as we have always held that as a sound argument pro or con the religion or the infidelity of a scientist is worth very little Sir Robert Stout and similar "thinkers" notwithstanding. History of the Catholic Church, For Use. in Colleges and Schools, Rev. James MacC'affrey, S.T.L., Ph.D. Gill and Son, Ltd., Dublin; 2s 6d net. (Per O'Connor, Christchurch.) In a time when so many calumnies about the Church are widespread in the press and in current literature every Catholic should have an intelligent knowledge of at least the outlines of Church History. A Catholic who does not know the salient facts in that glorious record and who is not able to defend the Church is not an educated man no matter what else he may know. The proper place to begin, to learn the story of the Church is in the school, and it was , for pupils that this admirable compendium was spe*

cially prepared by Professor MacCaffrey. People who are judges of such things will agree that the book which is best calculated ■to teach the young is as -a rule the clearest and best book for their seniors also. Here is a little volume which we cordially recommend not only to teachers, but to adults who have no connection with teaching but are anxious to .learn for their own improvement. It is worthy of wide circulation, and is just the sort of text-book for the higher standards in Catholic schools and colleges.