conditions in the tendency in some of the states which are most given to experiments to embody what is practically detailed legislation in the constitutions, thereby making them unduly unwieldy and restrictive. Mr. Judson's book, which is of modest size, deserves a wide and thoughtful reading.

It is a rare person that does not sometimes indulge in the pastime left over from childhood, that of imagining how one would play the "fairy godmother" if circumstances should ever make it possible. For that reason a well written story of the "fairy godmother" type is always read with pleasure even if the theme has been used a thousand times before. "Aunt Olive in Bohemia" by Leslie Moore is such a book. Aunt Olive was an English maiden lady who, until the age of sixty, conformed all her natural tastes to the standard of a spinster relative who had cared for her from childhood. At the age of about sixty Aunt Olive suddenly found herself alone, with plenty of money and the inclination to indulge the dreams of a lifetime. She went to London, hired a studio in the artist quarter, furnished it with exquisite taste and from that moment worked a series of delightful surprises in the lives of the artists who became acquainted with her. This is one of the happiest, pleasantest books of the year.

George H. Doran Company.

The followers of Marx and those calling themselves Socialists are those who will be least gratified by reading Professor Vladimir Simkhovitch's "Marxism versus Socialism." The conservative will chuckle over almost every page of it, and especially over the final assertion of socialist inconsistency in theory and practice, and the amiable commendation of Socialists, who, having become innocuous social reformers, continue to intone their

old imprecatory psalms. The cherished socialist proclamation that the poor become poorer as the rich become richer is exposed as fallacious, by citing the very figures used to advocate it, and as the author never loses his temper, this will be found unendurable by those exhibited as mistaken. It must not be supposed that Professor Simkhovitch underrates the significance of Socialism, Marxian or not, or the necessity of trying to understand it, and he might have said that the inquirer can find no better guide than his book with its wealth of quotation and its excellent grouping of historical illustrations. No wage earner and no capitalist should neglect to read it. Henry Holt & Co.

Dr. I. H. Hirschfield's "The Heart and Blood-Vessels" (Funk & Wagnalls Co.) is intended primarily for lay readers, though it will appeal also to physicians. The book is of a broader scope than this title would indicate. As he explains in his opening chapter, the author takes the heart and blood vessels as his special subject, because these are the organs whieh now-a-days most frequently wear out first and cause death and invalidity of many of the best men of the community at an age when they should be enjoying the fruits of their life work. He cites statistics which show that ten times more people die to-day from diseases of the heart and blood vessels than in 1871. But this subject leads up, in this highly useful and suggestive book, to a comprehensive treatise upon the general care of the body, with special attention to food, exercise, nervousness, climate, sleep, and the prevention and treatment of disease. To people who are ill, or who fancy themselves ill, or who suffer from the strain of modern life, the book can hardly fall to bring help and encouragement, if it does not actually show them the way out.