Minor Notices 165 has endeavored to show the boundaries of England at the time of the Domesday survey, its administrative sub-divisions, the situation of the liefs of some of the chief Norman magnates, the growth of castle- building, the towns, the classes into which they appear to fall, and the chief ecclesiastical foundations in existence in the year named. There is an inset map showing Welsh conditions in 1185. Secondly, Miss Lina Eckenstein gives a map of Italy for the period 1000-1067, with two insets, one showing the general outlines for the century and a half preceding, the other showing Sicily under Saracen rule. Third, there is a sheet showing the Ottoman Empire in Europe from 1356 to 1 89 7, by Mr. W. Miller. The letter-press is clear and well devised, as usual ; Mr. Tail's is unusually elaborate. Outlines of the History 0/ Religion, by John K. Ingram, LL.D. (London, Adam and Charles Black, 1900, pp. 162.) The character and scope of this little volume are not very clearly indicated by the title. Instead of containing in outline a history of the various religions of the world, as the title would lead one to infer, it offers to the reader a some- what abbreviated statement of the views concerning the history and phi- losophy of religion which Auguste Comte developed in Vol. III. of his Politique Positive. The author, who is an earnest and reverent disciple of Comte, disavows any claim to originality in the present work, and is content to present in clear and simple form what he esteems to be the important but too little known teaching of the founder of positivism. The writer's own contribution is confined to the footnotes and concluding remarks. After a brief discussion of the nature of religion and its constituent elements. Fetishism, Polytheism, The Catholico-Feudal Transition and The Modern Movement form the leading divisions of the work. Fetish- ism is employed in the most vague and general sense of the term, in which it is practically synonymous with animism. Monotheism is not treated as distinct from polytheism but is regarded as a " reduction and concentration of polytheism." The Catholico-Feudal Transition is dis- cussed in its relations to the Greek and Roman systems. As the Greek civilization had developed the intellect and the Roman the active powers, there remained, it is said, the cultivation of the affections as the task of the third transition. Catholicism with its grave theoretical diffi- culties is viewed as owing its power largely to its social efficiency. Prot- estantism is regarded as at best a makeshift, affording only a "semi-sat- isfaction " to the intellect while inferior to Catholicism in the cultivation of the religious sentiments. It can thus only serve to mediate the com- ing of the "religion of humanity." Positivism regards all forms of religion as not only necessary but also beneficent ; they serve as a school- master to bring mankind to the " final religion." The entire discussion bristles with questionable historical generaliza- tions, which, in a brief notice, can receive no attention. The construct- ive portions are open to all the difficulties of the positivistic programme.
