Family is held to be the fundamental institution, and is dealt with in its nature and historical development. The School is treated in a similar way. The State is regarded as a moral personality, whose function is to protect the individual, and afford him the opportunity for full self-development. The closing chapter deals with the Church, as an institution for aiding imperfect beings in their struggle towards perfection, and is the best chapter in the book. It is somewhat difficult to give a just estimation of this little work, owing to the large number of subjects discussed, and the summary manner in which they are frequently disposed of. The beginner will find much that is incomprehensible to him, and the more advanced student will come upon many things that he is already familiar with, from the more adequate and satisfactory presentations of other writers who have devoted themselves to these subjects. But for the ordinary reader, there is much that is interesting, suggestive, and helpful. The spirit of the book is excellent.
W. B. Elkin.
.
at the University of Minnesota for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. By John Ernest Merrill. Hartford Seminary Press. Hartford, Conn.
1894.—pp. 175.This monograph sets out with the thesis that "history shows a parallel development of institutions and the moral ideal, and in this development the ideal has been prior to, and causally connected with, its corresponding institutions." The work falls into two divisions: Metaphysical and Historical. "Part I is intended as the metaphysical basis for, and introduction to, the historical study which occupies Part II." Somewhat after the manner of Green, the moral ideal is defined proximately, as "the incarnation in idea of those principles of action which are considered morally ideal," and ultimately, as "an active idea of common good." Institutions, considered concretely, are "organs, centers of force, deposited by society and conserving particular forms of social order "; considered abstractly they are "habits of social life." Then, since human action is for the sake of ends, the moral ideal, being the common end, induces action which appears under the general form of institutions. Hence there is a correspondence between the moral ideal and the institutions of the majority of the people of a given community. Further, the ideal is not only logically prior to the institutions, but is causal. The conclusions here follow from the definitions, and the author does not fully recognize the importance of the causal influence of insti- tutions upon ideals. Part II treats historically of the parallel development of Greek, Roman, and Teutonic ideals and their corresponding institutions. The institutions are classed as follows: (1) those relating to the Subjugation of Nature, (2) those relating to Social Organization, (3) those relating to Individual Culture. Here the object is to show, as the author well says, that history is moral; that institutions have historically a moral side, and a
