tries where most of such projects have originated. The distinction between socialism and communism he states as follows: "The central idea of communism is economic equality. It is desired by communists that all ranks and differences in society should disappear, and one man be as good as another, to use the popular phrase. The distinctive idea of socialism is distributive justice. It goes back of the processes of modern life to the fact that he who does not work lives on the labor of others. It aims to distribute economic goods according to the services rendered by the recipients." The earliest leader to receive attention is Babœuf, whose career began about a hundred years ago. He and Cabet, who was born twenty-four years later, are described by the author as "the two leading French representatives of pure communism." Babœuf's plan for the reorganization of society was adapted to produce a cheerless monotony, but that of Cabet is more attractive. Under that of the latter, goods and labor are common property; executives are chosen by ballot; marriage and family are held sacred. Young persons may choose their own career, but overcrowding of any profession is to be prevented by competitive examination. Science and literature are encouraged. Professor Ely describes the system of Count Henry de Saint-Simon as the first example of pure socialism. Saint-Simonism regards the dead level of communism as even more unjust than the present state of things, and aims to proportion each man's share of benefits to the service he renders the world. Religion should be reformed, not abolished, and all men should regard each other as brothers. All privileges of birth, including inheritance, were to be abolished. We find Saint-Simon and Fourier thus compared: "Each was required as a complement of the other. The one started in his career as a man of wealth and social eminence, the other as a man of the people. The one observed society, studied its history, its development, and sought to find therein a clew to guide him in his work of regenerating the world, morally and economically; the other, regarding the past as such a series of blunders as to afford no proper basis for future formations, searched the depths of his own consciousness, and discovered a law which furnished premises enabling him to construct deductively an ideal and perfect society, and to explain with mathematical accuracy the past, present, and future." Recognizing the absurdity of a large part of Fourier's writings, our author maintains that this is no reason for condemning the social scheme which he originated. Chapters are devoted to Louis Blanc, Proudhon, and to "Socialism in France since Proudhon."
German socialism is distinguished by its profundity. "One of its leading characteristics," says our author, "is its thoroughly scientific spirit. Sentimentalism is banished, and a foundation sought in hard, relentless laws, resulting necessarily from the physiological, psychological, and social constitution of man and his physical environment." Rodbertus, one of the earliest and ablest of German socialists, selects as the two chief economic evils, which cause most of the others, pauperism and financial crises. These could only be abolished by securing to laborers "a share in the national product, which increases pari passu with increasing production." A clear account is given of social democracy, and of the views of Karl Marx and Lassalle, the most prominent members of the party. A short chapter is devoted to the professorial socialists, among whom Bismarck is numbered; and, lastly, the views of the Christian socialists are presented.
The spirit in which Professor Ely deals with his subject is most commendable. His book is entirely free from the partisan views and the epithets that we find in the writings of so many of those who view socialism from the outside. It will do a great deal to correct the ignorant notion that socialists are a set of vagabonds who are anxious to divide with any one who has more than they, and to distinguish the views that some socialists hold on other subjects from socialism itself.
The Vertebrates of the Adirondack Region. By Clinton Hart Merriam, M. D. From the Transactions of the Linnæan Society of New York for 1882. Press of L. S. Foster, New York.
The Adirondack Mountains have a more than local reputation as the happy hunting-ground of those who find in "roughing it" the panacea for most earthly ills. We have read much of the thrilling times when
