14 MARCH 1908, Page 27

We are glad to see that a new edition of

Mr. Benjamin Kidd's Principles of Western Civilisation : a Sociological Study (Macmillan and Co., 5s. net) has been called for. It is a book that makes the reader think, whether it compels him to this or that conclusion or not. Mr. Kidd adds to this edition a new preface. He sees a continued success of his social gospel. The twentieth century has improved on its predecessor. It has discarded the method of studying society through the individual ; it holds that the individual can understand only by understanding the social process. This is too big a thesis for us to deal with on the present occasion.