Missions and Sociology. By the Rev. T. E. Slater. (Elliot
Stock. ls. net.)—Mr. glater's main thesis may be found in the statement that " non-Christian religions, as such, have no social promise in them." This he particularises in the further state- ment that "India breaks down under the strain of practical morality." It is our work, he urges, to make good this failure. He does not attempt to minimise the difficulty of the task, but be refuses to despair. Some of the grosser evils have been removed,—sati, infanticide, immolation before idol cars, the exposure of the sick and aged. A beginning has been made with child-marriages, and the influence of Western thought on the status of woman is doing something for the unhappy lot of the widow. (There are twenty-five million widows in India.) But the work that remains is enormously large, and the problem is complicated by political considerations. Meanwhile something may be done by making the British public acquainted with the conditions of the case. No one is better qualified to do this than Mr. Slater, who approaches his subject with a thorough equip- ment of intelligence and knowledge.
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