25 MAY 1918, Page 16

The Purdahnashin. By Cornelia Sorabji. (Calcutta : Thacker, Spink. 1

rupee.)—This charming little book deserves the serious attention of all who are interested in India. Miss Sorabji, who gives all the profits from the book to the fund for " Our Day," points out that, while the Latin maxim regarded woman as both the beginning and the end of the human family, in India the woman " may be both the beginning and the end of Progress." No real advance can be made until the secluded women behind the " purdah," or veil, in the zene.nas are brought in touch with modern ideas of sanitation, the care of children, and education. Miss Sorabji gives a few illus- trations of the superstitions which account for the heavy mortality among women and children. But the really valuable part of her book is that in which she points out the diffioulties facing women missionaries and dootors who are not thoroughly familiar with Hindu etiquette and caste prejudices Miss Sorabji herself has dons splendid work among her countrywomen, and she is hopeful of the future.