Changes of a Century. By J. C. Wright. (Elliot Stock.
6s. net.)—Mr. Wright thinks, and gives us plenty of reasons for thinking, that "life is pleasanter and lived under more healthy surroundings than obtained a century ago" (we do not live "under surroundings ") ; we live longer, since some formidable diseases are apparently extinct and others are diminishing, the comforts of life are increased and extended, barbarous practices which were once common have ceased, education is general and free—these and other changes are so much to the good. On the other hand, some serious problems of social life are forcing themselves to the front. All who think that we are, as a whole, rising in the scale will find much to confirm them in their belief; it will not harm them, on the other hand, when he suggests that there are many reasons why we should be serious. In one matter, at least, we have little cause for satisfaction ; that is the gambling passion. The scandals at Crockford—royal personages and great statesmen losing thousands of pounds in one night—have passed away, but the evil is more widely diffused. It might even be urged that the lottery, with its regular ordering and responsible management, was better than the thinly disguised gambling, sometimes not untainted by fraud, which goes on under the name of competitions.
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