Readings in Social Economy. By Mrs. F. Fenwick Miller. (Long-
mans.)—" I cannot but think it emphatically necessary," says Mrs. Miller, in her preface, "that social science shall be written, as physical science has been already, with a special view to popular study." Now, this analogy is, we think, a little misleading, as analogies are apt to be. We all know that physical science cannot be taught out of books ; there must be a laboratory, where practical work can be done. And books "written with a view to popular study" take account of this fact. They presuppose a laboratory. They do not profess to teach without it. But where is the laboratory of social science ? The fact is that it is life, practical life, and this is just the thing to which the children for whom this book is written can get, happily can get, no sufficient access. We do not under- value the book, which is, indeed, full of sound sense, and, to those who are really qualified to read it, very valuable. But we think that children are not, and cannot be, so qualified. We are convinced that no book, however well written and admirable in itself, can be of real service in that direction. But those who know something of life cannot do better than get their experiences summed up, enlarged, or corrected, as the case may be, by Mrs. Miller's capital little book.
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