THE UNADJUSTED GIRL. By William Thomas. (Rout- ledge. 15s.) This
book is a serious contribution to sociology, and the publisher on his wrapper-very properly stresses the many "case histories" which are given at length. Some of these are dramatic and even violent, though perhaps (especially where they are told in the first person) they may seem to have been a little sophisticated. But some of the stories are as simple as they are curious, for example, that of a young girl—a bookbinder—who one day in a shop stole a ring, a mirror, beads, a powder puff and so forth, and included in her booty a doll for a baby sister. A father was asked by a' Juvenile Court what action he could suggest in the case of a girl who had left home and was on the streets. All he' could do was to complain that she did not bring in all her pay. The authors have a number of suggestions to -make as to how girls (or boys for that matter) can be "adjusted," can fit in with the community, to our gain and theirs. They plead for better education, more social consideration (domestic servants who get too little, largely recruit the ranks of prosti- tution), and especially they suggest that the greatest care should be taken in the selection of a congenial profession. To the student they point out in how many ways our know- ledge of human behaviour is deficient and how many fresh' fields lie open to the investigating psychologist and sociologist.)
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