THE FEBRUARY MAGAZINES
THE Nineteenth Century gives first place to Vice-Admiral Usbome in "The German Submarine Menace." Now that Germany is to build as large a tonnage of submarines as we have, we must, he says, largely increase our force of destroyers and smaller fast vessels for chasing U-boats. General Jean Tilbo gives a French view of " Germany's Colonial Claims ": it is that for strategic reasons they must be rejected, as Germany would use every colony as a naval base for aggres- sion. Mr. Edward Hutton, surveying " The Mediterranean Question," observes that Frenchmen can never take Italy seriously, and he himself has a low opinion of her power.
Dr. G. P. Gooch in the Contemporary surveys the past " Twenty Years of Europe " with regret for the many lost opportunities. He is no more able than the rest of us to understand Signor Mussolini's violent anti-French attitude. " The 'greatest danger to peace today," he thinks, " is that the dictators may underestimate' the courage and determination not only of the Western democracies but of Mr. Chamberlain himself." Mr. Ramsay Muir writes on " The Diffusion of Ownership "; judging from the return of death duties, he estimates that at least half our people own nothing, and this, he thinks, is " a very unhealthy state of things." It may be, however, that he underrates the value of insurance policies and small savings now widespread. Mr. Arthur Merton discusses " The Arab-Jew Conference " from an intimate knowledge of the Near East; he would haVe Great Britain govern Palestine—" a thing it has never done." In the Political Quarterly, Mr. Herbert Morrison writes on " Social Change—Peaceful or Violent? " and insists that it must be accomplished in an orderly and constitutional fashion. Mr. Lindsay Rogers's review of " Munich : American Opinion and Policy " shows that there are many cross-currents and a growing tendency to admit that Mr. Chamberlain may not have been wrong. Mr. S. K. Ruck's detailed analysis of the " Criminal Justice Bill " is, on the whole, favourable. Mr. G. D. H. Cole has an interesting article on " Nazi Economics: How Do They Manage It? " He thinks that they can keep up the new system for a long time yet. In the National, Mr. Peter Kemp, who has fought on General Franco's side, discusses the " Lessons of the Spanish War." He says that the Spanish Government had as much material, including aircraft, as General Franco, but did not train their pilots properly. He speaks highly of the Russian tank, with its accurate gun. Captain Taprell Dorling describes " The German Navy " that is now being rapidly built up. In the Quarterly, Miss Dora von Beseler writes sympa- thetically on " The Kaiser : Octogenarian," and suggests that " the respect of Great Britain is due to him." Captain R. G. Coulson, one of the Foreign Office's observers on the Czech- German frontier after Munich, describes ihis " Czecho- Slovakian Adventure " in a thoughtful article. Mr. Algernon Cecil, as an old student of diplomacy, contends that Mr. Chamberlain has done well in " Facing the Facts in Foreign Policy," and recalls as a parallel a famous memorandum that Lord Salisbury wrote on the doctrine of isolation in 19o1: The Geographical Magazine again devotes much space and many photographs to the Maya monuments in Yucatan. There is more novelty in the well-informed and admirably illus- trated article on Paul Gauguin's life in Tahiti and the Marquesas by Miss Renee Hamon. The Hibbert Journal gives prominence to M. Paul-Louis Couchoud's restatement of his views on " The Historicity of Jesus " in reply to M. Loisy. It is, he says, an article of faith. " If we do not believe it, we have no right to put the Gospels to the torture to make them yield up a secret which is not in them."
Blackwood's has an admirable centenary article on William Murdoch, whom Mr. R. Angus Downie describes, 'not un- fairly, as " the greatest mechanically-inventive genius that Scotland has produced," though Smiles has made Watt better known. The travel articles include an amusing account of census-taking in Madras by Mr. J. Chartres Molony. '- In Chambers's Journal, Miss Amy Johnson continues her interesting articles on " The World's Sky-roads," dealing this time with the Australian route. Among miscellaneous articles may be noted " The Crane in England," by Mr. C.11. Cooke.
The Practitioner has a series of articles dealing generally and in detail with the family doctor's part in a national maternity scheme under the new Midwives Act. Sir Ewen MacLean contributes the introduction, urging all doctors to help the scheme forward.
The. Cornhill- has an entertaining article by Mr. Rodney Gallop on " Magic and Medicine in Mexico." He heard, for example, that a man was cured of hydrophobia by letting seven scorpions sting Win until they—and' not he-;—died.
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