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collected from individuals, not, as is now the case, partly from individuals and partly from companies in which individuals have invested their savings. Income taxation also should be levied on all incomes considerably below the present standard, and provision should be made for graduation and differentiation as at present, only to a greater extent. The taxes should be collected more frequently, say every month. Indirect taxes, although they have the great advantage during War of tending to restrict con- sumption, are opposed on the ground that they bear most hardly on the poorest classes. The levying of taxes on imported goods is also objected to, and the claim is made that if such taxes are found necessary to stimulate home production, the home pro- ducer should not be allowed to make an excessive amount of profit at the expense of the consumer by increasing prices unduly. In the last chapter, the possibility of obtaining national income from State owned undertakings, such as mines, railways, banks, insurance, etc., is considered. The writer is not enamoured of such proposals, and looks forward to the abolition of State control over industry after the War. He sees no probability that State enterprise would contribute much to national revenue, but he does not discourage further experiment in State ownership and management of industrial undertakings. Students of reconstruction problems will find this lucid and admirably arranged volume of great value to them in their search for remedies for after-War problems. "Temporary Heroes," by Cecil Sommers. London John Lane, The Bodley Head. 3s. 6d. In Temporary Heroes," Mr. Cecil Sommers has added to the number of war-books, written in the form of letters, He probably knew that he possessed the power of arousing fresh interest in a genre which had become rather tediously overdone, for the result is altogether successful. The charm of this writer is his keen sense of the bizarre, which bubbles up at most unex- pected moments and places even when he and his trusty men 1. go out to pick mushrooms in No Man's Land The every- day life of a young Scottish officer on active service is almost made into a little comedy to be read at home by a wife who appreciates her correspondent's whimsical moods and sprightly sayings, though between the lines she reads the tragedy. There is more buoyancy of hope in the letters themselves than in the title. Even at this stage of the war many heroes bear their sufferings without grousings they are not merely "temporary heroes," but surely Britain's eternal pride. The illustrations by Mr. Sommers are as piquant as his style. Towards Democracy." Edward Carpenter. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 3s. 6d. net. Messrs. Allen and Unwin are much to be congratulated on the republication of this book in so convenient a form. Edward Carpenter's poem has undoubtedly been an important influence in the formation of the best part of democratic opinion during the last 30 years, and here we have its 500 pages enclosed in a volume, well-bound, and excellently printed, which one can carry in one's pocket. The democracy of which Carpenter writes is not a political but a spiritual conception. In an essay, reprinted here from the Labour Prophet of 1896, he tells us that the book had its origin in a spiritual crisis, in the course of which he became for a time overwhelmingly conscious of a region transcending in some sense the ordinary bounds of personality, in the light of which his own A.F. idiosyncracies of character, defects, accomplishments, limitations, etc., appeared of no importance whatever-an absolute freedom from mortality, accompanied by an indescribable calm and joy. In this region the mere diversities of temperament which ordina- rily divide and distinguish people disappeared, and a field was opened in which all were truly equal. It was from these conceptions of Freedom and Equality that Carpenter's ideal of democracy was born. The mood recurred, and with it seemed to come a faculty of vision rooted in the moral and emotional nature, beyond the thought region of the brain. To give this faculty full play, the poet threw up his normal occupations, and devoted himself to a life of vigorous simplicity in the open air, for it was only in such an atmosphere that the mood could flourish. In such circumstances, and under the influence of such a mood, Towards Democracy was written. The spiritual condition described is of course no new thing in human experience. Tenny- son has described it in the Ancient Sage and it has been experienced by mystics of all creeds and in all ages. The novelty in the present case lies in the way in which the poet has harnessed it to the pursuit of a political and intensely human ideal. In following this course, he was undoubtedly much in- fluenced by his great devotion to Whitman's Leaves of Grass." Carpenter's vision of the universe, making due allowances for differences of temperament, and his conception of freedom and equality, are very near to Whitman's, and the form which he chose for the delivery of his message, deliberately follows that which Whitman has made familiar. Carpenter has not, however, the rankness, the tremendous ruggedness and strength of his fore- runner. If he avoids Whitman's absurdities and outrages, he never rises to Whitman's height of inspiration. None the less, Towards Democracy is a book well worthy of study. With- out any very striking literary faculty, Mr. Carpenter has fluency and a sense of language and rhythm. His observation of the visible world, and his experience of social conditions have been keen and catholic. He gives one a wide vision full of felicitous observation and deeply felt experience, and if the emotional pressure never reaches the height of great poetry, it maintains a wonderfully even level. Indeed the re-issue of Towards Democracy makes one realize with renewed conviction that the day of its influence is by no means at an end. An Introduction to the Physiology and Psychology of Sex," by S. Herbert, M.D., M.R.C.S. (Eng.), L.R.C.P. (London), containing 49 illustrations. A. & G. Black, Ltd., 4, 5 and 6, Soho Square, London, W.I. Pp. xii., 136. In recent years the book market has been inundated with books on the subject of sex treated from the physiological point of view and the psychology of sex has also been more or less dealt with in the larger text-books on psychology. This little volume is an attempt to deal in plain and unmistakable language with all the essential phenomena of sex, to give the elementary facts of the physiology and psychology of sex in a simple yet scientific manner. It is the first of its kind we have seen in English. It is not an exhaustive treatment of this vast and interesting theme; it does not pretend to be. It is however, an admirable introduction to the subject: the matter is well-arranged, well-written and pro- fusely illustrated. At the end is a valuable bibliography intended to assist those readers who desire to pursue the subject further. This little volume is quite up to the high standard set in the other books by the same author The first principles of Heredity," and The first principles of Evolution." It is full of sound science and sound common sense.