Review of Reviews

        Subtitled ‘Must it be based on statistics?’ the article reports an essay by Henri Berr in Nouvelle Revue. Berr discusses the new approach to history as more of a science than accounts of great men and heroes.

        Reports on an article by John Jay in Magazine of American History on the importance of teaching American history in the United States. Comments on reluctance of Australian authorities to teach history because of doctrinal differences.

        Discusses the teaching of history in elementary school in both Britain and its colonies and compares it to the German approach. Reports an article by Lucy Maynard Salmon in Educational Review, "The Teaching of History in Elementary School". Quotes Cecil Rhodes on the failure to teach history in the Australian colony of Victoria :"an efficacious means of securing the damnation of the soul of the colony.".

        Reports an article by the Rev. Dr. Jessop in Nineteenth Century which comments on the lack of attention to the study of history in England.

        Summarizes an article (by Alexander Tills in Nord und Sud) which discusses the origins and evolutions of the tradition.

        Reports on a review (by G. Balbert) in Revue des Deux Mondes of a book by Phillipe Berger entitled Histoire de l’écriture dans l’Antiquité; briefly discusses the origins and usefulness of the Phoenician alphabet.

        Reports on a review in Revue des Deux Mondes (by G. Valbert) of Zenker’s book. Discusses various candidates for the title of founder of journalism, as well as some of the earliest known newspapers, and the censorship of the medium.

        Paragraph on Ludwig Bamberger’s A Model of Objective History-writing., the subject of which is Arthur Chuquet and his work on the French revolution. From Deutsche Rundschan.

        Reports on the publication, in Longman’s Magazine, of Froude’s inaugural lecture as Regius Professor at Oxford. Also notes that Mark Reid (in Macmillan’s Magazine) has commented on Froude’s refusal to admit women to his lectures.

        Discusses an article in Quarterly Review about the stewardships of Britain and specifically, the ‘convenient fiction’ of the Chiltern Hundreds with respect to the resignation of Members of Parliament.

        Reports on a Leisure Hour contest seeking ‘wise sayings connected with historical events.’ Both first and second prizes in the May number were won by women. Identifies the top seven, beginning with Cromwell, ‘Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry.’

        Reports on an article in Contemporary Review by Roland K Wilson, about the question ‘should history be taught backwards’. In five points, the proposition is described as useful for pedagogy but not for literary works of history, such as that of Gibbon.

        Comments on a lecture by Miller Maguire, reported in the Journal of the Royal United Services Institution. Includes an excerpt and discusses the inadequacy of the teaching of history in Britain, especially with respect to the Empire and colonies and about military achievements.

        Announcement of a contest in which readers suggest poems about British history to create a compilation of historical poems. £10 in prizes (5, 3, 2) .

        A competition was announced in the August issue. Here the editor awards prizes to the best of almost 30 lists sent in. A Welsh reader, T. C. Phillips, sent in a list of 260 poems annotated with dates of both the author and the event discussed. Third prize went to H. W. V. Temperley of Cambridge (the historian was 18 at the time).

        The ‘Notable Books’ column notices the second volume of Samuel Rawson Gardiner’s History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (Longman).

        ‘Some Noteable Books of the Month’ very briefly notices this book by Arthur Moreland (reprinted from the Morning Leader) of 120 drawings in pen and ink.

        Reports on an article in Nouvelle Revue by Rodocanachi, about the influence of various animals throughout the history of the world. Offers various anecdotes.

        The ‘Some Notable Books of the Month’ column notes the ‘republication . . . in a new form’ by Longman, in the ‘Albion Macaulay’ edition at 3s6d. The type and price are commended but the loss of ‘side-headings’ is regretted.

        Comments on The Memoirs of Victor Hugo (Heinemann), noting that the work is more of a snapshot of French history in the early 19th century than a memoir of one man.

        Brief comment on the English edition (by Horace Marshall & Son) of William Douglas Mackenzie’s book (already noticed in its American edition). States that this work is very useful as it presents its subject with clarity and in a well-balanced manner. Also notes with approval that the author credits missionaries with the creation and development of South Africa."A most useful book.".

        Brief comment on the first of six volumes of Helmholtz’s book (published in English by Heinemann with an introduction by James Bryce).

        A brief notice states that Ellen M. M’Dougall’s book, Songs of the Church, with Stories of Their Writers (Charles H. Kelly), is interesting and original; also discusses the content of Rowland E. Prothero’s book, The Psalms in Human Life (John Murray).

        The column ‘Other Books of the Month’ reports admiringly on Spencer Walpole’s The History of Twenty-Five Years (Longman).

        The column ‘Some Leading Books of the Month’ includes books on India, Japan, Afghanistan and Servia.

        Reports on an article in Nord und Süd (by Otto von Linde) giving an account of the 18th-century conjurer Gustav Katterfelto. Linde’s study was based primarily upon advertisements in the London dailies.

        Discusses an article in the Contemporary Review by Patrick Geddes, on ‘Civic Education and City Development’ which observed that children could and should learn history through civic buildings. The editor suggests the publication of a ‘simply but vividly-written primer, with pictures’ for each large city. Geddes also recommended photography as an exercise for the study of history and cities.

        Brief notice of an article by Ramsay Muir in University Review, "a wise and cogent plea for the study of local history"; applauds the Victoria County histories and notes the successful school in Liverpool.

        Anticipating a Pageant of Kings and Queens to occur at Oxford in June 1907, the Pall Mall Gazette has published an article by Dion Clayton Calthrop on clothes and colour in history.

        The ‘leading Articles in the Reviews’ column discusses an Edinburgh Review critique of Lord Acton’s recent lectures on modern history.

        Discusses two articles about the French Revolution. First in Atlantic Monthly, by Goldwin Smith, then in Revue des Deux Mondes by Henri Taine. Both are described as being occasioned by the call for a 3rd edition of A. H. Beesly’s Life of Danton.

        Favourable comment on a set of charts produced by George Pringle and H. R. Morris, which ‘do for the teaching of history what the atlas does for the teaching of geography.’ The maps are published at Stead’s Publishing House.

        Reports on an article in Velhagen, in which Tony Kellen discusses the history of this component of the French newspaper in the contexts of both France and Germany.

        A four-page article by the Editor (i.e. W. T. Stead) about publications in two different media which are ‘for sale in my publishing house.’ First noticed is the schoolmaster F. W. Green’s book, History Day by Day, a calendar of events in British history. Second is a series of portrait postcards, the article entitled ‘An Historical Portrait Gallery in Every House.’ Stead explains that he has purchased several of a French series, which he describes as:"an attempt to utilise the postcard as a kind of popular Valhalla or memorial temple of the illustrious dead." They range from Julius Caesar to the end of the 19th century. He has imported sets of cards from France and sells them at a shilling a dozen throughout the world. Set side-by-side they make ‘an effective frieze’. 16 of the cards are reproduced.

        In the column ‘Leading Articles in the Reviews’ appears a report on an article by Percy S. T. Jones published in The State of South Africa. Discusses the history of football from the middle ages to the present.

        The ‘Leading Articles’ column reports on an article in Harper’s by A.B. Paine, which is about Mark Twain’s reading habits and how his interest in historical writing was awakened by a chance encounter with a scrap of narrative about Joan of Arc.

        Review of Max Beer’s Geschichte des Sozialismus in England ( by J.H.W. Dietz, Stuttgart). Judges the work to be scientific and systematic, accurate and comprehensive, and written with a clear and crisp style. An English translation is desirable but ‘some chapters would have to be re-written and adapted to English views.’

        Brief excerpt from an article in the American Historical Review by Ellsworth Huntington, about the effects of climate on history.

        Comments on an article by Theodora Stead in the English Historical Review about ‘the social contract in the 11th century’ -- that is, a study of an 11th-century monk, Manegold of Lautenbach.

        A subheading of ‘Books in Brief’ covering several works on various historical topics (War office; G. H. Putnam’s memoirs; biography of John Edward Ellis, M.P.; hermits; philosophy of William James; highways and byways in Shakespeare).

        Under the general title ‘History or Hearsay?’ this item reports on an article by James Westfall Thompson in The North American Review entitled ‘The Mendacity of History’. Examples include the concept of the Bastille as ‘the last home of an infamous feudalism.’ A second article, ‘Bacon Belittled’ reports on an article in The Philosophical Review by Lynn Thorndike, which diminishes Francis Bacon’s reputation for achievement.

        Reports on an article in Nineteenth Century by Harry Johnston, on ‘Education and the Public Services’. The present war is going badly because young Germans have been better educated than young Englishmen. Ancient history, and the classics generally, should be abandoned in favour of French, geography, office skills and science subjects.

        Discusses two works on historical topics (The Last King of New France, The Greeks Triumphant), followed by works on science.