Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/47
One impression gathered from the pages of this work is the almost religious fervor with which communists are devoted to their peculiar social creeds. Ridicule is unable to turn them aside from their purposes, and repeated failure does not shake their faith. Speaking of the charma which the community at Brook Farm found in their life, and their unwillingness to change it for the 'luxuries of Egypt,' Dr. Shaw remarks:—
"Some such feeling as that seems to be permanently retained by almost all who have ever engaged in community life. It is a notable fact that many of these people who have enlisted in the work of human amelioration Lave their wits wonderfully quickened thereby, while the one-sidedness of their development tends to deepen and confirm opinions once received. The ill-fated colonies of Robert Owen had passed Into the history of 'extinct socialisms' a generation ago; and yet the writer himself might designate one and another and another of the now venerable associates of Owen, still fresh with enthusiasm, and warm with sympathy, for every proposed social reform. The last of the FourlTemplate:Subs:e`rist phslansteries disappeared before the war; but many of the men who were engaged in them may still be found wrestling with the problems of co-operation, or pounding away at something more radical. Icaria once numbered its hundreds of disciples. Most of them have disappeared, seemingly swallowed up in the mass of American society; but, if the truth could be ascertained, they would, in all probability, still be found to be communists at heart" (pp. 176, 177).
A second lesson which Icaria teaches, in that
the difficulties in the way of a realization of
communism have existed largely in the imperfections of human nature. Attempts to erect a
social fabric of a new design have shattered,
because the building-material was not strong
enough to resist the strain to which it was subjected. It is a sweet thing for brethren to
dwell together in unity, but truly a most difficult thing. While in Nauvoo, Ill., their first
settlement, Cabet early leads one party of Icarians in violent attacks on an opposite party;
and the controversy waxes warm and bitter,
until a disastrous split separates the two sections permanently. Cabet dies poor and
broken-hearted in St. Louis, his adherents are
soon scattered, while his opponents found a
new settlement in Iowa. But these latter,
united in poverty and trial, are unable to endure prosperity; and a young and progressive
party, unwilling to accede to the policy of their
more conservative elders, effect a separation.
Peace and prosperity have never remained
long with the Icariana, but they have never
ceased to persevere in hope of better things.
One of the most interesting and at the same time touching passages in Dr. Shaw's book is that which describes the beginning of a system of private property, and the relentlessness with which it we suppressed as soon as discovered. It appears that the privilege had been granted each family of cultivating a small plot of ground surrounding the house, in such manner as the members thereof thought good: this was the origin of the question of the little gardens' ('les petits jardins').
"Everywhere else in the community the Icarian motto (all for each, each for alt) was the Invariable rule. If, in the one matter of these tiny plots environing their humble domiciles, the Icarians allowed the Idea of 'meum et tuum' Insidiously to enter, and if they found a keener enjoyment in the flowers or the grapes because of the forbidden but delicious rense of ownership, we must not condemn them too harshly, nor Impeach their communism. There was something noble and pathetic in the manner with which these 'citoyens' and 'cltoyennes" put away the accursed thing when they awoke to a realization of the fact that the gardens were introducing dangerous element of Individualism and Inequality" (p. 101). This unpretentious little book on Icaria may be commended as a contribution to social science well worthy of careful perusal. It may be proper to state, in conclusion, that the book was presented by its author to the authorities of the Johns Hopkins university as a thesis for the degree of Ph.D.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ANATOMY OF PLANTS.
This is the best sketch of plant-life that we have seen. The author criticises Sachs's view that the cell is merely passive, and shows that we most recognize both the separate individuality of the cell and the corporate unity of the complex plant, though in the higher plants the independence of the cell is largely subordinated to the general weal. He also rejects Sachs's 'Fundamental System' of tissues as being a heterogeneous assemblage, and as in no sense a physiological unity. The right classification of tissues is shown to depend neither on embryology (for mature tissues show no embryological unity) nor on collocation (whether outside or inside the thickening ring), bat on their actual structure as related to their functions. Thus the tissues are arranged as protective and nutritive,—the protective including dermal and skeletal (or mechanical) systems; and the nutritive including absorbing, assimilating, conducting, storing, respiratory, and secreting organs. The bulk of the book is occupied with the anatomy of the plant as dependent on its functions.
Physiologische pslasenanatomie, im grundriss dargestelit. Von Dr. G. Haberlandt. Laipzig. Englemann, 1884. 12+398 P., Illustr. 8o.