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341 NOTES, COMMENTS. AND ABSTRACTS THE NEW PHILANTHROPY ONE of the interesting things about human life is the way in which, from generation to generation, new ways are devised for tackling old problems. Poverty, illness, and social maladjustment are " always with us," and each new group of human beings which appears on earth contains some who feel a call to devote themselves to the problems which these human miseries create. In the philanthropic urge there seems to have been little change in all the ages ; but the methods by which it finds expression have altered, and are still altering, from year to year. At the beginning of the nineteenth century philan- thropy was understood to be a matter of private virtue. By giving to the poor or the sick a man added to his own treasure in Heaven, and the only essential duty of the State in the matter was to prevent the destitute from being a danger or a nuisance to the rest of society. Early in the century, however, this conception began to change. Elizabeth Fry, Wilber- force, Shaftesbury, and the scores of other devoted men and women who spent their lives in active benevolence, brought into existence a sense of collective duty to the unfortunate, and this led to an almost bewildering outburst of philanthropic activity and organisation. Societies sprang up to assist every class of needy person, and the very multiplicity of these bodies led in turn to amalgamations and federations among them and ultimately to the Charity Organisation Society. Simultaneously with this development of voluntary philanthropy there grew up the belief that the problems of poverty were insoluble by private benevolence alone, and that their causes, as well as their results, should be tackled. This, of course, led to a spate of social legislation, beginning with the Factory Acts and State Education, and developing into the complex structure of Public Health and Social Insurance under which we live to-day. Legislation inevitably led to inspection and enforcement, and thus the new philan- thropy of the twentieth century finds itself based on a mixture of State and voluntary effort which is both far reaching and complex. The ramifications of this present edifice of social service are lucidly set out in a new book by Miss Elizabeth Macadam,l which gives a very complete picture both of the actual organisation and of the field which is covered, and which will be an invaluable handbook to every social worker. From a logical point of view, no doubt, the method of our modern social service. is absurd ; and yet in reality, as all social workers know, it has some very good points. It enlists the help of thousands of able and devoted people, whose work and benevolence supplements the bare outlines of State assistance, and it enables " the human touch " to remain in philanthropy, while it prevents the overlapping and the contradictory judgments of uncontrolled private action. Moreover- and this is perhaps more important than all the rest -it allows for experiments and variations, and for that kind of practical research from which new ideas and new methods can emerge. The limitations and faults of the combined voluntary and State method are, however, clear enough, and the major one is incom- pleteness. As Miss Macadam shows, some parts o the country have developed a philanthropic technique which really does fairly well, but others are lamentably backward. This is a serious fault, and the same can be charged against the State efforts, not on a geo- graphical but on a subject basis. The provisions for assisting unemployment in this country are efficient, and remarkably good as compared with other countries ; but housing, which is desperately funda- mental, is still absolutely deplorable. The health services, too, though they receive a great deal of thought and attention, suffer seriously from a lack of coordination, and are in some important respects 1 The New Philanthropy, By Elizabeth Macadam, M.A. London : George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 1934. Pp. 320. 7s. 6d. still quite inadequate ; and the problems of the mentally deficient and the mentally unstable seem still to baffle not only scientific research but also practical administration. The whole field of social work is discussed in Miss Macadam’s book, and the weak and the strong points are set forth with great impartiality, so that it is possible to estimate exactly what the position is. It is not so clear, however, what the position ought to be. Miss Macadam advocates the establishment of a Central Board of Charities to cooperate with a Consultative Board of Statutory Social Services, thus ensuring the complete organisation of both branches of modern philanthropy-first among themselves and then with each other ; and she makes a good case for this proposal. The whole of her book, however, and the whole of the history of philanthropy, really set going wider trains of thought and raise doubts as to the justifications for the present structure of society itself. It is common form to-day in the world of social work to think more of preventive measures than of the mere patching up of failure. But even preventive work, as it is usually conceived, assumes the continuance of the conditions which make it necessary. There are philanthropists to-day who dig deeper down and who dream of a much more funda- mental reorganisation of society. They do not call themselves philanthropists, but take political names ; and as a rule their plans go no further than the whole- sale destruction of the world we know. They cannot be ignored in an examination of modern philanthropic thought, for it may be that the future is with them. This is a dangerous and an unwelcome thought, but that is no reason for not looking it in the face ! EUGENIC STERILISATION IN this small volume,1 No. 19 of a series whose list of previous contributors includes Sir Arthur Keith, Sir G. Elliot Smith, and Prof. Julian Huxley, Mrs. Hodson has presented, in clear language and without straining the available evidence, the case for legalised sterilisation of the unfit. She has paid visits to foreign countries in search of first-hand information and is able to cite methods and legislation now in vogue in those States which have accepted eugenic sterilisation. The chapters are intelligibly and concisely written, and should convey their message without confusion to any educated man or woman. Such results as are to hand of sterilisation in insti- tutions for mental disorder-figures as yet are rather meagre-are here recorded. The question of volun- tary or compulsory legalised sterilisation in such institutions is touched upon. A succinct account is givenin Chapter IX. of the recommendations embodied in the Brock report-recommendations which are, with certain safeguards, favourable to legalised sterilisation of mentally defective persons and also in the case of grave transmissible physical defect. In her last chapter Mrs. Hodson considers the question of eugenic sterilisation in its relations to philanthropic thought and ideals. It is to be expected that in the near future medical men will be appealed to more and more by their patients and by social workers for information with regard to the inheritance of disease and the justifi- cation, in certain instances, for sterilisation of one or other of the partners to a marriage or prospective marriage. This volume provides an introduction to the problem which, though the author’s bias is not concealed, will be generally held to be a fair one, and is, moreover, suitable for lay as well as medical readers. SIR JAMES PALMER REFERENCE to the Dr. Palmer who collected the scattered works and papers of John Hunter exactly a century ago has led to some discussion as to his identity and as to the form in which the collection 1 Human Sterilisation To-day. By Cora B. S. Hodson, F.L.S. The Forum Series. London: Watts and Co. 1934. Pp. 55. 1s.
