THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL - Air Defense Artillery

282 THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL
all lands, in spite of almost incredible persecution he has everywhere encountered. In fact
Bercovici claims that the more he has been persecuted the more persistently he has infiltrated.
In agricultural countries especially the Gypsies have prospered, due to their innate
genius for work in metals, for home trading and for entertainment. They have conformed
to local prejudices only so far as has been necessary to maintain their happy freedom.
And always and everywhere they are a happy people.
Having no religion of their own, they have adopted the outward forms of the religion
of the country they happened to be in. It is an extraordinary fact that no gypsy is known
,to have been killed by the Inquisition.
And yet, in spite of all these traits which keep them a people apart from all others,
the Gypsies in every land have succumbed to a certain extent to the influence of the national
life surrounding them. Their environment has changed them so that they differ greatly,
the Spanish from the Roumanian, the English from the Hungarian. Bercovici thinks that
they can best be studied here in America, since we have attracted 'all kinds; and, were it
not for our immigration laws, we would probably end by having the whole lot.
The book is interesting, be9ause of its strange subject. The gypsy legends and proverbs
are particularly to the point. But it is curiously jumbled-a book of many repetitions, of
sudden breaks and starts, a hodge-podge of ideas and suggestions rather like the Gypsies
themselves.-S. M.
The Story of Oriental Philosophy. By Lily Adams Beck (E. Barrington). New York:
Cosmopolitan Book Corporation. 1928. 429 p. II. $5.00.
Whether she writes under the name of Beck or Barrington, whether it is Eastern
mysticism or Western biography, her books are well worth reading. This one gives an
excellent summary of Indian and Chinese religious philosophy, with short chapters on
Persian Sufism and Japanese Shintoism. It is not philosophy in the ordinarily accepted
Western sense, but rather religious theology on which she writes. But in studying the
various theologies of the Orient, Mrs. Beck is attempting to get down to the foundations
of Eastern thought. She sets herself a very great task, and she accomplishes it in a
simple, straightforward way, quoting liberally from original sources and interpreting them
into plain English.
One half of the book is given over to Indian "philosophy." Mrs. Beck is much impressed
by the mysticism of the Vedas and the basic conception of Brahmanism and
Buddhim. She devotes several chapters to the life and teachings of the Buddha, condensed
from her previous book, "The Splendor of Asia."-S. M.
Sceptical Essays. By Bertrand Russell. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.
1928. 256 p. $2.50.
Possible Worlds. By J. B. S. Haldane. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1928. 305 p.
$2.50.
Both of these books are collections of random essays vaitten for the layman in layman
language. Both deal with various aspects of the philosophy of modern science. Both are
written in the scientific spirit of scepticism and, curiously enough, both suggest grave
doubts as to the logical foundation of science itself. Russell even goes. so far as to suggest
that the present doctrine of pure science may become nullified by the inability of scientists
to accept its logic.
Both of these books are interesting and stimulating.-S. M.