Ohio History Journal

OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

SOCIETY

 

A HISTORY OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION

 

 

A SHORT HISTORY OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION, BY

RICHARD WILHELM, TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY

JOAN JOSHUA. VIKING PRESS, NEW YORK.

 

This is a single volume which covers the entire sub-

ject in 284 pages. In his preface the author states that

works previously published may be divided into two

classes: the one following the native Chinese Annals

and dealing with the actual history of China; the other

tracing the origins of Chinese civilization in detail with

"little regard for contemporary history." The author

proceeds to state the object he had in view in writing

this volume:

This book aims at a more comprehensive survey: no tedious

enumeration of dates, wars, and sovereigns, but as clear an ac-

count as possible of the forces responsible for the various periods

of Chinese civilization and culture, making the treatment more

or less detailed in accordance with its cultural significance.

Dr. Wilhelm seems to have been eminently qualified

for the authorship of such a work. He "went to China

to preach Christianity to the heathen and returned to

preach Chinese culture to the European," we are told.

He is Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Philosophy, Pro-

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Reviews, Notes and Comments      183

fessor at the University of Frankfort-on-the-Main. He

was born in Stuttgart in 1873, became scientific adviser

to the German Legation in Peking and Professor at

the Imperial Chinese University in 1921. At the Uni-

versity of Frankfort-on-the-Main, he has taught Chinese

language and has been Director of the China Institute.

He is the author of many works on Chinese literature,

religion and culture. He writes after thirty years of

intimate experience and study, a history of Chinese

civilization and aims to explain the culture of a nation

of four hundred million people which stands when

Egypt, Babylon, and Persia passed away in the long

ago.

The book is tastefully and substantially bound, ap-

propriately and extensively illustrated and printed on

excellent paper. It closes with a chronological table, a

bibliography and an excellent and adequate index. The

price of the volume is $4.00.

 

 

 

CONSTITUTION MAKING IN INDIANA

Constitution Making in Indiana, vol. 3, 1916-1930,

by Charles Kettleborough, Ph. D., has recently been

published by the Historical Bureau of the Indiana Li-

brary and Historical Department, Indianapolis. In a

preface prepared by Dr. Christopher B. Coleman, Di-

rector of the Historical Bureau, we learn that volumes

1 and 2 of this series were published in 1916 in connec-

tion with the Centennial of Indiana's admission into the

Union, as the first two volumes of Indiana Historical

Collections. Dr. Coleman describes the present volume

as follows:

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184       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

The present volume, Volume III of Constitution Making in

Indiana, and Volume XVII of Indiana Historical Collections,

continues to April, 1930, the subject of amendments proposed

to the Constitution of 1851.  Two party platforms of 1916,

omitted from Volume II, have been included.  As in the pre-

ceding volumes, the field has been limited to documents bearing

some sanction of authority, including in this instance, activities

of the General Assembly, governors' messages, party platforms,

official ballots, court decisions, and opinions of attorney-generals.

They have been taken from the printed House and Senate Jour-

nals, the Laws and court Reports, supplemented when necessary

by original documents, printed bills, or manuscript records from

the office of the secretary of state. In general the form used in

the two previous volumes has been followed, and the numbering

of documents is continuous from Volume I through Volume III.

The appendix of the present volume contains a table showing

what amendments have been proposed to each Article and sec-

tion of the Constitution of 1851 and what disposition has been

made of these proposals. Another table summarizes the outcome

of attempts to call constitutional conventions. The vote on con-

stitutional amendments in the general election of 1906, omitted

from Volume II, is inserted along with the vote on amendments

in the elections of 1921 and 1926.

The question of constitutional amendment is now

continuously before the people in most states. Here in

Ohio is it not probable that another Constitutional

Convention will be called in the near future. An amend-

ment submitted by the last Constitutional Convention

which requires simply a majority of those voting on the

amendment to make it a part of the constitution, instead

of a majority of those voting at the election, makes it

possible to carry amendments without resort to a Con-

stitutional Convention. Wherever this method prevails

and wherever the former practice is still in vogue, the

three volumes on Constitution Making in Indiana will

form a valuable reference set for students and state of-

ficials, including the members of the General Assembly.

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