Sanity in Sex

By William J. Fielding. (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. London, pp. 326. Price 10s. 6d. net.)

THE MYSTERY OF EXISTENCE AND A BRIEF STUDY OF THE SEX PROBLEM. By C. W. Armstrong. (Grant Richards, Ltd. London, pp. 192, 6s. net.)

SEX EDUCATION AND MATERNAL HEALTH. By C. Gasquoine Hartley (Leonard Parsons, Ltd., London, pp. 143, 6s. net.)

These three books, though widely different in scope and treatment, have in common their main theme—namely, that of sex and its developments, present or to come, in the individual and in society. It must be admitted that this is a subject which needs thought and research from any helpful quarter, but at the same time so complicated a problem is it, demanding really efficient equipment on the part of those who handle it, that the reader is at times tempted to wish that fewer people would rush in to tackle it.

Moreover, the new light shed by the discoveries concerning the unconscious render many of the formerly accepted views, even of 'Reformers', invalid, and it seems waste of time to offer us theories which by now are only to be relegated to the scrap-heap.

Such reflections are called forth by two out of the above three volumes, more especially by the largest of them.

Sanity and Sex. By William J. Fielding.

This fairly large work which is ushered in by a Preface characterized by its large claims and curiously pompous air, although containing some actual facts which are interesting and may prove useful (e. g. Ch. V, 'Sex Hygiene in Industry'; Ch. VII, 'Other Phases of the Sex Hygiene Movement'), is so full of misstatement, of half-knowledge and of an extraordinary (and to the reviewer, at least, a very repellent) blend of would-be 'science' and gushing ethics, that as a whole there is little to be said in recommendation of the book.

Mr. Fielding evidently feels himself capable of dealing with the most difficult and complicated problems of sex life in the individual and in our modern society, and his method too often is to achie