A History of Slavery and Serfdom. By JOHN KELLS INGRAM, LL. D. Pp. 285. Price, $I.60. London: Adam and Charles Black ; New York : Macmillan & Co., I895

• Author: John Haynes
• DOI: 10.1177/000271629600700120
• Published date: 01 January 1896
• Date: 01 January 1896
• Subject Matter: Articles

I39
and is the most useful bibliography of the subject available. The
volume is adequately indexed and has an appendix containing
genealogical tables for the different kings.
DANA C. MUNRO.
A
History of Slavery and Serfdom. By JOHN KELLS INGRAM, LL. D.
Pp. 285. Price, $I.60.
London: Adam and Charles Black ; New
York : Macmillan &
Co., I895.
The volume before us contains in an expanded form, Dr. Ingram’s
article on slavery in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Being written
for the general reader, its aim is to present &dquo;such broad views and
general ideas in relation to the history of slavery as ought to be a
part of the mental furniture of all educated persons. &dquo;
In the introductory chapter which is perhaps the best in the book,
Dr. Ingram discusses slavery as a step in the development of civil-
ization.
As we examine the history of civilization we find that
slavery marks a distinct advance on the condition preceding it. In
the hunter period the savage kills his conquered enemy. In the
pastoral state slavery is not found, but when an agricultural state is
reached we again find this institution. Slavery had its &dquo;natural
and appropriate place&dquo; in the military states of antiquity. As the
existence of these states was necessary to human development, we
must recognize the institution as a &dquo;necessary step in human prog-
ress. &dquo;
Slavery, says the author, discharged important offices in
&dquo;the later social evolution-first, by enabling military action to
prevail with a degree of intensity and continuity requisite for the
system of incorporation by conquest which was its final destination;
and secondly, by forcing the captives, who with their descendants
came to form the majority of the population in the conquering com-
munity, to a life of industry, in spite of the antipathy to regular
and sustained labor which is deeply rooted in human nature, espe-
cially in the earlier stages of the social movement when insouciance
is so common a trait, and...