The lectures in this book were presented at a special gathering of European academics in the summer of 1902 and published later that year. Each lecturer spoke on recent developments in his own country or in a country in which he specialized, giving the essays a special intimacy and immediacy. Topics ranged from the commercial effects of the Napoleonic Wars to the unification of Italy and 'the problem of the Far East'. This book will be of value to anyone interested in the transformation of Europe in this century and the contemporary academic viewpoint.