Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/875

Rh present volume, after noticing the extravagant views that were at first entertained of the machines, the editors say: "Now the dynamo is likely to take a fair stand in the rank of useful machines; for a time it was a machine regarded as likely to revolutionize all the mechanical world; now it is coming to be considered in its true light as a very valuable aid and auxiliary to steam and other prime movers, extending their sphere, and making more easy their application. For these reasons, it is assumed that the public interested in such technical matters are desirous of a more intimate knowledge of the principles of these machines, and this knowledge it is the object of the present hand-book to supply."

the multitude of books that are teeming from the press on the subject of education, this is one of the soundest and safest, and really the most advanced in its spirit, and in the principles it labors to inculcate. Its editor says in his preface: "It must be remembered that this volume was not prepared by the author as a text-book, but is simply a compilation of addresses and papers delivered at different times and under different circumstances. Hence the same truth is often repeated, not only in different expression, but with different application." Only by an intelligent comparison of these various statements can Professor Payne's views be thoroughly understood; and, for this comparison, these analyses are almost indispensable. The central principle of Professor Payne's system stands out boldly, and is reiterated at every opportunity, that the pupil "knows only what he has discovered for himself, and that in this process of discovery the teacher is only a guide."

He thus closes his masterly lecture on "The True Foundation of Science-Teaching": "I do not for a moment deny that much is to be gained from the study of scientific text-books. It would be absurd to do so. What I do deny is, that the reading up of books on science—which is, strictly speaking, a literary study either is or can possibly be a training in scientific method. To receive facts in science on any other authority than that of the facts themselves; to get up the observations, experiments, and comments of others instead of observing, experimenting, and commenting ourselves; to learn definitions, rules, abstract propositions, technicalities, before we personally deal with the facts which lead up to them—all this, whether in literary or scientific education—and especially the latter—is of the essence of cramming, and is therefore entirely opposed to, and destructive of, true mental training and discipline."

have previously spoken in emphatic praise of this able educational work, and are glad to see that it has now been brought out in a cheaper edition. Fitch is probably the best authority on general education connected with the English school system. He is thoroughly informed and thoroughly practical, and his book should be in the hands of every teacher who has capacity or liberty to think upon the subject of teaching.

little book has many pictures, and contains many interesting explanations and descriptions of vegetable processes and general plant phenomena. It will interest all who have botanical tastes, and will assist to develop those tastes where they do not exist.

is a manual for the physical laboratory, and is mainly devoted to instruments and apparatus. It deals chiefly with experimental determinations of length, angular measurement, mass, density, elasticity,