Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/433

Rh of the various animal and vegetable foods.—The Sanitary Conditions and Necessities of School-Houses and School-Life, by D. F. Lincoln M. D., in which the various features of school-house construction are considered from the point of their bearing on the health of pupils, and the care of the eyes, seats, desks, and positions, physical training, and the effects of school-life and school-work on the nervous system are especially considered.—Disinfection and Individual Prophylaxis against Infectious Diseases, by George M. Sternberg, M. D., U. S. Army; and The Preventable Causes of Diseases, Injury, and Death in American Manufactories and Workshops, and the best Means and Appliances for preventing and avoiding them, by George H. Ireland. These essays are written from the practical point of view, and for the purpose of being read and acted upon by plain men, with style and matter well adapted to that object. They are published by Irving A. Watson, Secretary of the American Public Health Association, Concord, N. H., and the American News Company, New York.

In the Practical Lessons in the Use of English for Primary and Grammar Schools, by Mary F. Hyde (D. C. Heath & Co.), instruction in composition is expected to be begun in the third year primary. The scheme of the lessons is intended to be progressive, and to involve constant practice in the correct use of all the parts of speech, the placing of the words in their proper relations, and the right employment of the usual punctuation-marks. The aim has been to lead the pupil to see for himself, to direct his attention to the use of language as the expression of thought, and to teach him to avoid errors by being trained from the first to use correct forms—not by placing before him incorrect forms for correction. These purposes are well brought out. The study is not confined to detached sentences, but passages from good writers are also introduced.

We have already commended the cumulative method of teaching languages of Prof. Adolphe Dreyspring. In the First German Reader, on this method (New York, D. Appleton & Co., 70 cents), the author has constructed a narrative presenting the varied activities of childhood in plain, simple, and facile language, with rapid succession of interesting and critical events, and the additional attractions of frequent, simple, but expressive outline illustrations. The motto of the cumulative system, "Repetition the mother of studies," is faithfully adhered to. The style of the narrative is flowing and pure, the vocabulary is limited, and every effort has been made by the author to compose a book which young students will like, and to make the road to knowledge as free from difficulties as possible.

The practical part of the Geography for Schools, by Alfred Hughes (Clarendon Press, Oxford, England; Macmillan & Co., New York, 50 cents), is based on the results of several years' experience at the Manchester Grammar-School. It consists chiefly in the inclusion of problems to be worked out by the pupil, which depend largely upon reference to the atlas and the use of common mathematical knowledge. The problems involve questions of latitude and longitude, distances on the earth's surface, the rotation of the earth, the apparent movements of the fixed stars and of the sun, the seasons, altitudes of the sun, length of day and night, movements of the earth, length of shadows, etc. The constant references to the atlas required are found useful in promoting the knowledge of descriptive geography.

Robert Seide's work on Industrial Instruction, which has been translated by Margaret K. Smith (Heath, 80 cents), is a defense of manual training against objections raised against it in the Synod of the Canton of Zurich, in 1882 and 1884. The author maintains that industrial instruction has "a great educational value; a significant mental and physical disciplining power; and a dee preaching social and moralizing influence."

Slips of Tongue and Pen, by J. H. Long (Appleton, 60 cents), is a convenient little manual, which points out many common errors of speech and writing, explains the appropriate uses of words often confused, and includes suggestions on composition and notes on punctuation. The matter is arranged more attractively than in the regular style of reference-books, and illustrations are given of both the correct and the incorrect uses of the words treated.

The pamphlet on Seminary Libraries and University Extension, by Herbert B.