Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/291

Rh acrospire of barley, yield of material in the brewery, differentiation of subterranean water-supplies, etc. There are six plates, showing different kinds of bacteria, of saccharomyces, molds, and starch, microscopic aquatic life, and forced beer sediments.

An Address on the University Extension Movement, delivered by Richard G. Moulton, A. M., has been published by the American Society for the Extension of University Teaching (1602 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia). Mr. Moulton defines university extension as "university education for the whole nation organized upon itinerant lines." He says that university education differs from school education in being unlimited, and that a university fails miserably in its duty if it does not give one those tastes and those mental habits which will lead him to go on learning to the end of his days. Not every person will get the same thing out of university instruction. Each helps himself according to his own capacity. The extension teaching involves lectures, class-work, printed syllabuses, weekly written exercises, examinations, and certificates. The interest that has been aroused in England is shown by the written exercises voluntarily sent in, changes in the character of the demands on the public libraries and of the conversation at social gatherings, traceable to courses of lectures, and similar indications Mr. Moulton speaks of university extension as a missionary movement, and urges all who possess the benefits of culture to assist in giving culture to others.

The Iowa State Medical Society has begun the publication of a bimonthly magazine. The Vis Medicatrix which will serve as the journal of the society (Des Moines, $1 a year). It is edited by Woods Hutchinson, M. D., and the first number contains the proceedings at the society's fortieth annual session, the president's address, departments devoted to diseases of animals, plant diseases, medical colleges, notes and news, etc.

Mr. John A. Wright, of Philadelphia, has published a pamphlet on The Practical Working and Results of the Inter-State Commerce Act, the purpose of which is to present (1) the law of distribution of the returns on all products that require transportation to a market; (2) the policy of transporters in view of their duties as common carriers; (3) the difficulty of estimating the cost of transportation; (4) a measure on which a just rate of profit on the stock of transportation companies may be based. The author points out provisions in the law which he holds should be expunged as impracticable and dangerous.

A treatise on The Principles of Agriculture has been prepared for common schools by Mr. L. O. Winslow, and is published by the American Book Company. It regards a knowledge of the subject as identical with a knowledge of the natural laws and principles that underlie rural life and rural pursuits, and considers it an important element in the education of the young. Hence it begins at the foundation with descriptions of the substances of the earth, accounts of its geological history, and the leading facts and principles of the several sciences that bear directly on agriculture and rural life. The applications of the principles are then described in the chapters on Plants, Fertilizers, Cultivation, and Animals. Minor and subordinate topics are omitted, in the belief that a thorough knowledge of the few main points is worth more to the pupil than a confused idea of the whole. Points not definitely settled are avoided, or mentioned only briefly. The book is designed, primarily, for use in the public schools, and contains no difficulties too great for ordinary pupils of twelve or fourteen years.

A text-book on the Elements of Civil Government, published by the American Book Company, has been prepared by Alex L. Peterman for use in schools, and as a manual of reference for teachers. It is intended to supply what is a serious want in many of our schools, which omit instruction concerning civil government and the science of citizenship. It begins with the family, the first form of government with which the child comes in contact. As his acquaintance with rightful authority increases, the school, the civil district, the township, the county, the State, and the United States are taken up in their order. In each case the nature and purposes of the Government are explained, and its scope and methods. The author endeavors to present the subject in a simple and attractive way.

In a curious book entitled Beyond the Bourn (Fords, Howard k Hulbert), Mr. Amos