Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 42.djvu/435

Rh is constructed with a film to test its elasticity. One lecture is devoted to a journey to Moonland which the children take seated at their desks, and two others give information about the sun, related in the form of a dream.

Many of the experiments are novel, and all can be performed with simple apparatus.

The author states that her aim has been to write so that any child who reads the words can understand their meaning; and although children may thus use the book alone, its purpose will be more nearly fulfilled when parent or teacher, thoroughly familiar with the text, tells it in story-fashion to the hearer. The work is also adapted for lectures before evening classes and reading circles, and to this end 127 of the illustrations have been prepared as lantern slides. The practical hints and appendix furnish directions for apparatus and contain further explanation of the principles involved in the lectures, so that a novice in science may begin to learn by teaching others. According to the preface, the author "looks most particularly to the lanternist as the future exponent of popular science."

who follow Mr. Torrey in his rambles through grove and pasture will surely return with sharpened vision. Even in December there are wild flowers to be found in Massachusetts. Not only the belated aster and dandelion, but mallows, groundsels, shepherd's-purse, and cinquefoil, sixteen kinds in all, blossom at this bleak season. In the same month and locality are noted thirty varieties of birds. Not more than ten of these would probably be seen from a window. They, as well as the flowers, must be traced to their haunts. What patience is needed to know the ways of humming-birds can be gathered from the papers entitled A Widow and Twins and The Male Ruby-throat.

But, whether on mountain-top or in the hollow, there is more to be learned than the habits and genealogy of bird and flower. The author gleans much philosophy by the way. The borer gnawing beneath the fallen spruce teaches him content; the pine tree shows him a brave example; while in the diversity of flowers he reads the advantage of individuality, and in the distinguishing excellence of leaf, bark, and fruit he finds the value of specializations.

The aim of this anonymous novel is somewhat complex, including both social morality and the influence of scientific thought upon religion. It is shown in the progress of the story that loose notions result in a ragged character, and the author makes an original effort to patch the hero creditably before the close of the scene. The greatness of to-day and the novelty of ideas no longer new exhale from much of the dialogue. The main part of the book consists of lectures upon the conservation of energy and the principles of evolution, relieved by a generous use of slang.

Those who are eager for the story may not care to swallow this diluted science, while those who are in search of science will scarcely look for it here.



Adams, W. H. Davenport. Warriors of the Crescent. D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 317. $1.50.

Allen, Harrison, M. D. Papers on Bats. Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 8.

Andrews, Edmund, M. D., and E. W., M. D. Rectal and Anal Surgery. Chicago: W. S. Keener. Pp. 164. $1.50.

"Babet." Ninety-nine Practical Methods of utilizing Boiled Beef, and the Original Recipe for Stewed Chicken. New York: John Ireland. Pp. 122. 75 cents.

Bailey, M. A. American Mental Arithmetic. American Book Company. 35 cents.

Bancroft, Margaret. Report of Two Cases of Individual Training, Haddonfield (N. J.) School for Mentally Deficient. Pp. 8.

Barnes, Mary Sheldon. Studies in American History. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 115. 60 cents.

Brewer, Dr. F. W. Bulletin of Bureau of Hygiene and Sanitation, Chicago World's Fair. Pp. 14.—The Children's Home, do. Pp. 4.

Brigham, Albert P. Rivers and the Evolution of Geographic Forms. Pp. 21.—The Geology of Oneida County, N. Y. Pp. 17.—A Chapter in Glacial History. Pp. 13.

Brooks, W. K., and Herrick, F. H. The Embryology and Metamorphosis of the Macroura. National Academy of Sciences. Pp. 144, with 57 Plates.

Buchanan, S. H. The World and the Book. Published by the author, Clarksville, Ark. Pp. 451.

Burnz, Eliza Boardman. The Step-by-step Primer in Burnz's Pronouncing Print. New York: Burnz & Co. Pp. 94. 25 cents.

Catlin, W. W., Editor. Echoes of the Sunset Club, Chicago. Joseph W. Errant, Secretary. Pp. 235.

Church, A. J. Stories from the Greek Comedians. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 344. $1. 