Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/142

134 yet it conveys the pleasant though now contradicted message that the signs in general justify the prediction "of the steady development of a prosperous period."

In transmitting his Twentieth Annual Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, the State Geologist, N. H. Winchell, characterizes the survey, as a State enterprise, as unique in its plan, its supervisory auspices, its slow but uninterrupted progress, and the duration of its personal directorship. Ten years ago, in submitting his tenth annual report, the author ventured to congratulate the university and the State on the success that had accompanied the survey at that date; but the second ten years have been more prosperous than the first ten. The present report contains a paper on the structures and origin of the crystalline rocks, by Mr. Winchell; field observations on certain granite areas, by U. S. Grant; the Mesabic iron range, by N. V. Winchell; the abandoned strands of Lake Superior, by A. C. Lawson; and Diatomaceæ of the Interglacial Drift, by B. W. Thoms and H. L. Smith.

The papers in No. 2 of Volume V of the Studies in the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University are on The Effect of Hæmorrhage and of Fasting on the Proteids of the Blood of Cats, by G. P. Dreyer; The Respiratory Function of some Muscles of the Higher Mammlia, by Theodore Hough; The Latent Time of the Knee-Jerk, by E. C. Applegarth; and The Physiological Effects of Differential Respiration, by Prof. H. Newell Martin and G. P. Dreyer.

A collection of translations of papers on The Mechanics of the Earth's Atmosphere, published by Cleveland Abbe in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, includes essays of great technical interest and value by Professors Hagen, Helmholtz, Kirchhoff, Oberbeck, Hertz, and Bezold, Lord Rayleigh, and Professors Margules and Ferrel. Prof. Abbe expresses the opinion that there is a crying need for more profound researches into the mechanics of the atmosphere, and believing that meteorology can be advanced beyond its present stage only by the devotion to it of the highest talent in mathematical and experimental physics, he earnestly commends these memoirs to such students in our universities as are seeking new fields of applied science.

The Introductory Manual for Sugar Growers of Mr. Francis Watts is the outcome of several years' experience in the West Indies, by which he was shown the necessity for a handbook containing an outline of the principles of agriculture based on modern scientific discoveries, and of the principles underlying the manufacture of sugar. The author hopes that his book may be useful as a starting point for young men beginning their training, and that it may help guide older men to other works. Special attention is given to tropical conditions. (Longmans, Green & Co., $1.50.)

The History of Modern Education, which comprises an account of the course of educational opinion and practice from the revival of learning to the present decade, by Prof. Samuel G. Williams, has grown out of the lectures given by the author in Cornell University during the past six years, and comprises the last half of his course on the history of education. It presents a compact, comprehensive, and intelligible summary of the subject. After an introductory chapter on ancient and mediæval education, the history proper begins with the account of the Renaissance, phases of education, educational opinions, and distinguished teachers of the sixteenth century. This is followed by similar notices of characteristics of education in the seventeenth century, the educational reformers and their principles, Female Education and Fénelon, the Oratory of Jesus and Beginning of American Education; then of the eighteenth century, in the general review of which education in New England and New York are characterized, early textbooks are described, and the foundation of colleges and of the University of the State of New York is recorded. Among the "educational characteristics of the nineteenth century" are great activity in literature, etc., Herbert Spencer's treatise, the general diffusion of popular education, professional training of teachers, supervision of schools, industrial and manual training, improvements in method, the kindergarten, and the discussion of the relative disciplinary value of studies. (C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y. Price, $1.50.)

Practical Lessons in Language is a