Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/579

Rh were, to him, till he is expected to express himself easily in the language. The present volume is a second part, being preceded by one of a more elementary character. The lessons are arranged each to illustrate some special grammatical form, and include a passage to be read, analyzed, and questioned upon, with exercises in adapting various words to the form; and, further along, extracts from French classical authors. (Halifax, Nova Scotia, $1.)

The Daughter of the Nez Percés is a story of Indian life strictly founded on fact, by Arthur Paterson. Without desiring to take,ides in the questions concerning the troubles in which the Nez Percés have been involved, the author's object has been to describe with what vividness he could certain scenes in the life of a chief—Joseph, still living—"who, whether right or wrong, is unquestionably one of the most remarkable men his race has ever produced." Liberties are taken with the details of Joseph's family life and some incidents not historical are admitted, but, in the main, the true course of events has been followed. Mr. Paterson's endeavor has been to present Joseph as the man he was, and not as a mere ideal of what he should have been. We have found the story very interesting. (Published by George Gottsberger Peck, New York.)

The Epitome magazine (Washington, J. B. Lockwood, manager; M. Sewell Roy, editor; monthly, $2 a year) is the outgi-owth of the literary club life of Washington, and is expected to perpetuate the best of the essays read at the meetings. It is, however, something else than' simply a club magazine, and opens its columns to discussions on all subjects of general interest. The articles in the number before us are varied, fresh, and interesting.

An excellent manual for primary schools is the First Book in English, by W. H. Maxwell. The method is inductive, the lessons short and novel in character. By observation and comparison of models the pupil learns to recognize and construct the simple sentence. Later he is taught in the same manner to identify the principal parts of speech. Practice is given in drawing and dictation as well as in composition, and with the varied drill afforded there seems no reason why a child should not easily acquire a thorough knowledge of elementary grammar and writing in even less time than the specified three years which allows for very deliberate work in a volume of 172 pages.

The New Science Review is the name of a quarterly periodical undertaken by the Transatlantic Publishing Company, Philadelphia, as a miscellany of modern thought and discovery. In outer appearance it is all that could be asked. In its "announcement" it declares that it will differ from all the scientific periodicals, not attempting to supersede the older and more conservative periodicals, but to supplement them, addressing itself not to specialists but to the public at large, presenting matter of scientific value in popular style; not assuming that the reader has an esoteric acquaintance with the matter in hand, but giving him a preliminary acquaintance with it, explaining before it demonstrates. The first number starts off with an effort of Major-General A. W. Drayson to solve the mystery of the ice age, in which he presents his theory of a second revolution of the pole under the operation of a displacement of the earth's center of gravity, under which the polar circles may be periodically brought down as low as 54º of latitude. The Problem of the Pole—that is, the present status of the attempt to reach it—is lucidly set forth by Charles Morris. Mrs. Bloomfield Moore is allowed to describe the propeller of the Keely air ship, and to glorify its projector in an article entitled The Newton of the Mind; Julian Hawthorne in another article tells how great a man Mr. Keely is; and a long and laudatory notice is given in the second number of the review of Mrs. Moore's book on Keely and his discoveries. Among other articles in the two numbers that deserve or will attract attention are Major Ricarde leaver's Diamonds and Gold—a description of the South African mines; Lieutenant Patten's account of the eminent electrician, Nikola Tesla, and his works; a summary of Prof. Dewar's lecture on Fluorescence and Phosphorescence; the presentation by W. G. Jordan of "Mental Training—a Remedy for Education;" the Rev. John Andrews's description of the pendulograph and its curious work; symposiumlike discussions of the causes of success of certain works of fiction, the nature of electricity, and What is Science? a summary