Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/869

 endeavored to establish, that there are causes which have been in existence since life began that will account for the structure, life, and habits of man, and that have tended in this direction; but "whether there is anything farther than this; whether man has other attributes, either peculiar to himself, or held by him in common with other animals; whether there are attributes that can not be explained by these laws, are questions with which science has nothing to do."

author of this manual is not one of those who would teach physics through laboratory work exclusively. The pupil, he says, "should come to the laboratory well grounded in the first principles of physics as presented in some elementary treatise on the subject, and well read, especially, on the subject that he is to investigate, both as to mode of conducting the work, and manner of observing." Leaving the laws and principles of the science to be presented in a separate volume, this manual gives only directions for experiments. These directions consist regularly of a brief statement of the problem, a list of the apparatus required, the details of what is to be done, under the heading Method, and a tabular form of record. Sometimes the statement of method is supplemented by remarks. Cuts showing the proper arrangement of apparatus accompany the directions in many cases. Prefixed or appended are aids for both pupil and teacher relating to the management of the work, and making and manipulating apparatus, also many tables for reference. The book is adapted to pupils of high schools and academies.

increased attention which is now given to the study of English in secondary schools has stimulated the production of rhetorical text-books as well as the republication of English classics.

Some knowledge of rhetoric is plainly a necessity, not only in order to analyze the beauties of the masterpieces of literature, but that the pupil may recognize the faults in his own composition. The newer manuals which have been prepared for this purpose give too many regulations and a superfluity of extraneous matter. The author of this work, an experienced teacher, considers that twenty rules are sufficient to fortify young writers against common mistakes in construction. He succeeds not only in simplifying these directions, but in the chapter on Clearness, Force, and Harmony, furnishes some excellent drill in a neglected quarter. The exercises suggested in reproduction, substitution, and condensation should also prove helpful in paving the way for essay writing.

We do not understand, however, why the student is directed to look up indecided in the International Dictionary and observe its use when the word is not to be found there. Possibly it is a colloquialism known to the author and unrecorded by the makers of the lexicon.

The aim of the book is given in a quotation from Herbert Spencer's Philosophy of Style, "to enable the student to present his ideas in such language that they may be apprehended with the least possible effort"; and it is not too much to say that he must be indeed a dull scholar who is not materially helped toward this end by a faithful following of the principles here inculcated.

student who has completed such a course of laboratory study in physics as is presented in the first volume of this work will be prepared to take up the problems for original research given in the volume now issued. The needs of students who intend to become electrical engineers have been especially consulted in those parts of Volume II dealing with applied electricity, heat, and photometry. There is also a fourth part, of a hundred and fifty pages, consisting of exercises in general physics. The student who essays this course of experiments "is supposed to be familiar with the general principles of electrical measurement, and to have had such experience in