Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/722

706 oxidized nitrogen, and a few matters of less general application are grouped at the end. Following each of the eight parts into which the volume is divided is a list of authorities cited in that part. There are ninety-three figures, mostly of apparatus. Prof. Wiley uses the new spelling of bromin, bromid, sulfur, and similar words adopted by the Chemical Section of the American Association. In gathering the material for this work he states that he has drawn freely upon the results of experience in all countries, though paying more particular attention to what has been accomplished in the United States.

is not possible to use an elementary text-book to the best advantage unless one has 6ome conception of the point of view and ends which the author has in mind. This work attempts to give in simple, concrete manner a bird's-eye view of the ends and means of education as seen by Herbart, and serves as a guide not only to the works of Herbart himself, but also to the writings of his school. Although it has been impossible to make all the hard things easy, yet the author has certainly rendered it possible for the thoughtful teacher to make a profitable beginning.

is unfortunate that the reformer so generally overstates and misapplies his views that the people are often misled as to their real value. His zeal for his one reform obscures all other considerations, thus leading him to make impracticable and ridiculous applications of it. This has been a feature in the "prevention of cruelty to animals" movement, and the book before us is no exception. There is nothing in it especially worthy of mention; it rehearses all the old arguments, insists that we are trespassing on the animal's rights in using it for food or by catching it in a trap to protect our granaries and chicken houses, and says that we are parties in a crime when we allow our students, after the utmost precaution has been taken to avoid giving pain, to examine the workings of the vital machine in the animal. The first few paragraphs of the introductory chapter are rather deceptive, their tone leading one to expect a thoughtful and moderate discussion of the question.

described on the title-page as "a manual for students in advanced classes and for general readers," this may properly be called an elementary book. It is written in a simple and readable style, and, so far as a necessarily brief examination shows, it omits no topic needed by one who is beginning his acquaintance with geology. Moreover, it does not go into any of the abstruse questions of the science. To facilitate the use of the book in teaching, a summary and a list of questions are given at the end of each chapter, and to enhance its worth for general readers matter has been inserted to illustrate the various points of contact which geology has with practical life, including its application to such questions as water supply, agriculture, mining, and building material. There are three hundred cuts in the text, and at the end of the volume are examination papers, a classification of the fossils, and an index.

Edward Knobel has hit upon an idea for the study of Nature that ought to prove popular. He has made A Guide to Find the Names of all Wild-growing Trees and Shrubs of New England by their Leaves, consisting of fifteen plates, on which are tastefully grouped leaves of two hundred and fifteen trees and shrubs, a key occupying the pages facing the plates. The whole is printed on heavy glazed paper in the form of an oblong booklet with a cardboard cover. He has undertaken a series of such guides, the second, already issued, being devoted to Ferns and Evergreens of New England. In this the plates are printed in white on black, which brings out the delicate tracery of the ferns very effectively. The subjects of other booklets in preparation are: Day Butterflies and Dusk-fliers, Beetles of New England,