Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/729

Rh been added, especially in connection with the physiology of the cardiac and general vascular nerves and of the brain. As Dr. Martin says, "Physiology has not finished its course," and while this volume contains all the more important facts at present known about the working of our bodies, it also makes it plain that very much is yet to be discovered. (Holt, $2.20.)

The first and most needed reform in methods of instruction called for in the educational revival begun by Horace Mann was the substitution of something better for text-book memorizing. Objects were chosen instead of words, and "things before words" became the motto. James Johonnot's Principles and Practice of Teaching, in the International Education Series, of which a new edition lies before us, was a potent factor in bringing about the above reform. He advocated the new education as based on the methods of Pestalozzi. The work of revision for the present volume has been done by Sarah Evans Johonnot. In a few instances the phraseology has been modernized, and a brief sketch of the pioneer work in manual training has been added, to show Mr. Johonnot's influence and close connection with the earliest experiments in this country. (Appletons, $1.50.)

The thirty-fourth annual Report of the Michigan State Board of Agriculture, as do all these reports, contains a large amount of interesting information, which is, however, as is also usually the case, so presented as to be rather difficult of access. There are nine hundred pages, and the topics range from the "management of swamps" to "climbing cutworms" and "five-banded bees." The volume contains a portrait and sketch of T. T. Lyon, Superintendent of the Michigan Experiment Station.

The Transactions of the American Climatological Association for 1896 have just reached us. Among the papers of special interest may be mentioned: Some of the Difficulties of Climato-therapy, by J. B. Walker; A Plea for Moderation in our Statements regarding the Contagiousness of Pulmonary Consumption, by V. Y. Bowditch; The Climate of Arizona, by M. A. Rodgers; The Sanitarium or Closed Treatment in Phthisis, by E. O. Otis; and A Study of Highly Mineralized Thermal Waters in the Treatment of Disease, by H. H. Schroeder. The object of the association is thus stated in its constitution: "The study of climatology and hydrology, and of diseases of the respiratory and circulatory organs."

General Principles of Zoölogy, by R. Hertwig (translated by George W. Field), comprises the first or general part of the author's Lehrbuch der Zoologie. When the latter volume first appeared there was no intention of a separate publication of the general part; but it is now thought that a book simply covering the "larger generalizations of the subject" will be of service and within the reach of many who would not purchase the larger work. The contents are well described by the title; it is a manual of zoölogy; there are paragraph headings in larger type, and the general arrangement of the text is such as to facilitate its use as a text-book, if desired. (Holt, $1.60.)

The Elements of Physics, of Profs. Edward L. Nichols and William S. Franklin (Macmillan, $1.50), has been prepared with a view to producing a text-book which shall correspond with the increasing strength of the mathematical teaching in university classes. While some text-books assume that the student's mathematical knowledge does not reach to the calculus, and others presume so much upon the mathematical training that they are unreadable for nearly all undergraduates, this one is intended for those who possess an elementary knowledge of the calculus. It is planned to be used in connection with illustrated lectures. It meets all difficulties, simplifying them as much as possible, but not evading them. The first volume, on mechanics and heat, has already been published. The present volume, the second, concerns electricity and magnetism, and a third volume is to follow.

The second title of Mr. William Matthews's Nugœ Litterariœ (or Literary Trifles)—Brief Essays on Literary, Social, and other Themes—well describes the character of the book. It is a collection, without special arrangement, of paragraphs and short essays on all kinds of subjects—ever bright and pungent and consequently interesting, always containing at least one good thought, often witty and more frequently suggestive, and