Education

LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION BY GRADES. A handbook for teachers. By J. M. Hammond, Principal of Morse School, Pittsburgh, Pa. Beckley-Cardy Company. Price 85 cents.

It would be well if this work should be in the hands of every elementary school teacher. It would go a long way toward meeting the need of ready expression in both oral and written language. The author believes that if the pupil can be made to feel natural, whatever ideas he has will be freely expressed, and with this in view has prepared a series of type lessons in language and composition which are well adapted to the needs of the average schoolroom.

THE EVOLUTION OF LITERATURE. A manual of comparative Literature. By A. S. Mackenzie, Head of the Department of English and Comparative Literature, State University of Kentucky. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. Price $1.50.

This book first appeared some four years ago, in a more expensive edition. It is now reprinted with all the original material in more popular form, which will undoubtedly bring it into much wider use for classroom work. The book has been accorded definite place among critics and teachers of literature as one of the very few treatises which approaches its subject in a really scientific way.

COMPLETE COURSE in ISAAC PITMAN PHONOGRAPHY. By Abraham Rosenblum. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. Price $1.50.

A modern, practical and comprehensive presentation of the subject. From the beginning the student writes coherent narrative, arousing and holding intense interest, and avoiding abrupt transition from theory work to practice. The theory is presented in 84 brief exercises. By the introduction of a partial key, the student can master forty per cent. of the theory exercises by self-instruction. Following the theory work are 300 business letters, models of commercial English.

ECONOMICS OF RETAILING. By Paul H. Nystrom. 1915. 400 pages. Ronald Press Co., 20 Vesey St., New York. $2., postpaid.

This book is a symptom of the times. The great development of business in the past fifty years has brought into view a great many heretofore unthought of problems. It is well that such a great modern enterprise as retailing should be scientifically studied. Our "department stores" are great communities, involving more complex relations and more puzzling problems than were to be found in entire towns of a former age. This volume is not primarily a sociological study, however; it is "strictly business" and will greatly aid the proprietors, managers, heads of departments, buyers and salesmen and saleswomen of actual retail establishments. It should also find a place in commercial schools and colleges as a helpful and suggestive text book. F. H. P.

A MANUAL OF PERSONAL HYGIENE. Sixth Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Proper Living upon a Physiologic Basis. By American Authors. Edited by Walter L. Pyle, M. D., Philadelphia. 12 mo. of 543 pages,

138 illustrations. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders Company, 1915. Cloth $1.50 net.

This volume will make a large place for itself in connection with the modern movement for health instruction in the public schools. It is an admirable manual for the individual man or woman who is ambitious to build up a stronger and more obedient muscular system; and physicians will find in it recommendable suggestions for nervous and run-down patients. Such practical subjects as eating, drinking, bathing, sleep, exercise, etc., are set forth with the scientific accuracy of the professional expert and at the same time with a simplicity that makes them available to any one with ordinary common sense. The fact that this is the sixth edition makes evident the popularity of the book. A new chapter has been added on The Hygiene of the Infant. F. H. P.

NUTRITIONAL PHYSIOLOGY. Second Edition, By Percy G. Stiles, Instructor in Physiology at Harvard University, formerly Assistant Professor of Physiology in Simmons College, Boston. Thoroughly revised. 12 mo. of 288 pages, illustrated. Philadelphia and London. W. B. Saunders Company, 1915. Cloth $1.25 net.

The student of this volume will obtain the very latest information that is available upon this important and difficult subject. But such information will always be qualified by the reservation that much is yet to be learned and that error will be avoided by, not accepting, too readily, conclusions based upon confessedly incomplete data. The author well says that "the power to suspend judgment while awaiting further evidence, is a rare and fine one." In this scientific spirit the book presents a discussion of such subjects as "the energy relations of plants and animals," the nature and means of digestion; the work of muscles and glands; gastric secretion and digestion; the hygiene of nutrition; food poisoning; alcohol; the nervous system; and many other related subjects. For classes in medical school and for practical reference by physicians this book should find a wide field of usefulness.

Periodical Notes.

F. H. P.

Two especially timely articles for teachers of English appear in The English Journal for May, viz: "Shakespeare in the Schools" by Franklin T. Baker and "The Use of the Magazine in English," by James Cloyd Bowman. In the Atlantic Monthly for May there is an article by John J. Chapman entitled "The Schoolmaster, which every instructor of boys should thoughtfully read. We quote the following from this article: "The illiterate public-by which I mean all America-does not know that four years of good schooling are more valuable for any boy than a whole lifetime of college. The schoolmasters themselves do not realize this. When they find it out, being men of character and force, and very much more in earnest than the college boards, they will rearrange their own curricula, and will persuade the colleges to accept the new règime."

Another article which our readers should not miss is contributed to the June Century by H. Addington Bruce. It is about "The Backward Child."

In the North American Review for May a literary feature of singular charm is Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch's study of "The Winter's Tale"-a valuable contribution to the current Shakespearean celebrations.

A new and useful magazine has recently entered the educational field. It is called "Ungraded" and deals with the increasingly important subject of "The Feeble Minded Child in the Public Schools".

Another valuable magazine for teachers is "McEvoy Magazine" devoted to practical school work. In the number for June Superintendent J. H. Van Sickle of Springfield, Mass., is quoted in some careful remarks pro and con, about "The Gary Plan."

Vol. XXXVI

JUNE, 1916

No. 10