SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



129 



mass of Moel Tryfaen presents an interesting study for the glacialist, and 

 there is a remarkable inland deposit of sand, shells, and bowlders, quite re- 

 cently discovered, at Gloppa, near Oswestry. The midland counties also 

 have their bowlder clays, and deposits extend southward to the neighbor- 

 hood of London. Four chief sources of streams of bowlders are recog- 

 nized in Great Britain Kirkcudbrightshire, the English lake district, Was- 

 dale Crag, and the Arenig region of North Wales, each of which is briefly 

 described. Our author next presents the two rival theories as to how 

 Great Britain received its glacial deposits one that they were dropped 

 from ice floes floating over the land v^hile it was temporarily submerged, 

 the other that they were dragged on to it by an ice sheet moving over it 

 while it was at or about its present level. After referring briefly to evi- 

 dence in Scotland and Ireland, Prof. Bonney proceeds to describe ice work 

 in Europe and other parts of the world. For America he gives only the 

 limits and the general character of the traces of glacial action, referring to 

 Dr. G. F. Wright's book in the same series for fuller details. A large 

 number of his illustrations, however, are from Ameincan sources. The 

 four remaining chapters are devoted to theoretical questions. Here are 

 discussed the fall in mean annual temperature required for the Glacial 

 Epoch, the possible causes of such a climatal change, and whether there 

 was more than one age of ice. The closing chapter presents some general 

 principles of interpretation of glacial phenomena. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



The author of this suggestiTC and useful 

 book * admits the deficiency in the teaching 

 of English, and particularly of composition, 

 in our schools, to which attention has been 

 called in a committee report to the Board of 

 Overseers of Harvard College, and attempts 

 here, by a thoughtful discussion of the sub- 

 ject in its theoretical and practical aspects, 

 to point out the way in which the standard 

 of scholarship in the vernacular may be im- 

 proved. The book has grown out of his own 

 regular work, and its purpose is to state 

 fully and illustrate clearly the principles that 

 underlie all practical language culture, to 

 emphasize the value of such culture the 

 education that grows directly out of the use 

 and study of the vernacular to present meth- 

 ods for carrying on the child's instruction in 

 language-arts in harmony with the underlying 

 principles, and to discuss grammar and rhet- 

 oric with reference to their educational value 

 and their relation to the language-arts. The 

 results of the best discussions of the subject, 

 from those of the Roman Quintilian to those 



* Teaching the Language - Arts : Speaking, 

 Beading, Composition. By B. A. Hinsdale. New 

 York : I. Appleton & Co. (International Educa- 

 tion Series). Pp. 205, 8vo. Price, $1. 



TOL. L. 12 



of Preyer and the American writers, are 

 brought into the study. The language-arts 

 are defined, the value of the vernacular as 

 an educational instrument is estimated, the 

 condition of the child's mind, his acquisition 

 in speech, and the origin of his knowledge 

 are inquired into, and the teaching of the 

 language- arts in the elementary and lower 

 grades and in the higher schools is discussed 

 under the three aspects of the substance of 

 thought, the form of thought, and literature 

 as an art. The principles having been thus 

 established, the subject is considered under 

 the headings of The Art of Reading, Read- 

 ing and Mental Cultivation, Requisites for 

 Reading, Teaching Reading as an Art, Teach- 

 ing Reading as Thought, Teaching Composi- 

 tion, Teaching English Literature, the func- 

 tions severally of English grammar, rhetoric, 

 and criticism, and Teachers of the Language- 

 Arts (qualifications, etc.). A bibliography 

 of twenty-one titles is appended. 



In this book * the author considers a sub- 

 ject which he assumes, correctly as far as we 

 know, has not hitherto received any system- 



* The Evohition of Bird-Song, with Observa- 

 tione on the Influence of Heredity and Imitation. 



