SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



277 



any teacher or student who has native vigor 

 to be aroused, the volume can hardly fail to 

 be an inspiration. 



Mr. BrowTi's book* is a revision of his 

 practical taxidermy, published some years 

 ago, plus the results of his work at the Lei- 

 cester Museum, which includes " new meth- 

 ods, most of which are absolutely novel and 

 at present confined to the Leicester Mu- 

 seum." Although many of the processes 

 are somewhat difficult, the aim has been to 

 so arrange the work as to make its practical 

 application by the learner as simple as pos- 

 sible. The introduction treats of the origin 

 and progress of taxidermy, and the founder 

 of taxidermy certainly Pleistocene in age, 

 is shown to have been the man who first ap- 

 propriated an animal's hide as clothing, the 

 wearing of skins necessitating some sort of 

 preparation, which may be fairly called taxi- 

 dermy. The tools and methods used in taxi- 

 dermy and modeling and the collection of 

 specimens occupy the first four chapters. 

 Then follow special chapters, one on mam- 

 mals, one on birds, and one on reptiles. The 

 remaining three chapters deal with modeling 

 and artistic mounting. A number of excel- 

 lent illustrations and a bibliography of the 

 subject add value to the volume. 



A magazine entitled Public Libraries, de- 

 voted to library management and news, was 

 started in May with M. E. Ahern as editor 

 and a strong list of contributing editors. It 

 is to be issued monthly for ten months of 

 the year from the Chicago office of the 

 Library Bureau ($1 a year). Part of the 

 first draft of a Library Primer, to be issued 

 by the American Library Association, is 

 printed in the first number for criticism and 

 suggestions. Other features are news of 

 libraries, library schools, and librarians; 

 notes on reference books for library work ; 

 and practical hints. 



Prof. McMaster^s special qualifications, 

 both as a historian and a writer, make his 

 With the Fathers (Appletons, $1.50) not only 

 very i-eadable but exceedingly insti'uctive. 

 The volume consists of a series of studies in 

 the history of the United States, all of which 



* Artistic and Scientific Taxidermy and Model- 

 ing. By Montague Brown. Pp. 452, 8vo. New 

 York : Macmillan & Co. London : A. & C. Black 

 Price, $6.50. 



have appeared separately in the magazines. 

 The topics treated are The Monroe Doctrine, 

 The Third -Term Tradition, The PoUtical 

 Depravity of the Fathers, The Riotous Career 

 of the Know-Nothings, The Framers and the 

 Framing of the Constitution, Washington's 

 Inauguration, A Century of Constitutional 

 Interpretation, A Century's Struggle for Sil- 

 ver, Is Sound Finance possible under Popu- 

 lar Government ? Franklin in France, How 

 the British left New York, The Struggle 

 for Territory, and Four Centuries of Prog- 

 ress. 



Betrachtungen eines in Deut%chland rei- 

 senden Deutschen (Reflections of a German 

 traveling in Germany), by P. D. Fkcher, is 

 a small book but full. It presents in a suc- 

 cession of brief, terse essays outline descrip- 

 tions of the various attractions which Ger- 

 many offers to the traveler and student 

 These accounts are given under the headings 

 of " How we travel in Germany," " What we 

 can see in Germany " (scenery, people, in- 

 dustries, cities, estates, universities, authors, 

 etc.), ''Economical, Moral, and Social Con- 

 ditions." (Published by Julius Springer, 

 Berlin.) 



The thirty-first number of the Standard 

 Teachers' Library contains the Questions and 

 Answers in Drawing given at the uniform 

 examinations of the State of New York since 

 June, 1892 (Bardeen, 50 cents). The large 

 number of sketches to be copied with va- 

 rious modifications that are presented in 

 these questions forms a notable feature of 

 the book. The regulations concerning teach- 

 ers' certificates in force August 1, 1896, are 

 prefixed to the volume. 



Prof. F. Berger claims as an element of 

 superiority of his French Method (1896) 

 over its rivals most in vogue that it takes up 

 the verbs and the grammar at the beginning, 

 mtroducing the pupil at once to the construc- 

 tion and phrasing of the language, as well 

 as to the use of individual words. It does 

 not, however, make the grammar predomi- 

 nant or teach it in a mechanical way like the 

 old systems that lie unlamented in their 

 graves, but, taking up the idea that inspired 

 the systems that followed these, weaves it in 

 with the life of the language as the pupil 

 learns to use it in informal exercises or the 

 informal turning of well-chosen and familiar 



