LITERARY NOTICES. 



271 



tion between these facts," warily observes 

 Dr. Harris. Although the wealth-producing 

 power may not represent the intellectual 

 status of the individual, that it is proportion- 

 al to the intelligence of a large community 

 admits of scarcely a doubt, and for this the 

 amount of schooling may stand as an expo- 

 nent. Mr. Martin depicts the schools as pass- 

 ing through three stages of evolution. The 

 earliest era, when the only object was to 

 make a storehouse of the mind ; the three 

 Rs were deemed sufficient to fill it at an ele- 

 mentary dame-school ; later the classics were 

 added, and more recently grammar, geogra- 

 phy, and the sciences. During this period 

 the " child was to be held down and oper- 

 ated upon, or headed off when he obeyed an 

 impulse of Nature." Secondly came the 

 graded system, when the aim was to supply 

 a measurable quantity of knowledge, to get 

 per cents, and pass examinations. Thirdly 

 emerged the modern school, which inquires 

 into the child's nature and seeks to develop 

 it. " Instead of viewing the new pupil as 

 one more to be registered, put through geog- 

 raphies, arithmetics, and marked done, it 

 recognizes an incipient man, and asks what 

 the future may demand of him." 



The new school is described as differing 

 from the older in purpose and in spirit, 

 studies, and methods of instruction. The 

 work is so changed as to seem a revolution. 



American Spiders and their Spinning 

 Work. By Henry C. McCook, D. D. 

 Vol. III. The Author, Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. The set, 



$50. 



Dr. McCook and all araneologists are to 

 be congratulated on the completion of this 

 able and conscientious work. And when we 

 consider that this task has been accom- 

 plished in such odd hours and vacation 

 times as a busy professional life affords, the 

 fact that it has been completed seems little 

 short of a marvel. The present volume con- 

 tains six chapters similar to the contents of 

 the two preceding volumes i. e., dealing 

 with various habits and activities of spiders. 

 Among the topics treated in these chapters 

 are the toilet making of the orb-weavers, 

 the manner in which some of them burrow, 

 their social habits, evidences of memory, 

 feats of mimicry, the parasites that infest 



them or their cocoons, and a number of 

 minor topics grouped under the head 

 Biological Miscellany. Much of this ma- 

 terial is supplementary to chapters in the 

 two preceding volumes. Molting habits and 

 the renewal of lost organs are considered 

 at some length. Dr. McCook denies that the 

 actions of spiders can be taken as indi- 

 cations of approaching weather changes, 

 showing from his notes that the little 

 weavers construct webs even that are des- 

 tined to be destroyed within a few hours. 

 He also puts on record some interesting 

 superstitions regarding spiders, which need 

 no refutation. Certain attempts to utilize 

 spiders' silk commercially are recorded, but 

 none of these have been economically suc- 

 cessful. A second division of the volume 

 consists of technical descriptions of genera 

 and species of the orb-weavers, one hundred 

 and twenty-three species being described. 

 Following the index to the volume are 

 twenty-eight colored plates, filled with fig- 

 ures of orb-weavers and of some of their 

 organs, besides two plates of figures rep- 

 resenting species of other aranead groups. 

 There are also ninety-eight cuts in the text 

 of the first portion of the volume. The 

 present ascendency of that biology which 

 occupies itself with examining microscopic 

 portions of the dead bodies of animals seems 

 to be decreasing the number of field nat- 

 uralists who observe the phenomena and 

 habits of living creatures. Let us hope that 

 the latter side of zoology will not be too far 

 neglected, and this handsome record of re- 

 search seems to promise that it will not. 



The Life and Writings of Rafinesque. 

 By Richard E. Call. Louisville : John 

 P. Morton & Co. Pp. 22*7. Price, $2.50. 



In this sumptuous publication a much 

 ridiculed and little understood naturalist is 

 presented in the light afforded by a careful 

 research. Besides an account of his life the 

 volume contains a chapter on his personal 

 appearance, with some discussion on the 

 genuineness of the two portraits which are 

 given in it. The part dealing with his sci- 

 entific work tells of what he did in Sicily, 

 in Lexington, Ky., and also takes up his in- 

 vestigations by subjects conchology, ichthy- 

 ology, botany, archaeology, etc. A list of the 

 medals, diplomas, and other honors conferred 



