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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Leaknixg to Draw; or, tiik Story of a 

 Young Designer. By Viollet-le-Duc. 

 Translated from the French by Virginia 

 Champion. Illustrated by the Author. 

 New York : G. V. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 324. 



This work was the last written by the 

 illustrious French author who has done so 

 much to rationalize art education. His 

 method of instruction was logical, beginning 

 always with the simplest elements and pro- 

 ceeding slowly to more complex considera- 

 tions, while the progress at every step is 

 made pleasant and attractive. Le-Duc was 

 always suggestive, and, instead of grinding 

 students through a hard didactic course, he 

 ever aims, by showing the connection be- 

 tween one study and another, to make the 

 work intellectually attractive. All special 

 results must have the broadest possible 

 foundation. And in every way the student 

 is inspired with a love of excellence and an i 

 ambition to attain the highest standard and 

 accomplish the most thorough work. Of I 

 the value of the author's method the trans- ! 

 lator thus speaks : " Teachers of art, both ! 

 general and technical, and, for that matter, 

 teachers of any subject, will find this volume 

 of Viollet-le-Duc of no little service in sug- 

 gesting methods of instruction. It shows 

 bow students, young or old, are to be inter- 

 ested ; how all the surroundings of daily 

 life contain suggestions for the most inter- 

 esting and important lines of investigation ; 

 how students are to be taught to think out 

 processes for themselves, and to develop 

 their powers of comparison and reasoning ; 

 how the study of art of necessity leads us 

 back to the study of nature, which under- 

 lies all art; and how, as before said, the 

 basis of all education must be perception, 

 so that learning to draw well and learning 

 to do anything properly depend upon first 

 learning to see correctly." 



A Text-Book of Elementary Mechanics. 

 By Edward S. Dana. New York : John 

 Wiley & Sons. 1881. Pp. 291. Price, 



$1.50. 



Professor Dana has aimed in this work 

 to present the subject of mechanics clearly 

 and concisely, and develop its fundamental 

 principles in their logical order. The book 

 is restricted to the mechanics of solids, 

 which is considered under the general heads 



of kinematics, dynamics, and statics. Nu- 

 merous problems, involving the principles 

 elucidated in the various sections, are fur- 

 nished for the pupil to work upon, answers 

 to which are given at the close of the book. 

 We can discover no reason why this latter 

 feature should have been added, and think 

 the space might have been much better de- 

 voted to additional problems. 



Summary of Substantialism ; or. Philoso- 

 phy OF Knowledge. By Jean Story. 

 With Additional Illustrations. Boston : 

 Franklin Press; Rand, Avery & Co. 

 Pp. 113. Price, 35 cents. 



The author starts with the assumption 

 that all authority, "so called," not found- 

 ed on what nature teaches through facts 

 actually demonstrable or knowable through 

 analogy, should be rejected. Nevertheless, 

 he believes that the theory that what is non- 

 I objective to the senses is immaterial antl 

 unknowable is erroneous and deleterious, as 

 is also the theory that knowledge is, either 

 directly or indirectly, miraculously revealed. 

 In harmony with these doctrines, he en- 

 deavors to build up a new philosophy of 

 the human organism. The present essay ap- 

 pears to be introductory to a larger work on 

 the same subject. 



The Feeling of EJ^fort. By William 

 James, M. D., Assistant Professor of 

 Physiology in Harvard University. (An- 

 niversary Memoirs of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History.) Boston : Published 

 by the Society. Pp. 32, 



The author's purpose is to offer a scheme 

 of the physiology and psychology of voli- 

 tion, to inquire of what nervous processes 

 the feelings of active energy are concomi- 

 tants. He first considers muscular exertion 

 as an afferent feeling, then examines into 

 the power of the will over exertion, ana- 

 lyzing the cases of acts in which no effort 

 of either is required, in which the stress of 

 effort is laid on the exertion while the will 

 is lightly taxed, on the will when the mus- 

 cular exertion required is insignificant, and 

 cases in which the will etfort operates in all 

 its vigor while the muscular function is not 

 regarded. Lastly, he considers the question 

 of a dynamic connection between the inner 

 and outer worlds, answering it in the nega- 

 tive. 



