LITERARY NOTICES. 



419 



New York city. It had eleven members at 

 the beginning ; at the end of the first year 

 it had more than six hundred members. 

 The ladies seem to have gone into their 

 enterprise with much energy, before which 

 several established nuisances, that had long 

 baffled the political powers, had to give way. 

 Their influence was felt in New Jersey, 

 where they were called on to help remove 

 some offensive conditions, and in the State 

 Legislature, where they labored to prevent 

 damaging legislation. 



California State Miking Bureau. Sixth 

 Annual Report of the State Mineralogist. 

 Part I. By Henry G. Hanks. Pp. 145. 

 Part II. By William Irelan, Jr. Sac- 

 ramento. Pp. 222. 



The first part, besides a general state- 

 ment of the condition of the Bureau and 

 its collections and a reference to the com- 

 parative merits of mining and manufactur- 

 ing as adapted to California, gives a paper 

 on " Building-Stones and Building-Materi- 

 als in California," with a list of the stones 

 and their localities ; a table of altitudes of 

 twelve hundred and ninety-seven points ; 

 accounts of the " Mineral Springs of Cali- 

 fornia " ; descriptions of " The Calistoga 

 Silver-Mines " ; and the geology and miner- 

 alogy of San Diego County. The second 

 part contains the special report of the trust- 

 ees of the Bureau ; accounts of a consid- 

 erable number of mines and of the processes 

 and machinery employed at them; summa- 

 ries of the mineral products of the United 

 States in 1885 ; the mining laws of the 

 United States and the departmental inter- 

 pretations of them ; various tables and rules 

 of use in mining ; and tables of legal dis- 

 tances and routes of travel in California. 



Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club. Trans- 

 actions No. 7, 1885. \V. H. Harrington, 

 President. Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 90. 



The Club appears to have enlisted a full 

 representation of the persons within its 

 sphere of action who are interested in its 

 work. Three Club excursions were made, 

 while the sub-excursions were more numer- 

 ous and more successful than in any pre- 

 vious season. Ten afternoon lectures or 

 classes were held during the winter, on en- 

 tomology, mineralogy, ornithology, and bot- 

 any. The fact that six of the meetings 



were held in educational institutions is re- 

 garded as indicating that the Club is being 

 more and more recognized as able and will- 

 ing to impart instruction in the natural sci- 

 ences. With the "Transactions" are em- 

 bodied the special reports of the geological, 

 conchological, entomological, ornithological, 

 and botanical branches of the Club ; papers 

 on the "Black Bear," by Mr. W. P. Lett, 

 and " Ottawa Dragon - Flies," by Mr. T. J. 

 MacLaughlin ; a " List of Mosses collected 

 near Ottawa," by Professor J. Macoun ; and 

 " A New Departure in the Study of Miner- 

 als," by the Rev. C. F. Marsan. 



Mathematical Teaching and its Modern 

 Methods. By Truman Henry Safford. 

 Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 47. 

 Price, 25 cents. 



This paper is one of a series of " Mono- 

 graphs on Education," which the publishers 

 have undertaken for the purpose of preserv- 

 ing a class of essays on the theory or prac- 

 tice of teaching which, not being suited for 

 popular magazine articles or voluminous 

 enough for books, are, while they are of 

 great value, in danger of being lost. The 

 thoughts expressed in the paper are such as 

 have been suggested by the author's long 

 practical experience in giving instruction in 

 mathematical subjects, and the conclusions 

 are believed to be in agreement with the 

 views of progressive educators, but not with 

 ordinary traditions. " It is an old complaint 

 against mathematics as a mental disci- 

 pline," says the author, " that it is too ab- 

 stract and unpractical. When we look at 

 the ordinary courses in our colleges and 

 schools, we shall find that there is much 

 truth in this ; but the complaints are en- 

 tirely groundless when mathematics takes 

 its proper place in our courses, and is taught 

 in the proper manner." It is the object 

 of the essay to search for the "proper 

 manner." 



McCarty's Annual Statistician, 1887. 

 Edited by L. P. McCarty. San Fran- 

 cisco : L. P. McCarty. 

 The usefulness of well-edited and com- 

 prehensive compilations of statistics goes 

 without saying as a valuable vade mecum 

 for the editor, politician, scholar, even for 

 professional men and merchants. Of these 

 hand-books we have many more or less 



