416 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



European Schools. By L. R. Klemm, Ph. D. 

 International Education Series, Vol. XII. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 419. 

 Price, $2. 



Rarely has a book for teachers appeared 

 containing so much that can be used in the 

 school-room. It is not a ponderous and re- 

 pulsive budget of statistics of school attend- 

 ance, examination marks, illiteracy, etc., with 

 courses of study and descriptions of depart- 

 mental machinery. It is an account of the 

 notable features observed during a trip of 

 nearly a year among the educational institu- 

 tions of the continent of Europe, or, as the 

 author describes it in his sub-title, " what I 

 saw in the schools of Germany, France, Aus- 

 tria, and Switzerland." The first device de- 

 scribed in the book is an expedient which 

 was employed by a teacher in Hamburg, and 

 is called by the author " a master stroke." 

 A stupid boy could not see that the differ- 

 ence between plus six and minus ten is six- 

 teen. The master explained the problem 

 and illustrated it with marbles, but in vain. 

 Finally, he cast his eyes about the room, and 

 they fell upon the thermometer. In a mo- 

 ment he had this before the pupil's eyes, and 

 readily made him comprehend that the dif- 

 ference between 6 above zero and 10 be- 

 low zero is 16. A box of movable letters, 

 a board with a slit in it through which let- 

 ters making words are shown, a scheme for 

 ventilation, a mode of teaching home geog- 

 raphy, and a sketch of an efficient city school 

 system, follow within the compass of a few 

 pages. Methods of teaching drawing in dif- 

 ferent schools are described in several parts 

 of the volume, and singing, knowledge of 

 nature, mensuration, and language are only 

 a few of the subjects dealt with. A notable 

 section is that devoted to " a separate school 

 for dullards," an idea which started in Rhen- 

 ish Prussia at Elberfeld and has spread to 

 other cities. This is not a school for idiots, 

 but is intended for those unfortunate chil- 

 dren whose dullness acts as a drag on their 

 classes and brings ridicule and discourage- 

 ment upon themselves. Here they receive 

 patient instruction, and learn much more 

 than they could in schools adapted to bright- 

 er pupils, while the latter are freed from im- 

 pediments to their progress. The account 

 of girls' industrial education at Cologne, 

 comprising knitting, crocheting, embroidery, 



weaving, sewing, lace-making, cutting out 

 garments, mending and patching, and accom- 

 panied by drawing, will be found interesting 

 and suggestive. It is impossible to mention 

 here all the subjects touched upon in this 

 book ; they cover a wide range, and each is 

 presented in sufficient detail to give a definite 

 idea of the method employed. The style of 

 the book is clear and enthusiastic; the lan- 

 guage is simple and, in humorous passages, 

 even colloquial. It is a very readable vol- 

 ume one which the teacher can take up at 

 odd moments even when tired, and study 

 without a sense of laboring. A notable feat- 

 ure of it is its abundance of illustrations, 

 there being five hundred and twenty-three 

 figures showing drawing models and outlines, 

 articles used in teaching, plans of school- 

 buildings, maps made in teaching local geog- 

 raphy, articles and patterns made in manual 

 training schools, etc., etc. 



The Journal or Physiology. Vol. X. Ed- 

 ited by Michael Foster, M. D., F. R. S. 

 Cambridge (Eng.): Cambridge Scientific 

 Instrument Company. Pp. 576. Thirty- 

 three Plates. Price, $5 a volume. 



There are two papers in this volume on 

 " The Regulation of Respiration," by Henry 

 Head. The first details experiments made 

 to ascertain the effects on breathing pro- 

 duced by dividing the vagi, by altering the 

 volume of the lungs, by artificial respiration, 

 and other means. Many observations were 

 also made on the forms which the apncea 

 pause produced by artificial respiration as- 

 sumes under various conditions. Nine plates 

 of curve tracings accompany this paper. The 

 theoretical conclusions from these experi- 

 ments are embodied in the second paper. 

 C. A. MacMunn contributes an account of 

 experiments from which he infers that " bili- 

 rubin and biliverdin are produced in the 

 liver mainly from effete haemoglobin ; these 

 are acted on in the small intestine by the 

 digestive and putrefactive ferments, and 

 some, at least, changed into simple metabo- 

 lites like the urobilin-like substance of bile." 

 Stercobilin, formed in the intestines from 

 derivatives of bile and haematin, may be 

 taken up and excreted in the urine as patho- 

 logical urobilin. Some " Observations on Hu- 

 man Bile obtained from a Case of Biliary 

 Fistula," by S. M. Copeman and W. B. Win- 



