710 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



comparative employment of men, women, 

 and children at two periods of time, and is 

 made in accordance with a joint resolution 

 of Congress. The work now being performed 

 by the department is more varied and exten- 

 sive than at any other period of its existence. 

 It includes an investigation relating to the 

 effect of machinery upon labor and the cost 

 of production ; a report upon wages paid in 

 leading countries ; inquiries into various as- 

 pects of the liquor traffic ; and inquiries rela- 

 tive to the municipal ownership of gas, elec- 

 tric, and motor plants ; to the condition of 

 the Italians of Chicago; and into the eco- 

 nomic progress of the negroes. 



The Journal of Osteopathy is a periodical 

 devoted to osteopathy, or a new system of 

 healing without drugs, which seems to have 

 found favor with considerable numbers of 

 people, and has been recognized by law in 

 four States. It is published monthly at the 

 American Institute of Osteopathy, Kirksville, 

 Mo., at $1 a year. 



The Story of Oliver Twist, condensed for 

 home and school reading, by Ella Boyce 

 Kirk (Appletons, 60 cts.), has recently come 

 to us. It is part of a series of " home-reading 

 books" designed to supplement the ordinary 

 school work of the child, and is one of the 

 results of what was originally the university 

 extension movement, but which could now 

 more appropriately be called the school- 

 extension movement, as its principles have 

 been applied all along the line down almost 

 to the kindergarten. The author thus de- 

 scribes her book : " I have tried to present 

 one of Dickens's most popular stories as 

 nearly as possible in the form (judging from 

 his Child's History of England) that he 

 would have put it if he had written it for 

 young readers. I have used his language, I 

 have not presumed to change or modify his 

 expression, but everything that a child 

 would be likely to skip has been elided. 

 The action is thus accelerated to suit the 

 most impatient reader." 



Education from a Publisher 's Standpoint, 

 an address delivered before the National 

 Educational Association on July 7th, by Mr. 

 Oilman II Tucker, takes the ground that 

 the work of the publisher is closely bound 

 up with that of the teacher, and that co- 

 operation and sympathy are the necessary 



watchwords. Mr. Tucker is Secretary of the 

 American Book Company, and hence an au- 

 thority on text-books. The address is pub- 

 lished in a small pamphlet of twenty-three 

 pages. 



In The Mother's Council, or the Kinder- 

 garten in the Nursery, Mrs. Louise Pollock 

 attempts to arrange a course of mental and 

 physical training for use by the mother or 

 nurse in the nursery. It is based on Froe- 

 bel's Mother Book of Song and Play. The 

 applications begin when the child has reached 

 the age of three months ; the first one con- 

 sisting of the swinging of a yarn ball in front 

 of the child's face, and singing the following 

 inspiring melody : 



Here, there, here, there, 



Coming, going, 



Forward, backward, 



The little ball comes, it goes. 



The book also contains a number of " Educa- 

 tional Rules," the first of which is, " Be 

 careful what habits a child acquires during 

 the first month of his life. Do not rock or 

 walk him to sleep, unless you wish to do it 

 for years to come." This is undoubtedly 

 good science, but rule 29, which follows, is 

 somewhat doubtful in this respect. " If the 

 house is so constructed that you can not 

 conveniently have your head to the north 

 while sleeping, the next best way is to sleep 

 with your feet to the west. The electrical 

 currents come from the east, and it is best 

 they should reach you from head to foot, 

 rather than vice versa." 



The American X-Ray Journal, monthly, 

 Heber Roberts, M. D., editor, is devoted to 

 practical X-ray work and allied arts and sci- 

 ences, with special reference to the physical 

 improvement of man. Published at St. Louis, 

 Mo., $1 a year. 



The Annual Report of the State Geologist 

 of New Jersey for 1896 contains the reports 

 of progress by R. D. Salisbury and G. N. 

 Knapp on the survey of the surface forma- 

 tions, and of H. R. Kiimmel on the Newark 

 system or New Red Sandstone ; and reports 

 by J. E. Wolff on Archa3an Geology (Sussex 

 County), Lewis Woolman on Artesian Wells 

 (Stratigraphy of the Fish House Black Clays) ; 

 C. C. Vermeule on the Flood of February 6, 

 1886, in Northern New Jersey; C. C. Ver- 

 meule on the Drainage of the Hackensack 



