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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Microscope in Botanv. From the German 

 of Dr. J. W. Behrena. By Kev. A. B. He rvey and 

 E. H. Ward. Boston : S. E. Cassino & Co. l'p. 

 4GG. Price, $5. 



Assyriology ; its Use and Abuse in Old Testa- 

 ment Study. By frrancis Brown. New York: 

 Charles Ser'ibner's Sons. Pp. 9G. 



The Russians at the Gates of Herat. By Charles 

 Marvin. New Sfork: Charles Scribners Sons. Pp. 

 185. Price, 50 cents. 



Transactions of the New York State Medical As- 

 sociation, 1?84. JN'ew York: D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 054. Price, $5. 



Bureau of Labor Statistics of Illinois. Thh;d Bi- 

 ennial Report. John S. Lord, Secretary, Springfield. 

 Pp. G51, with Maps. 



The Lenape Stone. Bv H. 0. Mercer. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Son's. Pp. 95. Price, $1.25. 



Insomnia, and other Disorders of Sleep. By 

 Henry M. Lyman. M. D. Chicago : W. T. Keener. 

 Pp. 239. Price, $1.50. 



The French Revolution. By II. A. Taine. Vol. 

 III. New Y'ork : Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 509. 

 Price, $2.50. 



Cotustock Mining and Miners. By Eliot Lord 

 (U. S. Geological Survey). Washington : Govern- 

 ment Printing-Office. Pp. 451. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Schools of Fifty Years ago and of To- 

 Day. The Rev. Edward Everett Hale, in a re- 

 cent article on " Half-Time Schools," assert- 

 ed, among other things, that, on the whole, 

 schools and school-teachers were better fifty 

 years ago, when they turned out an occa- 

 sional Daniel Webster, than they are now ; 

 that all schools are " revolting " to pupils ; 

 that the average boy, who has many weeks 

 of vacation per year, is likely to learn the 

 value of time, the necessity of punctuality, 

 and the need of subordination, and to ac- 

 quire modesty and self-control, order and 

 method, quite as well as he does at school ; 

 that the old idea of school, as a place for 

 study in reading, writing, and arithmetic, is 

 the correct one, and all else is to be taught 

 and learned somewhere else ; and that such 

 practical affairs as a knowledge of things, 

 tools, and the processes of handicrafts, can 

 not be successfully taught at school, but are 

 learned more quickly and better at home or 

 at work. Professor Woodward, of Washing- 

 ton University, St. Louis, has answered some 

 of Mr. Hale's points. He quotes, from an 

 article of his own, the evidence that the 

 boys in his manual training-school enjoy 

 their school hours with real zest, and re- 

 marks on what schools of to-day should 

 teach, as contrasted with the schools of Dan- 

 iel Webster's day : " When Daniel Webster 

 was a boy, there was not a railroad, nor a 



telephone, not even a telegraph nor a steam- 

 boat, in the land. Our present methods of 

 supplying cities with food, with fuel, with 

 shelter, with clothing, were unknown. There 

 was not an armored ship, nor a breech-load- 

 ing gun, nor a dynamo, in the world, and 

 one half of the present occupations of men 

 did not exist. Are our schools to be con- 

 ducted in blissful ignorance of all this?" 

 He adds : " I do not say that schools should 

 teach trades, any more than that they should 

 teach banking, or piano-playing, or teleg- 

 raphy. They should only teach principles, 

 and methods, and the use of tools and appli- 

 ances applicable to a majority of the occu- 

 pations of American civilization; these they 

 should teach for three reasons : 1. Opening 

 the way to an intelligent choice of occupa- 

 tion ; 2. Insuring success in the chosen oc- 

 cupation ; and, 3. Raising the intellectual 

 and moral standards of manual occupations. 

 It is scarcely necessary to add that three 

 hours per day given to manual training 

 (drawing and tool-work) leave abundant 

 opportunity for literary and scientific train- 

 ing, or that the intellectual development of 

 pupils thus broadly exercised is both whole- 

 some and rapid." 



The Medico-Legal Society. Mr. Clark 

 Bell, in his address on retiring from the 

 presidency of the Medico-Lf gal ^ociety,points 

 to the high character of the membership of 

 the body as entitling it to that respect and 

 confidence which arc now awarded it by stu- 

 dents of medical jurisprudence throughout 

 the civilized world. It has three hundred 

 and ninety-four members. Its library has 

 largely increased, by the gift of books from 

 members and honorary and corresponding 

 members, and is now said to be the best sin- 

 gle collection of works on medical jurispru- 

 prudence in this count iy outside of that em- 

 braced in the library of the Surgeon-Gener- 

 al's office in Washington. Its list of honor- 

 ary and corresponding members embraces 

 gentlemen of the highest distinction and emi- 

 nence in the science of medical jurispru- 

 dence, in America and Europe. The con- 

 stitution of the socicly has been enlarged 

 so as to admit to active membership persons 

 throughout the United States and Canada. 

 The " Medico-Legal Journal " has a circula- 

 tion of two thousand copies. The address, 



