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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



niirable illustrations by which they are 

 accompanied. Light and electricity are 

 dealt with in an equally complete and satis- 

 factory manner, ample details being given 

 with regard to the nature of light, its 

 sources, reflection, refraction, the solar 

 spectrum, spectrum analysis, the effect of 

 light, and the relations of light and heat ; 

 while in the chapter upon electricity there 

 are very full sections upon statistical and 

 galvanic electricity, electro-magnetism, mag- 

 neto-, thermo-, and animal electricity, and 

 the relations which the several chemical 

 agents bear to each other." 



Fifth Annual Report on the Noxious, 

 Beneficial and other Insects of the 

 State of Missouri. By Charles V. 

 Riley, State Entomologist. 1873. 



That abundance of correct informa- 

 tion about the habits of noxious insects 

 should be diffused among farmers is a thing 

 of capital importance. Many insect-pests, 

 which in former times ravaged the fields 

 and orchards with impunity, are now easily 

 held in check, or exterminated, owing to 

 the enlarged knowledge derived from the 

 researches of scientific entomologists. For 

 instance, after it is once known that the 

 parent Hessian fly makes its first appear- 

 ance in the latitude of Missouri, about the 

 beginning of September, and usually disap- 

 pears before the end of that month, the 

 prudent farmer will preserve his grain from 

 the attacks of that destroyer by deferring 

 his planting till October. In like manner, 

 the army worm may be defeated by burn- 

 ing up her eggs with the grass-stalks in 

 which they are deposited. Or we may en- 

 list in our service the natural enemies of 

 the various insect - pests, such as birds, 

 toads, snakes. But their greatest foes are 

 " those of their own household," predaceous 

 or cannibal and parasitic insects. The 

 study of the habits of these insect allies and 

 insect enemies of the husbandman is the oc- 

 cupation of the practical entomologist. The 

 importance of entomological research is 

 now more generally recognized than it was 

 a few years ago, when Dr. Asa Fitch, of 

 New York, was the only State entomolo- 

 gist in the Union. New York, it is true, 

 no longer employs an entomologist, having 

 very unwisely abolished the office two years 

 ago. Other States, however, have insti- 



tuted the office, and their example is likely 

 to be imitated throughout the Union. The 

 States at present employing entomologists 

 are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, and 

 Missouri, and Mr. Townsend Glover is at- 

 tached to the National Department of Agri- 

 culture, in the same capacity. 



Mr. Riley's very able report is in itself 

 perfectly satisfactory evidence of the value 

 of such studies. 



We are pleased to see incorporated with 

 the report a succinct treatise on entomol- 

 ogy, intended to give the intelligent farmer 

 an easy introduction to the science. 



Eighteenth Annual Report of the Board 

 of Directors of the St. Louis Public 

 Schools, for the Year ending August 1, 

 1872. With Appendix ; pp. 319. 



This report contains a good deal of im- 

 portant matter that has a more than local 

 value. Besides many instructive details re- 

 lating to the management of the St. Louis 

 schools, their accomplished superintendent, 

 Mr. W. T. Harris, gives us his views on 

 grading and classification in a system of 

 schools, on the course of study for the pub- 

 lic school best suited to modern require- 

 ments, and on the important subject of 

 school discipline. On the practice of whip- 

 ping in schools, he quotes from Superintend- 

 ent Monteith, as follows : " The indiscrimi- 

 nate use of the whip in school is a practice 

 which is to be condemned as barbarous, 

 cruel, and wicked. It is a wonder that so- 

 ciety is so indulgent toward that which, if 

 applied to animals instead of children, would 

 not be tolerated for a moment. I regret to 

 say it, but it is true, that a ' society for the 

 prevention of cruelty to children ' could find 

 work for humane hands in many Missouri 

 schools. The case is aggravated when we 

 consider, further, that about two-thirds of 

 the whippings which school-children receive 

 are inflicted for offences for which they are 

 in no way responsible. The crimes they 

 commit, upon which pedagogical vengeance 

 is wreaked, when stripped of the color given 

 to them by unmeaning and senseless rules, 

 are simply the crimes of being a boy and 

 being a girl. They are too often crimes 

 which are incited by bad air, cold feet and 

 shoulders, overwork, and long confinement. 

 They are crimes which the parents of these 

 same children are accustomed to excuse in 



