3° 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



desire to be helpful. He has fully met the 

 expectations of those who know what kind 

 of work to expect from him. This is not a 

 book of identification. It takes for granted 

 that the reader knows an English sparrow 

 from a crow, and it tells about the birds them- 

 selves, their lives and migrations ; the birds 

 in winter, bird laws, etc. This, with Chap- 

 man's "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North 

 America' and Beebe's "The Bird," would form 

 an ideal library for the most enthusiastic stu- 

 dent of birds. Each of the three fills a void 

 left unfilled by the others. Mr. Pearson has 

 done his work in a masterlv manner. 



The Animal Kingdom in Pictures and 

 Stories. By several authors. Ann Arbor, 

 Michigan: Educators Association. 

 On the reviewer's desk has been placed a 

 set of ten beautiful little monographs on the 

 various divisions of the animal kingdom, such 

 as "Valuable Fur-bearing Animals,' ' and 

 "Freakish Animals" by our good Member of 

 The Agassiz Association, Winifred Sack- 

 ville Stoner, Jr. Other books in the series are 

 written by other talented and enthusiastic 

 lovers of nature. The print is large, and the 

 illustrations for the most part are attractive. 

 The series should prove of interest, especially 

 to children, and consequently valuable to 

 teachers in their schoolroom work. It is evi- 

 dently with this object in view that the Edu- 

 cators Association has issued the books. 



My Garden of Dreams* By Abram Linwood 

 Urban. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : 



Thomas Median & Sons. 

 The dreams are beautiful though not utili- 

 tarian in their suggestions. The author is not 

 seeking to teach the practical, except so far 

 as the beautiful and ideal are practical. It 

 does not teach us how to raise bigger pota- 

 toes or tomatoes, but it does tell how to make 

 life bigger and better. His garden of dreams 

 is the garden of the heart and of soul long- 

 ings. It sees sociology in an ant hill and 

 prophecy in a flower. It is well thus to go to 

 a garden as well as to all nature. Life is not 

 all stomach and pocketbook. Holy inspirations 

 may come from a garden. The author has 

 achieved a good work by showing us how to 

 love the world that is so much with us, even 

 the world of the garden. The book contains 

 beautiful word pictures of a garden, but they 

 are not the most beautiful things in the 

 book. The author has unconsciously port- 

 rayed the beauty of his own heart. That can 

 influence more than rosebushes or lilacs. 



The Mysteries of the Flowers. Bv Herbert 

 Waldron Faulkner, Ph. B„ M. 'E. New 

 York City : Frederick A. Stokes Company. 

 Mr. Herbert W. Faulkner is not only 

 known throughout the country as an artist, 

 botanist and lecturer, but he has personally 

 endeared himself to every reader of The 

 Guide to Nature by his interesting and sym- 

 pathetic portrayal of the interesting things 

 that plants do. He has an insight into the 

 mysteries of flowers similar to that of the 

 late beloved William Hamilton Gibson, and is 



a fitting successor at the Gibson Studio in 

 Washington, Connecticut. What Mr. Faulk- 

 ner has published in this magazine is but a 

 sample of the good things to be found in this 

 magnificent book which we cordially recom- 

 mend. 



It imbues the reader with a new interest in 

 his native wild flowers, by showing him what 

 they are like, how they live and how they dis- 

 tribute their seeds. The interdependence of 

 flower and insect is interestingly set forth. 



The author describes the many varieties of 

 American wild flowers, their mechanisms, and 

 their methods of interchanging pollen. He 

 shows their individual and ingenious schemes 

 for luring the bee and butterfly, who are so 

 indispensable to their life. The book goes 

 deeper than botany, which seeks merely to 

 name and classify the flowers, and reveals 

 them as eager, living things, flourishing in 

 spite of difficulties and attaining to the beauty 

 of perfect living. 



The publishers have done well their part, 

 and have produced a book that is convenient 

 and attractive. It whets the taste for more. 

 Xo one can read it and look at the dainty 

 illustrations at this the flowering time of the 

 year, without wanting to start out to make 

 acquaintance with what is therein described. 



Sex-Educations By Maurice A. Bigelow. 

 New York City: The Macmillan Com- 

 pany. 



This book deals with sex-education in its 

 broadest aspects, defined as including all scien- 

 tific, ethical, social, and religious instruction 

 and influence which directly and indirectly 

 may help young people prepare to solve for 

 themselves the problems of sex that inevitably 

 come in some form into the life of every nor- 

 mal human individual. 



While recognizing the vast importance of 

 immediate sanitary attack on some of the 

 greatest problems of sex, the book empha- 

 sizes education for attitude and for ethical 

 standards of life as offering the only basis for 

 a permanent movement for improving rela- 

 tions of sex and human life. 



The book is addressed to educators, social 

 and religious workers, and parents. 



The Passing of the Great Race. By Madi- 

 son Grant. New York City: Charles 

 Scribner's Sons. 



An entirely new and original recasting of 

 history on a purely scientific basis, treated 

 in a clear and popular style. The perma- 

 nence of physical characters, both in rela- 

 tion to the "Melting Pot" of America and 

 to the changes in race preponderance in 

 Europe resulting from the European war, is 

 brilliantly discussed. 



Henry Fairfield Osborn who writes the 

 preface makes this statement which will 

 bear very careful consideration: 



"If I were asked: What is the greatest 

 danger which threatens the American re- 

 public today? I would certainly reply: The 

 gradual dying out among our people of 

 those hereditary traits through which the 



