LITERARY NOTICES. 



117 



viction that it has come at last. We do not 

 allude to Mrs. Stevenson's "Biology for 

 Boys and Girls ; " it occupies a widely-dif- 

 ferent field. " First Book of Zoology," by 

 Prof. Morse, is the little work which we 

 wish to consider. It has some points on 

 which we would for a moment dwell. First, 

 it really teaches zoology. It deals with 

 the morphology and actual structure of 

 familiar things. It advises you to get 

 snails or insects, and shows how to get 

 them. Now, every one should know that 

 this is just what a child wants to do. Every 

 child is naturally a collector. Then comes 

 the study of form. Here are simple out- 

 line drawings. The external parts are laid 

 out, and each part is shown to the pupil, 

 and its name as a part is given. Now the 

 child must draw these parts on his slate, 

 and then name them for himself; and every 

 child with a little patient help can do all 

 this. But, when this is done, the morphology 

 of a shell, or whatever else, is well learned, 

 albeit the little pupil has never heard the 

 big word used above. And what an eye- 

 opener, and mind-expander, and tongue- 

 loosener, half an hour of such work with a 

 child is 1 The little child becomes at once 

 a naturalist, intent upon his snail, he sees 

 things, and thinks things, and asks things, 

 that are all new to him. This little book 

 utterly eschews technicalities, and even 

 classification. An intelligent boy will make 

 a collection, and then will attempt to sort it 

 into groups or sets of real or fancied simili- 

 tudes. This is instinctive classification. 

 But it is plain that the collection must 

 come first ; that is, that intelligent classifi- 

 cation must stand related to things more 

 than words. A blind man could not clas- 

 sify the stars. Here, then, is the blun- 

 der which our author shuns : of begin- 

 ning to teach systematic classification with 

 no knowledge or sight of the objects. 

 The author's method is that of Nature. It 

 is the word-method in reading instead 

 of the old ABC plan. Get your object, 

 then learn its parts, and, thus trained, clas- 

 sification will be sought for, and can then 

 be entered upon; and even its systematic 

 names will be learned with delight, because 

 they have a real significance ; that, of 

 course, will be the work of a "Second 

 Book." The first is just such as any 



teacher can handle, and that too with pleas- 

 ure, for it unfolds the objects of Nature 

 precisely in Nature's own way. A real ex- 

 cellence in a primer is, that it is small. 

 This little book reminds us of the pinhole 

 in the card to which the eye is applied ; it 

 takes in a very little bit of Nature, but that 

 bit is wonderfully amplified with good, clear, 

 achromatic light. In this wise it is that 

 one who has done a long service in teach- 

 ing natural history to children hails Dr. 

 Morse's little book. S. L. 



Money, and the Mechanism of Exchange. 

 By W. Stanley Jevons, F. R. S., Pro- 

 fessor of Logic and Political Economy 

 in the Owens College, Manchester. No. 

 XVII. " International Scientific Series." 

 New York: D. Appletou & Co. 350 

 pages. Price, $1.60. 



There is, beyond question, a most impor- 

 tant scientific side to the complex subject 

 of money. It has its observable phenomena, 

 its analyzable relations, and its deducible 

 laws ; and, as it pertains to the operations 

 of human society, it is a legitimate branch 

 of social science. For this reason it was 

 entirely proper that the subject should be 

 treated in an independent monograph in the 

 "International Scientific Series." One of 

 the ablest and clearest logical heads in 

 Europe, author of a masterly treatise on the 

 philosophy of science, and a special and 

 thorough student of political economy, was 

 chosen to execute the work. Again there 

 were permanent, general, and what we may 

 term cosmopolitaln reasons for taking up 

 the subject with a view simply to the expo- 

 sition, improvement, and extension of valu- 

 able knowledge. 



But for us the subject has also quite 

 another aspect. There were urgent Amer- 

 ican reasons why it should be treated. 

 We believe in the glorious leadership of 

 our country ; we are in advance, and bound 

 to be in advance, of civilization, and in this 

 case the American people furnish ample 

 evidence that they are quite ahead of the 

 world in their ignorance of every thing hke 

 principles or laws relating to money. The 

 American voter, with his hands full of green- 

 backs, has about as much understanding 

 of the science which treats of them as the 

 Indian of the science of wampum. That 

 they can buy things with them, and that 



