LITERARY NOTICES. 



421 



of value to the teacher. The book is de- 

 signed for schools and the junior students of 

 colleges, and is intended to facilitate the em- 

 ployment of practical physics as a training 

 for the mind. 



Under the title Tlie Child and Nature, a 

 book has been issued by Alex. E. Frye (Bay 

 State Publishing Co., Hyde Park, Mass.), 

 setting forth a method of teaching geogra- 

 phy in which sand-modeling is an important 

 feature. The author maintains that pupils 

 should be led to regard the land areas as 

 possessing not only length and breadth, but 

 also the very important d-mension of height, 

 " which divides the surface into the great 

 slopes that form the river-basins, determine 

 rainfall and drainage, distribute soil as food 

 for plants, and thus prepare the earth to be- 

 come the home of man." He advises that 

 the study begin with modeling the district 

 about the school-house, and shows by illus- 

 trative lessons and lists of questions how 

 ideas of the forces acting upon land and 

 water, of the plant -and animal life, and of 

 human occupations and interests in the 

 vicinity, may be developed. As the next 

 ■ step he puts the study of the earth's surface 

 as a whole, " first, because the globe is the 

 simplest whole ; and, second, because the globe 

 study alone can lead to those relations to 

 heat, winds, and rainfall which enable the 

 pupil to take the next step in the science." 

 The continents, he says, should be studied 

 later as parts of the globe structure. As 

 with the district, he shows how the sub- 

 jects of forces, life, and man are to be 

 taught in the department of foreign geog- 

 raphy. 



Three Kingdoms: a Handhooh of the 

 Agassiz Association, by Harlan H. Bal- 

 lard (Writers' Publishing Co., New York, 75 

 cents), was written " to serve instead of a per- 

 sonal reply to the inquiries concerning the 

 Agassiz Association." It comprises first an 

 account of the organization, whose object is 

 to aid young people in the collection, study, 

 and preserving of natural objects and facts ; 

 then directions for organizing a chapter of 

 the Association and a plan of work. In the 

 following chapters are given suggestions for 

 work with plants, insects, birds and their 

 eggs, minerals, and archaeological specimens. 

 Exchanging specimens, books to read, taking 

 notes, more about the Association, and vari- 



ous hints and helps, occupy the remaining 

 chapters. 



The first of a series of " Nature Readers," 

 with the title Seaside and Way-side, has 

 been written by Jtdia McNair Wright 

 (Heath, 25 cents). It is intended for children 

 who are beginning to read, and consists of 

 descriptions in simple language of the struct- 

 ure and habits of insects and shell-fish, its 

 peculiar aim being to interest the child in 

 natural objects while he is learning to read. 



Profs. Oscar Oldberg and John H. Long 

 have published A Lahorator-^ Manual of 

 Chemistry (W. T. Keener, $3.50), for stu- 

 dents of medicine and pharmacy. As de- 

 scribed in the preface, " it contains experi- 

 ments intended to familiarize the student 

 with the properties of the principal elements, 

 lessons in synthetical chemistry, a systematic 

 course in qualitative analysis, examples in 

 quantitative determinations, including the 

 official methods of assay for a few important 

 drugs, and a short chapter on the chemical 

 and microscopical examination of urine." 

 An appendix contains lists of apparatus and 

 reagents, and tables of weights, solubilities, 

 etc. The volume is illustrated with figures 

 of apparatus, and plates showing the appear- 

 ance of various crystals, corpuscles, casts, etc. 



Photography applied to Surveying, by 

 Lieutenant Henry A. Reed, U. S. A. (Wiley, 

 $2.50), is a treatise on a subject on which little 

 seems to have been yet published outside of 

 France. The author, having been strongly 

 impressed with the value of photography in 

 his own practice, has prepared an account of 

 the method for the use of surveyors in this 

 country. He describes the instruments and 

 materials required, and the mode of pro- 

 cedure, in the methods by plane perspectives, 

 cylindric and radial perspectives, and gives 

 an account of telescopic and balloon pho- 

 tography. He states as the advantages of 

 photographic surveying that the field-work 

 may be performed with great rapidity, and 

 with an economy of men and material un- 

 attainable by other means ; there is no fear 

 of having omitted some important point, and 

 no occasion for rejecting doubtful observa- 

 tions ; the plotting presents no difficulties, 

 and abundant means of checking results are 

 afforded. The volume is a thin quarto, and 

 is illustrated with fifty-eight cuts and a pho- 

 tographic map. 



