LITERARY NOTICES. 



419 



ness of the various animal and vegetable 

 foods. — The Sanitary Conditions and Neces- 

 sities of School-Houses and School-Life, by 

 D. F. Lincoln^ M. D., in which the various 

 features of school-house construction are con- 

 sidered from the point of their bearing on 

 the health of pupils, and the care of the 

 eyes, seats, desks, and positions, physical 

 training, and the effects of school-life and 

 school-work on the nervous system are espe- 

 cially considered. — Disinfection and Individ- 

 ual Prophylaxis agaitist Infectious Diseases, 

 by George M. Sternberg, M. D., U. S. Army ; 

 and Tlie Preventable Causes of Diseases, 

 Injury, and Death in American Manufac- 

 tories and Workshops, and the best 3Ieatis 

 and Appliances for preventing and avoid- 

 ing them, by George H. Ireland. These es- 

 says are written from the practical point of 

 view, and for the purpose of being read and 

 acted upon by plain men, with style and 

 matter well adapted to that object. They 

 are published by Irving A. Watson, Secre- 

 tary of the American Public Health Asso- 

 ciation, Concord, N. H., and the American 

 News Company, New York. 



In the Practical Lessons in the Use of 

 English for Primary and Grammar Schools, 

 by Mary F. Hyde (D. C. Heath & Co.), in- 

 struction in composition is expected to be be- 

 gun in the third year primary. The scheme 

 of the lessons is intended to be progressive, 

 and to involve constant practice in the cor- 

 rect use of all the parts of speech, the plac- 

 ing of the words in their proper relations, 

 and the right employment of the usual punc- 

 tuation-marks. The aim has been to lead 

 the pupil to see for himself, to direct his at- 

 tention to the use of language as the expres- 

 sion of thought, and to teach him to avoid 

 errors by being trained from the first to use 

 correct forms — not by placing before him 

 incorrect forms for correction. These pur- 

 poses are well brought out. The study is 

 not confined to detached sentences, but pas- 

 sasres from good writers are also introduced. 



We have already commended the cumu- 

 lative method of teaching languages of Prof. 

 Adolphe Drcyspring. In the First German 

 Reader, on this method (New York, D. Apple- 

 ton & Co., 70 cents), the author has con- 

 structed a narrative presenting the varied 

 activities of childhood in plain, simple, and 



facile language, with rapid succession of in- 

 teresting and critical events, and the addi- 

 tional attractions of frequent, simple, but 

 expressive outline illustrations. The motto 

 of the cumulative system, " Repetition the 

 mother of studies," is faithfully adhered to. 

 The style of the narrative is flowing and 

 pure, the vocabulary is limited, and every 

 effort has been made by the author to com- 

 pose a book which young students will like, 

 and to make the road to knowledge as free 

 from difiiculties as possible. 



The practical part of the Geography for 

 Schools, by A If red Hughes (Clarendon Press, 

 Oxford, England ; Macmillan & Co., New 

 York, 50 cents), is based on the results of 

 several years' experience at the Manchester 

 Grammar-SchooI. It consists chiefly in the 

 inclusion of problems to be worked out by 

 the pupil, which depend largely upon refer- 

 ence to the atlas and the use of common 

 mathematical knowledge. The problems in- 

 volve questions of latitude and longitude, 

 distances on the earth's surface, the rotation 

 of the earth, the apparent movements of the 

 fixed stars and of the sun, the seasons, alti- 

 tudes of the sun, length of day and night, 

 movements of the earth, length of shadows, 

 etc. The constant references to the atlas 

 required are found useful in promoting the 

 knowledge of descriptive geography. 



Robert SeideVs work on Industrial In- 

 struction, which has been translated by Mar- 

 garet K. Smith (Heath, 80 cents), is a defense 

 of manual training against objections raised 

 against it in the Synod of the Canton of 

 Zurich, in 1882 and 1884. The author main- 

 tains that industrial instruction has "a great 

 educational value ; a significant mental and 

 physical disciplining power ; and a deep- 

 reaching social and moralizing influence." 



Slips of Tongue and Pen, by J. H. Long 

 (Appleton, 60 cents), is a convenient little 

 manual, which points out many common 

 errors of speech and writing, explains the 

 appropriate uses of words often confused, 

 and includes suggestions on composition and 

 notes on punctuation. The matter is ar- 

 ranged more attractively than in the regu- 

 lar style of reference-books, and illustra- 

 tions are given of both the correct and the 

 incorrect uses of the words treated. 



The pamphlet on Seminary Libraries 

 and University Extension, by Herbert B. 



