636 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



Catalogue of the South Missouri State 

 Normal School, Warrensburg, James 

 JoHONXOT, Priucipal. Jefferson City : 

 Regan & Carter. 



Of all the forms of ephemeral literature, 

 school catalogues are generally the most 

 volatile, fleeting, and thoroughly worthless. 

 The luxurious typography is, no doubt, 

 pleasant to the pupils whose names are 

 in the list, and, indicating the prosperity 

 of the establishment, is a highly-dignified 

 method of advertising. The deep philos- 

 ophy of education that is propounded, and 

 the high-sounding promises of what is to be 

 done next year, dressed in imposing rhet- 

 oric, are agreeable to read, but unsafe to 

 trust, as they usually have a very loose 

 relation with the facts. 



The catalogue before us, however, is of 

 quite exceptional character, and has inter- 

 ested us not a little. It is the result of a 

 serious and earnest effort to carry out ad- 

 vanced ideas, and to place popular educa- 

 tion more completely upon the basis of 

 scientific principles than has hitherto been 

 deemed practicable. In his eight pages of 

 preliminary explanation of the course of 

 study. Prof. Johonnot has given us a brief 

 and excellent exposition of the underlying 

 ideas of the new education, and has given 

 ample and cogent reasons why the sciences 

 should have a leading place in our improved 

 systems of mental cultivation. But no 

 amount of theorizing can be sufficient here. 

 What we want is an actual curriculum, and 

 the practical results of its working. Scien- 

 tific education cannot be constructed, it 

 must grow ; but that growth can only 

 come from trial and experience, and, what 

 we want, therefore, is judicious educational 

 experimenters to develop the new culture 

 and show what it is capable of. They 

 have entered boldly upon this path at the 

 Warrensburg Normal School, and with 

 something like an adequate appreciation of 

 the just claims of scientific studies. While 

 it is regarded by many educators as a great 

 step of reform to recognize science at all, 

 and to concede one, two, or three hours a 

 week to some branches of it, Prof. Johon- 

 not makes it the prominent and fundament- 

 al thing in the establishment over which he 

 presides. Of the several lines of study, 

 science occupies the first place, and is a 

 regular daily exercise in every term. *' In 



each science a strictly objective presenta- 

 tion is first made, by which the pupil ob- 

 serves the objects and facts upon which 

 the science is founded, and is led to make 

 general classifications. Farther along in the 

 course, each science is treated again upon 

 a higher plane, leading to more minute in- 

 vestigations and to broader generalizations ; 

 and in several instances the subject recurs 

 three times before it is finally dismissed." 

 We may add that the scientific course is 

 broad and comprehensive, and one of the 

 features of the plan of teaching is the ex- 

 planation of new discoveries and important 

 results, as fast as they occur in the scien- 

 tific world. 



PUBLICATIONS EECEIVED. 



Nomenclature of Diseases (Woodworth). 

 Washington : Government Printing-Office. 

 Pp. 232. 



Exposures in Fire Insurance (Ross). 

 New York : Appletons. Pp. 59. 



National Educational Association. ISVS. 

 Pp. 272. 



Physiology of the Circulation (Petti- 

 grew). Macmillan. Pp. 337. Price, $4.00. 



Catalogue of Wild Plants in New Jer- 

 sey (Willis). New York : Schermerhorn. 

 Pp. 92. Price, $1.00. 



Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis. Pp. 222. 



United States Mining Industry (Ray. 

 mond). New York : Ford & Co. Pp. 555. 

 Price, $4.50. 



The Stevens Battery. Pp. 30. 



Morgan Expeditions, ISTO-'Vl. Pp. 60. 



Reception of Dr. Gould at Boston. 

 Pp. 32. 



Report of the Curators of Missouri Uni- 

 versity (1874). Pp. 185. 



Kindergarten Messenger (Monthly). Pp. 

 24. 



Bulletin of Cornell University (Science). 

 Yol. I. Nos. 1 and 2. Pp. 63. 



The Rapid Writer (Monthly). Ando- 

 ver, Mass. Pp 16. 



Bench and Bar Review (Quarterly). 

 Baltimore : A. Schaumburg. Pp. 200. Per 

 annum, $5.00. 



