278 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Grammar-School Reader. A Monthly 

 Magazine. Vol. I, No. 1. Chicago and 

 Boston : Interstate Publishing Company. 

 Pp. 48. Price, 15 cents; $1 a year. 



This is the highest of a series of three 

 monthly readers which the Interstate Pub- 

 lishing Company have projected. The oth- 

 er readers of the series are the Primary, 

 twenty cents a year, and the Intermediate, 

 thirty cents a year. The present number is 

 filled with lively articles and stories. In the 

 department, " Ways to do Things," is an 

 illustrated paper on "Knots, Hitches, and 

 Splices," which the young constituency of 

 the "Readers" might turn to practical ad- 

 vantage. 



The Hygiene of Nature; or, Natural Se- 

 lection and Immunity from Disease. 

 By Dr. Romaine J. Clrtiss. Joliet, 111. 

 Pp. 18. 



An argument to show that Nature re- 

 moves epidemics and such diseases as work 

 great destruction for a course of years and 

 then nearly disappear, by her own process- 

 es, constituting a natural selection, while 

 sanitation is not entitled to the credit it 

 claims for the extinction of such disorders. 

 Applying his doctrine to the history of the 

 epidemics of the middle ages, and to the 

 shortness of life during that epoch, Dr. Cur- 

 tiss says : " We find that when an epidemic 

 prevailed it destroyed everybody who bad 

 not sufficient vital resistance. . . . Those 

 who could sufficiently resist the disease, or 

 who could acquire a resistance, lived and 

 bequeathed the resistance to their children. 

 In time, by this process, each generation 

 acquired more and more resistance to each 

 of the epidemics, and in time there was 

 nothing left for the parasites of the great 

 European epidemics to do except to ac- 

 knowledge the survival of the fittest, whose 

 name is Man." This immunity may be lost 

 by atavism ; and, when so lost, there will be 

 a liability to the recurrence of great epi- 

 demics. 



Gasi I QMS in French. According to the 

 Cumulative Method. By Adolph Dret- 

 bpring. New York: D. Applcton & Co. 

 Pp. 142. Price, 70 cents. 

 We have already expressed apprecia- 

 tion of th • merits of Professor Dreyspring's 

 "Cumulative Method" in German, and of 

 the happy application which — so far as books 



can go — he has made of it. With that ap- 

 plication living in the schools, it was, as the 

 author well says, a foregone conclusion that 

 the system should in time be adapted to the 

 acquisition of the French language. The 

 present book represents the first step in such 

 adaptation. The distinctive features of the 

 method are presentation of the normal phases 

 of the language first; selection of its ele- 

 mentary material, with special reference to 

 what is usually in sight ; development of 

 the first needs of speech, as manifested by 

 the simplest ordinary inquiries ; unfolding 

 the language out of itself; a vocabulary 

 within reasonable bounds ; a constant re- 

 volving of the accumulating material under 

 ever varied forms and new combinations ; 

 and special care to interest the student and 

 to preserve his enthusiasm for the study. 

 The author maintains that his method is a 

 decided revolt from the old practices, and 

 that, as an initiatory step, it strenuously 

 avoids the declensional and verbal pabulum 

 usually administered to students. It opens 

 its attacks upon points in the language offer- 

 ing the least resistance, such as nouns, ad- 

 jectives, and prepositions, with the connect- 

 ive is; and it gives the preference to the 

 descriptive power of speech over the voli- 

 tive. Illustrations are given as aids to the 

 lessons, and to make them more attractive 

 and impressive. In the use of the work, 

 the author insists on repetition, distinct 

 and loud reading, and faithful practice of 

 the verb-drill ; when, he believes, its merits 

 will not fail to be recognized. 



The Three Systems of Life Insurance. 



By Mervin Tabor. Chicago: Bureau of 



Life-insurance Information. Pp. 236. 



Price, $2. 



The author of this book is Actuary of 

 the Insurance Department of Illinois, and 

 Manager of the Bureau of Life-insurance 

 Information. He has written it, he says, for 

 the general public and for life-insurance 

 agents and solicitors ; and upon the sugges- 

 tion of many letters which have been re- 

 ceived at the Bureau, asking for information 

 in a wide range of inquiry upon subjects in- 

 volving the elementary principles of life 

 insurance. The " three systems " mentioned 

 in the title are designated as " The Level Pre- 

 mium,'' "The Natural Premium," and "The 



