SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



563 



The readers of this magazine have already had a chance to enjoy more 

 than half of Prof. James Sulhfs volume of Studies of Childhood* in the 

 series of articles which the author has contributed to our pages within the 

 past two years. The additional matter consists of an introduction, part of 

 the chapter on the Young Draughtsman, about ninety pages of Extracts 

 from a Father's Diary, and a chapter on George Sand's Childhood based on 

 that talented, woman's Story of my Life. Prof. Sully by no means regards 

 these studies as a complete treatise on child-psychology. They "merely 

 deal,'' he says, " with certain aspects of children's minds which happen to 

 have come under my notice, and to have had a special interest for me." 



The first topic discussed is imagination — the happy faculty that gives 

 playmates to the child isolated from others by distance, dangers of the out- 

 door world, illness, or other circumstances, and that turns familiar sur- 

 roundings into scenery and accessories appropriate for imitating any de- 

 sired activity of adults. From an examination of the examples that he has 

 collected Prof. Sully concludes that imaginativeness varies greatly in dif- 

 ferent children, and that " there must be a much wider and finer investiga- 

 tion of children's action and talk before we can feel quite sure that we have 

 got at their mental whereabouts." He maintains further that imagination 

 and practicalness are not mutually exclusive in the minds of children, and 

 gives evidence to show that first one tendency, then the other, may be dom- 

 inant for days, and also that the one may succeed the other with astonish- 

 ing rapidity in the same child. Probably the most entertaining chapter is 

 that on The Little Linguist, in which the various phases of the child's 

 struggle with the mother tongue are described and copiously exemplified. 

 It is peculiarly difficult for the adult to put himself in the child's place 

 with respect to fear of darkness, unusual objects, etc., so that the data that 

 Prof. Sully is able to furnish on this subject are especially welcome. The 

 part of the volume that will probably most interest the non-scientific 

 parent or teacher is the two chapters bearing on the question why children 

 seem to be imbued with so much concentrated naughtiness. Prof. Sully 

 shows that it is not necessary to assume innate viciousness to account for 

 acts of the child that inflict pain on other persons and on animals, for per- 

 sistent lying, or for disobedience. Fui'ther, he shows that the child has a 

 natural tendency to orderly procedure which needs only to be encouraged 

 by consistency on the part of the parent to make the departures from right 

 conduct very few. Prof. Sully draws conclusions freely from his facts, 

 but probably no one would affirm more readily than he that these con- 

 clusions should be held subject to modification in. the light of further 

 evidence. It might have been better if this caution had been explicitly 

 stated, or if some of the conclusions had been less confidently expressed. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



It is doubtful if any more generally in- 

 teresting subject will be found for the Li- 

 brary of Useful Stories than the one treated 



* Studies of Childhood. By James Sully. 

 Pp. 527, 8vo. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Price, $2.50. 



in the second volume that Mr. Chambers * 

 has contributed. It is evident also that this 

 author has the faculty of making a truly 



* The Story of the Solar System. By George 

 F. Chambers. Pp. 188, Ifimo. London : George 

 Newnes, Ltd. 1*. New York : D. Appleton & 

 Co. 40 cents. 



