LITERARY NOTICES. 



279 



acrospire of barley, yield of material in the 

 brewery, differentiation of subterranean wa- 

 ter-supplies, etc. There are six plates, show- 

 in'' different kinds of bacteria, of saccharo- 

 myces, molds, and starch, microscopic aquatic 

 life, and forced beer sediments. 



An Address 011 the University Extension 

 Movement^ delivered by Richard G. Moulton, 

 A. M., has been published by the American 

 Society for the Extension of University Teach- 

 ing (1602 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia). 

 Mr. Moulton defines university extension as 

 *' university education for the whole nation 

 organized upon itinerant lines." He says 

 that university education differs from school 

 education in being unlimited, and that a uni- 

 versity fails miserably in its duty if it does 

 not give one those tastes and those mental 

 habits which will lead him to go on learning 

 to the end of his days. Not every person 

 will get the same thing out of university in- 

 struction. Each helps himself according to 

 his own capacity. The extension teaching 

 involves lectures, class-work, printed sylla- 

 buses, weekly written exercises, examina- 

 tions, and certificates. The interest that 

 has been aroused in England is shown by 

 the written exercises voluntarily sent in, 

 changes in the character of the demands on 

 the public libraries and of the conversation 

 at social gatherings, traceable to courses of 

 lectures, and similar indications Mr. Moul- 

 ton speaks of university extension as a mis- 

 sionary movement, and urges all who possess 

 the benefits of culture to assist in giving 

 culture to others. 



The Iowa State Medical Society has be- 

 gun the publication of a bimonthly maga- 

 zine. The Vis Medicatrix._ which will serve 

 as the journal of the society (Des Moines, 

 $1 a year). It is edited by Woods Hutchin- 

 son, M. D., and the first number contains the 

 proceedings at the society's fortieth annual 

 session, the president's address, departments 

 devoted to diseases of animals, plant diseases, 

 medical colleges, notes and news, etc. 



Mr. John A. Wric/ht, of Philadelphia, 

 has published a pamphlet on The Practical 

 Working and Eesulfs of the Inter-State Com- 

 merce Act, the purpose of which is to present 

 (1) the law of distribution of the returns on 

 all products that require transportation to 

 a market ; (2) the policy of transporters in 

 view of their duties as common carriers; 



(.3) the difficulty of estimating the cost of 

 transportation; (4) a measure on which a 

 just rate of profit on the stock of transporta- 

 tion companies may be based. The author 

 points out provisions in the law which he 

 holds should be expunged as impracticable 

 and dangerous. 



A treatise on The Principles of Agri- 

 culture has been prepared for common 

 schools by Mr. /. 0. Winslow, and is pub- 

 lished by the American Book Company. It 

 regards a knowledge of the subject as identi- 

 cal with a knowledge of the natural laws and 

 principles that underlie rural life and rural 

 pursuits, and considers it an important ele- 

 ment in the education of the young. Hence it 

 begins at the foundation with descriptions of 

 the substances of the earth, accounts of its 

 geological history, and the leading facts and 

 principles of the several sciences that bear 

 directly on agriculture and rural life. The 

 applications of the principles are then de- 

 scribed in the chapters on Plants, Fertiliz- 

 ers, Cultivation, and Animals. Minor and 

 subordinate topics are omitted, in the belief 

 that a thorough knowledge of the few main 

 points is worth more to the pupil than a 

 confused idea of the whole. Points not 

 definitely settled are avoided, or mentioned 

 only briefly. The book is designed, primarily, 

 for use in the public schools, and contains no 

 difficulties too great for ordinary pupils of 

 twelve or fourteen years. 



A text-book on the Elements of Civil 

 Government, published by the American 

 Book Company, has been prepared by Alex. 

 L. Peterman for use in schools, and as a 

 manual of reference for teachers. It is in- 

 tended to supply what is a serious want in 

 many of our schools, which omit instruction 

 concerning civil government and the science 

 of citizenship. It begins with the family, 

 the first form of government with which the 

 child comes in contact. As his acquaintance 

 with rightful authority increases, the school, 

 the civil district, the township, the county, 

 the State, and the United States are taken 

 up in their order. In each case the nature 

 and purposes of the Government are ex- 

 plained, and its scope and methods. The 

 author endeavors to present the subject in a 

 simple and attractive way. 



In a curious book entitled Beyond the 

 Bourn (Fords, Howard k Hulbert), Mr. Amos 



