SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



849 



and in education his influence has " been 

 powerful beyond measure." He may fairly 

 be called the father of modern pedagogy, 

 despite the fact that most of his positive 

 teachings have been rejected. This has been 

 brought about by the stimulus he gave to 

 thought and to the revision of the old theo- 

 ries and methods, to which extent " his work 

 was invaluable." 



A comprehensive and instructive book, 

 and, withal, curious and various, is Prof. 

 Alfred 0. HnddorCs The Study of Man* 

 which forms one of the volumes of G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons' " Science Series." The au- 

 thor, though accomplished in the sciencei 

 does not offer the work as a treatise on an- 

 thropology or its methods, but merely as a 

 collection of samples of the way in which 

 parts of the subject are studied. The book 

 is not intended for students or for scientific 

 experts, but for the amateur and the " intel- 

 ligent reader." Tlie author's wish has been 

 not merely to interest his readers but to in- 

 duce them to become workers. Accordingly, 

 being so completely versed in the subject 

 that he is able to do so without abating one 

 jot of scientific accuracy, he divests his style 

 of conventional formalities and, becoming a 

 friendly guide, makes various excursions into 

 the subject, " not with the object of attempt- 

 ing to learn something about anthropology, 

 not for the erection of an academic study, 

 but for the simple purpose of explaining our- 

 selves to ourselves. Our immediate object, 

 then, is to try and discover what the imme- 

 diate significance is of certain of our bodily 

 peculiarities, and of a few of the innumera- 

 ble objects and actions that we see around 

 us" The theory of evolution throws a bright 

 and far reaching light on the problems of 

 anthropology ; and though we may not be 

 able to explain the processes of or the reasons 

 for evolution, there can be no doubt as to the 

 fact of its occurrence. The vast importance 

 of the study of children is recognized. From 

 the nursery we are taken by the author to 

 the school and the playground, endeavoring 

 to discover in them evidence as to the direc- 

 tion of man's upward progress. Then refer- 

 ence is made to primitive survivals in child 



* The Study of Man. By Prof. Alfred C. Had- 

 don. New York: Q. P. Putnam's Sons. London: 

 Bliss, Sands & Co., pp. 410. 

 VOL. LIll, —59 



life, showing the persistence of savage psy- 

 chological habit in children, and of savage 

 and barbaric practice in their singing games. 

 Other vestiges of the evolutionary pi ogress 

 are found in the backward people among 

 ourselves. These features, after the discus- 

 sion of the general subject and of the facts 

 given by physical measurements, mark the 

 general outline of the author's treatment. 

 As special features and illustrations, we have 

 chapters, highly suggestive, on the evolution 

 of the cart, the Irish jaunting-car, toys and 

 games, cat's cradle and kites, tops and the 

 tugof-war, the bull-roarer, the sin^ng games 

 of children, courting, funeral, and other 

 games, showing how these severally embody 

 in themselves the history of steps in man''e 

 advance from savagery up. The last chapter 

 embodies practical suggestions for conduct- 

 ing ethnological investigations in the British 

 Islands. 



For several years much interest has been 

 taken in American schools by British and 

 Canadian educationists. Ontario has re- 

 peatedly found it profitable during the past 

 twenty-five years to take notice of the school 

 work done in many of the neighboring States ; 

 and our educational men have frequently 

 been invited to address conventions of teach- 

 ers in the province. In furtherance of the 

 acquaintance thus sought, the author of this 

 book * visited various places in New York 

 for the purpose of gaining a knowledge of 

 the schools of the State, and also studied the 

 methods of some of the more important 

 centers. Besides reporting what he saw of 

 the work of the normal schools, high schools, 

 manual training schools, and kindergartens, 

 he has thought it well to combine with that 

 object some description of the educational 

 system under which they are conducted. 

 The author thinks that no part of the re- 

 public presents a more valuable study to one 

 interested in education than New York, and 

 that no other part of the Union has made 

 so much progress in education within the 

 past dozen years. Yet the Canadians gen- 

 erally, and some others, regard their system 



* The School System of the State of New York 

 (as viewed by a Canadian), Prepared under the 

 Authority of the Honorable the Minister of Educa- 

 tiou, as an Appendix to hie Report. By .John Mil- 

 lar, Deputy Minister of Education. Toronto: 

 Warwick Brothers & Kutter. Pp. 204. 



