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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



explain the principles involved ; second, to 

 compare the railroad legislation of different 

 countries, and the results achieved. The 

 two things need to be viewed in connection 

 with one another. The attempt to manage 

 railroads without regard to the demands 

 of public policy, or to legislate concerning 

 railroads without regard to the necessities 

 of railroad business, results in disastrous 

 failure. This fact has been gradually rec- 

 ognized by thoughtful men on both sides." 



To meet this view of the subject. Profess- 

 or Iladlcy has written his volume, which, for 

 popular use, is beyond comparison the most 

 instructive and valuable railroad-book that 

 we have seen. It is a work which ought to 

 be very generally read ; for there is a great 

 deal of ignorance, prejudice, and passion 

 among many people in regard to railroad 

 management, which would be dispelled if 

 the matter were better understood — a result 

 to which the perusal of this volume will 

 certainly lead. The author writes neither 

 in the blind interest of railroad corpora- 

 lions, nor of the people as a class victim- 

 ized by these corporations, but in the light 

 of facts and principles to which both must 

 bow. It may be added that the volume is 

 one that will be read with much pleasure, 

 from the freshness and variety of its infor- 

 mation on the latest results of railroad ex- 

 perience. 



The Philosophy of Education: or, The 

 Principlks and Practice of Teaching. 

 By T. Tait, F. R. A. S. Pp. 331. New 

 York : E. Kellogg & Co. Price, $1. 



This seems to be a kind of general trea- 

 tise on the art and mystery of school-keep- 

 ing, and was evidently reprinted, as the 

 editor intimates, because of " the grow- 

 ing desire for treatises on education." It 

 contains a great deal of information about 

 schools and teaching, and various parts of 

 it will prove suggestive and useful, but it is 

 a good deal behind the age. Originally pub- 

 lished in 1837, it represents the state of 

 thought in the early part of the century ; 

 and its psychology, the vital point in any 

 educational work that proposes to deal with 

 principles, is completely outgrown and dis- 

 credited, as editor Traub acknowledges. 

 But, after all, most teachers, notwithstand- 

 ing all the progressive talk about psychol- 

 ogy, are still deep in the old dispensation 



of " mental philosophy," and will therefore 

 find themselves much at borne with this 

 volume. 



Eational Communism. The Present and 

 Future Republic of North America. By 

 a CapitaUst. New York : The Social 

 Science Publishing Company. Pp. 498. 

 Price, $1.50. 



The capitalist author presents in this 

 work a plea and a scheme for a new social 

 organization. Ilis ideas are said to be the 

 outgrowth of a vision, in which, lifted high 

 in the air, he saw New York, BrookljTi, 

 Long Island, etc., newly laid out and peo- 

 pled on an ideal plan adapted to promote 

 the equal wealth, standing, and happiness 

 of all. Coming back to the reality, he finds 

 things organized to promote inequality and 

 not happiness. He then proceeds to devel- 

 op his plan, in which he aims to avoid the 

 particular rocks on which all the social com- 

 munities hitherto projected in this country 

 have been severally wrecked. 



The Will : A Novel. By Ernst Eckstein, 

 author of " Quintus Claudius," etc. 

 From the German by Clara Bell. Au- 

 thorized edition. In two volumes. New 

 York : Gottsberger. 



The will here intended is not that men- 

 tal element sometimes known as volition, 

 but a document of an entirely material na- 

 ture, which meant not only fortune to the 

 hero of the story but name and titles as 

 well. Like so many other modern novels, 

 the tale winds in and out among socialists 

 and their doings and beliefs, although it 

 can scarcely be called a partisan book. The 

 attempt seems to have been expository of 

 the workings of that order of beliefs and 

 feelings, which seems to lend itself to dra- 

 matic treatment with as remarkable success 

 as the grand passion itself. 



On the Heating and Ventilation of Dwell- 

 ings AND School-rooms. By Charles O. 

 Curtman, M. D., St. Louis. Pp. 10. 



This is a reproduction of a paper that 

 was read before the American Public Health 

 Association. It presents a careful review, 

 with suitable illustrations, of the operation, 

 merits, and demerits of all the methods of 

 house-heating in current use, with especial 

 reference to their adaptability to school- 

 rooms. 



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