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Book Reviews, 



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Lessons With Plants. Suggestions for seeing and interpreting 

 some of the common forms of vegetation, by Professor L. 

 H.Bailey. New York. The Macmillan Company. £1.25. 

 Professor Bailey has for some time interested himself in the edu- 

 cation of the young, especially by means of Botany, and his book 

 " Lessons with Plants," gives to the teaching body his ripened 

 ideas in regard to the matter. Like all of the writings from his 

 pen, the work bears the mark of freshness and vigor of thought so 

 characteristic of the man. 



The object of the work, to quote the author's words, is "to 

 suggest methods, not to present facts." Even a hasty glance is, 

 however, enough to convince one that the basis of the work is the ■ 

 author's own study, and the suggestions of the book are an out- 

 come of that study. Naturally, therefore, the cultivated plants 

 are made to teach their lessons, and the commonest of these 



and of the plants which are found in a wild state are the mate- 

 rials for study. 



It is worthy of remark that the idea which underlies th 

 rthod of presentation is the morphological idea. It is evident 

 that the writer attributes a considerable value to the comparative 

 study of organisms, and we have no hesitancy in endorsing this 

 view. To be sure, the objects studied are to be regarded as living 

 objects, objects which are doing something, and it is this way ot 

 combining the study of structure and of function that brings out 



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the chief interest in the subject, and that makes it one of such great 

 value in the education of children. 



Another fact of importance is this ; the author is constantly 



in search of causes. The way of thinking which grows out of 



this kind of study is that which is characteristic of the strong in- 



• dependent mind, and to the building up of such minds in our 



youth should be bent the energies of all educators. 



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