562 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



been prosecuted, and which is calculated, 

 when completed, to produce an accurate 

 and connected system of measurements over 

 every part of the State. The survey of the 

 Tonawanda and Oak-Orchard Swamps has 

 formed a prominent part of it. We learn 

 from the report that the rainfall in West- 

 ern New York steadily increased from 1830 

 to 1880, and that the greatest average rain- 

 fall known for a similar period — SS-YS inches 

 — was reached during the years from 1868 

 to 1881, inclusive. The summer flow of the 

 streams has, however, greatly diminished 

 during the last fifty years. 



The Teaching op Dravting in Grammar- 

 ScHOOLS. A Paper on the Educational 

 Features of the Subject. By Walter S. 

 Perry. Boston : The Prang Education- 

 al Company. Pp. 26. 



This essay was read as a paper before 

 the department of Industrial Education at 

 the last meeting of the American Educa- 

 tional Association. It considers the appli- 

 cations of drawing under three heads : as in 

 industrial construction ; in representing the 

 appearance of objects and of nature; and 

 in ornamentation. Of these, in the public 

 schools, the first, the application in construc- 

 tion, is the most important. " It forms pre- 

 eminently the educational and the practical 

 side, and yet it is the one which has usually 

 been ignored, while the picturesque and 

 decorative sides have been given undue im- 

 portance." It is dwelt upon at length, while 

 the application to representation is treated 

 as complementary to it, and that to decora- 

 tion as essential to the completeness of the 

 course of instruction. 



The American University. When shall it 

 be ? Where shall it be ? What shall 

 it be ? By John W. Burgess, Ph. D., of 

 Columbia College. Boston : Ginn, Heath, 

 & Co. Pp. 22. Price, 15 cents. 



In the author's view, the reply to the 

 first question should consist of three condi- 

 tions. The university shall be when there 

 exists in the nation the surplus of wealth 

 to 8upi)ort it, the body of scholars to form 

 its faculties, and the body of students quali- 

 fied by previous training and acquirements 

 to profit by university work. These con- 

 ditions are believed to exist now in the Unit- 

 ed States. The place for the university 



should be at or near a center of wealth, ed- 

 ucation, and refinement, and that exists. 

 The university should not be an institution 

 of the State, but must be a private institu- 

 tion, supported by private donations, and di- 

 rected by an association of private persons. 



Administrative Organization. A Consid- 

 eration of the Principal Executive De- 

 partments of the United States Govern- 

 ment, in Relation to Administration. By 

 LL. B. Washington : William II. Mor- 

 rison. Pp. 108. 



Imperfections in the workings of the 

 administrative departments of our Goveni- 

 ment being recognized, the author of this 

 essay seeks a permanent remedy for them 

 by going to the principles on which depart- 

 mental organization should rest. He finds 

 that administration of the laws applied to 

 the conduct of public affairs may be evil, by 

 defect of the laws : first, where the admin- 

 istrative organization is in false relation with 

 the administrative object ; second, when, 

 though the legal relation be perfect, the pro- 

 cesses of administration are faulty ; third, 

 when both defects exist. The subject is 

 considered prominently in the former as- 

 pect. The first-named defect is declared to 

 exist seriously in the Treasury and Interior 

 Departments, and a plan for reorganizing 

 them is sketched. 



Ancient Egypt in the Light of Modern 

 Discoveries. By ProfessorH. S. Osborn, 

 LL. D. Cincinnati : Robert Clarke & 

 Co. Pp. 232, with Map. 



Most good works on ancient Egypt are 

 costly, and the knowledge of the subject is 

 growing so fast that even a very recent 

 book is likely to require to be added to or 

 modified within a short time after it is pub- 

 lished. Professor Osborn has endeavored 

 to put what is really known of the history 

 in such a brief form as to embody it in a 

 really accessible book ; to sift out what is 

 conjectural and obsolete ; and to include the 

 results of the latest researches up to the 

 time of his writing. He has been a diligent 

 student of the monuments and inscriptions 

 in the European museums and in their na- 

 tive land, has kept himself abreast of the lit- 

 erature of the subject, and has endeavored 

 to present the results of matured studies. 

 The work of later years is mentioned, in- 



