BOOK REVIEWS ' 337 



some use. But nowadays, steam and electricity do all the work, 

 and for the boy there is nothing in the home to do. Of course I 

 wouldn't do away with modem conveniences, but something has 

 to be done for the boys. My idea is to give them gardens, and a 

 little city government of their own to run on their own responsi- 

 bility." The book tells the story of these boys and girls and is 

 concerned chiefly with "Phil" the health officer. It is a hygiene 

 and sanitary science for young people in story form. Those who 

 recall the authors "Reformation of Mary Hogan" in the May 

 number of this magazine will be sure that the book is interesting 

 as well as instructive. 



Gardens and TheIr Meanings. Dora Williams, pp. ix + 235. 

 Ginn & Co. $1.00. 



' The author is a teacher in the Boston Normal School and the 

 book has the earmarks of good pedagogy born of abundant experi- 

 ence. Not only are detailed lucid instructions given as to what to 

 do and when and how but there is a fine philosophy of the garden 

 as a means of education expressed with literary skill and a breadth 

 of view that comes from knowing what is being done in garden work 

 the world over. The book leads up to a final chapter on ' ' The New 

 Agriculture" which opens as follows: "The best thing school 

 gardening does for children is to help prepare them for their larger 

 life in the world; and gardening will have accomplished this if 

 only they have mastered one single lesson ; how to attack a simple 

 problem in scientific fashion and work it out cooperatively." 



Nature Notes for Ocean Voyagers. Captains Alfred Carpen- 

 ter and D. Wilson Barker, pp. xvi -f 181. J. B. Lippincott 

 Co. $1.75. 



In their preface the authors say this book "has not been written 

 for students, but for the many voyagers who feel a need for informa- 

 tion on their unfamiHar surroundings at sea; it deals with Marine 

 Natviral History in its broadest and most old-fashioned sense. ' ' It 

 is a book that one reads with delight, full of the information the 

 layman wants with enough of adventure and sailor's lore to give it 

 spice. There are chapters on the ocean itself, on the various 

 animals and plants, on phosphorescence, old sea monsters, weather, 

 waves, and old sea customs. There are many very oxcclleul pho- 



