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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



space, and has done it in a clear style 

 and a very satisfactory manner. The 

 book is intended as a reading book for 

 boys and girls in school, to whose tastes 

 and capacity it seems well adapted; but 

 the author will be pleased if it also in- 

 terests older readers, and hopes it may 

 enlarge their sympathy with our native 

 Americans. Besides the accounts of the 

 tribal divisions, general customs, man- 

 ner of life, houses, and institutions 

 which when they are counted up are 

 found to be quite numerous it has ar- 

 ticles on the sign language, medicine 

 men and secret societies, the mounds 

 and their builders, George Catlin and 

 his work, the cliff -dwellings and ruins of 

 the Southwest, the tribes of the North- 

 west coast, matters of religious and 

 mythological significance, the Aztecs, 

 the Mayas, and the ruined cities of Yu- 

 catan and Central America. 



The revision, for the fifth edition, of 

 H. Newell Martin's The Human Body 

 (Henry Holt & Co., New York, $1.20) 

 was undertaken by Prof. George Wills 

 Fitz with the idea of bringing the book 

 into accord with the late developments 

 of physiology, of simplifying the treat- 

 ment of some parts while expanding 

 that of others, and of giving additional 

 illustrations. Every effort has been 

 made to avoid injuring those features 

 of the author's work which have con- 

 tributed to making the book so favor- 

 ably known. The changes in the first 

 nine chapters are largely verbal; but 

 considerable alterations and additions 

 have been made in some of the succeed- 

 ing chapters. The directions for demon- 

 strations and experiments have been 

 greatly enlarged and collected into an 

 appendix. They include the new re- 

 quirements in anatomy, physiology, and 

 hygiene for admission to Harvard Col- 

 lege and the Lawrence Scientific School. 



We have already noticed some of 

 Lucy 8. W. Wilson's excellent Manuals 

 on Nature Study, particularly the one 

 intended for the guidance of teachers. 

 We now have in the same line the First 

 Reader of a series on Nature Study in 

 Elementary ScJwols (New York: The 

 Macmillan Company, 35 cents), a book 

 composed of original matter and selec- 

 tions which has been prepared " with the 

 desire of putting into the hands of little 

 children literature which shall have for 



heir minds the same interest and value 

 hat really good books have for grown- 

 up people." But the author does not ex- 

 pect to accomplish this by merely giv- 

 .ng the book to the child and leaving 

 the reading to work out its own effect. 

 Each of the lessons is intended to be pre- 

 :eded by a Nature lesson. During or 

 after the reading a lesson should be 

 given in the new words introduced, and 

 afterward the lessons should be grasped 

 for the sake of thought. The lessons, 

 which have appropriate illustrations 

 from Nature, present some novel fea- 

 tures. Among them is an apparent in- 

 tention in the original compositions to 

 follow the child's method of thought. 



The American Elementary Arith- 

 metic (American Book Company) is in- 

 tended by the author, Prof. M. A. Bailey, 

 to cover the first five years' work (be- 

 ginning apparently very young) in the 

 study, and is the first of a two-book 

 series. It is divided into two parts 

 for the primary and for the three suc- 

 ceeding grades. It contemplates the use 

 of apparatus, consisting of paper, paste- 

 board, toy money, blocks, and splints. 

 The attempt is made to give every sub- 

 ject twice: first in pictures, and second 

 in the particular form of printed words. 

 Mathematical conceptions are presented 

 in the first chapter in the order in which 

 they are supposed to arise in the child's 

 consciousness first, once or more, in- 

 definitely; next, how many, by holding 

 up fingers, laying down sticks, etc. ; and 

 then by words, and so on all introduc- 

 tory work designed to develop step by 

 step a mathematical vocabulary, and to 

 form a habit of clear mathematical 

 thinking. The laboratory plan is fol- 

 lowed in the succeeding chapters. 



In the Language Lessons of J. Q. 

 Park (American Book Company) an ar- 

 rangement of the matter is aimed at 

 which will draw upon the student for 

 such effort as may be expected at a given 

 stage of advancement, which will cause 

 him to think first and then to express 

 his thought with clearness and preci- 

 sion. In the succeeding parts are given 

 exercises on language work, with special 

 drills upon capitalization and punctua- 

 tion, inductive lessons in grammar, and, 

 finally, lessons so graded that a student 

 may advance very readily from them 

 into the higher work of grammar. The 



