276 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



homology), and reciprocation. In order to 

 avoid the difficulty of framing a general 

 geometrical theory of imaginary points and 

 lines, the principle of continuity is appealed 

 to. The properties of circular points and 

 circular lines are then discussed, and applied 

 to the theory of the foci of conies. This 

 work is also well furnished with examples. 

 (Macmillan & Co. Price, $4.25 and $2.60.) 

 The Primary Lessons and the Advanced 

 Lessons in Human Physiology, by Prof. Oli- 

 ver P. Jenkins, are successive volumes in the 

 Indiana State series of common-school text- 

 books. The author insists that the books 

 be used only as a guide to the study of the 

 human body, and not as the object to be stud- 

 ied. " If this or any other elementary book 

 in physiology is used simply as a book to be 

 learned and recited, the time spent on it is 

 worse than wasted." The author shows that 

 many parts of the body can be put directly 

 under study and their operations carefully 

 observed and analyzed, while the lower ani- 

 mals can furnish the rest of the illustrations. 

 The body should also be observed in action. 

 Charts and drawings have their place in the 

 teaching, but " they should come after the 

 objects and never before, and certainly should 

 not stand for them." In the second book of 

 the series Advanced Lessons directions are 

 introduced for the practical demonstration 

 of many anatomical and physiological facts. 

 Recognizing the change that has come in re- 

 cent years over the tone and spirit of physio- 

 logical thought and discussion, the author has 

 endeavored to infuse enough of this spirit 

 into his work " to introduce even the young 

 student into its influence." (Indiana School- 

 book Company, Indianapolis.) 



A Student's Manual of a Laboratory 

 Course in Physical Measurements, by Wal- 

 lace Clement Sabine, is a guide to experi- 

 ments. It was primarily written for one of 

 the Harvard courses in physics, and the ex- 

 periments detailed in it are based upon those 

 performed in that course. It has been given 

 the form of an abstract of the daily lectures 

 preceding the laboratory work and describ- 

 ing the experiments to be performed, and is 

 intentionally condensed. Efforts are made 

 to explain all the corrections to be applied, 

 and to call attention to all the precautions 

 which should be taken in the accurate and 

 proper performance of the experiments. On 



the other hand, in the majority of cases, the 

 description is purposely not such as will ad- 

 mit of a mechanical and unintelligent inter- 

 pretation. (Boston: Ginn & Co.) 



The second part of Jane H. NeweWs 

 Header in Botany contains selections for 

 reading, adapted from well-known authors, 

 on flower and fruit. In it Christian Con- 

 rad Sprengel is represented by passages on 

 Cross-Fertilization and Fertilization of Tro- 

 paeolum, Darwin in Cross-Fertilization, Het- 

 erostyled Flowers, and the Habits of Insects 

 in Relation to Flowers, writers in the Ger- 

 man Pfianzenleben in The Protection of Pol- 

 len, The Dissemination of Pollen by the 

 Wind, and The Color of Flowers as a Means 

 of attracting Insects ; Wallace in Attractive 

 and Protective Colors of Fruits ; Gray in 

 Fertilization of Orchids ; Grant Allen and 

 Byron D. Halsted in Weeds ; F. L. Sargent 

 in The Common Dandelion; Sir John Lub- 

 bock in Habits of Insects in Relation to 

 Flowers ; Miss Buckley in Epochs in the 

 History of Botany ; and four papers have 

 no names attached. (Boston : Ginn & Co.) 



The Orum System of Voice Education, 

 for reading and conversation, recitation, 

 dramatic expression, and Bible reading, by 

 Julia A. Orum, is based on the system of 

 James Fennell, as transmitted through his 

 pupil, L. G. White, and Mr. White's pupil, 

 James B. Roberts. The author has made its 

 illustration and establishment her special 

 work for sixteen years. The book is a tran- 

 scription of her method of instruction in 

 schools and classes which include children 

 and men and women of various vocations. 

 It is based upon physiological principles, and 

 begins with the elucidation of the elemental 

 functions of the body in the expression of 

 sentences. (Published by the author at 

 Philadelphia.) 



The Manual of Current Shorthand, or- 

 thographic and phonetic of Mr. Henry Sweet 

 is intended to supply the want of a system of 

 writing shorter and more compact than long- 

 hand, and at the same time not less distinct 

 and legible. None of the systems most in 

 use at the present time, the author affirms, 

 fully meet these requirements, because they 

 sacrifice efficiency to brevity. The present 

 system is on a script basis instead of a geo- 

 metrical one, like Pitman's that is, is formed 

 on its model of ordinary longhand, reduced 



