POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



133 



The Structure and Appearance of a Laramie 

 Dinosaurian. pp. 4, with Plates ; and On the Mutual 

 Relations of the BuuotUoriaa Mammalia, pp. 7. By 

 E. D. Cope. 1SS3. 



Notes on the Volcanoes of Northern Oalifomla, 

 Oretfon, and Washiujfion Territory. By Arnold 

 Hague and Joseph P. Iddings. 1S83. Pp. 18. 



The Heart of Man. An Attempt in Mental 

 Anatomv. By Putnam P. Bisliop. Chicago : 

 Shepard'.t Johnston, printers. l!SS8. Pp. 93. 



A History of the Now York State Teachers' As- 

 sociation. By Hvland C. Kirlt. Now Yorlc : E. L. 

 Kellogg & Co. iSSa. Pp. 174. Illustrated. 



Syllabus of the Instruction in Sanitary Science. 

 By Delos Fall. Albion, Mich. 1883, Pp. 7. 10 

 cents. 



On the Eight Use of Books. By William P. 

 Atkinson. Boston : Koberts Brothers. 1879. Pp. 

 C5. 



God and the State. B7 MichaeJ Bakounlno. 

 Translated from the French by Benjainin K. Tucker. 

 Boston : Benjainin B. Tucker, publisher. 18S8. 

 Pp. 6'i. 15 cents. 



A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited 

 by George Grove, D. C. L. Parts XVII and XVIII. 

 liondon and New York : Macmillau & Co. 18S3. 

 Pp. 289. $1 per Part. 



Sewer-Gas and Its Alleged Causation of Typhoid 

 Fever, pp. 20 ; and The Status of Professional 

 Opinion and Popular Sentiment regarding Sewer- 

 Gas and Contaminated Water as Causes of Typhoid 

 Fever, pp. 10. By George Hamilton, M. D. Phila- 

 delphia. 18S3. 



The Influence of Athletic Games upon Greek 

 Art. By Charles Waldstein, Ph. D. London. 1883. 

 Pp. 24. 



Studies from the Biological Laboratory of Johns 

 Hopkins University. Edited by II. Newell Martin 

 and W. K. Brooks. Vol. II, No. 4. Baltimore. 1888. 

 Pp. 86, with Plates. 



Professional Papers of the Signal Service. No. 

 VIIL The Motions of Fluids and Solids on the 

 Earth's Surface. By Professor William Ferrel, with 

 Notes by Frank Waldo. Pp. 51. No. IX. Geo- 

 graphical Distribution of Rainfall In the United 

 States. By H. C. Dunwoody. Pp. 51, with Maps. 

 No. XI. Meteorological and Physical Observations 

 on the East Coast of British America. By Orray 

 ■ Taft Sherman. Pp.202. No. XII. Popular Essays 

 on the Movements of the Atmosphere. By Pro- 

 fessor William Ferrel. Pp. 59, Washington : Gov- 

 ernment Printing-office. 



Verbal Pitfalls. By C. W. Bardeen. Syracuse, 

 N. Y. : C. W. Bardeen, publisher. 1888. Pp. 223. 



Henry Irving. New York : W. 8. Gottsberger. 

 1888. Pp. 207. 



Van Nostrand's Science Series. No. 63. Steam- 

 Heating. By Robert Briggs, C. E. Pp. 108. No. 

 09. Chemical Problems. By James C. Foye, Ph. 

 D. Pp. 141. New York : D. Van Nostrand. 188=3. 

 50 cents each. 



Astronomy. By Simon Newcomb, LL. D., and 

 Edward S. Holden. M. A. New York : Henry Holt 

 &Co. 1883. Pp.838. $1.40. 



A New School- Dlctionaiy of the English Lan- 

 guage. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1883. 

 Pp. 890. 90 cents. 



The Fertilization of Flowers. By Hermann Mai- 

 ler. With a Preface by Charles Darwin. London : 

 Macmillan & Co. 1883. Pp. 609. $5. 



Annual Report of the Operations of the United 

 States Life-Saving Service for the Year ending June 

 80, 1882. Washington: Government Priuting-Office. 

 1883. Pp. 504. 



Finland: Its Forests and Forest Management 

 By John Croumbie Brown, LL. D. Montreal : 

 Dawson Brothers. 1883. Pp. 290. 



Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for the Year 1881. Wash- 

 ington : Government Pi-inting-Ollice. 1383. Pp. 88T. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



School Examinations. — In an address 

 before the Teachers' Association of Cook 

 County, Illinois, Colonel Francis W. Parker, 

 formerly of Boston, now Principal of the 

 County Normal School, severely condemned 

 the prevalent system of examining in schools. 

 He believed that none were more faithful in 

 their efforts than the teachers of to-day, and 

 none were more anxious to do good than 

 they. He had wondered why progress had 

 not been greater, and had come to the con- 

 elusion that the greatest obstacle was the 

 examinations. The standard for the work 

 had a powerful influence on the work it- 

 self. He believed that examinations were 

 the greatest curse the schools had, though 

 they might be made the greatest blessing. 

 " What is the true motive of examinations ? 

 Real teaching leads to the systematic, all- 

 sided upbuilding of a compact body of 

 knowledge in the mind. In this upbuild- 

 ing or instruction, every faculty of the mind 

 is brought mto action — perception, judg- 

 ment, classification, reason, imagination, and 

 memory. Examinations, then, should test 

 the condition and progress of the mind in 

 its development. Is the common standard 

 of examinations a test of real teaching ? If 

 I am not mistaken, the examinations usually 

 given simply test the pupil's power of mem- 

 orizing disconnected facts. The surest way 

 to efiFectually kill all desire to study any 

 subject, say history, when the pupil leaves 

 school, is the memorizing of disconnected 

 facts. A no less sure way of creating an 

 intense desire to read history is to take one 

 interesting subject and read from various 

 books all that is said about it, and then 

 under the guidance of a skillful teacher to 

 put together this information, arranging 

 events in logical order, and finally writing 

 out in good English the whole story. It is 

 very easy for an expert in examinations to 

 judge of the true teaching power of the 

 teacher in such work, by the written papers. 

 If meaningless words have been memorized, 

 if there is a lack of research, investigation, 

 and original thought, the results will be 

 painfully evident. 



" Examinations should not be made the 

 test of fitness for promotion. Those who 

 understand children will readily appreciate 



