Supplement to "Nature" February 5, 1903. 



high school and the college. E<cept that the author has 

 burdened himself needlessly with the Herbartian termin- 

 ology, which often tends to obscure what for plain and 

 uninitiated readers might easily have been treated more 

 simply, there is little but praise to be given to the manner 

 in which the book discusses in detail the n jmerous topics 

 which come under review. For example, in treating of 

 early and infant education, Mr. Findlay analyses with 

 much ingenuity and force the true meaning of Frobel's 

 teaching, and helps the reader to distinguish between 

 the essential verity which underlies that teaching and 

 the travesty of it, which too often satisfies the merely 

 mechanical kindergarten instructor. He shows that 



"The final value of Frobel, as of his master Pestalozzi' 

 is to be found rather in the spirit of his work than in the 

 particular devices he employed." " Instead," he says, 

 ''of the tedious and useless paper-folding 'occupations,' 

 which are a part of the Frobel fetish, we may find it 

 possible even with little children to cultivate the decora- 

 tive art ; they may trace the snowdrop pattern on flannel 

 or cardboard, and then cut it out to stitch or paste on to 

 darker material serving thus as a rug or tablecloth to 

 please mother at home, as something of service to her. 

 Taste on the teacher's p irt quickly develops appreciation 

 for simple forms of beauty." 



In like manner, this book shows how easy it is for 

 even the best theories of enthusiasts to degenerate into 

 formalism and pedantry, unless the nature of child-life and 

 the possibilities of intellectual development are looked 

 at with fresh eyes, and unless teachers can emancipate 

 themselves from traditional methods. This is well illus- 

 trated by the chapters in which the claims of the 

 humanities are examined both in their relation to later 

 childhood and to more advanced stages of progress. At 

 first, " Robinson Crusoe " and the " Odyssey," " Tales of 

 Greek Mythology," the story of Joseph and his brethren 

 and that of King Alfred are cited as examples of narra- 

 tives which are likely to touch the imagination and 

 arouse the sympathy of the learner none the less because 

 they are remote from his present environment and 

 experience. They 



"bring family relations into prominence. Odysseus 

 never forgets Ithaca ; the tragedy of Joseph's life centres 

 round his father's home. The child is still a home-bird, 

 and in the humanities, above all, this sentiment must find 

 a place right through into boyhood." 



On the subject of teaching science, Mr. Findlay rightly 

 insists on the importance of such preliminary training as 

 may awaken the faculty of observation and kindle in the 

 pupil an interest in the phenomena of the visible world 

 before proceeding to the technicalities of science as 

 generally understood in schools. The true scope and 

 meaning of "Nature-study" as a means of giving the 

 basis of ideas and experience on which formal lessons on 

 science may hereafter be wisely built are thought out and 

 explained with much care. 



Throughout the book, the author shows himself to be 

 a faithful disciple of Herbart, and enforces in various 

 ways the need of kindling interest and securing the co- 

 operation of the scholars in the business of learning : 



" The child is supremely an active being, and it must 

 be the teacher's care, not only to provide suitable material 

 for thought, but for action. Hence, in our scheme of a 

 curriculum we shall recognise the arts and occupations 



NO. 1736, VOL. 67] 



of the young in drawing, in music, in games, in manual 

 training, as worthy to take rank side by side with those 

 branches of knowledge which, since the Renaissance, 

 have sought to usurp the whole field. In so doing, we 

 shall be simply reverting to the older and more generous 

 method of the Greeks." 



Space forbids further detailed reference to the ways in 

 which the author has sought to illuminate the path of 

 the teacher and to define his aims. There are some 

 disputable propositions in the book, and good teachers 

 will not be unanimous in approval of all the methods 

 recommended. But it will suffice here to say that the 

 author's effort to find a rational explanation of the best 

 practical and professional rules has been successful and 

 that the book will take rank among the most thoughtful 

 contributions to educational science which have appeared 

 in recent years. J. G. F. 



A WORK ON SURVEYING. 



Surveying, as Practised by Civil Engineers and Sur- 

 veyors, Including the Setting-out of Works for Con- 

 struction and Surveys Abroad, with Examples taken 

 from Actual Practice. By John Whitelaw, jun. 

 Pp. xiv + 5l6. (London : Crosby Lockwood and Son, 

 1902.) 



THIS book cannot be considered altogether satis- 

 factory or as fulfilling the purpose the author 

 proposes to himself. One gathers from the short preface . 

 that it is his intention to present a useful text-book of 

 principles and methods for students, as well as a guide 

 to the actual practice of surveyors and civil engineers in 

 the various branches of surveying. This is a sufficiently 

 ambitious programme, and for its successful accomplish- 

 ment it demands, not only a practical training in the 

 field, but some facility of mathematical manipulation, 

 since there must be constant reference, not only to the 

 methods and details of actual measurement required for 

 various practical purposes, but to the theory of instru- 

 ments, the application of the theory of errors, 

 geodetic problems and the principles involved in hydro- 

 graphic surveying. 



Up to a certain point, we have the greatest confidence 

 in our author. Wherever he is describing work of which 

 he has had actual experience, he is a welcome guide. In 

 various commercial undertakings, such as the preparation 

 for railroads, or waterworks, there is abundant evidence 

 that his work is competent and trustworthy ; but to write 

 a book on the lines proposed, more is needed than 

 familiarity with practical surveying within a limited area. 

 One begins to lose confidence when he reads what the 

 author calls the theory of the sextant, but which is 

 limited to the demonstration of an elementary propo- 

 sition in geometrical optics. It is true, at a later stage 

 the author gives rules for the practical adjustment of the 

 sextant, but such ordinary matters as the errors pro- 

 duced by a prismatic form of the index glass, or by the 

 inclination of the index or horizon glass are either 

 entiiely ignored or not brought before the student with 

 the necessary detail. 



This confidence sinks still lower when we get a rule 

 for the determination of the probable error from two 



