December 12, 1912] 



NATURE 



407 



lies; Pythagoras going- about Egypt begging for 

 crumbs of information withheld from him, but 

 jealously guarded for the benefit of English and 

 American Freemasons ; and the North American 

 Indians talking Welsh, an old story. 



The following citations selected quite at 

 random on adjoining pages illustrate the author's 

 method. Referring to the epagomenal days 

 of the Egyptian year, the author observes : 

 "The first, third, and fifth of the epagomenal 

 days were considered unlucky. In Free- 

 masonry these numbers have a peculiar signi- 

 ficance, which all M.M.'s understand, and with 

 the common herd of people these days are still 

 considered as unlucky days and numbers. How 

 many know why or the origin of it? " (p. 14). 

 How first-rate authorities are "herded " by our 

 author is shown in his estimate of Dr. Eduard 

 Seler's work, "that he has not succeeded in 

 giving the true decipherment of any of his trans- 

 lations of the various codices of the Mayas, 

 Mexican, and Central American nations that he 

 has attempted to, and until he recognises Egypt 

 as the primordial and origin we are of opinion 

 that he will not" (p. 15). John Griffith. 



PEDAGOGICS. 

 (i) Education. A First Book. By Prof. 

 Edward L. Thcrndike. Pp. ix + 292. (New 

 York : The Macmillan Company ; London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 65. net. 

 (2) L'Education Physique ou I'Entralnement 

 Complet par la Methode Naturelle. Expose et 

 Resultats. By Georges Hebert. Pp. iii + S5 + 

 8 plates. (Paris : Librairie Vuibert, 1912.) 

 (i)TT need scarcely be said that any book on 

 J. education by Prof. Thorndike will be sug- 

 gestive and helpful ; yet it is not quite easy to 

 realise the constituency for which his latest work 

 is specially written. If this first book is meant 

 for students in training for the teaching profes- 

 sion, it seems to contain at once too little and too 

 much. The volume is a simple introduction to 

 the whole theory of education. Rather less than 

 one-seventh of the book concerns the elementary 

 practical situations which usually come into the 

 control of the beginner. Experience shows that 

 practice, unless it is begun before there is some 

 power of reflection, furnishes the best starting 

 point for the future teacher, and a first book for 

 the trainee should therefore concern itself primarily 

 with bringing out the fundamental features of the 

 practical situation. Chapters on the meaning and 

 value of education, the aims and results of educa- 

 tion and the like appear so remote from the 

 problem of the moment that students are apt to 

 be impatient of them. A background of class- 

 NO. 2250, VOL. 90] 



room experience would, however, give point and 

 meaning to such discussions. 



On the other hand, if the book is written for 

 those who have already had teaching experience 

 and come up for a fuller theoretical course, one 

 would again have expected a different proportion 

 in the various parts of the book. Indeed, the 

 slightness of all the discussions almost puts this 

 type of reader out of consideration. Prof. Thorn- 

 dike has nevertheless written with his usual clear- 

 ness and charm, and nobody who reads the book 

 can fail to find some new illustration, some new 

 way of putting an old point, or some suggestive 

 phrase which he will treasure, and as to our 

 general quarrel with it, we ought to add that 

 probably no two authorities are agreed as to what 

 is the best way of introducing the future teacher 

 to the study of his profession. 



(2) The English Board of Education has made 

 up its mind about what is the best method of 

 physical training for school children. .\\\ this is 

 written down in an official book which every 

 teacher in training must master. Such a pro- 

 ceeding on the part of the Board has its critics, 

 who are not slow to say that there is no one and 

 only system of physical training, and that more 

 depends on the spirit in which the physical exer- 

 cises are gone through than en the particular 

 movements it embraces. "Teach your boys to 

 walk, to run, to jump, to box, and to swim, and 

 leave those artificial extension movements, which 

 mean nothing, alone ! " This is the spirit of M. 

 Hebert's little book. It is not, of course, written 

 in criticism of our Board of Education ; it is just a 

 simple account of the methods applied to the 

 physical training of French sailors and of the re- 

 sults achieved. The author calls it the natural 

 method, because his system is based on just those 

 movements which men are called upon to make 

 in the ordinary course of a life of freedom. 

 Teachers and others who are concerned about 

 physical training will find the work interesting and 

 suggestive. It is abundantly illustrated. 



J. A. G. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



The Significance of Ancient Religions. In relation 



to Human Evolution and Brain Development. 



By Dr. E. Noel Reichardt. Pp. xiv + 456. 



(London: George Allen and Co., Ltd., 1912.) 



Price 12S. 6d. net. 

 Thf. nature of this work by Dr. Reichardt can 

 be best indicated by a citation from the introduc- 

 tion : ".\nd the practical value of the study of 

 these religions lies in this, that not only does it 

 acquaint us with the forces that have determined 

 human history and built up human character ; it 

 affords us, moreover, the key to all the bewildering 



