August 7, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



179 



nition of the work of others. Writing for 

 general as well as for scientific readers, he has 

 ventured to set a standard of intellectual in- 

 tegrity quite unusual in popular works. I 

 believe the general reader will appreciate the 

 innovation. The author has further main- 

 tained a fine impartiality of statement. Few 

 of us, doubtless, would have used exactly the 

 same material. All must recognize the can- 

 dor of his selections and his effort to discover 

 the points of advance. 



It is obvious from the nature of the con- 

 tents that the different parts of the book must 

 represent very different degrees of scientific 

 assurance. Of this the author himself is 

 thoroughly aware. Our present experimental 

 knowledge of the reading of children does not 

 warrant the psychological investigator in giv- 

 ing the weight of his investigations to any 

 system of teaching reading, to any selection 

 of material, or to any definite answer to the 

 questions when, or how much. For the sake 

 of psychology as well as for the sake of a 

 possible science of experimental pedagogy, it 

 seems prudent to make a sharp distinction be- 

 tween the results of scientific experiment and 

 the empirical generalizations of educators. 

 No other science has so many poor relatives 

 urging extravagance. Probably in no other 

 science is there greater need of guarding our 

 work against premature popular exploitation 

 and misrepresentation. Since many of the 

 processes of adult reading are still imperfectly 

 understood, while accurate knowledge of the 

 reading of children and its development is 

 conspicuously fragmentary, it seems probable 

 that school methods in reading must rest, for 

 the present at least, on empirical generaliza- 

 tion rather than on scientific law. This, how- 

 ever, is the opportunity of experimental sci- 

 ence rather than its reproach. The reviewer 

 joins with the author in the hope that the 

 present work will not only indicate possible 

 lines of attack, but will also stimulate to 

 renewed and if possible coordinated investiga- 

 tion. 



Meantime it seems clear that the success or 

 failure of any method rests quite as much on 

 the insight of the teacher into the mental life 



of his pupils as on any of the formal details 

 of his method. I believe that an adequate 

 knowledge of the mental organization he ia 

 supposed to develop, as well as of the material 

 and mental conditions of its realization, is one 

 of the invaluable factors of a teacher's equip- 

 ment. This factor it is the present privilege 

 of the experimental psychologist to increase. 

 On these grounds I venture the conviction 

 that the book as a whole and in its several 

 parts is an unusual contribution to peda- 

 gogical literature. I believe it should be in 

 the hands of every teacher of reading. But 

 the psychologist will welcome its careful sum- 

 maries and its broad outlook as heartily as the 

 teacher will welcome the new insight into 

 the processes with which he must deal. 



The book brings together an immense 

 amount of material in unusually readable 

 form. It seems destined to arouse interest 

 and stimulate investigation in an important 

 field. 



Eaymond Dodge 



Wesletan Univebsitt 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The contents of the June issue of Terres- 

 trial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity 

 are as follows : Portrait of E. van Eijckevorsel 

 (frontispiece) ; " Magnetic Declination and 

 Latitude Observations in the Bermudas," by 

 J. F. Cole; " On Earth-currents and Magnetic 

 Variations," by L. Steiner; "Eeturn of the 

 Galilee and Construction of a Special Vessel," 

 by L. A. Bauer; "Magnetic Observations by 

 the New Zealand Expedition to the Southern 

 Islands," by H. F. Skey; "The Earth's Ee- 

 sidual Magnetic Field," by A. Tanakadate, L. 

 A. Bauer ; " Biographical Sketch of E. van 

 Eijckevorsel." Letters to Editor : " The Solar 

 Eclipse of August 30, 1905, and Magnetic 

 Phenomena," by C. Chree; "Eegarding the 

 Magnetic Effects of the Total Solar Eclipse 

 of August 30, 1905," by Ch. Nordmann; 

 " Principal Magnetic Storms recorded at the 

 Cheltenham Magnetic Observatory (January- 

 March, 1908)," by O. H. Tittmann. " Eecent 

 Determinations of the Solar Constant of Eadi- 



