26 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 366. 



require independence of tlioiiglit in the higher 

 geometry, in analysis, and in analytic me- 

 chanics, with a good knowledge of the litera- 

 ture of these subjects. (3) The teacher's posi- 

 tion is one of honor, recognized in cases of 

 superior excellence by the title of 'Professor,' 

 bestowed by the government, a title with us 

 'defamed by every charlatan and soiled by 

 much ignoble use.' (4) The teacher has fewer 

 classes per week than the American teacher, 

 and when out of class instead of being set to 

 watch a 'study hall' he has time for recreation 

 and study. (5) Considering the purchas- 

 ing power of the money, the teacher comes, 

 after a reasonable time, to receive a somewhat 

 better salary than is ofiered in America, and 

 hence a relatively stronger set of men enter 

 the profession. (6) His countrymen appre- 

 ciate that the teacher "can do his best only in 

 an atmosphere of financial and mental tran- 

 quility. He must himself be continually grow- 

 ing, and if he is embarrassed by financial cares 

 and harrassed by struggles to improve his ma- 

 terial position, his growth is retarded and the 

 quality of his work inevitably deteriorates." 

 He is, therefore, accountable to no local au- 

 thorities ; political 'pulls' have no meaning to 

 him; his superiors in law are his educational 

 superiors as well. He works with the assur- 

 ance that a pension awaits him when the 

 'rainy day' comes, and yet he is urged to pro- 

 gress by such manifold inducements that he 

 does not stagnate. (7) The school year is 

 longer than in America, the twenty-minute 

 class periods of our lower grades are unlcnown, 

 and hence the instruction means more when it 

 is being given and is more consecutive than 

 with us. (8) The teacher teaches; he does 

 not merely hear a recitation. Text-books 

 mean little; home study is not a serious mat- 

 ter; but the class period is a time for serious 

 study, rapid work, heuristic teaching and gen- 

 eral inspiration. Space does not permit of 

 speaking of other reasons, or of the results of 

 the system as shown by examination tests. 



Professor Young does not, however, claim 

 that Germany is all good and America all bad. 

 Neither does he claim that we can adopt their 

 system. Pie is eminently judicial in his con- 

 clusions, pointing out what we can safely use. 



and where we can unquestionably improve. On 

 the whole, the book is one of the best balanced 

 works on German education that have ap- 

 peared, and as such is recommended to every 

 American teacher of mathematics. 



David Eugene Smith. 

 Teachers College, 

 Columbia University. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The Botanical Gazette for November con- 

 tains the following leading articles : G. T. 

 Moore has published with three plates his 

 second paper entitled 'New or Little-Known 

 Unicellular Algse,' giving a detailed account 

 of the life history of Eremosphsera viridis, and 

 coming to the conclusion that for the present, 

 at least, the genus should be classed with the 

 Protococcoidese ; and also describing as a new 

 genus a form which has been confused here- 

 tofore with Eremosphsera^ and naming it Ex- 

 centrosphsera. T. C. Prye has published with 

 one plate an account of the development of 

 the pollen in certain Asclepiadacese, his in- 

 vestigation having been suggested by the 

 record that in certain members of this family 

 there is no tetrad division. . The development 

 of the sporangimn was found to be of the gen- 

 eral type, the primary sporogenous cells pass- 

 ing over directly into pollen mother cells; 

 these latter divide in the usual tetrad man- 

 ner, but subsequently through mutual adjust- 

 ment the four spores are arranged in a linear 

 series. Miss F. Grace Smith has published 

 the results of a large number^ of observations 

 upon the distribution of red color in vegeta- 

 tive parts in the New England flora. A gen- 

 eral conclusion is reached that the statistical 

 observations obtained fit no one theory of color 

 in all particulars. Mr. George A. Shull has 

 published with illustrations the results of 

 observations upon 'Some Plant Abnormali- 

 ties.' He records instances of fasciation inEri- 

 geron Oanadense and Echium vulgare; abnor- 

 mal foliage leaves in Pelargonium and 

 Hicoria; and abnormal fioral organs in Lathy- 

 rus odoratus, as well as in certain species of 

 Clematis. Under the head of 'Briefer Arti- 

 cles,' E. B. Copeland has discussed Meissner's 

 paper on evergreen needles, answering certain 



