November 7, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



741 



desire for more intimate acquaintance with 

 them. 



The third hook, ' Nature Study and Life ' 

 (Ginn & Co.), by Professor C. F. Hodge, be- 

 longs to a different class than the other two, 

 being intended for the teacher rather than for 

 the pupil and for the teacher of younger 

 classes. It may be said at once that it is a 

 book which will be welcomed not only by such 

 teachers, but by all who are called upon to 

 find occupation for the busy little fingers and 

 active, eager minds of children. It is a guide 

 to nature study in its best sense and, as Presi- 

 dent Stanley Hall properly points out in an 

 introduction, it is entirely free from that 

 eflfeminization which too often detracts from 

 the usefulness of nature study books. 



It presents an abundance of just the kind 

 of material a child should study, the fullest 

 and yet most simple methods for facilitating 

 its observation, admirable suggestions for 

 arousing the reasoning faculties concerning it, 

 a wealth of practical application of the knowl- 

 edge acquired, and running through the whole 

 there is manifest a love of nature for nature's 

 self which cannot fail to impart itself to both 

 teacher and pupil. To describe in detail the 

 contents of the volume is oiat of the question, 

 but a citation of the headings of some of the 

 chapters will give some idea of its scope : ' In- 

 sects of the Household,' ' Insects of the Gar- 

 den,' ' Beneficial Insects,' ' Elementary Bot- 

 any,' ' Home and School Gardens,' ' The Propa- 

 gation of Plants,' ' Our Common Birds,' ' The 

 Domestication of Wild Birds,' ' Elementary 

 Forestry,' ' Aquaria,' ' Elowerless Plants.' 

 And all these and other topics are treated so 

 clearly and suggestively that he who runs may 

 read and have plenty of food for thought when 

 he sits down to rest. Indeed the book pos- 

 sesses a special charm from the freshness and 

 enthusiasm of the author's style, qualities, 

 which, when combined with fascinating photo- 

 graphic reproductions, make the reader forget 

 that he is reading a book and not listening to 

 the author in person discoursing interestingly 

 and convincingly from the fullness of his 

 knowledge. 



The information which the book imparts 

 and the training it aims to give are the infor- 



mation and training which educate. For, as 

 the author rightly says : " To do our duty by 

 our neighbors we need a large body of knowl- 

 edge of the common things that surround the 

 home," and the acquisition of a knowledge of 

 our duty by our neighbors, using that term in 

 the broader Scriptural sense, and an idea of 

 how best to fulfill that duty is the aim of edu- 

 cation. Would that this book were in the 

 hands of every teacher of children and every 

 school trustee throughout the land! 



J. P. MoM. 



Irrigation Farming. By L. M. Wilcox. New 



York, Orange Judd Co. 1902. Pp. 494, pi. 



1, figs. 118. 



The first edition of this book appeared in 

 1895. Since that date irrigation farming has 

 rapidly extended in both arid and humid re- 

 gions and many improvements have been made 

 in methods, as a result of a better understand- 

 ing of the principles involved. The author in 

 this revised edition in a measure takes cogni- 

 zance of these advances by adding a number 

 of new sections and four new chapters, namely, 

 seepage and drainage, electricity and irriga- 

 tion, irrigation in humid climates, and winter 

 irrigation. It is to be regretted, however, that 

 the revision has not been more thorough and 

 included the correction of the numerous in- 

 accurate, and in some cases absurd, statements 

 regarding certain scientific features of the 

 subject, which are left in this edition just as 

 they were in the original edition. The follow- 

 ing, relating to the acids of the soil, is an 

 example : 



In all soils we find two essential acids, known 

 scientifically as liumic and ulmlc. The first is the 

 acid in the humus, or vegetable and animal mat- 

 ter, in the soil. As animal life is built by vege- 

 table matter, it must eventually turn back to 

 vegetable matter. Ulmic acids are those that 

 exude from the roots of some plants. We should 

 remember that nitrogen is the costliest of all plant 

 foods and the most difficult to retain in the soil, 

 and plants must have it, for it corrects this humie 

 acid in the plant as well as in the soil. The 

 ulmic acids are seldom in sufficient quantity to do 

 harm. But the humic acids when shut ofif from 

 the proportions of nitrogen or potash — both alkalis 

 — ^become too concentrated, or the dead microbes 



