262 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No. 431 



Professor Hugo Schuchardt is the most distinguished student 

 lining of mixed languages or "jargons," and his researches into 

 their structure have been prolific of valuable results. The above 

 is but one — the ninth — of his numerous " Creole Studies." It is 

 one of the most instructive, as exhibiting the results of the com- 

 mingling of the Portuguese with the Malayan languages, which 

 are particularly widely apart. Like all his essays, it is replete 

 with erudition, and marked by soundness and caution in handling 

 facts. 



The logical processes underlying language in general have been 

 analyzed in a number of essays by Dr. Raoul de la Grasserie in 

 his ''Studies in Comparative Grammar." He has taken up in 

 turn such topics as " the substantive verb," " pronouns," " tenses," 

 etc., and striven to show by a very wide induction how these 

 fundamental grammatical notions arose in the mind, and in what 

 varied forms they sought expression in speech. The study above 

 referred to, on " the category of moods " extends these com- 

 parisons to that feature of the verb. It is a masterly application 

 of the principles of psychology to the evolution of language. 



The Elements of Dynamic Electricity and Magnetism. By Philip 

 Atkinson. New York, Van Nostrand. 405 p. 8°. 



As this is intended more for learners than for the learned, it 

 appeals to a larger circle than do many other works on the sub- 

 jects treated, and, for the same reason, mathematical formulae 

 are conspicuous by their absence. Mathematical reasoning, 

 where required, has been, so far as possible, rendered intelligible 

 to non-mathematical readers by the use of ordinary language and 

 some unavoidable circumlocution, so that the amount of mathe- 

 matical formulas required has been practically reduced to a few 

 simple expressions easily understood by persons familiar with 

 arithmetic. 



The work is divided into thirteen chapters, each of which is 

 intended to be a complete treatise on the subject to which it re- 

 lates, and the whole to embrace all the essential facts pertaining 

 to dynamic electricity. 



The chronological order of electrical development has been 

 followed pretty closely, thus not only giving a condensed history 

 of the progress made in the science, but also showing the relations 

 of each successive important invention to those which preceded 

 and followed it. The style of the work is as clear as a due regard 

 for the conciseness necessary in such a treatise will admit. 



The different parts of the subject are taken up in the following 

 order, a chapter being devoted to each. The voltaic battery, 

 with definitions of the terms used; one-fluid cells; two-fluid ceUs, 

 and battery formation; magnetism; electromagnetism ; electric 

 measurement; the dynamo and motor; electrolysis; electric stor- 

 age ; the relations of electricity to heat ; the relations of electricity 

 to light; the electric telegraph; and the telephone. 



Prussian Schools through American Eyes. By James Eussell 

 Parsons, Jr. Syracuse. Bardeen. 8° $1. 



The author of this book was recently United States Consul at 

 Aix-la-Chapelle, and was employed by the authorities of the State 

 of New York to make a report on the organization and methods of 

 the Prussian schools, with a view to obtaining hints from them 

 for the improvement of our own. Having been a school com- 

 missioner in New York State for some years, and being greatly 

 interested in the public schools, Mr. Parsons took up the task as- 

 signed him with ardor and intelligence, and now gives us in this 

 volume the result of bis inquiries. The report is drawn up in the 

 usual style of public documents, with little pretence of literary 

 form, so that it is not so attractive to the reader as it might other- 

 wise have been ; but it presents a large amount of information 

 concerning the Prussian schools in a form convenient for reference. 

 It treats of the organization and government of the schools, the 

 methods of discipline and of teaching, with some account of the 

 buildings and apparatus, and gives a very full exposition of the 

 courses of study. The normal schools are also dwelt upon at con- 

 siderable length, and the mode of training teachers described. 



Mr. Parsons is an admirer of the Prussian system, which he de- 

 clares to be the best in the world; yet he sees that there is much in 

 it which our people, accustomed to greater freedom and not 



readily submissive to government drill, would not be willing to 

 adopt. Two of the main points of superiority in the Prussian 

 schools, as compared vyith those of New York, are, in his view, 

 the compulsory education law, which is rigidly enforced, and the 

 official courses of study for the various schools, which insure a 

 higher average grade of instruction than is usual in New York. 

 Mr. Parsons also calls attention to the fact that school com- 

 missioners in Prussia must be properly trained for their work, and 

 must have served for a time as teachers before being appointed to 

 the higher office; whereas in this country the main qualification 

 of such officers is the ability to secure a majority of the votes in a 

 popular election. These are, in his opinion , the points in which 

 we might most advantageously imitate the Prussian system; but 

 he also notices a few others, while in some respects he shows that 

 our own schools are superior. The report may be heartily recom- 

 mended to all who are interested in the subject. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



Photographic amateurs will read with interest Ellerslie "Wal- 

 lace's paper on "Photographic Dark Rooms," in Outing for May. 



— The Home Journal devotes an entire page of its issue of May 

 6 to what may be called a guide to London hotels, though the 

 formality of a " Guide" is avoided, and the information is put in 

 a style which renders it entertaining even to the stay at-home 

 tourist. 



— The May 2 issue of The Medical and Surgical Reporter, 

 Philadelphia, is the fir.st to appear under the new editor, Edward 

 T. Reichert, M.D. The paper has been enlarged from twenty- 

 eight to forty pages. 



— William Gushing, 19 Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass., has 

 been employed during the last year in collecting brief biographi- 

 cal notices of Harvard graduates, which he hopes soon to publish 

 under the title " Harvard Graduates Before 1860." 



— John Wiley & Sons have in preparation a work on " Car Lu- 

 brication," by W. E.Hall of the Pennsylvania Railroad; "The 

 Mechanical Engineer's Pocket-Book," by William Kent, M.E. ; 

 also " The Transitive Curve Field Book," by Clinton R, Howard, 

 C.E. 



— The Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company, Salem, 

 Mass., will publish in June, "Salem Witchcraft in Outline," by 

 Caroline E. Upham, a niece of Dr. O. W. Holmes. In August 

 they will publish " Historic Storms, ' by Sidney Perley; an inter- 

 esting account of the great storms, cold winters, hot summers, 

 etc., from 1620 to the present. 



— Ginn & Co. have just published " Business Book-Keeping," 

 a manual of modern methods in recording business transactions 

 by single entry. George E. Gay of the High School, Maiden, 

 Mass., is the author. The forms given in the book are taken from 

 the methods of the best accountants, are well adapted to their 

 purpose, and are presented in a manner that appears to be both 

 practical and satisfactory. 



— Babyhood for May contains an article on ' ' Chronic Throat 

 Troubles Resulting from Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever, and How 

 to Prevent Them,'" by Dr. D. Bryson Delavan, which lays stress 

 on the tact, not generally known, that a considerable proportion 

 of catarrhal diseases of the throat and nose have their origin in 

 one of the above complaints. Many other medical topic? of in- 

 terest to mothers are discussed under " Nursery Problems." 



— We have received from C. W. Bardeen of Syracuse a small 

 volume entitled " Apperception," which is intended more espe- 

 cially for teachers. It should have been entitled " Perception," 

 for that is the subject of the book, and indeed the barbarous term 

 "apperception" is nowhere used except upon the title-page. The 

 main purpose of the author is to call attention to the fact that the 

 perception of outward things is largely a matter of interpretation, 

 every new object requiring to be classified and assigned its proper 

 place in the general system of our knowledge. There is nothing 

 new or striking in the book, but it may be suggestive to teachers 



