626 



SCIENCE 



[N. 8. Vol. XXXVIII. No. i 



to the practical value of the hook. Such top- 

 ics as location and construction of school 

 buildings, schoolhouse lighting, school desks, 

 school baths, water supply, drinking fountains, 

 toilet arrangements, ventilation, heating, 

 schoolroom cleaning, janitor service, disinfec- 

 tants, etc., have here the best treatment that 

 they have received in any English text. In 

 general, the book presents just those facts 

 about school buildings which every person 

 needs to know who has anything to do with 

 their construction or care, and it is certain to 

 become an indispensable handbook for school 

 officers of every class. 



It would be unfair to criticize the author 

 for the brevity with which he treats the prob- 

 lems relating to the hygiene of growth, school 

 medical inspection and the hygiene of instruc- 

 tion. The field of school hygiene has become 

 too broad to permit adequate treatment of all 

 the above-named divisions in a single volume. 

 The division chosen for treatment in this book 

 is one on which America had produced no first- 

 class text in more than a decade, and the au- 

 thor has done his work well. The chapters on 

 location and construction of school buildings, 

 schoolhouse lighting, school desks, heating and 

 janitor service are especially valuable. 



Here and there the critical reader will find 

 statements with which he may be inclined to 

 disagree. Many will probably think the author's 

 position on some of the problems of ventila- 

 tion somewhat conservative, particularly in 

 the scant consideration which is given to the 

 experiments by Leonard Hill and others on the 

 relative effects of humidity, temperature, move- 

 ments and chemical composition of the air on 

 physical efficiency. In all of these newer ex- 

 periments the author declines to see anything 

 revolutionary as regards the practical prob- 

 lems of ventilation, and the three main ref- 

 erences cited on this chapter bear the dates 

 1893, 1896 and 1897, respectively. 



Among the statements open to question are 

 the following : " The results of careful exami- 

 nations made in all progressive countries prove 

 conclusively that the school conditions are re- 

 sponsible for a large part of the near-sighted- 

 ness prevalent among children of the higher 



school grades " ; " myopia is not often, if ever, 

 inherited," etc. (p. 221). Kotelmann is 

 quoted approvingly to the effect that myopia 

 is never found among primitive races. In re- 

 gard to stuttering, the author states that 

 " many, perhaps most, cases find an immedi- 

 ate cause in imitation" (p. 265). In speaking 

 of the rapid progress made by Filipino 

 school children in learning a foreign language 

 the author states (p. 296) that it would be 

 " utterly impossible to make the same progress 

 with ignorant adults." That myopia is school- 

 caused and never hereditary, that stuttering 

 usually results from imitation, that children 

 have greater learning capacity than adults 

 are views which tradition has long sanctioned, 

 but which recent investigations have thrown 

 much doubt upon. 



Certain other passages are, perhaps, open 

 to question in the same way, and objection 

 might be taken in a few cases to the author's 

 selection of references. But to dwell on such 

 minor points of criticism would be unfair, so 

 carefully has the work in general been per- 

 formed. The treatment is authoritative and 

 comprehensive, yet the style is easy, stimu- 

 lating and interesting. The book will long 

 remain a standard treatise, especially on the 

 construction and equipment of school build- 

 ings. 



Lewis M. Terman 



The Geology of Soils and Substrata with Spe- 

 cial Reference to Agriculture, B states and 

 Sanitation. By Horace B. Woodward, 

 F.E.S. London, Edward Arnold; New 

 York, Longmans, Green & Co. 1913. 

 The intent of the writer of this work, as 

 noted in his preface, is " to provide such infor- 

 mation relating to the land surface as will be 

 useful to students and teachers of agriculture, 

 to those occupied in the management of es- 

 tates and farms, or in sanitary engineering 

 works." To do all this within a small octavo 

 volume of but 366 pages is no small task and 

 one that would be weU-nigh if not quite im- 

 possible for any but a restricted area such as 

 is comprised within the limits of Great 

 Britain. 



