JAXIARY 18, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



li) 



knowledge of methods. To force a student 

 to invent metliods does stimulate indeed 

 observation, but it is a very great waste of 

 time on the part of most students. Between 

 this loss of stimulus to original observation 

 and the loss of time, the instructor is very 

 puzzled how to proceed. 



Prof Dodge of Kochester University in 

 the guide just published has attempted to 

 solve the problem by a new method of direc- 

 tion. The laboratory guide here noticed 

 gives the student some few directions as to 

 methods of dissection and methods of pro- 

 cedure, but beyond this gives him practi- 

 cally no information in regard to his speci- 

 mens. By a series of skilfully aiTanged 

 questions it forces the student to make his 

 owni observations and to make them in the 

 right direction. Instead of directing the 

 student to observe a certain fact a question 

 is asked which leads him to hunt for 

 a solution, and the result is indeiiendent 

 observation. This method of study renders 

 the text book of no value unless the student 

 has the specimen directly in front of him, 

 for there is no possibility of answering these 

 questions in any other way than from the 

 specimen. 



The method of teaching here planned is 

 certainly an ideal one and has been quite 

 successfully carried out by Prof. Dodge. It 

 is true that the questions given are some- 

 times entirely beyond the possibility^ of the 

 student's solution, and it must also be re- 

 cognized that this method is one designed 

 to occupy a very great amount of time. 

 Some of the problems which are set before 

 the student will re(juire days for solution, 

 and others have not yet been settled by the 

 observation of scientific investigators. It 

 will therefore take a great amount of time 

 to complete the outline given, for the book 

 is a comprehensive study of biology, includ- 

 ing the study of the animal and vegetable 

 oell, on the .side of animals, the study of the 

 sponge, hydra, campanularian hydroid, star 



fish, earthworm, the lob.ster, locust, clam, 

 and the frog: and on the .side of the vege- 

 table kingdom, green felt, stone work, rock 

 weed, mould, mushrooms, liverworts, ferns 

 and flowering plants. Whether the student 

 in the time allotted to the study of general 

 biology even in our best colleges w'ill be able 

 to complete the list by the method outlined 

 in the guide is doubtful, but there can be 

 little doubt that the method of teaching 

 adopted by Prof Dodge in this book is an 

 ideal one, and for stimulating observation 

 and at the same time enabling thi- student 

 to do the mo.st work m the smallest amount 

 of time, there is perhaps no laboratory guide 

 in biology jet published which succeeds as 

 well as the one here noticed. 



H. AV. Coxx. 

 Wesley.\x Uxiveksity. 



Le Grimu [Fire Damp] , par H. Le Chatkl- 

 lER, lugenieur en Chef des Mines. — Pro- 

 fesseur a I'Ecole nationale des Mines. — 

 Paris, Gauthier Villai-s et Fils, 1894. 

 Pp. 187. Broch6 2 fr .50, Cartcmne 3 fr. 

 The rapid extension of technical scientific 

 knowledge, and the increasing call for spe- 

 cialists in every department, is best shown 

 in the literature of the past few years. The 

 di.scussiou of general topics within the limit.s 

 of a single volume is now possible only in 

 the most elementary works designed for be- 

 ginners and for the lower classes of our col- 

 leges. We have in place of the general text 

 book a rapidly increasing library devoted to 

 special subjects, each presented by special- 

 ists in their own field and each treating of 

 some small part of the great sciences form- 

 erly considered as a unit. The j)resent vol- 

 ume is of this nature, and, coming from the 

 hand of an engineer of wide reputation, will 

 be of great service to all advanced students 

 of mining whether still within the college 

 confine or employed in the active practice of 

 their profession. • Kiery ' mines are com- 

 mon in our coal fields, and many mines long 

 worked without suspicion of danger, or with 



