August 5, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



67 



members of the club in their own homes, and by other house- 

 keepers, and have also been adopted as the basis of a course in 

 sanitary science offered by the Society to Encourage Studies at 

 Home. The editors of the manual are Ellen H. Richards and 

 Marion Talbot. 



In the introductory chapter the editors call attention to the fact 

 that the hygiene of the home is a subject of growing interest and 

 importance. As one of the problems of social and economic sci- 

 ence, it is beginning to receive the attention it .may rightly claim. 

 The women of our country- are advised not only to follow the dis- 

 cussions which are carried on by sanitaiy congresses, boards of 

 health, and other authorities, but by combining theory with prac- 

 tice, as few others can, to aid in solving the great questions which 

 seriously affect the interests of the home and the family. 



The object of this manual is to arouse the interest of house- 

 keepers in the sanitary condition of their homes ; not to alarm or 

 discourage them, but to urge intelligent oversight, and to indicate 

 the points requiring investigation, the methods of examination, and 

 the practical remedies. One of the most dangerous qualities of 

 the unsanitary house is that it does not always and at once produce 

 a definite and virulent disease, such as typhoid-fever or diphtheria, 

 but without doubt it slowly and insidiously causes ill health and 

 general langour, which incapacitate for sustained effort, and to 

 which women are especially subject from their greater confinement 

 to the house. 



Householders are reminded that it is not enough to secure right 

 sanitary conditions : these must be maintained. This can best be 

 done through the eternal vigilance of the housekeeper, who can 

 thus, in a large measure, secure the two essentials of a happy home, 

 — good health, and its attendant, good nature. The following motto 

 should be the basis of her efforts : " Any invention intended to be 

 a substitute for watchfulness will prove a delusion and a snare." 



The following are the subjects discussed in the succeeding chap- 

 ters : situation of the house, and care of the cellar; drainage and 

 plumbing ; ventilation ; heating ; lighting ; furnishing ; clothing ; 

 food and drink. The essays themselves are excellent, and the 

 questions on them are very practical and suggestive. The manual 

 also contains a paper read before the Association of Collegiate 

 Alumns, on sanitary work for women, by Annie E. Allen, in which 

 some excellent advice is given to housekeepers on various subjects ; 

 such as their relations to their servants, the dangers connected with 

 boarding-schools, and their duties to themselves. 



The concluding paragraph of this paper is as follows : " The day 

 is past when sickness was held to be a direct interference of Provi- 

 dence, as retributive punishment. Pestilence, fevers, and weakness 

 are, indeed, penalties for sin, but it is the sin of ignorance. In this 

 age of scientific enlightenment, and invention, and wide-spread in- 

 formation, ignorance of the primary conditions of health and vigor 

 is unpardonable. A knowledge of sanitary principles should be re- 

 garded as an essential part of every woman's education, and obedi- 

 ence to sanitary laws should be ranked, as it was in the Mosaic 

 code, as a religious duty." 



We commend this little book to housekeepers, and hope that it 

 will have wide circulation, and prove of as much benefit to those 

 without the membership of the Sanitary Science Club as it evi- 

 dently has to those upon its rolls. 



The New Education. By George H. Palmer. Boston, Little, 

 Brown, & Co. i6°. 



Those who are studying the many problems attending the de- 

 velopment of our colleges and universities will be grateful to Pro- 

 fessor Palmer of Harvard for preserving in permanent form the 

 three articles which make up this book. On the appearance of the 

 first of them in the Andover Review, some eighteen or twenty 

 months ago, attention was directed to it as the strongest and fairest 

 plea for the system of free electives in the college course, that had 

 been published. It was immediately subjected to criticism and 

 attack ; and in the two other articles which form part of the volume 

 before us. Professor Palmer replied to his critics. 



Professor Palmer takes pains to keep one fact, fundamental to 

 the fair discussion of the Harvard system, before his readers ; 

 namely, that the particular modes of choice now in use at Harvard 

 are not finalities. They are a stage, merely, in the development. 



and it is to be expected that other and better systems will eventu- 

 ally be found, both at Harvard and elsewhere. This consideration 

 has been largely overlooked in the many discussions which have 

 taken place, and omission to give it proper weight has prejudiced 

 the Harvard case very much. 



The peculiar strength of Professor Palmer's argument arises from 

 the fact that it rests on a philosophical and ethical basis. It is not 

 an appeal for conformity to a changing environment, although that 

 feature is recognized ; nor is it an ex parte argument for some pre- 

 conceived system. It starts from the individuality of the pupil, and 

 demands that his will and character be trained, and that by the 

 exercise of his own free will, — the only character-building that 

 amounts to any thing. Professor Palmer has no difficulty in mak- 

 ing out a theoretical case from this standpoint, nor does he find any 

 but cumulative evidence for his system in such facts as he cites 

 from college-history. It must be admitted, too, that he has little 

 trouble in offsetting the objections raised against his ideal plan by 

 most of his critics. He does not allude, however, to Professor 

 West's analysis of President Eliot's report for 1884-85, which many 

 persons regard as the most damaging criticism on the Harvard sys- 

 tem that has appeared. We regret this, for Professor West's paper 

 has had a wide influence ; and if Professor Palmer could success- 

 fully refute its conclusions, he should have done so. 



We can heartily agree with the present author in holding that 

 character-building is the main object of education, and that charac- 

 ter-building is not mechanical, but organic. It depends, therefore, 

 upon the pupil himself ; and habitual wisdom of choice can only be 

 attained through freedom of choice. We agree also in holding that 

 the elective principle has come to stay, and that it will never again 

 be wholly absent from any successful college. But we cannot con- 

 clude so rapidly as does Professor Palmer, that unlimited election is 

 the wisest system. It may in time be proved to be so, but we can- 

 not agree that it is proven to be so now. The danger of abuse and 

 the tendency to over-specialization are so great, that we must ask 

 for some provision to be made against them. Moreover, wiser 

 heads than those of eighteen-year old boys know far better than the 

 latter what sorts of knowledge are essential, and what non-essential- 

 We would never urge a return to the old-fashioned inelastic course 

 of study ; but we do believe that the group system, modified in cer- 

 tain details, is superior to a system of unlimited election. We be- 

 lieve that under it there is found the freedom of choice which Pro- 

 fessor Palmer insists on, as well as the necessary Kmitations to the 

 abuse of that freedom by untrained minds. We would have it more 

 elastic than it is found at present ; we would have a greatly in- 

 creased number of groups provided, but we would retain its funda- 

 mental principle. As the free man must exercise his freedom with 

 due regard to the rights of his fellows, so the freedom of a student's 

 choice must be limited by the teachings of experience. Professor 

 Palmer himself seems to see the force of this position, for he says 

 (p. 105), "Whenever I can hear of a group system, which like the 

 old college has a place for the indistinct young man, and like the 

 new elective college matures him annually by suggesting that he 

 take part in shaping his own career, I will accept the group sys- 

 tem." We have confidence that such a system of groups will be 

 forthcoming in due season. 



The remarks of the author toward the close of his volume (pp ■ 

 142-144, 149, 1 50, etff.) as to the form of instruction and the character 

 of the studies during the two final years of the college course, are 

 intensely practical, and we trust that they will be heeded. As to 

 methods of collegiate teaching. Professor Palmer says, " Recitations 

 pure and simple have serious drawbacks. They presuppose a text- 

 book, which, while it brings definiteness, brings also narrowness of 

 view. The learner masters a book, not a subject. After-life pos- 

 sesses nothing analogous to the text-book. A struggling man wins 

 what he wants from many books, from his own thoughts, from fre- 

 quent consultations. Why should not a student be disciplined in 

 the ways he must afterwards employ ? " "A pure lecture system is 

 a broad road to ignorance. Students are entertained or bored, but 

 at the end of a month they know little more than at the beginning. 

 . . . Personal sanction is wanted for every step. One who will 

 grow wise must perform processes himself, not sit at ease and be- 

 hold another's performance." 



He again strikes a telling blow at the crude courses of study 



