276 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 279 



•events in many nations, and in many different departments of hu- 

 -man activity ; and in this respect it has eminent advantages over 

 imost other chronological works. 



We should add that both the works here noticed are provided 

 with elaborate indexes, which greatly enhance their usefulness. 



■Physical and Industrial Training of Criminals. By HAMILTON 

 D. Wey. (Monographs of the Industrial Education Associa- 

 tion, Vol. I. No. 3.) New York, Industr. Educ. Assoc. 



Among the many innovations in penal science introduced at 

 the New York State Reformatory, there is perhaps none with so 

 ■great an interest to the scientist and the educator as the experiment 

 •of reaching the unresponsive intellects of refractory and stupid crim- 

 inals through their muscles. This experiment, noticed in these 

 ■columns some time ago, carried with it the proof of its success. It 

 was due to the author of this pamphlet. Dr. H. D. Wey, physician 

 i\a the reformatory at Elmira. In the present pamphlet Dr. Wey 

 ■rehearses this experiment, and surrounds it with a valuable analysis 

 -of the criminal character, — the only sound basis of true and last- 

 ing reform. He here portrays the deviation of the psychophysical 

 -organism of the criminal from that of his more fortunate fellow- 

 men, and deduces from it the sound conclusion that the only 

 method of restoring the criminal to a worthy place in the commu- 

 nity is to re-organize that fundamental re-action between an indi- 

 vidual and his environment that makes crime tempting. For this 

 'purpose one must educate the criminal, and that not only in the 

 usual sense of literary instruction, but with the additional meaning 

 -of re-forming the habits of his body and mind ; and -when, in es- 

 pecially dull and sluggish men, it was found that a direct appeal to 

 the will and the intellect was unsatisfactory, the logical step was 

 taken of treating the muscles, the physiological organs of the will : 

 ior modern physiology tells us that in muscular exercise we develop 

 ■not only the muscle, but, more important, the nerve-cell that con- 

 trols its action ; we are building brain and power alike. Such a 

 purely physical training brought the average marks of a dozen 

 most unpromising men for purely intellectual studies from 46 per 

 cent to 71 per cent. The effect is immediate, and, if the treat- 

 ment is sufficiently prolonged, is lasting. 



The second portion of the pamphlet is devoted to the industrial 

 system at Elmira. Idleness is the source of a good share of the 

 world's misery ; and every moment of a prisoner's life ought to be 

 systematically occupied. Moreover, the work should be made as 

 interesting as possible, not assume the air of a task imposed as a 

 process of torture. Add to this, that the industrial training must 

 be such as to fit the liberated man to earn his livelihood, and at once 

 (for it is immediately after liberation that the greatest danger exists), 

 ■and it seems to follow as a necessary deduction that the reforma- 

 tory workshop must approximate to the real hives of production in 

 the surrounding world. In addition, the educational value of manual 

 training is to be made a special point. This is what the reforma- 

 tory at Elmira is attempting to do ; and the success of the enter- 

 prise, after it is properly understood both by the men themselves 

 and by the public, seems beyond question. This monograph, it is 

 hoped, will be the means of extending the sound teachings and 

 practices in vogue at the New York Reformatory. 



-Negro Myths from the Georgia Coast. By Charles C. Jones, 

 Jun. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 12*'. 



The title of this book is not quite correct, for the tales told in it 

 are not myths, but fables. Some such stories had already been 

 •collected by other writers ; but Mr. Jones has found in the swamp 

 region of Georgia and the Carolinas a comparatively unknown field, 

 in which he has gleaned much that is new. The stories are told in 

 the. patois of the negroes themselves; 'which seems to us a mis- 

 take, as they are not only harder to read, but less interesting, than 

 they would be in correct English. Moreover, many of the linguis- 

 tic peculiarities are mere mispronunciations, while others are con- 

 tractions such as we all use in conversation, and only a few are real 

 •dialectical characteristics. 



The characters in the fables are mostly animals, the rabbit being 

 the favorite, while the wolf and the alligator are frequently intro- 

 duced. The stories show not a little ingenuity and humor, and 

 some of them are quite entertaining. One of the best is that about 



the monkey who didn't know what trouble was, and who went to 

 the Devil to find out. The Devil gave him a closed bag. and told 

 him to go out into the midst of a large field near by, and then open 

 the bag, and he would find an answer to his inquiry. The monkey 

 obeyed, and when he had reached the middle of the field opened 

 the bag, when out jumped a bull-dog. The monkey started and 

 ran, and the dog ran after him until they reached a wood, when the 

 monkey succeeded in climbing a tree, but not without the loss of his 

 tail. The dog staid by the tree and watched till he was hungry, 

 and had to go off in search of food. Then the monkey came down 

 and went home to his wife, telling her that he had had enough of 

 trouble. The moral is obvious : never search for trouble, but wait 

 till it comes to you. 



Besides the fables, a few other stories are given, the most impor- 

 tant being those relating to the negro belief in spirits, fetiches, and 

 charms. These show, what was already known from other sources, 

 that the Southern negroes are hardly less superstitious in some re- 

 spects than their African ancestors, and that a great deal will have 

 to be done to raise them to the level of civilization. 



Lessons in Geometry, for the Use of Beginners. By G. A. HiLL, 

 A.M. Boston, Ginn. 12°. 

 This admirable little book is a grammar-school geometry, and 

 as such lies midway between the courses in geometrical drawing 

 followed in some of our city schools, and a course in ordinary 

 demonstrative geometry. It is intended to follow the study of 

 arithmetic. The method followed is in great part that of question 

 and answer. Each new idea is put in very simple language. Defi- 

 nitions are carefully explained, and in many cases illustrated by 

 cuts. In short, every difficulty which the pupil is likely to meet 

 with seems to have been anticipated. The few demonstrations 

 that are given are all based on the method of equal triangles. The 

 most important feature of the book is the large number of exercises. 

 Of these, those which involve the metric systeni are separated from 

 the others, and can be omitted if desired. A cheap case' of draw- 

 ing-instruments accompanies the book. The book is adapted to 

 the needs of every grammar-school in the country', and could with 

 advantage be used in all of them. For practical knowledge gained, 

 few branches would better repay the time devoted to the study of 

 this book. It is printed in the elegant style in which the publishers 

 are accustomed to issue their works. G. W. Sawin. 



Trigonometry for Beginners. By Rev, J. B. LOCK, M.A. New 

 York, Macmillan, 1886. 16°. 60 cents. 



This little book is an abridgment of the ' Elementary Trigonom- 

 etry ' by the same author. Very little knowledge of geometry is 

 assumed. Some points, such as the circular measure of an angle, 

 the fact that the ratios depend only on the magnitude of the an- 

 gle, and the explanation of tables, are much better put than it is 

 customary to find them. The book also contains a very large num- 

 ber (about seven hundred and fifty) of exercises, which are much 

 better chosen than those in the trigonometries in common use, 

 those in formula-work being particularly good. These exercises, 

 together with the low price of the book, make it especially valuable 

 as a secondary treatise for teachers who are using another text- 

 book. The book is too small for the amount it contains, and as a 

 consequence its pages are much crowded. 



Geometry in Space. By R. C. J. NiXON, M.A. Oxford, Claren- 

 don Pr. 12°. (New York, Macmillan, go cents.) 



This is a brief treatment of solid geometry, modelled on that of 

 Euclid. A short introduction on perspective is prefixed, however, 

 and some modern ideas are introduced, such as anharmonic ratio, 

 similitude, inversion, and poles and polars, these subjects being 

 very briefly treated. The number of exercises is also large. A 

 chapter on the geometrical theory of perspective is appended. The 

 book is well printed, but would be much improved if the type were 

 larger. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The third part of the annual report of the Geological Survey 



of Pennsylvania has just been issued. It treats of the operations in 



the anthracite-coal region, and is accompanied by an atlas, embra- 



ing the coal-region, and based upon the triangulation of the United 



