4H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



latter of these qualifications. It consists of 

 plain and detailed directions for teaching a 

 knowledge of the earth's surface. The 

 general forms of river basins are first taught 

 with the aid of diagrams. The structure of 

 each of the continents is then shown in the 

 same way. Next, attention is drawn to a 

 large number of points which together give 

 a view of the world as a whole, among these 

 being the relative positions of the continents, 

 relations of continents to oceans, distribu- 

 tion of heat, ocean currents, winds, distribu- 

 tion of moisture, of vegetation, of animals, 

 of races of men, and of minerals, and po- 

 litical divisions. A brief outline of a course 

 of study is given, and this is followed by a 

 chapter of general suggestions and direc- 

 tions. One direction which the author ranks 

 above all others is that the pupil should 

 form the habit of "locating every place, 

 natural feature and country, mentioned in 

 reading and study," the best chance for this 

 being found in the study of history. He in- 

 dorses the use of relief maps, after consid- 

 ering the objections to them, and recom- 

 mends map -drawing. He maintains that 

 "in the art of questioning is concentrated 

 the art of teaching," hence the " Notes on 

 the Course of Study," which occupy about 

 half of the volume, largely consist of ques- 

 tions. These may be used as they stand by 

 the teacher in giving lessons, and should 

 also serve the higher purpose of a model 

 from which the teacher may learn the art of 

 original questioning. The course of study is 

 marked out in grades, and the " Notes " are 

 followed by a list of books and maps suita- 

 ble for supplementary reading and reference 

 in each grade. Essays on "Spring Studies 

 in Nature," " Weather Observations," " The 

 Study of Geography," and " Relief Maps and 

 their Construction," by various writers, are 

 appended. This book can not fail to be an im- 

 portant aid to the teacher in changing geog- 

 raphy lessons from a mere drudgery for the 

 memory to a real study of the earth's surface. 



The Mind of the Child, Part II. The De- 

 velopment op the Intellect. By W. 

 Peetee. Translated from the German 

 by H. W. Brown. New York : D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. " International Education 

 Series." Pp. 317. Price, $1.50. 

 The former volume of the relation of 



Prof. Preyer's investigations on the mind of 



the child contained those parts devoted to 

 the development of the senses and of the will. 

 The present volume contains a third part, 

 which treats of the development of the in- 

 tellect. Three appendixes are added, con- 

 taining supplementary matter. The author, 

 considering that the development of the pow- 

 er of using language is the most prominent 

 index to the unfolding of the intellect, de- 

 votes the greater part of the volume to that 

 branch of the subject. The question wheth- 

 er there can be thought without words, which 

 Max Miiller has made a living one, holds a 

 first place in the discussion. The author's 

 opinion on this subject is clear and expressed 

 without reserve, and is opposed to the view 

 which Dr. Miiller maintains. The thinker, 

 who has long since forgotten the time when 

 he himself learned to speak, can not give a 

 decided answer to the question ; for he can 

 not admit that he has been thinking without 

 words, " not even when he has caught him- 

 self arriving at a logical result without a 

 continuity in his expressed thought. . . . 

 But the child not yet acquainted with verbal 

 language, who has not been prematurely arti- 

 ficialized by training and by suppression of 

 his own attempts to express his states of 

 mind, who learns of himself to think, just as 

 he learns of himself to see and hear — such a 

 child shows plainly to the attentive observer 

 that long before knowledge of the word as 

 a means of understanding among men, and 

 long before the first successful attempt to 

 express himself in articulate words — nay, 

 long before learning the pronunciation of a 

 single word, he combines ideas in a logical 

 manner — i. e., he thinks." This position is 

 sustained by numerous illustrations and cita- 

 tions of incidents ; and the case of uneduca- 

 ted deaf-mutes is regarded as demonstrating 

 that thought-activity exists without words, 

 and without signs for words. In our own 

 only half-remembered experiences, the au- 

 thor says, " it was not language that gener- 

 ated the intellect ; it is the intellect that for- 

 merly invented language ; and even now the 

 new-born human being brings with him into 

 the world far more intellect than talent for 

 language." The acquisition of speech be- 

 longs to the unsolved physiological prob- 

 lems. As a help to the investigation, a par- 

 allel is drawn between the child that does 

 not yet speak and the diseased adult who 



