LITERARY NOTICES. 



5 6 3 



appellative sense of words descriptive of ob- 

 jects in nature was lost, and the anthropo- 

 morphism and personification became more 

 and more complete. From this general de- 

 scription and origin the author goes on to 

 account for " myths of explanation," " myths 

 arising from metaphor," "heroic legends," 

 " nursery tales," " proverbs, folk-lore," etc., 

 "survivals and reminiscences," " shadow and 

 signification," " didactic and ethical myths," 

 and " symbolism." Finally, he forecasts an 

 "excelsior" for the human mind, when it 

 shall grow beyond " anthropomorphism in 

 reference to Deity ? " 



The book prepared by Paul Bert as an 

 introduction to his " First Steps in Scientific 

 Knowledge " has been translated and issued 

 in this country, with the title Primer of Sci- 

 entific Knowledge (Lippincott, 36 cents). The 

 author says of the present volume : " This 

 new work is carried out in the same spirit 

 as the former and follows the same plan. 

 The book is so arranged that the larger work 

 becomes a review and extension of the sub- 

 ject. The method which consists in present- 

 ing to the child during two or three consecutive 

 years the same subjects, in the same order, 

 following the same general arrangement, but 

 with an increasing number of facts and a 

 progressive elevation of ideas, is an excel- 

 lent one and is now universally adopted." 

 The " Primer " is both more elementary and 

 more practical in character than the " First 

 Steps." It treats of man (his organs and 

 their uses), animals, plants, stones, and the 

 three states of matter, with a few para- 

 graphs on light, sound, electricity, and mag- 

 netism. Reading lessons and subjects for 

 composition are given at the end of each 

 section. The book is full of pictures and is 

 provided with a glossary. These two books 

 serve admirably to bring the study of nature 

 into the early education of pupils, where it 

 will do them most good. 



A very attractive little book, entitled Out- 

 lines of Lessons in Botany, is offered by Jane 

 H. Newell, for the use of teachers, or of 

 mothers studying with their children (Ginn). 

 The lessons here outlined are suitable for 

 children of twelve years of age and upward. 

 They follow the plan of Dr. Gray's " First 

 Lessons" and "How Plants Grow," and 

 are intended to be used in connection with 



either of those books. The necessary refer- 

 ences are given at the end of each section. 

 These lessons contain directions for getting 

 plants to work upon by raising them from 

 the seed, etc. ; also suggestions for leading 

 the pupils to observe and to experiment for 

 themselves. Part I, now before us, deals 

 with the organs of plants and their func- 

 tions, taking up in succession roots, buds 

 and branches, stems and leaves, and thus 

 affords a basis for classification, which Part 

 II, on flowers, is to develop. A general de- 

 scription of seedlings precedes the chapters 

 on the special organs, and prefixed to that 

 is a brief account of plants and their uses. 

 Only the flowering plants are studied in 

 these lessons. The book has twenty-five 

 illustrations. 



Prof. Wentworth's series of mathemat- 

 ical text-books has been increased by the 

 first volume of a work on A Igebraic Analy- 

 sis, by G. A. Wentworth, J. A. McLellan, 

 and J. C. Glashan (Ginn, $1.60). This work 

 is intended to supply students of mathe- 

 matics with a well-filled storehouse of solved 

 examples and unsolved exercises in the ap- 

 plication of the fundamental theorems and 

 processes of pure algebra, and to exhibit to 

 them the highest and most important results 

 of modern algebraic analysis. It may be 

 used to follow and supplement the ordinary 

 text-books, or as a work of reference in a 

 course of instruction under a teacher. The 

 present volume ends with a large collection 

 of exercises in determinants. 



Studies in the Outlying Fields of Psy- 

 chic Science, by Hudson Tuttle (Holbrook, 

 $1.25), is an attempt to explain those oc- 

 currences which have come to be known by 

 the name of psychic phenomena. His theory 

 is, that there is a psychic ether which con- 

 veys thought as the luminiferous ether con- 

 veys light; that every one's thoughts pro- 

 duce waves in this psychic ether, which may 

 be felt by a person at a distance who has 

 the requisite sensitiveness, and that in this 

 way mesmerism, clairvoyance, mind-reading, 

 visions, thought-transference, etc., are made 

 possible. He regards this theory and these 

 phenomena as furnishing a scientific basis 

 for the belief in immortality. The closing 

 chapter is a record of impressions which the 

 author believes he received from the spirit- 

 world. Mr. Tuttle appears to be acquainted 



