LITERARY NOTICES. 



117 



is more surprising than that transformation 

 of opinion in the scientific world that has 

 made such an award as this possible ; and, 

 if Aunt Hannah had been as prophetic as she 

 was devout, and scented afar the use that 

 would be made of her money, it is question- 

 able if the Royal Institution would ever have 

 got a shilling of it. As for the book itself, it 

 is but a sorry performance. It has been sagely 

 remarked, concerning prize sheep and prize 

 essays, that the former are useful only for 

 making candles, and the latter for lighting 

 them ; and the observation is as true of Mr. 

 Lowne's book as of the class to which it be- 

 longs, for it is certainly the poorest piece of 

 work upon the subject that we have yet seen. 

 Most contributions to this question are in- 

 spired by such an interest in it as to enforce 

 study and secure some merit ; but this contri- 

 bution has obviously been made for a hundred 

 guineas. Literary labor need not be neces- 

 sarily bad because it is paid for, but prize 

 essays are an open appeal to mercenary 

 motives, and are apt to attract those who 

 are mainly influenced by them. Mr. Lowne 

 undoubtedly knows something of his sub- 

 ject, but he neither contributes any thing 

 to its original thought, nor, what was equal- 

 ly needed, has he given us a clear and full 

 popular representation of it. The book 

 which shall perform that office remains yet 

 to be written. 



Elements of Physical Manipulation. By 

 Edward C. Pickering, Thayer Professor 

 of Physics in the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology. 8vo. 225 pages, 

 price, $3.00. New York : Hurd & 

 Houghton. 



There are hopeful signs that the des- 

 potic rule of the verbal system in education 

 has had its day, and must lose its suprem- 

 acy in future exactly in the ratio of the 

 advance of thorough scientific education. 

 Nothing can be more futile than the mere 

 verbal teaching of physical laws, when it is 

 possible, by the performance of simple ex- 

 periments, to bring their operation directly 

 before the student's mind. It is quite as 

 preposterous as the prevailing habit of 

 learning the descriptive and observational 

 sciences by memorizing the statements of 

 books rather than by the direct study of 

 the objects themselves. That nine-tenths of 

 the school-study of science is at present 



an unmitigated educational sham but few 

 will deny, and what is now wanted is less 

 an increase in the amount of scientific study 

 than a radical amendment of its method. 

 This want is widely felt, and is beginning 

 to be efficiently supplied. Botanical and 

 zoological text-books are becoming more 

 and more guides to Nature, and there is 

 springing up a separate literature of work- 

 ing processes in the experimental sciences. 

 Treatises on manipulation have long been 

 standard necessities in chemical labora- 

 tories, and they are now recognized as of 

 equal importance in laboratories devoted 

 to other departments of experimental sci- 

 ence. The admirable volume of Drs. Bur- 

 den - Sanderson and Michael Poster, on 

 " The Processes and Manipulations of the 

 Physiological Laboratory," is a recent Eng- 

 lish contribution in this direction ; and the 

 " Introduction to Physical Measurements," 

 by Dr. F. Kohlrausch, of Darmstadt, the 

 translation of which has just been issued 

 by Churchill, of London, is a valuable vol- 

 ume of the same kind. Prof. Pickering's 

 new book, however, is now by far the best 

 guide that we have for the practical teach- 

 ing of natural philosophy. Assuming that 

 the instruments are in the hands of the stu- 

 dent, it shows him precisely how to use 

 them, what precautions to take, and what 

 errors to avoid. " It is intended as a 

 hand-book for teachers, for the large class 

 of amateurs who devote their leisure to 

 some branch of physical inquiry, and more 

 particularly as a text -book for the physical 

 laboratories now introduced so generally 

 in all our larger colleges and scientific 

 schools. 



" It is hoped that it may also aid the 

 introduction of the laboratory system into 

 the high-schools and academies, as many 

 of the experiments are simple enough to 

 be performed there, and, at the same time, 

 the kind of apparatus described is such 

 that it can be made at very small expense." 



The preliminary chapter is devoted to 

 general methods of investigation and the 

 more common applications of the mathe- 

 matics to the discussion of results, and a 

 short description is also given of the vari- 

 ous methods of measuring distances, time, 

 and weights, which, in fact, form the basis 

 of all physical investigation. The remain- 



