REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 
A Teacher’s Guide in Nature Study. — Teachers who appreciate 
the importance of enriching elementary education by natural history 
studies, and realize something of the difficulties to be met, will doubt- 
less greet with hopeful interest the announcement of a school- 
teacher’s contribution toward a solution of the problem.’ Although 
on the title page it is said to be “for teachers and pupils,” a perusal 
of the book shows it to be little more than a guide for teachers, and 
quite unsuitable for children’s use. Its purpose is better indicated in 
the preface as an attempt “ to point out some of the material which 
may be made the basis of profitable lessons in nature study,” and an 
endeavor “to show how this material may be made available, and 
what the pupils may be taught about it.” 
In his effort to suggest profitable lines of instruction the author 
has had some measure of success. The natural interests of children 
are followed in calling attention to common animals, plants, and 
rocks, and indicating how each affects the others. Questions are — 
asked which are calculated to stimulate observation. Simple and 
significant experiments are encouraged. Regarding certain of the 
objects dealt with, notably domestic animals and cultivated plants, 
there is given information likely to be of service to teachers in 
preparing nature lessons. References to good literature on the 
various topics are not infrequent, although sometimes their value is 
lessened by lack of definiteness. The illustrations, a good share 
of which are original, are generally good. 
On the other hand, it must be said that the book gives the unfortu- 
nate impression of being mainly a collection of notes prepared by the 
author for use in his daily lessons with children, some of the notes 
being the merest skeletons of topics for treatment, while others are 
expanded as examples of the way he would talk to a class. There 
often results a somewhat puzzling mixture of the audiences supposed 
to be addressed, and much of what is said seems entirely unneces- 
sary. There are, moreover, frequent evidences of hasty preparation, 
1 Handbook of Nature Study for Teachers and Pupils in Elementary Schools. 
By D. Lange, Instructor in Nature Study in the Public Schools of St. Paul, Min- 
nesota. The Macmillan ip ona New York, 1898. xvi + 329 pp. 60 illustra- 
tions. Cloth, 12mo, $1.00 
