No. 483] 



\()T/':s AM) Ln\ 



195 



not intended for grammar schools nor for the first years of the liiirh 

 school even, but for schools whose students might soon aspin- to he 

 husbands and wives. 



The chapter on muscular activity is uniquely fine in iis cHm ns>ion 

 of the necessity for physical exercise, and in combination with |.tvvioiis 

 chapters on muscle-function and neural coordination ahno>t meets 

 the insistent demand pedagogy is beginning to make for bodily skill 

 as a basis for learning. One misses, perhaps, an adequate descrip- 

 tion of the kinesthetic mechanism for muscular control, as well as 

 sufficient information as to habit and the emotional reactions. On 

 the other hand, 'rhythmic segmentation' is allowed far more promi- 

 nence than the doubts as to its existence warrant. 



The hygienic portion of the book is rieh in clear and precise infor- 

 mation of really great importance to everyone. .Moreover it is set 

 forth in a manner as scientific and up-to-date as could be desired. 

 Could an enlarged wall-copy of figure UC ("A domestic well badly 

 situated in a farmyard"), be distributed broadcast by the state boards 

 of health, our city hospitals would soon cease to be over-filled with 

 typhoid patients in October and our farin-hoiises would \)v less sad- 

 dened by cholera infantum in the summer. 



The account of personal hygiene is at once cniinently praciii al and 

 entirely scientific — a needful combination .s(>ld()ni attained. More- 

 over it is more complete than is common in text-books of t!ii< s(»n. 

 It seems as if too little emphasis perhaps, were placed on tlic impor- 

 tance of moisture in the air of dwellings, this need heino- met hy ( .m- 

 tinually open windows. It is the throat-speciali.sts who hot realize 

 the general lack of moisture in the atmosphere of onr hoii-c-. hut 

 there are of course other reasons (such as that moist warm air fcel> 

 warmer than does dry warm air) which are important in the theory of 

 ventilation. 



Few but physioloo:ists familiar with the re(iiiircd falsiti.'. as i.. 

 alcohol and tobacco which reek in certain states, esjiecially \\est\\ard, 

 will reahze how excellenr is the dix iis^ion of tlioe wry important 

 topics in this book. The facts arc clearly stated and the principl. s 

 laid down,— their dan,ircr> in ovcrn>c any Mnd(>nt in a school 

 for normal persons may certainly sec and he warned hy for himself. 



The 147 often fatnil'iar illn-I rat ions of the work are adc(,nate and 

 for the most part well execntcd. 



