and Bari, and this year are to be added to them schools at Ancona and Gallipoli, whilst others will be established in Redeemed Italy. Two types prevail: there are schools which add technical instruction to elementary training and schools which give a full three years' technical course. Many of the teachers are naval officers. From April to October there are exercises on the sea: rowing, swimming, the practice of navigation, the study of the methods of fishing, and so forth. The Admiralty lends boats, with compasses, sextants, and models of ships. As a sanction, there is the patent of padrone marittimo, captain of a coasting boat. The first patents were gained this year by the pupils of the school at Rimini, who went by boat to pass the examination at Venezia, coasting the land on the outward voyage and using canals as far as possible on the return. Apart from the endeavours of the Consorzio delle Scuole Marittime, the new Law on Fishery contemplates the establishment of schools for fishermen at all the principal centres of the fishing industry. These, too, will make mariners, although the life and habits of fish form the primary object of study. MEXICO. Under the auspices of the Bureau of Anthropology, an Exposition of Anthropology was recently held in Mexico, Signs of Progress. among the articles exhibited being artistic and architectural objects and clothing of the Teotihuacan and Maya civilizations. It is reported that President Obregon is eager to sheathe the sword and to rely on education for the improvement of the country. The National Education Movement. INDIA. It is difficult for a monthly journal to keep pace with events. We are following the National Education Movement in India as closely as we can. The young University at Dacca has been threatened with a boycott; it does not, however, appear that the non-co-operators are numerous there. In general, the situation seems to be improved. Indian Education (XIX, 10), in an Editorial Note, writes thus:-" With regard to the reorganization of the Indian Educational Service, important announcements have recently been made. Seventy more Indians have been appointed to the Service, with the result that Indians now number 40 per cent. of the total strength. This will give widespread satisfaction, and it may be expected further appointments will shortly be published. Since education is now in the hands of an Indian Minister, directly responsible to the people, and, since a large and growing proportion of the cadre of the Indian Educational Service are Indians, we trust that we shall hear less and less foolish talk about 'national education' in the narrow and political sense of that much abused term." The true friends of India will hear nothing of a "national education" which is subversive in intent and political in its objective. On the other hand, an Indian High Court judge has lately said wisely :"A national type of education must, while availing itself to the fullest extent of modern knowledge, take into consideration the peculiarity of the Indian mind, its ancestral capacity and psychological tradition, its acquired knowledge and its spiritual heritage.' Such an education the friends of India are willing to co-operate in obtaining for Indians. In fine, it is co-operation, and not nonco-operation, on which the progress of India depends. PRIMARY SCHOOL NOTES. Making the Children Pay. THE letter of the President of the Board of Education, in reference to the proposals drawn up by the Burnham Committee, represents a genuine effort to meet the demands of the economists on the one hand, and to satisfy the minimum professional standards acceptable to teachers on the other. There is little doubt that the difficult economic position occupied by the Board is fully appreciated by the moderates among teachers, but it is probable that the outstanding personality of Mr. H. A. L. Fisher and his zeal for education have constituted the chief influences in securing the agreement of teachers to the modified proposals. The older teachers will suffer permanent financial loss under the terms of the new scheme, because it will be impossible for them to qualify for the maximum rate of superannuation allowance available for their younger colleagues. The restriction of the operation of Scale IV to the metropolitan area will create widespread dissatisfaction among the younger teachers in the great provincial centres of population. Much latent discontent, which has been temporarily lulled by the prospect of the full adoption of the Burnham recommendations, is likely to find active expression in the immediate future. Men teachers are already taking the lead in this respect, and any prospect of securing more entrants to the men's side of the profession appears now to be hopeless. The lack of men teachers and the existence of a strong feeling of injustice among large sections of teachers cannot fail to have a disastrous effect upon the work of the schools, and there is reason to fear that the petty economies in education will be heavily paid for by the consequent inefficiency of child education. The Supply of Teachers. ALTHOUGH Some considerable improvement has taken place during the past two years in the number of entrants to the teaching profession, the increase has been mainly in the ranks of women recruits. During the past year only 803 boys entered the profession, while 1,800 adult teachers were killed during the war. No inconsiderable section of the newcomers has been influenced by the prospect opened out by the Burnham scales and the chance of promotion to the higher grades of education. The parents who formerly placed their children in the teaching profession were frequently able to give them allowances to supplement insufficient school incomes. In consequence, quite a number of primary-school teachers of the older type possess private means which have enabled them to make good the shortcomings of their professional remuneration. But the cost of living, which had already increased with the burden of local rates and taxation before the war, has pressed most heavily upon the lower middle classes, whose members cannot now afford to place their children in professions where salaries require supplementary private incomes. As a result, the churches and the schools have been regarded with indifference during late years by parents who seek the material rather than spiritual well-being of their children. In this connexion it may be interesting to note the opinion of the Bishop of Durham in opposing expenditure upon the provision and maintenance of a test and training school for the ministry. He regarded it as an unsound method of recruiting men for the ministry and a bad business proposition. It was possible that the scarcity of ministers would lead to an increased level of remuneration, and then a higher standard of competence could be insisted upon. Perhaps the need of a high sense of vocation, and the feeling that teaching is essentially a consecrated calling, were never more necessary among candidates for the teaching profession than they are to-day. Teachers and Upper Standard Courses. THE attempt which is being made by some local education authorities to secure teachers for advanced courses in primary schools, upon the ordinary terms of remuneration for assistants in such schools, does not appear to be favourably regarded by teachers. While these courses do not, as a rule, include crowded classes, the subjects certainly call for special qualifications on the part of the teachers, a considerable number of whom possess graduate or equivalent advantages. It is obvious that secondary schools and continuation schools will readily attract these teachers so long as existing conditions continue, and this would prevent pupils who are now spending an additional year in the primary schools from securing the highest degree of advantage. The suggestion that higher standard schools may develop into secondary schools implies that teachers must work for several years upon advanced subjects, more or less upon sufferance. During the period of experiment and reconstruction the position would probably be safeguarded by the introduction of an intermediate salary scale, for such a course would ensure the necessary training and retention of school staffs. The End-of-Term Strain. THE expectation that the pressure of school duties would be relieved by the return of teachers from the war has not been fulfilled. In many cases school staffs have never been restored to pre-war strength, although teachers were assured that the loss of a teacher here and another there were merely war economies of a temporary nature. Teachers who were cheerfully undertaking the duties of absent colleagues are now being asked to continue their efforts until new appointments can be made. Some authorities find it impossible to secure teachers; others postpone appointments under the plea of economy. In the meantime, pre-war activities are being resumed upon the full scale; statistical returns, forms of every variety, school medical data, and new schemes of work, have all to be provided by gravely depleted staffs, and the end of every term witnesses a veritable crisis. It is not at all uncommon for teachers to spend week-ends in a state of utter prostration, and older teachers of responsible positions find the main problem of life is to avoid breakdown before the completion of each term. REPORTS from all parts of the country tend to confirm the view that considerable friction is about to enter the working of agreements made tentatively by local education committees and their teachers upon the basis of the Burnham reports upon salaries, particularly in districts where payments have already been made. Owing to the wide variations of payment which exist, solid inducements are offered to teachers to resign from their present positions. Local education authorities may take the view that the Board of Education are indirectly responsible for any trouble which may arise with teachers, owing to their limitation of the terms of the Burnham reports. In the industrial areas there is a steady growth of public opinion in favour of a sound system of national educationprimary, secondary, and university-and an accompanying feeling of disgust at the petty economies which are preventing the fuller operation of the new Education Act. Candidates have been induced to enter the teaching profession upon prospects which, in some places, may not now be realized, and members of local authorities, who are usually of a solid business type, have not yet had the opportunity of presenting an important point of view. National Union of Teachers. NOTWITHSTANDING the growth of sectional associations among teachers, it is significant that the returns of the National Union of Teachers show an increased membership of more than 1,100 as compared with last year. Further substantial improvements are anticipated when the young teachers who leave the colleges at the close of the summer term take up their school appointments in autumn. The funds of the Union amounted in June to £192,248, which represents an increase of £60,252 upon the total at the same time last year. The following unions of teachers have been received in federation with the N.U.T. :-Bermuda, British Guiana, Grenada, Jamaica, and Malta. The thank-offering fund of the Union has reached a total of £91,280. CORRESPONDENCE. WOMEN'S HOLIDAY FUND. To the Editors of The Journal of Education and School World. SIRS,-May we once more appeal through your columns for help to carry on the work of the Women's Holiday Fund? This year, with the dark cloud of unemployment hanging over so many homes, the working woman's burden of care and anxiety is heavier than usual. She is the first to suffer, the one to make sacrifices for husband and children, to go without the necessaries of life, and certainly without such a luxury as a holiday. More help is therefore needed if many of these tired women are to get rest and the refreshment of fresh air and sea breezes. They themselves can contribute but little towards the cost of a holiday, and we therefore ask for a very generous response to the appeal from all who are now planning their own holidays, and to whom the thought of passing a year without this change is inconceivable. The society has just opened at St. Leonards-on-Sea a small home of its own, with a trained matron in charge, where some of London's weary, and in many cases under-nourished, mothers may, with their babies, be given the good food and rest they so badly need. The full cost of a fortnight's holiday for a mother and baby, including railway fare, is £3. 10s. Ten guineas will enable us to send away three mothers and babies. Contributions, large and small, towards the upkeep of the home, and also for the general work of the fund, are urgently needed, and should be sent to the Secretary, Women's Holiday Fund, 76 Denison House, 296 Vauxhall Bridge Road, S.W.1.-Yours faithfully, A. F. LONDON, MANUEL J. BIDWELL, HELEN A. POWNALL. J. SCOTT LIdgett. THE DALTON PLAN.-In response to the numerous requests which have reached her from teachers, Miss Parkhurst has decided to prepare a handbook to the Dalton Plan. It will be published by Messrs. Bell in the autumn. REVIEWS AND MINOR NOTICES. FROM HOMER TO DAnte. The Traditions of European Literature from Homer to Dante. By Prof. B. WEndell. (28s. net. Murray.) To have succeeded in giving an account of the literary traditions of Europe from Homer to Dante in such a way that the essential things are stressed, while the insignificant are ignored, is no mean achievement. This Prof. Wendell has done in just over 600 pages; he treats his subject by centuries under the headings of the traditions of Greece, of Rome, of Christianity, and of the Middle Ages, and is at his best in delineating the general conditions (historical and literary) of each period. In dealing with individual authors he is apt to take the conventional estimate of a man's work in rather an uncritical manner. For example, he repeats the conventional criticism of the deus ex machina in Euripides where "divine visitants are apt to solve the complications of the plot" (page 92), in seemingly blissful ignorance that such a remark is quite untrue and has long ago been refuted by Euripidean scholars. But in such an extensive work as this such errors are perhaps inevitable; no man could be an authority upon a tithe of the authors mentioned. What is more to be deprecated is the spirit in which the book is written. It is obviously intended for those who do not read the original authors. For example, on page 65 we are told: "You may have read much concerning Aeschylus," and the moment you turn to what is said or written about Sophocles," &c. Prof. Wendell makes some sort of apology for this in his preface, and blames the ignorance of American students, but the result is that he has often to labour the obvious, as, for example, when he tells us that Ovid wrote elegiacs (page 17), that groups of three Greek tragedies are called trilogies (page 58), that Neapolis is the Greek for Newtown, or that acropolis means a citadel! We do not blame Prof. Wendell for this ignorance of the American student, but we do think that his book rather tends to subserve the acquiring of a superficial knowledge about the authors with whom he deals. But, if students are to bę encouraged to read about authors, rather than the authors themselves, they cannot do better than read this book. English students will find it a little verbose, perhaps, but if they do not weary of this, they will find Prof. Wendell a competent, if pedestrian, guide. Occasionally they will come upon some most illuminating remarks-remarks which drive home to the mind some fact or other which they may have known before, but the true significance of which they have ignored. How many of us, for example, who knew that reading aloud was the universal practice of the ancients, would have realized how rare silent reading was without the story (quoted by Prof. Wendell) told by St. Augustine about the habits of St. Ambrose in his study at Milan to the effect that "when he was reading, he drew his eyes along over the leaves, and his heart reached into the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent" "? A PIONEER OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE. The Scientific Papers of the Honourable Henry Cavendish, F.R.S. Vol. I: The Electrical Researches. Edited by Prof. J. CLERK MAXWELL, F.R.S. Revised by Sir J. LARMOR. Vol. II: Chemical and Dynamical. Edited by Sir EDWARD THORPE, F.R.S. (6 net, two vols. Cambridge University Press.) 66 These two volumes form a worthy tribute to the memory of that remarkable genius, Henry Cavendish, a great and justly celebrated chemist, natural philosopher, and astronomer"; son of Lord Charles Cavendish, and grandson of William, second Duke of Devonshire; "le plus riche de tous les savans et le plus savant de tous les riches." He weighed the earth; he deprived water of the quality of an element"; he discovered the composition of nitric acid; he examined the gases of the atmosphere and obtained a small bubble" of residual gas, which, as the late Lord Rayleigh has shown, must have 66 66 consisted substantially of argon. In electrical science, he in- authoritative and official record of everything-from whole reliefs Cavendish resided at Peterhouse, Cambridge, from 1749 to 1753, and it is fitting that his university should thus seek to honour one of its most distinguished sons. In October 1879, the Cambridge University Press published "The Electrical Researches of Henry Cavendish," a few weeks only before the death of its editor, James Clerk Maxwell, first Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics. This is now reprinted in different form as Volume I of "The Scientific Papers," with a preface and notes by Sir Joseph Larmor, who has carried out his task with sympathetic interest. It has been the custom, even among Cavendish's admirers, to brand him as misanthropic. But there is surely another side to this judgment. The cultivation of the highest domains of physical science is rarely consistent with dispersal of interest in other directions. The tracking out of great discoveries which will be a possession to the human race for all time has indeed to be its own supreme intellectual satisfaction; and once an investigator has realized, in however modest a way, his capacity for such achievement, he can feel that he is serving humanity in the most perfect manner open to him by concentrating upon that work. Yet the temptation to the continual postponement of ordinary social intercourse inevitably involves increasing isolation, and growing habits of solitude. 66 Volume II, containing chemical and dynamical papers, has been carefully edited by Sir Edward Thorpe, who has written a valuable introduction, giving a brief account of Cavendish's personal history and characteristics, followed by a short commentary on his investigations. In some respects the last section is the most interesting of all, as it deals with the unpublished manuscripts. Cavendish anticipated Scheele in the discovery of arsenic acid, and was an independent discoverer of the true nature of "tartar," and of the relation of cream of tartar to 'soluble tartar," or normal potassium tartrate. He carried out original work on heat, and says: "I think Sir Isaac Newton's opinion, that heat consists in the internal motion of the particles of bodies, much the most probable." " But perhaps most striking of all were his reasoned views on the conservation of energy, including a precise introduction of the idea of potential energy, and the recital of the causes of the degradation of energy into the form of heat." Sir Joseph Larmor has supplied notes on the matheinatical and dynamical papers, Sir Archibald Geikie discusses Cavendish as a geologist, Sir Frank Dyson gives an account of the astronomical manuscripts, and Dr. Charles Chree gives a detailed description of Cavendish's magnetic work. The two volumes now published may be regarded as the final garnering of the work of one of the greatest of scientific discoverers." CLASSICS. Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Vol. II. By S. CASSON. (36s. net. Cambridge University Press.) The We are pleased to have the opportunity in noticing this volume (in no sense a school book) of expressing a little of the gratitude which all classical schoolmasters owe to archæologists. labours of such specialized scholars unearth knowledge which in time percolates through to the humblest of classical schoolmasters, as, for example, the increase of our knowledge of the Mycenaean Age, brought about by the discoveries in Crete, has already done. But in this volume-to call it a mere catalogue seems unfair to its artistic charm!-we have no such garnered fruits, but merely the careful docketing and description of every fragment of sculptured stone which may some day add to our knowledge. Infinite patience and care is represented by such a work, and the whole is inspired by the true scholar's maxim: that nothing is too insignificant to be noticed. Vol. I of the Catalogue, by the late Mr. Guy Dickens, dealt with the sculptures before 480 B.C.-that convenient dividing line caused by the Persian destruction of the Athenian Acropolisand the present volume deals with the period following that date. Its publication has been delayed by the war, but it now forms the 44 'The Clarendon Series of Latin and Greek Authors."-(1) Sallust: We confess to some misgivings about the advisability of this series. Will it lead to less Latin being read in our schools than previously? The boy who reads the whole of "The Jugurthine War,'' half in Latin and half in English, has demonstrably read no more Latin than the boy who reads half of it in the original, so there is some danger that the authors of the series will not do that service to the cause of the classics which they have had in mind. Classroom experience alone must decide. Moreover, what will be the psychological effect upon a young mind of reading a bilingual narrative? Not entirely good, we should imagine. But, granted the principle, it must be admitted that Prof. Butler has done his work well. His translation is excellent, but he ought to have left the second chapter, at any rate, of the preface in the original. But, whatever ground there may be for misgivings about this series, there cannot be two opinions about Mr. Livingstone's part of the introduction to the second of the two volumes named above. It is simply excellent. He is obviously a born teacher, and has here succeeded in presenting boys with Caesar and the problems that faced him in a most realistic manner. EDUCATION. The Education of Behaviour. By Dr. I. B. SAXBY. We have here an admirable example of the value of practical exposition. There is scarcely anything that is new in the groundwork of the volume. Macdougall, Shand, and the rest have supplied the straw and the clay, but the bricks stand emphatically to the credit of Dr. Saxby. Acknowledging her indebtedness to her predecessors, she has applied her material in a way that increases its value enormously, by bringing it within the region of practical politics. She has done exactly what was needed. Every teacher who reads her authorities feels that somehow or other all this is very valuable. But how is it to be applied to our work? Dr. Saxby shows how. Her presentation is eminently original. She never hesitates to substitute a view of her own, where her experience does not warrant an acceptance of the orthodox position. She is delightfully fresh; what could be more admirable than her calm rejection of the term instinct altogether, on the ground that really it is overworked-indeed, bedridden--and serves only to confuse the issues? How much happier the ordinary teacher feels in dealing with her mind-tunnelling than he does with that clammy thing called psychoanalysis. An eminently sane, clear, and useful manual. The Yearbook of the Universities of the Empire, 1921. Edited by W. H. DAWSON. (15s, net. Bell.) The first university study was, at least in Italy, Roman law; for the nucleus of the University of Bologna (Mater Studiorum) was the law school that gathered about Irnerio, Bulgaro, and Martino successively. Canon law came next, then theology, then moral and mental science, with Aristotle (il maestro di coloro che sanno) as the one authority therein. To-day, as the Yearbook" shows, there is hardly to be found a field of knowledge that the university has not annexed. Leeds teaches of Coal, Gas, and Fuel Industries; Liverpool, of Naval Architecture; McGill has professors of Animal Industry and Dairying; Edinburgh promotes Actuarial Science and Rural Economy; whilst London even instructs men to fly. Much else may be learned from this handy volume. Institutes of higher education are most numerous in the United States; Norway, Denmark, and Finland have each only one university. The youngest academy in the British Empire is Dacca; the oldest we are too cautious to name. Noteworthy is the revelation of the number of chairs occupied by women, who once had to argue in defence of the theory that they had souls. The Universities Bureau of the British Empire is to be congratulated on this its publication, which is an invaluable guide through the province to which it relates. The American University; an Australian View. By Prof. E. R. HOLME. (7s. 6d. net. Australian Book Co.) If the nations are to be joined together in some sort of brotherhood, academies, the calm shelters of impartial truth, must engage themselves in making and preserving the union. That is why the Universities Bureau of the British Empire summoned a conference to discuss International University Co-operation. In such a scheme Australia would be a link with America, and Prof. Holme of Sydney has studied the American universities carefully in quest of merits and demerits. He finds the American university to be one of America's greatest achievements. Yet servile imitation were unworthy of Australia: the American university is characteristic of the American people; the Australian, British in origin, must follow the British tradition. The American President, for example, an autocrat having no fit place in a democracy, ought not to displace the British Vice-Chancellor. But Australia may learn some lessons from America. The American "dormitory, "which is a building and not a room, mirrors for Australia a true student's home; America, in giving federal aid to higher education, might well stimulate the Australian Commonwealth to recognize the same duty; and from the American universities should come for the Australian quick impulse to a properly organized scheme of graduate studies leading to the higher degrees. Suggestive for Australia, the book, which is brightly written, will be regarded in the United States as honest and sympathetic criticism. It is a contribution to sane Internationalism. Sociological Determination of Objectives in Education. By Prof. D. SNEDDEN. (10s. 6d. net. Lippincott.) The thesis of this book is that in education we are still at the age of faith. We have not clearly thought out what we want to attain. We are led away by discussions about the aim of education, instead of realizing that there are many aims, not all of them compatible. We have not faced the realities of life, but have been content with a vague, theoretical, metaphysical-indeed, mystical-conception of what education means. We have to make up our minds which aims are realizable, then set about their attainment. Prof. Snedden reinforces his former demand for real vocational education, and deprecates the teaching of blurred " principles as a means of preparing for one or other of the two thousand different vocations open to the modern American citizen. The conventional curriculum is subjected to severe criticism. One would have thought that in the States Latin was sufficiently discounted already, but Prof. Snedden includes it in his general condemnation along with mathematics and physics; yet he makes it clear that he is not attacking the subjects as such, but merely their position of privilege. He is a convinced free-trader in educational subjects. Perhaps the best constructive part of the book is that dealing with the new junior high school. Here we have a very hopeful experiment. Art is treated in a very original, if somewhat pessimistic, way. The distinction between alpha and beta studies (the former being "hard work," the latter " high grade play ") is useful, but it is a pity that. it needs a foot-note to prevent ambiguity. Another significant distinction is that between the educative values of subjects according to the help they give the pupils in future life as consumers or as producers. The style of the book is careless and involved; the parenthesis occurs with exasperating frequency. But the value of the subject-matter more than compensates for the form of this exceptionally suggestive and stimulating volume. Bergson and Future Philosophy. By G. Rostrevor. 44 non In this book there is much more about Bergson than about future philosophy, but the title is perhaps justified because of the applications future philosophers may make of the subject-matter. Mr. Rostrevor, while not an orthodox Bergsonian, appreciates keenly the immense value of the Master's conception of duration. This is treated as the vital contribution to philosophical thought that will materially influence its development in the future. Mr. Rostrevor breaks away, however, on the matter of the intellectual faculty" introduced; his view is that "the intuition of duration is intellectual, and is reached by reflection." He handles the Bergsonian conception of intuition with great sympathy, but is convinced that it is unsound, and it must be admitted that he makes out an excellent case for his adverse decision. He scores an excellent point in contrasting the opposing views of the two critics Stewart and Lindsay. Particularly happy is the treatment of the mystical aspect of Bergson's thought. Intuition will always remain intellectual, even in the case of the mystic, though here the intuition may be applied to an experience wider and richer than that of an individual man. The appendix on Mr. Bertrand Russell is severe. The Principles of Language-Study. By H. E. PALMER. A better title for this book would be "The principles of the acquirement of foreign languages, especially in the elementary stage." Mr. Palmer explains with admirable lucidity the essential difference between the study of languages and the acquirement of languages, and his work deals almost exclusively with the latter. His view of the subject is remarkable for its uncompromising assertion of the principle that learning to speak and write a foreign tongue is a process of forming habits of speech, which habits are cultivated by listening, by mimicry, by memorizing, and by drill in articulation and sentence-making. The reasoning mind plays no part in this process; thinking is merely a hindrance; explanation by the teacher is but rarely of any value. How great is the difference between language-teaching as conceived by Mr. Palmer and all other teaching is shown by his comparison of the art to bicyclemaking; just as even now there is practically only one right way of making a bicycle, so we may hope that in the future there will be one, and only one, accepted method of teaching languages. No teacher of history, or drawing, or science would venture on the assertion that some day the one and only right way of teaching his subject will be discovered. Yet, given the object to be sought, we believe that Mr. Palmer's principles are, broadly speaking, right. Obviously, this raises a question for the educator, but we cannot discuss that here, especially as the book we are considering has no special reference to school work. Everybody will certainly agree that our author's insistence on the need for rigid accuracy, and for continual drill and repetition, is of supreme value, for these factors are just as liable to be neglected in the modern teaching of languages. as ever they were in the old days. Child Psychology. By V. RASMUSSEN. (II, 5s. 6d. net; and III, 4s. net. Gyldendal.) The first volume of this series we reviewed favourably some time ago; it covered the period from birth up to the age of four. These two volumes deal with the Kindergarten stage, which the author defines as from three to four up to from six to seven. He is careful to explain that his sub-title, "The Kindergarten Child," is a little illogical, since the two children he deals with did not attend a Kindergarten, because a month's experience proved to their father that the available school was not conducted on genuine Kindergarten lines. Vol. II falls easily into three parts, the first dealing in a fascinating way with the child's world-picture, the second with children's drawings and appreciation of pictures, and the third with the child's intelligence. So far as generalizations are concerned, there is little that is new in this volume. In the matter of drawing, it is surely remarkable that Sully's work is not even mentioned, though the bibliography includes nearly fifty works. With regard to intelligence tests, we have all the Simon. Binet matter, with, however, a few critical comments and some useful suggestions for modifying and extending the scheme. Vol. III promises to be a little more systematic than Vol. II, but the contents hardly live up to the promise of the bill. The first chapter is entitled Casual Observation of Thought," and the adjective "casual" might be applied with equal propriety to each of the other chapters on such matters as observation, attention, recollection, imagination, sensation, will-power, and morals; indeed, the charm of the book lies in this very lack of formal treatment. We have the observations of a scientifically trained mind applied to child life as represented by two well but intelligently beloved little daughters. The books supply the material for a scientific treatment by somebody else. Prof. Rasmussen is an artist as well as a scientist, and presents matter that is in itself attractive as well as accurate. Students of education must elaborate his results for themselves; in particular, they will find here a valuable means of testing current theory by reference to accurately recorded observation results. My Term Off. By N. G. B. JAMES. It is difficult to determine whether Mr. James would prefer to be treated as an easy, pleasant man of the world or as a schoolmaster temporarily out of harness. At an early stage he remarks that "no one has discovered that I am a schoolmaster," but proceeds to repel the suggestion that he is ashamed of his craft. Occasionally he writes effectively, if not always relevantly, about professional matters, as on pages 62-3, where he discusses the status of the assistant master. Naturally, we must not take a man too seriously when he writes holiday letters, or we should want to know more about the suggestion that perhaps "the haphazard way education runs along is not, after all, the best." Mr. James is content with his lot, and a contented schoolmaster is not so common that we can afford to flout one when we meet him. On the whole, it is Mr. James the human being rather than Mr. James the schoolmaster that discloses himself in these pages. The letter form lends itself to the easy, unassuming, friendly attitude adopted by a man who, by hard work year in, year out, has earned the privilege of writing, for once, frankly ungirt. A Guide to the Study of Occupations. By F. J. ALLEN, It is getting customary in American schools to have classes for the study of vocations. Mr. Allen tells us, for example, that in the junior high schools of Los Angeles 42.7 per cent. of the pupils study this subject. He himself is Lecturer on Vocational Guidance at Harvard University, and the present book seeks to provide material for the work of university and school classes. It is purely a book of reference, supplying guidance to the sources from which information can be had about the various occupations. Prof. Snedden has told us that there are at least two thousand separate vocations open to the young American, but Mr. Allen contents himself with 272 of them. They fall into three groups-manual, mercantile, and professional. The reader can turn up whatever occupation he has a fancy for, from office boy to financier, and will find a neat little bibliography on the subject. Teaching has the biggest record, running to two whole pages of references. A final chapter is added on source material (alphabetically arranged); there is also a list of class and trade journals. Altogether a most useful book, even for British readers. "The Modern Teachers' Series."-The American Public School. By Dr. R. L. FINNEY. (10s. net. Macmillan.) In regard to the history of Education as a subject of study, the experience of the American normal schools and that of the English training colleges would appear to be very much alike. As customarily presented, the subject is too vast in its sweep to be more than an outline, and too remote from the real interests of any but a few students of history to make a live appeal. In recent years, therefore, the tendency has been to restrict the study for most students to that which throws light upon our present educational position-i.e. to the history of education in our own country, with necessary references to foreign influences. Dr. Finney's book is a kindred attempt to supply the American normal student with a history of the American school system in which he is presently to take his place. We commend the book to the attention of English teachers, not only as a presentation of a part of American educational history, but also as a very good example of the right commingling of practical and theoretical aspects. As "a discussion of contemporaneous education from the genetic point of view," the book should serve a good purpose. ENGLISH. " (1) Teaching the Mother Tongue. By Dr. P. B. BALLARD. (4s. 6d. net. Hodder & Stoughton.) (2) "The World's Classics."-English Prose. Chosen and arranged by W. PEACOCK. Vols. I and II. (2s. 6d. net each. Milford.) (3) "The Clarendon Series of English Literature.' (i) Charles Lamb: Prose and Poetry. (ii) Wordsworth : Poetry and Prose. (3s. 6d. net each. Clarendon Press.) (4) The Boys' and Girls' Book of the Wild. By F. ST. MARS. (1s. 6d. Chambers.) (5) Ivanhoe. By Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart. Edited, with Notes, by F. A. CAVENAGH. (4s. 6d. net. Clarendon Press.) (6) "The Study of English."-A Course of English Composition. By S. E. WINBOLT. (2s. 6d. Blackie ) (7) Practice in English. By P. H. REANEY. (2s. 6d. net. Pitman.) (1) The author excuses himself for launching a new book on the teaching of English upon an already crowded market, but his work is too fresh, too sincere, and too courageous to need apology. It can be read with interest and profit from beginning to end, whether one agrees with him or not. The first eight chapters are concerned with the limitations of grammar, and the case against the teaching of that subject before the age of fourteen, unless to children already learning another language, is very well put. That correct speech can be taught without formal grammar is certain; and certainly, too, it is of little use in early composition. Most teachers have discovered that grammatical ability is more nearly related to mathematical than to linguistic power. We once knew a student of undoubted mathematical gifts who could successfully analyse a complicated sentence the meaning of which she did not understand. In composition the author considers that, in the early stages, quantity is more important than quality. "In the junior school the watering-pot is more useful than the pruning-hook." Ballard has met with no school where the reading was meagre and the composition good, nor, conversely, with one where the composition was weak though the children read much. He would therefore encourage reading in any form, even to the surreptitious reading of the penny novelette. In Chapter XII are recorded some interesting results of experiments in the teaching of composition in the United States. The author gives a timely warning to those trying to cultivate the critical attitude in their pupils. Care must be taken that the young critic shall not attach too much importance to mere verbal accuracy, and it must be demonstrated to him that criticism does not solely imply censure-especially of the work of another. Dr. (2) These volumes form two of a series of well printed, light and handy books of varied and interesting prose extracts. Though the spelling is usually modernized, certain passages have been given to show the young student how English was spelt at the end of the fourteenth, middle of the sixteenth, and beginnings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. (3) This series aims at giving in each volume not only a repre sentative selection from an author, but some of the best criticism of his work, a novel feature which adds greatly to the interest and usefulness of the book, for the criticism of one great author by another must be more discriminating than that of the ordinary teacher. The first book contains essays by Hazlitt and De Quincey, and the other essays by Hazlitt, De Quincey, and Coleridge. (4) This reader contains entrancing stories, tersely told, of wild creatures. It is a pity that so many are tragedies. No country child, however, can long be kept ignorant of the struggle for life in the wild world, and possibly humans have an exaggerated idea of the suffering and anxiety endured by animals, and do not sufficiently appreciate the excitement of the adventurous life so fascinatingly depicted in these short, suggestive tales. "The Spook and A Pirate Raid " are wholly delightful. (5) The editor, in his scholarly notes to this handsome edition, makes the novel suggestion that, if one is to try to learn history from "Ivanhoe" at all, one should regard it as a picture of the fourteenth century, with Richard, John, and the Crusades introduced as anachronisms! (6) It is uncertain whether this book is to be used by the pupil or by the master; usually it is addressed to the former, but it is unlikely that a pupil would read it unless compelled to do so aloud. The advice on page 16, that he should regard himself as his own composition-master, should criticize and not spare his own work, is good; but the power of adequate selfcriticism is bestowed upon few adults; of the schoolboy it is hardly to be expected. As a set of hints to teachers, the book has its value, and the rules recommended for self-criticism on page 140 are well considered. (7) This little work describes itself comprehensively. Though not original, its wealth of carefully chosen exercises will make it a boon to teachers of large classes. It is contrary to modern practice in analysis to call the verb the predicate of the sentence (page 30). GEOGRAPHY. Maps: their History, Characteristics, and Uses. By Sir H. G. FORDHAM. (7s. 6d. net. Cambridge University Press.) In this useful book the author publishes the text of five lectures recently delivered to the teachers of the County of Cambridge. Among other subjects he describes the history of map production, the essential elements of maps (such as scales, orientation, and location), and the classification of special maps. The writer briefly refers to so many interesting facts about cartography that we wish he could have developed his theme at greater length and given us a volume several times larger than this. The illustrations are limited to eight plates showing old maps. With the author we regret that it was not possible to insert a more extensive series of ancient and modern maps. Cambridge Geographical Readers."-IV: Western Europe and the Mediterranean Region. (4s. 6d. Cambridge University Press.) In this Reader, Part I, consisting of five chapters, describes some of the general principles of geography; Part II deals with the British Isles and North-west Europe; and Part III with the Mediterranean Region. Under the term Mediterranean Region are included the peninsulas of Southern Europe, the States of Northern Africa as well as those of Asia Minor and Syria. Throughout the book, the lessons contain much interesting historical, in addition to geographical, matter. The last chapter, on "The New Europe,' gives a satisfactory review of the changes which the war has brought about. The text is well printed, and many excellent photographs are used as illustrations. In some cases war pictures (e.g. British troops in the Champagne in 1918) are inserted which have little or nothing to do with the descriptions in the lessons. A note should be added to the picture on page 45, as the peak shown is not the summit of Mont Blanc. "The Wonderbook Geographies."-Vol. I: From Mountain to Sea. Vol. II: In Yonder Lands. By E. G. R. TAYLOR. (3s. 6d. net each. "Geographia."') The first of these reading books is intended for children of seven and eight years old, and the second for those of eight and nine. We fear the language will prove a little difficult for such young children and that much of the subject matter will prove beyond their understanding, but teachers will find the volumes very useful in the preparation of descriptive lessons. The style is somewhat discursive and the selection of subjects various, and the volumes will scarcely serve as an introduction to the systematic study of geography for pupils in the lower forms of secondary schools. But for the leisure hour reading of rather older pupils we can recommend Miss Taylor's interesting chapters on other lands and their peoples. The books are attractively printed and well illustrated, and should prove a popular addition to form libraries. |