Book Reviews

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS; First, Second and Third Courses. Revised Edition. By W. L. Vosburgh, F. W. Gentleman and J. O. Hassler. The Macmillan Company.

We are feeling our way slowly in the Junior High School, but we are undoubtedly progressing. In this revised series of Junior High School Mathematics much has been done that should meet with decided approval. There are many Proficiency Tests; pupils keep their scores by graphs. There is a bit of history now and then. Graphic methods are used early and often. Each chapter ends with a summary of review questions. There is continued emphasis upon testing the answer, both by checking and by estimates with round numbers. Intuitional Geometry and Formula are introduced under Measurement and Mensuration in the First Course. The Second Course has, in addition to the Applied Arithmetic, Constructional Geometry, Graphs, Linear Equations, Formulas, and the Metric System. The Third Course is about as close to modern requirements in the ninth grade as it can be. The treatment of Trigonometry is excellent. The last topic, Introduction to Geometry, has been shortened, which is an improvement. We should do something in this line, of course, but cannot do very much. If these three books are measured by the present aims in Junior High School Mathematics, they will be placed exceedingly near the top of the list.-Robert R. Goff.

ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA. By J. W. Hopkins and P. H. Underwood. The Macmillan Company.

This revised edition is intended for a course of one and one-half years in pure algebra. The first ten chapters form approximately a beginners' course, without trigonometry or intuitive geometry. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 are excellent. They are The Language of Algebra, The Formula, and Graphs of Statistics. There is an abundance of simple verbal problems and translations. Factors and fractions do not appear until Chapter VIII, and are kept within reasonable limits. The entire book of 332 pages follows closely the recommendations of the National Committee as to Algebra for High Schools. It includes also the square root of algebraic expressions, complex numbers, and cube root. The chapter on logarithms seems rather short, but probably this is necessary in the average high school. The material throughout is well selected and arranged. The book is plainly a safe, teachable algebra, and hence should appeal to many teachers.-Robert R. Goff.

THE GATEWAY. A Book of Latin Composition for Middle Forms. By E. A. Sonnenschein, D.Litt., C. S. Wilkinson, M.A., and W. A. Odell, M.A. Oxford University Press. Provides practice in the formation of Latin sentences into English, or English into Latin. The explanations and rules are lucid and the lessons are progressive. The book might well be used in preparatory schools. It is characterized by its English (British) thoroughness.

LONGMAN'S HISTORICAL PICTURES. With accompanying book for review. (Longmans, Green and Company.) Subjects in the set received: The Roman Wall; St. Augustine Preaching before King Ethelbert; A Danish Raid; Harold's Last Stand at Senlac; Richard Coeur de Lion's Sight of Jerusalem; King John Seals Magna Carta; Henry V at Agincourt; The Armada in the Channel; Charles I's Visit to the House of Commons; The Death of Wolfe Before Quebec; Trafalgar; The “Dreadnought" in Portsmouth Harbor The set, in small size, 50c, in color.

YOUR LIFE, WRITTEN BY YOURSELF. Dr. Konstantin Issakovich.. Published by the author at 368 Sixth Avenue, New York, N. Y. This tells the reader the experience of the author in starting a book of experiences at the time of the birth of a son; which book grew as time went on, until it became a volume, and suggested an ideal of great interest, viz., the writing of a book of experience by everybody, each for himself. Besides the story of the author's life, in condensed form, there are, in this volume suggestions as to the beginning of such a book for and by yourself, dear reader. And blank pages are included, upon which you may write. It is an interesting and excellent suggestion.

ON THE TECHNIQUE OF MANUSCRIPT WRITING. By Marjorie Wise. Introduction by Professor Patty Smith Hill. Charles Scribner's Sons. 80 cents. A mine of wholesome truths and suggestions about acquiring a legible and attractive handwriting,-than which few personal accomplishments are more desirable. EXERCISES IN TRIGONOMETRY. By E. R. Pigrome. A paper-covered pamphlet of examples, worked out or suggested, for first two years in the subject. Price 50 cents. Published by the Oxford University Press.

THOMAS ALVA EDISON. An Intimate Record. By Francis Arthur Jones. $3 net. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. An intensely interesting volume of 416 pages, illustrated. It gives the facts of the great inventor's life and achievements. Our Age is proud of him. Young people should own and read the story as a stimulant to studiousness, patient experimentation, and ambition to be of service to mankind. As a study of personality this book is unsurpassed.

THE NATURE, PRACTICE AND HISTORY OF ART, by H. Van Buren Magonigle (Charles Scribner's Sons, $2), presents the principles of teaching architecture, painting and sculpture, and traces the story to the present time. Numerous illustrations. EARLY STEPS IN SCIENCE, by Hanor A. Webb and John J. Didcoct (Appleton's), is an attractively illustrated volume by means of which children can be interested in the world of Nature and taught the meanings of things that are to be seen, felt and heard all about them. It covers the whole field of Nature. If "brought up" on this volume in the home, the scientific branches in the schools will be elected and become easy. It is a splendid text for elementary school classes, and contains numerous attractive and instructive pictures. Another book for the grades is DEVICES AND DIVERSIONS, by Alhambra G. Deming (Beckley-Cardy Company), a handy book for teachers seeking suggestions for intermediate and grammar grade pupils. It covers the fields of Geography, Arithmetic, Language, use of the Dictionary, etc. SECOND FRENCH BOOK, by Jacob Greenberg, A.M. (Charles E. Merrill Company), is comprehensive and well arranged, has English-French and French-English vocabularies and a very full treatment of French verbs. Two recent and authoritative volumes for teachers, on scientific theories of teaching, are EDUCATIONAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS, by Walter Scott Monroe, Ph.D., James Clarence DeVoss, A.M., and Frederick James Kelly, Ph.D. (Houghton, Mifflin Company, $2.40), and AN INTRODUCTION TO TEACHING, by William C. Bagley and John A. H. Keith (Macmillan Company). The latter belongs to the “American Teachers College Series." Both bring to teachers of pedagogy the latest discoveries and advance theories of teaching as a science. EDUCATIONAL JOTTINGS ABROAD, by Raymond Walters (The Science Press), gives a glimpse of the theory and practice of education as seen and used by our brother educators on the other side of the Atlantic. WORKING MANUAL OF ORIGINAL SOURCES IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, by Milton Conover (The Johns Hopkins Press), will prove an excellent supplement to the regular college texts on government. Each exercise includes fifty different assignments, one for each student in a theoretic class of fifty individuals. PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS, by Francis M. Walters, A.M. (D. C. Heath and Company), views the subject from the point of view of both theory and practice; in other words, it gives a foundation of science and then teaches the student how to apply it in his own case and in the community. This book is an excellent one for the classroom course in physiology. THE PLATOON SCHOOL, by Charles L. Spain, Ph.D. (Macmillan). A study of the adaptation of the elementary school organization to the curriculum. Traces the evolution

of the elementary curriculum by periods, from European beginnings down to and into the twentieth century; describes the reorganization of the Detroit elementary schools in 1918-1924; discusses comparative results in platoon and non-platoon schools, relative costs, the personal equation, etc. A thought-provoking little volume!

LABORATORY STUDIES IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. By Egbert Milton Turner, M.A., and George Herbert Betts, Ph.D. D. Appleton and Company. A book that begins in the right way, with suggestions that open the pupil's mind to the problems of mind and life, set him thinking along new lines and forming habits of analysis and classification of mental facts and experiences as a basis for right living and true understanding of himself and other beings. Typical questions follow each chapter and stimulate original observations and conclusions.

THE OXFORD ADVANCED ATLAS. Second Edition, revised. By John Bartholomew, M.A., F.R.S.E. The Oxford University Press. Price $3.50. An adequate and admirable atlas for school, home, or business office. The color work on the maps is excellent. The Index is comprehensive without being complex. There are Astronomical Maps in the front part of the volume which are informing and interesting. They will aid students of the earth and of the skies. They present graphic explanations of the tides, the phases of the moon, the pathway of the sun, the phenomena of eclipses, etc. The oceanic deposits, the deposits of coal and of iron, coast changes, the theory of earthquakes, and many other subjects that man has come to understand, are graphically portrayed. A copy of this atlas should be available to every pupil in every school, and no home or office can be said to be properly furnished without at least some volume of this kind.

ANIMAL LAND. By Willard Allen Colcord. Philadelphia, The Judson Press.

In this volume the reader will find some three hundred engaging anecdotes and stories of animals, birds and insects, arranged and edited in a manner that will interest adults and young people alike. Much reliable information is imparted on every page, about the characteristics and habits of our friends in fur and feathers. The book is a real contribution to the home and school library, and it will distinctly contribute to the promotion of right thoughts about, and a kind attitude toward, the lower orders of animate life. It is a fine "source book" for "bed-time stories."

MODERN MATHEMATICS, Seventh School Year, Schorling and Clark. MODERN MATHEMATICS, Eighth School Year, Schorling and Clark. MODERN ALGEBRA, Ninth School Year, Schorling and Clark. Published by The World Book Company.

The authors of these three books have the rare combination of a knowledge of psychology and pedagogy with daily experience in the classroom. Furthermore, they are not bound by tradition, and yet, on the other hand, they proceed with new things slowly and scientifically. As an example of this, they first brought out an experimental edition of these books and had over one hundred and fifty teachers use and criticise them. The content is thoroughly modern and contains, in general, arithmetic and intuitive geometry in grades seven and eight, and algebra and trigonometry of the right triangle in the ninth grade. The language is noticeably planned for the comprehension of young pupils. The authors believe that "the present mathematical difficulties of our classrooms are in no small degree due to unnecessary language difficulties." Two excellent original devices are completion paragraphs and matching tests. But the two features that stand out above all others are the repeated timed practice tests and the continual challenge to the student. There is no doubt that the latter, with its experiments and discoveries, develops self-reliance and initiative; the former vitalizes drill and arouses interest in one's own improvement. These qualities make the books decidedly dangerous rivals of some of the older text. books.-Robert R. Goff.

ESSENTIALS OF BUSINESS ARITHMETIC. By G. W. Miner, F. H.. Elwell and F. C. Touton. Ginn & Co.

This business-like book is thoroughly modern, both in its content and methods of presentation. It begins with a systematic review of the operations of arithmetic and ends with topics of business problems. It aims to "develop in the student the ability to handle the fundamental operations with numbers rapidly and accurately, and at the same time

an understanding of business situations." Such headings as Practical Measurements, Comparing Quantities, and Buying and Selling, are well chosen. There is an abundance of drills and review exercises, and 19 timed practice tests,-enough for the most exacting teacher. The timed tests are now being acknowledged as of proven worth in arithmetic and algebra. No good text book should be without them. From these points then, the book should be rated as of high standard.Robert R. Goff.