Storm, edited by G. L. Swiggett; Excursions Sur les Bords du Rhin, by Dumas, edited by Theodore Henckels; La Poudre aux Yeux, by Labiche et Martin, edited by Victor E. Francois; Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant, by Verne, edited by Edith Healy (American Book Company). Les Deux Sourds, by Jules Moinaux, edited by I. H. B. Spiers. (D. C. Heath & Co.).

Elements of German Grammar. By Thomas H. Jappe. This is intended for a first year of German in the highest grade of the elementary school, but it can be profitably used in the lowest classes of high schools. The author is a teacher of German in the elementary schools of New York and his little manual grew up from the needs and experiences of his teaching. The amount of grammar given is sufficient to aid the learner in his unsteady steps; the exercises are many and most carefully graded; the questions, over eight hundred in number, are novel and stimulating. Altogether it is an admirable first year book in German. American Book Company.

Methode Henin. By B. L. Henin. This is for first year in French for beginners, to be used privately or in schools. The method employed distinctly obliges the pupil to speak the language he is learning. The book is almost wholly in French; what of English there is the author has used in giving the translation of the heading of the lesson; directly the meaning is known the English disappears, and then comes without interruption a practical, gradual and methodical instruction in the French language. The method seems to be entirely usable, its simplicity being a striking feature. The Methode deserves investigation by all teachers of beginners in French. D. C. Heath & Cot.

The Recitation. By Samuel Hamilton, Ph.D. The recitation is a very important part of the school work. In fact, it is in a sense the center of school life. This book studies the recitation in all its phases. A general view of the recitation, the purpose of it, its essentials and how to prepare for it, or the art of study, comprise Part I of Superintendent Hamilton's thoughtful book. Part II considers the recitation in its parts; namely, preparation; presentation; comparison; generalization; application; and thinking in the recitation. Part III considers the recitation in its methods; namely, general methods; individual methods; oral and written work; place and tactics; the use of books; and English in the recitation. Every teacher should own, read and study this book. Every pupil should be trained in the art of preparation and presentation of good recitations. The use of the book by teachers and pupils would increase the efficiency of our public schools by at least twenty-five per cent. It is one of the most practical and helpful of the modern pedagogical volumes. It belongs to the Educational Series, edited by Martin G. Brumbaugh, and published by J. B. Lippincott Company.

Greatness in Literature, and Other Papers. By W. P. Trent. Mr. Trent is Professor of English Literature in Columbia University. He presents in this volume eight informal papers or literary addresses. In each paper he follows a line of thought having a definite object. The essays will especially interest those who desire to become intelligent critics of literature. The first paper seeks to define "greatness in literature." The second chapter speaks a word for the smaller authors; the third discourses the aims and methods of literary study. The title of the fourth is "Criticism and Faith"; of the fifth,

"Literature and Science "; of the sixth, "Teaching Literature "; the seventh has the taking title, "Some Remarks on Modern Book-Burning"; and the eighth discourses on "The Love of Poetry." It is a charming book on which to "browse." Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Price, $1.20 net.

The Nature of Capital and Income. By Irving Fisher, Ph.D. Professor Fisher holds the chair of Political Economy at Yale University. His book aims to set forth the fundamental conceptions of capital and income. It presents the philosophy of economic accounting, and therefore is of value not only to the student of economics, but also to the practical business man. The nature of income is a subject which has not been fully treated as a rule in books upon economics. Yet it is both theoretically and practically one of the most important elements of this science. We think that students of economics will be grateful to Professor Fisher for the thoroughness with which he has set forth the subject. Matters of purely abstract mathematics relating to the argument have been relegated to Appendices, of which there are eight, relating to as many chapters in the book. The glossary gives a convenient summary of the definitions used, and the index is handy for convenient reference. The volume is a large, handsome one, 427 pages, and will take its place as an essential part of the equipment of the school or private library of Economics. The Macmillan Company. Price $3.00.

A late volume in the Riverside Literature Series is Scott's Quentin Durward. Edited for class study, by L.M. Munger. This is a handsomely bound volume of 461 pages, containing the text, a biographical sketch of Sir Walter Scott, biographical readings, bibliography, table of English literature contemporary with Scott's writings, author's introduction, full explanatory notes and review questions-a complete presentation of this celebrated novel for class use. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

We have received a beautiful illustrated catalogue of A. C. Spaulding & Bros., 126 Nassua St., N. Y., giving all kinds of outdoor gymnastic apparatus in detailed description both by words and full-page illustrations. Any school intending to use such apɔaratus should not fail to secure this artistic catalogue.

Two interesting novels or stories for young people are The Upper Hand, by Emerson Gifford Taylor; and The Rainy Day Railroad War. The latter was originally published serially in the Youth's Companion. These stories are both interesting and wholesome and will be popular with young readers. Prices $1.50 and $1.00 respectively.

Periodical Notes

Vivid stories-what else can make historic men and deeds seem so real? Such stories in a series of groups, cach dealing with a particular period of our history, began in The Youth's Companion for 1906, and will continue until the history of the nation to the close of the Civil War is reviewed. As a stimulus to historical reading, a supplement to school work, an awakener of patriotism, this series has an educational value and a literary importance of the first order.— Appleton's Magazine has in a recent number a valuable paper on "The College and the Drama," by Frank S. Arnett.-The Chautauquan for September contains a fine paper by Carl H. Grabo on "The Stage for which Shakespeare Wrote."-"The Strategy of the Ball Field" is the title of a suggestive article by Horace Taylor in Everybody's for October.-The October Delineator is an excellent number. We note especially a helpful article on "The Art of Pleasing."-In The Literary Digest for September 15 there is a sensible article on "Uncommon Children."-We commend the artistically printed and richly illustrated numbers of Suburban Life to all lovers of the things of "outdoors." The autumn numbers are particularly interesting.

Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy and Literature

of Education

VOL. XXVII

NOVEMBER, 1906

No. 3

The Modern College Library

JAMES H. CANFIELD, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, NEW YORK CITY

T

HE thought and life and methods of the college world have radically changed in recent years. Much-unfortunately not all-that was narrow and perfunctory and even stupid, on the part of officers as well as students, has given place to a temper and purpose which are far more satisfactory because more intelligent, more free, more efficient. Take any single department by way of illustration-say, History. It is no longer held to be simply a musty record of the past; it is a message from the past—a past which, with all its shortcomings, its disappointments, its weakness, its wickedness, and its consequent failures, is nevertheless an august past, and speaks to an august future. It is no longer sufficient to know what man has done; we wish to know why he did it, what he thought about it, what he hoped might come of it. If a nation has fallen by the wayside, we wish to know why it has died, and what, if any, of its influence abides. Answering such inquiries, we must determine how it came into existence, what was its initial history, with what inheritance of experience or tradition did its people assemble, what were their opportunities and privileges and consequent responsibilities, what path ought they to have chosen, what might their future have been, how did they happen to fall short of what once seemed a possibility if not a promise, why did they

gradually lose ground, and why did they finally submit to be distanced in the race. If we are studying a nation still living, we are just as eager to know all the conditions of that life, what have been the sources of its vitality and strength, whence came to its people the larger horizon, the wider angle of vision, the greater patience and persistence, the larger intelligence and the rare faculty of applying this to public affairs. In a word, our inquiry is, Whence came to this people the power of perpetuity?

Approaching history in this temper it shines with an entirely new and attractive luster. It is something far more than a collection of dates and names to be memorized. As Prof. James Robinson so admirably expresses the thought, we study history because we desire to know how the old Roman Empire of the West and the wild and unknown districts inhabited by German races have become the Europe of Gladstone and Bismarck, and Darwin and Pasteur.

More than this, surely far more than all this, if we of to-day are honest and true and faithful to our trust, we are concerned also to know how it may be determined that the Europe and America of 2906 will stand to the Europe and America of 1906, as the latter stands to the life and conditions of a thousand years ago; and so we make the study of history bear directly and helpfully on the future. Our constant inquiries are, What does it mean? Why has it this meaning? What are its relations to each of us to-day? How does it affect to-morrow? With this quest earnestly made, Cæsar and Charlemagne suddenly become as real as Roosevelt and the Kaiser, the Reformation stands out as clear and distinct as the recent struggle over the English Education Act, the French Revolution holds one with the same grip as that of the daily dispatches from Russia, the Treaty of Ghent becomes as interesting as the Peace of Portsmouth.

Both instructors and students, then, begin to realize that biography is history, at times the very best history; that correspondence and official records and even statements of accounts may make both interesting and profitable reading; that an early newspaper, advertisements and all, sometimes by

very reason of its advertisements, may throw new light on events otherwise either obscure or misleading; that the order book of a commanding officer may be worth more in the interest of accuracy than a dozen formal and official reports. With this new sense of the value of original sources comes an increasing desire to consult these directly and for one's self, to get at a few things at least first hand, to be one's own interpreter, to try one's own conclusions. Both teacher and taught find an entirely new interest in putting together each for himself the dissected map of the world's movement, and experience strange delight as it grows into definite form under his fingers. History thus becomes informing, inspiring, an introduction to the very best literature, a stimulus to all manner of good reading, even a practical guide in daily life.

A similar change has taken place in teaching and learning in every department of higher instruction, with similar effect. The natural and inevitable result has been to revolutionize the demands made upon the college library, both in quantity and in quality, and to make the library one of the most important and potent factors in all college instruction. As a matter of fact, the college library has become, by the very force of circumstances, a department of as much independence and dignity and value as any other department in the institution. It is the very center of academic life, the heart of the campus.

This has compelled important and marked changes in the characteristics of the college librarian. He must appreciate books and he must be able to correctly value their relations to the work of instruction and to the more general purposes of college life and experience; but he is no longer a mere bibliophile, a lover of general literature, an omnivorous reader. He must be also an organizer and an administrator, fertile in expedients, alert for opportunity, ready to take the initiative, willing to make experiments, with excellent judgment and no little tact, a winner of men by his large and generous and efficient service. Such a man ought to receive recognition, in rank and tenure and pay, as a full professor. There are many reasons why he should have a seat in the faculty, which he will not often occupy; and a voice, which will only be heard