practicality and by a host of concrete illustrations and of applications of political principles. This fact is itself worthy of notice, for it indicates how wide of the truth is the crude generalization that asserts a lack of practical knowledge on the part of academic students and teachers of political subjects. No one who has followed these Blumenthal lectures and no one who reads any of the volumes growing out of the course can be for a moment in doubt upon this point. On such very practical and concrete subjects as Representation, Legislauon, and Administration, Professor Jenks is as practical as it is possible to be in his discussions.

This book of Professor Jenks deserves a place in every collection of books on contemporary politics.

Mr. Foster Watson is one of the most learned writers on the history of English education. His learning does not always contribute to making his books readable, but between his covers is always to be found scholarly material in abundance. No serious student of the history of English education will overlook his English grammar schools to 1660, which is really the first treatment of the subject in anything approaching an accessible volume. (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908. 548 p. $2.00.)

In a group of publications from the printing house of Mr. Bardeen come three Cornell Study Bulletins by Professors De Garmo and Whipple, as well as Miss Williams' report on English teaching in the United States and one of Mr. Bardeen's own inimitable bits of writing entitled John Brody's astral body.

Control of body and mind, by Frances G. Jewett, is an attempt to set out in simple form the working of the nervous system. The illustrations are better than usual in a book of this type. (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1908. 267 p. 50c.)

America at college, by Robert K. Risk, is journalism rather than literature. Mr. Risk, who is a Scotchman, writes in interesting fashion and with like touch on the life and customs of some dozen American colleges and universities. He falls

into the mistake of speaking of the non-governmental university as "private" and he does not grasp the fundamental distinction between college and university. These deficiencies render his criticisms less valuable than they might otherwise be. The book itself, however, is well worth reading and contains many interesting personal touches. (Glasgow: John Smith & Son, 1908. 214 p. 3s. 6d.)

One can not help wondering at the temerity of a man not himself a special student of higher education who endeavors to pass in review a half dozen typical institutions of the higher learning. Mr. John Corbin has done this in his volume Which college for the boy? He gives a good deal of more or less accurate information, but we are disposed to criticize his leading generalizations. The book, while very readable, is rather suggestive than definitely instructive. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1908. 274 P. $1.50.)

Mr. Ernest H. Abbott has reflected on a good many useful subjects in a helpful way in his little collection of essays, entitled On the training of parents. The art of being a parent bids fair to be lost, in America at least, before long, and if Mr. Abbott's volume can postpone by a little that unhappy day, it will not be without usefulness. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1908. 140 p. $1.00.)

ume

The French characteristics of succinctness, clearness, and comprehension are all manifested in the admirable little volentitled La philosophie moderne, by M. Abel Rey. The author is widely and accurately read in the contemporary literature of philosophy, and we commend his book without hesitation to those who would have a trustworthy guide to some of the points of view and methods of treatment which most distinguish the philosophy of today. (Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1908. 369 p. 3f.50.)

Of the making of books on adolescence there bids fair to be no end, but any book by M. Gabriel Compayré is welcome.. His breadth of view and sanity of treatment make his book on L'Adolescence an admirable introduction to wider study of the subject. (Paris: Félix Alcan, 1909. 195 p. 2f.50.) We welcome with unmixt praise the volume entitled The

ancient Greek historians, by Dr. Bury, the Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge. Dr. Bury's fresh and striking treatment of an old and fascinating theme is, it goes without saying, marked by a serene and well-grounded scholarship, and is exprest in a clear and flowing style which continue the best traditions of English scholarship. We like particularly the treatment of Thucydides and the appreciation with which the chapter on Thucydides abounds. It is perhaps one of the interesting academic paradoxes that the Regius Professor of Modern History should write a book which begins with Hecotæus and ends with Polybius. (New York: Macmillan Co., 1909. 281 p. $2.25.)

A very simple, straightforward introduction to the study of civil government, for use by young pupils, is S. E. Forman's Essentials of civil government. (New York: The American Book Co., 1909. 224 p. 6oc.)

A little textbook that represents a good deal of hard work and that brings no slight scholarship to the surface of the elementary school is Nature study by grades, by Horace H. Cummings, formerly of the University of Utah. (American Book Company, 1908. 180 p. $1.00.)

An old friend in a new dress which is both appropriate and becoming is Chardenal's Complete French course, which has served to introduce many thousands of American students to the study of the French language. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1909. 413 p.)

The problem of teaching the elements of mechanics to engineering students is a serious and difficult one which confronts a large number of institutions. No textbook dealing with the subject that has reached us is better or simpler than Hancock's Applied mechanics for engineers. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1909. 302 p. $2.00.)

A useful selection of critical essays is furnished by the little book entitled Nineteenth Century English prose by Messrs. Dickinson and Roe, of the University of Wisconsin. The selections range from Hazlitt to Arnold. (American Book Company, 1909. 492 p. $1.00.)

Exhibit of the

tion at the Alaska

X

NOTES AND NEWS

The plans of the Bureau of Education for an Bureau of Educa- exhibit at the Alaska-Yukon Exposition Pacific Exposition which will be open from June 1 to October 12, at Seattle, have been formed with special reference to the interests of teachers and officers of education.

In the section assigned to the Bureau in the government building, a conference room has been fitted up where visiting educators will find ready welcome. Writing materials will be at their disposal and arrangements may be made for professional conferences at stated hours. In this room exhibits illustrating the work of the Bureau itself will be placed, including, in addition to the annual reports and bulletins of the Bureau, a select reference library for teachers, with a classified catalog. Copies of this catalog will be furnished to educators upon request.

The space surrounding the conference room is given up to exhibits pertaining to the uplift of rural schools. These exhibits have been collected under the direction of a special committee of the Bureau' appointed by the Commissioner of Education, and assisted by expert collaborators in different sections of the country. The purpose of the collection is to show by concrete examples what is actually being done for the improvement of rural education, and thus to furnish an index of progress and also helpful suggestions.

The movement for better schoolhouses, which has spread to every part of the country, largely thru the efforts of women's clubs, is illustrated by the model of an improved. type of district schoolhouse,-contributed to the exhibit by

1 Committee on exhibit of Bureau of Education at Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: Mr. William Dawson Johnston, chairman; Miss Anna Tolman Smith, secretary; Mr. John D. Walcott.

Francis G. Blair, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Illinois, and also by graphic presentations of the consolidated rural school. For the latter the office is indebted to F. A. Cotton, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Indiana.

The advantages of the consolidated rural school are fully understood and the system is rapidly spreading; for a long time to come, however, the single district school can not be entirely done away with, even if this were desirable. The model schoolhouse opens up the possibility of great improvement in the primitive type of rural school without a radical change of organization.

A question of absorbing interest at the present time is that of the establishment of rural high schools having provision for training in agriculture, domestic economy, and manual arts. The legislatures of a number of states have recently authorized the establishment of schools of this type, and several such schools are already in operation. These initial efforts at the working out of new problems have brought about a clearer understanding of their relation to the established course of study, and have also exposed the weakness of much of the instruction that is carried on in rural schools. Hence, the timeliness of exhibits illustrating effective methods of treating those elementary subjects that lend themselves readily to concrete presentation. The possibilities of geography as a means of arousing interest in immediate surroundings, and in the conditions of the exchange of products, is illustrated by the typical exhibit prepared for this occasion by Mr. Amos W. Farnham of the State Normal and Training, School, Oswego, New York.

Nature study appeals to instinctive interests in the mind of a child which are not reached at all by the first stages of more formal studies. Germany and England have led in provision for this subject, and here and there, it has been well worked out, in our own country. The course of instruction in nature study included in the exhibit, was contributed to the Bureau by Miss Lucy L. W. Wilson of the Philadelphia Normal School, who achieved reputation by similar presentations at