A finely illustrated and very excellent little manual of mathematical geography is The Earth in Space, by Edward P. Jackson, A. M., Instructor in Physical Science in the Boston Latin School. It is published by D. C. Heath & Co., Boston.

The Book of Folk Stories, prepared by Horace E. Scudder and published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, contains a collection of such household tales as Whittington and his Cat, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Little Red Riding Hood, etc., to serve as a child's first book in literature. The little ones will require no persuasion to read it.

Rev. J. G. Wood's Third Natural History Reader, published by the Boston School Supply Company, contains descriptions and stories of domestic and wild animals, with illustrations. It is full of instruction as well as entertainment for young people.

Mc Guffey's Alternate Readers. No.'s I, II, III, IV. Two others to follow soon. Published by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., Cincinnati and New York. This is a complete series of readers designed primarily for supplementary reading, but equally well adapted for use as an independent series. The conception is a happy one, and the execution is admirable. The matter is fresh, interesting, instructive and well graded. The illustrations are appropriate and beautiful. An excellent feature is the provision made for language practice throughout the series. In utility and beauty the series is unsurpassed.

The Elements of Political Economy. With some Applications to questions of the day. By J. Laurence Laughlin, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy in Harvard University, New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The author has not attempted to produce an exhaustive or very profound treatise, but to present in a plain and simple way such elementary principles of the subject as may be comprehended by the average American youth with no more than a high school or academy training. With a view to applying these principles to the leading questions of the day, such topics as socialism, taxation, the national debt, protection and free trade, the labor problem, and co-operation are treated briefly and simply. The author wisely refrains from attempting to settle the much mooted questions of tariff and free trade, and contents himself with a succinct statement of the pros and cons. The labor problem is treated, "not as a question to be settled by legislation, but as one to be met by all the forces which make for Christian character and self-mastery." The book is worthy of its place among the publishers' "Science Textbooks."

A very pretty volume in blue and gold is Hezekiah Butterworth's Songs of History, published by the New England Publishing Company, Boston. It is a collection of poems and ballads upon important episodes in American history. Many of them are gems of rare beauty. The author is widely known as the author of Zigzag Journeys and editor of the Youth's Companion. Not the least of this busy man's public service is this weaving into song of many of the most important events in American history. Lincoln's Last Dream, The Bird that Sang to Columbus, The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor, The Church of the Revolution, The Nation's Defenders, The Death of Jefferson, The old

School Room, and Children's Day are a few of the subjects-upwards of fifty in all. The book would be an ornament to any center table as well as a valuable addition to any library. Many of the poems are admirable for memorizing and declamation. It is a book to be kept in mind at Christmas time.

Prof. A. H. Welsh's English Masterpiece Course, published by John C. Buckbee & Co., Chicago, is a new and valuable aid to the student of English literature. It consists mainly of exhaustive lists of references to critical authorities to be consulted in the preparation of an essay or critique on any of the representative authors from Chaucer to Emerson and Tennyson. The writers chosen number about fifty, and the references pertaining to each are classified under Environment and Characteristics of the author and Criticism of one or more of his acknowledged masterpieces. Instead of giving the student a collection of ready-made facts and opinions, the method conducts him to the sources of information and bids him help himself, and thus familiarizes him with the processes of investigation. The execution of the plan implies access to a good library. An appendix gives price-list and publishers of masterpieces.

The Making of the Great West, by Samuel Adams Drake, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, is mainly a story of "three rival civilizations," the Spanish, the French, and the English, or the triumph of the AngloSaxon over the Latin race, in North America. It is not a continuous string of dates and events; but the more significant and influential movements in our history are selected and followed out to their results. Though designed for young people, it is not intended to be used as a school text-book, but is rather adapted for supplementary or home reading. It would serve a good purpose in the hands of a teacher to fill out the bare outlines of the ordinary text-book.

The English Language: Its Grammar, History, and Literature; with Chapters on Composition, Versification, paraphrasing, and punctuation. By J. M. D. Meiklejohn, M. A., Professor of the Theory, History, and Practice of Education, in the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers; Boston, New York and Chicago.

The author's estimate is that this book contains sufficient matter for four or five years of study. It is such a book as none but a Scotchman or an Englishman would write, and one that is not likely to be extensively used in American schools. Nevertheless, it has decided merit. An excellent feature is the historical character of the grammar. Many constructions and idioms of our language cannot be understood without knowing their history. The chapters on word-building and word-branching are very valuable. We unhesitatingly commend the book to teachers and advanced students of English.

A Popular Chemistry. By J. Dorman Steele, Ph. D. Published by A. S. Barnes & Co., New York and Chicago.

The great popularity of Steele's Fourteen Weeks in Chemistry and the growing demand for the study in the schools have induced the publishers to issue this revised and enlarged edition. The simplicity of style and clearness of method which characterize the true teacher are manifest in this as in all the author's other science text-books. The appendix contains directions for numerous experiments, several pages on qualitative analysis, for beginners, and copious review questions. This edition will undoubtedly hold the place of

pre-eminence as a high school text-book which has been accorded to former editions.

The Supplement Company, Boston, are issuing a Teachers' Help Series, monthly. Yearly subscription price, $1.50. No. 1, which appeared in September, is a complete practical grammar, with 500 exercises. The October number is a Manual of Correspondence, containing practical instruction and forms for all kinds of social and business letters, together with a great variety of exercises for practice.

The October Number (No. 29) of the Riverside Literature Series (published monthly, at 15 cents a number, by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston) contains Nathaniel Hawthorne's Little Daffydowndilly, Little Annie's Ramble, The Snow Image, A Rill from the Town Pump, and David Swan, together with a simple and interesting sketch of Hawthorne's life. These stories are the simplest, and at the same time among the most beautiful, that Hawthorne wrote. This number of the Riverside Literature Series is intended as an easy Fourth Reader.

Jack the Fisherman. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. With Illustrations. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 50 cents.

A very touching and powerful temperance story, of which Mrs. Livermore says, "I read it with strong crying and tears, and after acquiring sufficient self-control I have read it aloud to three small audiences, who sobbed and wept while listening." It is a book with a mission. Several copies of it should be placed in every school library. It will do more good than stereotyped lessons on stimulants and narcotics.

Elocutionary Studies and New Recitations. By Mrs. Anna Randall-Diehl. Published by Edgar S. Werner, New York. Flexible cloth, 60 cents.

This is a new collection. Many of the pieces were written expressly for this volume. There are selections in great variety for all sorts of occasions-from the dramatic of a high order for the professional reader to pieces for little speakers.

Stories of our Country. Compiled and arranged by James Johonnot. Published by D. Appleton & Co., New York.

This is part I of Book III of the Historical Series by the same author, to be followed by Part II,-Stories of Other Lands. It is an excellent book to interest young readers in our country's history, either at home or at school. The author and publishers are doing the cause of education a great service by the preparation and publication of this series.

Volapuk. A Sketch of the World Language. Invented by Rev. Johann Martin Schleyer. Published by E. Steiger and Company, New York. Price 5 cents.

Volapuk is a scientific international language, not designed to supersede any living language, but to be learned next to the vernacular by every educated person, as a means of international communication the world over.

Italian Grammar. By C. H. Grandgent, Tutor of Modern Languages in Harvard University. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co.

This book gives in about one hundred pages all the grammar that the ordinary student of Italian will need, and in an accurate, complete, clear form. Although intended particularly for colleges, it can be used by any person who is familiar with the usual terminology of Grammar and Syntax. It represents the Italian language as it is spoken and written at the present day, the exer cises being taken chiefly from books in present use in Tuscan schools.

A German Grammar for schools and Colleges, based on the Public School German Grammar of A. L. Meissner, M. A., Ph. D. Lit. By Edward S. Joynes, M. A., Professor of Modern Languages in South Carolina College. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1887.

A working grammar, based on the experience of the class room, is what the author has aimed at in this work and he has succeeded admirably. Whitney and Brandt will always fill the student's conception of a complete and exhaustive exposition of the German language, but there has been left the place which Prof. Joynes's work promises to fill so well. It makes clear the difficulties inseparable from the separable verb, the syntax of genitive and dative, to mood and tense in indirect discourse, and at the same time has the tone and method of the more strictly scientific grammars. There are German-English and English-German vocabularies and an excellent index. The typographical features of the work are specially praiseworthy.

MAGAZINES.

The November number of The Popular Science Monthly contains the fifth paper of the Hon. David A. Wells's discussions on "The Economic Disturb ances since 1873." In it Mr. Wells shows that increased facilities and cheapness of manufacture and transportation have been the chief factor in depressing prices, while scarcity of gold has had but little to do with the matter; in fact, that gold is not scarce, but is more abundant, in proportion to the need of it, than ever before.

Readers of The Atlantic will find the November number one of more than usual worth. John Fiske continues his studies in American history, giving & very clear account of the adoption of the Constitution. Miss Jewett's curious and suggestive story sketches a New England by-way. Mr. Philip Gilbert Hamerton in the sixth paper of his "French and English" series, considers "Variety in the Indulgence of Sense as a result of Individuality," and shows the fallacy of attributing certain defects often met with in a foreign country to all its inhabitants. Percival Lowell has a paper on Oriental Art, and there are serials, poems, book reviews, etc. Published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,

Boston.

The North American Review is always filled with well-written articles on living topics-strong food for strong minds. It is published at No. 3 East Fourteenth St., New York.

The second number of the Ohio Archæological and historical Quarterly has appeared. The contents of this number consist mainly of papers read at various meetings of the State Archæological and Historical Society. Drs. Geo. W. Knight, I. W. Andrews, W. H. Venable, B. A. Hinsdale, and G. F. Wright constitute the editorial committee. It is published for the society by A. H. Smythe, Columbus, O.