Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/876

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
854
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ure, gravitation, and kindred conceptions, but is to be followed in due course by a volume on "Electricity and Magnetism," and by a third work on "Heat, Light, and Sound." The names of Balfour Stewart, Professor of Physics in the Owens College, Manchester, and of his assistant demonstrator in physics, are sufficient guarantee that the work is thoroughly done.

The Nature of Mind and Human Automatism. By Morton Prince, M. D. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 173. Price, $1.50.

This is a closely reasoned discussion of the essential issues of materialism. It first took form several years ago as a graduating medical thesis, which the author did not publish at the time, as he preferred to wait for further reflection and investigation of the subject. It is predominantly polemic, as Dr. Prince finds himself brought into collision with the views of Tyndall, Fiske, Huxley, and Spencer, which he controverts with much acuteness. He ranks himself as a materialist under his own view of what materialism is, and finds himself in more decided harmony with the doctrines of Professor Clifford than with those of any other recent or contemporary thinkers upon this subject. We can not undertake to expound the view of the relations of body and mind which seems to him most rational, but unhesitatingly recommends his work to all who are looking for a vigorous and original treatment of the profound problems to which the volume is devoted.

Outlines of Psychology. Dictations from Lectures by Hermann Lotze. Translated, with a chapter on "The Anatomy of the Brain," by C. L. Herrick. Illustrated. Minneapolis, Minn.: S. M. Williams. Pp. 149, with Plates. Price, $1.25.

Much has been said of the claims of Lotze as a philosopher, psychologist, physiologist, etc., and, as his translator here remarks, he "is rapidly gaining recognition even in America." It was time, therefore, that he should be translated, and a good beginning is here made in this little volume. Those who can not read him in the original may now judge of his claims, and get the benefit of his contributions to philosophy.

On Teaching: Its Ends and Means. By Henry Calderwood, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Third edition. Macmillan & Co. Pp. 126. Price, 50 cents.

This book emanates from a distinguished source, and, while Professor Calderwood has a recognized prominence as a philosopher, he is also a practical teacher of long experience in every grade, and besides has had much to do with the management of the Edinburgh public schools. It would be unjust to say that his book is without merit.; there is much in it that is worth attending to, but it is not of the high grade that we should expect from the position and opportunities of its author. A better book was due from him than any we have on the subject of moral education; but he contributes nothing new or of moment to that most important branch of the art of school management. He seems to be steeped in the pedagogical idea, and is more dominated by the old methods than becomes an original and independent critic of the subject. The first words of his introduction are, "Every one recognizes that a person can teach only what he knows"; but this is so far from being true, that the most successful study may take the form of self-teaching, where the teacher is ignorant of a subject and joins the pupil as a student in pursuing it. Professor Calderwood, however, guards against such an interpretation of his dictum as would imply that instruction is the sole end of teaching; but self-instruction has no such leading place in his system as we think it should have in any rational system of education.

Properties of Matter. By P. G. Tait, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black. Pp. 320. Price, $2.25.

Though the name of Black appears upon the title-page of this work as publisher, yet that of Macmillan & Co. is stamped upon the back, and it is announced as one of Macmillan's "Manuals for Students." It is, of course, a good book of its kind, for Tait knows how to do good work. But, though claiming to be an elementary book, it must still be regarded as an advanced text-book, and is intended for students who are "sup-