Catalogue of the South Missouri State Normal School, Warrensburg, James Johonnot, Principal. Jefferson City: Regan & Carter.
Of all the forms of ephemeral literature, school catalogues are generally the most volatile, fleeting, and thoroughly worthless. The luxurious typography is, no doubt, pleasant to the pupils whose names are in the list, and, indicating the prosperity of the establishment, is a highly-dignified method of advertising. The deep philosophy of education that is propounded, and the high-sounding promises of what is to be done next year, dressed in imposing rhetoric, are agreeable to read, but unsafe to trust, as they usually have a very loose relation with the facts.
The catalogue before us, however, is of quite exceptional character, and has interested us not a little. It is the result of a serious and earnest effort to carry out advanced ideas, and to place popular education more completely upon the basis of scientific principles than has hitherto been deemed practicable. In his eight pages of preliminary explanation of the course of study. Prof. Johonnot has given us a brief and excellent exposition of the underlying ideas of the new education, and has given ample and cogent reasons why the sciences should have a leading place in our improved systems of mental cultivation. But no amount of theorizing can be sufficient here. What we want is an actual curriculum, and the practical results of its working. Scientific education cannot be constructed, it must grow; but that growth can only come from trial and experience, and, what we want, therefore, is judicious educational experimenters to develop the new culture and show what it is capable of. They have entered boldly upon this path at the Warrensburg Normal School, and with something like an adequate appreciation of the just claims of scientific studies. While it is regarded by many educators as a great step of reform to recognize science at all, and to concede one, two, or three hours a week to some branches of it, Prof. Johonnot makes it the prominent and fundamental thing in the establishment over which he presides. Of the several lines of study, science occupies the first place, and is a regular daily exercise in every term. "In each science a strictly objective presentation is first made, by which the pupil observes the objects and facts upon which the science is founded, and is led to make general classifications. Farther along in the course, each science is treated again upon a higher plane, leading to more minute investigations and to broader generalizations; and in several instances the subject recurs three times before it is finally dismissed." We may add that the scientific course is broad and comprehensive, and one of the features of the plan of teaching is the explanation of new discoveries and important results, as fast as they occur in the scientific world.
Nomenclature of Diseases (Woodworth). Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 232.
Exposures in Fire Insurance (Ross). New York: Appletons. Pp. 59.
National Educational Association. 1873. Pp. 272.
Physiology of the Circulation (Pettigrew). Macmillan. Pp. 337. Price, $4.00.
Catalogue of Wild Plants in New Jersey (Willis). New York: Schermerhorn. Pp. 92. Price, $1.00.
Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis. Pp. 222.
United States Mining Industry (Raymond). New York: Ford & Co. Pp. 555. Price, $4.50.
The Stevens Battery. Pp. 30.
Morgan Expeditions, 1870-'71. Pp. 60.
Reception of Dr. Gould at Boston. Pp. 32.
Report of the Curators of Missouri University (1874). Pp. 185.
Kindergarten Messenger (Monthly). Pp. 24.
Bulletin of Cornell University (Science). Vol. I. Nos. 1 and 2. Pp. 63.
The Rapid Writer (Monthly). Andover, Mass. Pp-16.
Bench and Bar Review (Quarterly). Baltimore: A. Schaumburg. Pp. 200. Per annum, $5.00.
