If the contributions of chemical science to modern civilization were suddenly swept away, what a blank there would be! If, on the other hand, every person were acquainted with the elements of chemistry and its bearing upon our daily life, what an uplift human efficiency would receive! It is to further this latter end that this book has been prepared. Designed particularly for use by students of agriculture and home economics in secondary schools, its use will do much to increase the efficiency of the farm and the home. In the language of modern educational philosophy, it “functions in the life of the pupil.”

Useful facts rather than mere theory have been emphasized, although the theory has not been neglected. The practical character of the work is indicated by the following selected chapter headings:

By N. HENRY BLACK of the Roxbury Latin School Boston, and Professor HARVEY N. DAVIS of Harvard University.

The new and noteworthy features of the book are the admirable selection of familiar material used to develop and apply the principles of physical science, the exceptionally clear and forceful exposition, showing the hand of the master teacher, the practical, interesting, thought-provoking problems, and the superior illustrations.

It is not essential nor desirable that everybody should become a botanist but it is inevitable that people shall be interested in the more human side of plant and animal life. We are interested in the evident things of natural history, and the greater our interest in such things, the wider is our horizon and the deeper our hold on life.

The secondary school could not teach botanical science if it would; lack of time and the immaturity of the pupils forbid it. But it can encourage a love of nature and an interest in plant study; indeed, it can originate these, and it does. Professor Bailey’s Botany has been known to do it.

In the revision of this book that has just been made, the effective simplicity of the nature teacher and the genuine sympathy of the nature lover are as successfully blended as they were in the former book. Bailey’s Botany for Secondary Schools recognizes four or five general life principles: that no two natural things are alike; that each individual has to make and maintain its place through struggle with its fellows; that “as the twig is bent the tree inclines”; that “like produces like,” and so on. From these simple laws and others like them Professor Bailey proceeds to unfold a wonderful story of plant individuals that have improved upon their race characteristics, of plant communities that have adopted manners from their neighbors, of features and characteristics that have been lost by plants because of changed conditions of life or surroundings. The story vibrates with interest.

The book is, moreover, perfectly organized along the logical lines of approach to a scientific subject. Four general divisions of material insure its pedagogical success:

In Part I of this book the author introduces the student to more than twenty standard English classics, giving in connection with each a brief explanatory introduction, suggestions for study and topics for oral and written discussion. These classics are grouped with respect to the different types of literature which they represent,—epic, drama, essay, novel, etc., and there is a brief exposition of the type. The result is that in the mind of the reader the individual masterpiece and the type with its characteristics are inseparably connected.

Part II consists of a brief but masterly survey of English literature. The book as a whole serves to systematize and unify the study of secondary school literature,—a most desirable end.

Professor E. A. Cross, State Teachers College, Greeley, Colo. “It meets with my heartiest approval. It is brief, considers all the writers high school students need to know, touches the interesting features in the lives and works of these men,—about all you could want it to do.”

Mr. John B. Opdycke, English Department of the High School of Commerce, New York City. “I like it very much indeed. It has just enough in its review of the history of English literature, and its treatment of the classics is restrained and dignified. So far as I have seen, this is the only book that combines the two in one volume. I am all against the use of an abstract History of English Literature in the high school and I am all in favor of putting into the hands of the students some book that analyzes classics fully and yet with restraint. This book seems to have combined the two in just the right proportions and treated them in just the right manner.”