or didactic method—telling about things which are far away, or, if near at hand, are not identifiable by the aid of the book. Due discrimination is not observed between those conceptions of the subject which are abstract, and beyond the reach of the young pupil or older novices, and those which can be attained through accessible concrete illustrations."
The method of these "Excursions" is practical, and implies the observation and study of geological phenomena as they lie all about us among the most obtrusive and noticeable of the objects which we daily encounter. The author, moreover, informs us that a large part of the "Excursions" has been used while yet in manuscript, in actual trials by actual teachers. This is unquestionably the true method in scientific education, because it makes the mental acquisitions real, and the adoption and extension of this plan of study is unquestionably the great desideratum of the time.
Brain-Exhaustion, with some Preliminary Considerations on Cerebral Dynamics. By J. Leonard Corning, M. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 235.
Interesting and valuable as are the investigations that have been made upon questions of muscular dynamics. Dr. Corning believes that the economical questions involved in normal and morbid intellection constitute a field of physiological research that transcends all others in importance. With the growing demands made in the present conditions of society upon the thinking apparatus come factors to exert a prejudicial influence upon the cerebral mechanism; and these have never been more numerous than now, as is proved by the alarming increase of brain disorders during the last few years. Dr. Corning has endeavored to consider a group of symptoms, associated with these disorders, from as scientific a point of view as possible. The opinions he expresses have been formed from direct clinical observation, and from inferences derived from physiology and experimental pathology. In a chapter of "Preliminary Considerations" he discusses the relation of the law of the convertibility of forces to the dynamics of the healthy and the morbid brain; the emotions of the healthy and morbid mind, and memory in its healthy and morbid relations. In the two following chapters are considered the clinics and pathology, and the causation of brain-exhaustion; account being taken in the latter chapter of predisposing and exciting causes, false educational conceptions and methods, the effects of tobacco and alcoholic excesses, and "mental hygienics." The last chapter is devoted to the principles of treatment. Rest is prescribed as the most wholesome and efficient remedy. Drugs are objected to, but coca is prescribed as an excellent remedy against worry, and one which, besides exercising an invigorating effect upon the cerebral centers, "imparts an indescribable sensation of satisfaction." A special treatment by electrization of the sympathetic nerve, with simultaneous bilateral compression of the carotids, is described.
Methods of Historical Study. By Herbert B. Adams, Ph. D. Baltimore: N. Murray. Pp. 137. Price, 50 cents.
This treatise constitutes the opening double number of the second series of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies" in historical and political science, and includes papers describing improved and special methods of historical study that have been introduced at the university, and at other institutions in the United States and Europe. The main principle of the training at Johns Hopkins is to encourage independent thought and research. Little attention is given to text-books and mere phraseology, but all stress is laid upon clear and original statements of fact and opinion, whether the student's own or a consulted author's. At Smith College the study is pursued by four classes in regular gradation, with liberal use of collateral literary works and historical romances as aids to the lectures and formal treatises. In another paper are given expositions of four new methods of historical study, viz., the topical, comparative, co-operative, and seminary or laboratory methods. In the first method the study is begun with and enlarged from some special topic, preferably from one which is nearest and most familiar. In the comparative method, like phases of history are studied connectedly. In the co-operative method, each student makes a thorough study of a single branch of the subject, and the work of all
