New York city. It had eleven members at the beginning; at the end of the first year it had more than six hundred members. The ladies seem to have gone into their enterprise with much energy, before which several established nuisances, that had long baffled the political powers, had to give way. Their influence was felt in New Jersey, where they were called on to help remove some offensive conditions, and in the State Legislature, where they labored to prevent damaging legislation.
California State Mining Bureau. Sixth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist. Part I. By Henry G. Hanks. Pp. 145. Part II. By William Irelan, Jr. Sacramento. Pp. 222.
The first part, besides a general statement of the condition of the Bureau and its collections and a reference to the comparative merits of mining and manufacturing as adapted to California, gives a paper on "Building-Stones and Building-Materials in California," with a list of the stones and their localities; a table of altitudes of twelve hundred and ninety-seven points; accounts of the "Mineral Springs of California"; descriptions of "The Calistoga Silver-Mines"; and the geology and mineralogy of San Diego County. The second part contains the special report of the trustees of the Bureau; accounts of a considerable number of mines and of the processes and machinery employed at them; summaries of the mineral products of the United States in 1885; the mining laws of the United States and the departmental interpretations of them; various tables and rules of use in mining; and tables of legal distances and routes of travel in California.
Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club. Transactions No. 7, 1885. W. H. Harrington, President. Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 90.
The Club appears to have enlisted a full representation of the persons within its sphere of action who are interested in its work. Three Club excursions were made, while the sub-excursions were more numerous and more successful than in any previous season. Ten afternoon lectures or classes were held during the winter, on entomology, mineralogy, ornithology, and botany. The fact that six of the meetings were held in educational institutions is regarded as indicating that the Club is being more and more recognized as able and willing to impart instruction in the natural sciences. With the "Transactions" are embodied the special reports of the geological, conchological, entomological, ornithological, and botanical branches of the Club; papers on the "Black Bear," by Mr. W. P. Lett, and "Ottawa Dragon-Flies," by Mr. T. J. MacLaughlin; a "List of Mosses collected near Ottawa," by Professor J. Macoun; and "A New Departure in the Study of Minerals," by the Rev. C. F. Marsan.
Mathematical Teaching and its Modern Methods. By Truman Henry Safford. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 47. Price, 25 cents.
This paper is one of a series of "Monographs on Education," which the publishers have undertaken for the purpose of preserving a class of essays on the theory or practice of teaching which, not being suited for popular magazine articles or voluminous enough for books, are, while they are of great value, in danger of being lost. The thoughts expressed in the paper are such as have been suggested by the author's long practical experience in giving instruction in mathematical subjects, and the conclusions are believed to be in agreement with the views of progressive educators, but not with ordinary traditions. "It is an old complaint against mathematics as a mental discipline," says the author, "that it is too abstract and unpractical. When we look at the ordinary courses in our colleges and schools, we shall find that there is much truth in this; but the complaints are entirely groundless when mathematics takes its proper place in our courses, and is taught in the proper manner." It is the object of the essay to search for the "proper manner."
McCarty's Annual Statistician, 1887. Edited by L. P. McCarty. San Francisco: L. P. McCarty.
The usefulness of well-edited and comprehensive compilations of statistics goes without saying as a valuable vade mecum for the editor, politician, scholar, even for professional men and merchants. Of these hand-books we have many more or less
