spaces. But examples of false syntax are given in an appendix, for teachers who prefer them.
In the High-School German Grammar of W. H. Van der Smissen and W. H. Fraser (D. Appleton & Co.), while the lessons and exercises have been made progressive as far as possible, each separate subject is fully treated before being dismissed. Care has been taken that no grammatical point shall occur in any sentence on which the pupil has not been previously instructed, and that the principles of past lessons as well as of the current lesson shall appear in every exercise. Supplementary lessons, designed mainly for reference, are devoted to special cases of grammatical usage. Those points in which German differs from Euglish usage, particularly with regard to the prepositions and their puzzling idioms, the use of participles and the construction of participial clauses, and the order of words and construction of sentences, are explained. The vocabulary gives such meanings of words as occur in the exercises; and the index is full.
American educators now have offered to them the Systems of Education of Prof. John Gill (Heath, $1.10). The work is a history and criticism of the educational principles, methods, organization, and discipline which have been in use in England, and consists of lectures which it became the author's duty to prepare, as Professor of Education in the Normal College, Cheltenham. The first man whose ideas produced an important effect on English education was Roger Ascham, and his "Scholemaster," though dealing primarily with classical teaching, yet contains principles which are applicable to all school subjects. Comenius, Milton, Locke, and Vicesimus Knox are the other educationists whose teachings have been influential in shaping the grammar schools of England. The Edgeworths and Pestalozzi are credited with most strongly modifying the development of the common school. Oberlin, Wilderspin, the Mayos, and Froebel are the most prominent names in the history of infants ' schools. In the conduct of the elementary school, designed for pupils whose education will not proceed far. Dr. Andrew Bell, the founder of the monitorial system, has the earliest place. Joseph Lancaster, a contemporary of Bell, employed substantially the same methods. Without displacing the monitorial organization, there grew up after a time what was called the intellectual system, which made the culture of the intelligence its special aim. A further advance in the same direction was made by David Stow, who devised the training system, which is here presented with especial fullness. The book closes with a chapter on amateurs and helpers, who, though not professional teachers, have had more or less influence in developing systems of education.
In the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1886-'87 (Government Printing-Office), the commissioner, Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, states that the bureau has undertaken to investigate the history of American education, beginning with the sections of the country whose educational history is comparatively unknown. Monographs on William and Mary College and the University of Virginia, with sketches of other Virginian colleges, have been prepared. The commissioner devotes considerable space to telling the condition and needs of education in Alaska, where he has personally made a tour of inspection. Since his appointment, he has simplified the organization of the bureau, and has succeeded in hastening the publication of the annual reports. The volume contains the usual information about the schools of the country, and an index to the publications of the bureau, from 1868 to 1887, with a list of the same.
The second of the "Contributions to American Educational History," now being published by the Bureau of Education, is on Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, by Prof. Herbert B. Adams, and contains also authorized sketches of Hampden Sidney, Randolph, Macon, Emory, Henry, Roanoke, and Richmond Colleges, Washington and Lee University, and Virginia Military Institute. Jefferson's efforts in the cause of education, and the history of the establishment of the University of Virginia, are given with much fullness. An interesting chapter in the account tells how the example of this university over sixty years ago aided the birth of what is now called "the Harvard idea." The record is made more valuable by numerous illustrations, part of them, including a portrait of Jefferson, being borrowed from a recent article on Jefferson in
