suitable points in the great water-sheds, near the sources of the principal tributaries of the largest rivers. Improvements in the organization of the service are shown to be much needed to make it as efficient as it should be.
Fundamental Problems. The Method of Philosophy as a Systematic Arrangement of Knowledge. By Dr. Paul Carus. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. Pp. 267. Price, $1.
The papers presented in this volume, constituting a constructive series of philosophical essays, first appeared for the most part in the editorial columns of "The Open Court." They were there subjected to criticism and discussion which the author has turned to advantage in revising and rearranging and adding to them. Philosophy is regarded, from a point of view both radical and conservative, as the most practical and important science, whose problems lie at the bottom of all the single sciences, of which religion and ethics are applications. The view is radical, because the issues of philosophic thought are presented in their rigidity without trying to conceal the consequences to which the argument leads, with the old and long-cherished errors faced and critically explained; and conservative, because the historical connection with the work of our ancestors is regarded, and progress is sought through a development from the past, not by a rupture with it. "A philosophy of most radical free thought" is presented, "that is no negativism, no agnosticism, and no metaphysical mysticism, but a systematic arrangement of positive facts." This philosophy is monism, or a conception of all existence as one. This is complemented by meliorism, or the conception of a purified, higher view of life.
Home Gymnastics for the Well and the Sick. Edited by E. Angerstein, M. D., and by G. Eckler. Translated from the Eighth German Edition. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 94. Price, $1.50.
While setting forth in no uncertain terms the invigorating effects of systematic bodily exercise, the authors of this manual frankly caution the reader against resorting to gymnastics for the cure of serious diseases, certainly not without previous consultation with a physician, and they warn him also not to impatiently expect striking results after a few weeks' practice. The book comprises some general rules and information about home gymnastics, which is followed by detailed descriptions of sixty-nine exercises, most of which need no apparatus, while for the others dumb-bells, a wand, and a chair are the only articles required. Fifty-two cuts illustrate the descriptions. General directions and specific lists of exercises are then given for the use of boys and girls of different ages, for young men, young women, mature men and women, and for old age. Similar directions and groups of exercises are given adapted to certain conditions of ill-health or imperfect development, such as general weakness, weak chest, stagnation in the abdominal organs, corpulence, bent carriage, etc. A large sheet containing all the cuts, and a list of the exercises, accompanies the volume.
State of New York. Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1889. Andrew S. Draper. Pp. about 1,000.
The year covered by this report is described as having been one of marked educational activity. A new interest in educational work was manifested, and showed itself most intelligently in directions which promise the best results. The rivalries and antagonisms between different classes of educational workers arc disappearing. The criticisms of the public schools have prompted examination of deficiencies and the search for means of remedying them. More study is given to the history and philosophy of education than ever before; and "on every side a new and healthful interest in public school work, on the part of those charged with the carrying on of that work, is apparent." The cost per capita of educating the children of the State is put at various amounts, according to the rule by which it is estimated, but the real cost, for the children actually attending the schools, is ultimately fixed at $15.19. The expense per capita of the whole population was $3.08. The statistics of attendance are claimed to show that, while it is relatively smaller than formerly, the school work of the State has grown somewhat in substantial character during the last thirty years. Since 1865 the average attendance in the cities has
