subject (Longmans, 75 cents). The author names, as trifling advantages of an international coinage, the convenience of travelers, facility in the exchange and transmission of coin, and in the comparison of monetary statistics. What he deems the one great advantage of such a money would consist in making identical the monetary language of the trade circulars of different nations. He believes that an international coinage should be founded on a single standard, have a high gold unit, have decimal divisions, and do no violence to national jealousies. Several international unit coins have been proposed—a twenty-five-franc piece, the English sovereign, a piece weighing ten grammes, and a ten-franc piece—but Mr. Bagehot points out objections to them all. The scheme which the author proposes is to unite the two great Anglo-Saxon nations upon a system of coins, by changing the sovereign from 960 to 1,000 farthings, or £1 0s. 10d., which is almost identical with the American half-eagle. He believes that Germany and the Latin Union would in time adopt the Anglo-American money.
In his essay on Involuntary Idleness, read before the American Economic Association, and now published as a book (Lippincott, $1), the author, Mr. Hugo Bilgram, searches for the cause of lack of employment. He first examines the relation of capital and interest to labor, and obtains the inference that "a close relation exists between the economic cause of involuntary idleness and the law of interest." The author states that there is a tendency for the industrial class to drift into bankruptcy, and for money to accumulate in the hands of the financial class, thus depriving the channels of commerce of the needed medium of exchange, and causing stagnation of business and dearth of employment. The law of interest is then evolved by an analysis of the monetary circulation between the debtors and creditors. From this analysis is drawn the inference that "an expansion of the volume of money, by extending the issue of credit-money, will prevent business stagnation and involuntary idleness."
The Teacher's Manual of Geography, by Jacques W. Redway (Heath, 55 cents), consists of suggestions to teachers on out-of-door lessons for young pupils, the use of pictures and models, recitation, map-making, geodesy, hydrography, meteorology, history in geography, and boundary lines. Simple ideas of form, size, color, and locality are suggested to be presented to the youngest children in preliminary oral work. The tendency of the book throughout is to lead the teacher to give pupils a practical, comprehensible knowledge of the earth's surface, to correct popular errors, and to escape from traditional ruts. A list of books for geographical reading is appended.
A series of Topics in Geography, prepared by W. F. Nichols, for the use of his own schools, has now been published (Heath, 55 cents). The author states that his aim has been to make the study of geography more valuable, while shortening the time usually spent upon it. To this end he shows what to teach and what to omit, giving first a brief outline for a study of any continent based upon slope, and furnishing topics, to be taken up after this, which cover all that it is desirable to learn. Other features of his treatment are the sparing use of statistics, the combination of language with geography, and the making prominent of natural objects and wonders, which are always interesting to pupils. The course of study is graded. By permission, Prof. Redway's list of books for geographical reading is included.
The Nursery Lesson Book, by Philip G. Hubert, Jr. (Putnam, 75 cents), is designed as a guide for mothers in teaching young children. It comprises fifty lessons, each conveying simple and progressive instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, and singing. It contains one hundred illustrations in outline and sixteen songs set to music. The page is large, the margins generous, and the general appearance of the book is attractive.
The life and labors of Vitus Bering, the Discoverer of Bering Strait, have been recorded in Danish by Peter Lauridsen, and an English translation by Prof. Julius E. Olson is now published (Griggs, $1.25). Bering was a Dane, who took to the sea in early life, and at the age of twenty-two joined a Russian fleet as a sub-lieutenant. This was during the period of Russia's rapid advancement under Peter the Great. In 1724 Bering, then a captain, was appointed
