treating of the theory of equations, and one treating of determinants and probabilities, so far as the author deems these of interest and value to the general student. The volume closes with a supplementary discussion of continued fractions and theory of numbers. The two parts of the book are paged continuously, and may be had bound together.
Although prepared for English readers, the Notes on American Schools and Training Colleges, by. G. Fitch (Macmillan, 60 cents), contains much that American teachers can read with profit. These Notes were made during a visit of the author to America in 1888, and were embodied in his annual official report on English Training Colleges, presented to Parliament in 1889. It is always instructive to see ourselves as other fair-minded observers see us, and this picture of our educational methods from a foreign point of view must help Americans to realize what are the peculiarities, the merits and defects, in a system all parts of which seem to us equally natural and admirable. An introduction has been prefixed to the volume telling how education is supported in England. This is a point on which many Americans appear to be ignorant, and a glaring case of such ignorance by a reverend writer in an American magazine is taken by Dr. Fitch as the text for his remarks. A table showing schemes of graded instruction in primary schools in England, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Massachusetts, and Ontario is inserted at the end of the volume.
Volume XI of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science covers the annual meetings of 1887 and 1888. Most of the papers embody results of scientific researches on the geology, botany, and zoology of Kansas. Among these are Horizon of the Dacotah Lignite, by Prof. Robert Hay; On the Newly Discovered Salt Beds in Ellsworth County, by E. H. S. Bailey; Personal Observations upon the Flora of Kansas, by Mrs. A. L. Slosson; Geology of the Leavenworth Prospect Well, by E. Jameson; A List of the Kansas Species of Peronosporaceæ, by W. T. Swingle; and a Meteorological Summary for the Years 1887 and 1888, by Prof. F. H. Snow. There are also some papers on general subjects.
Prof. Edwin S. Crawley, of the University of Pennsylvania, has published a textbook entitled Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry (Lippincott, $1), covering that part of the subject which is generally given in a college course. The first part of the subject is presented in much detail, with many examples and illustrations; further on the student is thrown more upon his own resources. In the preface, sections are specified which may be omitted without impairing the continuity of the text, if a shorter course is desired. An appendix contains the formulæ which the student will find most useful in subsequent work in mathematics. Answers to a part of the examples are given at the end of the book.
A fifth edition, revised and enlarged, of the little work on Electric Light Installations and the Management of Accumulators, by Sir David Salomons, Bart., has just been published (Van Nostrand, $1.50). The book is now more than twice as large as when it first appeared, having been extended to 334 pages, and contains ICO illustrations. The rapidity with which four editions have been disposed of, and the fact that the book has been translated into German and French, are practical indorsements of its value. Besides expanding the chapters of the last edition, the author has added two new ones, and many of the cuts are now inserted for the first time.
Prof. R. H. Ward, M. D., has published a revised edition of his record-book for botanical laboratory work entitled Plant Organization (Ginn & Co., 85 cents). The preface and introduction explain Prof. Ward's scheme of writing descriptions of plants; then follow twenty pages in which the terms commonly used in describing the parts of plants are defined. Here the author gives, in addition to many of the technical terms, simpler words that may be used by pupils whose course of study will be short. The leaves of the book are tied in by a cord, so that as each printed form is filled out it may be removed and handed to the teacher for examination. The forms, besides lines for descriptive words, have spaces for drawings. Blank pages are inserted, to which dried specimens may be attached.
A manual of hygiene entitled How to preserve Health has been prepared by Louis Barkan, M. D. (Exchange Printing Company,
