REVIEWS

AN ELEMENTARY LABORATORY.

(Translated from the German by FRANK A. MAN NY.)

The tree of accumulated knowledge is so large that no one can, in the brief space of a lifetime, hope to get thoroughly acquainted with all its branches and so tall is this tree that only a chosen few are allowed to explore the tipends of any one particular branch.

The acquiring of knowledge plays such an important part in the process of educating man that some people confound it with education itself. We hear people speak of someone being educated "along those lines," or we come in contact with people who "have had" such and such studies but whose memory and manners fail to support their claim to a genuine education.

We are living at a time when a large number of very important studysubjects are battling for a first-row place on the school program. With such persistent, clever arguments do these subjects assert their position that authorities are prone to neglect any one in favor of the rest. This is in part excusable for since, unfortunately, the learning period of the great masses of mankind has been fixed to be between the ages of 6 and 14-when shall these poor beings find out by what means they are likely to become educated most successfully. Would not, for instance, the child who is artistically inclined, be wronged if during the whole of his eight years schooling he were to have no opportunity to give expression to his natural talent?

Nevertheless, crowd as best we can, the time seems to have come when we begin to see that it is impossible to give a first-row place to each of the host of studies that appear to be “most important." Perhaps the simplifying of the school program may be the means of replacing much of the superficiality of today by a genuine thoroughness, more humility and more reverence.

Dr. Geo. Kerschensteiner, one of Germany's foremost educators in his latest work "Grundfragen der Schulorganisation" lays great stress on this simplifying of the program and he therefore gladly welcomes a book like the "Elementar Laboratorium" in which Raymund Fischer proposes to use manual training not as a distinct study by itself, but as a valuable aid while mastering problems in physics. The "Elementar Laboratorium" is published by Carl Schuell of Munich and it deserves the attention of all educators.

The book is full of illustrations, showing how with a remarkably small expenditure of money children can make 125 pieces of apparatus. Here and there work on similar lines has been done, but there appears to be no book on the market that so exhaustively treats of the subject.

Mr. Fischers' pupils have a scrap-box or closet into which are placed all the bits of wood, glass, tin cans, lead, nails and whatsoever they can find and which is of little value at home. From this well-ordered junk pile comes the material out of which are constructed the simplest plumb-line as well as the most wonderful electrical machine within the scope of the boys' ability. Of

For

course a few articles like glass-tubing, drugs, etc. must be purchased. certain work scraps from a saw-mill are obtained and the boys even buy some of the things at cheap auction sales. They are by far more interested in their work because of this gathering process than they would be if all the material were furnished by the school. There is a large percentage of voluntary home work which is probably the best result of Mr. Fischer's educational influence.

Because of the many plates in color the book is not so difficult to understand even for those whose knowledge of German is rudimentary. The book costs four Marks in Germany and can probably be had for $1.50 or less in this country through any book dealer.

-FRITZ KOCH.

NOTES FROM THE GERMAN MANUAL TRAINING MAGAZINE.

By George F. Foth.

Twenty-five years of successful work has been done in the eight manual training schools of Dresden. This gives Dresden the foremost place among the German cities.

On the 2d of October, the question of manual training was brought up for the first time in the Leipsic City Council. It was decided to make manual training part of the school work in the new "Burgerschule" No. 10. Two basement rooms were set apart for this work and the sum of 1425 M. were appropriated for their equipment. The instruction is to be carried on in the afternoons between three and five o'clock. The work is to begin with the boys of the third and fourth classes, the fourth to receive instruction in cardboard and the third in the elements of benchwork in wood. The work will not be compulsory.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the manual training school at Posen was celebrated on November 15th. All the manual training teachers of the city were present and Director Gaertig, the founder of the school, was commended for his successful work, not only in the city, but also in the province. The hope was expressed that he might be able to continue his great work in the cause of manual training for many years to come. Thereupon, in the name of the manual training teachers of Posen, he was presented with a statue idealizing work.

Barden is keeping pace with the manual training movement. In all newly planned public school buildings, consideration is being given to additional rooms for manual training. This is also true in Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim, and Freiburg. Manual training is now well established in the public schools of Mannheim, where 2215 boys receive instruction. They are allowed to choose between cardboard work, whittling, benchwork, metalwork, and modeling. One hundred and ten courses are taught by forty-seven teachers in fourteen work-rooms.

Year Book of the Council of Supervisors of the Manual Arts. Edward D. Griswold, secretary, Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y. 634 x 10 in.; pp. 168+46 plates and many line cuts; price, $3.00.

This seventh year-book is a fitting successor to the helpful volumes that have preceded it. In illustrations it is richer than any previous volume and in the practical suggestiveness of its papers it keeps to the high standard set by this organization.

The volume opens with a paper on "Constructive Work in Town Schools without Special Equipment" by Mabel B. Soper. This is an account of what has actually been accomplished in a Massachusetts town near Boston and makes one wish that the day would soon come when such work were being done in every town in our land. The second article is a discussion of "Centers of Interest in Handwork" by Cheshire L. Boone. "Woodworking in Country Schools," is discussed by M. W. Murray, "Toymaking as a Form of Constructive Work", is interestingly presented by Albert W. Garritt, and "Some Phases of Bookbinding in the Elementary Schools" is helpfully treated by Julia C. Cremins. And so one might continue through the entire volume.

Theodore M. Dilloway presents some striking and instructive contrasts in a paper entitled "Creating Ideals in Furniture Design," and in quite a different way Frank E. Mathewson gives some fresh material on designing for wrought metal work. "The Adaptation of Pattern to Material" is discussed by James P. Haney and illustrated with fifteen full-page plates, one of which is reproduced on the opposite page. This paper adds another to the remarkable series on applied design which Dr. Haney has produced during the past three years.

No one can really keep up to date with the literature of the Manual Arts who fails to read the Year-books of the Council as they make their annual appearance, and no working library on the manual arts is complete without them.

-B.

Sewing Manual. By Ida B. McGlauflin, supervisor of sewing in the public schools of Denver, Colorado. Published by the author; price, 50 cents. This is a sixty-four page booklet giving a five-year course in school needlework. The course begins with the third grade, and outlines the work in detail. A list of words used in the sewing, which should be taught in each grade, is added to the outlines of work, also a chapter in which the several stitches are described, and another on textile fibers. The book bears evidence of being the result of practical experience, and it should be helpful to sewing teachers in other cities.

Textile Studies for the School Room. By Katherine F. Steiger, director of the domestic arts in the public schools of Rochester, N. Y. Published by the author; price, 25 cents.

This very attractively printed booklet contains the following chapters: A general outline of weaving exercises, helps for teachers, the making of a loom, how we learned to make thread, textile fibres, cotton, linen, wool, silk. At the end of the book is a bibliography.

The following have been, received:

Third Annual Report of the Education Department of the State of New York. By Andrew S. Draper, Commissioner.

Simple Exercises Illustrating Some Applications of Chemistry to Agriculture. By K. L. Hatch, principal of Winnebago County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy, Winneconne, Wis. U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin

195.

The Seasoning and Preservative Treatment of Hemlock and Tamarack Cross-ties. By W. F. Sherfesee. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forestry Service, Circular 132.

The Lumber Cut of United States, 1906. By Gifford Pinchot. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Circular 122.

How to Read Plans. By Charles G. Peker, editor of "Woodworker's Review. Industrial Publication Co., New York, 1908; 5 x 7 in., pp. 46+8 plates of drawings, price 50 cents. A book written to help mechanics to read working drawings.

Addresses and Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1907. Report of the Los Angeles meeting containing an unusually large number of papers of special interest to teachers of manual training. Price, $2.00. Dr. Irwin Shepard, Secretary. Address Winona, Minnesota.

Proceedings of Joint Meeting. Report of the Cleveland meeting of the Eastern Art Teachers' Association, the Eastern Manual Training Association and the Western Drawing and Manual Training Association held May 8 to 11, 1907. Price, 50 cents. William T. Bawden, Chairman of Editorial Board, State Normal University, Normal, Ill. This attractively illustrated volume contains much that will interest teachers of the manual arts who did not attend the meeting, and certainly those who did attend will want it for reference.

Student Participation in School Government. By William R. Ward, Supervisor of Manual Training, State Normal School, New Paltz, N. Y., 1906. 54 x 71⁄2 in.; pp.112; price, 50 cents.

This book is of immediate practical value to anyone contemplating the adoption of the "School City" idea. It is not a book of theories but of practical suggestions based on six years of experience. It tells in detail just how to roceed.

Report of Commissioner of Education, 1906, Vol. 2. Dr. Elmer E. Brown, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Chapter XX contains fifty pages of statistics on manual and industrial training.

Seat Work and Industrial Occupations. By Mary L. Gilman and Elizabeth B. Williams, two principals of public schools in Minneapolis. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1905. 6 x 71⁄2 in. pp. 141.

How to Make an Annunciator. By T. E. O'Donnell.

Making and Fixing Electric Bells and Batteries. By M. Cole.

A Small Electric Motor. By Wm. C. Houghton.

How to Grind and Set Edge Tools. By M. Cole.

These are small handbooks issued by the Sampson Publishing Co., 6 Beacon St., Boston, and sold at 10 cents each. Each is illustrated by one or more drawings.

School of Liberal Arts and Sciences for Non-Residents. A prospectus of a new plan for getting a college education without going to college. The instruction is individual and the examinations just as searching as in resident college work. On the faculty are some of the strongest men in the United States. For example, at the head of the department of education is Professor John Dewey of Columbia, and of fine arts Professor John C. Van Dyke of Rutgers. Hamilton W. Mabie is the chairman of the Educational Council. The executive offices are at 156 Fifth Ave., New York, and 512 Times Building, Pittsburg, Pa.