MORE SCHOOL-BOOKS.*
WHATEVER the fate of Greece and Rome in our classrooms, they will never lose their place in the nursery. Hardly a month passes without the issue of some classical tales for children on the model of Kingsley's Heroes, best of books. A good specimen by an American hand has appeared of late, and actual experiment has proved its value to nurslings "on this side.", For those not privileged to have read such books in youth Messrs. Macmillan have produced a handy Dictionary of Classical Names,' for it is still thought well in England to be able to recognize a classical allusion, and to confer that ability at an early age is one of the services rendered by such books as Kingsley's and those of the late Professor A. J. Church.
The "nursling" is, indeed, largely catered for by the modern publisher. Messrs, Bell and Sons have just issued for the rising generation an Outdoor and Indoor Experimental Arithmetic' whose five courses cover the ground between the division of a yard into three football-boots and the use of the theodolite. For the generation that has risen a little more Messrs. Bell have issued a new "Baker and Bourne" which embraces all Part I of the "Elementary Algebra" and only, about half of Part IL* The book is now of more convenient compass for the ordinary pass-examinations. Another well. known book also has been lately issued "in n new size The enlarged "Harrison and Baxandall"5 contains a fuller treat- ment of graphics than before, as well as a valuable series of examination papers with answers. Messrs. Macmillan have issued an attractive little book on Practical Mathematics in their "First Books of Science" series.'
Both in modern languages and in English the feature of recent publishing has been the multiplication of cheap texts. Messrs. Bell have an excellent series of classical French plays,7 and Messrs. Blackie print some interesting contem- porary works still copyright.* The selection of English prose passages for junior forms is never easy, but Messrs. Horace Marshall and Son' have a series containing many fine things, and Bell's sixpenny English Texts" do good service for slightly older boys. The number of English grammars continues to grow, for the modern theory is that English can be made as valuable for training the mind as Latin, and the older view that English grammar consist]] of many rules and more exceptions, all illogical, does not really preclude the possibility of this. A Modern Grammar," by Mr. Clarke and Mr. Ungoed, seems a good specimen of its kind. The new practice of giving examples first, and then inducing from them the generalization which we call a rule, has both logic and psychology behind it, and it is certainly the method which will provoke the most interest.
Geography, quite lately definable by Mr. Chesterton as "about maps," is coming to be a new thing in our schools. It has been found even to have a history of its own, and a fascinating book on exploration and on ancient and modern views of the world has been published for the Rationalist Press under the title of Ths History of Geography." A more strictly useful geographical publication is a handy text-book of the British Empire for lower forms by two Osborne Masters." It is a practical book, obviously designed by experienced teachers, and its three-page narrative of the Empire's growth is an excellent piece of compressed history. The study of history proper, like that of geography, has • (1) Stories of Old Greece and Rome. By Emilie Kip Baker. London:- Macmillan and Co. [6s. 6d. net.]—(2) d Diotionary of Classical Name. for English Seeders. By W. P. Jeffrott, B.A. Same publishers. [is. ed. (3) Outdoor and Indoor Etsporimmtal Arithmetios. By H. H. Goodscre, F.R.G.S.. and Other. In Eire Yearly Course. London: George Bell and Son. [4d. per Course, paper; 6d., clot 1—(4) A Shorter Algebra. By W. M. Baker and A. A. Bourne. Same publisher. [2e. 6d.] (5) Freda:al Geometry and Graphics. By J. Harrison and G. A. Basandall. London: Macmillan and Co. [6s.]—(6) Practical Mathematics. By T. S. Usherwood and C. J. A. Trimble. Same publishers. [l. 13d.]—(7) Standard French Plays: Le Cid, L'Amrs, Is Tartuffo, Le Misanthrope, Les Plaideurs, Zaire. London : George Bell and Son., red,1—(3) Copyright French Texts Conte. d'Arthre. Centel de Coppes. London: Blac.Ua and Son. [led.] — le) Prose Tests for Junior Forms. London s Horace Maralall and Son. [9d.J--(10) English Teats. London George Bell and Son. red.]—(n) INTIM : a Modern Grammar. By G. H. Clarke mid G. T. Ungoed. London: Howse Marshall and BOIL [2a. 6&]—(12) The History of. Geography. By J. Scott Keltie and 0. J. R. -Hovrarth. London: Watts. (L. net]—(IS A -Geography of the British Empire. By W. L. Bunting and - H. L. Collen.sftmbridge: at the University Pres. [2.. 6L]—(14) English, History Source Books, 4424060 and 11358-70. London George Bell and Son. [Ia net each.]—(15) English History in Contemporary Poetry: No. 2, 1200.14861 No. 4, /666-1688. Sarno publishers and price.—(16) Outlines of Modern History. By J. D. Roger. Oxford at the Clarendon Pres. [3e. 61.]—. (17) Economics of Everyday Life. 11B. H. Benson, M.A. Cambridge at the University Prem. De. net..]—( Tillage. Trade. and Invention. By G.. Townsend Warner, A. London: made end Son. [2a.]—(19) Lessons on Gisios. By H. Laurence. Same publishers. [6d.]—(20) Select Pamirs, on Duty to the State. By J. G. Jenninga, M.A. Oxford: at the Clarendon Pres% [Complete, 2s. 6d. ; or in two Series at la, dd. and la, Bd.]
become a new thing of late years. The ordinary text-book is new quite a lively volume, and it has ceased to be the only weapon in the teacher's armoury. Not only are whole forms now given " Source Books," containing extracts from " dooms," biographies, letters, speeches, and newspapers," as well as books linking up political history with national literature," but the actuarhietory studied is lees divided than it once was into water-tight compartments. Recently Mr. J. D. Rogers has outlined all modern history in two hundred exceed- ingly readable pages," -a feat demanding more intellectual power than the writing of many a monumental work. In these days we have ceased to regard history Ss ending in 1857, and the realization that we are "making history all the time" has resulted in the founding of a new school "subject." Many a believer in our public schools trembles for his faith when he hears public-school men talk politics, and it is the cry of every social reformer to-day that our upper classes are ignorant and apathetic about public things. Some years ago a little hook on Civics in the Public Schools appeared from Clifton, and the publishers' lists are beginning to show that it sowed good seed. It is not long since The Economics of Every- day We" came from Cambridge, and now Messrs. Blackie are producing an excellent volume of easy economics at a moderate price," as well as a still more valuable sixpenny booklet entitled Lessons on Civics" which contains much information upon Parliament, Local Government, Imperial services, and all departments of public life. Oxford sends us what is less practical but more inspiring, an anthology of civic exhortation,* full of great thoughts and great names—an original and delightful book in which Plato elbows Comte and Epictetns Bacon. Here Milton and Ruskin and Marcus Aurelius plead in their several ways for the life of soejal sacrifice. Even the compulsory reading of such a book can hardly fail to produce in a young mind some faint reflection of those great fires in which its various parts were fashioned. There is more hope for our social regeneration in the arrival of these volumes in our public schools than in many " move- ments " and "appeals" of which much more is heard in the world.
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