Dubois county, and for the fourth year has been appointed principal of the Holland schools. Miss Werremeyer has been a successful primary teacher at Holland or several years. May these good people live long and prosper. Mr. John D. Walton, formerly of the Edinburg schools, is now principal of schools at Malta Bend, Missouri. Mr. Walton is about to be chosen one of the state school inspectors of the colored schools. Bulletin 72 from Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station reports a series of field experiments with wheat. The conclusions reached in matters of crop rotation, fertilizers, soil, fungous diseases and comparative value of new and standard varieties are exceedingly interesting, and must prove of practical value to all wheat growers. W. E. Henry, State Librarian, has compiled a most interesting table showing the formation and organization of counties in Indiana. The paper will be of especial interest to students of state history, showing as it does the name of the territory before it took the present county name, dates of county formation and organization, and sources of authority. The large fall of meteors predicted for November 13th next, gives especial interest to a paper on "Meteoric Showers" prepared by Professor John A. Miller of Indiana University, and to appear in the November INLAND EDUCATOR. It will be remembered that these heavy showers occur each third of a century, and that each visitation continues for three years, with exhibitions for one night only each year; namely, the night of November 13. The display next month will thus be the first of three. Madison county this year held one of the most successful institutes in her history. Professors Alford and Pattengill and Dr. G. Stanley Hall were the instructors. Dr. Hall worked on Thursday and Friday and on these days ten adjoining counties were represented. Thursday was ExMadison County Superintendents' Day. The exsuperintendents present were: Howell D. Thompson, D. J. Crittenberger, Wm. Croan, W. S. Ellis, I. V. Busby and M. U. Johnson. They all made short, spirited speeches. Tipton county adjourned institute and all went over to hear Dr. Hall's lecture on "Adolescence." Noble county held its annual institute at Albion August 22 to 26 inclusive. The weather was pleasant and the large number of teachers assembled had a very enjoyable time. The teachers of this county congratulate themselves on having the opportunity of listening to Professor Pattengill ex state superintendent of Michigan. Dr. Mowry of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, handled his subjects with care and precision. The music was conducted by Miss Laurina Corbin, of Fon du Lac Wisconsin, who thoroughly understands the art, and her work was highly appreciated by all. With this able corps of instructors every one went away feeling that the time had been well spent. A clipping from one of the Jay county papers shows that the institute at Portland was of the right kind. This paragraph occurs in the report: "The general opinion of the institute is that the tone of the work is a shade higher than usual. The teachers are to be complimented for the good attendance and attention, and Superintendent Crowe has the thanks of all for securing the services of such excellent instructors as Professors Kemp, Juergens and Bohannon. If they ever return to instruct the teachers of Jay county they will be heartily welcomed." From this it appears that much depends on the superintendent and much also on the instructors, but loyalty and interest on the part of all the teachers must be added to insure the largest success. Professor Charles Degarmo of Cornell University, the retiring president of the National Council of Education, has announced the committee of fifteen authorized at the meeting of the council of Washington, "to investigate the whole subject of the establishment of a national university and to report to the council at its next meeting." The committee is not appointed to indorse or oppose any particular plan for a national university, and will take up the subject in a thoroughly unbiased and scientific manner. Wm. R. Harper, Edwin A. Alderman, James B. Angell, Nicholas Murray Butler, James H. Canfield, J. M. Curry, N. C. Daugherty, A. S. Draper, Charles W. Eliot, Edmund J. James, Wm. H. Maxwell, B. J. Moses, J. G. Schurman, F. L. Holden, Wm. L. Wilson constitute the committee. President Scot Butler, as the representative of an association embracing the presidents of Butler, Mooreshill, Wabash, Hanover, Franklin, DePauw and Earlham colleges, has addressed a letter to the members of the incoming state legislature disclaiming the charge of holding certain positions, and declaring that their contention is that the presidents of Indiana University, Purdue University and the Indiana State Normal School shall not hold positions on the state board of education by virtue of their positions as presidents of these schools. The letter maintains that the policy of the board as at present constituted is adverse to the educational interests of the denominational schools, and the legislature is petitioned for an amendment of the law governing the board's organization. The disclaimer is as follows: "(1) We do not oppose the appropriation of state funds for the support of the state's higher institutions of learning. (2) We do not ask that any share of this support be accorded any institution subject to private control. (3) We do not seek 'ecclesiastical domination' of the public schools. (4) We do not ask that the state board of education be abolished. (5) We do not ask official representation of the non-state colleges in the state board of education." Through the courtesy of Professor W. D. Kerlin of Martinsville, chairman of the executive committee, we are enabled to present the preliminary program of the Town and City Superintendents' Association to be held November 10-12: PROGRAM CITY SUPERINTENDENTS' ASSOCIATION. Report of Committee on Course of Study.-W. D. Weaver. How Get Better State Text-Books?-W. H. Sims. Business, Committees, etc. Friday, November 11, 8:30 A. M. Industrial Training in the Public Schools.-Professor Charles E. Emerick. Discussion led by W. A. Hester. Sloyd in the Public Schools. T. A. Mott. Discussion led by R. I. Hamilton. The Kindergarten as a part of the Public School System.W. A Millis. Discussion led by W. C. Belman. Friday, November 11, 2 P. M. Extension of the High-School Course.-S. B. McCracken. Discussion led by J. A. Carnagey. How Get and Keep the Boys in the High School.-J. H. Tomlin. Discussion led by W. T Brown. The Province of the High-School Principal.-C. M. McDaniels. Discussion led by T. C. Lane. Friday Evening, 7:30 P. M. Electives in the High School.-Edward Ayers. son. Saturday, November 12, 8:30 A. M. Objections to Departmental Work.-W. R. Snyder. Defects of the Compulsory Education Law.-A. H. Douglass. Semi-annual Promotions. Noble Harter. How and What to Do at Grade Meetings. Calvin Moon. Unfinished Business. IMPORTANT TO TEACHERS. We offer to teachers and others an excellent opportunity to increase their incomes. Why not embrace it? It may be a chance of a life time. Drop me a card and see what I have to offer for your spare time. W. A. HAMILTON, General Agent the Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York. Terre Haute, Ind. BOOK REVIEWS. SHAPES AND SHADOWS. Poems by Madison Cawein. New York: R. H. Russell. The title selected for Mr. Cawein's latest volume of poems is not inappropriate. The author's poetic fancy seeins to have forsaken prosy realities and to have gone upon a flight now frolicsome, now dreamy, among the subtle influences of dusk, twilight, moonlight, darkness, dim shades, elusive odors, whispering perfumes, black tempests and haunted houses, where the shapes are uncertain and the shadows deep. The imagery of the lyrics is often fine, and they will surely delight the imaginative reader. The numerous poems of love come closer to the world of sense. They have the warmth of the South and remind one again and again of the seventeenth-century ballads. The covers in light and dark green, and the deckel edges, make a dainty and artistic volume, harmonizing well with the lyrical lightness of the contents. The modest dedication fairly illustrates the author's style: "Ah, not for us the Heavens that hold Yet let the soul dream on and dare THE STORY-TELLER'S ART. A guide to the elementary study of fiction. By Charity Dye. Boston: Ginn & Co. 90 pages. Price 55 cents. A great deal of attention has been given in recent years to the systematic study of fiction. That is, an effort has been made to do systematic work, although the results have often fallen far short of the good intentions. Courses in fiction study have proven immensely popular in many leading and conservative institutions of learning; in one, at least, so popular that it was deemed necessary to discontinue them. This increased interest has given rise to some efforts to construct text-books or guides for inexperienced teachers. None of those so far issued have proven of very great value, although to the teacher of limited experience they may present some valuable suggestions. The most practical and valuable of these recent attempts is the little book by Miss Dye. It has the distinct merits of being unpretentious and brief in its treatment. This brevity is at certain points so noticeable that one wishes for a fuller statement of the writer's method of work. The longest sections are the opening ones addressed to the teacher and to the student, in which the claims of fiction study to a place in the curriculum are set forth, and in which it is shown especially how a course may be arranged which will present the evolution of the human race. The author then proceeds to discuss the following topics, sometimes only a paragraph or two being devoted to a topic : The materials of fiction, the setting, the plot, the study of incident, character study, method, purpose, comment, exercises illustrating the development of power in the study of fiction, a word about realism. These brief discussions are in each case followed by a set of suggestive questions designed to bring out the main points of the discussion, and to stimulate the student in the endeavor to apply these principles to particular stories. Some lists of books, including a list suitable for study in secondary schools, a list of "foundation" books, or books which every person should know, and a list of references upon the study of fiction, complete the volume. In spite of its stimulating quality one lays it down with a sense of its insufficiency. If Miss Dye had taken some piece of fiction of a simple and well defined structure and had added a chapter by way of showing just how she applies her ideas in her successful work it would have quadrupled its value. It seems ungenerous to criticise the book for such an omission but those of us who know of Miss Dye's "knack" would fain see even in the imperfect form which an attempt to write out a "method" always results in, more of the detailed plan of work. A NEW ASTRONOMY. By David P. Todd. Cincinnati: The American Book Co. 480 pages. Price $1.30. This compact volume is remarkable for the great amount of valuable matter compressed within the limits of its 480 pages. It is written in the thought that not enough attention has heretofore been paid to the availability of astronomy for a laboratory course. "Written purely with a pedagogic purpose, insistence upon rightness of principles, no matter how simple, has everywhere been preferred to display of precision in result." Accordingly at every step in the development of the subject the student is thrown back upon the results of his own observation and experience. The subject thereby takes on new life and interest. The recommendations of "The Committee of Ten" on secondary school studies and the sugges tions of various other educational and scientific societies have been kept in mind by the author to the end that the book might fit into the needs of the high-school course of the day. Professor Todd's style is easy and his statements always to the point. The text is supplemented by an unusual number of pictures and diagrams which serve to make clear to the eye the idea conveyed by the language. Six plates in colors add to the value and attractiveness of the book. A full an alytical index completes the machinery of the volume. THE WERNER ARITHMETIC, Book III. By Frank H. Hall. Chicago: Werner School Book Co. 256 pp. Cloth. Price 50 cents. If it is desirable that an arithmetic for the grades be simple and practical, then Professor Hall has made a sensible effort in the right direction. His avowed principle is that if the child can not solve the problems presented, do not explain, but give him problems that he can solve, and so lead up to and over the difficulty. Arithmetical puzzles and monstrosities, serving only to perplex and discourage the average pupil, are replaced by treatment and problems that are clear and stimulating. An unusual feature that appears commendable is the introduction of the principles of algebra and geometry in such a way as to admit of their continuous application in arithmetic. The book seems well adapted to prepare pupils who will take up higher arithmetic, and, what is more important, to give a fair working knowledge of arithmetic to the large number who never enter the high schools. THE LATER ENGLISH DRAMA. Edited by Calvin S. Browne. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. 571 pages. $1.20. This volume is made up of the text of six plays with a slight amount of introductory and editorial matter. The plays included are as follows: Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, Sheridan's The Rivals and The School for Scandal, Knowles' Virginius, Bulwer-Lytton's The Lady of Lyons and Richelieu. The volume has a brief introductory chapter outlining the history of the drama since Shakespeare. An appendix of 24 pages is made up of miscellaneous matter which throws light on various points in connection with the plays. The plays given are ones that hold the stage, still, and it is a matter for congratulation that the publishers have seen fit to give us a good text in handy form. While theatre goers will thus find the book valuable, it will no doubt be of much interest, also, to those students of the drama who desire to study the achievements of more modern times in comparison with the greater work of the Elizabethans. STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. By Charles Noble. New York: The Macmillan Co. pp. 386, cloth. Price $1.00. Professor Noble assumes that in America school work in literature should commence with American authors; and that, hand in hand with the study of their writings should go the study of form in prose and verse. Consistently with this theory after two introductory chapters, one treating the form and classification of both verse and prose, and another discussing the period of preparation, the author studies the successive periods according to his proposed classification. He divides our literary history into three periods: (1) Origin and Early Development, (2) The Early Nineteenth Century, (3) The Later Nineteenth Century. To these he adds a final chapter on The Last Twenty Years. In the successive periods the prominent writers belonging to them are named, together with their principal works, and many representative selections are analyzed and studied in the light of the principles before considered. The influence of social, religious and political movements in their relation to literature receives due attention. The book recommends itself as an admirable basis for class work in high schools and academies, pointing the way, as it does, to much additional study. Nineteen full-page portraits of American authors add greatly to the interest. THE HIAWATHA PRIMER. By Florence Holbrook. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price 40 cents. It is a long way from the senseless jumble of words that made up for the most part the primers of ten and twenty years ago to the delightful adaptation of a charming story that has become a part of our standard literature. The evolution has been slow, but what the past has lost it is pleasant to believe that the present and the future are to gain and enjoy. "That the chief end of learning to read is to read literature of permanent value, that interest is the vital prerequisite in reading, that interest can be obtained and sustained only when new ideas are presented to the attention, that printed forms are seen first only as wholes and discriminated by their general differences, and that, other things being equal, the longer words are the more easily the child learns to discriminate them "-all these, as principles upon which the Hiawatha Primer is based, appear to us pedagogically sound. The book is substantial and attractive. There are 139 pages of reading matter, many cuts and eight full-page colored illustrations. BOOK NOTES. In the Athenæum Press Series we have Select Poems of Shelley edited with introduction and notes by W. J. Alexander. The editor takes the position that since Shelley was a man of abnormal type, extremely sensitive to certain aspects of life, comparatively blind to others, and often dominated by irrational impulses, and since the impress of his character is stamped everywhere upon his work, a knowledge of the man is more than usually necessary for the understanding of his writings. Sixty pages of the introductions are therefore given to a biographical sketch, while the remaining eighteen pages contain a critical study of the poet's A man's farm lying along a railroad is of this shape and of these dimensions. He sells it for $75 per acre. What did he receive for it? 6. I paid $360 for insurance on 3/4 of the value of my prop. erty for a term of five years, the total rate charged being 2 per cent. What is the value of the property? 1. They appeal to the eye and aid greatly in teaching the reason of the various steps or in formulating a rule. It would be very difficult to explain the rule for cube root without either blocks or drawings. 2. V 15X25-375. 3. Draw a circle with two diameters at right angles, and with tangents at the ends of these make a circumscribed square. Lines connecting the ends of the diameters will form four triangles in the respective corners of the square whose combined area equals half the area of the square. Each of these triangles is cut into two nearly equal parts by the arc of the circle crossing it. The four outer portions together equal nearly one-fourth of the area of the square. But these portions lie without the circle and are the difference between it and the square. Hence the area of the circle is approximately three-fourths or .75 of the area of the square on the diameter. 4. 252X.7854-490.875 area. The square of the diameter is 625 sq. feet. Subtracting the area of the four corners, or one-fourth of 625 gives 468.75 as the approximate area. 5. (80+60)80=5600. (80+100)×160-14400. 5600 rds.+14400 rds.=125 acres. $75X125-$9375. 6. $360-2%, $18000=100% or amount of insur ance. If $18000-3, -$24000 value, of the property. SCIENTIFIC TEMPERANCE. 1. What is the greatest danger from the drinking of alcoholic beverages? 2. What causes the smell of alcohol in the exaled air? 3. What effect has alcohol on the combustion of fats? How does this effect the body in general? 4. Contrast the effects of an overdose of coffee with an overdose of whisky. 5. What is the effect of alcohol on the emotions? 6. Classify the liquids consumed by man according to their use in the body. 1. It is the danger of forming the alcohol or drink habit. This habit eventually destroys the individual physically, morally and mentally. 2. Alcohol passes from the stomach to the liver, thence to the lungs, where, in a modified form, it is exhaled with other waste matters. Alcohol causes the smell of alcohol in the exhaled air. 3. Alcohol doubtless hinders the combustion of fats and tends to lower the temperature of the body. An examination of several school physiologies shows no satisfactory discussion of this question. 4. An overdose of coffee would probably cause an agreeable stimulation and wakefulness, followed possibly by headache and slight depression. An overdose of whisky causes greater stimulation followed by oppression of the brain so that there is loss of muscular and mental control, ending in profound sleep, and a strong disturbance of the digestive organs. 5. A moderate use of alcohol might stimulate the emotions in an agreeable way, but the general effect is to blunt the higher emotions and to stimulate the baser passions. 6. Water assists in the transfer of materials through the body. Milk is mainly water, but it contains some nutritive matters, as oil and casiene. Tea, coffee, chocolate, etc., are mainly water with some stimulating, and possibly some nutrient substances. Alcoholic beverages consist of water with more or less alcohol and other substances, some of which may be of nutritive value. The alcohol seems to be of no value to the body. SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 1. In the Protagoras, Socrates appears in contrast with the higher Sophists. What are the principal points of contrast? 2. What does Protagoras mean by the contention that virtue can be taught? 3. What is the view of Socrates on the question as to whether virtue can be taught? 4. Give Hippocrates' idea of the purpose of punishment. 5. In his talk with Protagoras does Socrates seem to show any insincerity? 6. Tell the myth of Prometheus. What is the point made by the story? 1. Socrates believes in truth and seeks for it. The Sophist neither believes in absolute truth nor seeks for it. His learning "is the art of giving, by quibbling criticism, an appearance of knowledge." 2. That men were endowed by Zeus with the capacity for taking on any of the virtues, which, in the opinion of Protagoras, are many. 3. That the virtues are one and depend upon knowledge; that virtue can not be taught. 4. The idea of Protagoras is that rational punishment has regard to the future, that the man who is punished and he who sees him punished may be deterred from doing wrong again. 5. Socrates does not show insincerity; he talks sometimes in irony. 6. When the gods created mortals and were about to bring them into the light of day Prometheus and Epimetheus were ordered to equip them with their proper qualities. It was agreed that Epimetheus should distribute and that Prometheus should inspect. Epimetheus exhausted all his gifts before he came to man. Prometheus, finding man naked and unprovided for, stole the mechanical arts and fire and gave them to man. Protagoras tells the story to show that man was endowed with the capacity of invention of particular attributes, but that he still needed the stamp Zeus to give him a universal attribute. Zeus orders Hermes to distribute reverence and justice to all men. GEOGRAPHY. 1. To what extent should the study of geography be combined with that of history? 2. Sketch a map showing the location and names of the islands now in question between the United States and Spain. 3. A class is taking up the study of Europe; make a brief outline of the first lesson you would assign, with reasons for each step in the assignment. 4. How are deltas formed? Name three important deltas. 5. "In the sixth and seventh years the aim of geography should be the study of man in the various parts of the globe, living in the different zones, surrounded and affected in his institutional life by different climatic conditions, mountains, plateaus, valleys, oceans and inland waters." Is the above quotation in harmony with the latest methods of teaching geography? Give reasons. 1. Geography is one of the foundations of history, and their correlation (not combination) is more important to history than to geography. They are mutually dependent, but exactly to what extent it is difficult to state. In general they should be correlated just so far as one is necessary to explain the other. For instance, to understand how physical conditions have affected the present distribution and condition of the population of |