Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/577

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LITERARY NOTICES.
563

and stream-flow; and a list of the developed water powers and the drainage systems is given in the appendix.

The Psychology of Childhood, by Frederick Tracy (Heath, 90 cents), would be better described by the title The Psychology of Infancy, for the view which it affords extends but little beyond the first two years of life. The author shows that he recognizes this fact, so perhaps the publisher is responsible for the title used. What is here undertaken is "to gather together, so far as possible, the best work that has been done in actual observation of children up to the present time, arrange this under appropriate headings, incorporate the results of several observations made by the writer himself, and present the whole in epitomized form, with copious references and quotations." The mental manifestations of early childhood are taken up in the following order: sensation, emotion, intellect, and volition. Language, in view of its peculiar importance, is treated in a chapter by itself. Prof. G. Stanley Hall testifies in an introduction to the thoroughness with which the work has been done.

The doctrine set forth by Theodore C. Knauff, in his Athletics for Physical Culture, is that gymnastics is good, but athletic sports are better. (Tait, $2.) Accordingly, after giving two short chapters to gymnasium work, he describes nearly a score of athletic games and contests, pointing out their valuable features and warning against their dangers. His descriptions are general, not aiming to give the technics of the sports treated. Other subjects discussed are Training, Questions of Hygiene, Athletic Clubs, and Professionalism. There is a special chapter on Women in Athletics, in which the matter of dress is prominent, and in the chapter on Equestrianism the riding of women receives separate attention, the cross-saddle position being strongly advocated. The volume contains a large number of instructive illustrations, most of them made from photographs.

The Twenty-second Annual Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota is a record of the regular work of the survey in 1893. The Twenty-third Annual Report is largely made up of discussions on interesting general and economic topics. In the first of these the origin of Archæan greenstones is treated by N. H. Winchell, the State Geologist. This is followed by a preliminary report on the gold region about Rainy Lake, by H. V. Winchell and U. S. Grant, and a record of the mineral discoveries in the Lake Superior region, which includes the Mesabi iron deposit. Another scientific topic considered is the late glacial subsidence and re-elevation of the St. Lawrence River basin.

The Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892, of which Mr. William Woodville Rockhill gives the story in a large and handsomely illustrated volume, was undertaken by him partly under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, and the work, is issued as one of its special publications Tibet is now, as it has been many scores of years, the most isolated country in the world. Many travelers have attempted to reach its interior, but all have been turned away when they came within a certain distance of the capital. Mr. Rockhill himself was brought to a stop in the neighborhood of the Tengri nor and the Gart'ok. Although his route was not to any great extent through wholly new country, he has been able, through his knowledge of the Chinese and Tibetan languages, as well as by his own observations, to collect many data of interest and value. At any rate he has given us a very excellent book concerning a region of which very little is known.

The Revue Franco-Americaine is a new French magazine, especially designed for American readers; and with that view it promises to temper the freedom with which French writers are sometimes accustomed to express themselves, to suit American ideas of propriety and taste. It is edited in Paris, by Prince Poniatowski; will admit only masters of French literature and the principal artists of France (though we find Whistler named among them) as contributors; will give representation to the various schools of art and literature; and will "not be composed of extended, heavy studies, but will contain short, vivid, vigorous articles on subjects of universal interest." The first number, of one hundred and twenty-three pages, contains many articles of the character described, by well-known authors, with portraits of French authors in their work--