explain the principles involved; second, to compare the railroad legislation of different countries, and the results achieved. The two things need to be viewed in connection with one another. The attempt to manage railroads without regard to the demands of public policy, or to legislate concerning railroads without regard to the necessities of railroad business, results in disastrous failure. This fact has been gradually recognized by thoughtful men on both sides."
To meet this view of the subject, Professor Hadley has written his volume, which, for popular use, is beyond comparison the most instructive and valuable railroad-book that we have seen. It is a work which ought to be very generally read; for there is a great deal of ignorance, prejudice, and passion among many people in regard to railroad management, which would be dispelled if the matter were better understood—a result to which the perusal of this volume will certainly lead. The author writes neither in the blind interest of railroad corporations, nor of the people as a class victimized by these corporations, but in the light of facts and principles to which both must bow. It may be added that the volume is one that will be read with much pleasure, from the freshness and variety of its information on the latest results of railroad experience.
The Philosophy of Education: or, The Principles and Practice of Teaching. By T. Tait, F. R. A. S, Pp. 331. New York: E. Kellogg & Co. Price, $1.
This seems to be a kind of general treatise on the art and mystery of school-keeping, and was evidently reprinted, as the editor intimates, because of "the growing desire for treatises on education." It contains a great deal of information about schools and teaching, and various parts of it will prove suggestive and useful, but it is a good deal behind the age. Originally published in 1837, it represents the state of thought in the early part of the century; and its psychology, the vital point in any educational work that proposes to deal with principles, is completely outgrown and discredited, as editor Traub acknowledges. But, after all, most teachers, notwithstanding all the progressive talk about psychology, are still deep in the old dispensation of "mental philosophy," and will therefore find themselves much at home with this volume.
Rational Communism. The Present and Future Republic of North America. By a Capitalist. New York: The Social Science Publishing Company. Pp. 498. Price, $1.50.
The capitalist author presents in this work a plea and a scheme for a new social organization. His ideas are said to be the outgrowth of a vision, in which, lifted high in the air, he saw New York, Brooklyn, Long Island, etc., newly laid out and peopled on an ideal plan adapted to promote the equal wealth, standing, and happiness of all. Coming back to the reality, he finds things organized to promote inequality and not happiness. He then proceeds to develop his plan, in which he aims to avoid the particular rocks on which all the social communities hitherto projected in this country have been severally wrecked.
The Will: A Novel. By Ernst Eckstein, author of "Quintus Claudius," etc. From the German by Clara Bell. Authorized edition. In two volumes. New York: Gottsberger.
The will here intended is not that mental element sometimes known as volition, but a document of an entirely material nature, which meant not only fortune to the hero of the story but name and titles as well. Like so many other modern novels, the tale winds in and out among socialists and their doings and beliefs, although it can scarcely be called a partisan book. The attempt seems to have been expository of the workings of that order of beliefs and feelings, which seems to lend itself to dramatic treatment with as remarkable success as the grand passion itself.
On the Heating and Ventilation of Dwellings and School-rooms. By Charles O. Curtman, M. D., St. Louis. Pp. 10.
This is a reproduction of a paper that was read before the American Public Health Association. It presents a careful review, with suitable illustrations, of the operation, merits, and demerits of all the methods of house-heating in current use, with especial reference to their adaptability to schoolrooms.
