theories may explain how moral laws and their sanction became known, neither of them goes to their origin; neither explains the imperativeness with which recognized moral law speaks to the human heart. Likewise, no final reason for the enforcement of moral obligation can be found in a Supreme Will, or in the beneficent ends which may be regarded as resulting from actions, or in the egoistic principles, whether rationalist, {esthetic, or sentimental, as are implied in other theories. The real ground of moral obligation is held to lie in the eternal nature of God—"in the immutable moral nature of the Supreme Personal Being who is the original and archetype of all human beings." Of the three parts into which the body of the book is divided, the first is devoted to the ascertainment and distribution of fundamental principles; the second to a discussion of those principles, under the general heading of "Theoretic Morality"; and the third to practical morality.
The Manual Training School. By C. M. Woodward, Ph. D. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 366. Price, $2.
No one can read Prof. Woodward's book without getting from it an interest in the aims of the manual training schools of America, a belief in their methods, and a respect for their results. The author, who has been director of the Manual Training School of Washington University, in St. Louis, since its organization in 1880, naturally has most to tell about the history and experience of that institution, but he gives much information also about manual training schools of other cities in this country, and similar schools which he has visited abroad. He describes the fittings and tools which the workshops should have, also many suitable exercises in drawing, in bench-work, turning, and carving in wood, and in forging, foundry-work, and machine-shop work, all of which is illustrated with sketches and drawings. The St. Louis school is too young to have much of a record in the success of its graduates in their life-callings, many of them at the time of writing of this book being still students in higher institutions; but the director has collected enough replies to a circular letter to show that those graduates who have been employed beside young men without such training have generally taken higher positions and pay, while their capableness has disposed their employers to prefer such graduates over other applicants for employment. Several addresses given by the author at various times and places, and dealing with special features of the subject, are incorporated in this volume. The closing chapter and the appendices contain plans of the buildings occupied by the schools of St. Louis and Toledo, the courses of study in those schools, and suggestions in regard to administration.
Artistic Modern Houses at Low Cost, by R. W. Shoppell (Co-operative Building Association, New York, 25 cents), gives sixty designs, with plans, etc., including those designs the general types of which have pleased the largest number of customers, selected from the other books published by the Association. The estimates of cost range from $650 to $3,875; and the publishers guarantee that the actual cost of construction in each case shall be covered by the estimates which they are prepared to furnish, with detailed plans and specifications.
The Drainage of a House, by William Paul Gerhard, C. E. (Boston, Rand-Avery Company), embodies in a neat pocket pamphlet of fifteen pages a summary of the objects to be sought, and the general principles to be observed in providing for drainage and the removal and disposal of all waste waters from the house.
Four prizes were offered by Mr. Henry Lomb, of Rochester, N. Y., several months ago, through the American Public Health Association, for as many "best" essays on designated subjects relative to the health of families, school-children, and workmen. The essays to which the prizes were awarded have been published by the Association in separate pamphlets, at ten and five cents each, and together, in a bound volume, thoroughly indexed, at fifty cents. They are Healthy Homes and Foods for the Working-Classes, by Victor C. Vaughan, M. D., in which are considered the location, adaptation to it, arrangement, heating and ventilation, water-supply and disposal of waste, care, and all other points about the house in which questions of health may be involved, and discussions of the value and healthful-
