A Complete Arithmetic. By M. EASTWOOD, B.Sc., and J. LIGHTFOOT, D.Sc., M.A. (4s. net. Ralph, Holland.) A text-book of arithmetic based on the supposition that an elementary work has been already studied admits of a more exhaustive treatment than usual, and the authors are justified in the title which they have adopted. In the four rules, for instance, the separation of integers and decimals and of abstract and concrete quantities is unnecessary, and a more logical grouping of the subjects in other respects becomes possible. In the early chapters, many short methods of computation are given; most of them, such as that for writing down the square of any number ending in 5, are interesting; it is useful to have them for reference; but it seems doubtful whether it would be advisable to teach them in class. A similar remark applies to the section on circulating decimals. An otherwise excellent series of problems loses some of its value by classification. The authors anticipate the objection that their treatment may be thought too exhaustive. They claim that "the justification of the large amount of time given to the subject in our educational system is found entirely in its culture value. It is the child's training in logic and exact thought.' We agree with them in this. At the same time, the book seems to us too complicated for use as a text-book in schools, even with many judicious omissions. It is, however, a most useful book of reference for teachers and students whose wish to know more of the properties of numbers tempts them to roam beyond the limits of the ordinary text-book. The Elements of the Arithmetic of Commerce. By H. H. TALBOT. (Is. 3d. Jack.) A useful preparatory course in commercial arithmetic. To save room the theory of the methods employed is either abbreviated or omitted. A satisfactory feature of the book is the frequent use made of contracted methods. Many worked examples are given, the contracted and the older methods being placed side by side for the sake of contrast. The Italian method of division is specially recommended. Elementary Algebra. By C. H. FRENCH, M.A., and G. OSBORN, M.A. (4s. 6d. Cambridge University Press.) It would be difficult to imagine an algebraical text-book written more simply than this well known work, now enlarged and issued by a new firm. A chapter on the binomial theorem with a positive integral index has been added, and that on logarithms has been expanded and at the same time improved. There is some rearrangement of the older material, simple equations and problems intervening between multiplication and division, &c. For pupils much above the average intelligence, the use of a more complete text-book would be advisable; others, who have not to make a detailed study of the subject, will find Messrs. French and Osborn's well adapted to their needs. Elementary Algebra for the Use of Higher Grade and Secondary Schools. By P. Ross, M.A., B.Sc. Part II. (Part II., 2s. 6d. ; complete book, 4s. 6d. Longmans.) We are glad to see the completion of this admirable book, for the second part more than maintains the promise of the first. In its range it contains many chapters which are generally confined to works on higher algebra, though perhaps without sufficient reason, such as indeterminate coefficients, indeterminate equations, infinite series, and tests of convergency. Logarithms are introduced in their natural place after indices and surds, and their use is illustrated by many examples. Among the most useful chapters we may mention those on the elementary theory of equations, simultaneous equations of a higher degree than the first, graphs of rational functions, and limits and infinite series. The treatment of graphs is one of the most satisfactory parts of a book which ought to be in the hands of every teacher. Brown and Nolan's Practical Algebra with Easy Graphs. A collection of exercises in elementary algebra as far as quadratic equations with one unknown. Each set is preceded by one or more worked examples, the book work and explanations being left for the teacher to supply. In the arrangement of the exercises the author is conservative, except that graphs of equations of the first and second degrees are introduced in their proper places. The exercises are carefully graduated in order of difficulty, and numerous revision papers and test papers are interspersed. Practical and Theoretical Geometry for Schools. By H. ARMITSTEAD, B.Sc. (2s. 6d. Longmans.) of One of the distinguishing features of this book is the large number of practical exercises given in preparation for successive groups theorems. Another, which seems to us less to be desired, is the arrangement of the propositions in the first book. After Euc. I. 13-15, come Euc. I. 32, cor. 2 (based on a theorem which is incorrectly stated and which ought to be proved, but is treated as axiomatic), I. 32, &c. Except for the interposition of Euc. I. 5 and 6, the propositions on congruent triangles might then have been grouped together, but they are separated by the three inequality theorems (Euc. I. 18-20), which in their turn are separated from two others (I. 24, 25). The initial test of parallelism is treated as in Euclid, though the diagram and proof are bad. Several points of detail should be amended if a second edition is ever required. In some cases in the early theorems, the reason is given before the conclusion, in others after. Hypothetical constructions are incorrectly stated. In the constructions themselves, the evasive phrase "any convenient radius" is employed. In using the congruence theorem on two right-angled triangles (page 153), the begin ner's mistake" angle EDA = EDB (right angles)" occurs. The Analytical Geometry of the Conic Sections. By the Rev. E. H. ASKWITH, D.D. (7s. 6d. Black.) This volume, which is a companion to the author's "Pure Geometry" (published by the Cambridge University Press), is hardly suitable for beginners, owing to the early use for determinants and the somewhat difficult mode of treating the straight line. But, for those who have some slight acquaintance with the subject and who have the ability to follow the author's reasoning, it should prove an admirable text-book. The chapters on the general and standard equations of the conic sections and on areal and homogeneous coordinates are specially worthy of notice. Though the book, considering its nature and size, is moderate in price, it would be an advantage if it could be issued in two parts, the dividing line being drawn after the chapter on polar equations. SCIENCE, &c. The Scientific Foundations of Analytical Chemistry. By W. OSTWALD. Translated by G. M'GOWAN. Third English Edition. (6s. net. Macmillan.) It is unnecessary to point out the excellence of a work which has been so well known and appreciated by all chemists for the last thirteen years. Suffice it to say that the theory of qualitative analysis is presented in the light of the hypothesis of electrolytic dissociation, and that the book should be in the hands of all advanced students of chemistry. Teachers will find the appendix of lecture experiments most useful in illustrating many important points in the subject. Practical Zoology. By the late T. J. PARKER and W. N. PARKER. Second Edition. (IOS. 6d. Macmillan.) The first edition of this excellent work appeared some nine years ago, and is so well known that a detailed notice is unnecessary. It will be enough to say that this issue is substantially similar to the first edition, although slight alterations and additions have been made here and there. The course of work is designed to meet the requirements of the Preliminary Scientific Examination of the University of London, the Conjoint Board, and the Intermediate Examination in Science of the University of Wales. Exercises in Elementary Quantitative Analysis for Students of Agri culture. By A. T. LINCOLN and J. H. WALTON. 6s. 6d. net. Macmillan.) The ability to carry out quantitative analytical operations should be part of the equipment of every agricultural student, and the number of books appealing to such men is steadily increasing. The course mapped out in the present work appears to be based on sound principles, for nearly the whole of the first half of the book is devoted to exercises in the ordinary operations of gravimetric and volumetric analysis. This foundation having been secured, the second half of the text is given up to the application of these principles to the special purpose of the agriculturist as practised in the American experiment stations. The analysis of milk, butter, cereals, feeding materials, fertilizers, and the soil all receive attention. A special section, under the heading of "Stoichiometry," is provided to afford instruction in the methods of calculating from analytical data, and numerous examples are provided for exercise. Progressive Science Series."-The Solar System. By C. L. POOR. (6s. net. Murray.) Prof. Poor has produced in this volume a most interesting and useful account of the solar system. Although of such a character as to suit the general and non-mathematical student, it is yet entitled to the attention of the scientific reader who is already well acquainted with the fundamental principles of astronomy, and, indeed, it is to such that the work will appeal with greatest force. The author's aim has been to present, in non-mathematical form, the latest conclusions derived from modern astronomical research among the members of the solar system, and we have nothing but praise for his selection of subjects and for their lucid and interesting treatment. The chapter upon tides and tidal evolution is excellent and affords information which is not available in the ordinary books upon astronomy. Two chapters are devoted to Mars and a critical examination of the data available with respect to the Martian canal system and of their interpretation. The author's conclusions are opposed to the views held by Prof. Lowell. It should, however, be pointed out that, since Prof. Poor wrote these chapters, other evidence has been forthcoming which has confirmed the objective reality of the markings upon the surface of Mars and the contention that water vapour exists in the planet's atmosphere. The printing and illustrations are alike excellent. Enodia. (25. William Rice.) These anonymous" Wayside Rimes" (so we interpret the title) have a charm and individuality which defy analysis. At first they leave an impression of "wood-notes wild," too consciously affected and artificial. But, on further study, though we still complain here and there of false rimes or a cadence not quite in tune, the verses reveal a depth of thought that befits their sincerity. On page 5 is an unrimed lyric that Henley would not have disowned, and " Under-thoughts," like the poem on page 26, recalls Browning in his happiest moments of lyric simplicity. The next poem we will quote as showing that these are not, as we might seem to have implied, mere echoes. In the third verse, notwithstanding that it has the great merit of growing on the reader at a second reading, the form seems not quite worthy of the thought, the break in the line-often an added beauty-giving here an effect of clumsiness in the simple melody : : "Once within my heart a dream I cherished What's possessing else? And yet I see Was it less divine, that life could give them This their dream made true? Their quest more keen, The close of the poem is as suggestive as it is original : "Still unsatisfied my heart must question Dim there dawns a truth I half perceive : Gifts unsought. And life to those who loved her So, for visions realized, there met them Beauty past their dim foreshadowings, Truths they never dreamed of, power that raised them, A lovely lyric entitled "Veronica" (page 40) is spoiled by the ugly contraction of "To the tip," in which "to the" counts as one short stress only, and by the misplaced stress on the first syllable of “misted" in the seventh verse. There are no such flaws in the perfect little birthday greeting that follows. The dainty bit of humour with which the lyric half of the book concludes has a grace which recalls William Cowper. But two poems stand out from the rest, on a higher level and, by their difference from one another in kind, show what a wide compass this modest writer can fetch. These are the lines "To a Rabbit as seen emerging into Sunlight out of the Earth" (page 64), and a fragment entitled "The Eclipse." which, though it departs from the ideal sonnet-form, soars altogether above bird-music: "When they stood undivided there was none In strength could match them-nay-in beauty too; Their laugh rang clear above life's mirthless ways, O harmony now marred and mutilate ! In the high courts of Love, when Love departs, As for the prose portion of the book, the ironic humour of the first two "fables" is as finished as the English in which they are written; and the last in the volume, though a trifle broader in its castigation of the "patrons" of the heavenly gate, is likely to provoke such delicious laughter in any really appreciative company that in itself, sooner or later, it seems likely to ensure a measure of popularity for a book which might otherwise be too delicate in its charm to seize quickly on the popular taste. Atalanta's Race. A Greek Play. By BERTHA M. SKEAT. Why "Greek"? In the Prologue Atalanta appears hugging a bear cub, sings "Hush-a-bye Baby,' and "All [Mother Bruin, Raffie, Baffie, and Atalanta] roll over in a mixed heap.' In Act I. Atalanta is five years older and must behave accordingly. She executes a solo dance, but is chidden by the Sibyl "You are a child no longer. Maidens, come, There is nothing Greek here except the title name, and little more in the song, "Come Out," a clever imitation of Mr. Swinburne's "Now the Hounds of Spring. But we are criticizing the title, not the play, which is well adapted for a musical pastoral in a girls' school. "The World's Classics "-Joseph and his Brethren. By CHARLES WELLS. (IS. net. Oxford University Press.) Volume cxliii. of the "World's Classics" calls for more than a bare acknowledgment. It is something to be able to purchase for a shilling a book so rare that forty years after its publication lovers of poetry were quarrelling to get a reading of it from the almost unique copy in the British Museum. The World Edition, moreover, is enhanced by an introduction by Mr. Swinburne and a characteristic "Note" by Mr. Watts-Dunton. We will quote as a sample the penultimate paragraph. Shortly before his wife visited London in 1850, Wells had -so Williams used to say-developed a faculty which is, I think, rare among modern poets; he had just created a great sensation in Brittany by raising from the dead, through prayer, a young lady of a distinguished family. I cannot recall any other poet who has had a success of this kind. That he was a deeply religious man is manifest. The English Grammar Schools to 1660. By FOSTER WATSON. (6s. net. Cambridge University Press.) Prof. This scholarly work has grown out of a monograph, compiled for the Bibliographical Society in 1903, on “The Curriculum and TextBooks of English Schools in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. The work is mainly bibliographical-an account of the books actually used in schools from the invention of printing down to the Restoration, and of the school curricula as revealed by school statutes and the writings of schoolmasters such as Brinsley and Hoole. Watson is content to play the simple chronicler; he tells us what teachers did not what they intended to do-and he passes no judgment on their doings. He has written "Mémoires pour servir," and leaves it for the future historian to digest the raw materials and evolve from them the form and pressure of medieval education in England. "Grammar School" is nowhere defined, and chapters vii.-xi. deal with elementary instruction. Of special interest is the detailed account of the evolution and fortunes of the Authorized Latin Grammar. That Lily's grammar should have held the field for more than three centuries (the Eton Latin Grammar was abolished by Dr. Hornby in 1868) is a telling comment on the boasted "variety, elasticity, and freedom" of our public schools. History repeats itself, and Dr. Kennedy has imposed on this generation a yoke hardly less grievous than that of William Lily. Prof. Watson's style is plain and unaffected. There are carelessnesses, as in the very first sentence: Viewing the grammar school curriculum as a whole, . . it is convenient to regard it," &c., and, a page or two further on: "The pupil was expected to show active initiation in gaining control over the material of reading." 'Initiative" is clearly intended; but these do not affect the sterling value of the work. 66 ... The Gilds and Companies of London. By GEORGE UNWIN. This is one of the most learned and at the same time the most interesting of the "Antiquary's Books" series. The author is not only well versed in the theory of gilds as expounded by Gierker and the German scholars, but he has consulted at first hand the records of existing companies. It is a strange antinomy that gilds should flourish in England alone of the larger States of Western Europe, where they still haunt the City, magni nominis umbrae, and in China, where they are still the chief regulators of trade and commerce. It is curious, too, to note that among the earliest mention of "guild" in Murray's Dictionary we find the complaint of St. Anselm against a certain chamberlain Henry, "ut in Gildis cum ebriosis bibat." The volume is mostly serious as in the chapters headed Courts, Greater and Lesser Misteries, Monopolies, but l'ageants, Lord Mayor Shows, Feasts give the lighter side of civic history, and there are thirty-seven full-page illustrations. The Childhood of Man. By LEO FROBENIUS. With 415 Illustrations. Translated by A. H. KEENE. (16s. net. Seeley.) Frobenius had the good fortune as a young man to be brought into contact with individuals of many primitive races and set himself to collect not only specimens of brass, tools, picture writing, &c., but also myths and folklore transmitted at first hand. This fact gives the record of his observations a freshness and originality which is lacking in most works on primitive culture. Mr. Keene is a competent translator, and the English edition is enriched by reproductions of the water-colour drawings of John White, now in the British Museum. The only drawback to this handsome volume is its excessive weight. The Greatness and Decline of Rome. By GUGLIELMO FERRERO. Translated by Rev. H. J. CHAYTOR. Vol. IV. (6s. net. Heinemann.) Signor Ferrero's work increases in interest as it proceeds. This volume begins with Cleopatra's marriage and ends with the constitutional reforms of Augustus. Antony's Parthian campaign is told with fullness and precision, and we have a vivid description of the battle of Actium. The glamour which our poets, from Shakespeare down to Tennyson, have cast round the loves of Antony and Cleopatra disappears, and the sordid political intrigue which was consummated in their marriage is laid bare. In his literary criticisms the author is not so original or so happy as in the history proper. Surely Dante had discovered before Gaston Boissier that the 66 Aeneid" is a religious poem, and, though it is true that Vergil is par excellence the national poet, yet in his way Vergil is more individual than Horace and, on the other hand, the element of sensuality and obscenity in Horace seems to us exaggerated. The translator has done his part excellently. He is faithful, and yet the work does not read like a translation. Children's Care Committees. By MARGARET FRERE. (Is. net. P. S. King.) A handbook for local managers of elementary schools, dealing with the social and charitable work which falls within their province. Miss Frere is a member of the L.C.C. Education Committee, and her counsel is drawn from personal experience and thoroughly practical. For instance, she gives fourteen menus of dinners, with cost and directions for cooking. Oxford and Cambridge Matriculations, 1544-1906. A Graphic Chart illustrating the varying fortunes of the two Universities. By J. A. VENN. (Is. net. Simpkin, Marshall.) Graphs are all the fashion, and this is a most successful attempt to write a chapter of University history by means of a graph. At the first blush the graph reminds us of the curves for boy and girl growth. Cambridge is the girl and starts well ahead, and, if we neglect temporary fluctuations, it takes 110 years for the boy, Oxford, to catch her up. For the next 170 years Oxford keeps ahead, and for the next sixty years they run neck and neck, but in 1880 Cambridge takes a sudden leap and is still forging ahead. For the causes of these alternations we must refer our readers to the text. Le Petite Fadette. By GEORGE SAND. Edited by MADELEINE DElbos. (2s. 6d. Clarendon Press.) We can endorse all the encomiums that the editor showers on this prose idyll, and yet doubt whether it is very suitable for a class book. From that point of view one of its chief merits, its saturation with the Berry atmosphere and dialect, is a defect. Half the notes are necessarily and properly devoted to pointing out provincialisms and explaining patois. We should not recommend "Under the Greenwood Tree" for a French class. A similar objection may be taken to the Introduction, a sympathetic sketch of George Sand's life and work, in which the seamy side is scarcely hinted at. The jeune ingénue would imagine that George Sand was a Joan of Arc who had one unfortunate liaison, and that this aberration is to be excused by the "salient and redeeming feature" that she paid her lover's gambling debts. Wladimir Karénine's "Life of George Sand" is, indeed, "a delightful work," as embodying many original documents, but we cannot allow with the editor his (should it not be "her"?) claim that genius is not subject to the common laws of morality. One or two minor criticisms. Page 6: Croît is the root of the verb, not 3 sing., present indicative," and it is not a coinage of George Sand. Page 87: We fail to detect the poetical allusion." Page 89: Where is the simile? Page 106: Caphanion. The origin of the word might well have been given. Page 145: "Pour être trop folle," not although it is excessive," but by reason of its extravagance. Selected Poems of Pierre de Ronsard. Chosen by ST. JOHN LUCAS. (5s. net. Clarendon Press.) 66 But We wish Mr. Austin Dobson would write an essay on poets and their garb-the appropriate form in which new editions of classic poems should be presented to the public. There is a sense of indecency when Milton comes forth in yellow boards and tinsel gold, and Crabbe, instead of worsted stockings, appears in a court livery. we leave this Sartor resartus poetarum to the author of "E Libris," and are content to remark that this Clarendon Press edition of Ronsard is an ideal presentment of the daintiest of French poets. Every one who has a bowing acquaintance with French literature knows Mignonne, allons voir si la Rose and 46 Quand vous serez bien vieille"; but most of us would be puzzled to quote a third poem. Mr. St. John Lucas has culled for us 174 poems from a vast mass of poetry, good, bad, and indifferent, and his introduction is a piece of fine literary criticism-learned, without pedantry or dullness. sums up Ronsard's merits thus: French, when Ronsard found it, was a bare and earthbound thing: he left it a shapely spirit with wings to bear it to the sun. It was harsh and uncouth: he gave it He dignity and sweetness. Its lyrical expression was limited to a few hard-and-fast forms, and he set it free.' Balzac's Médecin de Campagne. Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by DE V. PAYEN-PAYNE. (35. Cambridge University Press.) "The Country Doctor" is better than a novel-it is a magnificent study of applied sociology; it is a commentary on the Gospels, wherein we see Christian charity carried out in everyday life. So we read in the introduction, and Mr. Payen Payne provokes us to give the reverse of the medal. It is, as Leslie Stephen calls it, a gigantic religious tract, a moral without a plot, in which the characters-the doctor, the cure, the soldier, the housekeeper--are the mouthpieces of Balzac's philosophy, a philosophy which Prof. Dowden pronounces "often pretentious and vulgar and often banal." This, we need hardly say, is not our estimate of Balzac; but the truth lies somewhere between the two, and, though an editor does well to emphasize the merits rather than the defects of his author, yet, in a school edition, we think he might well have pointed out some of the more glaring political sophistries and historical travesties of the comédie humaine. We do not envy the teacher, still less the class, that has to grind up the ten pages in which Benassis expounds his theory of aristocratic govern ment. To give a typical instance of what we desiderate in the notes, Balzac translates gentishommes by hommes de cette nation, and traces the fall of feudalism to the multiplication of gentilshommes. This is commented: "Note the plural of gentilhomme. As Balzac says, its meaning originally was man of the gens; but beware of translating it by the English gentleman.' "How do you translate 'a perfect gentleman,' and Show the gentleman in '?" What the pupil needs to be told is that Balzac utterly mistakes the Latin meaning; that gens does not mean "nation" but "family," and, further, that in his account of the decline of feudalism he is all at sea; still more so in his application of history to contemporary politics. Muret-Sanders, Encyclopedic English-German and German-English Dictionary. Abridged Edition (for school and home), in two Parts. (H. Grevel.) This new edition has been thoroughly revised and brought up to date the first part, English-German, by Herr Edmund Klatt, son of the first editor; the second part, German-English, by Mr. H. Baumann, In the first part good use has been made of the great Oxford Dictionary and (for the missing letters) of the Standard Dictionary. Shakespearean words have been interpreted by help of the Schmidt Lexicon. In the second part the spelling has been revised and many new technical words and neologisms admitted. Messrs. Langenscheidt are highly to be commended for the get-up of the volumes. The paper is thin, but not transparent; the print is clear and the heavier type of the title words catches the eye at once; last, but not least, the volumes are well bound and lie open. We have not come across a single misprint and have noted but few omissions. Under popular technical words we miss"aeroplane," 'free-wheel," "taximotor," "radioactivity." We find 'lawyeress," but not "suffragist" or "suffragette." "Public school" is rightly defined, but "secondary education" is omitted. "Black and white, pen-and-ink sketch,' ," "chestnut" might have found admit tance. 99.66 CORRESPONDENCE. "LIMEN." To the Editor of The Journal of Education. SIR, Our attention has been called to the review of our First Latin Book, "Limen," in your December issue, and we should be glad if you would allow us both to thank the reviewer for the friendly tone of his notice and to answer the criticisms offered. Those which relate to Latin usage would amount to a somewhat serious indictment if they were well founded. In every case which he has raised we plead Not "Guilty. (1) "Puellam amatam cogitat is a doubtful rendering of 'he thinks of his lady-love.' Then precisely the same doubt" applies to Cicero's sentence, "De Fin." 5. 1, 2 (cited in Lewis and Short), Etiam curiam nostram solebam intuens, Scipionem, Catonem, Laelium, nostrum vero in primis avum, cogitare, and to several other examples in other writers. (2) "Is there any good authority for paulum = paulisper?" Most of us would be content with Cicero: Quoniam ille hic constitit paulisper, mihi quoque necesse est paulum commorari" ("Rosc. Com.," 10, $28, cited in Lewis and Short). The sentence of which your reviewer is suspicious is paulum stat incertus ("Limen," page 48). (3) "Why is the wildly conjectural Pollia' for Horace's nurse introduced? If the author of this question had recently read the Fourth Ode of the Third Book with any even tolerably adequate commentary, he would have known that the only metrically defensible reading of line 10 offered by the MSS. hitherto reported is Nutricis extra limina Pulliae. The "wildness" of supposing the confusion of u with o in Capital, Uncial, or Minuscule script from the fifth to the eleventh century B.C. will, perhaps, seem less startling to those of your readers who are familiar with Latin manuscripts of those periods. The motive which inclined us to Pollia rather than Pullia was the frequency of the slave cognomen Polla and its derivatives in the southern districts of Italy (see "The Italic Dialects," pages 20, 39, 44, 159, 163, 206, 285). This is not completely decisive, and we have no great quarrel with any one who prefers the unfamiliar, but not uncommon, Gentile name Pullia; but that the line contains the name of a nurse and not a frigid (and unmetrical) piece of geography we believe the majority of scholars hold as deliberately as we do. (4) "Is appears to us often misused for hic or ille is praetor, 'that praetor.' The reader would hardly gather from this that on page 73 we give a considered statement of the weaker demonstrative force of the pronoun is as compared with hic, ille, and iste. A fairly careful search through the Latin of the book has not revealed to us as many as ten examples of the adjectival use which offends your reviewer; but, if he means that it was our duty to have been altogether silent as to this perfectly classical and far from uncommon meaning of the form, we confess that we think otherwise; our reasons will be obvious to any one who will find time, as your reviewer clearly could not, to glance at the numerous examples of the use in any Latin dictionary. (5) "It cannot be maintained that the 'may-yet-be-type' must refer to future time." From this the reader would certainly not gather that on page 281 we had (in a note explaining the construction after quasi) explicitly contrasted the Plautine use (of the Present Subjunctive in Unfulfilled Present Conditions) with the Ciceronian use. If your reviewer can supply us with any other examples than such as fall under this category-which of course survived as an archaism in poetry much later than Plautus-we shall study them with great interest. Meanwhile, the reader will see that we do not "maintain" what is imputed to us. (6) "The last word of a pentameter is never a monosyllable' needs modification. A boy will not know that est counts as an enclitic." This point may serve as one example of a large number of refinements which we deliberately omitted as being out of place in a First Latin Book. We do not think that the only cases which are at all common (e.g., datum est, data est) would seem to a schoolboy to be real exceptions to our rule; and if it keeps him from writing or approving feeble endings like bonum est, so much the better. Faithfully yours, [The eminence as scholars of the authors of "Limen compels us to admit their letter so far as it offers "definite criticism" of our review; but to reply seriatim and admit, as we should be bound, a rejoinder, would far exceed the space at our disposal. On (1) damus manus. This use of cogito is classical, though rare. (3) We had read commentaries old and new on this vexed passage. The reading Pollia or Pullia seems to us as frigid" as would be A child in Sherwood's haunted glade, 66 Far from my nurse Wood's cot I strayed. (6) A glance at a few pages of Ovid shows mora est (four times), mea est, sua est (each twice). On the other points raised we must leave our readers to decide between authors and reviewer.-ED.] INSPECTORS' REPORTS. To the Editor of The Journal of Education. SIR,-It may interest your readers to see these parallel columns which I drew up for the edification and amusement of my governors. The two inspections to which they refer took place within five months of one another. Both were exhaustive inspections, and no change in staff or otherwise had taken place in the interval. You may take it from me that, with the Reports published in full, the context would in no case explain or remove the contradictions.-Yours faithfully, HEAD MASTER. Mr. A. E. Barker writes to us from the Royal Grammar School, Colchester, criticizing the questions on English Literature set in the last London Matriculation Examination. Space alone prevents us from publishing his letter, but we can give briefly the gist of it. The first question gives nine historical characters-e.g., Elizabeth--and asks for a novel in which each is introduced and for a scene from one of the novels. The second question asks the candidate to complete nine out of twelve very familiar quotations-e.g. "God made the country," and name the poems from which they are taken. Mr. Barker objects that boys of sixteen are not likely to have read either Thackeray or George Eliot, or poems such as Alexander's Feast" or Keats's Endymion,” and, further, that it will encourage the cramming of tags. The last objection seems to us valid, if a like question recurs. For the rest a fairly read boy of sixteen ought to be able with ease to gain half marks. 66 UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS. LONDON. It is interesting to note that the vote of the Senate in favour of the appointment of a Royal Commission was passed nem. con. Its purport, in addition to the incorporation of the Imperial College of Science and Technology with the University, was a re-expression of the willingness of the Senate to increase its numbers and to delegate powers to Councils and Committees. Whether these far-reaching reforms will secure unity and continuity of policy, history alone will show. The meeting in the Great Hall to promote the Officers' Training Corps was a great success. Our member pointed out that Milton was, he thought, the only one of the great educational reformers specifically to include military training in his definition of a complete education. A Committee has been appointed to control the University contingent of the Officers' Training Corps. The Goldsmiths' Company have presented a valuable " Railway Collection" of books, MSS., plans, and pamphlet, to the Library. Candidates for the Gilchrist Studentship for Women (of 100) must apply before February 28. Dr. J. S. Reid began his Advanced Lectures in Classics ("Roman Municipal Institutions") on January 21. They are on Thursdays, at 4.30, at University College; admission free. Three free lectures on "The Spanish Drama" will be given at King's College by Dr. Fitzmaurice Kelly, at 4. 30, on February 9 and 23 and March 9. Dr. Bridge will continue his lectures at the University, at 5, on February 12, March 5, and April 2 (" Composers of Classical Songs "). There is an excellent list of Extension Lectures for the Lent Term, all of which are now beginning or have begun. Five centres are arranging "Short Courses." The Faculty of Economics have appointed Mr. Graham Wallas as their representative on the Senate, in the room of Mr. Mackinder, resigned. The scheme for forming Gresham College into a University has been, after long years, resuscitated, reviving memories of "The Gresham Scheme.' Candidates at Matriculation offering any language but Latin, Greek, French, or German must pay an additional fee and give six months' notice. This seems reasonable in the case of Urdu or Persian, but totally unreasonable in the case of languages like Italian and Spanish, the study of which is not sufficiently encouraged as it is. Our Chancellor is to defray the cost of a picture of the University Buildings, to be placed at the head of a sheet almanac that is to be issued. OXFORD. Though two months have elapsed since my last letter on December 1, there have only been eleven days out of the whole sixty-two during which the University has been keeping "Full Term "—namely, the last five days of the Michaelmas term, 1908, and the first week of Hilary term, 1909. The record of University history will therefore necessarily be comparatively brief, since five-sixths of the time was vacation. Deaths. The losses by death have been four, including one which was inadvertently omitted in my December letter. They are as follows:-November 19, 1908, Rev. Dr. Jelf, Master of the Charterhouse, aged seventy-four; December 14, 1908, C. G. Eden (late Demy, Magdalen), Senior Mathematical Master, Harrison College, Barbados, aged thirty-four; Rev. C. B. Huleatt (Magdalen), killed in the Messina earthquake, aged forty-five; and the Rev. A. G. Butler, Fellow of Oriel, 1857, Tutor, 1885-95, and Honorary Fellow, aged seventy-seven. The following letter deserves to be given verbatim :— "Dear Mr. Vice-Chancellor,-I am handing over Gift by Dr. Arthur Evans. as a free gift to the Ashmolean Museum the collection of Anglo-Saxon Jewellery and other relics bequeathed to me by my father, Sir John Evans. With it is also a Comparative Series, illustrating the early Teutonic Art of the Continent, including specimens of Scandinavian, Frankish, Lombard, and Gothic work. I venture to believe that some of the specimens of Anglo-Saxon Goldsmiths' work will not be found unworthy to set beside King Alfred's Jewel. It is also my wish to provide a large exhibition case to hold the collection.-Believe me, yours very truly, "A. J. EVANS." In my December letter to The Journal of Education I made the obvious remark that "as long as Dr. Evans was connected with Oxford his beneficent influence on the Ashmolean would not cease to be felt." I need not say that I had no idea that this forecast would receive such prompt and munificent confirmation. Reform of Congregation. The proposal for reform of Congregation, which was explained in my last letter, has been considered by the Council, and they have decided to submit the same to Congregation in the form of a resolution which runs as follows: "That it is desirable that Congregation should be limited to members of Convocation who hold or have held University or college appointments or are directly concerned with the studies, teaching, or administration of the University." The proposal has been much discussed in private, but the only criticism on the resolution that has appeared in the Magazine is from a correspondent "i.c., anonymous, and is too violent in tone to be either helpful or persuasive. Anyhow, it seems likely that there will be strong opposition, and naturally those threatened with disfranchisement will throw their whole force into the defence of their privileges. I write on the eve of the struggle, but your readers will know the result before your February issue appears. I regret that in my letter of December I omitted to mention a remarkable special course of lectures arranged by Committee for the Committee for Anthropology. The tendency Anthropology. of the Committees for these new "Diploma studies-to secure help from first-rate lecturers in the older schools, whose knowledge and research have made them familiar with this or that part of the special diploma study-is an admirable policy, and will greatly improve and stimulate the special branches. The latest and best illustration of this policy was the following course in Anthropology of six lectures announced and delivered last term. October 17, Dr. A. J. Evans, on "The European Diffusion of Primitive Pictography and its bearings on the Origin of Script"; October 24, Dr. Andrew Lang, on Homer"; October 31, Prof. Gilbert Murray, on "The Early Greek Epic"; November 7, Mr. F. B. Jevons, on "GræcoRoman Magic"; November 14, Prof. J. L. Myres, on "Herodotus"; November 21, Mr. W. Warde Fowler, on Lustratio." It would be difficult to imagine a more attractive program or a stronger cast." We are glad to be able to add that these lectures are to be printed in a single volume and will appear shortly. 66 and the Women Students. It is now generally known that the rumour which I mentioned in a previous letter was correct, and that the question of The University the University undertaking some sort of supervision of the women students, and of the arrangements made for their housing and instruction, has been fully considered by the Council. It is also known that the Council have taken the obviously sensible course of appointing a committee of inquiry; and the committee have arranged to take evidence from the authorities of the "College and Halls" where the students reside and also from the authorities which supervise the "Home Students who live in private houses in Oxford. The method of inquiry is by printed questions, circulated among those Masters of Arts or ladies who help in the administration and are familiar with the various details of the work; and this will be supplemented by oral evidence, given by those who are willing to offer it. The whole matter will doubtless take a considerable time, as the members of the Council are mostly busy men, and the work of the organization which deals with the students has immensely grown in the thirty years of its existence, so that there is a large and complex mass of details to master before the Committee can prepare a well considered report to submit to Council, and still more before the mature, formulated proposals are presented to the University and embodied in a statute. University legislation, like every other, may be divided into two classes -namely, what may be conveniently called "Busi Legislation. ness Statutes" and "New Statutes." The former is concerned with finance and with the constant need for simplifying, consolidating, and harmonizing existing regulations or provisions; and the latter dealing with the changes which new needs or conditions necessitate. The Gazette of January 19 furnishes good examples of both classes in the Agenda for January 26. Thus, under the head " 'Business," one statute collects all the conditions of admission to examinations for B. A. and incorporates them into the existing statute defining the examinations. Another collects, simplifies, and improves the procedure of the University in regard to Readerships. A third deals with a small financial point concerning the Museum. A good example of the other class is a small but judicious proposal to enable the Committee for Economics to extend the subjects which they supervise so as to include associated branches of political science. There is no large question of general interest at present before the legislative body, but the ordinary Master of Arts, who freely criticizes the Council, has often very little idea of the trouble required to deal effectively with the various and complex mass of details which University government involves. The following announcements have been made :Appointments.-Delegacies: Non-collegiate Delegacy-Master of Balliol; Lodging Houses Delegacy-Rector of Lincoln; Secondary Teachers' Training Delegacy-J. V. Powell (Fellow of St. John's). Other bodies: Craven Committee-Prof. G. Murray (St. John's); Board for Election of Herbert Spencer Lectures-Prof. Stewart (Christ Church); Secretary of the Museum-H. Balfour, Curator of the Pitt-Rivers Collection (vice Prof. Miers); Taylorian Lecturer in Italian-C. F. Coscia, reappointed; Somerville College Council-Prof. Gotch; Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester Governor, Prof. Somerville; Keeper of Art Galleries-E. F. Bell, Fellow of Magdalen College; Keeper of Antiquarium and Museum-D. G. Hogarth; Perpetual Visitor of Ashmolean-A. J. Evans. Honorary Degrees.-D.D., Ven. G. D. Halford (Keble), Bishop Elect of Rockhampton; Rev. R. H. Whitcombe, Bishop Designate of Colchester. Professorships or Readerships.-P. Vinogradoff, Professor of Jurisprudence, re-elected for five years; Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy-W. M. McDougall (Exeter), re-elected for five years. Postscript.-The debate on the resolution in favour of Reform of Congregation was held to-day in the theatre, nearly three hundred attending. The voting was for the resolution, 132; against, 165; resolution lost by 33. The supporters were therefore to opponents exactly as 45. An experienced member of Council remarked to me after the announcement of the votes: "This will strengthen the case for a Commission." CAMBRIDGE. No one can say that the October term was eventful. We matriculated rather more freshmen than ever before, but so Last Term. far they have not greatly distinguished themselves. There were one or two inglorious "rags," as they are called, of a mild type, in which the only new features were the inclu sion of the residential part of the Backs in the program and the burning of a haystack. For the last nobody has, so far, claimed credit. If the Grange Road area is to be permanently in the "rag" zone it is not unlikely that College authorities will be slightly more interested in discouraging these performances. The real College authorities are the tutors, the sure refuge of the undergraduate against discipline. If he is only careful to pay his bills, play football, or row pretty well, and be a generally good sort of fellow, most tutors will look the other way at suitable moments. So human are even our greatest. A Commission from the Board of Trade has investigated our water supply. We drink water from several sources, and Cambridge Water Supply. some of these, it appears, are condemned. The Town Council is, or has been, debating what line to take with the Water Company, whether to acquire the plant, and so forth, and look after our water itself or to bring pressure to bear on those concerned in order to reduce our risks. We have certainly these six or seven years had our share of epidemics-small-pox twice, scarlet fever from the dairy which supplies one of the colleges, diphtheria from a voluntary school, and, I think, one or two other things; while from time to time our doctors have warned us to boil all the water we drink. Of course, most of us forget to do this. In any case, it seems a pity that the water and milk supplies of a University of three or four thousand students, men and women, should be so haphazard. It was proposed some years ago to inspect the milk supplies, but some of the colleges held out, and it is not done. Lectures. We had a number of lectures from eminent visitors last term, apart from the water investigators. Mr. R. H. Forster gave us a lecture, with very interesting slides, on on the Tyne some miles above Newcastle, inviting us to come and dig the excavations at Corstopitum, an old Roman town with him next summer. Dr. von Lecoq filled an hour and a half with |