The subject is dealt with from the viewpoint of the pupil rather than from that of the teacher or the scientist.  The style is simple, clear, and conversational, yet the method is distinctly scientific, and the book has a cultural as well as a practical object.

The text has a unity of organization.  So far as practicable the familiar always precedes the unfamiliar in the sequence of topics, and the facts are made to hang together in order that the pupil may see relationships.  Such topics as forestry, plant breeding, weeds, plant enemies and diseases, plant culture, decorative plants, and economic bacteria are discussed where most pertinent to the general theme rather than in separate chapters which destroy the continuity.  The questions and suggestions which follow the chapters are of two kinds; some are designed merely to serve as an aid in the study of the text, while others suggest outside study and inquiry.  The classified tables of terms which precede the index are intended to serve the student in review, and to be a general guide to the relative values of the facts presented.  More than 200 attractive illustrations, many of them original, are included in the book.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

A NEW ASTRONOMY, $1.30

By DAVID TODD, M. A., Ph.  D., Professor of Astronomy and Navigation and Director of the Observatory, Amherst College.

Astronomy is here presented as preeminently a science of observation.  More of thinking than of memorizing is required in its study, and greater emphasis is laid on the physical than on the mathematical aspects of the science.  As in physics and chemistry, the fundamental principles are connected with tangible, familiar objects, and the student is shown how he can readily make apparatus to illustrate them.  In order to secure the fullest educational value, astronomy is regarded as an inter-related series of philosophic principles.

* * * * *

MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY, $1.00

By WILLIS E. JOHNSON, Ph.  D., Vice-President and Professor of Geography and Social Sciences, Northern Normal and Industrial School, Aberdeen, South Dakota.

This work explains with great clearness and thoroughness that portion of the subject which not only is most difficult to understand, but also underlies and gives meaning to all geographical knowledge.  A vast number of facts which are much inquired about, but little known, are taken up and explained.  Simple formulas are given so that a student unacquainted with geometry or trigonometry may calculate the heights and distances of objects, the latitude and longitude of a place, the amount any body is lightened by the centrifugal force due to rotation, the deviation of a plumb-line from a true vertical, etc.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY