is hailed by many as the dominant note of the decade. There is no attack upon the perennial problem of institutionalism versus individualism; whereas, to whom shall we look if not to the sociologist to steer us safely between this Scylla and Charybdis? The writer's temporal horizon is rather narrow, he has little to say about social evolution and the social heritage, he is too much infatuated with the nineteenth century, too optimistic of recent educational tendencies, and too complacent about the great unsolved problems of the present social and industrial situation. It is the chief business of educational sociology, not only to describe, but to appraise and direct contemporaneous social tendencies, in so far as the schools can be used to that end. Likewise, not a social survey of a locality only, but a social survey of the world and of the centuries is necessary to furnish data for the educational program. Very little is said about the traditional staples of the elementary curriculum, either to explain them away or to read a philosophy into them; and scarcely any attempt is made to define the social function of the high school in American democracy. For an economist Dr. Smith has surprizingly little to say about the distribution or redistribution of wealth, and how education can be used as a chief factor therein. In that respect his discussion of economic democracy is disappointing. But the author promises us a later and more comprehensive volume. There is abundant room in the rich new field of Educational Sociology for many able workers; and nowhere is there a greater opportunity for strong men to do their bit toward making democracy safe for the world. Ross L. FINNEY STATE NORMAL SCHOOL Professor M. L. Spencer of Lawrence College, Wisconsin, is the author of News writing, which is rather the best book of this kind we have seen for students in journalism. (Boston. D. C. Heath & Company. 1917. 350 p.) Another book for the teacher of English is Essays and essay writing by Professor William M. Tanner of The University of Texas. The editor's work is well done, altho confined to too narrow a range of models. (Boston. The Atlantic Monthly Company. 1917. 385 p. 85c.) Teachers of young children will find some material that may be easily and profitably used in Children's stories: How to tell them by J. Berg Esenwein and Marietta Stockard. (Springfield. Home Correspondence School. 1917. 352 p. $1.50.) Professor L. W. Payne of The University of Texas has edited American literary readings, an unusually excellent and catholic collection of good material for secondary schools. (Chicago. Rand, McNally & Company. 1917. 647 p. $1.40.) We wish to call particular attention to the invaluable character of the Cambridge history of American literature of which the first volume has just come from the press. The complete work is to consist of three volumes prepared under the editorship of Professors Trent and Erskine of Columbia University, Professor Sherman of The University of Illinois and Dr. Carl Van Doren, Headmaster of the Brearley School in New York. The first volume deals with colonial and revolutionary literature and the early national literature as well. From every point of view the work is admirably done. American literature is held to include not only belles lettres but those other fields of literary effort which cover history, biography, public affairs and other similar matters of human interest. Libraries everywhere and students of American literature generally will lean heavily upon this standard work. (New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1917. 584 p. $3.50.) A stout work which represents much research is The social history of the American family by Arthur W. Calhoun. It contains a great deal of interesting and well authenticated historical information and will well repay study. (Cleveland. Arthur H. Clark Company. 1917. 348 p.) There is a continuing fascination about Benjamin Franklin, and one never tires of reading of his life and activities. A new contribution to an understanding of Franklin of unusual importance and interest is contained in the volumes by Mr. William Cabelle Bruce, entitled Benjamin Franklin self-revealed. (New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1917. 544, 550 p. $6.00.) The movement to give students a general knowledge of science without attempting to turn them into specialists is growing rapidly. For this reason the book entitled Experimental general science by Willard Clute, is likely to find plenty of users in high school work. (Philadelphia. P. Blakiston Sons & Company. 1917. 303 p.) President G. Stanley Hall has a knowledge of the literature of psychology and related subjects that is without parallel, and also a most extraordinary insight into the religious emotions. In Jesus the Christ in the light of psychology, President Hall makes a notable contribution to the understanding of Jesus. Probably no other man possesses either the equipment or the sympathy necessary to write this book. (New York. Doubleday, Page & Company. 1917. 2 vols. 733 p.) The authors of Religious training in the school and home are Professors Sneath and Tweedy of Yale and Dean Hodges of the Cambridge Divinity School. The book is good, but not so good as one has a right to expect from the scholarship and experience of the authors. (New York. The Macmillan Company. 1917. 320 p. $1.50.) It is with great satisfaction that we call attention to the Life and work of George S. Morris by Professor R. M. Wenley of The University of Michigan. Professor Morris died in 1899 and left behind a splendid legacy of scholarship, character and teaching power. In the early days of Johns Hopkins University, Professor Morris represented philosophy at that institution. Professor Wenley has given us a fitting memorial of a truly distinguished American scholar and teacher. (New York. The Macmillan Company. 1917. 332 p.) A good type of reading material for those schools which eschew literature and seek to dispense information is found in New England, which is described as a human interest geographical reader. The author is Clifton Johnson. (New York. The Macmillan Company. 1917. 371 p. 75c.) Helen Keller has, since her childhood, been a figure of pathetic interest to the American people. In her Story of my life she has written a very unusual document. No teacher should fail to read it. (Boston. Houghton Mifflin Com Another book, very different in kind but compelling in its charm, is The boyhood of a naturalist by John Muir. (Boston. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1917. 123 p. 35c.) One would have to go a long way, even over the abundantly sterile fields of the literature of education, to find a more vacuous book on that subject than Education and living, by Randolph Bourne. The pages abound in querulous dogmatism and in marks of a plainly apparent lack of knowledge. It takes something more than a pen, a sheet of paper and a conviction of union with the cosmic urge to make a worthwhile book on the time-old subject of education. (New York. The Century Company. 1917. 236 p. $1.25.) Education for the needs of life by Irving E. Miller is somewhat more worth while than the foregoing, but it falls far short of any real philosophical understanding of educational purposes. (New York. The Macmillan Company. 1917. 353 p. $1.25.) College Entrance NOTES AND NEWS The report of the College Examination Board for 1917the seventeenth annual report-contains the usual statistical material of the year, and the record of action taken by the Board to control its activities in several matters of detail that have come to the surface in working out its projects. A serious difficulty, says the report, encountered with unfailing regularity, is found in the fact that practically all applications for examination are received by the Board at the last moment under its rules. To meet this difficulty, the Board has decided that the final recommendation of the school, designating the individual subjects that the candidate is to offer, shall hereafter be forwarded directly to the Chairman of the Committee on Admission of the college concerned; and that beginning with the examination to be held in June, 1918, candidates shall be required to file their applications at least three weeks in advance of the first day of the examinations. In order to simplify the procedure in connection with laboratory and other supplementary certificates, it was decided that they should also be transmitted directly to the Chairman of the Committee on Admission of the college which the candidates wish to enter; an exception, however, being made for specific reasons in the case of the examination in mechanical drawing. It was also determined that in order to provide against the difficulty frequently experienced in identifying answer books, provision hereafter should be made for securing on the form of application a specimen of the candidate's handwriting, and that every candidate should be required at the conclusion of his examinations to transmit to the Secretary of the Board a statement of all the examinations actually taken. No conclusive action was taken upon recommendations made by the |