The Portland daily press., 1879-10-04
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.

inalty, Mr.. Brownngs Evelyn Hope. Rena
is pretty legend we'll told, of how love taught
a woman in a dream the dreamlike art of lace
making. This Day is imaginative and tune
full. My Lovers, pretty conceit of happy
woman with four tall sons to love her, is
charming poem. Weaving the Web is finely
imagined, with genuine lyric tone. Unsolved,
Thou knowest, and Twenty One, are fine in
thought and expression. Several sonnets are
good; and the poem written for the celebration
at Bennington, Vermont, Is August, 1877, is
fine in imagination and musical quality. At
her best, Mrs. Julia Dorr is a poet both genu-
inc and effective; her work is always refined
and agreeable.
Recent numbers of Messrs. Harper's Frank
lin Square Library are, The Adventures of
Reuben Davidger, a capital modern imitation
of the immortal charm of Robinson Crusoe,
written for the benefit of boys and their elders
and betters by Mr.. James Greenwood. The
Afghan's Knife, a story of the Sepoy Re-
bellion, with Hyder Ali for the hero, effectively
written by Mr.. Robert A. Sterndale. Rose
Mervyn of Whitelake novel of Welsh life, i'll
which a society of labor-rioters supply the ex-
citing element. 1t is well written and inter-
estng The Two Miss Flemings is an exceeding
ly brilliant novel. The type of heroine so fire.
quently attempted by novelists is here sue
cessfully painted with liveliness and truth
Cassandra Fleming, whose italian mother left
her the ''fatal gift of beauty, combined with
the passionate Southern nature; woman born
of I'M
of refinement serve her in place of social rules
of etiquette; the pleasure-oving and mobile
surface of the italian nature with its core of .
fire is drawn with the utmost point and deli
cacy. 1t is pity the story might not have q
happy ending, but one sees the bitter seed
sown in the early chapters, and is not taken by
surprise at the sad end
Three more of the Half Hour Series OF
Messrs Harper Portland: Loring, Short &
Harmony, are, The Origin of the English Ma
ton by Edward'A. Freeman, d. G. L., LID,
fine and picturesque essay; Food and
Feeding, q paper on some hygienic aspects of
cookery, by Sir Henry Thompson. Also o
thoroughly delightful story by Barnet Phillips,
entitled Burning Their Ships 1t is liberal
education to assist at the Lilliput Levee of the
little volumes of this seres-whose size is in
such comical dsproportion to their variety and
value.
Outlines of Short Elementary course in gen.
eral Chemistry, is the title of book of a hun
dred pages by Mr.. Arthur B. Morrill,, the teach
er of natural science in Portland High School
The work is designed to occupy place inter-
mediate between the exhaustive treatises on
chemistry and the laboratory guides; and, as its
execution is commensurate with its purpose,
we are certain that it will furnish to teachers
of the subject an instrument of instruction
the need of which has long been felt.
There are certain features of the book which
are unusual and very admirable The author
evidently thinks that a teacher ought to know
good deal more about his topic than his class
does; that an instructors whole duty is not
done if he succeeds in keeping only little
ahead of his pupils; and so he presupposes
enough knowledge on the part of the teacher
to enable him to perform the proper illustra-
tive experiments at tue suggestion of mere
word. Thus the book differs widely from the
usual textbooks which often if not generally,
serve to instruct the .preceptor quite as much
as the student.
While conciseness is constantly aimed at,
clearness is nowhere sacrificed to brevity; and
every important point is brought into promi-
nence by the emphasis of full-faced type. This
accentuation of the essentials is a great assis-
tance to the memory.
One point which the author brings out and
insists upon is the advantage of the study OF
chemistry as means of mental discipline-a
fact too often ignored. The first mentioned
aim of scientific study is ''to train the mind to
observe, to experience, and to deduce truth
from such action" When educators generally
appreciate this value of the physical sciences,
and make the acquisition of practical informa-
ton secondary to it, we shall speedily find
these branches assuming more exalted and
honored place in the curricula of our schools
and colleges.
The volume closes with very interesting
historical sketch of the science of chemistry.
Mr.. Morrill, is greatly to be congratulated on
the manner in which he has worked out his
welldefined purpose. A teacher of large ex-
perience, he has for years pursued the course
with his classes which he now gives in his
book-suggesting rather than explaining in
cases where by mental effort the scholar can
solve the problem for himself; melting the
learner to the exercise of his own mind, in
stead of encouraging him to depend upon the
support of too-ready solution by the in
structor The result is a volume which an ig-
norant or slip-shod teacher can not use, but
one which will be warmly welcomed by those
who know already in a practical as well as theo-
retical way the great truths of chemistry, and
who either have now, or will be quick to catch,
the enthusiasm of the author in his favorite
study.
Lo-ing, Short & Harmon are the publishers,
and we are justified in feeling of pride in
this thoroughly Portland book. F. H. G..
In these days when we are all anxiously
hoping for wise action from our municipal au-
thorities in tine matter of sanitation, it is fit
ting to call attention to one of Harper's Half
Hour Series entitled Healthy Houses. 1t is
composed of three lectures by Professor Fleem-
ing Jenlin on the drainage of houses, ventila-
tion and warming, water-supply, and sanitary
inspection, and is edited by Col. Waring, who
has adapted it to the requirements of life in
this country. We know of nothing which in
so small a number of pages condenses so much
valuable information to the householder; and
we recommend every citizen who cares to a.
void unnecessary disease to invest quarter of
a dollar in this little brochure, before the
cold weather makes it difficult to carry out the
reforms in his habitation which he is pretty
sure to find suggested here.
Some months ago we noticed several of the
sanitary tracts of the Hampton series, and now
we have two more, numbers seven and eight.
The Rights of the Body is the title of one, which
is written hy the Rev S r Calthron of SYra-