tention and consideration to the "Consolidation of Rural Schools," and his views on this very important subject are clearly and forcibly stated in a paper recently published in The Mechanicsburg News. -The Cincinnati Normal School held its twenty-ninth commencement, Thursday evening, February 17. The class numbered fifty-five. --The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of which Dr. J. H. Canfield, O. S. U., is president, will hold its next meeting at Chicago, April 1 and 2, 1898. -Judging from the reports which reach us, the "Experiments" which are outlined by E. E. Richards of Newark, O., are proving very helpful to many of our readers. Mr. Richards has had a large and successful experience in teaching science, and is well equipped to do practical and helpful work in teachers' institutes. Institute committees desiring work of this kind. will do well to write him at once. -The Morgan County Teachers' Association held its second session for the year at Malta, February 12. The attendance was large, and the interest fully up to the standard. A large number of topics were discussed, two of the most important being the "Workman Law," and "Township Supervision." -We are under obligations to Supt. W. L. Griswold of Collinwood for one of the most complete Public School Library Catalogues we have ever seen. The classification is according to the Dewey System. The "Four-County Teachers' Association," including Crawford, Marion, Morrow and Richland Counties, held its second annual session at Galion, February 19. The idea of the association originated with Supt. Guinther of Galion who was elected at the first meeting as its first president. A large number of teachers was present, almost every town and city in the four counties being represented. The program was on the roundtable plan, and the discussions were spirited. The assocciation was entertained several times by pupils of the Galion schools, in pantomimes, calisthenics and choruses. Principal D. C. Meck, of the Mansfield High School, was elected president of the association for another year. Wherever the meeting may be taken next year it will be difficult to make it better than this one was. This -A large and enthusiastic meeting of the Champaign County Teachers' Association was held in the beautiful new high school building at Urbana, February 19. At the morning session a Class Recitation in Long Division was conducted by Miss Mary F. Roach, of the Urbana City Schools. was followed by a general discussion. At the afternoon session Supt. H. C. Minnich, of Hillsboro, made an address upon "Imitation as a Factor in Education"; and Miss Margaret W. Sutherland spoke on "The Teaching of Reading." E. T. Zerkle, county secretary of the O. T. R. C., reports an enrollment of 135, an increase over the report of last year, which was 96. We are glad to note that there will also be a large enrollment of readers in the Pupils' Reading Cir cle. Champaign County is alive to the best educational interests. -The pupils of Centerburg schools are taking great interest in their school library. During the During the first term of sixteen weeks the following books were taken out: Histories, biographies and literature, 208; novels and stories for children, 201. -The superintendents and teachers of Wayne and Stark counties are preparing to hold a large educational gathering at Massillon, April 22 and 23. Supt. J. B. Mohler of Orrville will preside, and M. W. Oberlin of Massillon will act as secretary. The Executive Committee consists of Superintendents John E. Morris, Charles Haupert, and J. L. Zaring, Principal John M. Sarver and Prof. Nelson Sauvain. -The Butler County Teachers' Association held an interesting session at Hamilton, January 29. The principal address was delivered by Principal J. P. Cummins of Cincinnati on "Thoughts after Reading a Book." --The Shelby County Teachers' Association held their bi-monthly meeting at Sidney, January 22. Several topics of a general nature were discussed and a lecture on "Alfred Tennyson" was delivered by Dr. E. S. Cox. -The teachers of Trumbull county are taking deep interest in the work of the O. T. R. C. Supt. D. F. Grier of Cortland reports that at least 90 per cent of all the teachers in the county are taking the course. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES. American Book Co., Cincinnati, 0.: Eclectic School Readings-Story of Aeneas-By M. Clarke, Author of "Story of Troy," and "Story of Cæsar." Minna Von Barnhelm-Lessing - Edited by M. B. Lambert. Eclectic English Classics-Selections from the Poems of Lord Byron, and Selections from the Poems of Robert Burns. Both Edited by W. H. Venable, LL. D. Applied Physiology including the Effects of Alcohol and Narcotics. By Frank Overton, A. M., M. D., Late House Surgeon to the City Hospital, New York. For use in Advanced Grades. The book is the outgrowth of a series of popu lar lectures delivered by the author in which the essential principles of physiology were presented in an exceedingly practical and instructive manner. Throughout the book the fact that the cells are the units in which life exists, is emphasized. A Laboratory Manual in Practical Botany. By Charles H. Clark, A. M. D. Sc., Principal of Windson Hall School. Graded Work in Arithmetic First and Second Year -- By S. W. Baird, Principal Franklin Grammar School, Wilkesbarre, Pa. Douze Contes Nouveaux. Edited for School Use by C. Fontaine, B. L., L. D. Ginn & Co., Chicago, Ill.: Flowers and Their Friends, and A Few Familiar Flowers. By Margaret Warner Morley. Stories of Insect Life. By Clarence Moores Weed. Well illustrated and adapted to the work of the public schools. Educational Music Course-Fifth and Sixth Readers - By Luther Whiting Mason, James M. McLaughlin, George A. Veazie, and W. W. Gilchrist. Eldredge & Brother, Philadel phia, Penn.: A Text-Book of Elementary Botany including a Spring Flora. By W. A. Kellerman, Ph. D., Professor of Botany, Ohio State University. Our readers will remember the very practical and helpful articles by Dr. Kellerman published in the MONTHLY within the past two years, and will no doubt, therefore, be greatly interested in his new book. Among the many excellent features of the book, we note the special and unusual attention given to the physiology of plants. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, Mass.: From September to June with Nature. By M. L. Warren. The purposes of the lessons contained in the book are to give information, to create an interest, to excite curiosity, and to develop habits of observation and reflection. Charles Scribners's Sons, New York.: Horace Mann, and the Common School Revival in the United States. By B. A. Hinsdale, Ph. D., LL. D. The book is one of "The Great Educators Series" edited by Nicholas Murray Butler, and will make a very valuable addition to any teacher's library. The single purpose of the book is to give to the reader the proper historical position occupied by Horace Mann. Silver, Burdett & Co., New York.: Stepping Stones to LiteratureA Fourth Reader-. By Sarah Louise Arnold, and Charles B. Gilbert. Werner School Book Co., Chicago, Ill.: Language Lessons — Complete— By Charles De Garmo, Ph. D., President of Swarthmore College. The two leading ideas of the book are Progressive Exercises in Composition, and an Inductive Approach to Grammar. The Cleveland Public Library has published a little book which, while invaluable to teachers in the third grade of the Cleveland Public Schools, will be helpful to all teachers of schools of corresponding advancement. The pamphlet is com Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, piled by May H. Prentice, Training Mass.: Riverside Literature Series Number 119 and 120-Poems and Tales from the Writings of Edgar Allen Poe. Edited by William P. Trent, Professor of English and History in the University of the South. Teacher in the Cleveland Normal School, and is entitled "References for Third Grade Teachers, To Books in the Cleveland Public Library." In any city where there is a library it will aid teachers by telling them in what books certain subjects are so treated as to be "Ohio's Jewels" is a beautiful pamphlet of twenty pages containing an accurate and interesting description of the origin and details of the Monument exhibited near the Ohio Building at the World's Fair, and now standing in the State House Yard. The publishers have several hundred copies left which can be secured at 5c. each, postpaid 7c. each. Address I. J. Lazarus, Columbus, O. One of the most interesting articles in Harper's Magazine for March is on "Stirring times in Austria" by Mark Twain. Joel Benton tells of "Reminiscenses of Eminent Lecturers," and Franklin Matthews describes "An American Army Maneuver." The number is a very valuable one. "Trusts: Their Causes and the Remedy" is the subject of an article by Hon. Marion Butler, U. S. Senator for North Carolina in the Arena for March. "The Victory of the Vanquished" by Hon. Charles A. Towne, and "Currency Reform" by Anthony W. Dimock are two of the leading articles. "An American Aspirant" is the title of a Complete Story by Jennie Bullard Waterbury published in Lippincott's for March. THE OHIO EDUCATIONAL MONTHLY ORGAN OF THE OHIO TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION. WHAT CAN CHILD STUDY CONTRIBUTE TO THE No. 4. BY J. P. GORDY. [Read before the Department of Superintendence of the N. E. A., at the A preliminary question must be In in detail, either what human nature is or what it ought to be. It may seem at first sight as though this kind of reasoning I would lead to the conclusion that there neither is, nor can be, a science of anything. Says Professor Dilthey: We have no science of education because wide differences as to the end of education have appeared among different nations, and in the same nation at different times; because we do not agrec among oruselves except in the most general way, and because what we now regard as the end of education, may not be so regarded a hundred years from now. May we not say with equal truth that no science of biology is possible because what we now regard as its fundamental law-what is at any time regarded as its fundamental law-may not be so regarded a |