Senator Arthur Capper (Kansas) and Representative Simeon D. Fess (Ohio) have introduced in Congress a bill initiating physical education upon a nation-wide scale. This measure calls for the appropriation of $10,000,000 from the Federal treasury for the first year, to be distributed to the various states according to school populations. The funds given to the states will help to establish under independent state control, thorough-going physical education for all children between the ages of six and eighteen years. In order to benefit from the Federal funds, states are required to appropriate a sum equal to the Federal allotment and to establish a comprehensive programme of physical education for all children between the designated ages. We believe in this measure as wise and prudent, on economic as well as on personal considerations.

"How are the former soldiers doing at college?" is a question asked and answered in a recent publication of the United States Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior. Summarizing returns to an inquiry made by one of the church boards of education, the Bureau finds that as a rule "the returned soldier has fallen into his old stride and is doing work about the same as before entering the service."

One college president reported that his ex-soldier students had not done very well and that they were restless and found it hard to concentrate on their work. This same answer was received from another institution where 16 ex-service men had registered at the beginning of the school year. Two of these had withdrawn. The rest did not do as well as hoped, because of unrest due to indecision as to the future they wanted to follow and the resulting quandary as to what preparation they should make.

Albion College, however, reported that the majority of ex-service men had done excellent work, especially those who had been in college before entering the service. A number of other institutions reported their returned men doing work above the average. The report from Missouri Wesleyan College was that these men were doing far above what they did previous to the war, the grades indicating that the work of the service men is of a very high order. The 9 per cent students receiving all "A" grades were all ex-service men. There were very few failures among the returned men at this college, showing that they realized the benefit of an education and the importance of hard, diligent work.

The majority of schools did not accentuate either success or failure of ex-service men in the first semester's work, but on the whole the

men were reported as having rapidly readjusted themselves to their work.

One result of the participation of the United States in the World War is seen in the increased interest in the study of the French language and literature. The director of the Middlebury College Summer Session states that the French School of 1920 was filled in March, and that on May 1 the College will begin booking applicants for the season of 1921. Such has been the demand for places in the Middlebury School of French that four houses have been secured in addition to the original assignment, making eight places of residence in all.

It is also announced that Middlebury has established a French House for teachers who wish to remain in residence doing graduate work in French through the college year. In the graduate house the distinctive features of the life of the French School will be retained. Mademoiselle Simone de la Souchère has been appointed as an additional instructor on the graduate staff for the year 1920-21. Similar reports of increased interest in French as a curriculum study are coming in from various parts of the country.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Book Reviews

So many books are sent to this department of EDUCATION that it is impossible to review them all. Naturally we feel under obligation to give preference to the books of those publishing houses which more or less frequently use or advertising pages. Outside of the limitations thus set, we shall usually be able and glad to mention by title, authors, publisher and price, such books as are sent to us for this purpose. More elaborate notices will necessarily be conditional upon our convenience and the character of the books themselves.

PHYSICS. By Willis E. Tower, Charles H. Smith, Charles M. Turton and Thomas D. Cope. Based on Principles of Physics, by Tower, Smith and Burton. With seven plates and 448 other illustrations. Philadelphia. P. Blakiston's Son & Company. Price $1.35 net.

It is a marvel how so elaborate and richly illustrated a text book can be produced, especially in these days of "H. C. L.", at so low a price. The needs and capacity of the average pupil have been steadily kept in mind in preparation of the book, a point often overlooked by the learned authors of school texts. The subject of Physics should be interesting to and within the comprehension of the student of either sex in our schools and colleges. It has sometimes been treated in text book and classroom in such a manner as to seem dry and difficult. This book will prove to be as interesting as a novel to the ordinary student. Facts and principles are clearly set forth and the problems presented are closely related to every-day experience. Yet, withal, the book is thorough and scholarly throughout. The educated man or woman should be in possession of the knowledge so pleasingly set forth by these authors; and schools seeking a text book upon the subject will make no mistake in giving it a very careful consideration.

MODERN ILLUSTRATIVE BOOKKEEPING. Introductory Course. By Charles F. Rittenhouse, C. P. A. Script by Edward C. Mills. American Book Company.

Modern business has had a marvelous development and in theory and practice is utterly different from what it was fifty or a hundred years ago. The principles of the science and the pedagogy of the subject have come to light in these later days, and bookkeeping and accounting stand approved as a recognized subject for the curriculum of the public schools and a necessity for the business man. This book is a sort of last or, to say the least, latest word on bookkeeping. It is sufficiently full in the treatment of the subject to give the student abundant practice in the application of the principles set forth. At the same time it is made real, and interesting, by the concrete, story form of the illus

trative examples. A very satisfactory "course" for business colleges and private use.

BARNABY RUDGE. By Charles Dickens. Edited by Leon H. Vincent, Litt. D. The Gregg Publishing Company.

This is one of the Living Literature Series, of which Richard Burton, Ph. D. is editor-in-chief. It puts the whole of this long novel into a convenient and practical shape for school use, in excellent, clear type, in a volume of 881 pages. It is neatly bound in cloth and we heartily commend it for class use. The notes, given with chapter references, are found in the concluding pages of the book.

In the same series as the above we have HUXLEY, Autobiography and Essays. Edited by Brander Matthews. Price 67 cents. This is bound uniform with the other book and is of handy size and attractive in external appearance. We foresee a large place for this series of English texts in the esteem of both students and teachers of English.

EMERSON AND BETTS HYGIENE AND HEALTH. Books one and two. By Charles P. Emerson and George Herbert Betts. Illustrated. The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

A progressive series of text books for the grades, teaching the elements of physiology and inculcating right ideals and habits of living, guided by intelligence and appreciation of the bodily needs, faculties and interests. Thoroughly practical while at the same time founded on latest discoveries and knowledge of scientific principles.

A SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. By Walter C. Bronson, Litt. D., Professor of History in Brown University. D. C. Heath & Company.

It is almost impossible to separate the history and the literature of a people or a period, the one from the other. The present volume is as much a history as it is a book on literature. It reflects the life of the period covered while giving a careful account of the expression of that life in the writings of such influential men and women as Benjamin Franklin, Timothy Dwight, Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, Longfellow, Emerson, Henry James, etc., etc. A fine tribute is given to the splendid work that the men and women of America have done for the country and the world in the past three centuries. This book will do its part in the schools and in the hands of individual readers, in promoting a true sense of values and a real Americanism, which is so great a desideratum in these later days of alien inundation.

MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE. By George E. Freeland. The Macmillan Co.

The ex-teacher who reads this book will long to go back to the schoolroom again and put in practice some of the interesting and admirable new ideas and methods herein recommended. The reviewer was once a teacher,—and that is the impression made upon him as he has read and re-read the interesting and suggestive chapters here presented. They make clear the great superiority of the present over the former methods. For one thing, the author gives a very full and explicit statement of the "problem" method of teaching. The necessity of making the pupil think as a means of making him really learn, is most lucidly set forth and commends itself as soon as stated. This idea alone is worth the price of the book to any teacher. It will transform, in all probability, his method in the classroom. It will also transform the class; and if there is or has been any. difficulty on the score of discipline, this difficulty will disappear. The methods recommended in this volume will bring interest where there has been indifference, or worse. They will make happy pupils and happy teachers and happy parents. Every teacher in the land should be required by the school board to own, read and pass an examination on this book. Such a requirement would set forward teaching at least a century. And the state would reap the benefit of the revolution.

THE WORST BOYS IN TOWN. By Rev. James L. Hill, D. D. The Stratford Company, 32 Oliver Street, Boston, Mass. Price $2.50. Mechanically a superior example of the bookmaker's art. A collection of the liveliest and most inspiring short addresses to young people of both sexes. A very suggestive book for all who work with boys and girls, or with young men and women. Each of the thirty-five chapters of the book is a short talk built around some striking idea or phrase, as "The Worst Boys in Town," "Fares Please," "Becoming a Lady." Throughout, these talks contain a fine mental and spiritual appeal for character-building.

SOCIAL GAMES AND GROUP DANCES. By J. C. Elson, M. D., and Blanche M. Trilling. 45 illustrations. J. B. Lippincott Company. Price $1.75 net.

This book commends itself for its sound theory and the simple and practical suggestions which it offers to leaders of social groups.

Part I contains chapters on "Social Mixers and Acquaintance Games," "Active Games of Tag," "Parlor and House Party Games," "Games with Pencil and Paper," and "Stunts." Part II treats of "Group Dances,"

.