Catholic University; Dr. Burns, C. S. C. of Holy Cross College, and Dr. McGarry, C. S. C. of Notre Dame University, Ind. The death of Miss Edgarina Hastings, Class 1904, leaves a void in the ranks of the Alumnæ that will be hard to fill. A pupil of Holy Cross for twelve years, she had endeared herself to teachers and companions by her brilliant mind, her simple manners, and her perfect unselfishness. On October 9 the funeral services were conducted by her cousin, the Rev. E. A. Hannan, of St. Martin's Church, Washington. At the hour of the services the graduates held a memorial meeting in their classroom, after which they gathered in the chapel where the "Way of the Cross" was offered for the repose of her soul. A spray of Annunciation lilies and violets tied with lavender and white, the school colors, was sent in the name of the Alumnæ a silent tribute of the love of those who mourn for her at Holy Cross. PATRICK J. MCCORMICK. REVIEWS AND NOTICES. The Teacher's Encyclopaedia. Edited by A. P. Laurie, M. A., D. Sc. In seven volumes. Vol. I, pp. xviii, 234; Vol. II, As the editor announces in the introduction to Vol. I, this work is a departure from the usual plan of encyclopedia-making. Instead of following the alphabetical order, the subjects are arranged in groups; and the result is a series of essays or monographs each treating some phase or problem or movement in education. The introduction also outlines in a general way the scope of the work, but no complete list of subjects is given nor are the several groups very clearly defined. Once the alphabetical order was abandoned, it would seem natural to expect a systematic presentation and this would have called for at least one article in which the meaning, or meanings, of education would be discussed and the mutual bearings of principles, methods, history, curricula, administration and other factors quite clearly exhibited. This would have given a survey of the entire field and might have provided or at least suggested some criteria for the reader's guidance in the study of special topics. But no such article appears in either of the two volumes before us. It is also to be regretted that the principle of classification on which the groups are built is not more fully explained. As it is, one finds some difficulty in deciding whether the sequence of papers is meant to be logical, psychological or pedagogical. The series in Vol. I includes: child psychology; moral instruction and training in schools; the study of the Bible in the schools; general method; the teacher in relation to school methods and expedients; the kindergarten; the infant school; dictation; on the teaching of drawing. Each of these is important and some of the articles are excellent; but the arrangement will hardly serve as a model lesson in orderly exposition. Vol. II deals with the teaching of the several school subjects and contains some practical suggestions. Both volumes are illustrated and a bibliography is added to each article. Some American authors are mentioned, but there is not so far any contribution by an American writer. Without examining any of the articles in detail, one must note as significant the following statements in the introduction: "These two movements, then, the scientific and the social, which may be described as the two great ethical movements of our time, are profoundly modifying our educational system, and moreover they are so new in their application that there is much that is yet undecided. There are many problems therefore only in the course of solution, and consequently we have to offer in these volumes not a complete answer to many of these questions, but, perhaps what is more interesting, the new ideas in process of formation, before they have crystallized in final form. One of the profoundest problems which is always present to those engaged in education is how to teach all that the child should know, and yet at the same time in no way to limit the child's initiative and freshness of mental development. This aim should always be before the teacher in every class, but it reaches farther than the mere subjects of the classroom, because when we come to the question of the ethical and spiritual training of the child we have to ask ourselves whether it should not be our aim to produce a man who, though he has been surrounded by the atmosphere of all the best thought of the past, has yet got a fresh mind to bring to the profoundest problems of life. It is this question which underlies the struggle for supremacy over the schools that is going on at present, and while this struggle continues the disputants do not seem to have time to study the question of how religious training can best be given to the child. This accusation cannot, however, be made against the Order of Jesuits, and consequently their school system is of the greatest interest to all students of education, because, whether we take their view of the ultiamte object to be reached or not, we find that they have thoroughly thought out the problem of how to proIt is for this reason that the duce the result they aim at. most interesting articles by Father Maher, on the Jesuit System of Education and on Stonyhurst, have been included in the Encyclopedia." Catholics both in England and in America will follow with deep interest the movement that sets out by recognizing the need of moral education, though as yet it has not, outside of Catholic schools, taken any very definite direction. If the new Encyclopedia, in its latest volumes, continues to emphasize this most essential part of all education, it will certainly render service to parents and teachers alike. EDWARD A. PACE. Lands of the Southern Cross, A VISIT TO SOUTH AMERICA, by Rev. Charles Warren Currier, Ph. D., Washington, D. C., Spanish-American Publication Society, 1911, pp. 401. There is a growing interest throughout the United States in the affairs of South America. The Bureau of American Republics in Washington has already accomplished much in the direction of establishing better trade relations with our southern neighbors. The cutting of the canal has also had its share in directing public attention southward. To those who were in the habit of thinking of South America as semi-barbarous, facts which have recently gained currency in this country must prove a series of surprises and must develop a desire for reliable information concerning Spanish-America. The author of the present work is eminently qualified to meet this demand. The honorable part which he has taken in previous congresses of Americanists established for him an international reputation. It was eminently fitting, therefore, that the government of the United States should have appointed him as one of its representatives to the recent international congress of Americanists at Buenos Aires, and it was no less fitting that he should represent the Catholic University at that meeting of savants. Dr. Currier has placed the English-speaking world under a lasting debt of gratitude to him for the splendid volume before us. The title in itself scarcely prepares one for the wealth of information which the book contains. From its pages the historian frequently speaks, outlining in a few brief paragraphs the salient features of the history of each country which he visited. The aborigines, the early discoverers, the struggles for its national life, the fauna and flora, the commerce and in dustries, as well as the manners and customs of the present population, are all woven into a narrative that is full of literary charm and that is kept from being heavy in spite of its wealth of fact by the imagination and sympathetic treatment. Dr. Currier's itinerary almost encircles South America. The Catholic reader will be especially grateful to Dr. Currier for his sympathetic and intelligent treatment of such topics as "The Church in Argentina, Education in Argentina, the Church and Education in Chile," and many other topics which have been habitually misrepresented by writers who have little or no understanding of the genius of the Latin-American peoples, who are building up such a splendid civilization in South America. "The Lands of the Southern Cross" should find a very wide circulation. No intelligent Catholic in the United States can afford to be without it. THOMAS EDWARD SHIELDS. The Second Spring, a Sermon by John Henry Newman, Edited with introduction, notes and exercises by Francis P. Donnelly, S. J., New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1911, vii+97. Father Donnelly, in preparing this sermon for the English classes in our secondary schools, has not only rendered a service to the teachers of English, but he has set an example in the right direction which should be imitated. English literature has too long been exploited by the enemies of the Church. It is high time that Catholics should search the field for themselves for material suited to our classrooms. The New Hudson Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, introduction and notes by Henry Norman Hudson, LL. D., edited and revised by Ebenezer Charlton Black, LL. D. (Glasgow), Boston, Ginn and Company, 1911, pp. lxil+129. |