ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS

Manual of Play, WM. BYRON FORBUSH '88. Philadelphia, Geo. W. Jacobs & Co.

This book by the President of the American Institute of Child Life and author of "The Boy Problem", will prove a real delight to all who are interested in the play of children. To the present writer, who is the inexperienced father of a small and very active son, the book came as a veritable "substance of things hoped for" in the way of play devices and play philosophy.

No one can calculate the amount of money wasted on unsuitable and practically useless toys. Many of these are very ingenious, but lack utterly the power to stimulate ingenuity in the child, which is a different matter; others are, from the adult point of view, very amusing, but it is grown-up risibles after all which the toy-maker has appealed to. In this "Manual of Play" we see how immeasureably superior are those toys and plays which arouse in the child a keen desire to do things himself, rather than be content to watch the mechanical "do-it-all" which leaves so little to juvenile imagination and power of adaptation. The chief value of the book lies in its great wealth of practical suggestions for providing play of this sort.

Toys, plays, and games suitable for children of all ages are discussed by topic and by graded age-groups. In the description of these games the reader feels himself transported once more to the Golden Age of childhood where the very air breathes mystery, and old doubts and fears and limitations fall away before the conviction of limitless possibility.

It is to be hoped that this useful book will bring home even to the busy and delinquent American father the wholesome truth that buying his children expensive toys is in no sense an equivalent for that intimate and comprehending parenthood without which a boy, in particular, is little better off than a half-orphan; nowhere better than in his play can a parent gain an insight into the real spirit life of his child.

A few of the topics treated in the twenty-six chapters which comprise the book are: The Home Playroom, The Home Yard and Gymnasium, What Children Play at Each Age, The Play of Babies, Self-directed Play, Plays of Mimic Life, Constructive Play, Sunday Play, The Meaning and Value of Play. The value of the book is still further enhanced by the bibliography and by an annotated "List of Playthings, Toys, and Occupations" extending to some forty-five pages.

Department of Sociology.

The Stars Not Inhabited, by L. T. TOWNSEND, D.D., S.T.D., 1859, New York; Eaton & Mains, Cincinnati: Jennings & Graham.

In this volume the author attempts a contribution to the problem of man's supremacy in the universe. An effort is made "to collect facts bearing on the subject from every available source and, whatever the consequence may be, to give a literal interpretation to Bible revelation, except when the figurative sense is manifestly intended." Part I consists of scientific and Part II of philosophical and theological points of view.

A Clinical Study of the Serous and,Purulent Diseases of the Labyrinth", by DR. ERICH RUTTIN. Authorized translation by Horace Newhart, A.8., M.D., 1895. New York, Rebman., (1914).

The work has been translated to meet the wishes of many who have followed the author in his Vienna clinic, and for those who require a recent treatise on the subject. Describing, as it does, the methods of examination, and giving histories of more than one hundred illustrative cases, it should prove also of great interest to both physiologist and psychologist in any study of the functions of the semicircular canals.

The following works of William B. Forbush '88, have been published as monographs by the American Institute of Child Life: "Education of the Baby Until it is One Year Old," "First Year in a Baby's Life," "Government of Adolescent Young People," "Government of Children between Six and Twelve," "Government of Young Children," ' "The New-Born Baby," "On Truth Telling, and the Problem of Children's Lies," "Religion of a Little Child," Religious Nurture of a Little Child," "Religious Nurture of Adolescents," "Religious Nurture of School Children," and "Story-Telling in the Home." A sixth edition of Mr. Forbush's "Boy Problem" has also been issued recently. A new book by the same author is "The Boy Problem in the Home."

Alfred S. Hall, 1873, has just issued in book form "A Memorial of Francis C. Hall." Francis C. Hall, son of the author was a member of the class of 1902 and met an unfortunate death in 1912. This volume contains, besides a biographical sketch, numerous portraits of Francis C. Hall and of his life in Texas and several letters from son to father. In addition are three letters written at the time of his son's death to Mr. A. S. Hall. One of these is from Dr. W. J. Tucker.

"The Report of the State Geologiston the Mineral Industries and Geologyof Vermont, 1913-1914" contains "The Geology and Mineralogy of Hardwick and Woodbury" by C. H. Richardson '92.

R. T. Ely ex-'76 is the author of "Property and Contract in their Relation to the Distribution of Wealth," in two volumes.

F. W. Tenkins, 1902, and Miss Elizabeth Black are the authors of "Eugenics, a Selected Bibliography," published by the Russell Sage Foundation Library.

Bradley M. Patten, 1911, contributes to the January 22nd number of Science, "Device for Projecting: a Small Spot of Light Suitable for Exploring PhotoSensitive Areas."

"The Responsibilities of Citizenship,' a lecture delivered by Samuel W. McCall 1874, in the Dodge Course of Lectures at Yale was printed in the BostonTranscript for March 12.

E. R. Groves '03 is the author of "Clinical Psychology and the Rural Schools" reprinted from The Psychological Clinic February 15, 1915.