SCOTT, JOHN REED.Man in evening clothes. il*$1.50 (2c) Putnam 17-14179
In an amateur way, Colin Marjoribanks, an under-secretary of the British embassy in Washington, had been picking up valuable gems here and there, taking advantage of the carelessness of his women friends. From one he has obtained a fine pearl, from another an emerald necklace, from another several valuable rings. He is holding these until the time is safe for their disposal, when a professional jewel thief appears on the scene, “the man in evening clothes.” This unknown appears perfectly familiar with Colin’s little depredations and so holds him in his power. It is just at this time that the Hon. Patricia Packingham arrives from England, and the young secretary begins to see the error of his way. His efforts to get himself out of an awkward scrape come to a climax with a demand from the unknown thief that he act as a tool in robbing the British embassy. This forces confession, and forgiveness follows.
“The story is entertainingly written and sufficiently ingenious, while the picture of Washington society is amusing.”
“Stories of this trashy type do Mr Scott, who ordinarily is a diverting romancer, no credit.”
SCOTT, RHEA CLARKE.Home labor saving devices. il*$1 Lippincott 643 17-8895
The author, who is a rural extension worker, gives directions for the making at home or in school of labor saving devices, for the kitchen, dining-room, porch, poultry house, dairy, etc. The appendix includes: Fundamentals in woodworking; Suggested list of tools; List of publications for supplementary reading (chiefly government documents).
SCOTT, WILLIAM BERRYMAN.Theory of evolution.*$1 (2c) Macmillan 575 17-7196
This book, by the Blair professor of geology and palæontology in Princeton university, contains the Westbrook lectures delivered at the Wagner free institute of science, Philadelphia, in 1914. The author treats his subject with special reference to the evidence upon which the theory of evolution is founded. Contents: Present status of the question; Evidences for the theory—classification, domestication and comparative anatomy; Evidence from embryology and blood tests; Evidence from palæontology; Evidence from geographical distribution; Evidence from experiment—conclusion.
“The opening chapter gives a brief historical review of theories of evolution and a concise statement of the present status of the question. I have seen no better presentation of this body of data for both biologist and general reader than that given in this little book. My only criticism is that it is insufficiently illustrated, although the few illustrations used are well chosen.” H. H. Newman
“The evidence for his thesis is presented honestly without forcing facts or ignoring flaws.”
“Then follows a chapter on evidences drawn from embryology, and also from the wholly unexpected field of blood-tests. This part of the volume will be of special interest to readers who have not kept themselves informed as to this remarkable advance in science. The chapter on evidence from palæontology maintains complete perspective, although there was some danger that the author’s studies in this particular direction might throw the sketch out of true.”
“The layman in search of a summary of the present status of the theory of evolution will find in Professor Scott’s volume a straightforward, clear-cut and simple presentation of the most important single contribution to science in the nineteenth century. ... The book is valuable for its restraint and for the liberality of its view.” D: Rosenstein
SCOTT, WILLIAM ROBERT.[2]Economic problems of peace after war; the W. Stanley Jevons lectures at University college, London, in 1917.*$1.40 (3½c) Putnam 304 (Eng ed 17-28670)
An indication of the course which progress may be expected to take after the war rather than a prediction of details. A study of emergency measures made “for the duration of the war” naturally gives rise to questions concerning the continuance of state and government control of activities, economic and industrial, after the war. Concerning commerce the writer reflects that warfare has extended into the third dimension and that it is possible, with the perfection of submarines and airships, commerce may do the same. But, he says, “there can be no single forecast of the future of commerce and industry in the first years of peace. ... It will take time to direct the new national spirit to industry and to utilize it to the full.” He believes that the economy practised during these days will become habitual; that the increased capital as a result of saving will aid in the reconstruction of industry when peace returns. Finally, he develops a new responsibility in industry. Industry is to be conceived not as an evolutionary process but as a problem, that of attaining a harmonious relation among men concerned in production.
“Professor Scott is more concerned to lay down broad principles than to attempt any very definite prediction of what the peace will bring us, and for that reason alone his book deserves attention.”
“The author takes what seems to us to be a sane but cheerful view of the future. If he is sometimes a trifle prosy and occasionally alittle obscure, he has the excuse of the traditions of the great science of which he is a distinguished exponent.”
SCOVELL, CLINTON HOMER.Cost accounting and burden application.*$2 Appleton 657 16-22873
“The principles and elements of cost are treated by Mr Scovell rather than any specific system of cost keeping. The determination and application of overhead charges or burden are given a prominent place. The five methods of applying burden are: Percentage on wages, percentage on labor and material, man-hour rates, old-machine rate, new-machine rate. ... Material and material cost with reference to the practice of machine shops are discussed in chapter 3. The succeeding chapter is on labor costs. The later chapters deal with cost accounting for special industries. ... The author states that every method and device mentioned in the book is in successful operation in some progressive industrial establishment.”—Engin N
“Probably the most important thing in the whole book, certainly the one about which there has been least written, is what the author calls ‘unearned burden.’ ... The work is to be recommended to managers, accountants, and students of cost accounting, chiefly for the fundamental principles discussed, and the very great number of suggestions offered.” M. M. FitzHugh
“The author would probably feel that his chief contribution lies in his treatment of unearned burden. ... The work at once is both scholarly and practical, and should rank high among the books in this country on the subject.” Spurgeon Bell
“Closely related to the absence of accounting forms is the lack of any adequate presentation of the relations between cost accounting and the general accounting system of the business making use of cost accounts. The book falls short of establishing completeness as a treatise on cost accounting by reason of the conscious emphasis upon the order method of production and the corresponding neglect of the process method and of the so called continuous industries. The book contains particularly good chapters upon unearned burden, interest as an element of cost, the verification of burden estimates, and the budget system.”
“Author is a specialist in industrial accounting. He is of the modern school. ... The book is not a systematic treatise, suitable for students, but is a logical discussion of general principles. ... It should be read by practical accountants who wish to be informed as to the latest and best theory of their profession.” W: Kent
SCUDDER, VIDA DUTTON.Church and the hour; reflections of a socialist church woman.*$1 Dutton 261 17-10459
This book “attempts a reconciliation between the faith of the church and the ideals of social reform by showing the identity of the two. The author, who is a professor in Wellesley college, looks upon the church as primarily a social organization and social force, and believes that the more the corporate ideal is stressed the nearer the church is to fulfilling its task in society. As to socialism, the author asserts that it is incomplete and impotent unless it take account of the fact that man has a soul. Intensely individualistic Christianity and anti-Christian socialism are believed by Miss Scudder to be powerless half-truths.”—Springf’d Republican
“The great question is, Can a democratic society believe in the Christian God? The question is not settled, but it is one of the most important that we have before us to-day. Any intelligent discussion of it must be of value.” Ward Swain
“Miss Scudder is less vague than most others who are lamenting the breakdown of Christianity with a sneer at the parson. Herself a Socialist, she has some ideas as to how the church might enforce principles of social justice and thus ensure international stability.”
“Anyone who believes that socialism and Christian faith are antagonistic to each other will be interested in Miss Scudder’s argument in the chapter entitled ‘Two letters to The Masses.’ ... The book is well written though the material is at times somewhat fragmentary. Throughout the reader is attracted by the note of mysticism and the faith in humanity.”
“Both at its heights of social hope and its depths of religious idealism this volume lacks a practical hold on the unity of a human life. It fails to show just how the church, which cannot be regarded as a separate body, can yet be so separate from the people constituting it that it can dwell apart on a higher level while they themselves must so largely live and labor on the ‘lower range of the natural life.’” Graham Taylor
SCUDDER, VIDA DUTTON.[2]Le morte d’Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory and its sources.*$3.50 Dutton 398.2 17-31449
“The author is professor of English literature in Wellesley college, and the book is the outcome of fifteen years of study with her college classes. The volume is concerned with Arthurian romances intimately connected with England and deals with the sequence leading up to the ‘Morte d’Arthur’ of Malory. The development of the romances through the centuries is studied, with now and then a glance at the form they took on the continent, the author constantly comparing the sources from which Malory drew with his own treatment of characters and incidents and constantly finding in the romances the reflection of life and thought, and feeling during mediaeval times. ... The first half of the book is devoted to a consideration of the sources from which Malory drew his material, but the second part takes up Malory’s work and after a chapter on the man and his book goes on to examine, discuss and interpret the various elements of his ‘Morte d’Arthur.’”—N Y Times
“She has made a brilliant contribution to the subject of mediaeval romance merely by the comprehensiveness with which she has surveyed the results of modern investigation, the thoroughness with which she has mastered and digested them and the very readable style in which she has presented her narrative. Her book is a work of fine scholarship, but it is also written in so interesting a manner that it deserves the popular reading for which it is intended.”
“What she has done here is of permanent value and is presented with sincere literary effort.”
SEAMAN, MRS AUGUSTA HUIELL.Girl next door. il*$1.25 (3c) Century 17-24404
The author of “The boarded-up house” and “The sapphire signet” has written a new story for girls which now appears in book form after serial publication in St Nicholas. The oldhouse next door appears to be deserted, for its shutters are always closed. Marcia and Janet, however, early discover that there are signs of life about it, and their interest, already aroused at the first hint of mystery, is intensified when they learn that the place shelters a young girl. When they succeed in making friends with Cecily they expect the puzzle to solve itself, but they are only more mystified, for Cecily herself does not know why she has been brought to live in the strange house. And, stranger still, Miss Benedict, its veiled mistress, does not know who Cecily is or from where she has come. Genuine love for Cecily takes the place of curiosity as the motive that drives the two girls on to the solution of the mystery.
“An entertaining mystery story for girls.”
Reviewed by J: Walcott
“As real a mystery story as ever was written for grown-ups.”
SEARS, CHARLES HATCH.Edward Judson, interpreter of God. il $1 Am. Bapt. 17-14394
“One of his friends, the Rev. Charles H. Sears, has sketched the events and the motives of Dr Judson’s public life. Against the background of his childhood in Burma, his orphaned boyhood in America, and his life as student and teacher and pastor of a prosperous suburban church, stands out his heroic venture in founding an institutional church in downtown New York. Like his great father, Adoniram Judson, he had the spirit of the pioneer, and his was one of the first expressions of the social ministry of the modern city church for all sorts and conditions of men.”—Lit D
“Sympathetic portrayal of an unselfish life.”
“This volume would have been of greater value to the public if its author had not been requested to treat Dr Judson’s life in its public rather than in its personal relations. For Dr Judson’s power was in his personality.”
SEDGWICK, WILLIAM THOMPSON, and TYLER, HARRY WALTER.[2]Short history of science. il*$2.50 Macmillan 509 17-31086
Addressed to the student and the general reader this volume goes back to the origin of scientific knowledge, and of the scientific method which has not only revolutionized scientific study but has been widely applied to all kinds of human activity. The writers begin with the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians and Phoenicians whose monuments and inscriptions have furnished the material for the beginnings of scientific study. The development of the science of mathematics, astronomy and medicine and the contribution made by different nations occupies nine chapters. The second half of the text starts with the quickening influences of the age of discovery at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century and traces the progress of modern national, physical and mathematical science to the beginning of the twentieth century.
“A vast subject is treated with breadth of view and keenness of insight in this book. It strikes a happy balance between the technical works that are meant for the special student and the works that deal so largely with abstract theories that they fail to grip the general reader. A good example of the work of specialists who know how to make their subject interesting to non-specialists.”
SEEBACH, JULIUS FREDERICK, and SEEBACH, MRS MARGARET REBECCA (HIMES).Singing weaver, and other stories. il*$1 (2c) Lutheran pub. soc. 17-21643
These “hero tales” for young people have been brought together in honor of the four-hundredth anniversary of the reformation. The authors say that they are true stories of some of the obscure, but none the less real heroes of that time. Contents: The singing weaver; Her little Bible; At the king’s bidding; The good little hen; Lady Philippine’s Easter gift; At the turn of the tide; His majesty’s potter; The price of a book; The courage of Grizel; The glorious return. The book has an effective frontispiece in color by Jessie Gillespie.
SEEGER, ALAN.Letters and diary. il*$1.25 (3c) Scribner 940.91 17-14031
Alan Seeger, the young American poet who, at the beginning of the war enlisted in the Foreign legion of France and died in a charge at Belloy-en-Santerre on July 4, 1916, tells of his service in the trenches, in the rear, and on the field, in fragments of a diary and in letters home and to the New York Sun, covering the period from September 27, 1914, to June 28, 1916.
“It is for America as well as for France that these letters speak. They come to the public eye at a most propitious moment. ... Alan Seeger was a fore-runner of the hundreds of Americans who will join hands with France and with all the allies of France for the salvation of humanity.” E. F. E.
“The greater portion of the book is ordinary, quite like the many books from the hands of mere journalists. There is another, smaller, but far more important part of the volume that is also disappointing, and in inverse ratio to its size; it is the part, or parts, where the poet does write and where, therefore, his philosophy of life appears. Alan Seeger was narrow-minded. Seeger’s [view] is so largely a mere expression of his emotions that, annoyance becomes the dominant reaction as one reads. He was tired of ordinary existence, that existence which demands the best powers of mind and soul. Victor Chapman, in his ‘letters from France,’ says: ‘Remember Alan Seeger was an appalling wreck before the war.’” B. I. Kinne
“Perhaps nearer to literature than anything that has come to us from the trenches. ... His pages are extraordinarily vivid and human and yet curiously impersonal. There is hardly an anecdote, hardly a mention of an individual. Idiosyncrasies of character, incidents of trench life were not his interest and yet you live trench life with him, and you breathe the very spirit of the war.”
“The real interest of this little book is in the psychological conditions which threw this young American into the war and made him glory in his experiences.”
“Throughout the record there is manifest a grace of mind and character that is both touching in its appeal and prohibitive of false sentiment. Sad as it is, the book is inspiriting.”
SEEGER, ALAN.Poems: with an introd. by W: Archer.*$1.25 Scribner 811 16-24961
For descriptive note see Annual for 1916.
“A large part of the poems in this volume can reasonably well stand on their strictly literary merits. ... We like to think that if Rupert Brooke had lived he would have eliminated from his final volume some of the unnecessary gaucheriesof expression, as well as some of the unworthy compositions which were rushed into print under the impulse of the sudden fame brought about by his death. The same thought occurs in the case of Alan Seeger.” H. F. Armstrong
“Of his artistic capacity there can be no question. At twenty-eight he was master of a rich and flexible technique which I hesitate to call exceptional only because in our dædal and prodigious age exceptions are turning into rules before our eyes. The strains are Lydian, Lydian even in the rifle-pits; and to his ideals, which include Sidney, Byron, Napoleon, and Roosevelt, I am impelled to add, as analogue if not as exemplar, Sardanapalus.” O. W. Firkins
SEELY, HERMAN GASTRELL.Son of the city.il*$1.35 (2c) McClurg 17-25592
Sketches of boyhood, as maturity remembers it. Of stories of child life in the country there are many. The activities and interests of the city boy are more rarely pictured. But in this story of the city, apparently Chicago, the essential characteristics of boy nature are shown to vary little with the environment. Sport, love, and adventure are the matters that occupy this boy’s mind much as they did that of Tom Sawyer.
“The particular hero of Mr Seely’s telling holds the reader’s interest from start to finish.”
“The book is strongly reminiscent of the sentiments which inspire Briggs’s cartoons. ... There are quite a few passages where action lags and interest wanes. But the chief charm, and one that pervades the volume, is that older than Aristotle—recognition. Youth comes back with all its fond impulsiveness and sudden bitternesses, but still vivid and happily refreshing.”
SEGAR, MARY G., comp. Some minor poems of the middle ages; glossary by Emmeline Paxton.*$1 Longmans 821 17-13422
“This is complementary to Miss Segar’s recent ‘Mediæval anthology,’ and should help to fill in the background against which the greater and better-known works stand out. ... Some of these pieces are widely known; others, and not least interesting, are unfamiliar. These do, as the preface claims, ‘Illustrate the mind and deeds of the time, and its manners and customs.’ Miss Segar writes an excellent introduction, and the glossary and notes smooth the way for any intelligent student.”—Ath
SELLARS, ROY WOOD.Essentials of philosophy.*$1.60 (1½c) Macmillan 102 17-22306
This book, intended as an introduction to philosophy, concerns itself with those “general problems which confront all knowledge.” “He who has wrestled with these,” says the author, “can face the more empirical questions of the secondary philosophical subjects with equanimity.” He takes up first the problems of the theory of knowledge, second those of metaphysics or ontology. He says, “We shall, I believe, become convinced that the answer to ontological problems depends in a larger measure than has been acknowledged upon the answer given to epistemological problems. Only the final chapter will concern itself with values. The method we shall use may be called the genetic for want of a better name. ... The history of philosophy will always be kept subordinate to the main purpose, that of a clear and consistent statement of problems and their solutions, so far as solutions are realizable.” (Chapter 1) The author is professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan.
“This book, in the opinion of the reviewer, is one of the most acceptable introductory texts that has come under his notice. It is well fitted to the needs of the beginner, and it admits of all necessary expansion on the part of the teacher. It should find wide acceptance as a text.” A. G. A. Balz
SELTZER, THOMAS, comp and ed. Best Russian short stories. (Modern lib. of the world’s best books) il*60c Boni & Liveright 17-20418
The compiler states that “the present volume is the most comprehensive anthology of the Russian short story in the English language. ... Korolenko’s ‘Shades’ and Andreyev’s ‘Lazarus’ first appeared in Current Opinion, and Artzybashev’s ‘The revolutionist’ in the Metropolitan Magazine.” (Introd.) Contents: The queen of spades, by A. S. Pushkin; The cloak, by N. V. Gogol; The district doctor, by I. S. Turgenev; The Christmas tree and the wedding, by F. M. Dostoyevsky; God sees the truth, but waits, by L. N. Tolstoy; How a muzhik fed two officials, by M. Y. Saltykov; The shades, a phantasy, by V. G. Korolenko; The signal, by V. N. Garshin; The darling, The bet, Vanka, by A. P. Chekhov; Hide and seek, by F. K. Sologub; Dethroned by I. N. Potapenko; The servant, by S. T. Semyonov; One autumn night, Her lover, by M. Gorky; Lazarus, by L. N. Andreyev; The revolutionist, by M. P. Artzybashev; The outrage, by A. I. Kuprin.
SETON, ERNEST THOMPSON.Preacher of Cedar Mountain; a tale of the open country.il*$1.35 (1c) Doubleday 17-12957
The story opens with an account of Jim Hartigan’s boyhood in a little town in Ontario. This part of his life comes to an end with his conversion at a crude revival meeting. He goes west as a missionary preacher and finds his field in the Black hills. He finds, too, the right woman, the one whose loving wisdom guides his after life. In that day horse racing was looked on by Jim’s church as one of the deadly sins, but a love for horses is in his blood, and it was inevitable that he should be drawn to the sport that flourished on the frontier. A big race between soldiers and Indians is one of the features of the story.
“Breathes a spirit of love of nature, and contains many beautiful word-pictures of landscapes.”
“A vivid story.”
“Mr Thompson Seton loses his distinction when he begins to write about human beings. ... Almost anybody might have written such a yarn; and it is perhaps to Mr Seton’s credit that he seems more interested in the horses than in the men and women of the story. ... But the author’s friends must hope that he will go back to his wolves and grizzlies.”
“As a story of character development it is very interesting. And it is also unusual. For there is no sentimentality in the tale of Jim’s evolution, and the things that happen to him are full of concrete interest themselves.”
“We predict a wide popularity for this story.”
“One is not surprised to learn that a story of so much breadth and reality is for the most part historical, and many of its characters, including its hero, are drawn from life.”
SETON, JULIA (MRS FRANKLIN WARREN SEARS).[2]Destiny.*$1.35 (2c) Clode, E: J. 17-22566
A new thought novel which forestalls unsympathetic comment by claiming that “every book that is written has a meaning and a purpose; sometimes this meaning and purpose is plain; ... sometimes however, only God and the author really understand it.” The heroine is a young girl who is keen scented for a life of adventure. She grows irritable among the commonplaces of life with her country foster parents and her country lover. She longs for the world. Her opportunity comes, and with it encouragement to delve deep into all “sciences, psychologies, philosophies, and religions.” With the husband of her friend, who had opened the door to her new life, she enters the world beyond and “sees at work the laws of the inner relationship of spheres and consciousness.” Here the lay reader loses her, but soon finds her again as she emerges to the discovery that she is the soul mate of her friend’s husband. The reader is led to believe that the events swiftly following this development, the resistance, and final conquest, are wholly in keeping with the teachings of new thought.
“A highly moral book. And whatever it may lack, occasionally, in uniqueness of plot, or brilliancy of description and dialogue, is fully compensated for by its measureless compass of lofty spiritual values. To all disciples of new thought this last book of Dr Seton’s will be of singular interest.” D. F. G.
“All the characters talk a very great deal, and the author indulges in unendingdissertations.”
“With all this wonderfully constructed background of the psychic, the hidden, the occult, Dr Seton has aroused in her readers a tense expectation. We proceed eagerly with the breathless hope of seeing Audrienne solve the mystery of life and love, disclose the secret which lies behind the beyond. It is frankly, therefore, a disappointment to be called upon to witness Dr St Elmo and our heroine clasped in each other’s arms amid the ‘deepest, darkest shrubbery,’ and to find the author herself commenting on the scene, ‘They had found all they had looked for; all they had longed for, far above the law of all mystical research.’” Joseph Mosher
Seven years in Vienna (August, 1907—August, 1914); a record of intrigue. il*$1.50 Houghton 943.6 A17-1120
“Popular and gossipy, this traces the course of political events from 1907-1914 and the reason for Austria’s entrance into the war. Gives rather vivid characterizations of members of the royal family including the late emperor Francis Joseph and the murdered archduke and his wife, and describes many of the intrigues of the governing political party of Austria.”—A L A Bkl
“Very early in his record of intrigue in the German and Austrian courts he reveals an intimate acquaintance with his subject and with the intricacies of court life and the people who direct and control it.” H. S. K.
“What he or she has to say of the inner workings of government machinery is entertaining enough, but unsupported by any basis of authority.”
“A farrago of backstairs tittle-tattle, newspaper clippings, and downright guesswork.”
“An interesting book, this, yet scarcely a valuable one. It is poorly written, poorly assembled, confused at times to a point of an inconsistency which is probably more apparent than real.”
SEVERANCE, FRANK HAYWARD.Old frontier of France. 2v il*$7.50 (2c) Dodd 974.7 17-13293
Drawing on records in the archives of France, Canada and the United States, the author has brought together a mass of material bearing on the history of the Niagara region and adjacent lakes under French control. The work is intended as an authentic historical record. The author says, “If I have seldom turned aside from the mere recording of events, to remark on the policies of the powers which were rivals in the region, or on the consequences of their conduct, it is because I have felt that the truest exposition of these ambitions of courts, these failures or achievements of ministries, lay in setting forth as simply and clearly as possible, the things that were done.” Volume 1 covers the period from the early explorations to about 1751. In volume 2 the historical record is carried to the surrender of Fort Niagara, with supplementary chapters on the career of Chabert. The volumes are well illustrated, with maps, plans and facsimiles.
“No one is so well qualified as Mr Severance to tell the story of this region. With its topography and later history he has long been familiar, and he has evidently spent years collecting material for this work, laying under contribution manuscript sources in the archives of Paris, London and Ottawa, contemporary newspapers and pamphlets and familiar printed collections like the ‘New York colonial documents.’ The result is a work for the specialist and not for the general reader, one which will be found to disclose new facts and sources of information rather than to change fundamentally the reader’s conception of the character of the men and events under consideration. Within these self-imposed limitations the book is one of great value.” A. H. Buffinton
“Mr Severance of the Buffalo historical society, and author of ‘Old trails on the Niagara frontier’ and other historical works, is fitted to write of the domination of the Niagara region by the French. ... His work presents an assemblage of historical facts which will be of inestimable value to the historian and the economist who deals with results as well as causes.” G. H. S.
“Mr Severance is painstaking and accurate, with an apparently vastly absorbent, orderly intellect, and if only he might have quickened his subject with a more human touch, the reviewer could accord him unstinted praise.”
SEVERN, ELIZABETH.[2]Psychology of behaviour.*$1.50 (2c) Dodd 130 17-31920
The writer is a practitioner of psychotherapy and mental science. From the metaphysical rather than biological, the idealistic and suggestive, rather than materialistic and positive point of view, she analyses human motives and needs. The chapter on “Self” offers encouragement to the self-depreciating individual for it sets a high value on each self as an entity whose quality and idiosyncrasies distinguish it from every other particle in the universe and render it an essential part of the whole. The culture of self “is the only path to liberation and high behaviour,” says the author.
SEWARD, ALBERT CHARLES, ed. Science and the nation; with an introd. by the Right Hon. Lord Moulton.*$1.50 Putnam 504 17-21369
Thirteen essays by Cambridge university graduates, on the importance of pure science and its relation to applied science. “Lord Moulton points the general moral in an introduction—namely,that the facts and methods of science should receive more attention in our schools and universities.” (Spec) “Contents: The national importance of chemistry, W. J. Pope; Physical research and the way of its application, W. H. Bragg; The modern science of metals, pure and applied, W. Rosenhain; Mathematics in relation to pure and applied science, E. W. Hobson; The science of botany and the art of intensive cultivation, F. W. Keeble; Science in forestry, W. Dawson; Systematized plant-breeding, R. H. Biffen; An agricultural war problem, T. B. Wood; Geology as an economic science, Herbert H. Thomas; Medicine and experimental science, F. Gowland Hopkins; The ‘specific treatment’ of disease, G. H. F. Nuttall; Flies and disease, G. S. Graham-Smith; The government of subject peoples, W. H. R. Rivers.” (N Y Br Lib News)
“Each essay is written by a master of his subject, and the claims of the various sciences to recognition are presented in a most attractive and reasonable manner. The writers are making a simple and direct appeal to the general and educated public. There is no undue exploitation of any one science; there is no attempt to minimize the importance of the humanities; on the contrary, there is an earnest appeal for a proper balance of these two branches of civilization.”
“Individually the chapters are of the utmost interest to the general reader; they give him compactly and authoritatively a sound idea of the scope and value of contemporary work in chemistry, physics, botany, geology, medicine, mathematics, and anthropology. ... Yet the present reviewer who is a journalist very anxious for the advancement of science and very eager to serve it if he can, turns from this book with an uncomfortable sense that scientific men have still to develop a definite policy with regard to schools and colleges and higher education. ... Against the strangle-grip of the classic-worshipping mandarins on our higher English education such a book as ‘Science and the nation’ scarcely fights at all.” H. G. Wells
“The book opens with a contribution from Professor Pope to demonstrate that war on its present scale would have been impossible for Germany had not her chemists prepared the way. ... The feature common to nearly all the essays, but most clearly developed by Professor Bragg, is the insistence upon pure science, pursued for its own sake, as the fountain of all discovery, even in applied science. ... In addition to their discontent with the position of science in the economy of the nation, there are signs that the Cambridge essayists are not without some resentment at the treatment accorded to the scientific man himself, more at his lack of influence than as regards the actual rewards that he misses.”
SHACKLETON, ROBERT.[2]Book of New York. il*$2.50 Penn 917.471 18-87
“Mr Shackleton is a trained observer of the picturesque and the historical, and in this volume he reveals a New York, or rather several New Yorks, that many life-long citizens of the poly-headed metropolis probably know little about. His book is at once historical, anecdotal, artistic, and informative in its appeal; above all, it seeks to capture the elusive spirit of the great city. The oldest houses and the newest palaces, the quaint corners and the splendid modern vistas, and the stories that lie behind them, all figure in Mr Shackleton’s narrative and in the many illustrations, from photographs and in pen-and-ink, which he has assembled. The photographs are reproduced in sepia and the pen-drawings are by Boyer.”—Lit D
“Rather desultory, but always agreeable.”
SHARMAN, HENRY BURTON.[2]Records of the life of Jesus.*$2.50 Assn. press 226 17-19831
A topical study of the actual career of Jesus whose first part makes comparative use of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and whose second part is based on the gospel of John. “Dr Sharman describes this book as ‘a super-harmony of the gospels.’ The book is an ambitious and scholarly attempt to put the gospels in a new setting and, at the same time, to avoid, as far as possible, any dislocation or distortion of passages. It is unique in that it permits (by printing consecutive passages in Roman type) the continuous reading of each gospel. The synoptics have been harmonized, while the gospel of John is given by itself with the fullest possible cross reference to the synoptics. Passages which are similar but not actually parallel are given in foot-notes.” (Publishers’ note)
“Easily the best harmony of the gospels that has been published up to the present time. The book is admirable, both for reader and student.” F. W. C.
SHARP, HILDA M.Stars in their courses.*$1.50 (1c) Putnam 17-7812
“To be the child of an unhappy marriage is to be heavily handicapped at the very outset of that strange, unequal game we call life,” says the author. This was the fate of her hero, Patrick Yardley. When he was five years old, his mother disappeared out of his life, and his father, a very rich, self-made man, transferred to the child the bitter hatred engendered by the mother’s faithlessness. He teaches the boy to love money and then disinherits him, leaving his fortune to Patrick’s cousin. Patrick becomes a wanderer. An inherited passion for gambling is indulged in far places of the earth and wild stories of his way of life come back to England. His return, his meeting with the girl who is engaged to his cousin, and the discovery that his father had made a later will are events of the second half of the story. “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera,” seems to be the source of the title.
“It hardly creates the illusion of reality. Miss Sharp has an excellent plot in which inherited gambling instincts, blackmail, and accident play a perfectly legitimate part. Her characters too, except, in their speech, are true to type. She has a clever way of expressing her view of her characters that makes her work amusing, but her melodramatic dialogue all but ruins her best effects.”
“Somehow the author has made an interesting story even tho she has employed almost all the hackneyed situations known to fiction.”
“Several of the minor characters in this oldfashioned story are well drawn.”
SHEAFFER, WILLIAM ADAM.[2]Household accounting and economics.*65c Macmillan 657 17-3038
This practical work has chapters on: Personal accounts; Economics of the household; The family budget; How to keep the family accounts; How to open a bank account; Making payments by check; Envelope and card systems of keeping accounts; The household inventory and fire insurance protection, etc. The book is intended primarily as a text book for girls studying home economics, but the author points out that it furnishes valuable training for boys as well. It is also adapted to the use of the individual housekeeper or ofclubs making a study of the subject. The author is head of the commercial department of West division high school, Milwaukee.
“This book should be a welcome addition to the working library of the housekeeper.” J. S.
SHEAHAN, HENRY.Volunteer Poilu.il*$1.25 (3c) Houghton 940.91 16-22442
A book written by an American serving in France. The author says that in writing the book it was his ambition to do for his comrades, the French private soldiers, what other books have done for the soldiers of other armies. Contents: The Rochambeaus’en va-t-en guerre; An unknown Paris in the night and rain; The great swathe of the lines;La forêt de Bois-le-Prêtre; The trenches in the “wood of death”; The Germans attack; The town in the trenches; Messieurs les poilus de la grande guerre; Preparing the defense of Verdun; The great days of Verdun.
“It is not only of trench life that this little volume treats: many other phases are illuminatingly touched upon. It is all admirably written and holds the attention closely.”
“Admirably written sketches giving an excellent interpretation of the French private soldier in the trench and in action.”
SHEARME, JOHN.Lively recollections. il*1.50 (2c) Lane 17-16340
“The stories Canon Shearme tells of his boyhood days in Cornwall, his college days at Oxford, his early travels on the Continent, recreate the vanished Mid-Victorian life in delightful fashion. In the various towns to which, as curate, vicar and honorary canon, he was appointed, were among his neighbors and parishioners men famous in English politics, art and science, and his memories of them are particularly felicitous. In 1891, he was made vicar of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. At Osborne House, where he was often a dinner guest of Queen Victoria, and in whose chapel he sometimes preached, he met many royalties, whom he in turn makes known to us.”—Boston Transcript
“His sense of humor, never more keen than when he himself is the object; his happy gift as a raconteur; his fund of amusing anecdote combine to make his recollections exceptionally pleasing.”