Abstract
THE conversational method of instruction, which used to be so general in school books, is not one that leads to pleasant memories. Mr. Murché has created two boy prodigies in his “ Science Readers”, and they ask and answer questions of a teacher whose laudable ambition is to elicit and impart all kinds of scientific knowledge upon every suitable or unsuitable occasion. We reverence that teacher for his patience and for his ability to find texts in everything. The pity of it is, that lessons given in this way on all and sundry topics lack the quality which lies at the base of all true scientific knowledge, viz. the orderly arrangement of facts. A lesson on solids, liquids, and gases precedes one on our be lies, another on gravity precedes a lesson on vertebrates and Invertebrates. A lesson on the classification of invertebrates is wedged between two on hydrostatic pressure, and so on throughout the book. Possibly the variety is introduced to charm the youthful mind, but it is not a desirable attribute of the book; for the method must result in the acquisition of unconnected information, and such knowledge has little to commend it. In the matter of illustration, and simplicity of language, the book leaves little to be desired.
Science Readers.
By Vincent T. Murché. Book iv. Pp. 216 (London: Macmillan and Co., 1895.)
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Science Readers. Nature 52, 458 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/052458a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/052458a0