A Book of Exposition

by Homer Heath Nugent

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTES

SIR ARTHUR KEITH, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., born in Aberdeen, 1866, was educated at the University of Aberdeen; at University College, London; and at the University of Leipzig. From 1899 to 1902, he was Secretary of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain, and was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute from 1912 to 1914. At present he is Hunterian Professor and Conservator of Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, London, and also holds the Fullerian Professorship of Physiology, Royal Institution of Great Britain and Ireland. Beginning with his Introduction to the Study of Anthropoid Apes in 1896, he has produced some ten volumes. Among them are Human Embryology and Morphology (1901); Ancient Types of Man (1911); The Human Body (1912); Menders of the Maimed (1919); and Nationality and Race (1920). He was knighted in 1921.

"The Levers of the Human Body" is helpful in illustrating the value of diagrams and of analogy in the exposition of a mechanism. It may be used also for teaching the student to adapt his work to the audience, for, although prepared at first for an immature audience, its material has since been so adapted that in addition to the general reader it is of particular interest to the physician and to the engineer.

The series of volumes in which Modern Methods of Book Composition appears, is but one of the distinguished services in improving the practice of typography rendered by THEODORE LOW DE VINNE (1828-1914). At his invitation, the chapter, "Mechanical Composition," was contributed by PHILIP T. DODGE, President of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.

"The Mergenthaler Linotype," which is taken from Mr. Dodge's chapter, is well adapted for teaching the correlation of diagrams and text in the exposition of mechanisms and machines.

Some idea of the length of JEAN HENRI FABRE'S life (1823-1915) may be obtained when we recall that his place as a scientist was established early enough for Victor Hugo to refer to him as the "insects' Homer" and for Darwin to refer to him in The Origin of Species as "that incomparable observer." By 1841, Fabre had escaped from the poverty of his boyhood and had qualified as a pupil teacher at the Normal College at Vaucluse. Later, he became Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the lycée of Ajaccio and, by 1852, held a similar position at Avignon. The greater part of his life was spent in the study of insects. The results are recorded in several volumes. An interesting Life, written by the Abbé Augustin Fabre and translated by Mr. Miall, was published in 1921.

"The Pea Weevil," which offers an example of the exposition of a process achieved by impersonal narration, should prove especially helpful in showing the student how interest may be secured in such work.

The J.W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY, which published the little volume from which the selection is taken, is recognized as an important factor in the industry.

"Modern Paper-making" may be utilized in teaching the emphasis placed on chronological order in the impersonal narration of a process; the explanation of machines by generalized description in such narration; and the methods employed in explaining alternate or parallel steps in the process.

WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910), like his equally distinguished brother, received his elementary education in New York City and in Europe. From 1861 to 1863, he studied at the Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard University, leaving to join the Thayer Expedition to Brazil. He was graduated in 1870 from the Harvard Medical School and, two years later, was appointed Instructor in Anatomy and Physiology. In 1885, while Assistant Professor of Physiology at the Medical School, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. His later work at the University is well-known. Among his published works are his Principles of Psychology (1889); The Will to Believe (1897); The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902); Pragmatism (1907); Memories and Studies (1911); and Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912). His Letters, edited by his son, appeared in 1920.