inceton. At most country colleges ample facilities in the way of grounds are furnished for the playing of base-ball, foot-ball, and tennis; and since track athletics, or walking, jumping, sprint and hurdle races, have become popular, very considerable sums have been spent on the grading and improvement of athletic fields. "Exhibitions and contests of every description which would not have been licensed or tolerated, much less pecuniarily supported, thirty years ago, now yield quick and large returns in popularity and cash to their promoters." On the subject of college athletics, the report draws largely upon the article of Professor Richards in "The Popular Science Monthly" for February and March, 1884, which is pronounced "the fairest and most intelligent paper elicited by the recent discussion of athleticism which has come under our notice," and one in which "the whole system is so well set forth, its advantages are so cogently argued, and the attacks of its critics so temperately met, that it seems best to quote copiously from it. Its exposition of the reciprocal relations of bodywork and brain-work should be grasped by every teacher." But professionalism, defined as "the purpose to win a game by any means, fair or foul," has come in to bring discredit upon college sports, and make recognition and regulation of them by faculties necessary; and what has been done and attempted in this direction is reviewed. "Women's schools and colleges are not, as a class, so well organized on the side of physical training as those for men, but something has been done in a few of them, and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae is laboring to awaken interest in the subject. A sketch of the condition of physical training in Germany forms an appendix to the report.
Report of a Commission appointed to consider a General System of Drainage for the Valleys of Mystic, Blackstone, and Charles Rivers, Massachusetts. Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Company. Pp. 243, with Plates and Maps.
The commission was appointed in 1884 to consider and report a general system of drainage for the relief of the valleys of the rivers named, and for the protection of the public water-supplies of the cities and towns situated within their basins; also to examine the various methods of disposal of sewage. And it was further authorized to consider and report upon the needs of any other part of the Commonwealth as to the disposal of sewage and the protection of the public water-supplies therein. Its report is a carefully matured and valuable document, in which the subject is viewed under its various aspects, and results are given that may aid in forming judicious conclusions wherever problems of sewage disposal may present themselves. The bulk of the volume is given to the report of the engineer of the commission, Mr. Clarke, who first defines the problem in its general and detailed features, gives an account of all the elements that contribute to stream pollution in each town, the manner and present expense of dealing with a part or all of the objectionable matters, and refers to what actions have been taken or what opinions have been held by the local authorities on the subject. In a second part of the report he presents the general conclusions arrived at, in England and elsewhere, as to the best methods of sewage disposal under conditions similar to those of Eastern Massachusetts. This part is illustrated with particular accounts of the operation of the methods by filtration, irrigation, precipitation, etc., which are used in various towns in England, and photographic views. In the third part the conclusions with reference to methods are applied to each particular locality in the district whose needs are to be provided for. Among the engineer's conclusions is the hopeful one that manufacturers, as a class, are very intelligent, and there is no limit to the ingenuity they have displayed in devising processes and machinery for accomplishing desired ends. This ingenuity hitherto has not been directed toward purifying their refuse, because such purification has n