These maps are made in two forms, both with beautifully executed relief (embossed)--the cheaper ones of plain stiff paper similar to drawing paper (these are to be substituted for and used as outline map blanks), the others covered with a durable waterproof surface, that can be quickly cleaned with a damp sponge, adapted to receive a succession of markings and cleansings. Oceans, lakes, and rivers, as well as land, appear in the same color, white, so as to facilitate the use of the map as a =_geographical slate_=. * * * * * =WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON _3 & 5 W. 18th St. ... New York City_= * * * * * =How the United States Has Grown= * * * * * Several years ago a modest little volume called "The Evolution of an Empire" set forth, with a lucidity that was as remarkable as its brevity, the beginnings and growth of Germany; its author, Mary Platt Parmele, has since followed the same methods in treating France and England, and now brings out a fourth volume in the noteworthy series, a somewhat larger book, called in full, "The Evolution of an Empire: A Brief Historical Sketch of the United States," published, as were the others, by William Beverley Harison (New York). In an interesting preface Mrs. Parmele boldly explains her chief intention, which is to disclose, in so vivid a light that he who runs may read, the fundamental causes and their resulting events which have formed and are still shaping our life. She places the study of history upon a moral basis, as it shows "the great lines of tendency which make for righteousness and justice and human freedom." "To comprehend is higher than to remember," is her text, and she adds some valuable advice to the teacher of children: "With the growing complexity of life and events it is becoming an impossible task for the memory to carry the increasing burden of details; and even if it succeeds in performing this feat, it is at the expense of a clear and intelligent comprehension of the meaning of the whole. We may succeed in reducing the mental structure to a mere storehouse. But if in achieving this the mind has lost the power to grasp, and to combine, its acquisitions have been dearly purchased."