The closing years of the nineteenth century witnessed a remarkable awakening of interest in American educational problems. There has been elaborate discussion in every part of our land on the co-ordination of studies, the balancing of contending elements in school programmes, the professional training of teachers, the proper age of pupils at different stages of study, the elimination of pedantic and lifeless methods of teaching, the improvement of textbooks, uniformity of college-entrance requirements, and other questions of like character.

In order to meet the new demands of the country along these higher planes of educational work, the Twentieth Century Text-Books have been prepared.

At every step in the planning of the series care has been taken to secure the best educational advice, in order that the books may really meet the increasing demand from academies, high schools, and colleges for text-books that shall be pedagogically suitable for teachers and pupils, sound in modern scholarship, and adequate for college preparation.

The editors and the respective authors have been chosen with reference to their qualifications for the special work assigned to them. These qualifications are: First, that the author should have a thorough knowledge of his subject in its latest developments, especially in the light of recent educational discussions; second, that he should be able to determine the relative importance of the subjects to be treated in a text-book; third, that he should know how to present properly his topics to the ordinary student.

The general editorial supervision of the series is in the hands of Dr. A. F. Nightingale, Superintendent of High Schools, Chicago, with whom is associated an advisory committee composed of an expert in each department of study.

The offer of a complete series of text-books for these higher grades of schools, issued under auspices so favorable, is an event worthy of the twentieth century, and a good omen for the educational welfare of the future.

One hundred volumes are comprised in the series. A list of those now ready, and of others in preparation, will be sent upon request.