the author meant
instead of confining his attention to trying to understand the
subject. In view of the fact that the American secondary mathematics
teachers usually follow textbooks so slavishly, the college teacher of
mathematics who believes in emphasizing the subject rather than the
textbook often meets with considerable difficulty with the beginning
classes. On the other hand, it is clear that as the student advances
he should be encouraged to seek information from all available sources
instead of from one particular book only. The rapid improvement in our
library facilities makes this attitude especially desirable.

An advantage of the textbook is that it is limited in all directions,
while the subject itself is of indefinite extent. In the textbook the
subject has been pressed into a linear sequence, while its natural
form usually exhibits various dimensions. The textbook presents those
phases about which there is usually no doubt, while the subject itself
exhibits limitations of knowledge in many directions. From these few
characteristics it is evident that the study of textbooks is apt to
cultivate a different attitude and a different point of view from
those cultivated by the unhampered study of subjects. The latter are,
however, the ones which correspond to the actual world and which
therefore should receive more and more emphasis as the mental vision
of the student can be enlarged.

The number of different available college mathematical textbooks on
the subjects usually studied by the large classes of engineering
students has increased rapidly in recent years. On the other hand, the
number of suitable textbooks for the more advanced classes is often
very limited. In fact, it is often found desirable to use textbooks
written in some foreign language, especially in French, German, or
Italian, for such courses. This procedure has the advantage that it
helps to cultivate a better reading knowledge of these languages,
which is in itself a very worthy end for the advanced student of
mathematics. This procedure has, however, become less necessary in
recent years in view of the publication of various excellent advanced
works in the English language.

The greatest mathematical treasure is constituted by the periodic
literatures, and the larger colleges and universities aim to have
complete sets of the leading mathematical periodicals available for
their students. This literature has been made more accessible by th