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£80,000 sterling!—About 120 pictures, collected in Italy and elsewhere by Lord Ward, have been placed in the great room of the Egyptian Hall. We believe it is Lord Ward's intention to make them accessible to the public. Very few works of interest have been published in England during the last month. The Prelude, a poem being the chief.—Ballooning in England and France seems to have become a temporary mania.Dr. Layard continues to send large quantities of sculpture from Nineveh to the British Museum. France is also collecting specimens.-The Egyptian Government, less literary in its views, employs magnificent sculptured and painted blocks from the Temple of Carnac in the construction of a sugar factory; a fine ancient tomb has also disappeared in this way; the Prussian traveller, Dr.Lepsius, has also removed many relics of antiquity from Egypt, so that ere long very few interesting specimens of the ancient kingdom of the Pharaohs will remain.-LeVerrier, the French Astronomer, has published a strong appeal in favour of throwing open the government monopoly of the Electric Telegraph as in the U. S.; his paper is filled with interesting particulars relating to this greatest of modern inventions.—M. Guizot has declined a seat in the French Superior Council of Public Instruction.-Sir Francis Knowles has patented an improvement in the manner of smelting iron ore. The sulphurous gases which escape in the process, and which greatly deteriorates the quality of the iron, he keeps entirely separate.-Professor Johnson is lecturing in England on the Agriculture of America, the results of his recent tour. Neander the celebrated German Theologian died at Berlin on the 13th July. He was Professor in the Royal University of that city for 38 years; few men have gone down to their graves more honoured and lamented than this excentric but generous and eminently gifted man. How different the fate of J. W. Webster, of Boston! Professor Webster was executed on the 30th of August for the murder of Dr. Parkman.---The Berlin Academy of Sciences held a sitting according to its Statutes, in honor of the memory of Leibnitz. It being the 50th anniversary of the admission of A. Von Humboldt, that "Nestor of Science," it was resolved, to place a marble bust of him in the lecture room of the society. Several important experiments have been made by Professor Page of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, on the subject of Electro-Magnetism as a motive power, to supersede steam.-The experiments of Mr. Paine, of Massachusetts, on the subject of procuring hydrogen from water and rendering it capable of giving a brilliant light, have been confirmed by Mr. Mathiot, an electromatellurgist attached to the U. S. Coast Survey. He has produced a very brilliant light, nearly equal to the Drummond, by passing hydrogen through turpentine. The past month has been distinguished in the United States by the annual commencements of the academic year in most of their Colleges. On these anniversary occasions, the candidates for honors make public exhibition of their ability; the literary societies attached to the Colleges hold their celebrations; and addresses and poems are delivered by literary gentlemen previously invited to perform that duty. The number of Colleges in the country, and the fact that the most distinguished scholars in it are generally selected for the office, gives to these occasions a peculiar and decided interest. If the addresses thus delivered were collected and published they would form no inconsiderable portion of the literature of the age. Yale College celebrated her third semi-centennial anniversary. About 3,000 of her alumni are living, 1,000 of whom were present. President Woolsey delivered an interesting historical sketch of the origin, progress, and results of the College. At the commencement of the University of Vermont, the Rev. H. Wilkes, A. M., of Montreal, delivered an Address on the Relations of the Age to Theology. Hon. T. Frelinghuysen, late Chancellor of the New-York University was inaugurated President of Ruters College, N. J. Rev. Dr. Tefft has been appointed President of Genesee College, Lima, N. Y. The sum of $100,000 has been raised for its support. $108,000 has been collected in aid of Brown University, R. I.-The British Association met at Edinburgh on the 1st ult. The President, Sir David Brewster, delivered a most admirable address on the subject of Astronomy. The meeting was as usual highly interesting. A convention for the promotion of science has lately concluded its sittings at New Haven. The convention seems to have been suggested by the British Association for the advancement of science. The proceedings, which lasted for several days were of a multifarious character, embracing discussions and lectures on a variety of subjects.

New Scientific Institution.-Considerable expectation is excited in scientific circles by the announcement of a new exhibition in the metropolis-the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art. Mente et manu is the motto of the institution-and enlarged are the minds and powerful are the hands, co-operating towards its establishment, and promoting its success. Amongst its patrons are the Marquises of Northampton, Londonderry, Aylesbury, and Granby, and the Earls of Shrewsbury, Cardigan, Cadogan, Verulam, Ducie and Ellesmere, and Lord Arundel-the heir of the first peer of the realm-has consented to be President of the Council. At some future time, I may perhaps refer to the details of this most important move

ment in behalf of practical science and natural philosophy. An admirable site has been selected for the building, the chief front being in Exeter Street, Strand, and it is intended that the Panopticon shall vastly surpass both in extent of accommodation and variety of resources, our well-known Polytechnic Institution, situate in Regent Street.-[Cor. Patriot.

Death of the Swedish Poet Tegner.—The Danish journals announce the death of Bishop Esaras Tegner, a celebrated Swedish poet.Some of his poems have been translated by the American Poet, Longfellow.

Goethe's Casket.-A sealed casket, delivered by Goethe, in 1827, to the Government of Weimar, with an injunction not to unseal it till 1850, has just been opened, and found to contain the whole of the correspondence between Goethe and Schiller. These letters will immediately be published

Artist Knights.-Edwin Landseer, the celebrated painter in Natural History, and J. W. Gordon, the President of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, have recently received the honour of Knighthood from the Queen.

Aid to Literary Characters by the late Sir Robert Peel.Southey, Wordsworth, Montgomery, Tennyson, Poets; Tytler, the Historian, and McCullough, the Gazetteer, received pensions from the Government at his recommendation. The widow of Hood, the comic writer and Poet, and the sons of Mrs. Hemans, the Poetess, acknowledged the benefit of his influence. He placed Professor Airey in the Greenwich Observatory; pensioned Faraday, the Chemical Lecturer, and Mrs. Somerville, authoress of a Physical Geography; bestowed the Deanery of Westminster on Dr. Buckland, the celebrated Geologist, but now, alas, the inmate of an Asylum; and soothed the sorrow of unhappy Haydon, the painter, who recklessly deprived himself of life.

Sir Robert Peel's Bequest to promote the Education of the Working Classes.-The late Sir Robert Peel has, we hear, left full and specific directions in his will for the early publication of his political memoirs; and has ordered that the profits arising from the publication shall be given to some public institution for the education of the working classes. As already stated, he has confided the task of preparing these memoirs to Lord Mahon and Mr. Cardwell. Their duty will, however, be comparatively light, though delicate, from the admirable and orderly state in which Sir Robert has left his papers.-[Daily News.

Floating of the Fourth and final Tube of the Britannia Bridge. -The floating of the fourth and last tube, which may be said to complete this magnificent structure, has been accomplished with perfect success.. Wind, wave, and weather were perfectly propitious. Almost a dead calm prevailed as the tide streamed up to assist and ensure the success of the operations. Mr. Stephenson, M.P.; Captain Claxton, and others, took their stations on the top of the tube, which, amid the cheers of the multitude, gradually, as the tide came up rose upon its cradle of pontoons. The men at the mooring chains and capstans plied away at their posts, until the mass, released from its moorings, moved out into the mid-stream, where, under the vast and intricate tackle, it made its way for full forty minutes, until in the space of another ten, and after various nice evolutions, it came home and was safely deposited, amid artillery and cheers, on the projecting plinths of the towers. The tide taken at starting was 12 feet 8 inches, and it gradually rose until it attained a maximum of 17 feet. The total distance travelled over from the starting ground on the Carnarvonshire coast to the base of the towers was upwards of 300 yards. Just as the operation was completed, the tide turned. Mr. Stephenson has since refused the honour of Knighthood.

The Water Spider-Singular Mode of Constructing its Habitation.—The abode of the Water Spider, built in water, and formed of air, is constructed on Philosophic principles, and consists of a subaqueous, yet dry apartment, in which, like a mermaid or a sea nymph, she resides in comfort. Loose threads, attached in various directions to the leaves of aquatic plants, from the framework of her chamber. Over these she spreads a transparent (elastic) varnish, like liquid glass, which issues from the middle of her spinners; next, she spreads over her body a pellicle of the same material, and ascends to the surface to inhale and carry down a supply of atmospheric fluid. Head downwards, and with her body, all but the spinneret, still submersed, our diver (by a process not yet ascertained) introduces a bubble of air beneath the pellicle which surrounds her. Clothed in this ærial mantle, which to the spectator seems formed of resplendent quicksilver, she then plunges to the bottom, and, with as much dexterity as a chemist transfers gas with a gasholder, introducing her bubble of air beneath the roof prepared for its reception; this manœuvre is ten or twelve times repeated, and when she has transported sufficient air to expand her apartment to its intended extent, she possesses an ærial edifice, an enchanted castle where, unmoved by storms, she devours her prey at case -[Episodes of Insect Life.

Editorial Notices, &c.

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PROGRAMME FOR THE EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS.-The next number of this Journal will contain the Programme for the Examination and Classification of Teachers, with an accompanying Circular to County Boards of Public Instruction; also a Circular to the newly elected Boards of School Trustees in Cities and Towns. These papers will complete the exposition of the duties of the various officers chosen, and the system of education provided for, under the new School Law.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE SCHOOL ACT.-The comprehensive Alphabetical Index to the new School Act which appears in this number, has been prepared by THOMAS BENSON, Esquire, Mayor of the Town of Peterboro, and transmitted at the request of the Peterboro County Council,-which has also ordered, and forwarded the subscription for, a copy of the present volume of the Journal of Education for each of the 106 School Sections in the County. We hope and trust that a like interest on the part of all persons in the position of Mr. BENSON and the Peterboro County Council, will soon be general throughout Upper Canada. That is the true way to make an educated country.

ARCHEOLOGICAL AMERICANA :

Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society. Vol. III., Part I. 8vo. pp. 107. Boston, 1850. Antiquities in America! A truly novel fact, indeed; but no less true. Had we not read Stephen's Travels in Central America and Yucatan, we would long have remained sceptical of the fact that America had any artistic or literary antiquities to engage the attention of even the veriest amateur antiquarian. Every day however adds to the dignity of American history, and throws around the transactions and remains of former years, the air of the antique reliques of the old and venerable mother of the "new world," as this continent was designated, nearly four centuries ago, when the cautious and pensive Spaniard, or the adventurous citizen of St. Malo, directed the prows of their high pooped vessels towards the setting sun, in search of the seats of Empire in the far west.

We were much interested in the volume before us. It contains a highly interesting and minute account of the "Origin of the Companie of Mattachusetts Bay, in new Englande" in 1628; a biographical sketch of each of the 110 members of the Company; and a verbatim et literatim_transcript of the quaint "Recordes of the Companie" from April 1628 to June 1629. The remainder of the Records to 1641 will be published in succeeding volumes. The biographical sketches embody much valuable historical and personal miscellanea of the period at which the Company flourished.

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The Hon. E. EVERETT, LL.D., is President of the Society under whose auspices the Records are collected and printed. The Transcript of the Records was made by Mr. D. PULSIVER, who," the Editor remarks, "to great skill in penmanship, joins a genuine antiquarian taste and much familiarity with the chirography of ancient records," assisted by the Rev. J. B. FELT, one of the Committee of Publication. S. F. HASEN, Esq., the Editor, seems to have discharged his onerous and delicate task with great discrimination and ability.

We have to express our thanks to our American Book Agent, Mr. D. M. DEWEY, Rochester, for a copy of the "Transactions," &c.

ELEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE,

Or the Connexion between Science and the Art of Practical Farming.
By JOHN P. NORTON, A.M., Professor of Scientific Agriculture in
Yale College. Albany, N.Y. ERASTUS H. PEASE & Co. 8vo.,
pp. 208.

An admirable companion for a paactical farmer. It is purely scientific in its character; but its práctical character and value may be inferred from the fact of its being one of the Prize Essays of the N. Y. State Agricultural Soctety. Its general arrangement is excellent, and is similar to Professor JOHNSTON's larger "Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology." The catechetical form, however, is discarded, " as not adapted to the Schools of this country,, they requiring a work of more fulness and detail." The experiments and illustrations recommended, are of the most simple character. Altogether the work impresses us with its value as an Agricultural Text-Book.

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AY be obtained from Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto, at the following remarkably low prices:

Superior Brass Mounted Orrery, (3 feet in diameter)

......

...

ditto. Tellurian (for explaining change of Season, Tides, Eclipses, &c.) Terrestrial Globe and Stand, 5 in. diameter (Singly 6s. 3d).. 20 Geometrical Forms and Solids, including block to illustrate the extraction of the cube root,

Numeral Frame, for teaching Arithmetic with ease
Lunarian (for illustrating the Phases of the Moon and centre
of gravity,)........
Explanatory Text Book, ........

Geological Cabinet 25 specimens neatly arranged in a box
Box, varnished, with lock and key to contain the above....

£2 10 0

200 050

063

050

050

013

0 10 0 050

Charge for entire set, including Geological Specimens,.. £5 7 6
Any of the articles may be obtained separately: also Page's
Theory and Practice of Teaching or the Motives and
Methods of good School Keeping, an admirable Teach-
er's Manual, pp. 349,

£0 5 0

026 013

Morse's Geography with Maps and Wood Cuts, Davies' Grammar of Arithmetic [see Jour. of Ed. page 48] Parker's Compendium of Nat. Phil. [see Jour. of Ed. page 1 050 Reading Tablet Lessons 1s. 4d-Arithmetic, do. 2s. 4d-Natural History and other Object Lessons at various prices-National Maps 188. each, (except Map of the World, 24s. -National Books-Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry 1s. 3d., &c. &c. &c.

CHAMBER'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE.

THE SCIENTIFIC SECTION.

PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & Co., NEW-YORK.

THE Messrs. Chambers have employed the first professors in Scotland in the preparation of these works. They are now offered to the schools of this country, under the American revision of D. M. REESE, M.D., LL.D., late Superintendent of Public Schools in the City and County of New-York.

I. CHAMBERS' TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE.

II. CLARK'S ELEMENTS OF DRAWING AND PERSPECTIVE.
III. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
IV. REID AND BAIN'S CHEMISTRY AND ELECTRICITY.

V. HAMILTON'S VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.
IV. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF ZOOLOGY.
VII. PAGE'S ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY.

"It is well known that the original publishers of these works (the Messrs. Chambers of Edinburgh) are able to command the best talent in the preparation of their books, and that it is their practice to deal faithfully with the public. They are elementary, works prepared by authors in every way capable of doing justice to their respective undertakings, and who have evidently bestowed upon them the necessary time and labor to adapt them to their purpose. We recommend them to teachers and parents with confidence. If not introduced as class-books in the school, they may be used to excellent advantage in general exercises, for which every teacher ought to provide himself with an ample store of materials. The volumes may be had separately; and the one first named, in the hands of a teacher of the younger classes, might furnish an inexhaustible fund of amusement and instruction. Together, they would constitute a rich treasure to a family of intelligent children, and impart a thirst for knowledge."-Vermont Chron.

Toronto: Printed and published by THOMAS H. BENntley. TERMS: 5s. per annum in advance. No subscription received for less than one year, commencing with the January Number. Single Nos. 7d each. Back Numbers supplied to all new Subscribers. *The 1st and 2nd Vols., neatly stitched, may be obtained upon application, price, 5s. each.

All Communications to be addressed to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto.

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WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE CLEVER CHILDREN?

From Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.

During a visit to a friend in the country, I was enjoying a walk in his garden before breakfast on a delightful morning in June, when my attention was suddenly arrested by the pensive attitude of a little boy, the son of my host, whom I observed standing before a rosebush, which he appeared to contemplate with much dissatisfaction. Children have always been to me a most interesting study; and yelding to a wish to discover what could have clouded the usually bright countenance of my little friend, I inquired what had attracted him to this particular rose-bush, which presented but a forlorn appearance when compared with its more blooming companions. He replied: "This rose-bush is my own; papa give it to me in spring, and promised that no one else should touch it. I have taken great pains with it; and as it was covered with beautiful roses last summer, 1 hoped to have had many fine bouquets from it; but all my care and watching have been useless: I see I shall not have one full-blown rose after all."

"And yet," said I, "it appears to be as healthy as any other bush in the garden: tell me what you have done for it, as you say it has cost you so much pains?

"After watching it for some time," he replied, "I discovered a very great number of small buds, but they were almost concealed by the leaves which grew so thickly; I therefore cleared away the greater part of these, and my little buds then looked very well. I now found, as I watched them, that though they grew larger every day, the green outside continued so hard, that I thought it impossible for the delicate rose-leaves to force their way out: I therefore picked them open; but the pale, shriveled blossoms which I found within never improved, but died one after another. Yesterday morning I discovered one bud which the leaves had till then hidden from me, and which was actually streaked with the beautiful red of the flower contained in it; I carefully opened and loosened it, in the hope that the warm sun would help it to blow: my first thought this morning was of the pleasure I should have in gathering my one precious bud for mamma-but look at it now?"

The withered, discolored petals to which the child directed my eye did indeed present but a melancholy appearance, and I now understood the cause of the looks of disappointment which had at first attracted my attention. I explained to the zealous little gardener the mischief which he had unintentionally done by removing the leaves and calyx with which nature had covered and inclosed the flower until all its beauties should be ready for full develop ment; and having pointed out to him some buds which had escaped his care, I left him full of hope that, by waiting patiently for nature to accomplish her own work, he might yet have a bouquet of own roses to present to his mother.

As I pursued my walk, it occurred to me that this childish incident suggested an answer to the question asked by Dr. Johnson, "What becomes of all the clever children?" Too often, it is to be feared, are the precious human buds sacrificed to the same mistaken zeal that lead to the destruction of the roses which had been expected with so much pleasure by their little owner. Perhaps a few hints, suggested-not by fanciful theory, but by practical experience in the mental training of children-may help to rescue some little ones from the blighting influences to which they are too often exposed.

The laws by which the physical development of every infant,

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during the earliest period of its existence, is regulated, seem to afford a striking lesson by the analogy which they bear to these laws on which the subsequent mental development depends; and by the wise arrangement of an ever-kind Providence, this lesson is made immediately to precede the period during which it should be carried into practice. On the babe's first entrance into the world, it must be fed with food suitable to its delicate organs of digestion; on this depends its healthful growth; and likewise the gradual strengthening of those organs. Its senses must at first be acted upon very gently: too strong a light, or too loud a noise, may impair its sight or hearing for life.

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The little limbs of a young infant must not be allowed to support the body before they have acquired firmness sufficient for that task, otherwise they will become deformed. and the whole system weakened; and last, not least, fresh and and pure air must constantly be inhaled by the lungs, in order that they may supply vigour to the whole frame. All enlightened parents are acquainted with these laws of nature, and generally act on them but when, owing to judicious management, their children emerge from boyhood in full enjoyment of all the animal organs, and with muscles and sinews growing firmer every day in consequence of the exercise which their little owners delight in giving them, is the same judicions management extended to the mind, of which the body, which has been so carefully nourished, is only the outer case? In too many cases it is not. Too often the tender mind is loaded with information which it has no power of assimilating, and which, consequently, it cannot nourish. The mental faculties, instead of being gradually exercised, are overwhelmed: parents who would check with displeasure the efforts of a nurse who should attempt to make their infant walk at too early a period, are ready to embrace eagerly any system of so-called education which offers to do the same violence to the intellect; forgetting that distortion of mind is at least as much to be dreaded as that of the body, while the motives held out to encourage the little victims are not calculated to produce a moral atmosphere conducive either to good or great mental attainments. Children are sometimes met with-though few and far betweenwhose minds seem ready to drink in knowledge in whatever form or quantity it may be given to them; and the testimony of Dr. Combe, as well as of many other judicious writers, proves the real state of the brain in such cases, and also the general fate of the poor little prodigies. Such children, however, are not the subject of these observations, of which the object is to plead for those promising buds which are closely encased in their "hard" but protecting covering; to plead for them especially at that period when the "beautiful red streak" appears; in other words, when, amid the thoughtless sports and simple studies of childhood, the intellect begins to develop itself. and to seek nourishment from all that is presented to it. There exists at the period alluded to a readiness in comparison, and a shrewdness of observation, which might be profitably employed in the great work of education. And here it may be observed, that as to "educate" signifies to bring out, the term education can only be applied with propriety to a system which performs this work, and never to one which confines itself to laying on a surface-work of superficial information, unsupported by vigorous mental powers. Information may be acquired at any age, provided that the intellectual machinery has been kept in activity; whereas, if the latter has been allowed to rust and stiffen from disease, the efforts of the man-supposing him to have energy

sufficient to make an effort to redress the wrongs done to the boy, will in most cases be vain. That self-educated men are the best educated is a trite remark; so trite, indeed, that it frequently falls on the ear without arousing attention to the apparent parodox which it contains; and yet there must be some reason well worthy of attention for the fact, that so many who, in early life, have enjoyed advantages, have, on reaching manhood, found themselves surpassed by others who have been forced to struggle up unassisted, and in many cases surrounded by apparent obstacles to their rise. It is obvious, that the point in which the latter have the advantage, is the necessity which they find in exercising their own intellectual powers at every step; and, moreover, for taking each step firmly before they attempt the next; which necessity, while it may retard the rapid skimming over various subjects which is sometimes effected, gives new vigor continually to the mind, and also leads to the habit of that "industry and patient thought" to which the immortal Newton attributed all he had done; while at the same time a vivid pleasure is taken in the acquirement of knowledge so obtained beyond any that can be conferred by reward or encouragement from others.

From these considerations, it appears that the most judicious system of education is that in which the teacher rather directs the working of his pupil's mind than work for him; and it must be recollected that such a system, compared with some others, will be slow, though sure, in producing the desired result. Every one familiar with children must have observed with what apparently fresh interest they will listen to the same tale repeated again and again Now, if time and repetition are necessary to impress on the young mind facts interesting in themselves, they are surely more necessary when the information to be imparted is in itself dry and uninteresting, as is the case with much which it is requisite for children to learn. The system here recommended is one which requires patience both on the part of parents and teachers; but patience so exercised would undoubtedly be rewarded by the results, one of which would be, that we should not so frequently see "clever children" wane into very commonplace, if not stupid men.

DUTY OF THE TEACHER IN REGARD TO THE MANNER OF THE STUDIES OF HIS PUPILS.

[By the late David P. Page, Esq., A. M., Principal of the New-York State Normal School, at Albany.]

1. The order of study. There is a natural order in the education of the child. The teacher should know this. If he presents the subjects out of this order, he is responsible for the injury. In general, the elements should be taught first. Those simple branches which the child first comprehends, should first be presented. Reading, of course, must be one of the first; though I think the day is not distant when an enlightened community will not condemn the teacher, if, while teaching reading, he should call the child's attention by oral instruction to such objects about him as he can comprehend, even though in doing this he should somewhat prolong the time of learning to read. It is indeed of little consequence that the child should learn to read words simply; and that teacher may be viewed as pursuing the order of nature, who so endeavours to develop the powers of observation and comparison, that words when learned shall be the vehicles of ideas.

Next to Reading and its inseparable companions-Spelling and Defining, I am inclined to recommend the study of Mental Arithmetic. The idea of Number is one of the earliest in the mind of the child. He can be early taught to count, and quite early to perform those operations which we call adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. This study at first needs no book. The teacher should be thoroughly versed in "Colburn's Intellectual Arithmetic," or its equivalent, and he can find enough to interest the child. When the scholar has learned to read, and has attained the age of six or seven, he may be allowed a book in preparing his lesson, but never during the recitation. Those who have not tried this kind of mental discipline, will be astonished at the facility which the child acquires, for performing operations that often puzzle the adult. Nor is it an unimportant acquisition. None can tell its value but those who have experienced the advantage it gives them in future school exercises and in business, over those who have never had such training. Geography may come next to Mental Arithmetic. The child should have an idea of the relations of size, form, and space, as well

as number, before commencing Geography. These, however, he acquires naturally at a very early age; and very thoroughly, if the teacher has taken a little pains to aid him on these points in the earliest stages of his progress. A map is a picture, and hence a child welcomes it. If it can be a map of some familiar object, as of his school-room, of the school district, of his father's orchard or farm, it becomes an object of great interest. A map of his town is also very desirable, as also of his own county. Further detail will be deferred here, as it is only intended in this place to hint at the order of taking up the subjects.

History should go hand in hand with Geography. Perhaps no greater mistake is made than that of deferring history till one of the last things in the child's course.

Writing may be early commenced with the pencil upon the slate, because it is a very useful exercise to the child in prosecuting many of his other studies. But writing with a pen may well be deferred till the child is ten years of age, when the muscles shall have acquired sufficient strength to grasp and guide it.

Written Arithmetic may succeed the mental; indeed, it may be practised along with it.

Composition-perhaps by another name, as Description should be early commenced and very frequently practised. The child can be early interested in this, and he probably in this way acquires a better knowledge of practical grammar than in any other.

Grammar, in my opinion, as a study, should be one of the last of the common school branches to be taken up. It requires more maturity of mind to understand its relations and dependencies than any other; and that which is taught of grammar without such an understanding, is a mere smattering of technical terms, by which the pupil is injured rather than improved. It may be said, that unless scholars commence this branch early, they never will have the opportunity to learn it. Then let it go unlearned; for as far as I have seen the world, I am satisfied that this early and superficial teaching of a difficult subject is not only useless but positively injurious. How many there are who study grammar for years, and then are obliged to confess in after life, because "their speech bewrayeth them", that they never understood it! How many, by the too early study of an intricate branch, make themselves think they understand it, and thus prevent the hope of any further advancement at the proper age! Grammar, then, should not be studied too early. Of the manner of

teaching all these branches, I shall have more to say in due time. At present I have only noticed the order in which they should be taken up. This is a question of much consequence to the child, and the teacher is generally responsible for it. He should therefore carefully consider this matter, that he may be able to decide aright.

2. The manner of study. It is of quite as much importance how we study, as what we study. Indeed I have thought that much of the difference among men could be traced to their different habits of study formed in youth. A large portion of our scholars study for the sake of preparing to recite the lesson. They seem to have no idea of any object beyond recitalion. The consequence is, they study mechanically. They endeavour to remember phraseology, rather than principles; they study the book, not the subject. Let any one enter our schools and see the scholars engaged in preparing their lessons. Scarcely one will be seen, who is not repeating over and over again the words of the text, as if there was a saving charm in repetition. Observe the same scholars at recitation, and it is a struggle of the memory to recall the form of words. The vacant countenance too often indicates that they are words without meaning. This difficulty is very much increased, if the teacher is confined to the text-book during recitation; and particularly if he relies mainly upon the printed questions so often found at the bottom of the

page.

The scholar should be encouraged to study the subject; and his book should be held merely as the instrument. "Books are but helps," is a good motto for every student. The teacher should often tell how the lesson should be learned. His precepts in this matter will often be of use. Some scholars will learn a lesson in one tenth the time required by others. Human life is too short to have any of it employed to disadvantage. The teacher, then, should inculcate such habits of study as are valuable; and he should be particularly careful to break up, in the recitations, those habits which are so grossly mechanical. A child may almost be said to be educated,

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INCONSISTENCY OF THE PEOPLE.
[By the Hon. Horace Mann.]

The people do not yet seem to see that all the cost of legislating against criminals; of judges and prosecuting officers, of jurors and witnesses to convict them; of building houses of correction, and jails and penitentiaries, for restraining and punishing them, is not a hundredth part of the grand total of expenditure incurred by private and social immoralities and crimes. The people do not yet seem to see, that the intelligence and morality which education imparts, is that beneficent kind of insurance which, by preventing losses, obviates the necessity of indemnifying for them; thus saving both premium and risk. What is engulfed in the vortex of crime, in each generation, would build a palace of Oriental splendor in every school district in the land; would endow it with a library beyond the ability of a life-time to read; would supply it with apparatus and laboratories for the illustration of every study and the exemplification of every art, and munificently requite the services of a teacher worthy to preside in such a sanctuary of intelligence and virtue.

But the prevention of all that havoc of worldly goods which is caused by vice, tranfers only one item from the loss, to the profit side of the account. Were all idle, intemperate, predatory men to become industrious, sober and honest, they would add vast sums to the inventory of the nation's wealth, instead of subtracting from it. Let any person take a single town, village or neighborhood, and look at its inhabitants individually, with the question in his mind,-how many of them are producers and how many are non-producers; that is, either by the labor of the body or the labor of the mind, add value and dignity to life, and how many barely support themselves; and I think he will often be surprised at the smallness of the number, by whose talent and industry the store-houses of the earth are mainly filled, and all the complicated business of society is principally managed, Could we convert into co-workers for the benefit of mankind, all those physical and spiritual powers of usefulness which are now antagonists or neutrals, the gain would be incalculable.

Add the two above items together, namely, the saving of what the vicious now squander or destroy, and the wealth which, as virtuous men they would amass-and the only difficulty presented would be, to find in what manner so vast an amount conld be beneficially disposed of.

When the city of Boston was convinced of the necessity of having a supply of pure water from abroad, for the use of its inhabitants; it voted three millions of dollars to obtain it; and he would be a bold man who would now propose a repeal of the ordinance, though all past expenditures could be refunded. Yet all the school-houses in Boston, which it has erected during the present century, are not worth a fourth part of this sum. For the supply of water, the city of New York lately incurred an expenditure of thirteen millions of dollars. Admitting, as I most cheerfully do, that the use of water pertains to the moral as well as to the ceremonial law, yet our cities have pollutions which water can never wash away,-defilements which the baptism of a moral and Christian education alone can remove. There is not an appetite that allies man to the brute, nor a passion for vain display which makes him more contemptible than any part of the irrational creation, which does not cost the country more every year, than such a system of schools as would, according to the evidence I have exhibited, redeem it almost entirely from its follies and its. Consider a single fictitious habit of our people, which no one will pretend adds any degree to the health, or length to the life, or decency to the manners of the nation,-I mean the smoking of tobacco. It is said, on good authority, that the annual expenditure in the country for the support of this habit is ten millions of dollars; and if we reflect that this sum, averaged upon all the people, would be only one half dollar a-piece, the estimate seems by no means extravagant. Yet this is far more than is paid to the teachers of all the Public schools in the United States.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND LECTURES.

[By O. S. Fowler, Esq., a. m.]

FACILITIES FOR STUDY are every way inferior, whereas they ought to abound. Books should be multiplied a thousand fold, till they become the great commodity of traffic and commerce. But most of all they require to be improved. Trashy novels require to be superseded by works full of sound sense, excellent instruction, and scientific knowledge. Yet they should not be dry and plodding but filled, not merely with all that halo of beauty which clusters around every right exhibition of the works of nature-because around the works themselves-but with all the elegance of diction and charms of style which appertain to language. A clumsy or inspid style in a scientific work, is like rags on the goddess of beauty. How pre-eminently does the subject allow and require all the excellencies and ornaments of style so abundant in the very nature of language! Every child's school-book should equal Irving's "Sketch Book," for felicity of diction. Dress up all the inherent beauty of nature in all the charms of a truly splendid style -blend the useful with the rich and such books as mortal eyes never yet beheld, would render reading far more enchanting than the ball-room.

Public Libraries.-These books, thus splendid in composition, should be accessible to all. Private libraries are eminently useful, but public vastly more so. The poor require reading material equally with the rich. Let it be furnished, and crime, generally associated with ignorance, would thereby be prevented. Let governinent advance funds for this purpose, and they will have less requisition for jails and hangmen. As you EDUCATE THE PROPLE you proportionally diminish crime. A hundred fold more effectual preventive this than punitive measures. In fact, unite physical and intellectual with moral training, and you head off crimes almost together. If men knew the consequences of violating law, they would sin less. Public reading-rooms are of course recommended as a part of public libraries; and so are circulating libraries. But we especially require FEMALE reading-rooms. Women love to read, and should have equal access to this means of mental culture.

PUBLIC LECTURES will be found still more promotive of public intelligence and virtue. Let every village and neighbourhood have a splendid public room, attractively arranged and fitted up, and capable of holding "all the region round about," and the let government employ and support lecturers, in part, at public expense, as it now does teachers, furnished with splendid apparatus for illustrating the respective sciences on which they lecture; and let them spend their lives in the service. Let one man have manikins and anatomical models, drawings, and preparations, and occupy a given section, say one or more counties, which he should visit at stated intervals, so that all could hear as they are growing up. Let hin teach anatomy and physiology; especially the young the value of health, means of preserving it, and causes of its destruction. Pay five dollars to this object, where hundreds are now paid to physicians for TRYING to cure, and few would be sick, and those who were would be able to doctor themselves. Strange that doctors have not enlightened the people touching the laws of healh, long before this. But their neglect will prove their ruin, which many of us will live

to see.

Let another public Lecturer be fitted out with a phrenological apparatus-drawings, paintings, animal and human casts and skulle. and whatever else will illustrate or enforce his subject, and pass around his circuit periodically, lecturing on this science of mind, and telling parents how to manage this child, govern that, and educate the other, and in what occupations they will each succeed : as well as pour forth that perpetual stream of ADVICE which Prenology gives in such rich abundance and personal applicability. Lt him also add the MENTAL PHILOSOPHY, and MORALS and ethics, of this science of man, so that the entire body politic shall not only be treated to the rich intellectual repast which it serves up, but become imbued with its purifying, elevating doctrines; and a powerful check would thus be given to vice, and incentives to public virtue ard improvement be propounded for general emulation. Say, reader, has not this science purified your own feelings, and unproved your MORALS as well as intellects? It will do this for all.

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