Editorial Notices, &c.

EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS.-We direct the attention of Local Superintendents, Members of the County Boards of Grammar School Trustees, and Teachers, to the official notice and circular of the Chief Superintendent, accompanying the Programme for the Examination of Teachers by the County Boards of Public Instruction. It will be observed that the first meeting of each Board is fixed for the 14th of Nov. next See page 150.

BOARDS OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES IN CITIES AND TOWNS.-An official Circular addressed to these newly-elected Boards will be found on page 148. A copy of this Number of the Journal is sent to each of the Boards and their attention is respectfully directed to it. The documents referred to in the Circular will be forwarded as soon as possible.

BLANK FORMS OF REPORTS FOR 1850, &c.-The necessary Copies for the present year of Printed Blank Forms of Reports for Trustees, Local Superintendents, and City and Town Boards of SchoolTrustees; together with the copies of the School Architecture referred to in our last number, will, if possible, be transmitted to each of the County Clerks for distribution in their several localities in the course of the next month. Copies of the Annual Report for 1849, ordered by Parliament to be printed will also be sent.

ABSTRACT OF ENUMERATORS' RETURNS OF THE COUNTY OF York, Compiled by JOHN ELLIOTT, Esq., County Clerk. Toronto, 1850. A most valuable Table containing the aggregate return of the inhabitants of the several Townships of the County, together with other important and interesting Statistics. We would be most happy to receive similar abstracts from the various County Clerks in the Province, particularly an abstract of the population returns of the several Townships. The Chief Superintendent would thus be enabled to make the apportionment of the Legislative School Grant for next year at an early period in 1851.

THE FARMER'S EVERY DAY BOOK;

Or Sketches of Social Life in the Country: with the Popular Elements of Practical and Theoretical Agriculture, and Twelve Hundred Laconics and Apothegms relating to Ethics, Religion, and General Literature; also, Five Hundred Receipts on Hygeian, Domestic, and Rural Economy. By the Rev. JOHN L. BLAKE, D.D. Auburn, N. Y., DERBY, MILLER & Co. Royal 8vo., pp. 654.

So comprehensive a work on the practical duties of rural life, we have, indeed, rarely met with. The title, although expressive, denotes its general, rather than its specific character. The author, seems to have elegantly and practically connected his experience of pastoral life with agricultural pursuits, combined as they were in his own case. He states that, "His habits and pursuits in life had prepared him to look beyond the mere improvement of his own premises to the subject of Agriculture generally, and especially to the social and intellectual interests of rural life." With that view was the work written, and in that spirit is its excellent advice conveyed. The chapter on "The Education of Farmers," "Advice to the Sons (and Daughters) of Farmers," "Toils and Pleasures of Rural Life," &c., &c., are admirably conceived and written. The work is profusely illustrated with superior and appropriate engravings, and is very handsomely bound. As a Farmer's Manual, we cordially recommend it to our Agricultural friends.

REPORT TO THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,

History of the Discovery of Neptune: By BENJ. APTHROP GOULD,
Cambridge, Mass. 8vo., pp. 56. Washington: Published by the
Smithsonian Institution, 1850.

Two eminent astronomers-French and English-claim to be the discoverers of the Planet Neptune,-Le Verrier and Adams. Sir John Herschel maintained the championship for the latter, LeVerrier, for himself, Adams taking no part in the controversy whatever, but devoting himself unremittingly to further scientific pursuit. The question is now generally admitted to be decided in favour of LeVerrier-that is, that his theory in regard to the perturbation of Uranus being caused by an unknown planet In addition to Jupiter and Saturn, as first announced by him to the scientific world, was correct; for the unknown planet he had found an orbit, a mass, and a comparatively precise position. He staked his reputation on the correctness of his theory, and requested Dr. Galle of Berlin to test its physical accuracy. In compliance with this request, and on the very night Dr. Galle received the letter (23rd Sept., 1846) he discovered the new planet in longitude 325 53', or within 55' of the geocentric place assigned it by LeVerrier! Adams also made similar researches about the same time, and with like result; but the first public announcement of them was not inade until October 1st-a week after the actual discovery of Neptune by Dr. Galle of Berlin.

The highly interesting and valuable Report before us is devoted to the series of events connected with the history of this remarkable discovery, and to the since developed theory of Neptune. With great clearness and precision does the author deal with the entire question. His references and notes are numerous and copious-not a fact stated without an authority, and not a statement made without ample proof of its positive correctness. We have felt deeply interested in the perusal of this pamphlet, and sincerely thank the officers of the Institution for their courtesy in sending a copy to this Departmen:.

FIFTEEN YEARS IN CANADA,

Being a series of Letters on its Early History and Settlement, &c By the Rev. WM. HAW. 8vo., pp. 120. Edinburgh, C. ZIEGLER Toronto, A. GREEN. Price 18. 3d.

This pamphlet was designed to be a hand book for emigrants from the British Isles to Canada. It consists of eight letters, and is chiefly compiled from official sources-some of them not of a very late date, but still valuable. The article on "Education" in Canada is taken from thi Journal, Vol. II., pp. 88, 89.

THE UNITED STATES POST OFFICE DIRECTORY :

Showing the Name and Location of all the Post Towns in the United
States. 8vo, pp. 109. New York, STRINGER & TOWNSEND;
Rochester, D. M. DEWEY.

A very valuable publication, carefully revised and corrected from authentic sources. and forming the 3rd Vol. of Pratt's Business Directory." The Post Office in each State beginning with Maine, is given in alphabetical order, together with the name of each Postmaster and the County in which the Post Office is situated. The list extends to the new territories of Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, California, and New Mexico. A similar work relating to British America would be an invaluable book of reference in the Public Departments and to extensive merchants. We hope that when our new Post Office System comes into force we shall not long be without such a one.

V. OFFICIAL CIRCULARS addressed by the Chief Superintendent. 1. To Boards of School Trustees in Cities and Towns. 2. Notice calling the first meeting of County Boards of Public Instruction. 3. To County Boards accompanying, [4.] Programme of Examination and Classification of Common School Teachers in U. C. 5. Programme (for reference) of ditto ditto in Ireland 148-151 VI. EDITORIAL 1. Two Objections to the School Act answered, and its provisions illustrated by reference to the example of the nighbouring States. 2. Common School Libraries in U. C. 3. Extension of Collegiate Education in Ireland. 4. Remarks on the New School Law by the Press. 5. Grudging Pay to Teachers (Selected)

... 152-156

VII. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. 1. Canada. 2. British
and Foreign. 3. United States .....
VIII. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE ...
IX. EDITORIAL NOTICES

157-158 158-159 160

VOL. III.

BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL LIBRARIES. The subject of School Libraries in Upper Canada will doubtless receive a good deal of attention during the ensuing year. As a preliminary step to the consideration of the best means of introducing Public Libraries into every part of the country, we have thought that it would prove interesting to the readers of the Journal to learn something of the present state of Public Libraries in other countries, and the extent to which they are rendered accessible to the public at large. We therefore present the following condensed article from the English Eclectic Review, giving a comprehensive and succinct view of the Library question in England and on the Continent of Europe, and also embodying a variety of valuable historical miscellanea, curious and striking. We may remark, however, that measures have recently passed the British Parliament, giving local Municipal bodies in England authority to establish public libraries and museums. It is understood that the great Exposition of 1851 will be rendered tributary to the accomplishment of this latter object:

During the last few months, startling statements, disclosing the dearth of public libraries in the United Kingdom, have appeared in most of our public journals. They do not, however, comprise a tithe of the curious and valuable information embedded in the bulky blue-book from which they were excerpted. This document is a rich mine of suggestive facts and data. It exhibits the most singular national anomalies, and develops phenomena at once humiliating and cheering. Its revelations are alternately streaked with lights and shadows, in strange and fitful contrast. Our object in the present article is to classify and condense, as far as possible, some of the information scattered through the work referred to; information that has been gleaned from the most varied sources from clergymen, librarians, literati, members of Parliament, town-clerks, ex-ministers of Continental governments, popular lecturers, self educated working men, and city missionaries.

Not many years ago, the attention of Parliament and the public was directed to the formation of free galleries, museums of art, and schools of design, as a means of popular enlightenment, and an incitement to intellectual pursuits. Many persons, at the time, displayed considerable opposition to this proposal, and contended that, however successfully such institutions might be established among foreign nations, they would not be appreciated, and might be abused by our own. The experiment, however, was tried. The British Museum, the magnificent gallery at Hampton Court, the National Gallery, with various other metropolitan and provincial institutions were thrown open gratuitously to the public. It is now universally admitted that no abuse has attended the concession, whilst it is impossible to calculate the large measure of rational enjoyment and healthy mental stimulus that has resulted. Another and a yet more beneficent improvement still remains to be effected. The extensive establishment of public libraries throughout the entire country, and particularly in the large centres of population, is one of the greatest desiderata of the age. Such libraries have long existed on the Continent, and have enjoyed the fosterage of the governments of the various States. It can scarcely be doubted that the influences emanating from such stores of accumulated

No. 11.

lore have been fraught with incalculable advantages to the literature and general character of the people among whom they have been amassed. We find Gibbon complaining that, in his time, "the greatest city in the world was destitute of that useful institution, a public library ;" and that "the writer who had undertaken to treat any large historical subject, was reduced to the necessity of purchasing for his private use, a numerous and expensive collection of books which must form the basis of his work." Even in a large town like Liverpool there was no public depository of books from which Roscoe could procure the ordinary Italian works requisite for composing his "Historical Biographies," so that he, like Gibbon, was under the costly necessity of purchasing his own materials of literary workmanship. Only within the quarter of a century, Gra

ham, the learned historian of North America, left this land, and established himself at Gottingen, for the sole purpose of availing himself of the rich and freely-accessible collection of books in its university.

With a view of establishing the fact of the immense superiority of foreign libraries over our own-in respect to their numbers, the vastness of the literary wealth they enshrine, their entire accessibility to applicants from among every class of the community, and the extent to which they are allowed to circulate beyond the walls of the institution-we will, in the most compendious form possible, present some comparative statements of the principal Continental and British libraries. From the evidence laid before the Commit. tee, which is said to embody the nearest approximation to truth that can be attained, it appears that France contains 186 public libraries, 109 of which comprehend 10,000 volumes, or upwards, each; Belgium, 14; the Prussian States, 53, or 44 possessing above 10,000 volumes; Austria, with Lombardy and Venice, 49, Saxony, 9; Bavaria, 18; Denmark, 5; Tuscany, 10; Hanover, 5; Naples and Sicily, 8; Papal States, 16: Portugal, 7; Spain, 27, or 17 comprising 10,000 volumes; Switzerland, 13; Russian Empire, 12; whilst Great Britain and Ireland possess only 34 such depositories of learning, the large majority of which, moreover, are accessible only to privileged individuals, or corporations,

Upon further inspection of the tabular statements it is discoverable, that out of a total of 458 libraries in the European states, there are 53 that are distinguished as LENDING libraries; but of this goodly number, thus standing out in bold and honourable relief, not one is to be found in our own conntry. In these 53 libraries alone, in the year 1848, there were more than seven millions of volumes, independent of manuscripts, which are thus rendered eminently serviceable to the inhabitants of the several towns, cities, and neighbourhoods in which they are deposited. In a statistical list, exhibiting 330 towns or cities, throughout Europe, that are enriched by the possession of town, university, cathedral, communal, gymnasium, or public libraries, the keenest scrutiny can detect no more than eleven places lying within the boundaries of these favoured isles of ours; whilst the chief of the literary stores belonging even to these are placed under the most exclusive regulations. If from countries we descend to particular cities, we find the contrast between our own and foreign lands no less discouraging and humiliating. In the following table are represented the number of libraries in some of the principal capitals and other distinguished places in Europe-the aggregate volumes in each town or city-the population of the same-and the proportian of volumes to every 100 of its inhabitants.

the books are required chiefly in order to ascertain whether they correspond with the manuscript after it had passed the crdeal of censorship.

The same regulation for the compulsory delivery of books by authors or publishers is imposed in England. The origin of this exaction was first of all a private agreement between Sir Thomas Bodley and the Stationers' Company, in 1610, which was afterward recognized by the Legislature. By subsequent Copyright Acts, the three copies originally levied were augmented to eleven. Under the Copyright Act, the following are the libraries that were entitled to receive copies of works gratuitously:-The British Museum; Sion College, in London; the Bodleian library, at Oxford; the University Library, at Cambridge; the libraries of Trinity College, in Dublin; King's Inn, in Dublin; the Faculty of Advocetes, in Edinburgh; together with those of the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews; making eleven in all.

The Copyright Amendment Act, passed in 1836, abolished the privilege in respect to six of the number, and substituted a money grant from the Treasury, varying in amount-the highest being that granted to Glasgow, of £707; to St. Andrews, £630 ; to Edinburgh, £575; to the King's Inn Library, Dublin, £433; to Sion College, London, £363; and to the University of Aberdeen, £320; so that much inequality now exists. The total amount received by those libraries is £3,028. The Act was not extended to Oxford and Cambridge University libraries, in consequence of their refusal to accept compensation, and the strong indisposition they evinced to submit to any change in the ancient arrangements.

An idea may be formed of the large number of works thus annually exacted, from the fact that, during the last ten years, there have been published in the United Kingdom 31,395 books; the estimated value of one copy of each of which, taken at publication price, is £13,420. This calculation embraces new works, and new editions and reprints of old books, but it excludes pamphlets and periodical publications. In Germany the total number of separate works, inclusive of pamphlets, published in 1846, was 11,600; in 1847, about 11,400; and in 1843, about 10,500. In France there appeared, in 1842, 6,445 separate works, pamphlets included: and in 1847, 5,530.

An investigation into the date of the foundation of some of the European libraries, and into the causes of their comparative progressive augmentation, is suggestive of many important considerations that may be turned to practical account by those who are labouring to build up the intellectual greatness of our country. The most ancient of the great libraries of printed books is thought to be that at Vienna, which dates from 1440, and is said to have been opened to the public as early as 1575. The Town Library at Ratisbon dates from 1430; St. Mark's Library, at Venice, from 1468; the Town Library of Frankfort, from 1484; that of Hamburgh, from 1529; of Strasburg, from 1531; of Augsburg, from 1537; those of Berne and Geneva, from 1550; that of Basel, from 1564. The Royal Library of Copenhagen was founded about 1550. In 1671 it possessed 10,000 vols.; in 1748, about 65,000; in 1778, 100,000; in 1820, 300,000; and it is now supposed to contain 412,000 vols. The National Library in Paris was founded in 1595, but was not made public until 1737. In 1640 it contained about 17,000 vols; in 1684, 50,000; in 1775, 150,000; in 1799, 200,000; and it now possesses at least 824,000 vols. The library of the British Museum was established in 1753, and opened to the public in 1757, with about 40,000 vols. In 1800 it contained about 65,000 vols.; in 1823, 125,000; in 1836, nearly 420,000; and it now comprehends 435,000 vols.

The steady growth of the Copenhagen Library has been mainly owing to judicious purchases at favourable opportunities. The rapid increase of the noble National Library at Paris, since 1790, is in a great measure to be ascribed to the Revolution; the suppression of the monasteries and convents, and the confiscation of the property of rebels and emigrants, having placed many fine libraries at the disposal of the ruling powers of the day. The increase of the British Museum, on the other hand, is mainly indebted to donations. Of its 435,000 books, at least 200,000 have been presented or bequeathed. Many of the chief libraries of Continental cities are sustained by

* A recent Canadian statute makes similar provision in regard to the University of Toronto.

their respective governments in a spirit of great liberality. The average annual sum allotted to the support of the National Library at Paris is £16,575; to that of the Royal Library, at Brussels, £2,700; to that of Munich, about £2,000; to that of Vienna, £1,900; to that of Berlin, £3745; to that of Copenhagen, £1,250; to that of Dresden, £500; and to that of the Grand Ducal Library of Darmstadt, £2,000.

The average annual sum expended in the purchase of printed books for the library of the British Museum, previous to 1836, was only £1,135. From 1937 to 1845 inclusive, the sums devoted to

this purpose averaged £3,433 a-year. In 1816 and 1847, in consequence of urgent representations having been made to the Treasury of the great deficiencies existing in the collection of printed books, a special increase of the Parliamentary grant was made, amounting to £10,000. In 1848, however, this sum was reduced to £8,500; whilst, in 1849, it was still further frittered down to £5,000. The entire amount of this latter year allotted to the sustentation of the library, in all its departments, is £23,261. The aggregate of the sums expended in the purchase of printed books, including maps and musical works, from its foundation in 1753 to Christmas 1847, is £102,447; and that expended in the purchase of manuscripts, £42,940; together, £145,387. The sums expended during the same period, in prints and drawings, amount to £29,318; in antiquities, coins, and medals, to £125,257; and in specimens of natural history, to £43,599.

A comparison between the funds appropriated by the French and British legislatures, for the general formation and maintenance of public depositories of books, places the latter in a still more unfavourable light.

Confining our attention to those libraries alone which constitute independent establishments, and where the exact amount of funds can, therefore, be ascertained, it appears that, since 1823, the French government has voted the sum of £426,571 for four public libraries in Paris, exclusive of another sum of £107,426 for buildings and their maintenance. The accounts of the expenditure of the French Institute show that £16,848 have been appropriated to its Library during the same period, from the public treasury; to that of the University of Paris, £13,011: making a total of £456,430 devoted to the public libraries of Paris; exclusive of those of the Museum of Natural History, the School of the Fine Arts, the Observatory, and the fine public library of the Conservatory of Music (which is said to contain 17,000 vols.). If the proportion of the public grants to these institutions expended on their books be calculated approximately at £65,000, the aggregate total so expended by votes of the French Legislature will be £521,430; or, on the average, £20,055

of Edinburgh, from 1582; and the Bodleian, from 1597. The small library of the University of Salamanca is said to have been founded in 1215.

The Gottingen, Prague, Turin, and Upsal, are lending libraries. Those of Gottingen, Prague, Turin, Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, are legally entitled to copies of all works published within the States to which they respectively belong. The number of volumes accruing to the Bodleian from the operation of the Copyright Act, since 1825, computing them from the number supplied to the British Museum, would be about 38,000.

The annual expenditure of the Tubingen Library is about £760; of the Gottingen Library, £730; of the Breslau, about £409. That of the Bodleian, at Oxford, is now about £4,000-of which sum £1,375 is defrayed by proceeds of various benefactions, about £650 by matriculation fees, and about £1,500 by 'library dues.'

In reference to the degree of accessibility to all the foreign libraries that have paased in review, it may be generally affirmed that admission is granted unrestrictedly-to the poor as well as to the rich-to the foreigner as well as to the native. "The libraries of France," says M. Guizot, "are accessible in every way for the purpose of reading, and also for burrowing books. Any workman whatever his social condition, who can obtain a certificate from his employer as to his respectability and honesty, may have books lent to him." We have also the assurance of his Excellency, M. Van de Weyer, that the fourteen libraries of Belgium "are all accessible to the public; any person, without any letter of authorization, may go into them, and be supplied with a book, if he asks for it." The same privilege is shown to exist in the libraries of Italy. M. Libri states that, in almost every town in Italy, there are public libraries freely accessible to the public-a concession limited only by the necessity of applying for permission to read forbidden books. For instance, the Florentine "History of Machiavelli" is prohibited, and there are many others to which the same restriction extends. Generally speaking, the books are not lent out to individuals to read at home; but the libraries attached to all the universities of Italy lend books to professors; whilst the privilege of reading, instead of being monopolized by the students, is shared by the public at large. The access in Italy is more unrestricted than that enjoyed at the British Museum. Respecting the libraries of Germany, C. Meyer, Esq., German Secretary to Prince Albert, says :-"They are, with few exceptions, freely accessible; they are, moreover, lending libraries. Every citizen has free access to the town library, and every member of the University has free admission to the University library; and each of these two classes of readers can mutually introduce the other to the respective libraries they are privileged to attend. Thus the system in the German towns is somewhat analogous to that adopted at the British Museum, with this important distinction, however that the latter is not a lending library, whereas the introduction to a German library confers the right of taking away books."

Now it appears that we have only one library in Great Britain that affords the same measure of advantages and facilities with the glorious array of foreign collections at which we have glanced; and that is the library founded by Humphrey Chetham, in Manchester. There are ten or eleven libraries to which admission may be secured by the production of some sort of recommendation; and there are about twenty in addition that are accessible as a matter of grace and favour.

In our metropolis there are a few old and scanty libraries, but which, however resuscitated and improved, would never be commensurate with the mighty wants of an extending population. The more ancient part of London is the spot best supplied. Almost every collection of books in London or the provinces that can aspire to the character of a public library, owes its origin to a somewhat remote date; showing that our ancestors, with all their imputed inferiority, paid more attention to the formation of such institutions than ourselves. We will give a few particulars respecting some of them.

Dr. Williams's Library, situated in Red Cross-street, in the city, was opened in 1729. It originally constituted the private collection of Dr. Williams, an eminent Presbyterian divine, to which he subsequently added the library of Dr. Bates. It is vested in trustees, who, early in the trust, placed it under the administra

tion of the Court of Chancery, for the purpose of transferring all responsibility from themselves. Many valuable donations and bequests have been, in past years, made to the foundation; and the number of volumes now contained in the library is about 20,000. The specific object of the founder in establishing it is not defined in the will. The trustees have recently extended its advantages to every person of respectability, free of all expense and trouble. The works are principally on theology, ecclesiatical history, and biography, with a few in all the more important departments of learning. There is accommodation for fifty or sixty readers.

Not far from Dr. Williams's Library, in London Wall, is situ ated the library of Sion College, founded by Dr. White, rector of St. Dunstan's in the West, in the year 1636. The conditions of admission are somewhat similar to those of the British Museum. A note from any Fellow of the College-that is to say, any incumbent in London-will introduce a reader for twelve months; while a discretionary power is given to the librarian to allow persons to consult the library whom he may consider qualified. The primary object of the library was to afford literary facilities to the Established Clergy of the city of London. The number of volumes ranges between 3,5000 and 40,000; they are on general subjects, with, however, a larger proportion than usual of theological works; many of the books are exceedingly rare, or altogether unique. The collection is rich on general history, particularly concerning the times of Charles I., and of the same period on the Continent. The number of persons who frequent the library is not more than 300 or 400 a-year; and the number of volumes in circulation during the same period does not exceed 6,000. The Rev. Mr. Christmas, the librarian, suggests that, by an arrangement enabling more persons to take out books on certain terms of subscription, this library might be opened to the public, and 200 readers accommodated, where at present there are not more than six or seven. It is, however, unlikely that this, or any other library in a large town, will be extensively used, unless it be open in the evening.

In the city of Westminster there still slumbers the library founded by Archbishop Tennison, in the year 1685. In the "orders and constitutions" of the founder, it is declared that "the books of the said library" are to be "for public use, but especially for the use of the vicar and lecturer of the said parish," and other clergymen within the precincts. The "public" intended to be benefited by this collection consists of the inhabitants residing within the boundaries of the ancient parish of St. Martin. The trustees are appointed for life by a Master in Chancery. The books are mainly upon theological subjects, of great variety, curiosity, and valae; but do not exceed 4,000 in number. They are stated by the librarian to be in as dilapidated a condition as books can well be. They are kept under the careful custody of lock and key, and are never taken down to be cleaned, whilst the bindings are rapidly going to decay from neglect. The restoration of the library is now under the consideration of the trustees; and it certainly might form the nucleus of a good local library for Westminster.

These, with the British Museum and the Lambeth Palace library. constitute the entire public provision for the intellectual nurture and delectation of more than two millions of souls! How far they are adapted for that purpose, we leave our readers to determine.

Connected with the deaneries and chapters of our cathedrals, there is an ancient set of libraries commonly called cathedral libraries. Of these there are thirty-four in England and six in Ireland. Their basis is theological; to some of them additions are annually made; and attention is being given to their restoration and improvement. In several, a moderate freedom of access is conceded to the public. The number of volumes in each ranges from 4,000 to 11,000. These, if the sanction of those who preside over them could be obtained, would form excellent nuclei of provincial libraries for the ancient cities of our land.

Parochial libraries once prevailed to a considerable extent throughout this country. Evidence has been collected of the existence of 163 such libraries in England und Wales, and 16 in Scotland. They were generally designed for the use of the clergy. Their foundation was in the first instance, due to individual benevolence; bnt subsequently and principally, to the efforts of Dr. Bray and his 'associates, at the beginning and in the middle of the last century. They have, in most cases, been suffered to go to dilapidation.