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Average Attendance of Pupils in the Cities, Towns and Districts, omitted last month:

City of Kingston. City of Hamilton, Town of Belleville, Town of Cobourg, Town of Brantford, Talbot District, Johnstown District. Ottawa District, Dalhousie District, Bathurst District,

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246

178

68

42

105

70

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2,504 1,442

248 172 76 105 63 2,374 1,213 1,167 1,062 4,724 2,489 2,235 5,161 2,989 2,172 984 528 456 1,095 613 482 1,808 925 883 2,237 1,254 983 2,306 1,399 1,107 2,670 1,563 1,107

Church University.-Up to the 23rd inst. the subscriptions to this proposed Institution, in Money, Land, and Building Society Stock, amounted to £15,212 7s. 6d., and 2,201 acres of Land not valued.

Common Schools, Newfoundland.—The Lieut. Governor in his speech, at the recent opening of the Legislature remarks: "As the Education Act will expire at the close of the present Session, the state of Education in the Colony will necessarily engage your attention. From the reports received of the condition of many of the Schools, a more efficient system of instruction is urgently required. Although our financial condition will not, I regret to say, admit of any increase being made to the present grant, yet the system is susceptible of much improvement; and I hope the Session will not be allowed to pass without the adoption of some measure that will secure a more effective superintendence of the Schools generally throughout the Colony."

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Education in England.-There are now in England alone 260 mechanics institutions in active operation, besides about 400 which were in abeyance on account of the state of trade in some districts. In these 260 institutions, the average number of members is 222-the total number of persons receiving education from them being 58,106. There are also about fifty smaller institutions, furnishing some lectures and libraries, averaging about 150 members each, the total number altogether being 65,609.-[Liverpool Albion.

New Law Regulating Common Schools in France. The following are its principal provisions :

Art. 1. Primary instruction in each department is specially placed under the surveillance of the perfects.

Art. 2. The communal teachers shall be named by the Committee d'Arrondisement, and chosen by it, either among the laity, or among the members of religious associations devoted to instruction, and recognized by the State, the Committee conforming itself, relative to that choice, to the wishes expressed by the Municipal Council who may indicate its candidates; but the committee can make its choice among others than the candidates so proposed by the Council. The Teachers may also be chosen for Schools not belonging to the recognized catholic worship, from the lists presented by the Protestant and Israelite Consistories.

Art. 3. In the case provided for by Art. 23 of the law of June 22, 1833, the perfect may reprimand, suspend, or dismiss teachers. He may dismiss them in a council of Prefecture, after having taken the opinion of the Committee of Arrondisement, the Teacher so dismissed having a right to appeal to the Minister of Public Instruction in the Council of the University. The Committee must give its opinion within ten days.

Art. 4. A teacher who is dismissed cannot continue to exercise his functions during the proceedings of his appeal. Suspension can be pronounced by the Perfect with or without privation. The duration of the suspension cannot exceed six months.

Art. 5. No Teacher, when dismissed, can open a private school in the commune in which he had exercised the function from which he has been removed, nor can he be a communal teacher in the same department. The operation of the Bill is limited to six months.

Another Colonial University.—Measures are in progress for the establishment of a University at Sydney, New South Wales. The Legislature have resolved to appropriate £5000 a year to this object, and £30,000 for buildings. The Principal is to be Professor of Classics and Mathematics, with a salary of £800 a year. There will also be Professors of Chemistry (salary, £400,) Natural History (salary, £400,) Experimental Philosophy and Civil Engineering (salary, £400,) and Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine, salary, £300. This is for a beginning: Professor in History and other departments will be hereafter appointed. Each Professor is to have an allowance of £100 for his passage from England and £100 a year for his house rent, till accommodations are provided in the University

buildings. The Professors are also to receive the fees from the students, an arrangement which, it is believed, will operate as a useful stimulus to exertion. [Colonist.

UNITED STATES.

Colleges, Academies and Schools in the United States.-There are 120 Colleges, containing 917 teachers and 10,672 Students; theological seminaries, with 118 teachers and 1,315 students; 12 law schools, with 23 teachers and 434 students; 35 medical schools with 230 teachers, and 4,554 students; making a total of 209 colleges and professional schools, 1,288 teachers, and 16,965 students; that is supposing the population of the U. S. to be 24,000,000, one student in the higher institutions to every 1,413 inhabitants. Of these higher institutions 32 are in New England, and 3,296 of the students; which is about one student to every 791 inhabitants. In Massachusetts alone there are 1,163 academies. with 21,078 students, and supported at an annual expense of $307,157. In New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, there are 31,222 Common Schools, containing 1,652,347 scholars, out of a population (in 1840) of 5,777,153, and supported at an annual expense of $2,257,448 97. -[Boston Correspondent of the Montreal Witness, 8th March, 1850.

N. Y. State Normal School.―The Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the State Normal School is an interesting document. It is the first since the completion of the new building, which, besides the dwelling of the principal, contains 17 large rooms. It is the most spacious and best arranged establishment in the Union.-It cost $28,500. The following table will show the number of pupils in each term, and also the number and sex of the graduates :—

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First
Year
Second 3rd do
Year 4th do
Third 5th do
Year 6th do
Fourth 7th do
Year 8th do
Fifth 9th do
Year 10th do

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Amenia Seminary..
Deaf and Dumb in N. Y....
Erasmus Hall......
Genesee Wesleyan Semin..
Genesee and Wyoming Sem.
Governeur Wesleyan Sem'y
Grammar School of Columbia
College....
Grammar School University
College of New York..... 261 60
Hobart Hall Institute.... 247 06 Troy Female Seminary...
Le Roy Female Seminary.. 501 36 Utica Female do......
Mount Pleasant School.... 101 73

537 69 New York Free do...... 469 90
128 39 Oneida Conference Semin'y 634 58
959 14 Ontario Female School..... 448 10
314 88 Poughkeepsie Female do.... 208 31
452 95 Rhinebeck School...... 205 89
Rutgers' Female Institution 653 96
477 18 Sag Harbor Institute.... 26 67
Schenectady Lyceum and
Academy.

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Education in Syracuse, N. Y.-The resources of the Syracuse Board of Education for the year were $15,628; the expenditures $10,631 : the remaining indebtedness, $2.181. The average attendance of scholars during the last month has been 1,573, the school houses being inconveniently crowded. There are 2,011 children in the city for whom no school accommodation is provided.

Governmental Visitation of Schools in Massachusetts.-The following resolution was recently passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives :-Resolved,-That the Board of Education be, and they are, hereby authorized to appoint two or more suitable agents to visit the Town and School districts, in such parts of the Commonwealth as may seem expedient to the Board, for the purpose of inquiring into the condition of the Schools, lecturing upon subjects connected with education, and in general of giving and receiving information, in the same manner as the secretary of the Board would do if he were present; and that to defray the expenses of the same, His Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Council, is authorized to draw his warrant for a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars, to be charged upon the income of the school fund.

Literary and Scientific Intelligence.

Construction of the Niagara Suspension Bridge.-The following interesting account of the first steps taken for the construction of the temporary bridge across the Falls of Niagara is given in the Rochester Daily Advertiser :

"Early in the spring of 1847, while at dinner in the Eagle Hotel, in the village of Niagara Falls, there were present Charles Ellet, Jr., the engineer of the bridge, the writer, and several other gentlemen, when the subject came up how the first wire was to be got over the river. One proposed a steamboat-another a small boat to take a line across; another would throw a bombshell over, with a cord attached to it, and several other equally practicable projects were advanced: when Mr. Ellet himself suggested the use of a rocket, by which he suggested to throw his first line across the gulf. This seeming to be the end of propositions, a gentleman named Fisk, addressing Mr. Ellet, said, 'with your leave, and a promise not to ridicule the idea, if it would prove a failure, I will, in a more simple and cheaper mode, attempt to get a line across the gulf.' This being agreed to, those present desired to know what method he should pursue to get a line across. Well, gentlemen, I have not the least objection to tell you all about it, provided you adhere to the promised condition, not to laugh at me. Now, gentlemen, says Mr. Fisk, my plan, and the instrument used, will be the same kind used by Franklin to draw lightning from the clouds: an instrument that any ingenious schoolboy can make in an hour-a kite.' Mr. Ellet remarked he did not see why it would not succeed, and gave his consent to have it tried. Mr. Fisk then called upon an intelligent boy named Walsh, who soon had a kite constructed, and on a second trial threw a line across, making it fast on the opposite side, by doubling which a small rope was drawn over, and in six or seven doubles strength sufficient was acquired to take over the first small cable of thirtyaix wires. This was the one used to pass Mr. Ellet over in his little iron car, and next, himself and lady, and many others passed over on this slight fixture. Since which the present structure has been reared, resting on wooden towers, 50 feet high, over which pass 14 cables, of the following dimensions, viz.: five of 36 wires each, five of 72, one of 125, and three of 150 wires-1,115 in all. From these is the bridge suspended, which is capable of sustaining a weight of nearly 1,000 tons; and so slight in its appearance to strangers, that some will not pass it, through fear of its instability, yet heavy teams pass it; five at one time were on it, and many droves of cattle also have passed it. It is now perfectly safe as a common thoroughfare; but will all give way to one of the grandest structures in the world, as soon as it is required for railroad purposes, for which, from the exertions now made by the directors and people on both sides, it seems likely to be required within a year or two. The railroad structure will require 16 cables of 600 wires each, all laid straight- not twisted, as some have it--but wound with small wire, and when completed, with its massive stone towers, will sustain a weight of more than 6,000 tons beyond its own weight; a structure worthy, as one of art, to stand by the side of nature's grandest-the Falls of Niagara. For this, and other improvements, contemplated or finished, are the public indebted to the Hon. Chas. B. Stuart.

Origin of Literary Degrees.-The practice of conferring the honours of literary institutions on individuals of distinguished erudition, commenced in the twelfth century, when the Emperor Lothair, having found in Italy a copy of the Roman law, ordained that it should be publicly expounded in the schools: and that he might give encouragement to the study he further ordered that the public professors of this law should be dignified with the title of Doctors. The first person created a doctor, after this ordinance of the Emperor, was Bulgarius Hugolinus, who was greatly distinguished for his learning and literary labors. Not long afterwards, the practice of creating doctors was borrowed from the lawyers by divines also, who in their schools publicly taught divinity, and conferred degrees upon those who had made great proficiency in science. The plan of conferring degrees in divinity, was first adopted in the Universities of Bologna, Oxford, and Paris. [See Mather's Magnalia, Christi Americana, B. IV. p. 134.] It is remarkable that the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson when he had become eminent in literature, could not obtain the degree of Master of Arts, from Trinity College, Dublin, though powerful interests were inade in his behalf for this purpose, by Mr. Pope, Lord Gower, and others. Instances of the failure of similar applications, made in favour of characters still more distinguished than Johnson then was, are also on record. So cautious and reserved were literary institutions, a little more than half-acentury ago, in bestowing their honors!

New Uses of Electricity.-Dr. Wall, of London, has discovered and patented a process for manufacturing steel and iron through the agency of electricity, which promises to cheapen immensely the cost of their production, and at the same time improve the quality of the metal. 1t has

been tested at several of the leading iron furnaces of Maryland and Virginia, with the most satisfactory results. It is said electricity will revive persons who have taken too much chloroform.

Death of Lord Jeffrey-Edinburgh Review.-The following interesting sketch is taken from the European correspondence of the N. Y. Christian Advocate and Journal, March 7th: The last week has borne beyond the breath of fame one who for many years has soared loftily among the celebrities of literature. Just about the opening of the present century the beautiful capital of North Britain, (the modern Athens, as its sons delight to call it,) contained a group of remarkable young men. Of these three, were Henry Brougham, Sydney Smith, and Francis Jeffrey. They resolved on establishing a periodical which would outpeer all its forerunners. Not rushing on with the diurnal or even hebdomedal haste of the newspaper, nor even with the monthly despatch of the magazine, but producing itself at stately and solemn intervals of three months, it was to advance into the arena of politics and letters with an awe and puissance not before attempted. The Edinburgh Review well answered the ambition of its originators. It soon fixed the eye of the first politicians, and made the most noted literati stand respectfully awaiting its judgment. It fascinated the drawing-room, stimulated the club, abbreviated the path to knowledge for many a general student, and wielded a notable influence on the great parties of the nation. For the first year its editor was Sydney Smith, an Englishman and a clergyman. but one little bound by ecclesiastical tastes, and less by strict religious scruples. But after the first year it passed into the hands of Francis Jeffrey, a Scot, and a lawyer. For nearly thirty years he held the potent sceptre of that literary dominion, and then, after having held all literary Europe before his tribunal, he passed to the bench of the judges, and awarded decisions of more importance doubtless to individuals; but less cared for by the world at large. Lord Jeffrey never attained a rank at the bar proportioned to his fame as a writer and a critic. He sat in Parliament for some four years, but there was almost obscure. As a judge he was never considered very able. That, therefore, by which he has been distinguished is his masterly writing as a reviewer. Here he sparkled, flogged, instructed, fascinated, and made men wonder how one pen could with such ease and effect deal with subjects varying from the deepest philosophy to the airiest fiction, and yet be on all equally masterly. His castigations were sometimes more severe than just, and in one noted instance, his criticism of Byron, he paid a heavy penalty for his choler. But really when one reads the vague, fulsome commendation by which volumes of the most plebeian talent are introduced to the world one does sigh for some master hand to cut keenly, even though now and then he might wound too deeply, or strike fire from some sound breastplate he had thought to pierce. Well, Francis Jeffery is gone !-Byron, whom he flagellated; Scott, whom he extolled; Southey and Coleridge, whom he corrected; Sydney Smith with whom he laboured, having all gone before. Their poet passions, their critic studies are quenched and ended. And what influence has poetry or criticism on that life which these late wrestlers on the arena of letters have now begun? What is the precise value of stanza, or hexameter, of sonnet or of epic, in the psalmody of the skies? What the precise office of rhetoric and logic, of concord, trope, alliteration, antithesis, simile, metaphor, and apostrophe, in that new land where things are all judged of by a medium clearer far than the words of earth? Thomas Moore, with whom Jeffrey fought a duel, and Henry Brougham, who was the most noted of all his collaborateurs yet remain. But they remain as monuments of the vanity of fame. Moore has been for some time living in poverty and obscurity, and Brougham, for some years past, has been as much an object of public rididule as before he was of public admiration. Of those who build on fame as a foundation of happiness, it may be said, that they are those who in the words of Moore,

"Make

Their bower upon an icy lake,

When thawing suns begin to shine."

And yet coldy as many sink under the brittle ice of fame, how greedily do others seek to build on the same foundation !

Carbon. When a piece of charcoal which is very clean and free from ash, is immersed in a solution of metallic salt, the metal itself is deposited upon the charcoal with with its natural brilliancy. Salts of tin, copper, platina, silver, and gold, furnish very beautiful deposits. When the salts are too acid these effects are not produced.—The weak salts of copper often yield upon the charcoal the most varied shades of colour, from the rich azure blue to the deep copper colour. There are some parts of charcoal for which some metals exhibit a preference to that of others.

The Boiling Springs of Iceland-In one part of the island, more than fifty have been counted in the space of a few acres. Of these, some are constant and others are periodical. The most magnificent are the Great Geyser and the Strokr, which are situated about 35 miles north-west from

Hecla. The Great Geyser rises from a cylindrical pipe or pit, 8 or 10 feet in diameter, and 75 feet deep. It opens into the centre of a basin 4 feet deep, and between 46 and 50 feet in diameter. As soon as the basin is filled by the boiling water that rises thorugh the tube, explosions are heard, the ground trembles, and the water is thrown to the height of 100 or 150 feet, followed by large volumes of steam. After the basin is thus emptied, no further explosion takes place until it is replenished, when the same phenomena again occurs. The cold air condenses the steam into vapor, which is tossed about in dense clouds, tumbling one over another with singular rapidity, and presenting a sight of great magnificence.

Depth of the Ocean.-On account of the irregularities existing at the bottom of the ocean, its depth varies considerably in different places. The exact depth at any place is, moreover, a matter to be attained with great difficulty, in consequence of the rapid currents that exist in the ocean, These, in many places, render it impracticable to ascertain this depth even with the heaviest sounding-lead. In the northern Ocean, Lord Mulgrave gave out 4,700 feet of Line, without finding bottom; and Mr. Scoresby could not find a bottom in one part of the Greenland Sea at the depth of 7,200 feet, Captain James Ross found bottom at a depth of 15,000 feet, at a place west of Cape of Good Hope, which is the height of Mont Blanc; but at a place west of St. Helena, he gave out 27,000 feet of line without finding bottom. Dr. Young assigns to the Atlantic Ocean, a depth of three miles, that is 13,400 feet, and to the Pacific Ocean, the depth of a league and a half, or about 18,000 feet. According to the calculations of La Place, in his "Mechanique Celeste," founded upon the oscillations of the ocean, the mean depth of the water is a faction of the difference produced in the diameter of the earth by the flattering of the poles, and it has been estimated at between two and three miles. These calculations the above experiments seem to confirm.

Surinam Bible.-The version of the new Testament, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society for the English negroes of Surinam, is a curiosity in its way. These negroes have no distinct language, but speak a strange lingo compounded of African words of clipped and softened English words and of violently treated Portuguese words. The Society brought upon itself smart censures and much ridicule for the seemingly irreverent and ludicrous character of the volume they had published. The whole edition, save a few copies was sent to Surinam. These copies are becoming scarce, and at the sale of the Duke of Sussex's Library, one brought £3 10s. though its original cost could not have exceeded two or three shillings. The annexed extracts literally translated, will give a specimen as little offensive as any that can be found in the book. The word virgin is rendered wan njo ewenjo, i. e. one new wench. The following verses are from Matthew v.:

"1. But when Jesus see the people, he go after one mountain top, he go sit down, then disciple for him come close by after him.

"2. And he opened him mouth and learn them and talk. "Good is them, these the pretty in heart, because God's country is for

them.

"3. Good is it for them, these the sorry in heart because heart for them so cheery."

M. Michelet.-A Paris writer states that Michelet, the celebrated Professor, has opened a course of lectures on the education of Females. He is understood to have become more Royalist.

Whimsical Benevolence of Goldsmith.-Among the anecdotes told of him while at college is one indicative of that prompt, but thoughtless and often whimsical benevolence which throughout life formed one of the most eccentric, yet endearing points of his character. He was engaged at breakfast one day with a college inmate, but failed to make his appearance. His friend repaired to his room, knocked at the door and was bidden to enter. To his surprise he found Goldsmith in his bed, immersed to his shin in feathers. A serio comic story explained the circumstance. In the course of the preceding evening's stroll he had met with a woman with five children, who implored his charity. Her husband was in the hospital; she was just from the country, a stranger, and destitute, without food or shelter for her helpless offspring. This was too much for the kind heart of Goldsmith. He was almost as poor as herself, it is true, and had no money in his pocket: but he brought her to the college gate, gave her the blankets from his bed to cover her little brood, and part of his clothes for her to sell and purchase food; and, finding himself cold during the night, had cut open his bed and buried himself among the feathers.-[Washington Irving's Life of Goldsmith.

Illegible Scribble.-Dr. Parr, whose hand was the very abstraction of incomprehensibility, visiting the reading-room of the watering-place, happened to find among the subscribers a name which he could decipher, though few others would have been equally successful. It was that of a friend whom he had not seen for some time. Anxious to renew early impression, he inquired of the proprieter of the rooms his friend's address.

This, however, was not known; accordingly the doctor was obliged to leave his card, with his own address, thereon written, or intended to be written, in that peculiar vehicle of thought which his pen was wont to employ. On the next appearance of the person for whom the card was designed, it was duly put into his hand. Delighted at the proximity of his early friend, the recipient proceeded to inquire at the talisman where its owner was to be found, but it pertinaciously refused to declare: not a letter was decipherable. Whether crescent, street or square, was undiscoverable. Thus foiled, the reader, if we may so designate the unsuccessful attempter, had no resource save to leave his own card, with his address, as he imagined, written therein. But, alas! he and his friend were similar in their ideas of penmanship as well as of other things; and when Parr, surprised that he had not seen his old companion, heard the history and received the card, he was equally at fault, and the result was, that two friends anxious to meet, and living in the same town, actually lost the opportunity of intercourse through the enigmatical character of their writing.-[Sharpe's London Magazine.

Weighing Department in the Bank of England. One of the most interesting and astonishing departments within the whole compass of the bank of England, is the weighing department, in which, with the rapidity of thought, and a precision approaching to the hundredth part of a grain, the weight of the gold coins are determined. There are six weighing machines, kept working by the same agency which supplies all the mechanical power in the bank, and three weighers attend to these. Rolls of sovereigns, or half-sovereigns, are placed in grooves, and are shaken, one at a time by the motion of the machine, into the weights, If they are of standard weight they are thrown by the same mechanical intelligence into a box at the right-hand side of the person who watches the operation: if they have lost the hundredth part of a grain they are cast into a box on the left. Those which stand the test are put into bags of one thousand sovereigns each, and those below par are cut by a machine, and sent back to mint. Between one and two thousand light sovereigns are thus daily sent out of circulation. The silver is put up into bags, each of one hundred pounds value, and the gold into bags of a thousand, and then those bagsful of bullion are sent through a strongly-guarded door, or rather window, into the treasury. The treasury is a dark gloomy appartment, fitted up with iron presses, which are supplied with huge locks and bolts, and which are perfectly fire-proof. Gold silver, and paper money ready for circulation, to the amount of twenty-two millions sterling, were in the treasury when we visited it. One of the gentlemen in that department placed one thousand sovereigns in our hand, and at the same time pointed to seventy bags full of gold in the little recess which he had thrown open, making in all the modest sum of seventy thousand pounds. He placed notes to the amount of a half million also upon our palm, which no doubt had its own sensations as the precious deposit trembled on its top. The heads of departments meet in the treasury every evening, and there all the accounts are balanced.-[Hogg's Weekly Instructor.

An Admirable Orrery.-Some general impression may be conveyed by placing a globe, two feet in diameter, in the centre of a plain or bowling-green. With the sun for a centre, a circle of 164 feet in diameter will represent the orbit of Mercury, the comparative size of which planet may be represented by a grain of mustard seed. Venus might be represented by a pea, moving in a circle, the diameter of which would be 284 feet; the Earth also a pea, but on a circle of 480 feet diameter; Mars a large pin's head, and the diameter of its circle 654 feet; Juno, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas, grains of sand moving in circles from 1000 feet to 1200 feet in diameter; Jupiter a moderate-seized orange, in a circle nearly half a mile across; Saturn, a small orange, on a circle four-fifths of a mile in diameter; Uranus, a large cherry, upon a circle more than a mile and a half in diameter; and Neptune, a good-sized plum, on a circle about two miles and a half in diameter.

Phenomena of the Brain.-One of the most inconceiveable things in the nature of the brain, says Wigan in his work on the Duality of the Mind, is, that the organ of sensation should be itself insensible. To cut the brain gives no pain, yet in the brain alone resides the power of feeling pain in any other part of the body. If the nerve which leads from it to the injured part be divided, it becomes instantly unconscious of suffering. It is only by communication with the brain that any kind of sensation is produced, yet the organ itself is insensible. But there is a circumstance more wonderful still. The brain itself may be removed, may be cut away down to the corpus calosum without destroying life. The animal lives and performs all its functions which are necessary to simple vitality, but no longer as a mind, it cannot think or feed, it requires that the food should be pushed down its stomach, once there, it is digested, and the animal will even thrive and grow fat. We infer, therefore that the part of the brain, the convolutions, is simply intended for exercise of the intellectual faculties, whether of the low degree called instinct, or exalted kind bestowed on man, the gift of reason.

Editorial Notices, &c.

EFFECTS OF FREE SCHOOLS ON THE ATTENDANCE OF PUPILS.

In a letter from one of the Trustees of a School Section in the Township of Ancaster, Gore District, dated 26th February, 1850, it is said: "The number of pupils attending the School in our Section for the last three years has been about 27; but since the School was opened, after the Christmas vacation, on the Free System, the number of pupils on the Teacher's register is 47; and the number will soon be much larger if we continue the system. This clearly shows the effects of adopting the free school system—a system which I hope ere long will be universal."

In a letter dated Preston (Wellington District) 27th February, 1850, it is said "The school in this village has increased from 25 to 110, on becoming free."

A TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION for the County of Middlesex has been called to meet at the new School House, London, on the 6th April next. The objects are: Mutual Improvement, the Advancement of Common School Education, and the promotion of the interests of the Teachers.

OFFICIAL SCHOOL REPORTS, &c., RECEIVED.-We are indebted to the courtesy of several State Superintendents and others for copies of the following official documents :-

Sixteenth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools for the State of Pennsylvania. Hon. T. HAINES, Superintendent.

Third Annual Report of the Commissioner of Schools for the State of New Hampshire. Rev. Dr. RUST, Superintendent.

Annual Report of the Superintendent of Schools for the State of NewYork, for 1849. Hon. C. MORGAN, Superintendent.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the New York State Library, for 1849. Dr. T. R. BECK, Secretary.

Report of the Chief Engineer to the Secretary of War, at the opening of the XXXIst Congress, 1849.—Washington (Hon. H. Mann.)

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PHILOSOPHY OF RAILROADS, by Thomas C. Keefer, Esq. Civil Engineer. Montreal: ARMOUR & RAMSAY; Toronto: A. H. ARMOUR & Co., 8vo. pp. 39. This very interesting Pamphlet is " published at the request of the Directors of the Montreal and Lachine Roilroad." It contains a vast amount of valuable information on the subject of Railways, including an Appendix embracing numerous Statistical Tables, illustrative of the paramount interest to Canada of this great national enterprize, in promoting her future welfare and commercial prosperity.

ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, Analytical and Synthetical: arranged in Progressive Exercises: By WM. C. KENYON, A. M., 8vo, pp. 328. Rochester, N. Y., E. DARROW. Rather an Elaborate work for one professing simply to teach the "Elements of English Grammar." The mode of instruction proposed, however, is admirable :-analytical and synthetical. The work is divided into four parts. First: the analysis of the simplest structures of the language. Second: an explanation of the peculiar variations of each part of speech. Third: the rules of agreement, construction and punctuation. Fourth Prosody. We regard the work as too diffuse in these days of intelligence and viva voce instruction; though probably a very good reference Grammar for Teachers.

GRAMMAR OF ARITHMETIC or An Analysis of the Language of Figures and Science of Numbers: By CHAS. DAVIES, LL. D., 12mo, pp. 144: New-York, A. S. BARNES & Co. An original and philosophical title. This work is but the first of the Author's comprehensive "Course of Mathematics," and appears to be an admirable little book. It is designed chiefly for the use of Teachers. Indeed its frail binding would preclude the possibility of its being for any length of time safely subjected to rude contact with the hands of pupils. It is furnished with an "Arithmetical Diagram," exhibiting an exact map of the subject."

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X. MISCELLANEOUS : Facts for Parents and Teachers-Sub-
limity of the Moral Virtues-Small Majorities-U. S.
Veto Power-English vs. American Girls-Slander-
Truth-Vowels-Sidney Smith-We Reap as we have
Sown-Happy Condition of Society-Education of the
Soul-Influence of a Mother's Love-Practical Joke
and a Sophism-The Affections-Recollections of School
Days-(Poetry)-Hints to young Men in Towns-
Real Strength of the U. S.-England-Our Country
-Most perfect Popular Government-For what is a
Mother Responsible ?-Think again--The Future-
Progress of Truth-Education under the new Prussian
Constitution-Curious Custom among the Thracians, 36-39
XI. EDITORIAL. 1. Canadian Patriotism the Lever of Cana-
dian Greatness. 2. N. Y. Legislature on Common
Schools, .....
XII. Report of Committee of the N. Y. Senate, with Draft of
Bill to promote the Free School System,

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JUST PUBLISHED, THE LITERARY CLASS BOOK; OR, READINGS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, to which is prefixed an introductory Treatise on the Art of Reading and the Principles of Elocution. By Professor SULLIVAN, of the Irish National Educational Board.

Dublin, CURRY & Co.; Toronto, A. GREEN.

**Professor Sullivan's School Books were among the first that were placed on the List of Educational Works recommended by the English Committee of Council on Eeucation; and the sale of these Books to the Committee to supply the demand for them in their Schools, has been during the year just ended, as follows:

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Total.

No. OF COPIES.

5,451

. 4,787

4,680

3,387

442

18,747 The sale of these Books in Canada is very extensive, and is constantly increasing. They are recommended by the Board of Education for Upper Canada.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-To the 26th of March, inclusive.

For 2nd Vol. P. Scott, C. Whittier; for 3rd Vol. A. Allan, Esq., (2), G. W. Evans, Esq., J. Hewlett, N. Posthill, D. Sinclair, Rev. C. Flumerfelt, J. L. Hughes, Esq., B. Hayter, Esq., (2) Rev. F. Pilote, Rev. G. Murray, Rev. A. Dick, Rev, J. Webster, Miss Cameron, J. Dickson, A. Fisher, D. Kee, G. McVittie, A. Moore, Esq., (2) Rev. Wm. Clarke, (9) H. Kropp, J. Crane, A. Campbell, D. D'Everardo, (12) J. Chambers, A. Brown, D. Wright, J. McKee, Esq., J. W. Gamble, Esq., J. F. O'Grady, Miss Weed, F. McNab, J. Warwick, W. Keys, M. D. Blanchard, B. Bayley, Esq., H. A. Clifford, Esq., (2) Wm. Reynolds, Esq., (3) D. McDonell (6) Dr. Hope, Rev. Wm. Gregg, Rev. J. Pringle, H. Dalton, Esq., Judge Campbell, R. Hutton, W. O. Buell, Esq., J. T. Pennock, P. Murtagh, N. Willson, R. Graham, Esq., (7) Rev. W. H. Poole, (3) A. Cunningham, Esq., R. D. Wadsworth, Esq.

Back Nos supplied to all new subscribers.

**The 1st and 2nd Vols. neatly stitched may be obtained upon application. Price, 5s. per Volume. Single Nos. 74d. All Communications to be addressed to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto.

Toronto: Printed and Published by THOMAS H. BENTLEY, at 5s per annum, and may be obtained from A. GREEN, SCOBIE & BALFOUR, and A. II. ARMOUR & Co., Toronto; R. D. WADSWORTH, General Agent for Canada: J. McCoy, Montreal; and D. M. DEWEY, Arcade Hall, Rochester, N. Y.

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION

VOL. III.

FOR

Upper Canada.

TORONTO, APRIL, 1850.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA. To the Editor of the Journal of Education.

SIR,-The Hon. Adam Fergusson has lately addressed a letter to the Editor of the Canadian Agriculturist, on Agricultural Elucation. The letter of the honourable gentleman has already. received extensive publicity.

The impression seems to be uniform and general that Canadian Farmers require a knowledge of the principles of Husbandry. Different opinions may, however, be supposed to exist, respecting the amount of practical benefit likely to be derived from the mode suggested by the honourable gentlemen to secure to Farmers the advantages of an Agricultural Education.

In reviewing some of the more prominent reasons why Farmers require at present, more than at any other previous time, a knowledge of the principles of their art, we obtain an indication of the real nature and extent of the information they should possess, and the machinery best adapted to diffuse it amongst them.

During a course of lectures on Agriculture, lately delivered in the city of Albany by Professor Johnston, we learn that "the farming interests in the State of New York are in process of deterioration; that the average of all crops is certainly diminishing" (See published lectures also speech of Mr. Baldwin). A statement which applies also to many of the older settled districts in Canada. When we compare these positive results, as exhibited by tables of produce, with the opinions we might be inclined to deduce from the extensive displays of stock, of vegetable productions and of farming implements at the great agricultural fairs held in the neighbourhoods of Buffalo, Syracuse, Cobourg and Kingston, during the past two years, we are compelled to adopt the conclusion, that agricultural exhibitions, however magnificent and useful in themselves, do not necessarily afford an illustration of the general progress of Husbandry. If the average amount of crops raised each year on the same extent of surface is, ceteris paribus, dimin ishing, we cannot congratulate ourselves on that universal progress upon which the prosperity of an agricultural country is evidently so dependant. This yearly diminution is no new thing in the agricultural history of exporting countries. The present and past conditions of Virginia and other Southern States furnish illustrations on the continent of America. Experience and science both indicate that deterioration in the soil is universal wherever farming operations are conducted without a regard for the future, without an acquaintance with farming principles. We already discover its approach near and around us. Thousands are complaining of constantly diminishing scales of produce. (See editorial, Canadian Agriculturist, April No.)

In this constructive and enterprising age, communications by means of rivers, lakes, canals, railroads, plank roads, &c., are in their rapid development, bringing the more distant parts of this Province and the prairies of the west, within reach of those great centres where their produce may be turned into money. We must not shut our eyes to the fact that millions of bushels of wheat, raised without skill and harvested almost without a care, by glutting the home, must cheapen the foreign market, and that the occupant of a crop-worn farm, will most certainly ere long be brought into direct (now partially indirect) competition with the careless yet successful cultivator of a virgin soil.

Our markets in a great measure lie beyond the seas.

Beyond

No. 4.

the seas themselves what active energies now begin to develope themselves. Simultaneously with political revolutions are springing social and commercial revolutions. In every direction means of communication are opening up fertile farming provinces; railroads, joining all great centres, and passing through agricultural districts, where labour is most abundant and cheap, and where the staple commodity wheat, has frequently hitherto throughout extensive provinces rotted in the sheds of the landowner, owing to some trifling obstruction to transportation. These increased facilities for throwing into market centres the supply to be derived from distant and hitherto stagnant provinces, are multiplying in a ratio which outvalues the yearly progressing demand, and resolve the probability, that the price of wheat, will in a few years, average much lower than at present, almost into a certainty. In order that the farmers of Canada may sustain their position and brave the competition which is yearly augmenting, not only must the average amount raised from the same extent of surface be increased throughout the country, but their attention turned to the growth of those vegetables which serve to improve the rotation and their stock, as well as for manufacturing and other purposes. Such progress implies at the same time the elevation of the people at large, in intelligent and virtuous industry, and a real advancement in the most material interests of the country.

Among the various suggestions of Mr. Fergusson for meeting. the requirements of Farmers in Canada, none see ns so favourable to the object in view as the establishment of a Board of Agriculture. "There can be no doubt that a Board, if properly constituted, is calculated to do great good." Farmers would place confidence in whatever emanated from a body of well-known and personally uninterested individuals: their suggestions would be responded to, and as Mr. Fergusson remarks, one palpable and most valuable result would be the annual collection and publication of the Agricultural statistics of Canada in an authentic and extended form.— Another valuable attainment would probably be in the preparation and distribution of a proper geological description of Canada for agricultural purposes. Nothing is more required; the geology of the soil and subsoil of Canada offers peculiar facilities; it is in general uniform and elementary; it does not exhibit those anomalies which characterise the geology of England. A good report expressed in plain and familiar language, with the objects and advantages briefly stated, would, if issued under the authority of a Board of Agriculture, be of the greatest use to farmers and emigrants, indicating in a measure the mode of culture to be adopted, the species of vegetables to be used in rotation, and the general adaptation of the soil for special purposes, which cannot possibly suggest themselves to the unscientific husbandman.

Mr. Fergusson alludes to the establishment of a Chair of Agriculture in the Provincial University. If such a professorship could be conveniently associated with a Board of Agriculture in various scientific capacities, the utility of both might be enhanced. I think it is very questionable, however, if the ordinary mode of communicating instruction by means of lectures would be of any avail for many years to come. An experimental farm appears to me to present a far more favourable field for speculation. A farm of 500 or 600 acres, embracing the two varieties of soil we meet with in this neighbourhood, would offer many advantages for experimental purposes under suitable regulations and management. The results, if published annually, under the authority of & Board of Agriculture

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