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gun on the chance that some might be hit, that in some unknown way the child's mind would be developed." I am, I hope justly, considered to be in favour of what is termed the New Education," because I think that both methods and means of education must change with the continually changing conditions of men and nations. As with any statement of religious ethics, or of philosophy, so with the enunciation of the principles of education. They are true only for the time, condition of thought, and development of the people who make them; and can only be rightly understood in their relation to the conditions under which they existed. But the wiser course is not to condemn the old system, under which the grand and great men in times past grew to be intellectual beacons, and by which we have grown to be what we are prone to consider ourselves-not only the latest, but the greatest and best development of civilisation; but to devote our energies to preventing people from attempting to make them still serve under a new condition of things. Whether that condition is an improvement does not affect the argument. It is the only possible condition until a new one is brought about.

It

However, having relieved himself and amused his hearers with his short tirade against the old, the president gave one of the nicest little expositions of our new idea of mental development which I have heard. was not new, but splendidly put. I cannot reproduce it, as his use of the blackboard-one of the strong points of the American teacher-formed one of the most valuable features. Briefly, he argued that the brain receives its stimulus through the senses being aided by the secondary stimulating faculties-memory, imagination, and will; and expresses itself chiefly by two agencies—the tongue and the hand. If information be poured into the brain, it soon becomes surfeited; but set the faculties of expression to work, and a current naturally flows to replace the drain.

The teacher should therefore merely provide knowledge ready for assimilation, but place himself on the "expression side" of the child, and draw out; because what is expressed through language or by the hand must enter by the senses, and be enriched by the secondary agencies-memory, imagination, and will. If mental activity is employed in giving out, there need be no fear but that the assimilating faculties will be suitably employed.

A prominent feature of drawing, as taught in the schools of the United States, is the large amount of blackboard work. It is no uncommon sight to enter a room, and find all the pupils standing round the room drawing on the blackboard. This, of course, is only practicable where the custom is to have continuous boards round the room-a custom, by the way, which I consider worthy of imitation. This practice of blackboard drawing has an important bearing on the power of illustration possessed by American teachers.

CHAPTER V.

THE NEW EDUCATION (Continued).

TECHNICAL EDUCATION, ETC.

English Conceptions of Technical Education.-Sloyd.-Liverpool Experiment.-City and Guilds of London Institute Experiment.—Mr. Ricks' Scheme of Hand and Eye Training.-Dublin Experiment.-Manual Training in America.-Definition.-Who shall Teach it ?-Account of Various Experiments.-New York City.-Washington, D.C.-Springfield. The Manual Training School.-Course of Study, St. Louis.Public Free Manual Training Schools -Industrial Training in Paris. -Course of Study.

SEWING.-Better in England and Australia than in United States. COOKERY.-How Taught in London.--In United States.-Fittings of a School.-The Washington Experiment.

PEOPLE in England talk as freely of technical education as those in the United States do of manual training. If multitude of speech were associated with clearness of conception, I would omit this chapter, merely referring my reader to the next man he meets who "takes an interest in Education."

Some of the conceptions of technical education prevalent in England may be summarised :—

I. "Technical education is the preparation of young people for some trade or industry." This is consistent and intelligible. Among those who hold this opinion are the supporters of the many excellent technical schools, of which those at Bradford, Manchester, Huddersfield, Stockport, and many others I visited, may be taken as examples, but of which I shall not further speak.

2. Many use the term to mean a certain amount of

science teaching and handiwork in connection with ordinary schools; but especially with secondary schools. To this class, too, belong those who desire the introduction of "technical education" into the public elementary schools, and the majority-although not the chief advocates-do so because of the influence they believe it will have on the industries of the country. In fact, it is apparently the exception to find an article written or a speech delivered on the subject without some reference being made to the industrial progress of Germany in consequence of the attention she has paid to "technical education," and the absolute necessity of England taking up the subject vigorously, if she wishes to maintain her position as the premier manufacturing country of the world. I cannot help thinking that many of these would do well to consider, whether it is tool work or head work which has enabled Germany to take the position she has. I think not a little of her progress is due to the fact that, as a rule, she only teaches tool-work as a means of giving an all-round training, leaving the special avocation entirely to look after itself. The toy and lace making of South Germany do not affect my argument. It is not in these that she has affected England. There are not wanting many advocates who, while not forgetting the influence on industries, base their plea for the introduction of tool-work into schools entirely on educational considerations.

3. There is a large class of people whose ideas of technical education are more limited, and who confine the meaning to special day or evening classes in the arts and sciences underlying manufactures, supplementary to apprenticeship in mills or workshops. The German continuation school to a large extent forms the pattern on which these would establish their classes. To a considerable extent the technical schools in manufacturing towns answer this

purpose; and, perhaps, still more extensively is the end served by the evening classes held throughout England in connection with the Science and Art Department.

4. In addition to these fairly clear conceptions of technical education, there is a large residuum of people who are ever ready to express an opinion on the subject; but whose thoughts are as obscured as St. Paul's in that most novel of experiences for an Australian-a London fog. They have a hazy indefinable idea that it includes all that I have already indicated, and much besides; that it will make mechanics and factory hands of the whole population, and that it is impracticable, meddling with "natural laws" of supply and demand, and altogether a dangerous thing, to be avoided as revolutionary.

The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 defines: "Technical instruction as instruction in the principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the application of special branches of science and art to special industries and employments. It does not include teaching the practice of any trade. Subject to this reservation, it is held to embrace all subjects for which grants are made by the Science and Art Department, and any other instruction which the School Board, Town Council, or other local authority which carries out the provision of the Act considers suitable to the circumstances of the district, with the sanction of the Science and Art Department."

A separate definition is given of "Manual Instruction," which is held to include the use of tools, and modelling in clay, wood, or other material.

The progress made in Manual Instruction in England has not been great; but a number of very interesting experiments have been carried out under different names by various authorities; but more particularly by enthusiastic and progressive teachers who have been to Sweden to study the system of Slöjd, or Sloyd, at its head-quarters at Nääs.