ny cannot be refuted, and the most considerable of which, the great palace at Karnac,-continued, enlarged and adorned, for eleven centuries,-bears successively in its various parts, the royal legends of the greatest princes who have reigned in Egypt, from Amenophis I., of the eighteenth dynasty (about 1800 B. C.) to Psammeticus and others, kings of the twenty-sixth dynasty.

These relics of olden time corroborate the testimony of Manetho, and fully establish the fact that eighteen hundred years before the Christian era, the art of alphabetic writing on stone was practised and carried to a degree of perfection which was never surpassed even in the palmy days of Greek-Egyptian art. The scanty remnants of Egyptian art, which have reached us from the twentieth century B. C., an age, of which they are the only survivors, except traditions which it is as impossible to verify as to refute-show by the comparative rudeness both of the sculptures and the inscriptions, that the arts were then in their infancy. Writing was probably passing from the picture to the alphabetic letter. The manuscripts which have come down from ages not much later, afford a positive proof, not only that these characters can be used in writing books, but that they actually were so used. But even if it could be proved that these manuscripts are spurious, the fact of the existence of manuscripts in the seventeenth or eighteenth century B. C. is established by the representations of writers, and all their usual implements, still extant in the old bas-reliefs.

It is not necessary to pursue this investigation further. The design of this essay was to show that writing was known or

* Precis p. 242 sq.

It may be asked with seeming pertinency, why the spirited Greeks were so long without alphabetic writings when the Egyptians carried the art to such perfection twelve centuries before Zaleucus? This question must be left with its propounders.

The genuineness of these MSS. or Papyri, may perhaps be doubted by some, though the authority of M. Champollion is almost decisive, but even if no MS. had reached us, the slightest inspection of the cursive character in his grammaire Egyptiene, will convince any one, that it could be applied to ordinary writing. Indeed we are told that Billet-doux in the Egyptian character were" currently reciprocated" among the Petits-Maîtres and their fair coadjutors in Paris a few years since. A very readable text in this character may be seen in Champollion's Pantheon Egyptien, Livraison XII.

SECOND SERIES, VOL. II. NO, III.

12

was not known in the time of Moses, so that the direct inquiry upon the genuineness of the Pentateuch may not be encumbered by any uncertainty attending the previous question. The subject has not been pursued through the broad and uncertain fields of Hindoo or Chinese literature and history, because the question is determined by the history of Egypt alone, and because the present state of our knowledge of the literature of the South and East of Asia renders such inquiries unsatisfactory and their results worthless, unless the writers are familiar with the languages of that region. Enough, it is trusted, has been obtained to prove that letters were well known in Egypt in the time of Moses, and therefore that he who was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, was able to write the Pentateuch in Egyptian characters. If the Pentateuch were shown to be the work of a later age, we think that no argument to that effect could be derived from the state of alphabetic writing in those times..

ARTICLE V.

NORMAL SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' SEMINARIES.

By Calvin E. Stowe, D. D., Prof. of Bibl. Literature, Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ich versprach Gott: Ich will jedes preussische Bauerkind für ein Wesen ansehen, das mich bei Gott verklagen kann, wenn ich ihm nicht die beste Menschen- und Christen-Bildung schaffe, die ich ihm zu schaffen vermag.

I promised God, that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child as a being who could complain of me before God, if I did not provide for him the best education as a man and a Christian, which it was possible for me to provide.

Dinter's Letter to Baron von Altenstein.

WHEN the benevolent Franke turned his attention to the subject of popular education in the city of Hamburg, late in the seventeenth century, he soon found that children could not be well taught without good teachers, and that but few good teachers could be found unless they were regularly trained for the profession. Impressed with this conviction he bent all his energies towards the establishment of a Teachers' Seminary, in

which he finally succeeded, at Halle in Prussia about the year 1704; and from this first institution of the kind in Europe well qualified teachers were soon spread over all the north of Germany, who prepared the way for that great revolution in public instruction which has since been so happily accomplished under the auspices of Frederick William III. and his praiseworthy coadjutors. Every enlightened man, who since the time of Franke has in earnest turned his attention to the same subject, has been brought to the same result; and the recent movements in France, in Scotland; in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, and other states in the American Union, all attest the very great difficulty, if not entire impossibility, of carrying out an efficient system of public instruction without seminaries expressly designed for the preparation of teachers.

Having devoted some attention to this subject, and having spent considerable time in examining institutions of the kind already established in Europe, I propose in this paper to exhibit the result of my investigations. In exhibiting this result, I have thought proper to draw out somewhat in detail, what I suppose would be the best plan, on the whole, without expecting that all parts of the plan, in the present state of education in our country, will be carried into immediate execution. I propose what I think ought to be aimed at, and what I doubt not will ultimately be attained, if the spirit which is now awake on the subject, be not suffered again to sleep.

The sum of what I propose is contained in the six following propositions, namely:

I. The interests of popular education in each State demand the establishment, at the seat of government and under the patronage of the legislature, of a NORMAL SCHOOL, that is, a Teachers' Seminary and model school, for the instruction and practice of teachers in the science of education and the art of teaching.

II. Pupils should not be received into the Teachers' Seminary under sixteen years of age, nor until they are well versed in all the branches usually taught in the common schools.

*The French adjective normal is derived from the Latin noun norma, which signifies a carpenter's square, a rule, a pattern, a model; and the very general use of this term to designate institutions for the preparation of teachers, leads us at once to the idea of a model school for practice as an essential constituent part of a Teachers' Seminary.

III. The model school should comprise the various classes of children usually admitted to the common schools, and should be subject to the same general discipline and course of study.

IV. The course of instruction in the Teachers' Seminary should include three years, and the pupils be divided into three classes accordingly.

V. The senior class in the Teachers' Seminary should be employed, under the immediate instruction of their professors, as instructors in the model school.

VI. The course of instruction in the Teachers' Seminary should comprise lectures and recitations on the following topics, together with such others as further observation and experience may show to be necessary:

1) A thorough, scientific and demonstrative study of all the branches to be taught in the common schools, with directions at every step as to the best method of inculcating each lesson upon children of different dispositions and capacities and various intellectual habits.

2) The philosophy of mind, particularly in reference to its susceptibility of receiving impressions from mind.

3) The peculiarities of intellectual and moral development in children, as modified by sex, parental character, wealth or poverty, city or country, family government indulgent or severe, fickle or steady, etc. etc.

4) The science of education in general, and full illustrations of the difference between education and mere instruction. 5) The art of teaching.

6) The art of governing children, with special reference to imparting and keeping alive a feeling of love for children.

7) History of education, including an accurate outline of the educational systems of different ages and nations, the circumstances which gave rise to them, the principles on which they were founded, the ends which they aimed to accomplish, their successes and failures, their permanency and changes, how far they influenced individual and national character, how far any of them might have originated in premeditated plan on the part of their founders, whether they secured the intelligence, virtue and happiness of the people, or otherwise, with the causes, etc. 8) The rules of health and the laws of physical develop

ment.

9) Dignity and importance of the teacher's office.

10) Special religious obligations of teachers in respect to be

nevolent devotedness to the intellectual and moral welfare of society, habits of entire self-control, purity of mind, elevation of character, etc.

11) The influence which the school should exert on civilization and the progress of society.

12) The elements of Latin, together with the German, French, and Spanish languages.

On each of the topics above enumerated; I shall attempt to offer such remarks as may be necessary to their more full development and illustration; and then state the argument in favor of, and answer the objections which may be urged against the establishment of such an institution as is here contemplated. To begin with the first proposition.

I. The interests of popular education in each State demand the establishment, at the seat of goverment, and under the patronage of the legislature, of a Normal School, that is, a Teachers' Seminary and model school, for the instruction and practice of teachers in the science of education and art of teaching.

If there be necessity for such an institution, there can be little doubt that the legislature should patronize and sustain it; for new as our country is, and numerous as are the objects to which individual capital must be applied, there can be no great hope, for many years to come, of seeing such institutions established and supported by private munificence. It is a very appropriate object of legislative patronage; for, as the advantages of such an institution are clearly open to all the citizens of the State and equally necessary to all, it is right that each should sustain his proper share of the expense.

Reserving my general argument in favor of these establishments till after a more full development of their object, organization, and course of study, I shall confine my remarks under this head to the subject of legislative patronage, and the influence which such an institution would exert, through the legislature and other officers of government, on the people at large. And in order that the institution may exert the influence here contemplated, it will appear obviously necessary that it be placed at the seat of government.

Popular legislators ought to have some objects in view besides the irritating and often petty questions of party politics. Any observing man, who has watched the progress of popular legislation among us, cannot but have noticed the tendency of continued and uninterrupted party bickering to narrow the mind