`(iii.) Certificates awarded in Mechanical Drawing Course from (iv.) Certificates Awarded in Industrial Art Course from 1885 to 1899. 1896 1897 1898 1899 Total 1 Total. 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1723142122~2364 51 17 (v.) Certificates awarded for Extra Subjects from b. Literary and Scientific Societies receiving grants. The following Institutions receive Legislative Grants: 1. Hamilton Literary and Scientific Institution; 2. Kingston School of Mining; 3. Ontario Historical Society; 4. Ottawa French Canadian Institute; 5. Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society; 6. Ottawa St. Patrick's Literary and Scientific Association; 7. Ottawa Field Naturalist Club; 8. Toronto Canadian Institute; 9. Toronto Astronomical and Physical Society. All of these Institutions give popular lectures on literature or science; some of them publish their transactions and others. have museums, all of which are greatly appreciated by the public and assist in developing a taste for Literature, Science and Art. c. Progress of School Architecture and Decoration. Extract from an inaugural address given by Dr. S. P. May, Superintendent of Art Schools, to the officers and members of the Dufferin Art School League, in December 1899. A History of the Progress of School Architecture and the Decoration of School Rooms in the City. It is not generally known, and I presume that even some members of the Advisory Board for School Art Leagues are not aware, that fifty years ago the Education Department supplied architectural plans for the erection of school houses. The late Chief Superintendent of Education, the Rev. Dr. Ryerson, the founder of the public school system, whose memory we all revere, and whose name will be handed down to posterity as a great Canadian educationist, philanthropist and true Christian, was the first man in Canada to direct public attention to the importance of school architecture. It was through his exertions that in 1850 Parliament voted the sum of £200 per annum for purchasing plans, engravings, etc., for the improvement of school architecture; these plans__were published and distributed from time to time through the Upper Canada Journal of Education, and eventually school trustees made so many applications for specifications for erecting school buildings, that it became necessary for a book to be published on this subject. In 1857 Dr. Hodgins, then Deputy Superintendent of Education, published under the authority of the Chief Superintendent, The School House, its architecture, external and internal arrangements." This book was profusely illustrated with engravings of elevations and plans for school buildings, and was of great value in awakening an interest in school architecture, for, as some of us remember, at that time we had a large number of log school houses, and the trustees of rural schools seemed satisfied that so long as they could afford shelter for the school children, they need make no attempt to make the school attractive to the pupils; they considered learning to be a good thing, and approved of children attending school, but they did not care about external architectural beauty, nor the internal decoration of school rooms. In 1859, two years after the publication of "The School House," the grant for school architecture was increased to $800.00 per annum. In 1872 the Education Department offered prizes to Inspectors and Teachers for the best architectual designs and plans for rural school houses. Thirty persons competed, and seventeen awards were made to the value of $230.00; seven prizes were taken by school inspectors, and ten by school teachers. In 1876 a new edition of " The School House," with illustrated papers on School Hygiene and Ventilation, was published by Dr. Hodgins. I consider that a proper attention to Light, Heat, and Ventilation is of more importance than external decorations in the construction of school buildings. If school rooms are not well ventilated and lighted, most injurious effects are produced on the mental development and physical health of children, which are often felt in after life. It is a well known hygienic fact that if a child breathes foul air, he is in a state of physical discomfort; consequently in his undiscriminating mind the feelings of pain and lassitude are associated with school, and cause a dislike for books and study. The ill health of pupils and teachers, sometimes credited to overwork, is frequently due to draughts and foul air in the school room. Another important thing is the arrangement of light in the school room. We frequently find windows on the right of the desks of the pupils, and sometimes on three or four sides of a room; this, together with the white walls, and interminable blackboards surrounding the children, no doubt produces Myopia or nearsightedness; and how frequent it is that we now see school children using spectacles; fifty years ago such a thing was unknown. In the same year, 1876, the Education Department exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition models of school buildings for Collegiate Institutes, Public Schools in cities and towns, also for Schools in rural districts, made to a working scale with ground plans and references as to cost of erection, accommodation, etc. At the close of the exhibition these models, which were much sought after by foreign educationists, were divided between the representatives of Japan and the United States. We also exhibited large framed photographs of Collegiate Institutes, High Schools, and Public Schools erected in different parts of this Province. I may mention that a similar collection of large photographs for the Paris Exposition of 1900 has been prepared under the authority of the Hon. Mr. Harcourt, Minister of Education. In 1886, Dr. Hodgins, under the direction of the Hon. Adam Crooks, first Minister of Education, published "Hints and Suggestions on School Architecture and Hygiene," with plans and illustrations, and I may here state that the Education Department is now offering prizes for the best architectural plans for school houses. In regard to the internal decoration of school houses I may say that from 1851 to 1878 the Educational Depository supplied schools at half cost price with historical and other prints and engravings, which were reproductions of the works of Raphael and other old masters, together with plain and coloured engravings by Landseer and other modern painters, also small busts of eminent and celebrated men of ancient and modern times. The annual reports of the Chief Superintendent and the Ministers of Education show that after good school houses had been erected, internal decoration was not uncommon. I claim, therefore, that the Education Department of this Province took the lead of all other countries in encouraging the decoration of public school walls with pictures, engravings, plaster casts, etc. It was not until 1880 that France commenced the aesthetic culture of the pupils of common schools. In that year a commission of thirty eminent men were appointed to report on the decoration of schools, and art for schools. This commission was charged with the duty of studying the means of introducing into the system of instruction the aesthetic education of the eye. Its labours extended over a year. In the report it is said: "The special task of this commission was to devise means and ways for improving æsthetic education through the eye, not by specific direct instruction set forth in programmes, but by the operation of the environments of the school, and the artistic character of its appliances. These environments and appliances were considered by the commission mainly under four heads: 1. The æsthetic character of the school building, including its artistic ornamentation, both exterior and interior; 2. The furnishing of objects of art for the observation and study of the pupils; 3. The rewards of merit; 4. Illustrating apparatus." Soon after this a Committee was appointed in Manchester, England, with similar functions to those of the French Commission. This was followed by the organisation of an association with the same object in view, in London, England, with Mr. Ruskin as President. In 1883, the Committee on Drawing of the Boston School Board called attention to what had been done in this direction in Manchester and London, and suggested the advisability of organising a similar association for their schools. In this connection it remarks: "We hold with the English Committee that a love for the beautiful is perhaps only second to religion as a protection against the grosser forms of self-indulgence, and that it can best be kindled at an age when the mind is specially susceptible to the influence of habitual surroundings." About the same time our present Premier, the Hon. Dr. Ross, then Minister of Education, introduced mural decoration in the school buildings under Government control; the walls of the Toronto and Ottawa Normal Schools were either tinted or papered, and decorated with oil paintings, reproductions of the different ancient and modern Schools of Art, and life-size busts of distinguished men of ancient and modern times, thus surrounding the teachers in training with examples of art, and studies of the great and good. The result which followed and will follow we cannot calculate, for we know that in human culture the most potential forces impressed on our minds are produced by our environments; that although these forces are imperceptible and scarcely seem to have existence, they cause an unconscious tuition, an invisible intangible influence on our minds, to which no resistance can be made because its very existence is unnoticed and unknown. X-PUBLIC LIBRARIES. a. Public Libraries (not free). The following extracts are taken from the annual reports for the year ending 30th April, 1899:-- 1. Classification of Public Libraries Reporting 1898–99. Public Libraries, with libraries, reading rooms 2 Public Libraries, with libraries and reading |