Premier on the same vitally important interest as embodied in his reply to a deputation from the National Public School Association, just before his retirement from power :-I have very long felt that the state of education in this country is not such as we can be proud of; indeed it is such as we ought almost to be ashamed of. The government of Lord Melbourne proposed what they thought might be attempted as an improvement upon the existing system of education, and their proposal was only carried in the House of Commons, in committee of the whole house, by a majority of two. Sir James Graham, under the government of Sir R. Peel, proposed a scheme of education, which was founded upon much consideration, and in which he made large concessions to different objectors, but he was at last obliged to abandon the scheme altogether. My own opinion is that the question is advancing to a solution; but that it is not at present in such a state as to be ripe for the government to undertake it. When there were only Sunday Schools existing in the country for the poorer classes, the British and Foreign School Society attempted a more general system of daily schools. They made it necessary by their scheme that instruction in the Bible should be given. They refused any creed or Catechism, or anything that would exclude those who would agree to the reading of the Bible. That system inevitably and obviously included religious instruction. When the National School Society was set up, they required not only that the Bible should be read, but that instruction should be given in the Liturgy and Catechism of the Church of England. That system of course included religious instruction. There have been a great many schools established by the Wesleyans. They require that the whole of the Bible should be used in those schools. These facts show that in all these different bodies, and I believe I may add among the Congregationalists and other religious bodies as well-the tendency of the societies has been to combine religious with secular instruction, and the funds they have collected have been employed for that purpose. I think that at present the general opinion of the country is for a combination of religious with secular instruction. I have, perhaps, some prejudice on this subject. I have for a very long period belonged to the British and Foreign School Society, and I have very much adopted their views upon this question. That may be a prejudice on my part. Mr. Fox says, and truly, that there is a great resemblance between this scheme and that adopted by the government and enforced in Ireland, and enforced too very successfully; but I think it hardly follows that, though that is the best scheme for Ireland, it would be the best scheme for this country. One thing I may observe, I have seen with great satisfaction in the case of Manchester. I believe that a great majority of those, who, in Manchester, pay the rates, are willing to concur in paying an additional rate for the promotion of education, and I think that a very encouraging circunstance. Men do not generally say they would rather pay more rates than they now pay, and their being willing to pay a rate for education proves the estimation in which education is held, and the great benefits to be derived from it. I wish only further to say that I hope you will go on with your scheme. I must certainly say, I do not share the opinions of those who think there is any hostility between secular and religious instruction. I am convinced that secular instruction, so far from being hostile to religion, will prepare the minds of those so instructed for the reception of religious instruction, will make them better capable of understanding that which the ministers of religion teach them, and that there cannot fail to be in good secular instruction, give it as you may, the inculcation of great truths -love to God, admiration of the creation of the world, love to their neighbours, and those general doctrines, which, though not the Christian religion itself, prepare the minds of those instructed for the reception of the truths of Christianity.

Education in Italy.-118 elementary schools of the first grade for boys, and 25 for girls, are supported by the Sardinian Government; 4,242 schools of a second grade for boys, and 1259 for girls. There are also 531 male private schools, and 602 for girls. The amount expended in support of these schools excced $330,000 a year, and the number of pupils is stated to be 200,000. There are 104 institutions of a higher grade, with 900 teachers and 12,000 pupils. In the Universities there are 3,000 students, for the support of which the Government gives $124,000 annually, and the same sum to the schools.

University of Athens.-An American gentleman, Mr. H. M. Baird, at present attending this University, in a recent letter to the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, writes as follows:-The University commenced its sessions nominally in the latter part of September; but the weather has been so warm (warmer than in August in New York) that the course has but lately begun. The lectures are delivered constantly from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., ald generally three will be delivered at the same time. I, however, shall attend but three lectures daily at the utmost. At eight in the morning I attend a lecture by Prof. Venthylus until nine. He translates on two days of the week Demosthenes's oration against Leptines, and on two others Eschylus's play of Agamemnon, into modern Greek. From nine to ten I hear Prof. Asopius on the Odyssey, the Greek poets, &c. Then I

study until eleven, when a student and myself for an hour translate alternately from English to Greek, and vice versa. This is a very instructive exercise. Then I study, either committing to memory words from a vocabulary, translating, or studying the grammar, until five o'clock, when I hear Prof. Manousis, a very good historian, on universal history; and at 6 Prof. Paparagopoulos on Greek history.

General Assemby's Education Scheme.-The importance of this Scheme, we are convinced, will commend it to the liberality of all the friends of the Church of Scotland. There are at present on the Assembly's scheme 119 schools in the Highlands and Islands, attended by about 7,500 children; and 45 schools in various other parts of Scotland, attended by about 4,500 children. In addition to these, there are 13 female Schools, attended by upwards of 700 children. Besides the children who are attending these schools on the week day, there are upwards of 2,000 who attend the Sunday schools taught by the Assembly's teachers; and there are 1,000 children attending the model schools attached to the two normal institutions in Edinburgh and Glasgow; so that in all, nearly 15,000 children were reported as attending during the last half year, and during the whole yea! fully 16,000 had been receiving instruction at the schools supported by the General Assembly's Education Scheme. At the two normal insiitutions. for the better training of teachers, during the year ending May last, 50 young men, selected by comparative trial, from all parts of Scotland, had been admitted, and maintained and instructed gratis; and not fewer than 109 others, young men and young women, on payment of very moderate fees, had been receiving instruction at these seminaries to qualify them as teachers in elementary schools.-[Edinburgh Advertiser.

University of France.—The Moniteur of yesterday contained the first of a series of long expected decrees on the University of France. It is through this institution that the Minister of Publie Instruction is brought into ultimate communication with the whole rising generation of France, regulates the internal economy of every academy in the country, dictates the branches which shall be studied and the particular authors who shall furnish the text books, and appoints and revokes the professors, rectors and pedagogues. I will give the heads of the decree, the importance of which you will not fail to perceive. The president will hereafter appoint and revoke the members of the superior council of education, the inspectors general, all rectors and professors, the members of the bureau of longitude, of the observatories of Paris and Marseilles, and the administrators of all public libraries. The functionaries of the inferior degree, including the schoolmasters throughout the whole country, will be appointed and revoked by the Minister of Public Instruction. Then follows a decree reconstructing the Council of Public Instruction. Theirs, Cuvier, Dubois, Cousin, Floureus, Dupin and Orfila are dismissed, and others appointed in their places, among whom are MM. Troplong, Baroche, Michel Chevalier, de Paxtalis, Delangle and Uisard. M. Dumas, the chemist, is appointed vicepresident. A list of nominations of inspectors-general, is given in the third decree, and their salaries are fixed in the fourth.-[Corr. N. Y. Com. Adv.

UNITED STATES.

MONTHLY SUMMARY.

The reforms which have been urged in the Government of this ancient College, which belongs to the State of Massachusetts, seem to have resulted in quite a unanimous desire on the part of the Unitarians that their Divinity School should be severed from the College. A memorial to this effect from the President and Fellows of the College was submitted to a Ccm. mittee of the Board of overseers who have recommended its excision............. Samuel Olney, teacher in one of the public schools in North Providence, was fined ten dollars and costs on Saturday, for severely flogging Charles E. Peckham, aged about eleven years.....In the Texas House of Representatives a bill, appropriating a million of dollars for the establishment of a system of common schools, out of the five millions to be first received from the United States, and also appropriating for the same purpose a tenth of any money which may hereafter arise from the sale of the public domain, together with the ten per cent. of the annual revenues set apart by the Constitution for the establishment and support of common schools, was passed.

A Free University.--A proposition is on foot in New York to establish an institution at Albany, to be called the National University, the leading features of which, as appears by the bill now before the Legislature for the purpose, are the following: 1st. One pupil from each of the Assembly districts of the State, to be educated at public expense, in the University to be established at Albany, by the foundation of at least fifteen professorships, to be approved by the Regents. The pupils to be not less than sixteen, nor more than twenty-five years of age; to be for the two years next previous residents of the District, and to be paid their actual travelling expenses once a year, not exceeding two cents per mile. 2nd. $200 annually to be appropriated for each pupil, to wit: $80 for his tuition and $120

for his personal support, making $25,600 annually for two years. The pupil to be also entitled to remain in this University for a further term of two years, without charge for tuition, or expense to the State. 3rd. The State pupils to be selected according to merit, after full, open, public competition in their respective districts-for which purpose two examiners are to be annually chosen by the supervisors in each Assembly district, each supervisor voting for one; and the two highest to be elected.

Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools in the State of New York.-We published the annual report of the Hon. Christopher Morgan yesterday, designing to connect some remark and a synopsis of it with the brief summary of the Rev. Dr. Ryerson's report of Common Schools in Upper Canada, but the arrival of the foreign news frustrated the intention. Mr. Morgan's report, however, is important and suggestive enough for a separate article, both for its theme and the mode of treating it. Very ably indeed did the late superintendent of common schools* discharge the onerous and responsible duties of that office, in addition to the other branch of official labour imposed upon him. The cause of education ever found in him a zealous and steadfast friend; and his successor, of whose capabilities for the important post we have a high opinion, nor less of his devotion to its duties, will find a field well prepared to yield a full harvest to reward his labours. Aside from political preferences, Mr. Morgan's retirement will be regretted by all who have watched his earnest devotion and assiduous labour in the cause of common school education, and assuredly all will bear testimony to his unfailing urbanity of intercourse. This much it seemed only just to say of one who, after long and faithful service to the state, has now retired into private life. To the preparation of the report before us, which may be regarded as his closing official act, he appears to have applied himself with much care. After glancing briefly at the difficulties attending the operation of a free school act of 1849, amounting at one time almost to a suspension of the system, the principle of which the people had approved by a large majority, the superintendent describes the present actual condition of the schools. On the 1st day of July, 1851, there was 11,479 school districts within the state, 2792 of which are “joint districts," comprehending portions of two or more towns. Reports have been received from 1,080 of those districts, and with but few exceptions the accounts are eminently gratifying and encouraging. The whole number of children between the ages of five and sixteen, residing in the state on the 31st of December 1850 was 754,047, of whom 726,291 had been under instruction for a shorter or longer period during the year-a much more pleasing condition of things than that yesterday mentioned as prevalent in the province of Upper Canada. In addition to these common schools, however, there were 2,277 private schools, having an attendance of 45,840 pupils. The number of schools for coloured children was 105, in which 5305 children were taught during the year. The number of volumes in the district libraries was 1,508.077, being an increase during the year of 57,127 A glance at the annual cost to the people of this state of the gratuitous education of its children, cannot but excite admiration of their patriotism, for that alone could prompt such generosity. The aggregate amount of expenditure for school purposes during the year is one million eight hun- . dred and eighty-four thousand, eight hundred and twenty-six dollars, The expenditure for teachers' salaries was $1,350,345: for district libraries $39,104; for school house sites, building school houses and school house repairs and furniture, $455,176. A state that thus liberally provides a free education for its eight hundred thousand children may expect the blessings of Heaven as well as the beuedictions of men, and while such a wise and noble policy is pursued, every succeeding generation will be farther removed from submission to despotism on the one hand, or indulgence in anarchy on the other. Having disposed of these statistics, the superintendent enters upon an earnest discussion of such legislative measures as he deems yet necessary for the perfection of the system by making education absolutely free, without the imposition of any rate bill. He also presses upon the Legislature the restoration of county superintendents. There does not seem to us to be any room for reasonable doubt of the propriety of re-establishing this valuable and efficient class of officers, while in Mr. Morgan's report the most unanswerable arguments are adduced in support of it. We trust the present Legislature will favourably regard the recommendation, and enact a law during the session for the reappointment of county superintendents. But more than this is required in order to perfect the arrangements of the department for procuring and disseminating statistical and general information respecting the common schools, and we most cordially concur in Mr. Morgan's suggestion in favour of separating the office of state superintendent of common schools from that of Secretary of State. Either office will sufficiently engross the attention of one man, and the importance and the labor of each are augmented every year.-[N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

*The Hon. Henry S. Randall, having been recently elected Secretary of the State of New-York, succeeds Mr. C. Morgan, as State Superintendent of Cominon Schools, ex

Education in Iowa.—In Iowa there are five hundred and eightyone public schools, taught by about the same number of teachers, of whom nearly half are females. In each township of the State, one square mile of land has been set apart to remain forever devoted to the support of public schools. The number of acres thus reserved in the whole State, is about one million, which, with other land devoted to the same purpose, are now worth two and a half millions of dollars, increasing in value at the rate of at least ten per cent every year

Education in Wisconsin.-By the enactment of a code of Free Common School Laws, Wisconsin has laid the foundation of a system of public schools designed to secure to all her children the means of elementary instruction. For a State which has so recently become the abode of civilized man, this is a good beginning. But this is not all she has done for education. Already she boasts of her State University, for the endowment of which she has made magnificent provision. This institution is located at Madison, the capital of the State, and, though founded but two years since, the number of students in the regular college classes is now between twenty and thirty, while in the grammar and Normal Schools, many others are preparing for an early admission. The Chancellor of the Board of Regents is Rev. John H. Lathrop, LL. D. There are collegiate institutes at Jauesville, Racine, Renasha, Milwaukie and Appleton. Beloit College, located in the thriving town of Beloit, is principally endowed by donations from New England States, and its friends entertain the hope that, in time, it may become the "Yale" of the West. The number of students at present is about thirty. In the Preparatory and Normal Departments connected with it, there are eighty students. Thus the foundation of her system has been laid, and her enterprize we doubt not, will, in due time, rear a superstructure which will increase and secure her prosperity and raise her to an enviable rank in the scale of intelligence and civilization.

Literary and Scientific Entelligence.

MONTHLY SUMMARY.

With the view of incr asing the efficiency of the English schools of design, new Department of Practical Art," intended to have the superintendence over the various schools of design, and to be connected with other self-supporting institutions which aim to advance education in art, has recently been organized at the Board of Trade.....John Slattery, a young Limerick boy, who has displayed proofs of great artistic talent, and has received the first prize of the Dublin School of Art, is about to be sent to the continent, to pursue his studies further, at the expense of a few gentlemen, who take a kind interest in him..... The Americans are about to do honour to the memory of the late J Fennimore Cooper, the celebrated novelist, by the erection of a statute.....The Emperor of Austria has ordered a monument of Metastasia to be erected in Vienna, where the poet passed the greatest part of his life, and composed all his works.... The fossil remains of an elephant have recently been found in the excava tions on Burlington Heights, near Hamilton.......The curator of Archbishop Tenison's library has discovered among the books under his care a manuscript copy of St. John's Gospel, in the Ethiopic character. It is supposed to be of the twelfth or thirteenth century, and is said to vary from the received version.......It is said that the Duke of Wellington has consigned the publication of his papers to Lord Mahon....... Mr. Maca ulay has delayed the publication of the third and fourth volumes of his History of England, in consequence of his having obta ned some new information relating to King William the Third.......The copyright treaty between France and Great Britain, securing works of art and literature to the authors, was signed at Paris, January 18th...... The Roman Government have sanctioned the introduction of postage stamps for the prepayment of postage or letters. The stamp is about the size of the English postage stamp, and on it is the representation of the tiara and keys, the badge of papal dignity and power.....The cyphers 123456789 which we use, began to be used in Europe for the first time in 1240, in the Alphonsine Tables, drawn up by crder of Alfonso, son of Ferdinand, King of Castile, who employed for that purpose Isaac Hazan, a Jew, chanter of the Synagogue of Toledo and Aben Ragel, an Arabian. The Arabs derived them from the Indians in 900. The other Orientals had them from the Spaniards in a very short time. The first Greek who had used them is Ilanudas, in a work which he dedicated to Michael Paleologus in 1270. Thus the Greeks had them not from the Arabs but from the Latins. The first time that these cyphers were.seer in Paris was in 1256, in the Sphere of Jean de Serbois, buried in the Mathurins....... Mr. Hamilton. of New York, has written a letter to Kossuth, in which he remarks that "the time has come when certain developments must be made public," and asserts that the famous proclamation of neutrality, issued by Washington, with the farewell address, and most of Wasyington's important papers, were written by the great American Statesman, Alexander Hamilton He refers to his father's confidential correspondence to prove what he asserts.

Editorial Notices, &c.

THE PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY,

Illustrated by simple experiments, by Dr. Julius Adolph Stock hardt, translated from the German, by C. H. Peirce, M.D., with an Introduction by E. N. Horsford, Professor of Chemistry, in the University of Cambridge, (Mass.)-Cambridge, JOHN BART LETT; Toronto: DEPOSITORY, EDUCATION Office.

There is no department of knowledge to which the present age is so deeply indebted for its rapid progress in arts, manufactures, and refinement, as to the Science of Chemistry, and yet there is no Science whose general principles are so little understood by the people. The principles of Chemistry, in one form or another, are involved in every operation of domestic economy, or daily industry. The study of the mere elements of Chemistry has, however, no place in our grammar school course, much less in that of our common schools; neither is it found to engage the attention of young persons during those many hours of idleness, which occur in winter evening's, and which might be most profitably and delightfully employed, in acquiring that practical information which the work before us is especially designed to give.

Chemistry has always been considered as a Science which involves the possession of expensive apparatus to enable the student to prosecute his enquiries. Professor Horsford says in his introduction to Dr. Stockhardt's.book: "works designed to teach Chemistry by experiment are already in use, both here and abroad, but most of them take for granted the possession of expensive apparatus and a laboratory; scarcely any are designed to bring the practical study or the Science within the means of the more elementary schools;-and none are to be found suited to the winter evening firesides all over the country, where the younger and the more advanced of both sexes would delight in chemical experiments, did not the apparently necessary expense of apparatus forbid them. It is to meet the latter two wants as well as those of a general textbook, that the work of Professor Stockhardt, edited by my late assistant Dr. Peirce, is eminently suited."

In Dr. Stockhardt's principles of Chemistry nearly every statement of the relations which exist between different substances is illustrated by experiment; the most important changes which occur in bodies subjected to chemical forces, are shown by diagrams, and whatever is susceptible of being described by drawings is truthfully and intelligibly delineated. The apparatus required to conduct the most important of the numerous experiments given in the text, are "a few tubes and flasks, a spirit lamp, some corks india rubber and reagent bottles."

Besides inorganic Chemistry, or the Chemistry of inert matter this work comprehends organic Chemistry, or the Chemistry of vegetables and animals. It also includes to a small extent, what may be termed, the Chemistry of manufactures; illustrating the principles of the manufactures of gas, soap, beer, vinegar &c., &c.

The copy of the work before us, (3rd American edition), forms an octavo volume containing 680 pages, printed in large type on good paper, and written in a singularly attractive style—a recommendation which translations do not usually possess.

We seriously commend Dr. Stockhardt's work to all who would desire to obtain, without an instructor, an acquaintance with the principles of Chemistry, which may truly be said to be THE science of the day.

LECTURE ON TEACHERS' MORALS AND MANNERS:

Delivered before the American Institute of Instruction, Keene, N. H. By H. R. Oliver. Boston, Ticknor & Co., 1851; Rochester, D.M. Dewey. 12mo., pp, 40.

An experienced teacher, to whom we handed this lecture for examination, has expressed the very great pleasure and satisfaction he experienced in reading it. Its counsels are most valuable, and are given in an agreeable and kindly spirit. The gentle yet marked tone of criticism on certain sins of omission, arising out of our notions of independence," is very amusing indeed, coming as it does from a New Englander, and addressed to an exThe remarks would have soine point clusively American audience. addressed even to Anglo Americans.

HEAT AND VENTILATION:

General Observations on the Atmosphere and its Abuses, as connected with the common mode of Heating Buildings; together with Practical Suggestions on the subject. 8vo., pp. 59. Rochester, D. M. Dewey, 1852. Thoroughly impressed with the great importance, and, at the same time, with the great neglect of proper ventilation in public and private buildings, the author discusses his subject con amore. The anecdotes and illustrations of the injurious effects of a defective system of ventilation, are most interesting, as well as full of counsel and warning. We have from time to time endeavoured in these pages to impress upon school trustees and others, the absolute necessity-arising from a tendency in youth to contract fatal diseases in close, ill-ventilated school-rooms-of providing especially, in the construction of school-houses, proper facilities for the escape of impure, and the constant admission of pure air. The perusal of this excellent pamphlet could not fail to influence trustees on this point.

ACADIA COLLEGE. THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS :

Delivered by the President; and his Introductory Lecture to the Theological Course; with an Appendix. Halifax, N. S. Bowes and Son, 1851.

We have to thank the Rev. Dr. Cramp, the President of Acadia College, who is well known in Canada as a warm friend to education, for a copy of this pamphlet. The Rev. Dr. seems to have entered upon his duties in Acadia College with much energy and ability. His Inaugural Address, though brief, is practical; while the chief excellence and force of the writer is embodied in the introductory Lecture. Great care and industry are evident in its preparation.

A DICTIONARY OF THE GERMAN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES: Abridged from the author's large work for the use of Learners. By G. J. Allen, A. M., Professor of the German Language and Literature in the University of the City of New York. In two parts. I. German and English; II. English and German. 12mo., pp. 549 × 293= 842. New York, D. Appleton & Co.; Rochester, D.M. Dewey, 1852. This is a most valuable work. It is compiled from the works of Hilpert, Flugel, Greib. Heyse, and others. It indicates the accentation of every word, and contains several hundred German synonyms, gether with a classification and alphebetical list of the irregular verbs, and a dictionary of German abbreviations. The work is strongly and neatly bound.

THE

THE BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION for the United Counties of YORK, ONTARIO and PEEL, hereby give Notice, that an examination of Candidates to fill the office of COMMON SCHOOL TEACHERS, will take place at the times and places hereinafter mentioned, viz:

9 a.m.

AT THE COURT HOUSE, City of Toronto, on TUESDAY, May 11th, at Revds. John Jennings, H. J. Grasett, John Barclay, John Roaf; Dr. Hayes; R. Cathcart, J. McMurrich, and J. B. Boyle, Esquires. AT DUFFIN'S CREEK, on the same day and hour. Examining Committee: The Rev. Messrs. Waddell, R. H. Thornton; Dr. Foote; W. B. Warren, and E. Annis, Esquires.

AT BRAMPTON, Chinguacousy, on the same day and hour. Examining Committee: The Revds. J. Pringle, H. B. Osler, R. J. Macgeorge, J. Campbell; T. Studdart, Esquire; Dr. Crumbie.

AT NEWMARKET, on the same day and hour. Examining Committee: Thomas Nixon, Joseph Hartman, and R. H. Smith, Esquires.

AT RICHMOND HILL, on the same day and hour. Examining Committee: The Revs. J. Dick, J. Boyd; D. Higgins, Amos Wright, and T. Harris, Esquires.

All Teachers presenting themselves for Examination, will be required to select the particular Class in which they propose to pass; and previous to being admitted for Examination, must furnish to the Examining Committee satisfactory proof of good moral character, such proof to consist of the Certificate of the Clergyman whose ministration the Candidate has attended, and in cases where the party has taught a Common School, the Certificates of the Trustees of said School, and of the Local Superintendent. Each Candidate will be expected to attend the Examination in his own School Circuit, if possible.

It was resolved by the Board, at its last meeting, That there shall be only one Examination of Teachers during the present year, after the one in May, which shall be held on the 21st December.

The Board will meet at the Court House, Toronto, on Tuesday, the first of June, at 2 p. m., for the purpose of receiving the reports of the several Examining Committees, licensing Teachers, and for other Business. By order of the Board,

City of Toronto, April 11, 1852..

JOHN JENNINGS,

CHAIRMAN.

WANTED IMMEDIATELY, a competent FEMALE HEAD

TEACHER, for the Public School, Town of Dundas, who will be required to teach, in addition to the branches usually taught in a Common School, Composition, Outlines of Physiology, Plain and Fancy NeedleWork, and Drawing Salary about £60 per annum. Application may be made to William Miller, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

TORONTO: Printed and Published by THOMAS HUGH BENTLEY. TERMS: For a single copy, 5s. per annum; not less than 8 copies, 4s. 44d. each, or $7 for the 8; not less than 12 copies, 4s. 2d. each, or $10 for the 12; 20 copies and up wards, 3s, 9d. each. Back Vols. neatly stitched supplied on the same terms. All subscriptions to commence with the January number, and payment in advance must in all cases accompany the order. Single numbers, 74d. each.

All communications to be addressed to Mr. J. GEORGE HODGINS,
Education Office, Toronto.

CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.

I. Physical Training in Schools-Gymnastic Exercises-No. 1-With 15 illustrations, ...

II. Errors in respect to Schools corrected. (continued)-No. 2,

III. Third Lecture on Free Schools. By the Rev. John Armour, Port Sarnia,. IV. Written Exercises,

V. MISCELLANEOUS. I. There is a tongue in every Lear (Poetry.) 2. Literary Obligations of Europe to Arabia. 3. Laws of Health. 4. Railroads in Europe. 5. Mutual relation of Parties interested in the Schools. 6. Height and Weight of Men and Women,

VI. Official Answers to Questions proposed by Local School Authorities, (concluded,) VII. Mental Arithmetic-Method of Teaching it in the Model School, Toronto, VIII. Extract from the Message of His Excellency Governor llunt, relating to Education in the State of New York,

IX. Every Child has a right to a good Public Education,

X. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. 1. CANADA-Monthly Summary. 2. Inspectors of Schools in L. C. 3. Queen's College. 4. Victoria College. 5. Trinity College. 6. Chief Superintendent for New Brunswick. 7. Statutes relating to Education in Prince Edward's Island. 8. BRITISH AND FOREIGN -Monthly Summary-9. Society for Teaching the Blind. 10. Mechanics' Institutes. 11. University of Athens. 12. Education in Italy. 13. In Turkey. 14. Buenos Ayres. 15. UNITED STATES-Monthly Summary-16. Legislative Aid to Colleges in New York. 17. I Texas. 18. Increase to N.Y. State School Fund. 19. Free School Petition to Congress. 20. Schools in Georgia. 21. In Kentucky. 22. In Ohio,

IX. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 1. Monthly Summary. 2. Exhibition Medal, Canada. 3. Thomas Moore. 4. Canadian Institute. 5.

Deaths in 1851. 6. Crystal Palace. 7. National Museum. 8. Telegraphic
Time in England. 9. Telegraphic Alarms in Boston,

XII, EDITORIAL AND OFFICIAL NOTICES.-Advertisements,

PHYSICAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS.

66

GYMNASTIC EXERCISES.

No. I.

PAGE

In the official Report on a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada,"-by the Chief Superintendent of Schools, (Second edition, printed by order of the House of Assembly, pp. 58-60,) are the following remarks on Physical Training in our Schools:

On the development of the physical powers I need say but a few words. A system of instruction making no provision for those exercises which contribute to health and vigour of body, and to agreeableness of manners, must necessarily be imperfect. The active pursuits of most of those pupils who attend the public Schools, require the exercise necessary to bodily health; but the gymnastics regularly taught as a recreation, and with a view to the future pursuits of the pupil, and to which so much importance is attached in the best British Schools and in the Schools of Germany and France, are advantageous in various respects,-promote not only physical health and vigour, but social cheerfulness, active, easy and graceful movements. They strengthen and give the pupil a perfect command over all the members of his body. Like the art of writing, they proceed from the simplest movement, to the most complex and difficult exercises, imparting a bodily activity and skill scarcely credible to those who have not witnessed them.

To the culture and command of all the faculties of the mind, a corresponding exercise and control of all the members of the body is next in importance. It was young men thus trained that com

No. 5.

posed the vanguard of Blucher's army; and much of the activity enthusiasm and energy which distinguished them, was attributed to their gmynastic training at school. A training which gives superiority in one department of active life, must be beneficial in another. It is well known, as has been observed by physiologists, that "the muscles of any part of the body when worked by exercise, draw additional nourishment from the blood, and by the repetition of the stimulus, if it be not exercise, increase in size, strength and freedom of action. The regular action of the muscles promotes and preserves the uniform circulation of the blood, which is the prime condition of health. The strength of a body or of a limb depends upon the strength of the muscular system, or of the muscles of the limb; and as the constitutional muscular endowment of most people is tolerably good, the diversities of muscular power observable amongst men is chiefly attributable to exercise." The Youth of Canada are designed for active, and most of them for laborious occupations; exercises which strengthen not one class of muscles, or the muscles of certain members only, but which develop the whole physical system, cannot fail to be beneficial.

The application of these remarks to common day schools must be very limited. They are designed to apply chiefly to boarding and training, to Industrial and Grammar Schools,-to those schools to the masters of which the prolonged and thorough educational instruction of youth is entrusted.

It

To physical education great importance has been attached by the best educators in all ages and countries. Plato gave as many as a thousand precepts respecting it. It formed a prominent feature in the best parts of the education of the Greeks and Romans. It has been largely insisted upon by the most distinguished educational writers in Europe, from Charon and Montaigne, down to numerous living authors in France and Germany, England and America. occupies a conspicuous place in the codes of School Regulations in France and Switzerland, and in many places in Germany. The celebrated Pestalozzi and DeFellenberg incorporated it as an essential part of their systems of instruction, and even as necessary to their success; and experienced American writers and physiologists attribute the want of physical development and strength, and even health, in a disproportionally large number of educated Americans, to the absence of proper provisions and encouragements in respect to appropriate physical exercises in the Schools, Academies and Colleges of the United States.

In "The English Journal of Education" for January, and the succeeding months, we find a large space occupied, and numerous wood cuts given, in illustration of this subject. From these cuts we have had wood engravings made for the pages of this Journal, We therefore lay them before our readers, with extracts from the preliminary and accompanying remarks of our English contemporary:

"In Switzerland, almost all the Schools, both primary and secondary, are provided with a manège, or gymnasium, having all the machinery necessary to a complete course of gymnastic exercises-a ladder, climbing ropes and poles, a cross-pole, parallel bars, leaping poles, a vaulting horse, and a large balancing pole. The apparatus is sometimes erected in the open air, sometimes under a covered roof; and many of the schools have both a covered and an uncovered gymnasium. The covered gymnasiums have no floors, but a ground of loose sand, which can be raked up to render it soft. The uncovered gymnasiums are always placed in a field or grass-plot for the same reason.

Such is the interest which the Swiss students take in gymnastics that they form themselves into Turnvereins, or Gymnastic Associations, and each Associatiou sends about some of its members from school to school in its own district, to organize the gymnasiums and give the benefit of their instruction and example to the schoJars. Each of these associations holds annually a Turnfest, or Gymnastic Festival, at which all the members attend; and a great number of exercises are gone through upon every part of the apparatus in the manège, which they held for the purpose. This, however, is only preparatory to a great triennial festival, which is held at the principal Swiss towns in succession, as the government used to be. At this festival all the associations meet, and the members compete with one another for wreaths, prizes, and other distinctions, just as in the old Grecian games before they had been perverted from their original purpose and degraded into mere exhibitions of particular feats. People assemble from all parts of the country to witness the performances; the fine national songs of Switzerland and Germany, sung in chorus by the friendly antagonists, excite and sustain the general enthusiasm: the standards of the associations and the gay clothes of the spectators give a radiant aspect to the scene everything contributes to the joyousness and merriment of the occasion. At the close of the festival, which generally lasts three days, the wreaths are placed upon the brows of the victors in the presence of the assembled spectators, and the prizes distributed by the hands of fair ladies, who thus grace with their presence the ceremony of the award, and impart a higher value to the marks of distinction.

All this is very well, it will be said, and feasible enough, in a country where the education of every member of the community is carefully provided for at the public expense, and where, so far from being a national debt, the governments of the several Cantons have generally a considerable surplus revenue at their disposal for public works.

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But we reply, that the expense of fitting up even a complete gymnastic ground need not be anything very considerable, if once the site is obtained; and that the play-ground of an elementary school may be furnished with the common apparatus at a cost almost insignificant. The most expensive piece of apparatus, after all, is the circular swing, which has already been erected in the playgrounds of so many schools. It is certainly right to provide first for this most exhilarating of gymnastic exercises. If the schoolmaster were competent to give a course of gymnastic exercises he would have no difficulty, we imagine, in inducing managers to supply the necessary apparatus. Besides, if the expense be the chief obstacle, it would be advisable to ascertain whether the Lords of the Committee of Council of Education might not be moved to make grants for this purpose. We are of opinion that their Lordships would deem the object of sufficient importance to justify a considerable expenditure of the public money; for the present Government have already evinced their sense of the importance of gymnastics to the people, by the erection of the public gymnasium at Primrose Hill.

But, as our readers are aware, there is a large class of gymnastic exercises which do not require any apparatus at all; and these are, in fact, more essential than the others, to which they are preliminary and introductory. They are such, namely, as are designed to develop the activity of the limbs rather than to call forth the physical strength. These should not be neglected in any school for children. They are very carefully taught in many of our boarding schools; and we cannot see that they are less useful to the children of the poor than to those of the middle classes. This is one of the few particulars in which the middle schools are not behind the best elementary schools, and it is owing to the fact, that the former are able to pay for the services of a drill-sergeant, and the latter are not. But there is no reason whatever why every schoolmaster should not be his own drill-sergeant; in fact, were it possible to

procure the services of a drill-sergeant in an elementary school, it would still be preferable that the master should superintend this and every other part of the discipline himself; for he should be all in all to his own school.

In order to enable schoolmasters to give their pupils a regular training in gymnastics, we intend to insert in the Journal, from month to month, a graduated course of gymnastic exercises. Our subscribers will be able to commence the course at once in their schools, as the preliminary exercises do not require any apparatus ; and we trust, that, as the course progresses, managers may be induced to provide the requisite apparatus where this has not already been done.

It is hardly necessary to remind our readers of the more common and obvious advantages which result from gymnastic exercises. The principal, of course, is the beneficial influence which they exert upon the health. This is a sufficient reason to induce every body to attach great importance to them; but it is a consideration which derives still greater weight in relation to the school and schoolmaster. The regular practice of these exercises will do much towards enabling both to discharge their duties with success; and, in those schools where any thing like high pressure is put on, will act as a most useful safety valve. Besides, light hearts are the natura! concomitants of good health, and certainly nowhere are they more desirable than in an elementary school, where there are already annoyances enough, in all likelihood, without those which result from the jarring of bad tempers. How much more pleasantly, both to teacher and taught, does the work of the school proceed where these are absent, and a cheerful tone prevails.

We would beg leave, however, in a special manner, to call attention to one advantage which is not so generally understood. It is thus referred to by M. de Fallenberg :

"The gymnastic exercises, in all their forms, are a powerful aid to the practice of design, in cultivating the taste for the beauty of form or motion. Their effect in this respect is very obvious; and the occasional festivals which are accompanied by gymnastic games, present examples of a high degree of cultivation in this respect. It is a spectacle which charms the eye, and exhibits the intimate connection of easy and graceful motion with the improvement of physical force, and the capacity to escape from danger or surmount obstacles."

It has accordingly been remarked, that one reason for the preeminence of the ancients in sculpture, was the patronage bestowed upon the public gymnasiums, in which the artist could form his models from every variety of development of which the human form is susceptible. However this may be, there can be no doubt whatever that gymnastics do contribute materially to the aesthetic training of the mind.

The first position, in which the body must be placed, is the following:

Heels close toes turned outwards nearly at right angles: body upright: shoulders thrown back: stomach kept in head easy : arms hanging straight by the sides: hands closed with the thumbs inside.

The habit of readily realizing this position having been gained, the first gymnastic action is to be attempted.

Action 1. Bring the arms quickly up in front, as high as the shouldere, (nails turned upwards) (a fig. 1,) then swing them forcibly backwards, at the same time turning the nails backwards (b fig. 1), keeping the body perfectly upright. This action being mastered, and having been practised for five minutes, the next action is to be at