nervous tension or in action. This is illustrated in mouth-watering when something luscious is seen, or in mind-reading. The child, therefore, is to be regarded as a sensitive being in which nerve currents are constantly being aroused both by external and internal stimuli. These nerve currents may or may not be under control. Some may be termed friendly and some hostile, some dominant and some defeated. To resist a terrifying sound may waste more energy than to give way to it. To prevent fidgetiness may be more exhausting than to yield to it. Fatigue and worry may so react upon each other that they become an endless circle. Here is where the skilled twentieth-century teacher, with her superior knowledge of these nervous forces, will be able to lessen this waste of energy. Play furnishes a potent means for reducing to a minimum the fatigue of the schoolroom. The old saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," contains an important pedagogical truth. There is nothing so rapidly recuperative for mental fatigue as spontaneous activity; and yet, on the other hand, there is nothing so helpfully educative as the self-activity engendered in play. That which has been most beneficent. in the present modification of the work of the schoolroom has been the introduction of the play idea from the kindergarten. Strange that it was not introduced sooner! Every idea that enters a boy's mind is accompanied with some tendencies to motor activity. He cannot think of a ripe watermelon without a rush of saliva to his mouth and the muscles of his right hand becoming tense with the desire to grasp the luscious slice. In fact, he has not thoroly grasped any idea until it has set every possible power he possesses, both of mind and body, into sympathetic action. He must be free to learn it all over, to secure for himself as many points of contact as possible. And yet, until quite recently, Gray's churchyard silence, "when all the air a solemn stillness holds," was the supreme test of schoolroom management. What an indictment might here be entered against the strait-jacket school of yesterday! Play, according to Dr. Fitz, is not due so much to an overflow of animal spirits, to a superabundance of strength, as held by Schiller and Spencer, as for the better preparation of life which nature designs to be realized thru it. To quote Dr. Fitz: Thus youth becomes more completely an apprenticeship to life, with play as the master-workman. In play the child is the unit of force; he initiates his own conditions. His limitations are self-imposed. His self-control lies in execution rather than in inhibition. He is concerned with self-expression rather than with self-repression. Play thus relates itself to the truest conception of education, the development of power, the power of the individual to act as a self-directed unit in civilization. The self-control gained by play acts immediately, strongly, and honestly in response to conditions as they are presented in life. Some schools rely upon physical-training exercises to relieve from fatigue, but, while it may be admitted that such exercises are helpful, they do not afford as good opportunities for mental recuperation as the more spontaneous movements in an outdoor recess. Physical-training exercises usually require close attention, and much of that same exercise of will which is the chief cause of schoolroom fatigue. The movements are liable to become perfunctory, lacking the spontaneity, the vital interest, and, in consequence, the exhilaration which outdoor play gives, and which is the best tonic for rapid recovery from mental fatigue. I plead guilty to the charge of being one of those city superintendents who thought it wise, because of the danger from excessive exercise and exposure, but chiefly because of the moral contamination possible during the outdoor recess, to cut off such recess in the upper grades; but I have been soundly converted. I have instructed my teachers to return to the outdoor recess, and to avoid its former excesses and moral contamination, as well as securing more of its recuperative and educative influence, by participating freely in, and in part supervising, the children's games on the school ground. I hold that its educative, as well as its recuperative and its health, side is of such value that we should utilize it as an important factor in the children's education. To sum up: Fatigue in the schoolroom may be largely decreased, if not reduced to the minimum, by more frequent use of rest periods; by arranging stronger contrasts in the daily program, as well as securing a wiser adjustment of difficult subjects to the best working hours; by patient and wise training of pupils into better habits of study; by a better utilization of the doctrine of interest; by lessening nervous tension in the schoolroom; and by wise use of play under supervision. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE INSTRUCTION SECRETARY'S MINUTES FIRST SESSION. THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1899 The meeting was called to order in the hall of the chamber of commerce at 3 P. M. by Charles Newell Cobb, president of the department. In the absence of the secretary, N. A. Harvey, West Superior, Wis., was elected secretary pro tempore. The program presented was as follows: President's address, "Thirty Years' Progress in Science Teaching," by Charles Newell Cobb, Albany, N. Y. "The Status of the Fur Seal," by President David Starr Jordan of Leland Stanford Jr. University. "The Relation of Physics to Other Subjects in the High-School Curriculum," by S. P. Meads, professor of science, High School, Oakland, Cal. This paper was discussed by Mr. Cobb, Mr. Schultz, and Mr. Tolman. The report of the Committee on Physics and the report of the co-ordinating committee of the Department of Natural Science Instruction were read. Upon motion, the reports were received as reports of progress, and action upon them was deferred until the next day. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PHYSICS A copy of the following proposition has been presented to each member of the committee. The replies received are indicated below. "As a member of the Physics Committee appointed to act in co-operation with the Natural Science Section of the National Educational Association, I approve the following recommendations: "1. That, in public high schools and schools preparatory for college, physics be taught in a course occupying not less than one year of daily exercises; more than this amount of time to be taken for the work if it is begun earlier than the next to the last year of the school course. "2. That this course of physics include a large amount of individual laboratory work, mainly quantitative, done by the pupil under the careful direction of a competent instructor and recorded by the pupil in a notebook. "3. That such laboratory work, including the keeping of the notebook and the working out of results from laboratory observations, occupy not more than one-half of the whole time given to physics by the pupil. 4. That the course include also instruction by text-book and lecture, with qualitative experiments by the instructor, elucidating and enforcing the laboratory work, or dealing with matters not touched upon in that work, to the end that the pupil may gain, not merely empirical knowledge, but, so far as this may be practicable, a comprehensive and connected view of the most important facts and laws in elementary physics. 5. That college-admission requirements be so framed that a pupil who has successfully followed out such a course of physics as that here described may offer it toward satisfying such requirements. (The question whether the college should hold an examination to determine the candidate's attainments in physics is not here considered.)” PROFESSOR CARHART, of Ann Arbor, signed the propositions as here given. MR. C. L. HARRINGTON, of Dr. Sachs' Collegiate Institute in New York, signed after changing the phrase "toward satisfying such requirements" in 5 to "as satisfying the requirements in physics." I have no reason to think that this change affects the meaning of the proposition as interpreted by the other members of the committee. MR. JULIUS HORTVET, of the East High School in Minneapolis, signed, but wrote: "I would amend 3 by stating that the laboratory work, including the keeping of the notebook, etc., occupy at least one-half of the whole time given to physics by the pupil. I am coming to the belief that physics should be given at least a year and a half in the latter part of the school course." MR. C. J. LING, of the Manual Training School in Denver, signed after changing "next to the last " in 1 to "third," and added: "I change first statement to read as above on account of those schools which have only three years in the course. I consider algebra and plane geometry of great help to a successful course in physics." PROFESSOR E. L. NICHOLS, of Cornell, signed, but wrote: "I would suggest that section 3 be made to read that the time allotted to laboratory work should be approximately one-half the total time allotted to physics." MR. E. D. PIERCE, of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn., signed the propositions without change. PROFESSOR SANFORD, of Leland Stanford, signed after changing the words "not more than one-half" in 3 to "at least three-fourths." MR. EDWARD R. ROBBINS, of the Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J., signed after striking out "the next to" of the last line in 1 and changing "toward satisfying" to "in satisfaction of " in 5. PROFESSOR B. F. THOMAS, of Columbus, O., signed the propositions without change. I approve all the propositions. It now seems to me that if we change the words "not more than one-half" in 3 to "approximately one. half," as Professor Nichols suggests, we shall have a set of propositions upon which the committee is substantially agreed, altho it will not be safe to say that the agreement is complete. I doubt whether it is worth while to try to get from the committee anything more than what I have here set down. These propositions, with Professor Nichols' amendment as just given, were read by me before the Section of Physics and Chemistry of the New York State Science Teachers' Association at Columbia University, December 30, 1898, in the course of a paper on my experience with physics as a requirement for admission to college. I did not propose or think of their adoption by that section; but they were immediately approved by the section, on the motion of Professor Hallock, of Columbia, and will doubtless appear as adopted in the report of the meeting to be printed by the state of New York. (Signed) EDWIN H. HALL, Harvard University. SECOND SESSION.-FRIDAY, JULY 14 The meeting was called to order by President Cobb. The following committees were appointed: "The Pedagogical Content of Zoology," by N. A. Harvey, State Normal School, West Superior, Wis. The paper was discussed by Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia University, New York. "Science in the High School," by Dr. George Mann Richardson, professor of organic chemistry, Leland Stanford Jr. University. "Relation of High-School to College Mathematics," by Charles F. Wheelock, University of the State of New York. The Committee on Nominations reported as follows: For President - Dr. George Mann Richardson, California. For Secretary-Charles B. Wilson, Westfield, Mass. On motion, the secretary was instructed to cast the ballot of the department for the persons nominated. The Committee on Resolutions reported as follows: WHEREAS, The members of the department feel a deep and heartfelt appreciation for the reception accorded them by the citizens of Los Angeles, the chamber of commerce, and the Academy of Sciences of Southern California; therefore, be it Resolved, That the Department of Natural Science Instruction of the National Educational Association extend a vote of thanks and good wishes to the chamber of commerce and the local committee for the use of their assembly room, and for their assistance in making our visit and our meetings both pleasurable and instructive. Resolved, That a vote of thanks be extended to the members of the National Educational Association who have contributed to the efficiency and popularity of our program, and to the president, vice-president, and secretary pro tempore for their interest and zeal in their work for science and this department. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the minutes, and copies sent to the chamber of commerce and the local committee of the Academy of Sciences. Signed SIDNEY F. SMITH. On motion, the resolutions were adopted. The president-elect was introduced, and the department adjourned. N. A. HARVEY, Secretary pro tempore. PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SCIENCE TEACHING BY CHARLES NEWELL COBB, UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ALBANY, N. Y. Thirty years of discovery and invention have done much for the progress of science, and, as a consequence, within that period our surroundings have changed to such a degree that we are likely to be oblivious to the conditions existing only three decades ago. Less than one generation back there was no multiple nor wireless telegraphy, no stock-ticker nor telephone, no dynamo, with all the resulting applications of cheap electric energy to the multitudinous requirements of the present civilization. The Röntgen rays were unknown, and the liquefaction of the more refractory gases had not been attained. Photography was circumscribed by the limits of the wet process, and the reproduction of the photograph to millions of copies by the present improved methods was no more than a dream. Trains of sleeping-cars and dining-cars heated by steam, lighted by electricity, and controlled by the air-brake had not been built, nor had a single line of railway yet extended its tracks of steel across the buffaloblackened plains to join the crowded Atlantic states with the then sparsely settled Pacific coast. Only sixty-three elements were then listed, and little was known of organic chemistry, while the saving of by-products is a recent-day study. The discoveries in biology, bacteriology, geography, and geology have been fully equaled by those in medicine, dentistry, and surgery, mining, and metallurgy, and the whole category of sciences of that day. Meteorology and economic entomology may be mentioned as examples of many |