ate, define and exemplify particular senses, and to deduced and arranged, and fully and precisely exdeduce and arrange them in a logical manner. A plained; authorities given; pertinent examples quoword thus defined as it should be, is distinguished ted, wheir needed; words specified, or classes of from all others from which it really differs, though words, with which the given word may stand, in con they may have with it the same radical or the same nection; English or American peculiarities, and obso general sense, or-while in this respect agreeing or lete or vulgar usage indicated; combinations of words differing, as the case shall be may coincide with it explained, and the curious historical origin of many in some particular meaning or application. Now, if, common phrases laid open. Technical, scientific, and in disregard of these principles, a word be defined by philosophical terms, and names of objects in nature, synonyms that is, by annexing all or sundry of those are defined, not merely in a general way,-as to say, with which it agrees in its general or radical sense, for instance, that iodine is a substance in chemistry, and adding to the same all those with which it coin- that Platonism is the doctrine of plato, or that lichen cides in any of its several applications, and which are is a kind of moss-a too frequent fault of Dr. Johneven then only a partial equivalent-it is evident, that son,-but we have definitions, or description, thongh we are set afloat on a sea of confusion. It is true that popular in form, yet as complete as are to be found a dictionary constructed on such a plan-or no plan-in elaborate treatises. Our Boards of Education, if aggregation, may, to one already master of the lan- this work should be circulated as widely as it ought guage, furnish useful hints for the memory; or to one to be, may spare themselves the trouble of appending but partially versed in it, may be an assistance in glossaries to their volumes for the people. Nor have guessing out the meaning of a passage; but for certain we merely such a definition of a thing, as may desigdefinite information, such as shall give to one familiar nate precisely what is intended; but commonly a with the use of the words, a fuller insight, precise brief summary of all that is most important to be enlarged, and logical notions of the words, and for a known respecting it. So that-biography and history learner shall fix with absolute certainty the meaning excepted-we have in this work a condensed ency in a given case, for this we should search in vain, clopedia of all knowledge, which, for the purposes of and spend our time and labor for nought. ordinary reference, is even preferable to voluminous cyclopedias, general or special.

To illustrate our meaning, in part, by example. In Richardson's Dictionary, we find the following defiThe work is chiefly indebted for its value in relation nition of the word execute, which on the plan of his to scientific and technical matters, to the labors of the work, is made to answer for all the derivatives, execu-present editor and coadjutors. As specimens of new tor, executive, execution, executioner:

"To follow out, (sc.) to the end; to the fulfilment or completion; to the act, effect, or full performance; and thus to act, to use, to perform, fulfil, or complete; to perform, (sc.) the sentence or adjudication of the law, and thus to kill, or put to death; to slay."

definitions of this class, we would refer to such words as zoophyte, caddis-worm, coral, quartz, feldspar, pyrites, conchoidal, infusoria, echinus, &c., by Mr Dana; lightning, libration, clouds, horizon, declination, steamengine, by Prof. Olmsted; and transcendentalism, Platonism, nominalist, pietist, Nestorian, &c., by Dr. Murdock. In every class of words not only have new definitions been added, but the former ones improved, by the addition of new senses, the correction of errors, and by receiving greater fullness and precision. These various improvements appear on every page.

From this labored attempt at definition, who would infer, that to execute a deed or a lease, signifies not to vacate the premises or put in possession, but to sign and seal the instrument of conveyance? Or, supposing this by some means known to the inquirer, how is he to learn that the executor of a will is not the testator, who signs and seals it, but the person appointed In etymology, Dr. Webster struck out an entire new by him to carry it into effect? In the meanwhile, he path, in which he labored with incredible patience would be likely to get no idea of executive power, or and zeal, and with such success, that no English or any claims to of the executive department of the government, or of American scholar, before or since, has the executive himself, other than what is appropriate comparison with him. He tells us that, after writing to a sheriff or a hangman. In what connection, to ex- through two letters of the alphabet, finding the need ecute, means to use, we cannot conjecture. Why not-as a guide to correct definition-of more thorough say, to execute is, to take? for to execute vengeance etymological knowledge than previous inquirers could is certainly to take vengeance. Nor are all possible applications of the general meaning, as here defined, allowable in use.

give, he went back and spent ten years in this study! Undoubtedly, he might have arrived, in some cases, at conclusions more certain and satisfactory, could he have added to his own, the results and the methods of inquiry of the latter German philologists. But the same tree which in that intellectual hot-bed, has yielded so rich fruit, he reared and cultivated with success, even in so sterile a clime. The fruit of his labors, besides what appears in the dictionary, is treasured in an unpublished work half as large, a Synopsis of twenty Languages, containing the working-out of his etymological problems.

This example, which is really a favorable specimen of Richardson's manner of definition, we lighted on almost at random. He was led to this neglect of the real, practical ends of a dictionary, by a false theory -by setting out with principles radically wrong.His work has its value for scholars, in the numerous quotations from writers of every period of our literature; but, not withstanding the partiality and the high expectation with which it was received among us, those who have tried it, have undoubtedly found, that That, in those wide generalizations, in which are for the ordinary uses of a dictionary, it is of little worth. traced the germs from which our words have arisen, Mr. Richardson has led us almost to lose sight of he fell into no errors, he himself never imagined. Mr. Webster. We should like to set in contrast with But particular mistakes here are of little consequence, some of the definitions in the work of the latter. compared with that of the correctness of his fundaBut our limits allow us to do little more than remark mental principles. They were briefly these: that in general, that they are prepared in accordance with some physical idea was the earliest root of every the principles we have laid down, in a manner far meaning given to words; that, as phenomena were superior to any other work in the language, and-the first named, and things named from their phenomena, present improvements and additions included--so well, the radical idea was generally some variety of moin most cases, as to leave little or nothing to desire. tion, including of course the action of living bodies. We have the several meanings of a word properly | Of their soundness, we can all have evidence, not

only from the exigencies of the case, and the nature tion exhibits itself in nothing more decisively, than of the human mind, but by observing, as we may, in in simplifying and rendering less cumbrous, all the the later formations of language, the operation of the mere instruments by which its results are effected. very same laws, to such an extent as to prove that Shall not language, the great instrument of civilizathey must also have controlled the earlier changes tion itself, share as far as possible in the same benefit? which lie hidden from ordinary inspection. As re- The topic of Pronunciation remains. This part of spects etymologies less remote, the work is fully reli- the work was one requiring nicety of ear, with obserable; and in the many English words which have vation, taste, good judgment, added to thorough and words corresponding in the different languages of scientific study of the subject. These qualifications Europe, all are exhibited. In the department of ety-belong, in an eminent degree, to the editor of this mology, the present editor has made little change, volume. He has accordingly made it as perfect a but has taken care to have the words from other lan- pronouncing dictionary, as the nature of the case guages given with correctness. admits.

The Orthography of Dr. Webster has undergone Sounds cannot be depicted to the eye, nor is there some important changes in this edition, which will, any scale of articulations, as of musical sounds, to we think, render it generally satisfactory. Some of measure them with exactness. The standards emhis proposed improvements, founded on etymological ployed must be words of which the pronunciation is grounds, of little importance, yet too violent to be supposed already known. But there may be uncergenerally acceptable among us, though such things tainty or diversity here, and of course uncertainty and are differently received in Germany and France,- diversity throughout. For instance in the new dichave been dropped. Those founded on reasons of tionary of Dr. Worcester, care, fair, bear, where, and analogy and convenience, have been generally retain- ome others, are referred to, to fix a certain standard ed. But, says the objector to all improvements, our sound in the Key. But the pronunciation, perhaps orthography ought not to be unsettled Now, the fact the most prevalent in this country, of these very is it has never been settled A somewhat greater words, differs essentially from the best English usage. uniformity prevails, than was the case two centuries In the work before us, they are marked with the long since; when the same word was spelled several dif- sound of a, as in fate, the true English pronunciaferent ways on the same page, and even in the same tion, except as this sound is modified by the r followsentence, and perhaps with something like half a ing, which causes it to vanish with the faint sound of dozen more letters than we think necessary at present. e or a short, as is explained in the remarks connected Nearly a hundred years ago, Dr. Johnson said of the with the Key. Thus, by a simpler notation, the true English orthography, "It has remained to this time pronunciation is given with greater certainty. To unsettled and fortuitious ;" and the same is in a meas- multiply marks and distinctions, tends only to confuse sure true, even now. And why is this? Why did and perplex. To attempt to represent every different even Johnson's authority fail to settle it? Simply, shade of the same general sound, is useless; for this, because he overloooked those principles on which if for no other reason, that hardly two persons can alone it could be settled; those principles which, for be found agreeing precisely in their actual pronuntwo centuries, have been struggling against chance ciation of scarcely any word. Dr. Worcester gives and capricious custom, and have gradually brought move as the standard for the vowal sound in rule, true, the present degree of order out of the original chaos. &c., which is not the pronunciation to which we are In countenancing such outrageous anomalies and accustomed. The two are distinct in Webster. The irregularities as he found existing, he could not arrest single letter a has, we are told by a friend, who has this progress, though we may have hindered it and given attention to the subject, no less than twenty delayed the period of fixedness. Had he attempted distinguishable sounds in our language. It is mathesomething like what Dr. Webster did; had he, with-matically demonstrable, that the number of possible out including the existing forms, at the same time sug-positions or motions of the vocal organs is absolutely gested improvements, founded on those principles of infinite; and each difference does in reality vary the analogy and of the rejection of superfluities which the sound. The method of notation employed in this mind of the nation in its language was unconscious-work, is remarkable for its simplicity and intelligibili ly striving to realize; it is possible, that before this ty, combined with precision in answering its end. time, the contending elements would have found a The Key is Webster's, somewhat enlarged, and is level. now placed, for convenience, at the bottom of each page.

In attempting here, what Dr. Johnson left undone, Dr. Webster has rendered a service of no little value. There could certainly be no advantage in having to stop the pen, or interrupt the current of thought, to ascertain by an effort of recollection, or a reference to authority, that tameable, for instance, had an e in the middle and again, that blamable had not; and the same of moveable and immovable, and many others. And why should not metre conform to diameter? why should not centre, and a few others, follow in the wake of cider and chamber, and a large class, all from French words in re? and why should not labour, honour, &c., fall at once into rank, dropping the useless u, as they must do sooner or later? The inconvenience to multitudes, resulting from capricious irregularities; the labor and perplexity they cause to every child who learns to write; the difficulty which they add to others, tending to deter foreigners from acquiring our language-thus obstructing the influence of the English and American mind—are disadvantages of no trifling moment. Words are a means, not an end. Civiliza

We should not omit to mention the Pronouncing Vocabularies of Scripture, Clasical and Modern Geographical Names, which have been prepared under the direction of Professor Porter, of Yale College. Their utility is obvious.

Persons aspiring to eminence in any walk of literature, in public life, or the sacred profession, should study words the instrument of thought, as well as the vehicle of expression. He who does this, will not be liable to be tripped up by some paltry quibble in debate; he will see at once how to expose it; he will seize with a quick and firm grasp, the weak points of his antagonist. More than half the disputes in the world are disputes about words, and all are managed by words. "Words are things," said the Frenchman. Lord Chatham knew their value, when he made it his constant habit to study the words of a dictionary in regular course. It was thus he kept his ammunition ready, his armory well stored with weapons always keen and bright. No man could do

such execution with words. Jean Paul Richter, who by the letters of the alphabet. The Greeks had two wielded words with a magician's power, continued methods. The first was nearly the same as the Rothrough lile the occupation of dictionary-making, for mans; something of which is generally understood as, his mere private benefit. He who would be a skillful | I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D= 500, M=1, or a profound lawyer, or a sound political economist, 000, &c. Afterwards, they had a better method; in must study, words. The riddles of the latter science which the first nine letters of the alphabet representturn emphatically upon words. He who would be ed the first nine numbers, and the next nine represent an orator,-who would acquire something of the any number of 10's, any number of 100's by other letprecise fitness, the pregnancy of meaning, the terse ters and marks; and in this way, they mention with vigor, the electric energy, of a Chatham or a Demos- thousands, tens of thousands, &c.; and thus they made thenes, must not merely nicely choose and well aim a near approach to the Arabian notation as it is called, his words, at the time of utterance, but must have now in use. But, notwithstanding all the adroitness learned beforehand their powers, and have them and skill of the Greeks, the process of multiplication arranged in his mind ready for use. of large numbers into each other was quite a difficult and complicated operation, which was never entirely overcome until the reception of the present notation, and decimal arithmetic. The Arabs received our almost perfect system of notation from India. How long it had been in India before it was received in Arabia is not now known. One thing is quite certain, however, it was not known to the learned Greeks and Romans. Voscius informs us that the first Greek writer who wrote a treatise on arithmetic according to this notation, was Maximus Planudes, who wrote about the year A. D. 1370. This was after this system had been generally received in Europe. It is said that the Moors brought this notation into Spain, whence it spread into the different countries of Europe. Voscius thinks this new method was brought into Spain about the year 1250; but Dr. Wallace asserts that it was as early as 1000.

We may here with propriety also take notice of the example of the author of this dictionary as worthy of imitation; of his perseverance, undaunted by obstacles; his resoluteness in laying his foundations broad and deep; his independence and self-reliance; his ambition, not for ephemeral reputation, but to render a real service to his country and race-to leave something which the world would not willingly let die. When we consider the wide-spread, really immense influence which a work like this must exert among the millions who will call the English their mothertongue, who will say, the author did not enjoy in his own thoughts, an ample reward? "Happy the man," was said of him by the late Chancellor Kent, "who can thus honorably identify his name with the existence of our vernacular tongue."

Our numerical figures differ, in form, a little from what the Arabians use, yet the art of computation still remains the same.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF ARITHMETIC. The antiquity of the science of numbers, no one will be disposed to doubt. Some knowledge of numbers seems to be indispensable in the rudest condition Having carried the history up to this point, it may of society. But in the earliest ages, when great sim- perhaps, be well to go back and remark a little more plicity prevailed, when property was much enjoyed in upon the kinds of Arithmetic which were among the common, the science of numbers made but small pro- ancients. The oldest system that has come down to gress. When individual property became an object of us with any degree of perfection, so far as regards desire, and commerce began to be established as a re-science, is developed in the seventh, eighth and ninth gular pursuit of man, the art of numbering and record-books of Euclid's elements; in which he gives us very ing the same, became necessary. The extent, style, fully the doctrine of proportion, and that of prime and and degree of accuracy adopted in the antedeluvian composite numbers. Next, we have an account of arithmetic, is, no doubt, irrecoverably lost; but itmay (though we have not seen the work) a treatise on the fairly be inferred, that a ship carpenter who had skill theory of arithmetic, by Nicomachus, who wrote on enough to build the ark, must have had some system the classes and distinctions of numbers, into such as of arithmetic and mensuration. plain, solid, triangular, quadrangular, &c., which were termed figurate numbers,-of odd and even numbers.

If the Phoenicians were the first merchants of any distinction after the flood, it is probable that mercan- The first system of arithmetic extant on the present tile arithmetic owes something to them. From these, notation, is by Jordanus, who flourished early in the commerce and arithmetic were carried into Egypt; thirteenth century. This work was altogether on theand history justifies us in saying that great improve-ory, and contains most that was valuable, with regard ments were made in the science of numbers, and to numbers, in Euclid's Bothius. This work was they originated, so far as we can learn, the science of called the Algorissmus Demonstratus. It is said that Geometry. Considerable advancement was here the manuscript of this work is in the library at Oxford. made in arithmetic; and here, also, was probably be- Lucas de Burgo, an Italian, wrote a treatise in the year gun the first mystical application of numbers to the af- 1499, which Dr. Wallis very highly recommends as fairs of human life-to the virtues-to the soul-to the both theoretical and practical. The first complete divinities-and to almost every thing else; in short, for practical arithmetic, according to the present notation, every purpose divine and human, they seem to have was written by Tortaleu in 1556. After this, treatises had some symbol, or representation in numbers. multiplied apace. The most distinguished in Europe who wrote before A. D. 1500, were: in France, Calvius, and Ramus; in Germany, Stifelius, and Henischius; in England, Buckley, Diggs, and Record. Lamus used the decimal periods in the extraction of roots; but the first who wrote a treatise on decimals was Simon Stevinus, about 1582. Dr. Wallace is the first who treated of circulating decimals. One of the most brilliant inventions ever made in arithmetic, was the facilities given to computation by Logarithms.— The world owes this to Lord Napier, baron of Merchiston, Scotland-about the close of the sixteenth century.

From Egypt, this knowledge, and many of these superstitions passed into Greece, where improvements and additions were made; especially to the mysterious parts, much of which may be seen in Plato, in the life of Pythagoras, by Jamblichus, and in the commentaries of Boethius' Arithmetic. We have now reached a country and a people, where we may look for acuteness and method; and first, we find a regular system of notation; and then upon this a system of computation; and after this, an inquiry into the relation and properties of numbers. The Greeks, Hebrews, and other oriental nations, used a notation

Dr. Wallace is the earliest author on the arithmetic

of infinites. But the grandest consumma ion is to be found in the universal arithmetic, known also as analysis, or algebra. This method of calculation was brought into Europe about the same time with the common arithmetic just spoken of, and probably by the same individuals.

PAPER.

EDUCATION WITHOUT RELIGIOUS TRAINING. Consider then with yourselves, that if a man is under the dominion of violent lusts and passions that are born within him, what would he be without the restraints of authority; without the customs imposed by education from his earliest infancy; and above all, without the obligations of religion upon the conAt a meeting of the Literary and Philosophical science? With all his natural inclinations to vice, he Society, held at the Royal Institution, Mr. J. B. Yates must be inevitably lost, unless he is kept in subjection gave some very interesting archæological details res--he ought rather to be chained down as a lunatic, pecting paper used for writing and printing, illustrat- than left at liberty to follow the dictates of his own dising his remarks with a rich collection of antique position. Yet such is the unaccountable perversespecimens. It was not his design, he said, to enter ness of some, and the unthinking folly of others, who upon the general history of the invention, or the pro- prescribe a course of education void of all restraint; gressive manufacture of this article, but, by the supposing that the mind of a child, if we do not interexhibition of actual specimens, to enable his hearers rupt it, will grow up into wisdom, genius, prudence, to form some idea of both. The papyrus, composed and moderation, in the state of nature. But you will from the fibres of the reed of that name, was used easily see, that as man now is, a mind so left to itself in Egypt long before the Christian era; but it was can be fit for nothing but to be turned wild into a forevident that simultaneously much writing was execu- est amongst the beasts. The understanding of man ted upon simple leaves of palm, plaintain, &c. In must, like that of the horse and mule be broken,to make proof of this, several specimens were produced of him fit for society; and his spirit and temper must hieroglyphic, coptic, and demotic writing upon leaves, be broken to make fit them for heaven. If he is withas well as upon papyrus. In the fifth century papy out the benefits of education, he should retire into the rus became very scarce and dear; parchment was, wood to feed on acorns, as the poets supposed mantherefore, much substituted, until that also became kind to have done before the times of civilization.scarce, when the manufacture of paper became gen- Among barbarians, in the remote islands of the Indies, eral in Europe about the tenth century. This was an we might possibly expect to find such examples of entirely new process, borrowed, apparently, from the undisciplined nature; though I think even there, but Chinese, who had practiced it long before. It was few minds are totally neglected; but if such a thing made from cotton; though this was preceded by occurs where the light of the Gospel prevails, we have linen-rags, which were certainly used in Europe be then a monster which never appeared in the world fore the year 1300 Mr. Yates produced a very fine before, a christian savage! This method of leaving Greek manuscript of Chrysostom, written at this corrupt nature to be its own tutor, is a project of the period upon linen paper of the very best description. last days, when affected wisdom is taking its flights He then exhibited numerous specimens of paper above the regions of sobriety and common sense, and taken by mself from manuscripts and printed books men become enthusiastically addicted to novelty and of different periods down to the eighteenth century. refinement: as if it were the wisest, because it is the They were excellent in texture and color, particularly newest way, to leave the human mind to what it those of Aldus, at Venice, at the commencement, knows naturally as a brute beast; in consequence of and of Plantin, at Antwerp, towards the latter part which absurd liberty, it must grow up without sobriof the sixteenth century Most of them were im-ety, without decency, without discretion, without conpressed with various water marks, which were frequently found useful in fixing the age of manuscripts. From the ancient device of a jug or pot, of a posthorn, of a foolscap, have been derived the names of pot, post, and foolscap paper.

science, without religion: to glory in its shame, and to be the pest, as it ought certainly to be the outcast, of every christian community."-Jones of Nayland. ·

THE TRUE BASIS OF EDUCATION.-We are hoping to form men and women by literature and science; but all in vain. We shall learn in time that moral and religious culture is the foundation and strength of all true cultivation; but we are deforming human nature by the means relied on for its growth, and that the poor who receive a care which awakens their consciences and moral sentiments, start under happier auspices than the prosperous, who place supreme dependence

on the education of the intellect and taste. It is the

In the twelfth volume of the Archeologia, Mr. Denne says (Memoir upon Watermarks,) that paper was manufactured in England by John Tate, in the reign of Henry VII. But this paper could not have been suitable for writing or printing, and must have served only in packing, &c. In the year 1588, one Spielman erected a mill at Dartmouth. It was doubtful, however, whether even this paper was suitable for the former of these purposes, since Sir Gardiner Wilkinson asserts, in his work on Egypt, that writing or printing paper was not made in London before the year 1690. Most of the paper of the present day, though fair in its appearance, is considerably inferior to that of former ages. This was proved by Mr. Yates, in presence of the Society, by the test of weighing, &c. Extraneous substances, such as plaster of Paris, are sometimes mixed with the pulp, and the strength of the article is injured by the improper application of the chlorides in bleaching. The article EMPHASISING WORDS.-There is a good story on the made in Kent is still decidedly the best. The worst subject of emphasis. "Boy," said a visitor at the is made in the northern parts of England, where house of a friend, to his little son, step over the way cotton waste or devil's dust is much used, the price and see how old Mrs. Brown is." The boy did his erbeing as low as 1d. to 24d. per pound. Samples of rand, and on his return reported that he did not know this cotton waste were exhibited to the meeting-how old she was; and that he might find out by his Liverpool Albion.

kind, not the extent of knowledge, by which the advancement of a human being must be measured; and that kind which alone exalts a man, is placed within the reach of all. Moral and religious truth-this is the treasure of the intellect, and all are poor without it. This transcends physical truth as far as heaven is lifted above the earth.-Channing.

own learning.

DISTRICT SCHOOL JOURNAL.

SYRACUSE, JUNE 1, 1848.

THE TEACHER AND THE SOLDIER.

some kind of an enactment which shall discourage all military displays. Virtue or vice, embodied in the example of citizens adorning or disgracing their stations, infallibly tends to elevate or depress morality in the rising community-to ennoble or debase the forming character of the young: so

do military pageants necessarily tend to inflame our youth, nay, to infatuate every class of the population susceptible of patriotic emotion, or of gratification from music, and the poetry of motion, until the hero, who has murdered his bestowed as the result of reflection, nor as the conviction of thousands, commands an homage that could not have been

the moral sense.

The continuation of these displays, therefore, whether to give zest to ordinary public occasions, or to subsidise the passivity of our nature to secure admiration for the valor of the fallen soldier, brought home to receive an honored burial with his kindred and friends, is to be deprecated. They are a species of fraud upon human weakness, which a wise, pa ternal government will forbid. They counteract some of the objects of government which are sought by other means, and thus retard improvement. They keep up the spirit of war, and awaken a thirst for its worthless distinctions. They allure many from the quiet, useful and elevating pursuits of social life, to the work of devastation and death, that they may reap the so-called honors of their country; and all his tory proves that no nation has ever given creditable attention to the claims of science, literature, religion, and social advancement, while the military spirit has predominated. War may open a door into the wilderness of barbarism through which civilization may enter, but, of itself, it introduces no humanizing influences. Civilization progresses, by means of war, only by its own recuperative energies when peace affords it a chance for enlargement.

The cost of a national system of education, sufficiently liber. al to thoroughly educate every child in the land, would be far less than the expense of the army and its preparations for human slaughter. The services of a competent and faithful Teacher are of greater value to society than the most brilliant exploits of the soldier. If the means for the elevation and happiness of mankind, and the prosperity and dignity of a people, be fairly estimated, the result will show that nations commonly act contrary to the true objects of govern ment. Money is as freely expended for the training of soldiers, even in our own country, as it is grudgingly appropriated to the education of Teachers. Cadets at West Point receive $24 a month, during a term of four years, as a compensation for being educated at the public expense, and at the rate of $50 for a single lesson in target firing; while the pupils of our Normal Schools are compelled to support themselves and pursue their limited course of studies, frequently under serious embarrassments, because ample instruction is not provided by the government. The expenditures for the education of soldiers, and the appliances of war, including the army and navy, are sufficient to thoroughly educate every child in the country. Could the $20,000,000 annually appropriated to the means of destroying human life be expended in educating the people for pacific and useful pursuits, the horrid machinery of war would scarcely be deemed necessary to government. Could the $700,000,000 expended in our military and naval establishments since the organization of our Federal government have been wisely appropriated to the education of the people, this nation would have presented a most sublime spectacle to the world. For all this waste of money the citizens of this country are willing to be taxed. We hear no murmurs, even when the annual salary of a Colonel of dragoons in the United States Army is $2,205; of a Brigadier General, $2,950; of a Major General, $4,502; and of a Captain of a ship of the line, $5,500. All this expense is borne by a people unwilling to pay men of equal talents and attainments in a useful pursuit more than enough to barely meet the requirements of each returning day. The Teacher, educated at his own expense, is compelled to toil for the benefit of mankind without just compensation, or a proper meed of respect, while the Soldier is liberally paid and highly honored for offering human life upon the unholy altar of war. Why is this? Whence comes this erroneous The complicated machinery necessary to the organization public sentiment, and by what agency is it fostered by a people professing christianity? Why expend money so free- of Teachers' Institutes under the law of 1847, has induced ly for war and its horrible enginery, and so grudgingly for the department to furnish instructions in regard to the mode education and its appliances? Why inculcate a military spirit, or excite the ambition of youth to become distinguished in the destruction of human life, when so many and so useful enterprizes invite the attention of mankind?

Not so with the pursuits of education and with the unostentatious daily work of the teacher of youth. He seeks a better, a more rational and lasting reward; and he finds it in the consciousness of having contributed something to the aggregate of human excellence and human happiness; and he will find it, ere long, in the approbation of a wiser gener ation than the present. When nations shall have learned to pay as liberally and as cheerfully for the support of schools as for war; when a just estimate shall be placed upon the value of human life, and the ends of existence shall be understood and regarded, then will the Teacher occupy a higher rank than the soldier, and the school be preferred to

the camp.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

of procedure and management of these associations. The appropriation, though much smaller than is desirable, will enable the Town Superintendents to increase the usefulness of Teachers' Institutes, and give them permanency as a part These questions deserve a considerate reply. If duly of our school system. There have been no means employpondered we must observe that no single object of governed for the improvement of Teachers and the assimilation of mental attention and provision operates more antagonistically against the noble object of training the youth for the true ends of manhood and of society, than that of keeping up and occasionally employing a military establishment. The case is not without its alleviating and hopeful features. In many States of the Union the requirement of militia trainings, Those who will read the instructions and requirements of (simply a school to inculcate and to practice the science of the State Superintendent, will readily see that Teachers' In human butchery,) has been so modified as to cease to have stitutes, conducted in accordance with his suggestions, canthe influence it once had. But the cause of true education not fail to accomplish a large amount of good by elevating claims more than this at the hand of government. It claims the standard of instruction, improving the discipline, and

modes of instruction in the several branches of education that give better promise of success than Teachers' Institutes. The diffusive principle upon which the system is based so well accords with the spirit of all our National Institutions as to meet with general approbation.