C

now refer. There are few countries in Europe | of the community in the path of moral and intelwhere such institutions, for the instruction of the lectual improvement,-a system of tuition by which great mass of society, are more numerous and re- the memory has been tortured, the understanding spectable than in the island in which we reside;-neglected, and the benevolent affections left waste and had we not unfortunately stopped short at the and uncultivated. The effects it has produced, are very porch of the Temple of Science, we might by visible to every intelligent mind that looks around this time have been as far superior, in point of in- and cortecaplates the ignorance, servility, and litelligence, to every other nation, as we now are to centiousness, which still abound in every depart the savages of Patagonia and New Zealand. But, ment of society. what is the amount of all the instruction generally If we, therefore, desire to behold knowledge and furnished at our common initiatory schools? The religious principle more extensively diffused, and elements of spelling and pronunciation-a jargon society raised to its highest pitch of improvement, of abstract grammar rules crammed into the memo- we must adopt more rational and efficient plans than ry without being understood-the art of writing-- those on which we have hitherto acted, and extend the capacity of repeating the vocables of a cate-the objects of education to all those departments of chism, and a mechanical knowledge of arithmetic, knowledge in which man is interested, as a rational, without understanding the foundation of its rules. social, and immortal being-The following remarks This is the sum of all that tuition which is gene-are intended to embody a few hints in reference to rally considered as necessary for enlightening the such a system of tuition;-and, in the first place, I human mind, and carrying forward the great body shall attend to the

PLAN, SITUATION, AND ARRANGEMENT OF SCHOOL-ROOMS.

The efficiency of any system of intellectual edu- ample accommodation afforded for the scholastic cation that may be formed, will in some measure exercises and amusements of the young. Every depend upon the situation of school-rooms, and the school-house should be erected in an airy and plea

Such are some of the external accommodations | Franklin, Pascal, Howard, Clarkson, Wilberforce, which every village school ought to possess. The and Venning, and particularly of those who in early plan here presented, is not intended as a model to life were distinguished for knowledge and virtue. be generally copied, but merely as exhibiting the re- At every short interval, sentences, expressing some quisite conveniences and accommodations-the plan important truth, or moral maxim, should be inof which may be varied at pleasure, according to scribed on posts erected for the purpose; such as, the taste of architects, or the superintendents of "God is every where present. His Wisdom and education. The plot of ground should not, if possi-Goodness shine in all his works. Thou shalt love ble, in any case, be much less than what is here spe- the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Thou shalt cified; but where ground can be easily procured, it love thy neighbor as thyself. Whatsoever ye would may be enlarged to an indefinite extent. I do not that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.hesitate to suggest, that even two or three acres of Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, land might, with propriety be devoted to this object. and pray for them who despitefully use you. The In this case, it might be laid out in the form of an Lord is good to all; He maketh his sun to arise on ornamental pleasure ground, with straight and ser- the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the pentine walks, seats, bowers, and the various trees just and the unjust. God resisteth the proud, but and shrubs peculiar to the climate. In these walks, bestoweth favor on the humble. Lying lips are an of bowers, busts might be placed of such characters abomination to the Lord. The lip of truth shall be as Bacon, Newton, Boyle, Penn, Washington established for ever; but lying lips are only for a

moment. To be virtuous, we must strive against | corundums, jaspers-sulphur, carbon, bitumen, ammany of our inclinations and desires. The remember, caoutchouc, asphalt, charcoal-quartz, felispar, brance of virtuous actions is the most delightful con- hornblend, &c. To these may be added various solation of old age. An industrious and virtuous specimens of artificial objects and of substances education of children is a better inheritance than a used in manufactures, as hemp, flax, cotton, silk, great estate. The first step to knowledge is to be wool, and the various fabrics into which they are sensible of our own ignorance and defects. Wisdom wrought. is better than riches. Virtue and good behavior are The apparatus may consist of such instruments naturally productive of happiness and good fortune. as the following:--an electrical machine, an airThe present life is only an introductory scene to a pump, a barometer and thermometer, a magnetical future and eternal world; and, therefore, the know- apparatus, various glass tubes and phials, for byledge and habits we now acquire should have a re- drostatical, pneumatical and chemical experiments, ference to that endless state which succeeds the pre--a telescope, a compound and a solar, or an oxysent, &c. &c." Such moral truths and maxíms, hydrogen microscope, a camera-obscura, concave along with brief statements of seientific facts, should and convex mirrors, a phantasmagoria, a sundial, meet the eye of the young in every direction, so as a planetarium, a terrestrial and celestial globe, with to be quite familiar to their minds; and they might large planispheres of the heavens, a burning lens occasionally be referred to, and explained and illus- or mirror, with various instruments of recreation trated, in the discipline enforced, and the instruc- on philosophical subjects, such as the optical parations communicated in school. dox and deception, the diagonal opera-glass, the communicative mirror, the sensitive fishes, the sagacious swan, the cup of Tantalus, the fountain at command, &c. Models might also be procured of wind and watermills, steam-engines, diving-bells, common and forcing pumps, gasometers, and the different mechanical powers.

Furniture of the School.

In fitting up the principal apartment of the school, it may be expedient that the seats be moveable, in order that they may be occasionally arranged, so that the children may sit in one compact body, with their faces towards their instructor. But every seat or form should be furnished with a back, or rail, and a board before, on which the pupil may lean his arm, and feel quite comfortable and easy; for children very soon feel cramped and uneasy, when sitting long on bare forms, without such conveniences. Every boy should likewise have a wooden peg, either before or behind him, for hanging his hat and satchel. The seats in the two smaller apartments may be fitted up to accommodate those who are chiefly employed in writing, arithmetic, or geome try. In these, and various other arrangements, every minute circumstance should be attended to, which may contribute to the convenience and comfortable accommodation of the young, and to the maintenance of good order and regularity in all their

movements.

In addition to the above, it would be requisite to procure systematic sets of well-executed engravings, exhibiting a view of the most striking phenomena of nature and the processes of the arts,-such as, views of rivers, sea-coasts islands, cities, towns, and villages, streets, squares, aqueducts, columns, arches, public buildings, rural landscapes, ranges of mountains, volcanoes, icebergs, basaltic columns, glaciers, caves, grottos, natural bridges-the operations of brewing, baking, spinning, weaving, pin-making, of every object, natural and artificial, which can forging, glass-blowing, ship-building, &c.—in short, convey to the mind a definite idea of the different parts which compose the landscape of the world, and the operations of human art. Colored maps, of the different portions of the globe, on a large scale, should likewise accompany such exhibitions, in order that the positions of the countries, where the different objects are to be found, may be pointed out. These pictorial representations may be hung around the walls, or on posts fitted up for that purpose, in such numbers as the allotted spaces will conveniently contain. The specimens of natural history may be arranged around the walls of the school in presses, with wire or glass doors, so that the greater part of them may be exposed to view; and the apparatus and other articles may be deposited, when not in use, in the two large presses or closets formerly mentioned.

Although the various articles now alluded to could not be procured all at once, yet they might gradually be increased, and a considerable variety of them would doubtless be obtained in the way of donations from the private museums of liberal and philanthropic individuals in the vicinity around; and many of the little urchins who attend the school would rejoice in being instrumental in adding whatever they could procure to augment the splendor and

Apparatus and Museum. The principal furniture of every seminary intended for intellectual instruction should consist of specimens of the various objects connected with Natural History, and an apparatus for illustrating the popular branches of Physical science. These objects may be arranged under the usual divisions of Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy; or, in other words, Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals. Under the first division may be arranged specimens of such domestic animals as can easily be procured; such as, the dog, the cat, the hare, the rabbit, the mole, the rat, the mouse, the bat, &c.the peacock, the turkey, the partridge, the pigeon, the thrush, the linnet, the canary, the lark, the swallow, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, &c.-together with as many specimens of lizards, serpents, fishes, and insects, as can be most casily collected and preserved. Those foreign animals, such as the elephant, the camel, the lion, and the tiger, which cannot be directly exhibited, way be represented by colored engravings. The leaves of different kinds of vegetables might be stuck on large sheets of drawing-variety of the museum. paper, and occasionally exhibited for the purpose of distinguishing the different trees or shrubs to which they belong-several rare exotic plants might be kept in flower-pots-and the several vegetable plots around the seminary would furnish various specimens, in their natural state, of which physiological and botanical descriptions might be given. Various fossils and mineral substances, which can easily be procured, may also be col ected and arranged in classes, such as, platina, silver, mercury, copper, on, lead, bismuth, zin, nickel, manganese, with specimens of their ores-chrysolites, garnets, agates,

There is one very simple instrument, not hitherto duly appreciated, which might be rendered subservient both to the amusement and the instruction of the young; and that is, the Optical Diagonal Ma chine, for viewing perspective engravings. This instrument, as sold by opticians, consists of a pedestal, somewhat resembling a large mahogany candlestick, having a plain mirror and a convex lens moveable at the top. The print to be viewed is placed on a table, before the instrument, in an inverted position. But this form of the instrument generally produces but a very slender effect, owing

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

partly to the small diameter of the lens commonly | Diagonal Machine, would represent objects exactly used, and partly to the circumstance, that the en- in their natural positions; and if the true perspecgraving is generally visible to the eye, at the same tive of a street, a large hall, or a landscape, be actime that the observer is viewing its magnified im-curately delineated, the scene will appear almost as age through the machine. To obviate these defects, natural and interesting as if we were viewing it about seventeen years ago, I fitted up a machine of from the point whence the picture was taken. As this kind on another and more simple plan, of which there are thousands of perspectives engraven exthe following is a brief description. It consists of pressly for this machine, I would humbly suggest to the following parts:-1. A box made of thin deal, engravers and print-sellers the propriety of having 2 feet deep, 2 feet long, and 1 foot broad, open in such engravings etched on the plan now proposed. front. 2. In the side opposite to the opening and The fineness of the engraving is of very little connear the top, a circular hole, about 6 inches in di-sequence in such views, provided the perspective ameter, is cut, into which a tube containing the lens has been accurately attended to; but the coloring is put, and capable of being moved an inch or two should be light and natural, and very different from backwards or forwards. The convex lens is 5 1-2 the glaring and clumsy daubings which appear in inches diameter, and 20 inches focal distance, and most of the perspectives which are sold for the use its centre is about 20 inches above the bottom of the of this machine. box. 3. The reflecting mirror-which is 12. 1-2 inches long and 8 inches broad, and which should be formed of the best English plate glass-the longest dimension being perpendicular to the horizon. This mirror is suspended, immediately before the lens, on two pieces of wood connected with a cross bar, which is capable of being moved backwards or forwards to its proper distance from the lens; and the mirror itself moves on two pivots, like a common dressing-glass, so as to stand at any required angle. When the instrument is properly adjusted, the mirror should stand at half a right angle to the horizon. The top of the box opens by means of a hinge, to afford a facility for adjusting the mirror. The perspective views are placed on the bottom of the box, parallel with the horizon, and in an inverted position with respect to the eye of the observer. The engravings should be at least 17 inches long and 11 inches broad, exclusive of the margins, and colored after nature. This instrument, thus fitted up, is greatly superior to the one commonly in use, as nothing is seen but the magnified image of the objects, and no conception can be formed of them to distract the attention, till the observer actually looks through the instrument. Every person who has looked through this instrument has at once admitted its superiority to those of the common construction, and many individuals have got similar Such are some of the objects and external accommachines fitted up after this pattern. It may be fit-modations which might be procured for every vilted up at an expense not exceeding eighteen or lage school. Such a school would form a striking twenty shillings; that is, nine shillings for the lens, contrast to most of the schools which exist in our seven shillings for the mirror, and two or three shil- country, particularly those which are found in many lings for the box. of our cities and towns, pent up in narrow closes The following figures will convey some idea of and lanes, in the midst of filth, noise and gloom, this construction of the instrument. Fig. 1. repre- destitute of pure air, where the children are packed sents a profile of the machine, one of the sides of the like hounds in a kennel, cramped in their movebox being supposed to be removed. A is the mir-ments, and can scarcely find a passage from one part ror, standing at half a right angle to the lens and the picture, with its back turned to the eye. B is the lens, fixed either in a tube or in a hole cut out of the side of the box next the eye. CD is the bottom of the box, on which the perspectives are placed. EF is the top of the box, from which the mirror is suspended. Fig. 2. represents a view of the back of the box, or that part which is next the eye when the observer is viewing the prints, in which L represents the lens by which the prints are magnified.

There is one glaring defect in the exhibitions made with this instrument, which has never yet been attempted to be remedied; and that is, that in every landscape the right side of the view appears where the left should be, which presents a confused and unnatural view, particularly of those objects and scenes with which we are acquainted. This defect may be remedied by cutting out or etching the landscape on the copperplate-not reversed, as is always done, but in its natural position; in which case, the engravings, when thrown off, would be reversed, like the picture formed by a common camera-obscura. Such engravings, when used for the Optical

of the school-room to another, and where no objects of delight arrest their curiosity and enliven their spirits. Instead of such scanty and wretched accommodations-which may be considered as so many juvenile prison-houses, to which the young are frequently driven by dint of force-we should thus have it in our power to introduce them into a kind of magnificent museum, where every object would excite curiosity and arrest attention. Instead of associating with scholastic exercises the ideas of tasks, stripes and imprisonment, we should thus present to thei view a delightful avenue and portal to the Temple of Knowledge, which would excite a spirit of observation, rouse their intellectual energies, and produce a high degree of pleasure and enjoyment. And nothing can be of more importance to the best interests of the young, and to the cause of the universal diffusion of knowledge, than to strew the path of science with flowers of every hue, and to render all the early associations connected with it exhilarating and cheerful. The road which leads to knowledge, moral virtue, happiness, and the higher enjoyments of the life to come, ought undoubtedly to wear a bright

and alluring aspect, and to be divested of every ol- the power of presenting to the view of the mind the ject which has the appearance of austerity or gloom. images or ideas of these objects at pleasure, even In towns, a number of these schools might be con- when the objects which first produced them are renected together in one large square or building, sur-moved. Those ideas are nothing else than renewed rounded with as extensive a space as can be pro-representations of what we have at any time percured, forming one grand seminary, where children ceived or felt through the medium of the organs of of all ranks might associate without distinction in sensation. Having received such impressions or their amusements and scholastic exercises. The ideas, the mind has the faculty of contemplating amusements and the exercises of such numerous them at pleasure, whether their objects be present of groups of the young, both within and without doors, absent of combining them together, of compoundwould form a lively and interesting spectacle to ing and decompounding them, and of modifying, every philanthropist; and public schools, when pro- comparing, and examining them, in an infinite vaperly situated, and governed on Christian princi- riety of lights; by which means it is enabled to enples, so far from being a nuisance to the neighbor- large the objects of its perception and contemplahood, as they are generally considered, would con- tion, and to acquire an inexhaustible treasure of stitute one of the best ornaments, and the most de- other ideas, distinct from the former, though neces lightful scenes, connected with general society.-sarily resulting from them. Such is the origin and Where large towns diverge into extensive suburbs, progress of all our knowledge; and thus the human a variety of distinct seminaries might be erected at mind pursues its course from simple perceptions proper distances from each other, to accommodate and trains of ideas, and from one discovery and the inhabitants of the adjacent district, so that the chain of reasoning to another, till it rises from the children would not require to go too great a distance first dawnings of reason to the full blaze of intelfrom their homes. lectual light, and to the height of moral improve

School-Books.

1. That the subjects introduced be level to the comprehension of those for whose use the book is intended.

ment.

These considerations evidently point out the mode in which instruction ought to be communicated, and There are few things of more importance in the the objects towards which the youthful mind should, arrangements connected with education than the ju- in the first instance, be directed-for want of attendicious selection and compilation of the Books in- tion to which, many of our school-books are nearly tended to be put into the hands of the young. I have as inefficient for the purpose intended as if they had already offered a few strictures on the inefficiency been written in a foreign language. I have just of the school-books which have been most generally now lying before me two initiatory books lately pubin use in our borough and parochial schools; and al-lished, entitled, "First" and "Second Books for though of late years several improved school-collec- Children," in which there is not a single sentence tions have been introduced, scarcely any have yet ap conveying the idea of a sentiment or fact, nor even peared completely adapted to an intellectual system a single word, that will produce an idea in the mind of tuition. The following general principles ought to of a child-every page being completely occupied be recognised in the compilation of every class-book with such sounds as these-"gra, cre, dre, dro-gaff, for the use of schools:puff, groff, sniff-gyve, gyre, gybe-baffle, socle, struggle," &c. &c. Such books can never be interesting to the young, and must present to their view nothing but a bleak and thorny path to the temple of knowledge. Nor will such vague sentences as the following, with which our primers abound, produce a much better effect:-"My son, walk not in the way of bad men; for bad men go on in sin all the day.-Set thy heart on the right way, and mind the law of the Lord.-Do not break the laws of God, and shun the ways that lead to death," &c. Such sombre sentiments and exhortations, however sound the morality they inculcate, can never produce a well-defined idea in the mind of a child, or excite to moral action, and consequently cannot have the effect of producing pleasing emotions and a taste for knowledge.-Every sentence of a child's lesson should convey to his mind a picture or representation of some object; and it is quite possible to accomplish this end, by simplifying our descriptions, and selecting those sensible objects which are calcu lated to attract attention, and which may be presented to the view. For example:

2. That every article it contains be calculated to convey some portion of useful knowledge.

3. That the selections in general have a moral tendency, and that every thing that might foster a spirit of pride, avarice, ambition or warfare, be carefully excluded.

4. That moral and physical facts should form a prominent feature in such books, and mere fictions be entirely discarded.

5. That the lessons be so constructed, that every sentiment and description may produce an accurate and well-defined idea in the minds of the young.

These rules proceed on the assumption, that the communication of ideas-the elements of thoughtand the formation of moral character, are the great and ultimate objects of education.

In the first books put into the hands of children, the lessons should be so constructed that the leading ideas they contain, or the objects they describe, may be immediately pointed out, either by means of the specimens contained in the museum, by pictorial represen- "The sun shines.-The sky is blue, when it is not talions, or by the objects around them in the scene of covered with clouds.-The stars shine forth at night. nature; so that every word, or at least every descrip--Snow is white.-Rain comes from the clouds.tion contained in the lesson, may be associated in the mind of the child with the idea of its objects. Hence the propriety, in the first instance, of restricting the descriptive lessons solely to sensible objects. It is through the medium of the senses that the elements of all our knowledge are derived. We perceive, in the first instance, a variety of objects which immediately surround us, and gradually become acquainted with some of their qualities. As we advance in life, and mingle in society, and make excursions from one place to another, the number of our perceptions is indefinitely increased. We have

Gold is yellow; silver is white; copper is red.Lead is heavy; cork is light; coal is black.-Trees grow in the fields; they have roots, branches and leaves.-Flowers grow in the fields and gardens; some of them are red, some are white, some are vellow, others are blue.-Corn grows in the fields; when it is ripe it is cut down, and ground into meal, and then baked into bread.-A dog has a head, two ears, four feet, and a tail.—A bird has a beak, two eyes, two wings, two legs, and a tail; it is covered with feathers, it chirrups and sings, and flies through the air. -When we strike a small bell with a key, it