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since been increased to 60. They are the children of the most respectable families in the city; and it is worthy of special notice, that although their parents are Catholics, they are allowed, with scarcely an exception, to read the Bible under the instruction of Mr. P. N. Y. Observer.

COLUMBIAN COLLEGE.

Plan of the Law Department of the Columbian College in the District of Columbia. This College was founded by an act of Congress, of the 9th of February, 1821. Soon after which, its Classical Department went into operation, and a very liberal course of instruction was commenced. Theological, Medical, and Law Departments, have been successively established and organised. The two former, as well as the Classical Department have been in operation for some time, with a degree of success which has encouraged the Trustees to bring into operation, also, the Department of Law. Indeed, no place seems more fit for the establishment of a Law College, than the seat of the national government; where students from every section of the union may often meet many of their friends; where the brightest ornaments of the bar will be assembled: where the best examples of forensic and juridical eloquence will be displayed; where the most important questions arising under the laws and constitutions of the several states, and of the United States, and the law of nations, will be debated and decided; and where, by observing the manners and practice of the highest and most honorable portion of the profession, the student will rise above every thing that is low and sordid, and fix his aim on all that is noble, and manly, and honorable. But the advantages which the city of Washington presents, as a place in which to establish a school for instruction in the law, are so important and obvious, that it cannot be necessary to enumerate them.

The lectures are intended to be continued daily, until the course (which will consist of nearly 400 lectures,) shall be finished; with the exception, however, of one day perhaps in each week, and of the terms of the Circuit Court of the United States, for the County of Washington, D. C. Each lecture will occupy from one to two hours; and the whole course will probably require eighteen months or two years.

In addition to the course upon the usual heads of municipal law, strictly so called, (which will be treated as fully and minutely as may be necessary to qualify the student for actual practice,) it is intended to lecture upon the constitution and laws of the United States, the admiralty jurisdiction and practice of the Courts of the United States, and upon the law of nations.

An examination of the students will take place on every Saturday, upon the subjects which shall have been lectured upon during the preceding week.

A Moot Court will be holden once a week, for arguing questions of law previously propounded for discussion, and for trying fictitious causes. In these Courts it is intended that the proceedings shall be regular and formal, as well in making up the record, as in the process and pleadings--so that the student may at the same time acquire a knowledge of the practice, as well as of the theory of the law. The students, until a law library for the school shall be otherwise provided, will have the use of the libraries of the professors.

The following is an extract from the laws adopted by the Board of Trustees, for the regulation of the Law Department.

'Be it ordained, by the Columbian College, in the District of Columbia:

1st. That there shall be a full course of law lectures delivered in the city of Washington, by the professors of law, once in every period of twelve months, or such other period as the said professors shall determine upon, not exceeding two years. Which course shall embrace so much of the common and statute law of England, as may be considered applicable to this country, the constitution and laws of the United States, the laws in force in the District of Columbia, and the constitutions and laws of such of the several states, as the professors may find it

convenient to lecture upon. The first course to commence at such time as the professor shall appoint, and of which they shall give thirty days public notice.

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2d. Each student, before he can receive a ticket of the professors, for admission to the law lectures, shall pay ten dollars to the treasurer of the college, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of, and increasing, the law library, to be expended under the direction of the professors of law, for the sole use of the school shall have his name entered on the college books, and receive a ticket of matriculation, as evidence that he has placed himself under the government of the trustees of the college and the law professors. He shall also pay to the said professors of law, or secure to their satisfaction, the sum of one hundred dollars, for each course of lectures he shall attend. But all who shall have attended two full courses of lectures in this school, may attend any future course, gratis.

'3d. The students may be admitted at any time; and if any one enter during the progress of a course of lectures, he shall pay only in proportion to the lectures of that course, then remaining to be delivered.

4th. Each student shall be subject to the rules of discipline which may, from time to time, be ordained by the trustees, and administered by the professors of law.

5th. All the students of law shall have the privilege of attending, gratuitously, the lectures in the classical department of the college, on natural philosophy, astronomy, botany, natural history, &c. by presenting a recommendation from the professors of law, to the president of the college.

6th. No student shall be admitted to examination, as a candidate for the degree of Bachelor or Doctor of Laws, until-

1. He shall have attended two full courses of lectures.

2. He shall have read law three years at least, under the direction of a respectable counsellor of law, or judge.

3. He shall have attained the age of twenty-one years.

4. He shall have satisfied the professors of law, of his classical attainments, if he be not a graduate in the arts; and also, of his moral character.

5. He shall have entered his name with the professors of law, as a candidate for graduation, and delivered to them an inaugural dissertation on some head or question of law, thirty days at least before his final examination. Candidates for graduation may be examined by the professors of law, at any time they may appoint. If they shall be satisfied, upon such examination, that the candidate has obtained a sufficient knowledge of the law, to entitle him to the degree which he solicits, they shall so certify to the president of the college, and recommend him as a candidate for the public examination; which examination, for the reading and defence of his dissertation, shall be holden at the college, (on a day to be appointed by the president,) in the presence of the board of trustees, the faculty of the college, and such others as may be invited to attend. When the candidate shall have passed the public examination, the president and professors of law shall certify the same, and recommend him to the board of trustees, as an approved candidate for the degree. If the board of trustees shall approve of the same, they shall signify their approbation and consent, by mandamus to the faculty of the college, who shall proceed to grant said degree, accordingly, at such time and place as shall be signified in such mandamus.'

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

The Visiters of the University of Virginia formed a board on Monday, Oct. 2d, that being the day appointed for their regular autumnal meeting. Messrs. Madison, Monroe, Johnson, Breckenridge, Cabell and Cocke were present. Mr. Madison was appointed Rector. The board have been busily employed every day during the week, in examining the actual state of the University, and deliberating on means for the promotion of its utility. We understand, that some changes in the minor points of the police, and perhaps others of greater importance will be made. The entire plan of this institution has undergone a thorough and strict in

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vestigation, and we may be permitted to hope for the most salutary results from the zealous labors of such men as the visiters. Central Gas.

GYMNASTIC EXERCISE FOR FEMALES.

[From the Medical Intelligencer.]

To the Editor,--In compliance with your request, I will endeavor to furnish you with a brief account of my humble attempts to introduce gymnastic exercises into the Monitorial School; and perhaps not the least gratifying circumstance in my relation will be the fact, that my attempt takes date from the delivery of one of your Lectures on Physical Education, early in the spring of 1825. I had long before noticed the feeble health of many of my pupils, and encouraged them to take more exercise, but they wanted means and example, and little or nothing was effected. The very day after the delivery of your first lecture, I procured two or three bars, and as many pulleys, and after I had explained the manner of using them to the best advantage, my pupils needed no further encouragement to action. The recess was no longer a stupid, inactive season; all were busy and animated. My chief difficulty was in the selection of proper exercises for females. You know the prevailing notions of female delicacy and propriety are at variance with every attempt to render females less feeble and helpless,--and the bugbears of rudeness, romping, &c. are sure to stare every such attempt in the face. I read all the books I could find, but met with very little applicable to the instruction of females It seemed as if the sex had been thought unworthy of any effort to improve their physical powers. But the beneficial effects of what I had already introduced, led me to persevere, and I have finally succeeded in contriving apparatus and exercises enough to keep all employed in play hours. Besides the ordinary exercises of raising the arms and feet, and extending them in various directions, we have various methods of hanging and swinging by the arms, tilting, raising weights, jumping forward, marching, running, enduring, &c &c. I have no longer any anxiety about procuring suitable exercises, or in sufficient variety, for my pupils; and I believe the few parents whose more prim education led them to shudder at my innovation, have surrendered their prejudices.

As to the effect of the exercises on the character and conduct of the pupils, it may be recorded for the encouragement of others, that many weak and feeble children have at least doubled their strength, and now disdain the little indulgences which were then thought necessary to them. Some very dull children have become more animated, and some over sprightly ones have found an innocent way of letting off their exuberant spirits; the discipline of the school has not been impaired, nor has my participation in the exercises of the children lessened their respect for me or my orders. I do not pretend that every dull child has been completely excited, nor that every wild one has been tamed, nor every vicious one reformed, but I do believe that no child has been made worse than she would bave become without the exercises, while many, very many, have been essentially benefitted. I would not conceal the fact that many hands have been blistered, and perhaps a little hardened by the exerciscs, but I have yet to learn that the perfection of female beauty consists in a soft, small, and almost useless hand, any more than in the cramped, diminutive, deformed, and useless feet of the Chinese ladies. But some of the old school say, why not let the children walk much, and exercise themselves in useful household labors. I should recommend both these methods of exercise, but do not think they would be a complete substitute for gymnastics, though a very useful aid to them. But the fact is the children of the present day

* Would it not be well to avoid a term, the etymology of which renders it now so inapplicable, and to designate this department of the physical education, of females at least by the phrase hygeian exercise? Names, it is true, are not com monly of very great importance. But the fact is that the term gymnastic is connected with an idea of coarseness, which in the early stage of the progress of this branch of education, might create a prejudice against it.-Ed. Jour. Education.

are not thus employed at home, but on the contrary are engaged in the health destroying business of committing books to memory, and filling the mind with indigestible food, that it may be a suitable companion for its dyspeptic envelope. I hope the day is not far distant when gymnasiums for women will be as common as churches in Boston, and when our young men, in selecting the mothers of their íuture offspring, will make it one condition of the covenant that they be healthy, strong, capable of enduring fatigue, encountering danger, and helping themselves, and those who will naturally and of right, look to them for assistance. Very respectfully, Your friend and servant, Boston, Oct. 1826.

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WILLIAM B. FOWLE.

[The following remarks are from the Editor of the Intelligencer.]

We value this letter mainly, in the first place, because it is the first account we have seen of gymnastics having been successfully practised in any school for giris, in any part of the United States; and secondly, because it is the first direct evidence we have had that the feeble, though persevering efforts, we have from time to time made, to bring into notice and favor the long missing, though fundamental branch of education, have produced any good effect.

There is nothing new to us in the contents of this letter, though there may be to others; for we have often seen the teacher's ingenuity in devising, putting up and using the apparatus in his miniature gymnasium; and have been permitted to share in the exercises of the place, till the little happy pupils were quite willing to admit us to be of their number.

In relation to these exercises as applicable to females there are some questions which deserve consideration. Can they be rendered appropriate, becoming, and useful? That a sufficient number of these exercises can be selected and adapted to the character, station, and wants of girls and women, is the unanimous opinion of those individuals on the continent, in England, and in America, who are best acquainted with the subject; and in all these countries trials are now going on which will, in due time, make this opinion the common conviction of every inquiring and enlightened mind.

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Women in general, from their relations and duties, need the preserving and invigorating movements of the gymnasium, more than men, and when they shall have realised their vivifying effects, will be as much attached to them. In reference to this subject, the question is frequently asked, are not walking, riding, and an attention to domestic concerns and duties, quite as good for health, and more useful and suitable for women, than the queer motions and gesticulations of the gymnasium? To answer briefly, we say no, they are not! Who is right? Let facts decide; and to ascertain where the facts, in the case are to be found, let this quere be first disposed of. What has been done for the last half century in the American Union, to render our women what they are capable of being made, healthy efficient and happy beings?

TEACHERS OF GYMNASTICS.

[No information, perhaps, which we could communicate would be more useful than that contained in the following paragraphs. Gymnastic schools have been recently established in several places where, if we mistake not, teachers are not yet obtained. The friends of physical education at Yale College, or in NewYork or Philadelphia, may be gratified to learn that well qualified instructersmen of eminence in science and literature, as well as in the gymnastic art, may be engaged on very reasonable terms to aid the progress of public improvement in this department of education.

The introductory paragraphs of the following article, are extracted from a recent letter of our literary countryman Mr. Neal, who has taken a very active part in aiding the interests of Prof. Voelker's gymnastic establishment in London; and to whose attention we have been repeatedly indebted for intelligence on gymnastics.]

'You know my zeal about gymnastics. I have been heartily engaged for above a year in the study and practice of them in every variety; and under a hope that

I may be of use to my countrymen. I have found three men, who I am told are qualified, almost beyond example, for teachers. I enclose you the proposals and the certificate of one, who was a chief personage with professor Jahn himself.” Proposals of Dr. Francis Lieber.

1. Dr. Lieber proposes to establish a Gymnasium: the apparatus and the ground necessary are to be furnished him.

2. That Dr. Lieber has a free passage from England to America.

3. That *800 dollars be guaranteed to Dr. Lieber for the first year.

4. That if 1000 dollars be given in the first year, Dr. Lieber will take Mr. A. Baur, student of theology, with him to America, to assist in teaching, which will be very advantageous to the pupils, as Mr. Baur presided over the Gymnasium at Tubingen; and was several years under Dr. Jahn in the central institution at Berlin. Dr. Lieber thinks that Mr. Baur would accompany him to America if there were for future time any prospect of employment as teacher of gymnastics or as a protestant minister; but as Dr. Lieber only suggests the possibility of Mr.. Baur going to America, he would like to know the decision in both cases. If there are given 1000 dollars to Dr. Lieber, Mr. Baur wants only free passage to America.

5. Dr. Lieber also proposes to establish a Swimming School, the materials and place must be furnished him, and he will pay interest upon the capital so advanced, by instalments, until he has paid the principal.

6. That Dr. Lieber is not to pay any interest upon the expenses for erecting the Gymnasium.

[The following is the certificate of professor Jahn.]

Francis Lieber, Doctor in Philosophy, has, during several successive years, both in summer and winter, gone through the whole course of gymnastic exercises in the gymnasium over which I, the undersigned, presided; he has also accompanied me in several pedestrian excursions, among others in 1817 to the island of ugen, and in 1818 to the Riesen mountains, on which travels we visited many Prussian gymnasiums.

Having found him of good moral behavior, ingenious and clever, and being a good leader and teacher of gymnastics, I thought it right, as early as the year 1817 to propose him to the government of the Rhenish Provinces at Aix la Chapelle, for the situation of a teacher of gymnastic exercises.

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Beloved by the young scholars; esteemed and respected by those of the same or a more advanced age than himself, he was elected a member of the committee which was intended to represent the society of Turners,' [it is impossible to translate this term exactly: all the Turners' were liberals] and to promote the art generally, with a view as well to the art itself as to morals and science. At the time when Dr. Lieber, was daily with me, he zealously adhered to those eternal maxims of truth, duty, and liberty, which form the only basis of the progress of human kind.

The journeys which he has since performed through Germany, Switzerland, to France, Italy and Greece, have no doubt still farther formed his understanding, and enlarged his mind; but on this point I cannot judge from my own knowledge having since lost sight of him although he lives in my recollection.

At the request of Dr. Lieber I have given this testimonial, stamped according to law, written with my own hand, with my seal affixed and certified by the muni cipality of my present abode. Freiburg, on the Unstrut, in the Prussian Duchy of Saxony. Aug. 1st, 1826. (Signed) FREDERICK LEWIS JAHN, Doctor in Philosophy.

L. S.

*This will be a matter for negotiation. I have told Dr. Lieber that if he is employed, he will be supported respectably, and I named 800 dollars as being pretty sure. I should mention that Dr. L. speaks English very well-so as to be quite intelligible to every body; and that he teaches not only Gymnastics, as they are usually taught, but swimming, riding, and fencing.

Mr.N.

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