of the classical school is an imperfect preparation. The Edict in this connection merely recommends that especially those_pupils of the Gymnasium who intend to take up Technology, Natural Science, Mathematics or Medicine, should be induced to avail themselves diligently of the optional instruction in Drawing.

II. The recognition of the principle of equality of the Gymnasium, Realgymnasium and Oberrealschule is to make possible a stronger accentuation of the characteristic features of each type. In 1892 a considerable reduction was made in the number of hours devoted to Latin, both at the Gymnasium and the Realgymnasium; the King now does not discountenance an extension of Latin teaching. At the same time, His Majesty is convinced of the increasing importance of English, and he is desirous that this subject should receive greater attention in the Gymnasium. The practice of all Gymnasien (with the exception of the few reformed schools) has been to commence Latin in the Sexta' (the lowest class), French in the Quarta (the third from the lowest), Greek in the Untertertia (the fourth from the lowest), and to teach English as an optional subject in the highest three classes. The King now recommends English to be taught as far as Untersekunda as an alternative subject to Greek (for three years therefore); and English to take the place of French as an obligatory subject, French the place of English as an optional subject, in the highest three classes of Gymnasien situated in towns where local conditions would warrant the change. In respect of the Oberrealschule more room is to be found for Geography in those time-tables that permit of an extension.

III.-The King is alive to the great progress that has been made in the various departments of instruction since the issue of the revised curricula in 1892. But more is required. Headmasters are warned against attaching the same importance alike to all branches of the curriculum. The character of each type of school is to determine the relative prominence of the subjects. The maxim multum non multa is to be acted upon.

(a) Greek. Useless forms are to be kept outside the sphere of instruction. Esthetic insight and comprehension of the relation of antiquity to modern culture are to be regarded as of real import.

(b) Modern Languages.-Great stress is to be laid on readiness of speech and the clear understanding of current authors.

(c) History. The royal decree of May, 1889, contains the following noteworthy passage*:"National history will have to deal especially with the history of our social and economic legislation and development from the beginning of this century to the present social enactments, in order to show how the Kings of Prussia have at all

1 The names of the classes (starting from the bottom) of a first-grade secondary school for boys are :-Sexta, Quinta, Quarta, Untertertia, Obertertia, Untersekunda, Obersekunda, Unterprima, Oberprima.

See "Problems in Prussian Secondary Education for Boys." By M. E. Sadler. Vol. iii., Special Reports, p. 104.

times regarded it as their special mission to bestow their fatherly protection on and to uplift the material and spiritual welfare of those of the population who have to live by the labour of their hands, and how in the future, as in the past, the working classes can only look for justice and the safety of their earnings under the protecting care of the King at the head of a well-ordered State. And especially from the point of view of practical utility, by striking references to actual facts, it should be made clear even to young people that a well-ordered constitution under secure monarchical rule is the indispensable condition for the protection and welfare of each individual, both as a citizen and as a worker; that, on the other hand, the doctrines of social democracy are, in point of fact, infeasible, and that, if they were put into practice, the liberty of each individual would be subjected to intolerable restraint even within the very circle of the home. The ideas of the Socialists are sufficiently defined through their own writings for it to be possible to depict them in a way which will shock the feelings and the practical good sense even of the young.”

Effect was given to this royal recommendation in a Government regulation of July, 1889.

The present Edict takes note of the two defects which still make themselves felt in the teaching of history-the neglect of important periods of ancient history, and the lack of detailed thoroughness in the treatment of the German history of the 19th century, with its elevating memories and great accomplishments for the Fatherland.

(c) Geography. - Both in the Gymnasien and Realgymnasien the instruction is, as far as possible, to be entrusted to specialists.

(d) Natural Science. — Observation and experiment are to receive wider scope; more frequent excursions are to add life to the instruction; in the case of physics and chemistry the aspects of practical application and technology are not to be neglected.

(e) Drawing. Skill in rapid sketching is to

receive attention.

(f) Physical Training.-Better results are to be aimed at in the matter of physical exercises; the time-table is to be drawn up with greater regard to hygienic exigencies; the intervals for recreation are to be increased considerably.

IV. A great stimulus to secondary education in Germany has always been the military certificate granted upon the completion of a secondgrade course, or of the first six classes of a firstgrade school. The certificate entitles the holder to substitute one year's military service with enhanced status for the ordinary term of two years, formerly of three years. Before 1892 the right of promotion to Obersekunda (7th from the bottom) at first-grade schools carried with it the certificate as a matter of course. There was no special Government examination; the teachers themselves judged the fitness of the pupil on the year's work. With the revised curriculum a searching Government examination (called Abschlussprüfung) was instituted, the object of

which was to encourage a certain completeness in the lower portion of the first-grade school, and, by making the passage to the upper division more difficult, to check the stream of University aspirants.

The examination, says the Edict, has not had the results anticipated. It has in particular had the effect rather of increasing than diminishing the number of University students. The King desires it to be abolished.

According to the Frankfurter Zeitung of January 7th, the Minister of Instruction has already ordered the discontinuance of the examination in question.

V. In 1891 the authorities at Frankfort received the Ministerial sanction to special to special curricula at the Municipal Gymnasium and at the two Realgymnasien of the city. Several other towns have since been allowed to adopt the Frankfort curricula. The reform secured a common basis extending over three years for all types of secondary schools, by beginning French in the lowest class, and postponing Latin to Untertertia (4th class from the lowest); further, by postponing Greek in the Gymnasium to Untersekunda (6th from the lowest), and English in the Realgymnasium to the corresponding class, a common curriculum for the first five years was made possible for the classical and semi-classical school.

The Frankfort experiment was not entirely novel one. Already in 1878 a scheme had been sanctioned by which the "Realgymnasium and Realschule," conducted under one roof in Altona, received a common preliminary three years'

course.

The King pronounces himself favourably with. regard to the reformed organisation. Socially he considers an estimable advantage to be gained by the common foundation obtained; and he desires the experiment to be continued on a broader basis.

In conclusion, the King expresses the hope that the new regulations to be made in accordance with his Edict may be welcomed by both the adherents of the Classical and the advocates for the New Learning.

The Secondary Schools of Germany.-Through the labour of generations, the public higher schools for boys in Germany stand, from certain points of view and in many important respects, as models to the world. They are unrivalled in their high level of many-sided attainment. Thought has been lavished on the planning and concentration of their studies. The quality, the range and the method of their teaching are under the watchful care of State inspectors, themselves experienced in the work of secondary education. All the schools are thus scrupulously kept up to an exacting standard of excellence. The teachers, almost all of them university men, are required to have passed through a special course of professional training. On appointment to a post in the public schools the teachers become civil servants and are entitled to stipends, to which are attached regular increments proportionable to their length of service, as well as pension rights and claims to compassionate allowances for their widows and children.-M. E. Sadler.

TYPICAL SCHOOL TIME-TABLES. IV. BOLTON CENTRAL HIGHER-GRADE SCHOOL. SCHOOL OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT.

IN

BOARD

N continuing the series of typical school timetables we are able this month, owing to the courtesy of Mr. John Thornton, M.A. (Lond.), the Headmaster of the school, to present our readers with one of the best examples of the highest department of a large provincial Higher-grade School. The time-table is of especial value since it makes quite clear the nature and scope of a "School of Science" in connection with the South Kensington branch of the Board of Education.

There is a peculiar appropriateness about the publication of this time-table just now. The decision in the "Regina v. Cockerton" case, in which Justices Wills and Kennedy recently pronounced judgment, is being considered by educationists of all shades of opinion. The decision has provoked much discussion, and will not be allowed to rest in its present position. But while awaiting a final judgment it is worth while to point out that the work of such schools as that of the School of Science Department of the Bolton Higher-grade School has for many years proved very suitable for boys and girls of elementary schools who, having passed through the standards, are permitted to continue their education until the age of sixteen. As the Senior Chief Inspector pointed out in the last report of the Board of Education, South Kensington, the curriculum of these schools of science provides an admirable preparation for the work of technical institutes, and for this reason alone they deserve encouragement.

It will make the time-table clearer to explain that Division I. is the highest class, and consists of students who are staying for a third year in the department. Division II. consists of second-year students and is divided up into three separate classes. In the same way, the six classes which make up Division III. are composed entirely of first-year pupils. When an alternative is given for any of the classes, it means that such a class is made up of two sections which take their practical work in science alternately.

Only boys and girls are admitted to the school who know well the work of the six standards of the "Code" of the Board of Education, and who engage to stay through the school year. It will be found by a study of the time-table that ten hours a week are devoted to literary subjects and the chief part of the remaining time to practical and theoretical science, including manual instruction for the boys and cookery for the girls of the first and second years. The courses are those laid down by the Board of Education, South Kensington, and are intended to provide a thorough and progressive training in science, combined with suitable literary and commercial instruction.

Pupils attend the gymnasium after 4 p.m., or on Saturday mornings, according to a special time-table.

COMMON EXAMINATION ERRORS.

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III. GEOGRAPHY.

By GEO. G. CHISHOLM, M.A., B.Sc.

N the first of this series of papers (Dec., 1900), Dr. Bryan justly remarks that "it is only by the application of written tests that teachers can ascertain the points which their pupils fail to grasp." This failure is not always due to lack of effort on their parts. Boys and girls do think, and it is often very instructive to teachers to see the unexpected ways in which their minds work. Teachers thus learn to guard their pupils against misconceptions which otherwise they might never have thought of.

Among misconceptions in geography I am disposed to give the foremost place, on the ground both of frequency and variety, to those connected with the influence of mountains in promoting rainfall.

Mountains do not attract rain; they do not attract clouds. In certain circumstances they certainly have an important effect in increasing the rainfall, and in bringing about the formation of clouds; but the effect is of quite a different nature. To ascribe it to attraction has the inevitable consequence of leading to other errors, and of preventing the entrance into the mind of the true idea, which throws light upon all the facts under this head which it is important for those who learn geography to note and remember.

Yet there is no commoner mode of stating the relation of mountains to rainfall. It could be illustrated in various modes of expression from every examination containing a question in which this subject was involved. "The moisture is drawn out of the winds by the mountains." "Rain falls in Wales the greatest part of the year, because the mountains always draw the clouds across to them." "Cumberland has several mountains which act as magnets." "The mountains are high, but not too lofty to act as a magnet upon the clouds." "The mountains of the west of England and Ireland encourage the south-westerly winds across the open Atlantic." "The mountains attract the warm clouds, which, when they touch the cold summits, burst directly, and let the rain down." "Mountains absorb rain from the clouds." And so on.

Now with regard to the influence which we are now considering, there are two facts of great practical importance which boys and girls learning geography should get firm hold of; first, that the effect of mountains in promoting rainfall is observed mainly on one side of the mountains; and, second, that it is often experienced at a great distance from the mountains, in some cases hundreds of miles away, as at the mouth of the Ganges. But if the idea of mountains attracting rain once enters the mind, these facts are thereby apt to be left out. The boy who wrote about the mountains of Wales drawing the clouds across to

them evidently thought they could "draw" the clouds from all sides indifferently.

The essential facts which the pupil should grasp by way of explanation are these: (1) that the winds are the carriers of the water-vapour that ultimately falls as rain; (2) that mountains by standing in the way of vapour-bearing winds force them to rise; (3) that the air thus forced upwards at once expands, thereby becomes cooled, and is thus liable to be cooled below the point of saturation; and (4) that the effect of mountains in thus causing winds to rise may be propagated for a long distance backwards.

Some of the points here mentioned are perhaps somewhat difficult for boys and girls. The difficulty with regard to the point of saturation has no special connection with the influence of mountains in promoting rainfall, but belongs to the subject of rainfall generally, and accordingly I pass that over. It is very important, however, that boys and girls should at least get a firm hold of the fact that air (like other gases) cools in expanding, even though it is not necessary in teaching geography to explain how this effect is brought about. It is not very easy to illustrate this effect in a class, but it may serve to impress the fact on the minds of boys and girls to let them know that some freezing machines are based on this principle, and that all those who cycle may observe for themselves the opposite effect, that of heating by compression, by feeling the bottom of their inflators when pumping up their tyres.

The fourth point mentioned above is also one of some difficulty, but it may be cleared up to some extent by reference to the behaviour of water. In a shallow stream anyone can see how the running water leaps over stones, and that this effect is at least propagated an inch or two backwards; the water stopped by the stone itself stopping that immediately behind it and causing it also to rise. Those who have seen a river weir will understand that it has the effect of raising the level of the water for a long distance backwards. They may be told that the dam now building on the Nile is to hold up the water of that river for 140 miles back. It should not then be difficult for them to seize the fact that the effect of a like nature on a current of air will be still more marked.

But whatever difficulties some of the abovementioned points may present, it is worth a little effort to instil them into the minds of the pupils. For, once they are firmly lodged in their minds, they will guard them against such errors as have been already indicated, as well as others which other examples will serve to illustrate.

Thus a common idea is that the moisture is, as it were, squeezed out of the air by the mountains, as water is squeezed out of a sponge. It must be admitted that this is rather a tempting illustration. It is one at least quite consistent with, and generally accompanied by correct ideas as to the importance of observing the direction of the prevailing vapour-laden winds. The analogy is likewise so far correct that the moving air forming the wind must in the first instance be more or less com

pressed by the obstruction of the mountains. But beyond that the analogy breaks down. Here are some of the consequences of being carried away by it.

"When moisture-laden winds come over the Atlantic and meet elevated ground they are forced up into a colder stratum of air, and moisture is pressed out." "When the warm moist winds from the Atlantic strike against the western mountains they contract, and the rain falls." To this head may probably be referred also the following example:-" Clouds are always in motion. When they come in contact with mountains they burst and let their substance fall to the ground." frequent form of this misconception is illustrated by the next two examples. "Air driven up into the colder regions becomes condensed and unable to hold its moisture any longer." "Mountains condense the atmosphere and turn it into rain." The idea is elaborately expounded in the following curious example of confused thinking coupled with confused expression :-"This condensation of the air is due to the fact that when air is heated it expands and is able to carry a great deal of moisture with it; when, however, the air strikes upon any cold surface it becomes cooled, and hence the cooling of the air contracts it, the air becomes unable to retain its moisture, which consequently gradually falls towards the earth's surface, and as the particles of moisture fall they join together."

Another common misconception is that it is the weight of the moisture that is the direct cause of rain. "Clouds are driven up into the air by mountains facing them, and the moisture becomes so heavy that the clouds can't retain it." "Clouds, on account of their being so heavily laden with moisture, cannot rise above the mountains, and are thus compelled to discharge their burden." "So when the clouds meet the mountains and become chilled, they have to drop some of their water so as to be able to expand and rise over the hills." The prevailing wind in England and the only one that brings much rain is the south-west. The clouds deposit the moisture brought by this wind over the cold sides of the mountains, and getting lighter they ascend, roll over the mountains, and sail away to the north-east." The first of these statements might be accepted, if only a necessary step in the process by which the specific gravity is increased were not omitted. Boys and girls don't readily grasp the idea that water-vapour is lighter than dry air.

Sundry other misconceptions with regard to this subject might be illustrated by numerous examples, but those already adduced have taken up so much space as to leave little room to comment on errors of other kinds. But there is one error that cannot be passed over, because it is so frequent, and I am afraid I may add, so peculiarly exasperating to examiners. It is to describe a river as flowing up hill, or in a variety of ways to intimate that. In an examination in which candidates were asked to describe the course of the Rhine, I have known two-thirds of them to describe it as flowing (with more or less detail) from the North Sea to the Alps, "giving off" or "throw

ing off" different tributaries by the way. "The Rhine enters the Lake of Constance after passing the Falls of Schaffhausen." "Geneva is situated on the lake of the same name where the Rhone enters it." In most cases this error is no doubt to be looked upon as nothing else than a grotesque awkwardness of expression; but the following example, taken from a paper otherwise good, would seem to show that the expression may affect one's ideas of the facts:-" The chief drawback to the Mississippi is that the land at its mouth is below the level of that at the source, the river thus flowing against gravity. Centrifugal force is the cause of this." The flowing up hill is not only expressly accepted, but explained!

A variety of this error is to speak of one of the arms of a deltaic river as a tributary of the river. The Húglí, or rather Hooghly, is, of course, always a "tributary" of the Ganges. The word "distributary" has not yet, so far as I am aware, found its way into text-books, but it might be found useful even in schools to guard against this mistake.

Another variety of the same error is to put "head" for "foot" or “mouth," "above" for "below" (with reference to places standing upon rivers), and vice versa. 'Chicago is at the foot of Lake Michigan," "Cuxhaven is at the head of the estuary of the Elbe," &c., &c. The putting "above" for "below" is particularly common in the case of places standing on rivers that flow from south to north or have a more or less northerly course. "Cologne stands on the Rhine above Mainz." "Assuan stands on the Nile below Cairo." "Montreal stands on the St. Lawrence below Quebec."

The last-quoted errors are no doubt due to the misreading of maps, as are also such as these:"Morocco is situated in the upper left-hand corner of Africa." "The ends of the equator are east and west."

One general hint may be of use to candidates in more subjects than geography. It is that they should be a little more chary of universal propositions. They will find it a good rule, when they write sentences containing such words as "all,' "always," "no," "never," to think whether it would not be safer to substitute "most," "mostly," "few," "seldom." At any rate, they should take care not to state that "all the trade of Germany passes through Hamburg," unless they are quite sure that none is carried on between, say, Magdeburg and Berlin, and that not a ship. carries a cargo to or from Stettin or Danzig; they should not say that the clouds carried to England by south-west winds drop all their moisture on the west side of the Pennine Chain, unless they are quite sure that not a drop falls at Leeds or Sheffield.

To wind up with a few details, I would ask candidates in geography all to bear in mind that Newfoundland does not belong to the Dominion of Canada, that Marseilles does not lie at the mouth of the Rhone or in the basin of the Rhone, that Adelaide does not stand in the Gulf of St. Vincent, nor Winnipeg on Lake Winnipeg, nor Vancouver