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munal school, may complete or continue their education at any special school supported by their employer, and the employers are authorized to found schools for that purpose. But it is a sine qua non condition that all such schools shall provide the full amount and quality of education required by law, and otherwise fulfill all the obligations prescribed by the general school bill, which subjects every school, whether private or public, to the instruction of the state. In places where a special trade school exists, the employer is bound to send his apprentices to it. In addition to the subjects of instruction above enumerated, every child is simultaneously provided with religious instruction in the creed to which he or she is born. The local ecclesiastical authorities or notables of the church or religious community to which each child belongs are entitled, and Indeed bound, by law to provide competent teachers for this purpose.

The free selection of the teachers is left entirely to these religious bodies, subject only to the certified proofs which the state exacts of the teacher's proficiency and general character. It is only in the event of the local religious communities declining to avail themselves of the privilege allotted to them by the law that the state steps in and undertakes the duty which they refuse to discharge. But this religious instruction, which is altogether denominational and on a footing of impartial equality for all religious sects, is kept by the state carefully apart from the secular education, which is, in every case, obligatory, and which it is in no case allowed to interfere with, or attempt to control. Nor are any private schools tolerated by the government which do not efficiently provide the prescribed amount of secular instruction; although, so long as this condition be fulfilled, the law imposes no limit to the foundation of private educational establishments.

Such is the education now provided in Austria for every child of the working classes.

EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA.

VICTORIA.

This Bureau has received, with the request for the exchange of educational reports, the seventh report of the board of education of Victoria, for the year 1868, dated April 30, 1869, made to the governor, and by his excellency presented to both houses of Parliament. From the statistics given by the Hon. Benjamin F. Kane, secretary of the board, the following summary is taken:

Total population of the colony.

Total number of children of five to fifteen years of age.

Number attending common schools..

Number attending private schools..

Average attendance..

common

683, 977

166, 907

101, 925

19,009

58,420

798

834

Total number of school establishments, whether denominational, national, or

Separate departments, each under a head teacher.

The board of education consists of five members, who hold their office for the term of five years. During the year 1868 the board held seventy-eight meetings.

REMARKS CONCERNING THE STATISTICS OF ATTENDANCE.

Five out of eight of the whole number of children between five and fifteen are attending schools, either public or private, according to estimates based upon data in possession of the board. Upon this subject the report states that-

"In estimating the number of children receiving instruction, it must be borne in mind that a large number of children who do not attend either public or privato schools are taught at home by tutors and governesses, and by their parents; and probably every person who reads this report will be aware of many such cases. In many of the gold-fields, and in the bush more especially, children are taught in this manner, owing to the unwillingness of parents to send their children to schools in the absence of any other than common schools, to the preference of parents for home instruction, or for other reasons. We refrain from making any estimate of the number of children tanght by these persons, because the data upon which we have to work are too scanty to admit of that precision which should always characterize statistical information; but if we add those children under fifteen who, having received more or less education, are employed in pursuits which prevent their attendance at school, it will no doubt bo found that they form in the aggregate a considerable portion of the whole.

"From the above figures we arrive at the conclusion that 17.70 per cent., or one in 5.65 of the total population, and 60.90, or nearly two out of three of children between five and fifteen years of age, are attending schools with an amount of regularity which

is not equaled either in England or America; and allowing for the facts that the children attending school vary from year to year, those attending one year leaving the next, and others taking their places; that many under fifteen have left school and are engaged in various employments; and that many others are taught by tutors, governesses, and parents, we believe we are justified in arriving at the conclusion that the number of children unprovided with education is less than is generally estimated, and that the great liberality of Parliament in providing for public education has not been unproductive of substantial fruit."

DESTITUTE CHILDREN ATTENDING SCHOOLS.

During the past year, under the operation of the rule reducing by one-half the amount paid by the board for the education of destitute and deserted children and orphans, the proportion of such children decreased about 20 or 26 per cent., while at the same time the aggregate proportion of the children attending school increased. Under the present regulations the following is the scale for such payments:

"For a single scholar above eight years of age, 44d. per week; for a single scholar under eight years of age, 3d. per week; when more than one attend from the same family, per scholar, 3d. per week. But in every such case a certificate must be furnished to the local committee, signed by a justice of the peace or registered clergyman, in form of A or B, Appendix K, and a copy thereof forwarded to the board; and the board will require to be satisfied that such case really exists. Every such certificate must be renewed half-yearly."

A return is submitted in the appendix, which gives interesting information relative to the proportion of destitute children attending schools of the different classes receiving aid. The following is a summary of the return:

"Roman Catholic common schools..

Church of England common schools
Wesleyan common schools.

Vested common schools.

Presbyterian common schools.
Non-vested common schools.

43. 80 per cent. on the rolls. 27.34 per cent. on the rolls. 24. 69 per cent. on the rolls. 21. 31 per cent. on the rolls. 20. 35 per cent. on the rolls. 17. 32 per cent. on the rolls.

"It will be observed from this table that the proportion of destitute children attending Roman Catholic schools far exceeds that of any other denomination or class of schools, being three-fifths more than that attending Church of England schools, fourfifths more than that attending Wesleyan schools, and more than double that attending any other schools. It will also be observed that the percentage of these children attending the non-vested schools (by which is meant schools which, although not actually vested in the board, are conducted upon the same principles, but which at the same time include many schools which are the private ventures of the teachers) is 17.32 per cent."

DIRECT GAIN TO TEACHERS BY DESTITUTE CHILDREN.

"It will be interesting to consider what direct pecuniary gain is now afforded to teachers by the destitute scholars. The direct gain is comprised in the payments by the board of school fees and for results; and, according to the returns for 1867, allowance being made for the reduction in the fee by one-half since that date, is as follows:

Total.

"For each individual child on the rolls....

Fees.
£ 8. d.
0751

Results. £ 8. d. 0571 09101

107

£ 8. d. 0 13 01

3 0

For each individual child in average attendance.. 0 13 14 Showing that each child in average attendance is worth £1 38. per annum, or, counting 46 school-weeks in the year, sixpence per week, being 3.42 pence in fees, and 2.58 pence in results."

During 1868 aid was granted to forty-seven schools, of which twenty-seven were vested in the board; eleven were non-vested, having been established with the intention of being vested at a future time, or being conducted on the same principles; eight were connected with the Roman Catholic Church, and one with the Church of England. All schools receiving aid must follow the course of instruction laid down by the board, but other branches may be introduced with the sanction of the board. The report states that the sanction thus given has been abused in some instances, in which schools have been conducted in upper and lower departments-the former being established for children of a higher social position-where the pupils are separated and taught apart, extra fees being charged for instruction in extra subjects, imparted by special teachers. "We consider," says the report, "that any practice which has a tendency to restrict the benefits of a school to a particular class, or to exclude from its

benefits the mass of the people, or to recognize social distinctions in schools which are established for all alike, is not in accordance with the spirit of the common-school act, and should not be tolerated."

SCHOOL-BOOKS.

The school-books published under the authority of the commissioners of national education in Ireland are, as hitherto, more in demand in the schools of the colony than any other series, and this, it is stated, will continue to be the case as long as they are supplied at rates so much below all other publications of the kind.

EVENING SCHOOLS.

Every facility is afforded for the establishment of evening schools, and the regulations relative to the payment of results in force in day schools apply equally to them.

TRAINING OF TEACHERS

Is reported as still in an unsatisfactory state; the institution now in operation is doing good work, as far as its capabilities extend, in turning out some fair teachers. The superintendent is zealous and painstaking, but the institution, although under the direction of the Church of England, is little more than the private speculation of the master. A general training institution, unconnected with any denomination and on a more extended basis, is a desideratum, to which the board has directed its attention.

TEACHERS' SALARIES AUGMENTED BY RESULTS.

Under the law the minimum salaries of teachers are fixed; they may, however, angment them by results, as has been stated, according to the amount of improvement apparent in classes upon examination. The report states that "the amount which a school is now competent to gain under results, called the maximum increment, is 45 per cent. of the average fixed salaries paid to the school month per month. We have reserved to ourselves the power, subject to the approval of the governor in council, to increase or diminish this maximum increment as the interests of education may require, or the amount voted by Parliament may render necessary. We have also provided that the balance, if any, of the amount set apart for results which may remain unexpended at the end of the present year, may, at our discretion, be distributed among all the schools."

PUPIL-TEACHERS.

There is a system of pupil-teachers in operation, by which teachers are educated and fitted by experience for the work. These teachers receive salaries, and are permitted to improve their education by taking lessons out of school hours, under certain restrictions. A late rule adopted by the board of education upon this subject is as follows: "That pupil-teachers be of the same sex as the principal teacher of the school or department of a school in which they are employed; but in mixed schools, or departments of schools, under a master and mistress, female pupil-teachers may receive instruction out of school hours from the master, on condition that some adult female, approved by the local committee and by the inspector, be invariably present during the whole time that the lessons are being given by the teacher; provided also that the teacher and said adult female be not both young and unmarried."

This rule is somewhat similar to that adopted under the committee of council of education in England, but it is not so stringent. "It is unnecessary," says the report, "to make any remarks as to the advisability of such a rule.”

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.

One of the prominent features of the school system is that of inspection, for which £6,500 was voted in 1868. The school system of Victoria also embraces many interesting peculiarities, to gain a full idea of which, the report should be examined.

EDUCATION IN ECUADOR.

Ecuador boasts of one university and eleven colleges, yet the people are not educated. Literature, science, philosophy, law, medicine, are only names. Nearly all young gentlemen are doctors of something; but their education is strangely dwarfed, defective, and distorted; and their knowledge, such as they have, is without power as it is without practice. The University of Quito has 285 students, of whom 35 are

pursuing law, and 18 medicine. There are 11 professors. They receive no fees from the students, but an annual salary of $300. The library contains 11,000 volumes, nearly all old Latin, French, and Spanish works. The cabinet is a bushel of stones cast into one corner of a lumber room, covered with dust, and crying out in vain for a man in the university to name them. The College of Tacunga has 45 students; a fine chemical and philosophical apparatus, but no one to handle it; and a set of rocks from Europe, but only a handful from Ecuador. The College of Riobamba has 4 professors and 120 students. In the common schools, the pupils study in concert aloud, Arab fashion. There are four papers in the republic: two in Guayaquil, one in Cuenca, and one in Quito. El Nacionel, of the capital, is an official organ, not a newspaper. It contains 14 duodecimo pages, and is published occasionally by the Minister of the Interior. Like the Gazeta, of Madrid, it is one of the greatest satires ever deliberately published by any people on itself. There is likewise but one paper in Cuzco, El Triumfo del Pueblo.-The Andes and the Amazon-Prof. James Orton.

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED

STATES.

"The medical faculty, in common with all enlightened members of the profession, desire earnestly that a rule might prevail in our country like that which prevails in most of the universities of Europe by which a liberal education should be the necessary introduction to professional study. The sciolist easily runs into the empiric, but he who has obtained a thorough scientific discipline knows how to discriminate between visionary conjectures and established truths."-Catalogue of the University of Michigan, 1870.

A consideration of medical education is properly introduced by a short account of the number, public standing, relation to government, and organization of

(I.) THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF THE UNITED STATES.

1. Number. The total tax collected during the year 1869 by the Internal Revenue Bureau from physicians and surgeons was $505,785 55. From this it is estimated that the number of practicing physicians and surgeons in the United States is over 50,000. 2. Public Standing.-The profession is divided in this country into various schools or systems, founded on various theories of disease or treatment or medication. The hydropathic or water-cure, the eclectic, and homeopathic systems of practice forming the minority. But the vast majority of reputable practitioners in this country, as well as in other countries, belong to what they denominate simply the system or the regular system of medicine, repudiating any less extended or more descriptive desig

nation.

The practitioners of all these systems seem to depend for their individual recognition by the public upon their individual qualities, personal and professional.

3. Relation to the Government.-Practically the medical profession in the United States stands in precisely the same relation to the State governments and to the General Government as is held by all the other professions and occupations. The National Government taxes a practitioner yearly, and, with the exception of the usages of the Army and Navy, takes no further supervision of the profession as such. The States, with perhaps one or two exceptions, take no action as to its character, the conditions of ontrance, education, membership, or compensation; they grant charters for hospitals and medical schools very often without consulting the needs of the profession or the public good, or even investigating the personal or professional character of the incorporators. Counties and towns employ physicians and surgeons for the care of the sick poor in their limits, (though this practice is by no means as universal as it should be;) and the larger cities of the country have established boards of health, and have devised various and often valuable regulations for public hygiene.

4. Professional organization. The total absence of governmental authority above referred to, and the needs of the profession, have combined to force it to organize itself. The physicians of a city or county have formed medical associations of a simple but generally efficient character. The objects of these societies may be generally described as being to impart information to each other, and to regulate the conduct of the members toward the public and the profession, to settle the scale of fees, &c. In many of the States the local and county societies, combining with the medical boards of the hospitals and the faculties of the medical schools, form State associations. The national organization is known as the American Medical Association, which is composed of delegates from the city, county, and State associations, medical college faculties, hospital staffs, and the medical corps of the United States Army and Navy.

The peculiarity of these associations is that they are perfectly powerless to coerce errant members of the profession. They can only annoy, they cannot punish.

The organization of the so-called irregular systems of medical practice (when they have any organization worthy of the name) is similar in principle.

Having noted some facts respecting the profession, we naturally arrive at the consideration of its methods of instruction. For want of space it will not be possible to allude to its history except when necessary to the explanation of some point in

(II.) THE PRESENT CONDITION OF MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

1. Preliminary training. The medical student in this country generally has little more than a common school, or at the most, an academic education, as a preliminary to his professional studies..

Probably four-fifths of our college graduates who study professions enter law or divinity schools. In other words, ordinary medical students, when commencing their studies, have some acquaintance with the English branches: reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography and grammar, (though they are frequently so deficient as to make their classmates envy their impudence;) some of them have, in addition, some knowledge of natural philosophy, of the rudiments of Latin and Greek, and of algebra and geometry; a very few have enjoyed greater opportunities, and may claim to have pursued a course of ancient or modern languages, (rarely both,) of the higher mathematics, mental and moral philosophy, chemistry, political economy, and logic. 2. Professional instruction.—The rule of regular medical colleges is to demand three years' study, (in which are included at least two courses of lectures,) so the aspirant for medical information generally makes an arrangement with a practitioner to study in his office. In former days it was quite common to indenture the student to his preceptor, his services in compounding pills, plasters, and draughts compensating for his instruction and use of books, and affording him an opportunity to become practically acquainted with the uses, doses, and composition of medicines. In later years, pharmacy is being gradually but surely separated from medicine, in accordance with the tendency of the age; and medical students, especially in cities and towns, are year by year less likely to have a practical knowledge so useful in these respects to the profession.

The student remains in a medical man's office for a period varying from three months to a year, during which, if his preceptor is a busy and popular practitioner, he has not been examined on the progress he is making times enough to make it worth mentioning or remembering. He during this time reads some work on human anatomy without any appliances except a defective set of bones, the relic of his preceptor's dissecting days, and perhaps a fair set of anatomical plates; he also reads some books on physiology, materia medica, and perhaps chemistry, and even attacks the theory and practice of medicine; sometimes minor surgery is also read. During all this route he is apt to be bothered by the strange and seemingly barbarous phraseology of these works, and to wonder why the language his tongue is accustomed to speak cannot describe the facts his eyes can see.

The neophyte then hies to some medical school, pays a small matriculation fee, writes his name, age, and residence, and the name of his preceptor on the matriculation book, which are absolutely the only necessary qualifications for his entrance. He pays for his lecture tickets, and where courses of practical anatomy and hospital clinics are obligatory, for the hospital and demonstrator's tickets, finds a place to. lodge and get his meals, and begins attendance on the course which he finds is not at all compulsory, and that he can cut a lecture when he pleases.

Here at the very outstart in most colleges he finds a very puzzling difficulty. He finds that he is in the same room with and listening to exactly the same lectures as the men who have already taken one or two courses of instruction. He sits despairingly, note-book in hand, as the majestic physician, or the celebrated surgeon pours out statements, observations, allusions, theories, and directions, familiar to himself and understandable by the advanced students, but to the tyro astounding and bewildering. He follows the ward officers of the hospital in the clinical round, and, amid a crowd of fellow students, catches fraginentary glances at the patients and imperfect hearings of the glib diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cases, before, perhaps, he has learned anything about the province of physical examination, the use of the microscope, chemical tests, the thermometer, and other diagnostic means, or the favorable or unfavorable signification and interpretation of symptoms, or the appropriate application of remedies.

He finds that the short duration of the lecture-course necessitates enormous crowding of matter. From twenty to thirty lectures of an hour apiece, as well as hospital clinics, and dissecting each week, practically prevent his reading very much on the subjects the lectures treat of, or the cases illustrate.

The duties of the professors to their patients preclude any very extended daily examination of the students in the subjects of the lectures they have heard the day before; and thus they cannot know very well what points need elucidation, what

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