lege, Lancaster, Pa.

Reformed Churches (in part).

JAMES DONALDSON, LL. D., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, and Editor of the Educational News.

Education (Theory of),

England (in part),
Instruction,

Memory,

Science, The Teaching of (part I.), Senses, Education of the.

cation, Connecticut.

Connecticut.

WM. OLAND BOURNE, New York.

Vermont.

Developing Method (in part),

Ear, Cultivation of,-and other articles.

Prof. W. E. GRIFFIS, late of the Imperial College, Tokio, Japan.

Japan.

Miss MARY GURNEY, of the Women's Education Union, London, England.

Women, Higher Education of.

Hon. H. M. HALE, Supt. Public Instruction, Colorado.

Colorado (in part).

Prof. WM. G. HAMMOND, Law Department Iowa State University, Iowa City.

Law Schools.

THOMAS F. HARRISON, Asst. Supt. of Schools, New York.

Geography.

Dr. E. O. HAVEN, Chancellor Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y.

Methodists (in part).

J. W. HAWES, New York.

College (in part),

Harvard University,

Yale College, and other articles on American colleges and universities.

Rev. W. W. HICKS, Supt. Public Instruction, Florida.

Florida (in part).

ABACUS (Gr. åẞağ, a slab or board), a piece of school apparatus, used to facilitate the teaching of children to count, and perform other simple arithmetical operations. Various forms of the abacus are employed as counting or adding machines. Such a contrivance was much used among the ancients; and in China, quite long and difficult computations are performed by means of such an instrument, called swan-pan. (See NUMERAL FRAME.)

ABBOT, Benjamin, LL. D., distinguished for his long connection with Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., of which institution he was the principal for a period of fifty years, from 1788 to 1838. He was a graduate of Harvard College. He died at Exeter in 1849, at the advanced age of 86 years. Edward Everett delivered one of his graceful and elegant speeches on the occasion of the retirement of Dr. Abbot from the principalship of Phillips Exeter Academy. See EVERETT, Orations and Speeches.

ABBOTT, Rev. Jacob, a distinguished clergyman, teacher, and author, was born at Hallowell, Me., in 1803, and graduated at Bowdoin College in 1820. He was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Amherst College from 1825 to 1829, and afterwards took charge of the Mount Vernon school for girls, in Boston. In connection with education, he is chiefly noted for his numerous books for the young, among which may be particularly mentioned the Rollo Books, the Franconia Stories, the Harper Story Books, Science for the Young, and The Teacher. A full catalogue of his publications embraces about 200 titles. He has also edited many other educational works, and compiled a series of reading books. His brothers, Rev. Gorham D. and Rev. John S. C., are also noted for their labors in the field of educational and literary effort.

A-B-C SHOOTERS (Germ. ABC-Schützen), pupils of those scholastic vagrants who, during a certain period of the middle ages, and even later, used to wander through many parts of Germany, giving instruction to such pupils as they could pick up, who accompanied them in their journeyings. These itinerant teachers were called Bacchants, from their disorderly lives and their disposition to indulge in wild revels. Their pupils were often obliged to purloin food, fowls, etc., to supply their masters' wants, and hence were called, partly in derision of their elementary knowledge, A-B-C Shooters shoot, in their parlance, being the slang word for steal.-See SCHMID, Encyclopädie; and BARNARD, American Journal of Education, vol. v.

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ABELARD, or Abailard, Pierre, one of the most famous teachers of philosophy and theology in the middle ages, was born in Nantes, in 1079, died April 21st, 1142, at St. Marcel, near Chalons-sur-Saône. A pupil of William of Champeaux in philosophy, and of Anselm of Laon in theology, he became the dreaded and hated rival of both, as they found themselves entirely eclipsed by the cosmopolitan reputation of their pupil, who for a time was regarded in the Christian world as the foremost of all living teachers. The tragic end of his love for his pupil Heloise, whom he had seduced, closed to him the higher ecclesiastical dignities, and drove him into the austerities and retirement of monastic life; but his theological and philosophical writings continued to keep the Christian world in a high state of excitement. His opinions were repeatedly condemned by councils and synods as heretical, but he always preferred submission to the sentence of the Church rather than open defiance. His influence on the schools of the middle ages was, without doubt, greater than that of any of his contemporaries. He introduced dialectics into theology, and thus, as Cousin says, "contributed more than any other to the foundation of scholasticism."

A-B-C METHOD. See ALPHABET METHOD. ABECEDARIAN. This word, formed from the names of the first four letters of the alphabet, is generally used to denote a pupil who has not advanced beyond the most elementary stage of school or book education, that is, who is learning A B C, or the alphabet. The name has been sometimes applied to one engaged in teaching the alphabet. (See READING, and WORD METHOD.)

ABERCROMBIE, John, M. D., was born at Aberdeen, in 1781, and died in 1844. In his profession as a physician he rose to great eminence, and was widely distinguished for his writings on medical subjects. In connection with education, he is noted for his Inquiries con

cerning the Intellectual Powers, and The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings. These two works possess great merit, and have been quite extensively used as school text-books. They were edited and adapted to the use of schools in this country by Jacob Abbott.

ABINGDON COLLEGE, at Abingdon, Ill., under the control of the Disciples of Christ, was founded in April, 1853. The number of students in the institution in 1875 was about 180. It has an endowment of $20,000. The college building is a handsome edifice well supplied with modern furniture and appliances. There are about 1000 volumes in the library, besides which the institution has a museum and laboratory. The names of its successive presidents are Patrick Murphy, J. W. Butler, and Oval Pirkey. The annual tuition fee is from $30 to $39.

ABSENTEEISM is opposed to regularity in the attendance of pupils belonging to a school; that is, the number of school sessions from which a pupil was absent, as compared with the number at which he was present, during any particular period, gives the absenteeism of the pupil for that period. The average daily attendance of pupils divided by the average daily enrollment the "average number belonging" shows the percentage of attendance; and this subtracted from 100 gives, of course, the percentage of absenteeism. Within certain limits, this is a criterion | of efficiency of management and instruction. Class teachers who interest their pupils necessarily secure a more regular attendance than those who fail in this respect; and principals of schools who keep a careful watch over all the pupils belonging to their schools, strictly and uniformly enforcing wholesome rules of discipline, and carefully notifying parents of the absence of their children, inquiring into the cause of the same, and admonishing both parents and pupils of the need of strict regularity, will, of course, succeed best in this regard. Where the basis for computing the degree of absenteeism is the average enrollment, and where regularity of attendance is made a test of efficient management, teachers will be more careful to keep the number of pupils on the rolls as little as possible above the average attendance. Hence, to render this test reliable, a uniform rule should be followed in the discharging of pupils for non-attendSuch a rule has been adopted in many cities of the Union, any pupil's name being invariably dropped from the roll after a certain number of days of absence, however caused. This is based on the principle that irregularity of attendance-being at school one day, one week, or one month, and absent the next-is not only of no profit to the pupil concerned, but a positive injury to the other pupils, and is a serious hindrance and embarrassment to the teacher in the management of the school. To some extent, absenteeism thus computed may indicate also the prevailing tone of the community in regard to education--the degree of appreciation of the benefits of education generally felt by the people, as inducing parents to sacrifice their own personal

ance.

advantage, in the employment of their children, to the interests of the latter, in enjoying the benefits of school instruction.

"Absenteeism" is also technically applied to a total neglect of school attendance by a part of the school population of any place. This is exhibited by a comparison of the average attendance of pupils with the census of children of school age. (See ATTENDANCE.)

ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE. These terms have a very important application in many departments of practical education. Abstract has reference to general ideas, or the ideas of qualities considered apart from the things to which they belong; concrete, to those which are only conceived as belonging to particular objects or substances. Thus, if we speak of a man, a horse, a tree, etc., we use abstract or general ideas; for we are not thinking of any particular object of the class, but only of the assemblage of qualities or characteristics that especially belong to all the members of the class. But when we mention such names as Cicero, Washington, John Smith, etc., we have in our mind a conception of the characteristics that served to distinguish those persons from all other men. Thus, the expression five pounds represents a concrete idea; the word five, an abstract one.

The immature minds of young children employ to a great extent concrete ideas, and hence the instruction addressed especially to them should deal principally with these. As the mind advances, it becomes more and more occupied with abstract conceptions, which constitute the material for all the higher forms of thought and ratiocination.

ACADEMY (Gr. 'Ακαδημια or Ακαδήμεια) was originally the name of a pleasure ground near Athens, and was said to be so called after Academus, a local hero at the time of the Trojan war. Its shady walks became a favorite resort for Plato: and, as he was accustomed to lecture here to his pupils and friends, the school of philosophers which was founded by him was called the Academic School, or merely the Academy. In the history of ancient philosophy, three different academies are distinguished, the Old Academy, formed by the immediate followers of Plato, the Middle Academy, founded, about 244, by Arcesilaus, and the New Academy, whose founder was Carneades, about 160 B. C. Sometimes the philosophical schools founded by Philo and Antiochus are called respectively the Fourth and the Fifth Academy. Among the Romans, Cicero, who regarded himself as an adherent of the Academic philosophy, gave the name of Academy to the gymnasium at his villa near Tusculum, as well as to one of his villas in Campania, where he wrote his Academica Quæstiones. During the middle ages, the term was but little used for learned institutions; but, after the revival of classical studies in the 15th century, it again became frequent. In a wider sense, it was sometimes applied to higher institutions of learning in general. Gradually, however, its use was, in most countries, restricted to special schools, as