BLOCHMANN, Karl Justus, an eminent | fashionable. A consideration which induces many German educator and pupil of Pestalozzi, the parents of even moderate means to send their founder and for many years the director of a children to boarding-schools, is the expectation celebrated educational institute, called after him that, in such schools, more attention can be given Blochmann'sches Institut, was born in 1786, and to individual teaching than in public schools, died in 1855. He studied, from 1805 to 1809, and that especially children of small intellectual at the university of Leipsic, theology and peda- capacities, as well as those who, in consequence gogy, and at the same time endeavored to ac- of the delicacy of their health, are less regular quire a practical experience as a teacher. In in their studies, will receive special attention. 1809, he went to Switzerland and became an in- In other families, it is not the expectation of a structor in Pestalozzi's school, where he remained superior method of instruction which causes eight years. He then returned to Germany, and children to be sent to boarding-schools, but the became vice-director of the Friedrich August belief that there they will be under better and School, in Dresden. In order to be fully able to more constant educational influence than the carry out his pedagogical views, he opened his paternal roof can afford them. own school in 1824, which was united with the As boarding-schools are entirely independent Vitzthum Gymnasium in 1829; and he received of public school boards, there is the greatest from the Saxon government the license, very possible variety in their courses of instruction. rarely granted to private institutions, to give to Moreover, since the financial success of these inits pupils certificates of preparation for the uni- stitutions depends upon the number of pupils versity. He retained control of these two schools secured, the proprietors generally find it necessary until 1851, when he transferred their administra- not only to receive pupils at any time of the tion to his son-in-law, Dr. Bezzenberger. A large year, but to provide special instruction for every number of prominent Germans, including several pupil, of whatever grade or capacity. The inevprinces, have received their education in this in- itable consequence of this is, that the classifistitution, which ceased to exist Oct. 16., 1861. cation, in the majority of these schools, is unsatThough a pupil and admirer of Pestalozzi, Bloch- isfactory. Very great danger, moreover, arises mann differed from his master in the importance from the fact that a large number of children of which he assigned to the religious element in evil habits are often received into such instieducation. While Pestalozzi strongly sympa- tutions, the parents hoping that the teachers of thized with the liberal movements in Prot- these schools will be more successful in reforming estant theology, Blochmann was firmly devoted such pupils than public-school teachers. to the strictest orthodoxy. greatness of the danger which an association BLUE-COAT SCHOOL. See CHRIST's with children of this class involves, for all the HOSPITAL. BOARD OF EDUCATION. See SCHOOL BOARD. BOARDING-SCHOOL, a school in which the pupils receive board and lodging as well as instruction. Boarding-schools are generally the property of private individuals; but sometimes they belong to associations or religious denominations. Their management is independent of any control by the state. In some countries, the government does not allow any one to keep a boarding or any other private school, who does not hold a teacher's license; in others, as in the United States, the establishment of private schools is entirely free. The demand for schools of this kind appears to be, in most countries, very extensive. In small towns and in country districts, the public school frequently appears to educated parents as not fitted for the instruction of their children; partly, on account of the unpleasant associations to which the children are exposed, partly, because the course of study appears to be insufficient. Even in large towns and cities where there is no want of good public schools, a large number of parents are found who prefer boarding-schools to the best public schools. Fashion has sometimes a great deal to do with the attendance of pupils at boarding-schools; and a school that once has a well-established reputation in wealthy circles of society, may be expected to receive numbers of pupils for no other reason than because it is The pupils of the institution, cannot be overestimated, and is certainly not sufficiently appreciated by many of those who have the charge of boardingschools. On the other hand, however, it has been strongly and justly urged that instructors of superior qualifications often find in this class of schools an excellent and, it may be, the only opportunity of turning their peculiar talents to the use of mankind. Many of the greatest educators that ever lived, would never have been able to test their theories practically, if they had not been at the head of private boarding institutions. The boarding-school undoubtedly offers to educational reformers a grand field of usefulness, and the more the public-school system suffers in any particular place from the incompetency of school boards, or the more, in large cities, the standard of the public schools is depressed, the more strongly will the demand for private and boarding schools make itself felt. Nearly all boarding-schools also admit pupils who attend only for instruction (day-scholars); and very commonly they also provide board for children of resident parents (day-boarders). BOLIVIA, a republic of South America, having an area of 500,880 sq. m., and a population. in 1865, of 1,831,585, exclusive of about 250,000 savage Indians. The civilized population consists of native whites, for the most part descendants of the Spanish settlers, mestizos or Cholos (mixed white and Indian), mulattoes, zambos (mixed Indian and negro), and Indians in a domesticated state. About three-fourths of the total population is of Indian descent. Nearly the entire population of the country belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. The exercise of other religious denominations is not prohibited; but unrestricted toleration cannot be said to exist in Bolivia. In a concordat concluded with the Pope in 1851, the Bolivian government promised to support missions among the savage tribes, but a considerable number of them still remain pagan and uncivilized. The national language is the Spanish, but several Indian tribes, especially the Aymarás and the Quichuas, continue to speak their own language. The territory of Bolivia, after its conquest by the Spaniards, formed a part of the viceroyalty of Peru till 1780, when it was united under the name of Charcas with the new viceroyalty of La Plata. The declaration of independence and the establishment of the republic of Bolivia took place in 1825. Since then, the country has been, almost without interruption, a prey to civil wars. The condition of education is as yet very unsatisfactory. There is a special minister of public instruction, under whom the chiefs of the three | universities of Chuquisaca (Sucre), La Paz, and Cochabamba administer the educational affairs of the country. The university of Chuquisaca, named after St. Francis Xavier, and founded by the Jesuits. was reformed in 1845 and endowed with faculties of law and medicine. It possesses an excellent library. The archiepiscopal seminary is devoted to educating priests, but its pupils are at liberty to prepare for any other vocation. The subjects taught in the seminary comprise Latin, mathematics, physics, philosophy (logic, ethics, and metaphysics), theology, and civil and ecclesiastical law. There is also in Chuquisaca a high school, called Colegio de Junin, in which grammar, mathematics, mechanics, logic, and ethics are taught. The universities of La Paz and Cochabamba educate lawyers almost exclusively. There is, however, also a medical school at La Paz and a colegio superior de ciencias y artes in La Paz, and Cochabamba. In the entire republic, there are 24 similar colegios, of which 8 are colegios de ciencias with about 1070 pupils, and 16 colegios de artes (a kind of realschools). There were, in 1846, only 4 female institutions of a higher grade, with 68 pupils. The number of primary schools, public and private, according to the latest reports, is about 800, with 21.000 pupils. The school-books are to a large extent translations from the French. See SCHMID, Real-Encyclop., art. Südamerica; d'ORBIGNY, Descripcion geográfica, histórica, y estadistica de Bolivia (2 vols., Paris, 1835). BONET, Juan Pablo, one of the earliest instructors of deaf-mutes, was born in Aragon, in the latter part of the 16th century. Though Pedro Ponce, a Spanish Benedictine monk, who lived about fifty years before Bonet, had employed a method of teaching the deaf and dumb by means of an alphabet of manual signs, to Bonet is attributed the credit of originating a similar method, since he could have had no in 1 formation of Ponce's invention. His plan is fully explained in his work, Reduccion de las letras y artes para enseñar á hablar á los mudos (Madrid, 1620), which was the first formal treatise on this branch of special instruction. He used the articulation system to some extent, but also made use of a manual alphabet, which was almost exactly the same as the single-hand alphabet now in use. Bonet was secretary to the constable of Castile, and taught a brother of his patron, who had become deaf when only two years of age. This young man was introduced to prince Charles of England during the visit of the latter to Spain, in 1623; and it was stated by Sir Kenelm Digby, one of the prince's escort, that he could not only understand an ordinary conversation, but could himself speak with remarkable distinctness. (See DEAF-MUTES.) BONNYCASTLE, John, an eminent English teacher and mathematician, and the author of many excellent elementary works in various departments of mathematics, was born at Whitechurch, England, and died at Woolwich, in 1821. He was for more than forty years a professor of mathematics at the Royal Academy at Woolwich. His chief publications were Introduction to Mathematics (1782), Elements of Geometry (1789), Treatise on Trigonometry (1806), and Elements of Algebra (1813). The last of these works has been highly commended, and extensively used both in the United States and in England. He also published the History of Mathematics, a translation of Bossut's Essai sur Thistoire générale des Mathématiques (Paris, 1810). BOOK-KEEPING, a system of recording the transactions of a business so as to exhibit, in a plain and comprehensive manner, its condition and progress. The usual method of such a record comprises (1) a history of the transactions at the date and in the order of their occurrence, in a book, called the day-book, and (2) the classifying of results in a book called the ledger. This clas sification consists in arranging upon opposite sides of separate statements, or accounts, all items of purchase, sale, receipt, expenditure, investment, withdrawal, production, cost, etc., which, in any way, affect the business. The accounts taken together should thus be adequate to express all that one may need to know of the progress of the business and its condition at any time. The simplest form of record, by day-book and ledger only, here explained, is applicable merely to a very limited business. In the more extended and complicated enterprises, various concurrent or auxiliary books are required, their number and character depending upon the nature and peculiar operations of the business. In even the simplest kinds of book-keeping, it is customary to use an intermediate book between the day-book and ledger, called the journal, the office of which is to state, or separate, each transaction so as to simplify its transfer to the ledger. The only competent system of book-keeping is that known as double entry, so called from the fact that the complete record of any transaction requires at least two entries in the ledger-one on the debit or debtor side of some account, and one on the credit or creditor side of some other account. The terms debit and credit (meaning debtor and creditor, and usually marked Dr. and Cr.) are, for the most part, used arbitrarily. They are really significant only when applied to personal accounts; but their uniform application to all accounts is a matter of great convenience. The charm and utility of the double-entry system consist in the philosophical adjustment of mathematical facts to the most exacting requirements of finance, and in the tests afforded of the correctness of the work at any point. The simple principles underlying the system may be succinctly stated thus: (1) All financial resources, or items of wealth, are measurable by the money standard; (2) The sum of all the resources of a concern, thus measured, less the sum of all its liabilities, is its real or present worth; (3) All increase or diminution in wealth comes from one of two sources; namely, the receiving of more or less for an article than its cost, or the appreciation or depreciation of the value of an article while in possession; (4) The immediate result of all gains or losses is the adding to, or taking from, the net worth of the concern; and, consequently, the net gain or net loss of a business during any specified time must agree with the increase or diminution of its net worth for the same period. The foregoing propositions may be said to be self-evident facts; but they are important facts nevertheless, and such as any competent presentment of business affairs must recognize and enforce; and this is just what double-entry book-keeping does. ness, etc. The science, or philosophy, of the system is shown in the ledger, which, as before stated, consists of accounts. An account is a collection of homogeneous items pertaining to some part of the business, such as the receipt and disbursement of money (cash), the purchase and sale of goods, the issue and redemption of notes, the incurring and liquidating of personal indebtedAll accounts are alike in their structure, each having a title, more or less significant, and two sides, with the items on one side exactly opposite in effect to those on the other; and, like plus and minus quantities, each canceling the other to the extent of the lesser side, the preponderance, or excess, of either side being the true showing and significance of the account. Thus, the debit or left-hand side of the cash account contains the items of cash received; and the credit or right-hand side, the items of cash disbursed; the difference or balance, which, if any, must be in favor of the debit side, will be the amount of cash on hand. Again, the debit of merchandise account contains the items of the cost of goods purchased; and the credit side, the items of avails of goods sold, or what the separate sales have produced; the difference or balance, when all the facts are shown, being the preponderance of production over cost, or of cost over production, as the case may be-in other words the net gain or net loss. All transactions which mark the progress of the business, having in them the element of gain or loss, must occur between the two classes of accounts represented by cash and merchandise the one taking cognizance of measuring financial worth, the other indicating its increase or diminution. (The mere exchange of one fixed value for another, such as the canceling of a personal indebtedness by receiving or paying cash, should be called a liquidation rather than a transaction; for although it requires a complete record, the same as the buying and selling of goods, it has nothing to do with the progress of the business, having in it no element of gain or loss.) The real transactions of the business being, therefore, divided between these two classes of accounts, we have in the one class— such as merchandise-the indication or statement of all the separate gains and losses which have occurred, and in the other-such as cashthe complete measure of the net resources, or real wealth; the two together establishing the satisfactory concurrence of cause and effect, or assertion and proof. Thus, the accounts of assertion or cause indicate a net gain or net loss, while those of proof or effect show correspondingly increased or diminished net worth. The peculiar methods or forms of recording business affairs are so various owing to the great variety of manipulation or processes, as also to the difference in the estimates of a competent record, that they cannot be pointed out. The general conception of the purpose and sphere of book-keeping, however, may be stated as compassing such a record of affairs as will enable the proprietor to know, at any time, the extent of his wealth and of what it consists. Of course, if the real worth of a business man can be ascertained at any time, the increase or diminution between any two periods may readily be obtained. Book-keeping by the double-entry system has been in vogue since the latter part of the 15th century. It was originally practiced in Venice, and is even now known as the Italian method. The first treatise on the subject was written by Luca di Borgo, and published at Venice in 1495. A German treatise, written by Johann Gottlieb, was published at Nuremberg as early as 1531; and in England, in 1543, Hugh Oldcastle published a work on this subject under the fanciful title A profitable Treatyce to learn to know the good order of the kepying of the famous reconynge, called in Latin, dare et habere, and in Englyshe, Debitour and Creditour. MAIR'S Book-keeping Modernized was in very general use during most of the eighteenth century, but was superseded by BENJAMIN BOOTH'S Complete System of Book-keeping (4to, London, 1789). The more modern publications upon this subject are very numerous; and the most recent of them embody many important modifications and improvements in the system, some of which are rendered necessary in order to apply it to the processes and methods of commercial transactions at present in vogue. Book-keeping constitutes an important branch of instruction in all commercial schools and busi the class, with the pile of books to be distributed across his left arm, with the backs from him, and with the top of the page to the right hand. II. The book-monitor should stand at the head of III. The book-monitor, with the right hand, hands a book to each pupil in succession, who should receive it in his right hand with the back of the book to the should hold it with the back upward, until a further left, and then pass it into the left hand, in which he order is given. side. ness colleges, in some of which it is pursued by both sexes. It is also taught sometimes in connection with arithmetic and penmanship, in the higher classes of the common schools, and quite uniformly in the evening schools in most of the cities of the Union. This branch of school instruction, however, is often opposed on the ground that it can only be acquired in connection with the actual practice of the counting- IV. When the page is given out, the book should be room. The objection is not well founded; for turned by the thumb on the side; and, while held with while it is obvious that no theoretical instruc- thumbs meeting across the leaves at a point judged to both hands, turned with the back downward, the tion, in this or any other art, can supersede the be nearest the place to be found. On opening the necessity of actual practice, yet that instruction book, the left hand slides down to the bottom, and performs an important function in laying the thence to the middle, when the thumb and little finger foundation, in the mind of the student, for such page is thus found, the pupil stands holding the book are made to press on the two opposite pages. If the practical information and expertness as are sub-in his left hand, and lets his right hand fall by his sequently to be attained. In many business colleges, for the purpose of obviating this objection, exercises are resorted to that nearly approximate to the operations of actual business. Thus the students of certain colleges carry on business correspondence with those of others situated in different parts of the United States; make and receive formal consignments of merchandise, buy and sell exchanges upon the different sections of the Union and Canada, and in this way learn the business peculiarities of different places. To insure a complete training, the functions of the students are constantly changed. The one, for instance, who holds the position of bill-clerk and collector to-day, is a book-keeper to-morrow, shipper the next day, etc. By this diversity the exercises are not only made more effective, but more interesting and impressive. (See BUSINESS COLLEGES.) BOOK-MANUAL, a series of directions as to the method in which the reading-book should be held by pupils when they are receiving class instruction. Minute regulations for the distribution of books to the pupils of a class as well as for their proper manipulation while the lesson is given, have been devised, and in some schools are strictly enforced. There is no doubt that a regular and uniform method of this kind not only saves the book from injury occasioned by improper handling, but also contributes to the formation, in the minds of the pupils, of a love and habit of order and propriety, which they will apply to other things. Indeed, it is in connection with the apparently unimportant and trivial things that the teacher needs to exercise the greatest care, if he would educate his pupils in this direction; since such things being of frequent occurrence, habits are more readily formed by the constant repetition which they require than in any other way. The following minute directions were prepared, some years ago, for the schools of New York City, and were for many years in use. They are still employed by many teachers, those referring to book-monitors being usually omitted; since at the present time each pupil of the class is generally supplied with a book of his own. The distribution of books for a given exercise is still often necessary, and hence all the rules hold good: I. The pupil should stand erect, his heels near to gether, toes turned out, and his face directed toward the teacher. quired, the thumb of the right hand is to be placed V. But if the pupil has opened short of the page renear the upper corner of the page, while the forefinger lifts the leaves to bring in view the number of the page. If he finds he has not raised enough, the forefinger and thumb hold those already raised while the second finger lifts the leaves, and brings them within the grasp of the thumb and finger. When the required page is found, all the fingers are to be passed under the leaves, and the whole turned at once. Should the pupil, on the contrary, have opened too far, and be obliged to turn back, he places the right thumb, in like manner, on the left hand page, and the leaves are lifted as before described. VI. Should the book be old, or so large as to make it wearisome to the pupil, the right hand may sustain the left in holding it. VII. While reading, as the eye rises to the top of the right hand page, the right hand is raised; and with the forefinger under the leaf, the hand is slid down to the lower corner, and retained there during the reading of this page. This also is the position in which the book is to be held when about to be closed; in doing which, the left hand, being carried up to the side, supports the book firmly, while the right hand turns the part it supports over on the left thumb. The thumb will then be drawn out from between the leaves, and placed on the cover; and then the right hand will fall by the side. VIII. When the reading is ended, the right hand retains the book, and the left hand falls by the side. The book will then be in a position to be handed to the book-monitor, who should receive it in his right hand, and place it on his left arm, with the back towards the body. The books will then be in the most suitable situation for being passed to the shelves, or drawers, where, without being crowded, they should be placed with uniformity and care. See Manual of Public School Society (New York, 1840); Report of the Board of Education of the City of New York (1855). BORGI, Giovanni, called the "founder of ragged schools," was born in Rome about 1735, and died about 1802. He was a poor artisan, who took a compassionate interest in vagrant children. He commenced his benevolent work by taking a number of these children to his home, providing them with food and clothing, and apprenticing them to trades. Enlisting the active interest of others, he was able to hire a suitable building, in which considerable numbers could be accommodated and taught; thus establishing what was afterwards called in Scotland and England a "ragged school." The institution founded by Borgi was continued after his death, and found an earnest patron in Pope Pius VII. (See RAGGED SCHOOLS.) BOSTON, the capital and metropolis of Massachusetts, having a population, in 1875, of 341,919. The origin of the public-school system of Boston is found in the following order adopted by the freemen of the town, on the 13th of April, 1635: "Likewise it was then generally agreed upon, that our brother Philemon Purmont shall be entreated to become schoolmaster for the teaching and nurturing of children with us." The school thus set up has been perpetuated to the present day, and has long been known as the Public Latin School, whose chief function, during the whole period of its existence, has been the fitting of boys for Harvard College. This was the only public school in the town until 1682, when it was voted, in town meeting, "that a committee with the selectmen. consider and provide one or more free schools for the teaching of children to write and cipher within this town." Afterward, schools were established for teaching reading and spelling. These reading and writing schools have been gradually developed into the present grammar schools. Pupils were not admitted to these schools until they were seven years of age. Girls were not admitted to the grammar school until 1789; and, during the next forty years, they were permitted to attend only half the year, from April to October. In 1818, primary schools were established to fit pupils of both sexes for the grammar schools, to which children four years old and upward were admitted. In 1821, a school similar to the German real school, and named the English High School, "was instituted, with the design of furnishing the young men of this city, who are not intended for a collegiate course of study, and who have enjoyed the usual advantages of the other public schools, with the means of completing a good English education." A normal school for qualifying female teachers for the public schools of the city was established in 1852, in which a two years' course of training was provided. The plan of this school was soon modified by extending its course of study to three years, and by including in its curriculum all the branches usually taught in high schools. In 1872, this twofold institution, which bore the name of the Girls' High and Normal School, was separated into two distinct schools, a normal school for girls and a high school for girls. By the annexation of adjacent municipalities, during the past eight years, five mixed high schools have been added to the free public schools for secondary instruction. Elementary evening schools, and day schools for newsboys and bootblacks (licensed minors), were established in 1868; an evening high school, in 1869; a school for deaf-mutes, in 1869; evening industrial drawing schools, in 1870; a kindergarten, in 1870.—The public schools were originally, and for more then a century and a half, managed by the selectmen of the town, the clergy being invited by them to visit the schools, especially on public occasions. From 1789, until the adoption of the city charter, in 1822, they were controlled by a board composed of the selectmen and twelve committee men, annually elected in town meet ing. Under the charter, the selectmen were replaced by the eight aldermen. From 1835 until 1855, the school board, called the Grammar School Board, consisted of twenty-four committee men, two being elected annually by the people in each ward, with the mayor and the president of the common council, ex officio. Up to this time, the primary schools had been under the management of a board, appointed annually by the Grammar School Board, consisting of one member for each school or teacher, the number being at first 36, but increased finally to 190. During the past twenty years, the school system of public schools has been in charge of one board, consisting originally of 74 members, 6 being elected in each ward by the people, to hold office for three years, the mayor and president of the common council being also members. By the annexation of municipalities above mentioned, the number of members was ultimately increased to 116. This board was discontinued at the beginning of 1876; and, in its place, a board was constituted consisting of the mayor, and 24 members elected by the people on a general ticket, to hold office for three years.-—— The office of superintendent of schools was established in 1851. The first incumbent was Nathan Bishop, who was succeeded by John D. Philbrick, who held the office for nearly 18 years, retiring in 1874. The old board did not fill the vacancy; and Mr. Philbrick was re-elected to the office by the new board in 1876. Under the new system of supervision, the school board is authorized to elect a board of six supervisors. The following persons were elected to this board: Lucretia Crocker, George M. Folsom, Samuel W. Mason, William Nichols, Ellis Peterson, and Benjamin F. Tweed. The superintendent is, ex officio, a member and the chairman. The principal duties assigned the board of supervisors are those of examining candidates for teachers, of examining the schools, in detail, twice in each year, and of conducting the annual examination of the pupils, in the different grades of schools, who are candidates for graduating diplomas.-Besides this board of supervisors, there is a general director of music, and another of drawing, each having several assistants. For the purposes of supervision, the city is divided into nine territorial divisions, each division comprising from four to seven territorial districts, and each district containing one grammar school and several primary schools. The master of the grammar school is the principal of the district, having the supervision of all the schools situated therein. There are no primary principals. Each division is under the charge of a committee composed of three or five members of the school board. There is also a standing committee in charge of the high schools. School System.-Besides a normal school for girls, with a course for study and training for one year, to which pupils are admitted only on passing a satisfactory examination in the usual high-school studies, there are 8 high schools; namely, 3 large central schools,-the Latin and the English high school for boys, and the girls |