Towards the close of the same pamphlet from which we have taken our last extract, after giving an outline of the principal features of an institution for the education of teachers, the author briefly states some of the peculiar advantages to the public, which he expects to flow from such an establishment.

These are general advantages of a good class of teachers. I am now to speak of the peculiar advantages of the proposed institution to produce them. The library collected with reference to the object of the institution would contain when complete, all the facts in the science of education scattered along in the history of the world. Facts are the materials of philosophy. And we cannot philosophise safely until we have an extensive stock before us. Our library will be a peculiarly appropriate place not only to collect those phenomena relating to the subject, which have already been observed, but also to receive the records of those which will be daily passing before our eyes. Books connected with and collateral to the subject of education, will be as important to our purpose as those professedly written upon it. And frequently they will be found to be much more so. Because the former contain facts and phenomena, while the latter have only an author's reasonings upon them. And most authors who have written upon education have reasoned very well, but from very limited and imperfect inductions. So that their conclusions, though oftentimes extremely plausible and even correct, as far as they had the necessary means of making them correct, are liable to fail totally, when reduced to practice under circumstances a little different. We want more experience before we begin to reason at large and draw sweeping conclusions on the subject. And our library would be chiefly valuable as containing that experience, accurately and authentically recorded.

These with the other facts and phenomena, which might be observed and collected, would afford the means of philosophising with some safety and confidence. But the conclusions of the ancients on the subject, though received and repeated by every body and forever, are not binding and, beyond question, till we have certain knowledge that the facts, from which they reasoned, are all which can affect the principles which they deduce from them. And to believe, that the experi ence of two thousand years, embracing the present age, which is so full of phenomena of all kinds, has not added something to our means of a copious and safe induction upon principles of education, requires a stretch of credulity, with which my mind is not gifted. I believe it

It is a circumstance on which we may congratulate every enlightened friend to the improvement of education that Mr. Carter, the author of the pamphlet above alluded to, is now engaged in establishing a seminary for the instruction of teachers. The state of Massachusetts ought, as has often been remarked, to take the lead in such an enterprise; and none who are acquainted with the experience and ability of Mr. Carter, his long-continued attention to this subject, and his familiarity with all its requisite details, can entertain a doubt of his competency to the undertaking in which he has embarked. Of the success of the proposed seminary we may augur well from the extensive and favorable expression of public sentiment on this topic, and from the attention which it has already received from the legislatures of this and of other states.

would be safer as a general principle to assume that they teach us what to avoid rather than what to imitate.'

But when we have collected the means of philosophising which books can afford, and added to them the living means which will be constantly exhibited in the school, which is to form a part of the institution, we are then to lay all these means before professors of distinguished talents and discriminating minds, who are able and willing to observe as well as reason. Then the public attention should be turned towards those professors in good earnest, and they should see and feel that something is expected from, them, and there is a moral certainty that the expectation will be gratified. When the public attention is turned towards any subject, all the ardent and discriminating minds act in concert. And like the rays of the sun converged to a point by a lens, they act with an intensity which must produce an effect.'

It would be one of the peculiar advantages of the proposed institution, that it would elevate the character of teachers generally. It would concentrate and give energy and direction to exertions and inquiries, which are now comparatively wasted for want of such direction. We cannot foresee, precisely, what effect would be produced upon our systems of education and our principles of instruction, by subjecting them to such an ordeal. To foretel all the improvements that would be made, would be to make them, and supersede the necessity of an institution for the purpose. Though the necessity would still remain for an institution to propagate them among the people. But if our principles of education, and particularly our principles of government and instruction are not already perfect, we may confidently expect improvements, though we may not know, precisely, in what they will consist.'

Many knew twenty years ago that steam was expansive. But who foresaw the degree to which its expansion could be raised, and the purposes to which it could be applied? Public attention was turned to the subject in earnest, and we now see vessels moving in every direction by its power. It was known long since that light wood would float, and water run down hill. But who foresaw, twenty years ago, the present state of our internal improvement by means of canals? Public attention and powerful minds were directed to the subject, and we now see boats ascending our mountains and traversing our continent in every direction. Those who were before almost our antipodes are now, by the facilities of communication, made our neighbors. The most intrepid prophet would hardly have dared, even ten years ago, to predict the present state of our manufactories. This has all been done, because it could be done; and many minds were directed to the subject and resolved, that it should be done. All these are in many respects analogous cases, and go to show, that we do not always know how near to us great improvements are. And that it is only necessary to direct the public attention to a subject to ensure some improvements and inventions in it.'

INTELLIGENCE.

COL. AMOROS' GYMNASTIC SCHOOL, PARIS.

THE French Government having resolved to encourage the institution of M. Amoros, professor of gymnastics at Paris, the minister of the interior appointed five commissioners to examine in all their parts the gymnastic exercises, and to report thereon in detail. M. Amoros first gave the committee an idea of what he calls elementary exercises, which consist in chanting different pieces, the rythm of each of which corresponds with the various movements of the legs, arms, and body, which the pupils execute on the spot. A metronome regulates these movements. The pupil thus learns to measure time and space, to regulate with precision the common step, the accelerated step, and the leaps of the gymnastic course. These exercises impress upon their different movements a rythm which befits them; they give greater developement to the voice, and more force to the lungs they render the joints more supple, prepare the pupils for fatigue, and dispose them to exercise in the open air. The committee were too enlightened not to appreciate the advantages of chaunting in connexion with gymnastic exercises. To accustom the pupils to preserve their equilibrium, so necessary in certain cases of danger, M. Amoros made three of the pupils take a ball of 6 pounds, and hold it sometimes with the left hand, sometimes with the right, the superior extremity horizontally extended, and advanced in front. The same exercise was repeated with the inferior extremities, the ball being supported alternately by each foot. To sustain the effort, maintain the station, to keep all the moveable points of the body in a fixed position, to subject the extremities to the tarsus, and make the different points of the latter a solid pivot, which maintains the effort and re-establishes the centre of gravity, are the principal muscular actions which this exercise requires.

The pupils in the court and stadium then applied the theoretical principles which they had just learned, and here the committee witnessed the utility of the gymnastic method. They saw with what precision all the various exercises were performed, as well those that required great rapidity of motion, as those that depend on firmness and strength. Many among them obtained 350, 440 and 550 degrees of the dynamometer; for it is by this instrument that M. Amoros calculates the progressive developement of their muscular powers.

We have seen feeble and timid men acquire in a short time by gymnastic exercises very considerable strength and boldness, and their moral energy rise in proportion to the increase of their physical strength. From the stadium, the pupils proceeded to the inclosure where the machines were erected, and where they performed the exercises of running over inclined planes; clearing barriers, climbing masts, walking upon unstable beams, mounting ladders 36 feet high and slipping down, ascending heights by means of ropes and poles, and by men so suspended as to serve as ladders, and descending again with the greatest facility.

The commissioners, surprised at the strength, suppleness, agility, and address of the pupils, testified their satisfaction and acknowledged the utility of the exercises. These were terminated by their vaulting over wooden horses, and also over living ones, and by the conquerors receiving the prizes due to their superior skill.

The design of this institution is not merely to regulate and perfect the phys ical powers of his pupils, but to teach and dispose them to lend assistance to the weak, and to aid their fellow creatures when in danger. Those who first witness these exercises are in constant fear for the safety of the pupils; but their elementary lessons accustom them gradually to measure their force and skill: they 87

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are able by proceeding from simple to compound exercises to acquire solid instruction. If accidents occur, they arise evidently from disobedience, presumption, or forgetfulness of principles so well explained and applied in the establishLondon Scientific Gazette.

ment.

LONDON MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

A quarterly general meeting of this laudable Society was recently held to receive the Tenth Quarterly report. Dr. Birbeck, the President, was in the chair; and the members who attended nearly filled the large theatre of the institution. The Report began by expressing the satisfaction felt by the Committee at the manner in which similar institutions had been established and were now flourishing in various parts of the kingdom. It then described what had been done for the London Mechanics' Institution since the last quarterly meeting. The receipts were L506--the expense L525, a portion of which, upwards of L100, was paid for gas-fittings, and other similar charges, not incurred above once in twenty years. The funds arose chiefly from the members' subscriptions, L411 having been collected from this source. Upwards of L30 was received for transferable tickets, and L9 for the use of the theatre by various other societies. The expenses, independent of the sums already mentioned, were chiefly payments to lecturers and teachers, the rent and taxes of the premises, interest of money borrowed for building the theatre, stationary, officers' salaries, &c. The library now consists of 2500 volumes, and the number of members who read is raFidly on the increase. Since the last quarter day 574 members have been added and 397 have ceased to belong to the society, making an increase on the quarter of 177, the whole number of members being now 1772. The lectures delivered were on geography, mechanics, geology, electricity, and astronomy. The schools have been opened, and assiduously frequented for writing, French, architectural and mathematical drawings, and arithmetic. The latter classes have been so much followed that it is now proposed to have a second school of the same description. There is also to be formed an excellent school of mutual instruction in the Mechanics; or a sort of secondary lecture, after the lectures on this subject shall have been delivered The Report was unanimously received.-Thanks were voted to the several lecturers, and to the Chairman, with great applause, for the interest they had taken in the welfare of the Institution.

EDUCATION IN LOWER CANADA.

English Newspaper.

The month of August is the time at which the vacations of the different seminaries, colleges and schools, throughout this province, usually take place; and these vacations are generally preceded by a public examination of the scholars, and a distribution of prizes to those who have been distinguished by their proficiency and good conduct during the year.

The increasing interest taken in these examinations, by all classes of the people, is a proof of the zeal in favor of the education which now pervades the whole province. At Quebec, Montreal, Nicolet and St. Hyacinthe, the spacious halls of thosepublic institutions, were literally crowded with spectators; and at many of the country schools where examinations were had, the same pleasing circumstance occurred. Everywhere the students and Scholars showed the greatest aptitude for learning, and in many instances gave proof of astonishing proficiency.

Little or nothing has been done by public authority in favor of the education of the people since the conquest; or what has been done has been in a way which had a tendency to alarm the inhabitants of the country, mostly Roman Catholics, in respect to their religion, to which they are so sincerely attached. The college and revenues of the Jesuits originally destined for the education of the youth of the country, have long ceased to be applied to that object, and the public moneys granted for schools have been applied under the unfavorable circumstances mentioned above. In addition to the Seminary of Quebec and the College of Mon

treal, for which the country is chiefly indebted to the Ecclesiastical Corporations of the Quebec Seminary and of Saint Sulpice at Montreal, the late Cathelic Bishop established, chiefly out of his own funds, the College of Nicolet, and Mr. Girouard, Curate of St. Hyacinthe, established that of st. Hyacinthe, both of which are now in a very flourishing condition. The four may contain about 800 or 1000 students, many of whom go through the usual courses in the French, English, Latin and Greek languages, mathematics, rhetoric, and natural philosophy. There are besides in the Country parishes 24 schools in the District of Montreal, 17 in the District of Quebec, and 7 in the District of Three Rivers, many of which are well conducted and numerously attended: in some parishes, however, the schools are occasionally ill attended, or altogether closed from the want of means, or a deficiency of suitable masters. In the District of Montreal, there are eight country boarding houses for young girls, kept by the sisters of the congregation, who devote themselves altogether to female education, and five in the District of Quebec.

In all these colleges and schools, Catholic religious instruction forms a part of the usual course of education. The funds for their establishment have generally been derived from charitable donations; and they are supported partly from the same sources, but principally from the contributions paid by the scholars and boarders, which are, however, very moderate.

The English language is taught in all the colleges and principal schools; and the progress of the pupils in this respect, in some country parishes where English is hardly spoken, is astonishing. The people are thus doing, voluntarily and zealously, from a sense of the utility of possessing that language, what no measures of a compulsory tendency could ever have induced them to do. It is even said that an extensive establishinent of education is about to be commenced at Chambly, where there are to be employed several able teachers of both the English and French languages, with a view of affording the benefit of an education in French to the inhabitants of the adjoining States, and in English to the Canadians.

In the foregoing enumeration of colleges, schools, &c. neither those of the towns of Quebec, Montreal, nor Three Rivers, more specially destined for the education of the children in the towns, are included. There are besides seven or eight schools of the Royal institution in the country parts chiefly inhabited by Catholics, and thirty-eight in other parts of the province of a more mixed population. Quebec Gazette.

PROGRESS OF EDUCATION AMONG THE HOTTENTOTS,

At all the institutions are found Sunday Schools both for adults and children, in active operation, and zealously supported by the people themselves, as well as by almost every individual resident at the station, whose assistance could be made useful as teachers. Many of the latter class were selected from among the Hottentots; and when it is considered, that not less than six hundred adults and from three to four hundred children are regularly receiving instruction, and learning to read the scriptures in the schools--and that the greatest number of the children are also taught on week days, to read and write English--it is impossible for a moment to doubt the utility of the institutions, or to deny that the work of improvement is going forward. The progress of persons advanced in years, who have but one day in seven, to learn, cannot be otherwise than slow; and doubtless, much remains to be done; but while the effect of these schools on the morals of the Hottentots is already very apparent, in their better observance of the Lord's day, and the useful appropriation of that portion of time, which before was too often spent in idleness, the very general desire of instruction thus evinced both for themselves and their children, affords a gratifying proof of the influence of Christian principles on their minds; and cannot fail, at no distant period, to produce a striking and important change in the character and habits of the people.-In the day schools, we had much satisfaction in seeing the British system introduced. The progress which the children had made in English, considering the short time since it had been introduced into the schools, appeared very credit