BRISTOL COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.

We have received a pamphlet embracing an account of this Institution, from which we derive the following brief description of its leading features; which, though not wholly peculiar, are worthy of record.

This Institution is located at Clifton, or China Retreat, three miles below Bristol, and sixteen or eighteen above Philadelphia. It has extensive and commodious buildings, with a landed estate of about 380 acres of excellent soil, under high cultivation. The Institution is divided into three departments; 1st, the COLLEGE proper, of four classes corresponding with the four years of the collegiate course; 2d, the ACADEMICAL Department, and 3d, the SELECT PREPARATORY SCHOOL. A prominent object of the Institution is to fit young men for the Christian ministry, yet others are not excluded.

The course of Instruction in each department is intended to be thorough and complete. We observe that in the senior class, the Constitution of the United States is made a branch of study;-and that the Scriptures are studied throughout the whole course. No student is admitted to the collegiate department without having it expressly understood that he intends to go through the whole course of four years.

In every department three hours of manual labor a day, at gardening, printing, book-binding, or some other employment, is required, for which they are paid; and on Saturday afternoon, the period of labor may be extended to five hours. No person is admitted to the Institution without a distinct pledge, that he will cheerfully and regularly comply with these conditions. They are also required, in all cases, to bind themselves to abstain from the use of ardent spirits, during their continuance.

TEACHERS' SOCIETY, OF GEORGIA.

We learn from the Hickory Nut' of Thomaston, Georgia, that a meeting of Teachers was convened at Athens on the 10th of June last, which continued in session two days. Several interesting essays were read on various subjects connected with education; some of which were written by ladies. Much important business was brought before the Society. Female education and Manual Labor Schools were, however, the leading topics. Various subjects were freely discussed, many important facts and much valuable information collected, which were calculated to be highly beneficial to those who are engaged in the profession of teaching.*

WESTERN FEMALE INSTITUTE.

A school under this title has been recently established at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Miss Beecher, the well known Principal of the Hartford Female Seminary, and her sister, and on the same general principles of aiming at intellectual and moral development, rather than at mere acquisitions and accomplishments. The number is limited to 30 pupils, and two ladies of experience, besides the two superintendents of the school, are devoted to their education. To aid in Physical Education, Calisthenics are adopted as a means of relaxation and exercise, and instead of the practice of some schools (which we confess has sometimes excited a smile and sometimes a sigh), of allowing but five minutes to this daily session, we are

A very interesting meeting of the friends of common schools, has been recently held in New York. We have only room, at present, to announce the fact.

gratified to learn that half an hour is devoted to it each half day. It is rendered attractive by music, and serves at the same time as a lesson in musical rhythm. We are assured by those who have tried both, that it is a far more efficient means than dancing, for improving the form and the manners, without any of its evils. We hope this institution will prove as valuable as that established at Hartford.

BREWSTER'S OPTICS.

We are gratified to see the first American edition of Sir David Brewster's treatise on Optics, published by Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, of Philadelphia. The new and extraordinary facts discovered by Brewster, especially on the polarization of light, are here presented in connection with this science with the clearness and simplicity characteristic of this author, and in a form accessible to every student.

NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.

The natural history of the fishes of Massachusetts, by Dr Smith, is just published in beautiful style, by Allen & Ticknor. It is not only a most interesting work to an ordinary reader, but will furnish valuable materials for instruction to every teacher, especially in our seaport towns. We hope the day is not far distant when such books will form a part of the every-day reading of our schools, and children will not be compelled to resort to the most ignorant men in society for their knowledge of the character and uses of the plants and animals around them.

NOTICES.

Key to History. Part 2d. The Hebrews. By Elizabeth P. Peabody. Boston. Marsh, Capen & Lyon, 1833. 12mo. pp. 136.

This is the second part of a work we noticed some time since, intended to form a guide to a complete course of historical studies in original authors. It consists of a series of questions on the Scriptures, Josephus, Jahn, and Müller, by which a connected account is obtained of the history of the Hebrews down to the destruction of Jerusalem. It is preceded by an account of Sacred Geography. We have expressed our full conviction of the utility of the plan; and the character of the author is a sufficient guarantee for the faithfulness of the execution. This, however, is simply a scientific history, without any reference to those religious associations and instructions with which it is connected in the Scriptures. We think it highly useful to one who has already studied it in this form, as giving a scientific arrangement of facts; but we question, with regard to young persons, whether it is expedient thus to put asunder' what Divine authority has united. We appreciate too highly the value of the Old Testament to be willing that this revelation of childhood, as fully adapted, in its leading features, to the infantile state of individuals, as it was to that of the nation to whom it was given, should be placed on the same level in the early associations of youth, with the stories of Greece and Rome, or the annals of modern empires.

We learn that Miss Peabody proposes to establish permanently a historical school, already commenced, in which this mode of instruction shall be adopted, illustrated by lectures. We think such a course will be of great value to those who wish to become familiar with this interesting branch of knowledge, so imperfectly taught even in our best schools; and we are sure, no one will regret the time redeemed for such a purpose. We see not why the work before us may not serve as a complete guide to such a course in every village circle.

The Teacher, or Moral Influence employed in the Instruction and Government of the Young; intended chiefly to assist young teachers in organizing and conducting their schools. By Jacob Abbott, late Principal of the Mount Vernon Female School, Boston, Mass. Boston: Pierce & Parker, 1833; 12mo. pp. 293.

We have never visited a school, whose spirit and character produced so delightful an impression upon us, as that superintended by Mr Abbott. We should not know where to begin or to stop in describing this work; but we can give no higher commendation than to say that it presents, in the most familiar and interesting manner, the principles and methods by which these results were produced, and may be reproduced by any one who will act with the spirit and the faithfulness of the author. We consider it invaluable to every young teacher. Would that it might be read and practised upon until the multiplied nurseries of impatience and envy, and strife, and evil speaking, which exists among our schools, shall be converted into sanctuaries of peace and joy; and sources of virtue as well as knowledge. We cannot forbear to mention one trait which pervades the whole system, and which was admirably described by a venerated friend and correspondent, now deceased.* 'Love your pupils,' said he to a well-educated teacher, just entering a school, and you will find little difficulty in governing them.'

Introduction to the Eclectic Reader, a selection of familiar lessons designed for common schools. By B. B. Edwards, Editor of the American Quarterly Register. Boston. Perkins & Marvin, 1833. 12mo. pp. 168. We find in this work, the same exhibition of industry, and judgment, and taste, which we admired in the Eclectic Reader. The same spirit pervades it. It is a christian spirit, which will distinguish it, in its character and influence, from those which aim at a sphere above or aside from all religion, and prepare it to exert a positive influence of the highest value, where they would be merely negative. At the same time, we can discover nothing which would displease any, unless it be those who consider it improper to communicate to Pagan nations the most valuable knowledge, the noblest gift of Heaven which we possess. It is rich in selections from Jane Taylor, Miss Martineau, Miss Gould, and Bryant, Gallaudet and others, who know how to present truth and beauty in an attire so strikingly simple as to interest the child, while it delights the man.

Geographical Copy Book, consisting of Outline and Skeleton Maps, adapted to the use of schools, with explanations of the nature, use, and construction of Maps. By W. C. Woodbridge. Boston. Carter, Hendue & Co. 1833. 4to. 25 maps.

The object of this work is to furnish, in geography, something corresponding to translations in the study of a language, or the working of examples, in arithmetic, or the copy book in writing from models. It consists of twentyfive outline and skeleton maps. The outline maps (sometimes called blank maps) comprise all the lines and objects of an ordinary map, but no names; and correspond to the Cartes Muettes (or dumb maps) of the French. These the pupil is required, as a first exercise, to fill up, from memory, country by country, as he advances with the towns and names. Opposite to each outline map is a skeleton map, on which the lines of latitude and longitude only are drawn. As soon as the pupil is familiar with the outlines, he is expected to transfer them, country by country, to this map; and he is thus most easily introduced to the important practice of drawing from memory, without which the teacher is never sure of the accuracy of his knowledge, and which will serve, like the simultaneous mode of recitation on the slate, in the schools of mutual instruction, to test the knowledge of a whole class at once.

*Rev. Joseph Emerson, late of Wethersfield Conn., whose character as an educator is attested by hundreds of grateful pupils.

The work is introduced by an account of the nature of maps which presents the subject in a manner more simple than we have yet seen, and directions for drawing the principal projections. It was prepared from the conviction that such a work was needed, and that the method of study it proposes would contribute materially to the facility of gaining an accurate knowledge of geographical studies. The maps are engraved on wood, and in order to render them as little expensive as possible are printed on paper which will receive ink, that it may answer the purpose of a copy-book.

CORRESPONDENCE IN REFERENCE TO THE FEMALE COLLEGE of Bogota.

[We are indebted to a friend for the following copy of a correspondence between a devoted advocate of Female education in this country, and the Principal of the Female College at Bogota; which is another cheering indication of the sympathy which we hope will ever exist between the different portions of our continent and in the cause of humanity.]

LETTER TO SENORA MARIA ISABELLA CARDENAS, PRINCIPAL OF THE FEMALE COLLEGE AT BOGOTA.

-

Hartford, Conn. Nov. 8th, 1832. MADAM, Separated as we are, by broad leagues of earth and ocean, we seem yet to be brought near each other, by national and intellectual sympathies.

The republics of South America, from the commencement of their struggle against despotism, have been to us objects of intense interest, and New Granada, by her zeal in the great cause of Education, no less than by her patriotism, merits our peculiar admiration. Is it not remarkable, that she should thus have turned her attention to the instruction of females, ere she had fully recovered from the weariness and turmoil of revolution? Other climes have required ages, to discover the worth of the weaker sex, and to vanquish that jealous reluctance which excluded them from the temple of sciences. But your republic seems almost intuitively to have learned a lesson from Liberty-which Greece and Rome, so long her pupils and worshippers, never acquired, the influence of woman in modifying national character, and the policy of preparing her for so important an agency.

With no common delight, I have heard of the establishment of a college for females at Bogota, and of the illustrious office designated for yourself, in connection with it. Thus, although a stranger, I have been animated by a desire to address you, and to welcome you to duties, the most responsible that devolve upon our sex.

The education of those, who are in their turn to educate others, and from the retired fountains of domestic privacy to send forth sweet or bitter streamlets, more widely than the eye can see, or the mind compute, is a station of high honor and deep accountability. The impressions thus made are to be perpetuated through unborn generations, and to take hold on the destinies of Eternity. I can speak with earnestness of the heartfelt satisfaction springing out of such a department, from the experience of some of the happiest years of my life. To nourish the young mind in its freshness and beauty, with the dews of knowledge, move the excrescences that obstruct its vigor, or mar its symmetry, — to raise its tender buds to the beam of Heaven, and wait in prayer upon that God of Harvest, from whom alone is the increase, is a hallowed toil,a bounty' blessing him who gives, and him who takes.'

to re

I shall ever be interested, to receive intelligence of the progress of the Institution under your charge, and of your personal welfare.-Permit me to extend to you, the hand of friendship, and of sisterly regard, with the wish that the efforts of your country for the intellectual benefit of her children, may result in her own stability and glory, and that your own part in the labor, may receive a reward above the fleeting distinctions of a world that perisheth. L. H. S.

REPLY.-TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH.

Bogota, New-Granada, Jan. 14th, 1833. MADAM, The inuch esteemed letter which you have been pleased to address me, has excited in my heart the purest sentiments of gratitude and respect. Your interest for New-Granada proves the nobleness and patriotism of your illustrious nation, the mistress of liberty and virtue, which devotes herself so much to the prosperity of her sisters in this part of America. We should be happy could we gratify your generous desires by following the excellent examples of that favored country.

The importance of giving a finished education to woman, is proved by experience. She gives the primitive formation to the character of the citizen. It is to her, that the first foundations of morality are entrusted, on which the fabric of public happiness is reared. On her, in no trifling degree, depends the prosperity of nations. Yet her influence on these subjects, has been almost disavowed; and hence has been neglected the instruction of a sex, which by its vivacity of imagination, and delicacy of talent, is designed greatly to enrich society, and to contribute to the enjoyment of life. It is a mistake, to suppose that on account of the domestic employments of women, they exert no influence beyond the walls of their homes.

This republic however, bound in iron for so many ages, under Spanish despotism, learned, in chains, even the necessity of extending instruction to both sexes, and to all classes. Had it not been for political disorders, she would have made far greater progress in this work. But the indolence of an absolute government, which reaped no revenue from the protection of knowledge, and the obstacles to be encountered among a people in a state of revolution, paralyzed the hand stretched out for the intellectual guidance of ou rfair and brilliant ones. Now that order has succeeded to anarchy and an enlightened and truly liberal administration has taken the disposal of our public affairs, education has become the most favored object of its solicitude. In this city, two Female colleges have been already established, and are in perfect operation. Their pupils are making surprising progress in all the branches appropriate to their sex. Truly, no service can be more noble than that of directing Education. The satisfaction of seeing just hopes realized, of following out the improvements which are made, and of presenting to society young ladies, capable of discharging their lofty duties, is a pleasure known but to few, a pleasure which can only be comprehended in its full extent by one who has tasted it, and felt that it is a science which ennobles both her who teaches, and her who learns.

Be pleased, madam, to accept with kindness, the most sincere expressions of gratitude, for the honor which you have done me in thus addressing me, for the philanthropy you show for the female youth in New Granada, — and for the distinguished friendship which you proffer me, and which I accept with all the regard due to yourself, and to the favor thus offered.

MARIA ISABElla CardenAS.