III universities of this country; for which purpose, every article of this description has been submitted, in proof, to the president of the institution described, and, with but very few exceptions, has received the benefit of his revision. The editors also acknowledge their indebtedness for the very full information, in regard to the educational work of the various religious denominations of the United States and Great Britain, which they have received from distinguished members of those denominations. Very much of this information could have been obtained by no other means than by a long official connection with the educational boards of the churches, and, to a considerable extent, is now supplied exclusively by this work. To all the contributors the thanks of the editors are due for a support without which the work could not have been completed-at any rate, could not have possessed the value which may, with considerable confidence, be attributed to it; and certainly could not have earned the approval which it may justly be expected to receive. The editors, also, take occasion to express their obligations to the many friends who, though not special contributors, have afforded valuable aid in the revision of special articles, in giving important advice, or in affording needed information. In these few remarks, the editors have briefly stated the object they have striven to attain, and some of the instrumentalities of which they have availed themselves; but they are by no means so presumptuous as to suppose they have produced a work without fault or blernish. The Cyclopædia, it must be borne in mind, is but a pioneer, opening out, it is to be hoped, a wide path for further literary and professional effort in the same direction. It will, doubtless, share the fate of all books of its class, in which the habitual reader, as well as the scrutinizing critic, by the side of that which elicits his approval, meets with statements that are capable of improvement or that require correction. In every future edition of the work, pains will be taken to correct what is faulty and to improve what is imperfect; and any assistance which those who appreciate the aim of the work may be able to render to that end, will be gratefully acknowledged. NEW YORK, March 17, 1877. NOTICE OF THE THIRD EDITION. In issuing the Third Edition of the Cyclopædia, the publishers would express their grateful acknowledgments to the educational public for the favorable reception hitherto accorded to it, and the many appreciative, commendatory notices it has received from scholars and educators of the highest culture and the ripest experience. For the present edition of the work, the articles have been carefully revised for the correction of inaccuracies, but no essential change has been made in any of them. In order, however, to bring the work down to the present time, a brief Supplement has been added, containing a summary of the latest educational statistics of this country, as far as they have been received in reply to inquiries. It has been considered best thus to limit the information given, and to refer for further particulars to the official reports and catalogues. E. STEIGER & Co. NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 1883. A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THE CYCLOPEDIA OF EDUCATION. Prof. E. B. ANDREWS, Lancaster, O. Ohio. Hon. ELLIS A. APGAR, Supt. Public Instruction, New Jersey. New Jersey. Prof. TH. APPEL, Franklin and Marshall Col 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 1.), Senses, Education of the. Rev. JOHN G. BAIRD, Asst. Sec. Board of Edu- Dr. A. DOUAI, Irvington, N. J. cation, Connecticut. Connecticut. WM. OLAND BOURNE, New York. Seton, Samuel W. Prof. B. P. BoWNE, Boston University. Developing Method (in part), Ear, Cultivation of,-and other articles. Prof. W. E. GRIFFIS, late of the Imperial College, Tokio, Japan. Florida (in part). Hon. J. C. CORBIN, late Supt. Public Instruc- Hon. T. W. HIGGINSON, Newport, R. I. tion, Arkansas. Rev. Dr. E. T. JEFFERS, Pres. Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pa. Presbyterians (in part). Prof. D. P. KIDDER, Drew Theological Semina- | Prof. I. P. ROBERTS, Cornell University, Ithaca, ry, Madison, N. J. Sunday-Schools, Theological Schools. ALBERT KLAMROTH, late Commissioner of Common Schools, New York. Falk, P. L. A., Rev. Prof. E. G. KLOSE, Moravian Theological Moravians. W. H. LARRABEE, New York. N. Y. Agricultural Colleges. C. C. ROUNDS, Princ. State Normal School, Farmington, Me. Mager, Karl. Francke, A.H., and other biographical articles. Prof. DAVID B. SCOTT, College of the City of Dr. EDWIN LEIGH, Brooklyn, N. Y. Illiteracy, Phonetics. Alabama (in part) New York. New York, College of the City of, Oral Instruction, Rhetoric. EDWARD SEGUIN, M. D., New York. Thermometry, Educational. Hon. R. D. SHANNON, Supt. Public Instruction, San Francisco (in part). Prof. FRANCIS A. MARCH, Lafayette College, Rev. Dr. I. N. TARBOX, Cor. Sec. Amer. Educ. Inst., New York. Deaf-Mutes (in part). Prof. EDWARD OLNEY, University of Michigan. WILLIAM B. WAIT, Supt. New York Institution ABACUS (Gr. åßağ, a slab or board), a piece A-B-C SHOOTERS (Germ. ABC-Schützen), 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. ABC, the first three letters of the English alphabet, often used to denote the alphabet itself; as, "To learn A B C is felt to be extremely irk some by the infant." Taylor (See ALPHABET.) A-B-C BOOK, a primer, or little book used to learn the alphabet and its simplest combinations, with the most rudimental lessons in reading. (See HORN-BOOK.) 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.) 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. 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 complete edition of the works of Abélard was published by Cousin (2 vols., Paris, 1849— 1859), containing also valuable notes by the editor. Among the best biographical works on Abelard are those by Rémusať (Abelard, 2 vols., Paris, 1845), and Wilkens (Peter Abälard Göttingen, 1855).—See also SCHMIDT, Geschichte der Pädagogik. 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 |