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ological faculty, the interpretation of the Old and New Testaments in their original languages. Draw a distinction between the studies of the schools and the colleges, and those of the University proper, remanding to the former Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, and thus improve the methods of higher instruction." The reforms here briefly stated it was reserved for another century to suggest, and to still another to introduce; and their fruitful instruction is only now part of the glory of the modern University.

3. The labors of Ramus in simplifying text-books-in epitomizing the recorded truths of science, and arranging them in clear logical sequence for the learner, were more immediately successful. He published grammars introductory to the study of the Latin, Greek, and French languages; and was the first eminent teacher who made his vernacular a regular study in the schools.

In Rhetoric he followed Cicero, excluding much before taught, as belonging to logic, and made it eminently a popular study.

In Dialectic, he simplified the details and restricted the field of discussion. He resolved the whole subject into nature, art, and practice. The art must proceed from the observation and imitation of what men actually do from natural reason and human experience. Logic he would bring out of the study of terms, into the necessitics of discourse. He carried his pupils beyond the form of words into the beauty and science which they were intended to embody. Milton adopted the views of Ramus in his Summary of Logic' published in 1673, and Andrew Melville made them his guide in his logic classes at Glasgow.

In Mathematics and Physics he was eminently the creator of new disciplines, making arithmetic, geometry, ethics, mechanics, astronomy, and the phenomena of nature, subjects of study in French schools long before they became embodied in the curriculum of other nations. In his methods of treating them he was truly philosophical. He laid down but few rules, and these were evolved from the problems, and illustrated by numerous applications.

In 1209, the council of Soissons interdicted the reading of Aristotle, and condemned his writings to be burned; in 1215, the legate of the Pope excepted the Organon from that condemnation, and allowed it to be taught; in 1931, Gregory IX partially allowed the reading of the Metaphysics and Physics; in 1254, his successor removed all restriction; in 1266, his works were commanded to be taught in the university of Paris; whi'e, in 1447, Pope Nicholas V. not only allowed them, but, to facilitate their reception, himself translated parts of them into Latin. The fortunes of Aristotle, in the different eras of speculative activity, form an interesting chapter in the history of philosophy. Denounced at one time as the father of lies, and his works proscribed as the fountains of heresy; accepted at another t me as divinely inspired, and his works prescribed as the criterion and text of truth; claimed by antagonistic parties; often identified with powerful sects, and seeming for a while to share in their disgrace, if not to perish with their fall, he has, nevertheless, ever arisen with new strength in every era of intellectual activity, and in the end asserted his supremacy as crowned king in the empire of human thought.-Baynes.

JOHN BUGENHAGEN.

JOHN BUGENHAGEN, the fellow laborer with Luther and Melancthon in the ecclesiastical and school reorganizations of the 16th century, was born at Wollin, Pomerania, in 1485, and died in 1558. He studied philosophy, theology, and the classics at Greifswalde, and at the age of eighteen took charge of a classical school (founded in 1170, and now called Bugenhagen Gymnasium), at Treptow, on the Riga. In 1517 he read lectures in theology at the Abbey of Belbrick, and in 1520 in response to Luther's pamphlet on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, he resorted to Wittenberg, where he was appointed to the chair of theology in 1523. From this time Bugenhagen is identified with the new organization of church affairs in all the principal cities of Northern Germany-Brunswick, Hamburg, Lubeck, Bremen, and in the dominions of the Duke of Pomerania, and the King of Denmark. In the Brunswick church order of 1528, 'the superintendent, besides preaching, was instructed to give lectures in Latin for the learned, and supervise the discipline, doctrine and funds of the church, and see to the establishment of two Latin schools (each with two classes, the first with four, and the last with three teachers), two German schools for boys, and four for girls at four places, so that the girls might not have far to go from home to their school. In all the schools, catechetical instruction and singing must be given to all the pupils, and obscure private schools must be discontinued.'

In the Hamburgh church order of 1520 a Latin school was instituted in the Convent of St. John (and designated the Johanneum); one German school for boys; and a girls' school in each parish. The Johanneum was provided with a rector and seven teachers; Virgil, Ovid, and Cicero's Officia and Letters, dialectics, rhetoric, mathematics, and in the 5th (highest) class the rudiments of Greek and Hebrew, are specified in the course of study. Wednesday was assigned for review in all the classes, and Saturday was devoted to the catechism. Singing was to be carried to the highest proficiency for the service of the church. Public lectures by the church superintendent and his adjutor (4 times a week); by the rector of the Johanneum; by two jurists, a physician, a surgeon were also established, together with the foundation of a public library-making a quasi city university. The same system in its main features was established in Lubeck in 1532, the classical school of which still exists.

In Pomerania the church and school order was issued in 1535, and for the town of Stralsund two schools, 'one for Latin and German for boys, and the other for girls.' The boys' school was to follow the book of visitation of 'Magister Philippus Melancthon.'

In the church order drawn up by him for Denmark and Norway, in 1587, extended by the Diet at Rendsburg in 1542, the system of schools provided for Hamburg was recognized, the university of Copenhagen being constituted the head of the system. In his letters he complains that 'the greedy grasp of the mighty ones' devoted to their own use the goods of the monasteries which should go to churches, schools and the poor.'

His church orders for Brunswick-Wolfenbüttal in 1528 and 1542 extend the establishment of schools for girls as well as boys to the country parishes, where the organist was to be schoolmaster, and to give special attention to singing and the memorizing of bible texts.'

WILLIAM C. WHITFORD.

WILLIAM CLARK WHITFORD, the eleventh president of the Wisconsin State Teachers' Association, was born in West Edmeston, Otsego County, N. Y., May 5th, 1828. His parents belong to the New England stock, his father's family having emigrated from Massachusetts, and his mother's from Rhode Island. Although reared in a newly settled country, and enjoying very limited advantages for obtaining even a common school education, they took a deep interest in the intellectual and religious training of their children.

Mr. Whitford worked on the farm in summer, and attended a district school in winter, until he was seventeen years of age, when he entered Brookfield Academy, N. Y., in which he remained a large share of the time for three years. At twenty, he taught a term of school in a most successful manner in the district where he had always resided in his boyhood. He then became a student in DeRuyter Institute, N. Y., and there completed his preparation to enter the senior class at Union College, in 1850.

He was compelled, on account of sickness, to leave the college before the close of his first term of attendance, but he returned and graduated in 1853. In the meantime he assisted in teaching in Milton Academy, Wis., one term, and had the charge of Union Academy. at Shiloh, N. J., for two years. He spent a summer in Madison County, N. Y., in making an elaborate map of portions of the county, to be published in Philadelphia. Resolving to engage in the work of the gospel ministry, he pursued a full course of study at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He thereupon settled in 1856, as pastor of the Seventh-day Baptist Church, of Milton, Wisconsin. This position he held for three years; and under his labors the church more than doubled both its membership and its working power. In the last year of his ministry here, he took the oversight of the Academy, which was converted into a college in 1867, principally through his efforts.

The school has performed most thorough work under his administration, and enjoys a wide popularity. The attendance of students, some years, has reached over four hundred. It has given special attention to preparing both young men and ladies to teach in the public schools of the country, and has supplied as many as a hundred, some seasons. During the rebellion, three hundred and eleven students of the institution served in the Union army. Since the school became a college, it has numbered, each year, not less than seventy members in the regular college classes.

Mr. Whitford has taken a deep interest in the educational affairs of Wiscon sin. He has often been called to lecture before teachers' institutes and lyceums on prominent questions of education. He has prepared several valuable papers for the State Teachers' Association, and among them, a careful history of the early educational movements in the State, which has been published by the State Historical Society. He has acted as a prominent member of the local organizations for improving the schools in the section where he resides, and was chosen President of the State Teachers' Association, for 1865. He represented bis assembly district in the legislature of the State in 1868, and was chairman of the committee on education. Here he performed excellent work in the defense of the system of county superintendency of schools, and the introduction of some changes into the educational policy of the State. In 1867, he was appointed by the Governor, one of the regents of the State Normal School.

AMERICAN SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.

Cotemporaneous Account-1796.

EXTRACTS FROM REV. W. WINTER BOTHAM'S VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. LONDON, 1796.

VERMONT.

MUCH can not be said in favor of the present state of literature in this State; but their prospects in this regard are good. In every charter of a town, provision is made for schools, by reserving a certain quantity of land solely for their support. The assembly of this State, in their October session in 1791, passed an act for the establishment of a college in the town of Burlington, on lake Champlain, on the south side of Onion River, and appointed ten trustees. General Ira Allen, one of the trustees, on certain conditions has offered lands, &c., to the amount of four thousand pounds towards this establishment.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The old laws of New Hampshire required every town of one hundred families to keep a grammar school; by which was meant a school in which the learned languages should be taught, and youth might be prepared for admission to a university. The same preceptor was obliged to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, unless the town was of sufficient ability to keep two or more schools, one of which was called a grammar school by way of distinction.

Several instances occur in the public records, as far back as the year 1722, just at the beginning of an Indian war, that the frontier towns petitioned the assembly for a special act to exempt them from the obligation to maintain a grammar school during the war. The indulgence was granted them, but only on this condition, "that they should keep a school for reading, writing and arithmetic;" to which all towns of fifty families were obliged. In latter times the conduct of the same towns has been very different. During the late war with Britain, not only those, but many other towns, large and opulent, and far removed from any danger by the enemy, were for a great part of the time destitute of any public schools, not only without applying to the legislature for permission, but contrary to the express requirements of law, and notwithstanding courts of justice were frequently holden, and grand jurors solemnly sworn and charged to present all breaches of law, and the want of schools in particular. This negligence was one among many evidences of

a most unhappy prostration of morals during that period; it afforded a melancholy prospect to the friends of science and of virtue, and excited some generous and philanthropic persons to devise other methods of education.

Among these, John Philips, Esq., of Exeter, was the first to distinguish himself, by founding and endowing a seminary of learning in that town; which, in the year 1781, was by an act of assembly incorporated by the name of "Philips's Exeter Acadeiny." It is placed under the inspection of a board of trustees, and is governed by a preceptor and an assistant. In this academy are taught the learned languages, the principles of geography, astronomy, mathematics, and logic, besides writing, music, composition, oratory, and virtue. The fund belonging to this institution is valued at nearly ten thousand pounds. About one-fifth part of this fund, lying in lands, is at present unproductive, but the actual income amounts to four hundred and eighty pounds per annum.

Since the establishment of this academy several others have been erected; one of which is at New Ipswich; it was incorporated in 1789; its fund is about one thousand pounds; the number of students is generally between forty and fifty; the price of tuition is one shilling per week, and of boarding five shillings.

There is another academy at Atkinson, founded by Nathaniel Peabody, Esq., and incorporated by the general court in the year 1790. The preceptor has been chiefly supported by Mr. Peabody; and he has endowed the academy with a donation of one thousand acres of land.

Similar institutions have been begun at Amherst, at Charlestown, and at Concord; which though at present in a state of infancy, yet afford a pleasing prospect of the increase of literature in various parts of the State.

A law has been lately made, which enforces the maintenance of schools by a peculiar sanction; the select men of the several towns are liable to have the same sum distraiued out of their estates, which would be sufficient to support a school during the whole time in which they neglect to make that provision. This law is so recent that no judgment can as yet be formed of its operation. It shows, however, that the legislature are attentive to this most important branch of their duty, the education of the rising genera

tion.

As a farther evidence of the progress of science, social libraries are established in several towns in this State; and in the year 1791 a medical society was incorporated by an act of Assembly. The president of the State being a gentleman of the faculty, is at the head of this society.

By an article in the constitution of the State, it is declared to be "the duty of legislators and magistrates to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries and public schools; to encourage private and public institutions, rewards, and immuninities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and the natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general

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