tunity to co-operate with it in reaching this result. The Department of Educa. tion at Washington is interested in the work, and the best educational journals in the country are supporting it.

It seems that Wisconsin was more fortunate than it was first announced in se. curing prizes for its educational exhibit at Paris. Both the State Department of Instruction, and the public schools of Milwaukee, have been awarded silver medals, instead of mere diplomas. This places Milwaukee in the same cate. gory with Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati; and the State, with Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. Only nine States sent articles to the Exhibition. Our State University, also, received a silver medal. President W. F. Phelps, formerly of Whitewater, is honored with a silver medal for his Handbook for Teachers; and Prof. T. C. Chamberlin, a bronze medal for his second volume of the State Geological Report, and the accompanying Geological Maps.

Supt. Philbrick, who had charge of the exhibit from the United States, writes as follows: The object of the exhibition was not to get awards of prizes; it was higher and more important than this; but the prizes are valued by me as proof that the exhibition was not a failure. And the evidence will, perhaps, be admitted to be reasonably satisfactory, in view of these two facts; namely (1) that the number of the awards to our section of education, is twenty-eight larger than that awarded to any other country except France; and (2) that although our educational exhibition occupied only a little more than one hundredth part of the American section, it took nearly a sixth part of the prizes which went to American exhibitors."

The Regents of the State University decided, at their semi-annual meeting in January, to suspend, in 1880, all instruction given to the students in the Scientific Department of the Sub-Freshman Classes, and the instruction given in the Classical Department, during the first year. This measure will really strengthen the University. It removes an element which is not always in sympathy with the college discipline, and one which is the most difficult to manage and satisfy.

It will, also, aid in the upbuilding of the High Schools of the State. One of the charges made, for some time, against the University, is that it is interfering with these schools by doing a part of their work. Considerable feeling has been manifested by some High School men over this attitude of the University. The last year of the Sub-Freshman classical course is retained, because the other schools of the State do not give sufficient attention to preparing pupils for this

Let our leading High Schools improve in this respect, and the Univer. sity will drop, in time, this part of Sub-Freshman Classes.

course,

The State Board of Health have decided to investigate, this year, the condi. tion of the schoolbuildings in the state in respect to ventilation, heating, and admission of light. The Secretary of the Board has already prepared a circular containing various inquiries on these subjects, to be sent to the clerks of the school boards of the State. Careful and explicit answers to these inquiries will be solicited. Some member or members of the Board will spend considerable time in the inspection of school buildings. The State Superintendent will issue some directions to the school officers, to assist the Secretary in the collection of the statistics. It will be a matter of gratification to the teachers of the State that the very able gentlemen on this board can direct their attention to leading defects in our school rooms. The results of this investigation will be pub. lished in their next annual report, and will be looked for with great interest.

The most complete edition of the Blue Bock ever issued, has been published by the Secretary of State. It was compiled by Hon. D. H. Pulcifer, a member of the Assembly from Shawano county, who has given unwearied attention to the collection and arrangement of the materials. It contains several new features, as the alphabetical list of towns in the State, an alphabetical index of the names in the annals of the Legislature, ard views of Washburn Observatory, the Industrial School for Girls, and the State Fish Hatchery.

As a work of reference, it is invaluable to a public man, and can be used to great advantage by many teachers. The work is so much sought after each year by our school superintendents, and by the leading instructors in our schools, that several bills have already been introduced into the Legislature to distribute among them copies of the book. This measure may not succeed this winter. But it will prepare the way for the passage of some act which will provide the work, in the future, to many of our public schools.

PROF. T., C. CHAMBERLIN, the State Geologist, has recently published a pam. phlet on “The Extent and Significance of the Wisconsin Kettle Moraine.” ACcompanying it are two diagrams, one showing the glacial movements in eastern Wisconsin, and the other these movements in the formation of the moraine from Minnesota to New England. We have examined the work with intense satisfaction. Years ago, we made the prediction that whoever would carefully study the causes and character of the drift deposits in the Rock River and Green Bay regions, would make an invaluable contribution to the science of Geology. Prof. Chamberlin has made a successful beginning, and we trust that he will be able to prosecute his investigations until all questions arising on this subject are settled. The information which he gives should be in the possession of every intelligent teacher in our public schools, as it will aid him, as nothing else will, to understand the geography of large portions of the State.

THE REFORM MOST NEEDED.

If in case of threatened war it should happen that the army system of one of the expected belligerents was lacking in a fundamental feature, and in one shown by all experience elsewhere to be esssential – we will suppose it to be regimen. tal organization it would indicate supreme folly to spend much time in discussing trival matters — the style of uniform to be worn, the length and shape of officers' sword blades, etc., and leave the important thing untouched. The

army that should go into the field without any proper unit of organization, would pretty surely be cut to pieces by one no larger or braver, that was prop. erly organized, and could therefore be properly handled.

Our teachers' meetings and our legislatures discuss courses of study, educa. tional exhibits, cheap text.books, spelling reform, etc., which is all well enough, but we hear little or nothing of late about the introduction of the proper unit of organization, in which we are confessedly defective. In a report read by Supt. Searing, before our semi-annual meeting, in 1876, the two important measures, among others, of a State school tax and a town organization, were earnestly urged and earnestly approved. It seemed then as if we had at least lifted a foot to take a step forward. But at the meeting in the summer, at Green Bay, while we heard a good deal about kindergartens, an impracticable luxury, except for a few large places, we heard little or nothing about the town sys. tem, a crying and admitted necessity. The committee on a State tax was not ready to report.” At the semi-annual meeting in 1877, the town system was weakly, half-heartedly discussed a little, the first evening. One gentleman thought a committee should be appointed to present the subject to the Legislature, but no such committee was appointed. “On motion, the subject of a State tax was postponed.” But we heard a good deal about kindergartens, and a course of study for mixed schools — fine things lying off in the future, and so perhaps illustrating the saying, 'Tis distance leads enchantment, etc. At the two last meetings, neither a State tax, nor the town, as the proper unit of educational organization, was alluded to so far as we recollect.

A State tax is important, first as a matter of justice and a dictate of sound political economy; and secondly as a lever by which the State can have better control over the details of the school system. A town organization is essential for reasons which are so manifest, and which have been so often stated, that everybody admits their force, and yet, strange to say, we do nothing. The truth is that the educational world, like the world at large, has its fashions, its popu. lar notions, which prevail for a time, and then pass away; it has its bay window fever, its Westlake furniture epidemic, its pottery decoration mania. In the mean time, solid and substantial practical reforms and improvements languish.

But if we are just now inert, as to things of pressing importance, as to im. provements that are all essential and practicable, and that underlie and would prepare the way for other improvements, it is not so everywhere. The State Commissioner of Common Schools, in Ohio, the Hon. J. J. Burns, in his forth. coming report, after discussing the defects of their own school system says:

“The remedy for these evils is patent: to place the schools of a township under the control of a board of education elected by the people of the township for special work, with the same powers and duties as the board of education in a village. The time was when there were two or more school districts in the same city or village. Does any city or village wish to lose the advantages gained when that state of things was brought to an end by a wise bit of legislation ? Why would not the country be benefited and its schools started upon the road to rapid improvement by a system of organization and control which has brought forth such good results in towns ?"

But to emphasize his statements, he goes on to say:

“Other States, feeling the bad effects of this systematized no-system, have thrown off its clamps, or are moving to do so. The last report of the School

Commissioner of Rhode Island, Hon Thomas B. Stockwell, says, 'The towns (townships) now cumbered with the district system, should have a clear and unrestricted a right to abolish the districts as they had to establish them.'

“Hon. Neil Gilmour, State Superintendent of New York, is 'of the opinion that the necessity for the present system of school districts has ed, and that the schools can be materially benefited, the quality of the instruction improved, the attendance increased, and supervision made more thorough by adopting the township system.' And again: My conviction has been strengthened, owing to the numerous recommendations made by prominent educators and others interested in the subject, for such a law.'

“Hon. Edward Searing of Wisconsin, has declared that the district system rests like an incubus upon progress towards a better gradation and division of school work, as well as towards the satisfactory solution of several other impor. tant questions in common school management.'

“In our own State,” (Ohio]" there is a striking unanimity of judgment among educational men regarding this change. In the twenty-first annual report, Hon. Thos. Harvey, after stating the failure of the township schools to keep pace with those of the towns and cities, says, “Those acquainted with these schools have little hope of improving, to any great extent, so long as the sub-district system is continued.'

“In a score of assemblies in Ohio this fall and winter, this change in our ed. ucational system has been requested. These were not teachers' meetings. Some were largely composed of men and women of other vocations or professions. And one of these bodies is no less than that great exponent of the wealth and intelligence of those parts of the state needing the change - the State Grange.

“ The general plan is so simple, so rational; costing nothing, but economical in a high degree in its tendencies, why must an account of its being put in force, and the consequent improvement in the condition of these schools, be longer a chapter in the “ History of Events that never happened ?”

“Allow me respectfully to press it forward to the attention of the thoughtful friends of our common school system in the General Assembly."

Had the Legislature of last winter appointed a commission to report on the advisability of a State school tax, and on the adoption for the whole State, of the town system, with a distinct provision therein for the organization in each town of a sufficient population of a school of higher grade, and thus been prepared to act on these measures at the present session, they would have shown a degree of intelligence and practical interest in educational matters, that would have been most encouraging. But it seems to be the inevitable propensity of States to be striving to get a French roof on the edifice, when they ought to be laying or strengthening the foundations. We are not on the whole behind our neighbors; on some things we are in advanee of them; but would that we had a little more of good Pennsylvania or Canadian common sense in educational matters in some directions.

P.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

TRANSACTIONS OF WISCONSIN ACADEMY of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Vol. IV,

for 1876 and 1877. Madison: D. Atwood, State Printer.

This volume contains twenty articles, by nineteen different gentlemen, mostly of this state, and a large amount of interesting and instructive matter. It fur. nishes evidence of a very creditable advancement of the Academy in numbers and in usefulness. Many of the papers are of direct practical importance, and those on more speculative topics, are generally well written, and of interest. The University is represented by Professors Allen, Davies, and Birge, and by Superintendent King; Beloit College and the Geological Survey, by Prof. Chamberlin; Lawrence University, by Prof. Sawyer, and ex-Pres. Mason; and Racine College, by Prof. Elmendorf. OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. By B. A. Hinsdale, President of Hiram College, Ohio.

Cleveland: Cobb, Andrews & Co. Price 25 cents.

This pamphlet is a resume of the discussion between President Hinsdale and Superintendent Rickoff. The main position of the former (in a paper read before the N. E. Ohio Teachers' Association), was that the general claim for the advancement and excellence of our common schools, as compared with those of a former day, is not well founded. Mr. Rickoff denies and defends. The dis. cussion is important, and the pamphlet will be found suggestive to those who wish to study the questions at issue. Some prominence is given the West Point statistics. UNCONSCIOUS TUITION. By Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington, S. T. D. Syracuse:

Davis, Bardeen & Co. Price 15 cents.

This valuable paper, by Bishop Huntington, has been issued in several forms, and was quite extensively scattered through the State among the teachers then in the field, by Dr. Barnard, in a volume of “ Papers for Teachers.” Conscientious teachers will welcome it, careless ones will be benefited by its perusal. It is. No. 1, of a proposed series of “School Room Classics.” TOPICAL COURSE OF STUDY. By R. C. Stone. Published by A. S. Barnes & Co.,

New York and Chicago.

This manual embraces two parts, the first for Elementary Schools and the second for High Schools. It meets a want just now felt, while so much is said about a

course of study for common schools.” It will, at least, furnish hints and suggestions. The leading and important idea embodied by the compiler in the book, is that of a topical course of study, that may be pursued, although different schools do not use the same text-books. WOODLAND ECHOES. By S. W. Straub, author of "The Convention and Choir,'*

“ Crown of Glory,” “Good Cheer,” Etc., Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co.,

pp. 160.

We can say of this book that the sentiment of the words is elevating and en. nobling; that the songs have more than ordinary poetic merit; that the music, which is designed for general school use, is well adapted to the tastes and capacities of children; and that it is neatly printed on superior paper, from large and plain type (a matter of much importance). The price is also low, for a book of its size and merit, being only 50c., or $5.00 per doz. GOOD HEALTH. A Journal of Hygiene. Published monthly at Battle Creek,

Michigan, at $1.00 a year. 32 pp. 8vo.

Every family would reap a hundred fold reward from taking this publication. It discusses all subjects connected with the preservation of health, and that in a plain sensible manner. Teachers will find it a source of great usefulness. A new volume begins with the year. A stamp will bring a specimen number.

THE Ann Arbor (Mich.) Printing and Publishing Company have in press &