1. The power of expressing their thoughts in simple and correct language, with fluency, therefore without laborious, and consequently pleasurable, exertion.

2. Such a general acquaintance with the works and laws of nature as will give zest and stimulus to their walks, and open the way to a more scientific and thorough investigation of some branch of natural science, if they should ever have time and opportunity.

I hope that the improved method of teaching grammar by composition, so earnestly recommended and illustrated by the Editor of this journal, and the impulse given of late to object teaching, will help to effect a reform in these two points.

3. The power of appreciating, and therefore of enjoying, good writing, and therefore a love for and a seeking after the choice models with which American literature now abounds, instead of being satisfied with the vapid and silly trash which, when there is any reading at all, passes under that name. Cheap copies of our most fascinating modern works on history, biography, travels, natural history, etc., ought, as soon as they appear, and have received the sanction of public approbation, to be placed in our school libraries, and the circulation of them among the scholars and their parents should be encouraged by all the earnest influence which the teacher can exert.

In the school-room, instead of spending so much time on those eternal tasks in grammar, so abstract, so dry, so imperfectly, if at all, understood, the very introductory pages of which, as my daughter was remarking, the other day, would often require of the learner a previous knowledge of the subject, in order to make it intelligible and savory,-instead of daily going over page after page of the reader, with such questions only as are duly set down in the programme, i. e. in the foot-notes;-instead of that endless array of forbidding routine and formalism, let the teacher, once a week at least, select some peculiarly interesting passage, adapted to the age and intelligence of the class (our improved school-readers abound in such) and first read it to the class, frequently stopping, in order to feel, as it were, the pulse of the class, by eliciting their remarks, to which he should, sparingly but suggestively, add his own; let him bring in the most lively collateral illustrations that the subject admits, whether historical, geographical, or scientific, with which his own stores of knowledge supply him.

When the passage has been thus thoroughly understood and enjoyed, let the class be called up to read it, no longer as a task, but with relish and spirit, as they are almost sure to do.

On the same or the following day, still guided by the age and mental development of the class, he will cautiously direct the attention to the salient points, the beauty-spots in the passage, not by pointing them out, but by leading the young people to find them out for themselves.

Lastly, let him tell them to read the passage at home, over again, and to

come prepared on the following day to give the substance of it in their own words; or, better still, if old enough, let them write it on their slates, as an exercise in composition, whilst the teacher is busy with other recitations.

On the ordinary reading days, let him always elicit from the text as much instruction as they can bear and digest, in living grammar; i. e., in grammar springing out from the language itself, not sadly buried in the funeral mausoleum of a didactic treatise.

Thus, I conceive, by patient and earnest training in that direction, continued without routine or monotony, from session to session, and from year to year, will a live teacher succeed in awakening in the susceptible minds of all but the very dullest, the dormant sense of literary beauty, and a craving for it.

He will feel amply rewarded for this extra labor by the delightful conscious ness that he has conferred on his pupils that precious boon, the faculty of reading appreciatingly and pleasurably any good and beautiful book that may fall in their way, like a stray flower to the weary pilgrim, or a beam of light to cheer the gloom. For, let us travel where we may, let our lives have fallen into ever so pleasant places, tracks of weary pilgrimage await us; seasons of sadness must some time or other visit us. Such is the inexorable law-the doom of humanity !-Ohio Educational Monthly.

HOW SHALL WE TEACH GEOGRAPHY ?—I.

While great improvements have been made in modes of teaching many of the sciences, Geography has been comparatively neglected. It certainly cannot be from any just sense of its relative importance, that, while mathematics and the languages have been taught with the greatest thoroughness, teachers have been contented with the most superficial methods of teaching this subject. Recently, however, the labors and lectures of one of the most eminent scholars of the present day have awakened a desire for something better-some more philosophic methods, and more satisfactory results, in the presentation of the subject of geography in our common schools. The conviction is beginning to be felt that this noblest of sciences has been sadly unappreciated, and that, instead of being a mere catalogue of facts, to be committed to memory, it is capable of being made a means of growth to the mind, and of affording the highest exercise of all its powers.

But the question, how, if this higher view of it be the correct one, is this subject to be presented to the child, remains as yet unanswered.

It will probably not be questioned that the best possible method of study in any subject is that which, while it shall give the clearest and most perfect knowledge of the subject itself, shall, at the same time, furnish the best facilities for the complete and symmetrical development of the mind.

* Professor Arnold Guyot.

In order to determine such a method, it is necessary to inquire, First, what is the law of the mind's development? Second, what is the nature of the subject to be presented, and what is the general plan of treatment growing out of its nature, and therefore inviolable? Third, by what special methods can this general plan be adapted to the needs of the mind in the several stages of its development?

I. The Development of the Mind.-Writers upon its laws and operations declare that though all the faculties of the mature mind exist from the beginning of its life, in a greater or less degree of activity, they yet attain their full development at different periods. They come into activity not simultaneously, but successively, the full action of each subsequent class requiring the previous development and activity of the preceding; just as all the capacities of the plant for producing leaf, stem, flower, and fruit, exist in the germ, yet these do not appear at once, because the higher cannot be developed without the preexistence of the lower as a basis.

The earliest to attain full activity are the perceptive faculties. These, through their agents, the senses, are extremely active in the young child, and constitute the only means by which the images of the external world can enter his mind and give rise to thought. Through their use he is able to obtain a clear conception of the general form and condition of everything of which they can take cognizance.

In simultaneous action with these is the conceptive power, by means of which the mind grasps and retains the impressions it receives through the perceptive powers; and is able to recall them, and learns to express them. In a higher development the same faculty is able, by means of ideas and conceptions previously acquired, to create images of things of which the perceptive powers have not taken cognizance.

Next to becoming active is that analytic power of the understanding, by means of which the general conception, which alone could be obtained in the preceding condition of the mind, is separated into its elements, and studied in detail; the knowledge acquired is considered and arranged; and new ideas are derived apart from the exercise of perception, which are expressed in the form of abstract propositions.

Lastly, is developed that action of the reasoning power by which the mind rises to high generalizations, attains the knowledge of general principles and laws, is able to ascertain the causes of phenomena observed, and from known causes to predict results.

We find, therefore, that though all the faculties of the mind act to a certain extent in conjunction, there are yet three successive stages, each characterized by the predominant activity of certain powers, and consequently by a peculiar character of mental operations. In the first, that of the predominance of the perceptive powers, the child is constantly occupied in acquiring knowledge of the external world by the use of these powers, and through the expression of

the knowledge so acquired becoming acquainted with language and other conventional signs of ideas, and is therefore becoming able to receive ideas from other minds through the medium of language.

In the second stage, that of the analytical power of the understanding, the knowledge of others, having now become accessible to him, is added to the results of his own more minute investigation, and finally becomes itself the subject of thought, analysis, and classification.

In the third, that of the predominance of the reasoning power, the mind having collected its materials, looks at them from a new point of view, and, from the study of them in their combinations, arrives at a knowledge of their relations, and of the phenomena resulting therefrom, and of the laws which govern their existence and operations.

If, therefore, any method of study is to contribute to the mind's development, it must furnish the appropriate degree of exercise for all these powers, in the order of their successive awakening; and we must distinguish, with Professor Guyot, three natural phases,—the perceptive, the analytic, and the synthetic,-through which the learner in Geography, as, indeed, in every branch of science, must pass before he can obtain a perfect knowledge of the subject of his study.

We may premise, then, as a general principle growing out of the laws of the mind, and therefore governing the presentation of all subjects whatever, that the portion of the subject which addresses itself mainly to the powers of perception, and only gives the simplest possible exercise to the powers of the understanding or reasoning powers, is the only one proper to be presented to the very young pupil. This is the perceptive phase of his study. It must follow that if a subject present no opportunity for such a phase, it is not an appropriate one for the study of the very young.

Afterwards is needed a more minute and detailed investigation, which will decidedly tax the earlier powers of the understanding, and which will give to the analytic phase its special character.

Lastly, the reasoning powers are mainly addressed; for the facts or phenomena with which the student deals must be viewed in their mutual relation and combined action. This is the synthetic phase.

Subjects which do not present material for all these phases can be profitably studied only in particular stages of the mind's growth, while those in which all are found furnish suitable food for it at every step of its onward progress.

II. Nature of the Subject.-We come now to the second part of our problem, viz. to determine the nature of the subject, and the general plan of treatment growing out of that nature.

"Geography," in the language of Professor Guyot, "is the Science of the Globe, considered, not as a mere aggregation of unrelated parts, but as an organized whole, formed of members, each having an individual character and special functions, all mutually dependent and operating together, according to

laws established by the Creator, to perform functions possible to no one alone." If this be the case,-if the globe is to be considered as a magnificent mechanism, prepared by the Creator with a special form, and a special character and arrangement of parts and members, in order to produce a given result,― then the study of it is to be conducted on precisely the same general plan as that of any other individual organization of which we desire to ascertain the conformation, the laws of its operation, and its adaptedness to produce the result intended.

First is required a general view of the whole, in order to ascertain its figure, the parts or members of which it is composed, their arrangement, not only absolutely in the whole, but relatively, or in regard to each other,—their comparative size, and the general conformation of each.

Second.-Each of these individuals is to be made the subject of special, detailed study, in order to ascertain its particular organization,—the character, arrangement, and relation of its several portions,-the character of the whole individual resulting there from,-and finally the phenomena of life associated with it, whether vegetable, animal, or that of man considered both ethnologically and in the social capacity of states or nations.

Third.-Having ascertained the individual character of the several members, we look at them again in combination, in order to ascertain the influence which each by its peculiar character exerts upon the others, thus to determine its function in the whole mechanism, and to arrive at a knowledge of the laws which govern the organization of the latter. Then referring to the history of mankind, we trace the operation of those laws on his character and destiny, and ascertain the adaptedness of this wonderful mechanism, to the end for which it was created, the education of the human race.

In the first, we find the perceptive phase of the study, since, by the use of the globe, of accurate physical maps, and of good illustrations, it can be presented almost wholly to the perceptive faculties. The second is the analytic, and the third the synthetic phase.

What subject so rich in material for the growth of the mind! What other science furnishes appropriate food, alike to the sunny-haired child of ten summers, and to the grave philosopher, whose head droops with the accumulated knowledge of "three score years and ten!"-American Educational Monthly.

THE QUESTION is often asked, if botany cannot be studied in schools of the primary grade? Most certainly it can, if text-books are entirely discarded. A few minutes of conversation every day with the children about flowers, a walk with them into the fields, at recess, or after school, or a visit to a flower garden, will awaken in them a wonderful interest, and serve to lead them gradually to a very fair knowledge of the vegetable kingdom.-Massachusetts Teacher.