NATURE and ART; the former to be subdivided into animals, vegetables, and minerals, and these again into genera, species, and even varieties of the larger animals. Under the division ART, the subdivision will comprehend all trades and artificial productions. It will by no means be necessary to retard a pupil's progress, the first or even the second time of going through the series of lessons, by teaching words of unfrequent occur

Such words may be conveyed to the pupil at a future period; or if the lessons are accessible to him, either in manuscript or in a printed form, he will probably acquaint himself with them; and though these lessons may be produced in a scientific form, they may be kept free from scientific terms. In the pictures of trades, which should commence with the most ordinary and advance to the most complex arts of life, every object made by man will be brought under the eye of the pupil in its proper place. Tables and sofas will be seen in the shop of the cabinet-maker; knives, razors, scissors, &c., in that of the cutler. Such a series of pictures would be a perfect treasure for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, and would be scarcely less available in the National, Lancasterian, and Infant systems of education; and indeed in the early education of the children of all classes. A good set of pictures of natural objects is also much wanted, which should be executed as far as possible on a scale showing their relative proportions. The lessons connected with trades would commence with the names of the materials used, the articles manufactured, and the principal tools employed. A copious list of substantives would be thus furnished. The next lesson, on the properties of such objects, illustrates the adjective. The nature of neuter,

active, and passive verbs, is then explained, and afterwards the more difficult parts of language. A similar series of lessons would accompany the pictures on natural history. Many names of substances would occur in the course of such a series of lessons which no explanation could render intelligible. Specimens of such things should therefore be procured, if practicable, for the elucidation of the lessons. At the Yorkshire Institution there is a small collection of animal, mineral, and vegetable substances, for this purpose; and if children are to gain ideas as well as words, such a collection should be attached to every school, particularly of minerals, and other substances which cannot well be represented by drawings. We have dwelt upon this part of our subject, because we think it suitable for general adoption.

Grammar is best taught by a series of lessons so framed as to illustrate all the parts of speech, and to comprise every class of words in the language. This method is preferable to the dry definitions of grammarians, which never convey any valuable knowledge to children, because they are not understood.

After the specific names of objects have been conveyed to the pupils, generic words are taught; these are more difficult than the preceding. It is not easy to make children generalize, unless by means of exercises which have this particular object in view. Tabular forms similar to the following are employed at the Yorkshire Institution :

By these simple means, generic terms are acquired, and many of the children so taught have a clearer understanding of the value of such words than many who can both hear and speak.

The teaching of the indefinite article, the formation of the plurals, regular and irregular, and the office of demonstrative and possessive pronouns, and cardinal numbers, immediately follow the names of objects. These are not taught in an isolated and unconnected manner; they are combined with the words which have been previously taught, care being taken that the idea is conveyed simultaneously with the conventional sign

for it. We may suppose a handful of peas to be taken into the school-room, (objects which the pupils do not commonly see about them being more attractive than slates, pencils, &c., which are always at hand;) one pea is separated from the rest, to which the teacher calls the attention of the class; he writes upon the tablet a pea, shows the pea and holds up one finger; he next shows the other peas, or part of them, and writes peas opposite to the singular, thus:

When the plural is written, instead of holding up one finger, he holds up all the fingers of one hand, and moves them backwards and forwards, to express that there are many. If there are several children in the class, it is probable that he will be anticipated in this latter sign by some one of them, who will thus show that he has been accustomed to such a sign, and perfectly comprehends it. The teacher will proceed with other examples, all of which will be written on the tablet in succession. A short time serves to convey this idea to a class. Irregular plurals are so arbitrary in their formation, that they can only be taught by distinct explanations, and retained by an effort of memory. Some curious but at the same time pleasing mistakes are committed by every succession of new pupils in learning the irregular plurals-pleasing because they show how soon children begin to reason from analogy.

After having been shown that the oo in tooth, foot, goose, make the plural teeth, feet, geese, they will write the plural of book, beek; and discovering that mouse changes in the plural to mice, they will give hice as the plural of house, making regular plurals irregular, and vice versû. These trifling difficulties are soon removed by watchful attention. Cardinal numbers are taught by the arithmometer or bead-table, and by other visible objects. In this branch of learning the pupils have to remember the combinations of letters, as well as the figures which express the different numbers; and, as a simple exercise in number, they are set to count the panes of glass, the nails, &c., about the school-room, or the grains in a handful of corn.

Adjectives, ordinal numbers, neuter verbs, and active verbs, are the next stages in the tuition of the deaf. The nature of the adjective may be conveyed to the mind of the pupil in a variety of ways. Sicard's ingenious plan is adverted to in a former article on the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. A process some

what similar is employed in most institutions. The intuitive principle is of great advantage in every part of instruction where it can be brought into action. The teaching of adjectives is much helped by contrasts. Two objects of the same name, but of opposite qualities, are put before the eyes of the pupil, who is required to express by signs their distinctive properties. As he describes these, the words answering to the description are written down on the tablet along with the name of the object. Through a long list of adjectives the same course is followed; and it is pleasing to observe the growth and expansion of the mind, in the production even of such disjointed fragments of sentences as a thick