points of merit of its own. The "Suggestions to Teachers" at the beginning are valuable. There is one fault in teaching arithmetic, whether this or any other text-book be used, that should be speedily correctednamely, a dependence upon the slate. By habit a pupil will be soon enabled to solve the most difficult problems mentally. Any one who has attended the exhibitions of any of the Institutes for the Blind, must have been struck with the readiness displayed by the pupils in working out the most difficult calculations without, of course, the aid of the black-board. Is there any reason why the possession of the faculty of sight should be a positive disadvantage to the young arithmetician?

Books for boys and girls that will interest their young readers, are to be desired. To be successful they must rather rise above than get below the level of the child. Children detest puerile books. They look upon childish expressions with contempt. They want a story told in plain language, and that story must have incident in abundance. "The Seven Champions," 'Sinbad the Sailor," "Valentine and Orson," and "Robinson Crusoe"-the last the best of all, are models of their several kinds. Any child who can read decently finds interest in such stories. Captain Horace," (4) is not one of this kind; but it is not without merit. It is told simply enough, and there are no absolutely silly expressions, wherein it is a great improvement upon many of children's books of recent date. The best part of the book is the little hero's adventures in the forest with Peter Grant.

66

"The

The number of compilations of music for schools may be summed up by the word "legion." Some of these are positively good, a few positively bad, and a great many with a mixture of good and bad points. Silver Fountain," (5) which is one of the latest of these issues, may be put properly in the first list. The selections are generally judicious, the arrangement of the airs well adapted to the end in view, and the accompaniments simple and easy. We recommend it to the attention of Sabbathschools and families.

To travel from music to geography, we notice two very curious maps issued by Lippincott & Co., of Philadelphia, which purport to be faithful reprints of maps published in 1492 and 1520. If they be true indications of the state of geographical science at the time of their issue, we have improved very much in our knowledge since then. They accompany the Comprehensive Geog

(4) CAPTAIN HORACE. By SOPHIE MAY. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 24mo, pp. 183. (5) THE SILVER FOUNTAIN OF SABBATH SCHOOL MELODIES, comprising a great variety of new Music and Hymns. By A. J. ABBEY. New York: Abbey & Barrett. Oblong 18mo, pp. 128.

raphy of the same publishers, and a sirable addition to the stock of litera osities which every teacher should p

While on the subject of sheet publi we must note the Zoological Chart Simonson. It is exceedingly clear, great value to all teachers who make ral History, in whole or in part, one subjects they teach. As an aid to the ory, they should be in the study of man not as profoundly learned in zool Agassiz or Ĝirard.

Among other noteworthy articles September number of that standard p tion the American Journal of Scien Arts, are the papers on Celestial Dyn by J. R. Mayer; Molecular Physics, by Norton; Erial Tides, by P. E. Chase Notes on the Platinum Metals, by M. Lea. The general summary of scient telligence presented in each number, re this journal invaluable to all who keep up with the steady and unceasi vance of science.

As the business man keeps a record daily transactions, so should the te keep a precise record of the pupils' sta from day to day. Mr. Potter's School ord (7) appears opportunely, as the w schools are about to be organized. Thi tle book is complete, and well adapted purposes.

The main difficulty about most of treatises on algebra is in their lack of p progression. They all presuppose a m capacity not always found in the pupil, mathematical aptness not always foun young persons of very good mind in c respects. Bailey's First Lessons (8) is a on a better plan. It commences at the beginning, and then marches on step step in a natural and easy progress While it simplifies the acquisition of elements, it omits nothing in the end. pupil acquires as much, but with more and equal certainty.

The September number of Barnard's An ican Journal of Education contains a se of well-digested articles, among which particularly notice—“Public Instruction Hesse Darmstadt," "The Jesuits and th Schools," and "Military System and Scho in Russia." The Journal is, and deser to be, the leading publication of its kind the United States. It is conducted w vigor, tact, and ability.

(6) SIMONSON'S ZOOLOGICAL CHART, & Directory to Study of the Animal Kingdom. New York and Philad phia: Schermerhorn, Bancroft & Co.

(7) POTTER AND HAMMOND'S SCHOOL RECORD AND RECT TIONS. By S. A. POTTER. New York and Philadelph Schermerhorn, Bancroft & Co. Oblong 16m0, pp. $1.50 per dozen.

(8) FIRST LESSONS IN ALGEBRA; being an Easy Introd tion to that Science. Designed for the use of Academ and Common Schools. By EBENEZER BAILEY. N York and Philadelphia: Schermerhorn, Bancroft & 16mo, pp. 254.

great school of England, after that of Winchester. By a London Educational Times, are indebted for this article, Winchester School is legally "The College of St. Mary of near Winchester," and that it in 1387. It originally conarden, 10 Fellows, 76 Scholars, er, 1 Usher or Second Master, 3 Clerks, and 16 Choristers. ance of the Oxford University ers, which took effect in 1857, tion has been considerably e 10 Fellowships are to be recancies occur, to 6; and with chus set at liberty, the number is to be increased to 100, and ns are to be founded, not tenaholarships.

len and Fellows are the Govy of the College, which, as at tatutes of which appear to have led on those of Winchester), two distinct, although closelydepartments the College and

ral government of the School is e Head Master, subject to such is exercised over him by the - by the Warden and Fellows. position of the Head Master of is the same as that of the Head Eton. As Master of the Founolars, he is an officer of the Coled and removable" by the Govdy, and subject to the superin-f its head. The control appears,

The Warden and

minute than at Eton. Fellows have a right to be consulted if there are any great changes-as in the subjects of study, for instance. A Scholar, sentenced to punishment by the Head Master, can appeal to the Warden, who would commonly dispose of the case himself but would bring it before a meeting of the Fellows if that was insisted on. The Warden and the Fellows only, or the Warden with the consent of the Fellows, can expel a Scholar. The Warden and Fellows appoint the Head and Second Masters and the College Tutor, and the Warden also appoints the Mathematical and Modern Language Masters, because it is part of their duty to teach the Scholars.

In May, 1862, when the school was visited by the Commissioners, there were 216 boys, and therefore, 146 Commoners. The number of Commoners was 31 in 1668. During the 18th century it fluctuated greatly, being 87 in 1730, and in 1750, only 10. In 1846 it had risen to 148, but it then began to fall rapidly, until in 1858 it did not exceed 68. "The College suffered," according to Dr. Moberly, the Head Master, "for some considerable time under the reputation of bad health, which had the effect of lowering our numbers considerably." From this depression the School has since been gradually recovering. The opening of the Sholarships to competition, the opening of New College to Commoners, and the establishment of additional boarding houses, have had very beneficial effects..

The Statutes permit a limited number not exceeding 10, of sons of noble and great men, special friends of the College, "filii

Collegii specialium amicorum," to be educated within the College walls, but without charge to the College. It appears, by old College accounts, that such boys were in fact received, and that they paid, not for their instruction, but for their commons or board. These are regarded as having been the forerunners of the present "commoners," or non-foundation boys. At what time commoners ceased to board within the college does not appear. In 1681, says Mr. Walcott, we find, according to the roll, two commoners in college, three in the warden's house, and the remainder out of college. The distinction, he says, did not disappear till 1747.

There is nothing in the Statutes to show that the founder of Winchester contemplated, as the founder of Eton certainly did, the resort of other boys to his school besides the scholars and the small privileged class above mentioned. The head master has, however, long been in the habit of taking boarders, who are said, in the dialect of Winchester, to be "in commoners," and are regarded as successors of the class from whom they seem to have inherited the name. The number was formerly limited by the warden and fellows to 130, but this limitation exists no longer. Two additional boarding-houses were opened in 1862; a third, to hold 25 boys, was then building, and it was in contemplation to establish a fourth.

Boys undergo no examination, the scholars excepted, before admission to the school; but if a boy is sent to school whose attainments are not such as to enable him to join the lowest classes with good prospect of advantage, he is not received. This happens occasionally, but rarely. There are no limits of age, and there is no rule as to the highest form in which a boy can be placed on admission. Boys seldom come at an earlier age than eleven, or so late as sixteen, and in practice are never placed higher than in the senior part of the fifth, and very rarely so high. A scholar stays on an average five years at school, a commoner between three and four.

The classical staff comprises, beside the head and second masters, a third and a fourth master respectively taking classes in

school on assistent to the head

who likewise takes a class, and th position masters, who are employed ing over and correcting the exerc compositions of the whole school the upper sixth. One of these, ca "College Tutor," performs this o scholars; the other two, called "T Commoners," for the commoner two latter are also employed to I order and discipline in the head 1 boarding-house.

In 1861 the arrangement of fo "Books," as they are called at Wind and sub-divisions of forms, was as f

J Senior Di Junior Di The

There were no lower forms. school was thus distributed into ei cending divisions.

An institution may be mentione which is among the peculiar feat Winchester, though it has now lost of its former importance-that of Tutors." To each of the 10 senior college, some of the juniors are assig pupils. It is his duty to overlook ar rect a certain part of their exercises they are shown up, and to help his when they want help in their lessons is responsible also, in some measur their general conduct and diligence, the person of whom the head master make inquiries if he had reason to that any of them were going on For each pupil so placed under his o the "Boy Tutor" receives two guir year from the pupil's parents. This tice has been traced to a provision i Statutes, whereby the founder direct "to each scholar of his own kindred should always be assigned, by the W and head master, one of the discreete more advanced scholars to superi and instruct them in grammar unde head master all the time that they s remain in the college." Each of the structors was to receive for each pup 8d. a year out of the funds of the co The functions of the boy tutor were

- of the college tutor, or scholition master-a change introe then warden on the advice of master, the present bishop of 's, who had been educated at d against the opinion, though the positive dissent of Dr. Mowas then, as now, head master. e boy tutor took all the comhis pupils; now he takes only of them.

ditional peculiarities in the clasng of Winchester may be here One is the system called "pulrobably from the rostrum forfor the purpose of assembling y all the boys of the first three or construing lessons in certain en some of the seniors construe presence of all the rest. Ane practice of writing a Latin ep ed a "vulgus," thrice a week, ought to bring out cleverness, te neatness of expression. Ann, is that of devoting a week, or nd a half, in summer, to what "standing up." The work of up week," consists chiefly in rertions of Greek and Latin gramn repeating and construing conquantities of Latin and Greek prose, which the boy has been re up in his memory. One lesglish verse is allowed to be taken one of Euclid. It is confined ys below the senior part of the e comparatively small quantity of 1 which is done, and the undue n of original composition in the anguages, can hardly be counted he peculiarities of Winchester. no Greek prose is written, even hest form.

r ancient nor modern history is set lessons, and ancient history enter as a separate subject into e school examinations. Questions ns of English history, specified be, are set in the general half-yearly ions lately instituted, to which refer hereafter, and in the examFor the Goddard scholarship; and s. in the latter case, to a very care

period. There is a prize also of £5 for an English essay on a historical subject.

Both mathematics and arithmetic are taught in every division of the school, and the amount of time allotted to them, especially in the upper part of it, is unusually great. Seven or eight hours a week are devoted to these subjects by the first three divisions, the lowest of which is commonly reached at about 13 or 14; three or four hours by the rest of the school. The marks for mathematics are allowed to count for about one-fourth of the weekly total. The highest subjects read in the upper sixth were, in 1861, conic sections and trigonometry.

Every boy is obliged to learn either French or German during the whole time that he remains at school, but it is not deemed practicable to allow both languages to be taught at the same time. For learning German there is an additional payment of £2 2s. a year, beside the £1 10s. charged for the French masters. The number learning it in 1862, were about 40, and consisted chiefly of older boys, or of boys who had been in Germany or had some family connection with it.

There are two French masters, both Frenchmen; during ten years preceding 1862 there was only one, probably on account of the diminished numbers of the school. An hour and a half in every week is assigned to two French lessons, occupying three-quarters of an hour each. Every lesson, M. Angoville thinks, ought to take an hour to prepare. The French master has the power to set impositions for inattention or misconduct during lessons, but no authority out of school. The marks for modern languages count for about oneeighth in the weekly total, and French and German enter into the half-yearly examination.

Natural science is taught by lectures, about ten or twelve of which on some branch (such as chemistry, geology, electricity, &c.) are delivered every summer, between the Easter and Midsummer holidays, by lecturers engaged for the purpose from time to time. All the boys are required to attend.

There is also a drawing master. who has

sors.

The system of promotion at Winchester is nearly the reverse of that of Eton. At Eton a boy rises in the school chiefly by seniority; at Winchester his rate of progress is determined by his success in an incessant competition, in which every lesson and every exercise counts for a certain numerical value, and which never pauses or terminates till he reaches the sixth book. Places are taken in every division below the sixth book, and each boy receives for each lesson a number of marks answering to the place he holds in the division at the end of the lesson. Thus, if he is twentieth from the bottom he receives twenty marks. Marks are likewise given in the mathematical and modern language classes, but the number of marks which can be given for a French or a mathematical lesson is limited to a maximum, which is supposed to represent roughly the relative value of each of those studies compared with classics. The highest marks which a good mathematician can gain are one-fourth, the highest that a good French or German scholar can gain are one-eighth, of the grand total. At the end of every week the marks gained for all the lessons are added up, and the same thing is done at the end of every month. This record of each boy's progress is called the "Classicus paper." The promotion of each boy at the end of a halfyear, depends on the number of marks he has obtained in the "Classical paper," during that half-year, with the addition of those which he has gained (if his place in school is below the senior part of the fifth) for "standing-up" at the end of the summer half. A consequence of this system is that a clever and diligent boy rises quickly to the top of the school, and that the duller or more idle boys are left to stagnate at the bottom of it. There is the advantage of a sharp and unceasing stimulus applied to those who are capable of rising, and the disadvantage, such as it is, which a steady, but slow and backward boy suffers from the disheartening effect of being constantly outstripped and left behind.

From this cause, and from the fact that boys are admitted at almost any age, the number of great boys in the lower classes

large. In the lowest class, doing Greek Delectus and a little Ovid, there were in 1861 two boys of 16; one very nearly 17; two others not far short of 16, and the average age of the whole division was very nearly 15, and higher than that of the division next above it, which was 14 years and 4 months.

The absence, until very recently, of any general periodical examinations, has been among the peculiarities of the Winchester system. There have been regular examinations for prizes, but the boys who compete for prizes form, of course, but a small proportion of the school. The peculiar stimu lus which periodical examinations afford, and the particular mental discipline which they supply, have thus in a great measure been wanting, and the school has lost the assistance which they give in correcting the defects inseparable from the system of "taking places" as a method of promotion. Dr. Moberly has lately made an innovation in this respect by instituting a half-yearly examination, turning partly on the classical work of the previous half-year, but comprising also papers in French and German, and in set portions of English history, of geography, and of the Old Testament.

The system of promotion above described and the stimulus afforded by it, do not, however, reach to the top of the school, nor do the half-yearly examinations; they cease on entrance into the sixth book. Until about 12 years ago, promotion by taking places stopped on entrance into the senior part of the fifth, that is, about half-way up the school, and at a point which a boy generally attained when about 13 or 14 years old. From that time till he stood for New College his place was never changed, and the examination which he eventually underwent for New College was formerly little more than nominal.

New College is now thrown open to the commoners, and the examination for it is real and competitive. The sixth-form boys have now, therefore, a stimulus to exertion which the upper school had not before, and Dr. Moberly trusts to this, to the examination for the Goddard scholarship, and to the various school prizes, to combat the tendency to stagnation, which is likely