has been wholly converted into a mixture of sugar with a gum, resembling gum arabic. The latter is now employed, in the great hospitals of Paris, as a substitute for gum arabic.

The fact has been long known, though not previously accounted for, that beer, equally strong, may be brewed from a mixture of malt and barley, as from malt alone; and distillers have availed themselves of this circumstance. The starch of the barley is, by the action of the diatase of the malt, converted into gum and sugar, and the latter, when fermented, furnishes the alcohol or spirit.

In organic analysis, diatase, from the extraordinary power which it possesses of rendering soluble so vast a proportion of starch, will render valuable service, as it will enable the chemist to separate the smallest portions from foreign substances.

REMARKS ON THE NECESSITY OF IMPROVEMENT IN EDUCATION.

NOTWITHSTANDING the importance of the subject, and the care which has been bestowed in its investigation, education is yet in its infancy. This circumstance has arisen from the neglect with which those engaged in the instruction of youth have treated everything relating to the mind, and its springs of action. If teachers are utterly ignorant of the right method of imparting instruction, both moral and intellectual-and no one can deny that they are-it certainly cannot be owing to any scarcity of excellent publications, or high authorities, on the subject. Locke's Thoughts on Education, was published as far back as 1690, and abounds in excellent precepts and sound advice to preceptors; and if they had imbibed but a tithe of the wholesome doctrines developed in this valuable little work, they would have rendered their own situation more pleasant to themselves, and more profitable and delightful to their pupils. Teachers, both in private families and in schools, have generally received their education at some public school; and if human in

genuity were taxed to devise a system of instruction diametrically opposed to that which reason and justice dictate, it would be hard to devise a plan more dissonant with every principle of humanity than the one now generally adopted. After leaving college, the embryo tutor is said to have "finished his education;" but in what way? By having been instructed in the principles of the commonest phenomena which present themselves in nature? By learning the simplest processes of art? By being initiated in the wonders of chemistry, natural philosophy, astronomy, geology, and last, though not least, anthropology? No!-but by having pored over the vice-stained pages of the Greek and Roman authors-by having been taught to sympathize with injustice, cruelty, and vice in every shape. In The Phrenological Journal it is remarked :-" There is a scarcity of teachers possessing knowledge sufficient to render them capable of conducting an institution established on the principles of This is not to be wondered at, considering how few are educated for the profession, and that every person who has been reduced to poverty, by misfortune or indiscretion, comes to swell the ranks of the guides and preceptors of youth :" and again ; "In Britain, however, where no one can practice physic without having his qualifications closely scrutinized, every body may take upon him to teach."

reason or common sense.

It is a matter of astonishment how slow the world has been progressing in everything relating to education. Most of the errors condemned by Locke, as prevalent in his time, are prevalent now. Among these may be reckoned the extraordinary custom of engaging a tutor with scarce any previous examination. I will quote a passage from the work of that great man in illustration of this fact :"The character of a sober man and a scholar is, as I have above observed, what every one expects in a tutor. This, generally, is thought quite enough, and is all that parents commonly look for. But when such an one has emptied out into his pupil all the Latin and logic he has brought from the University, will that furniture make him a fine gentleman? Or can it be expected that he should be better bred, better skilled in the world, better principled in the grounds and foundations of true virtue and generosity, than his tutor is?"

A knowledge of phrenology is indispensably necessary to an instructor of youth, as this science clearly shows that every pupil possesses faculties differing in power, and each pupil, consequently, requires a different mode of treatment. The generality of teachers appear ignorant that the capacities of children differ; but if these enlightened instructors of the nineteenth century would consult one who wrote nearly two hundred years ago, they would learn that "God has stamped certain characters upon men's minds which, like their shapes, may, perhaps, be a little mended, but can hardly be totally altered and transformed into the contrary. He, therefore, who is about children, should well study their natures and aptitudes, and see, by often trials, what turn they easily take, and what their native stock is, how it may be improved, and what it is fit for: he should consider what they want, whether they be capable of having it wrought into them by industry, and incorporated there by practice; and whether it be worth while to endeavour it for in many cases, all that we can do, or should aim at, is to make the best of what nature has given, to prevent the vices and faults to which such a constitution is most inclined, and give it all the advantages it is capable of. Every one's natural genius should be carried as far as possible, but to attempt the putting another upon him will be but labour in vain." For instance, if a person has the organ of language largely developed, but that of number small, he will make a good linguist, although it will be a vain attempt to make him an arithmetician. In the above-quoted passage, Locke recommends that the teacher should, "by often trials," discover the natural turn of the pupil's mind, but phrenology renders this unnecessary. An inspection of the pupil's head will give the teacher a more intimate and a more correct knowledge of a pupil's character and aptitudes, than he would gain by living twelve or twenty years under the same roof.

In a former paper on the subject of education,* I observed"it may safely be affirmed that if a pupil does not advance in his studies, or does not advance so quickly as is expected, the fault is never his own ;" and I subsequently came to the conclusion, that,

* Vide Analyst, vol. ii., p. 413.

"in every case in which the pupil remains stationary, or advances but slowly, the cause must be referred either to the ignorance of the teacher, or to the mal-organization of the pupil's brain."

It may be enquired how I arrived at this conclusion; I answer, from constant and close observation. If it was not true, the business of teaching would indeed be a dreary and dispiriting occupation. The master would be at the mercy of the pupil, and no care on the part of the former could insure him a harvest in proportion to the pains bestowed in cultivating the mind of the pupil. But by adopting the plan nature has wisely marked out, the teacher may be assured that, if his pupil is blessed with moderate talents, his reward will be in proportion to the skill and care he has bestowed on his youthful charge. This is a cheering thought, and it ought to be known and cherished by every one who has the care of youth.

I have invariably remarked that, in proportion to the ignorance and unskilfulness of the tutor, in the same ratio are the frequent complaints of the want of mental capacity in the pupil. The trite adage of "A bad husbandman complains of his soil," is equally applicable in teaching. The act of imparting knowledge has been aptly compared to pouring water into bottles. Some children have less aptitude for learning than others, and these resemble the bottles which have narrow necks; and so much the more skill is requisite in these instances. What glory is there in having brought up men of genius? these will acquire knowledge under the worst, or rather, in spite of the worst, systems of teaching, and is amply testified by the few (comparatively few) great men who have received their education within the precincts of our public schools and universities. But let the teacher exert his talents in bringing forth mediocrity; here is scope for his skill-here is a field for his exertions.

It is notorious that compulsion makes even the pleasantest things disagreeable. Locke understood this, and in order to convince those who are guided by authority when reason alone would fail, I shall quote his words :-" None of the things they [pupils] are to learn, should ever be made a burden to them, or imposed on them as a task. Whatever is so proposed, presently becomes irksome; the mind takes an aversion to it, though before it were a thing of delight or indifference. Let a child be ordered to whip his top at a

certain time every day, whether he has or has not a mind to it; let this be but required of him as a duty, wherein he must spend so many hours morning and afternoon, and see whether he will not soon be weary of any play at this rate. Is it not so with grown men? What they do cheerfully of themselves, do they not presently grow sick of, and can no more endure, as soon as they find it is expected of them as a duty? Children have as much a mind to shew that they are free, that their own good actions come from themselves, as any of the proudest of you grown-men, think of them as you please." I knew a youth who was a striking confirmation of this. He was, at one period, remarkably fond of walking with his tutor; but after a time, when obliged to walk every evening, for an hour, in his society, he became disgusted with the dreaded promenade.

Locke truly observes-" I am apt to think perverseness in the pupils is often the effect of frowardness in the tutor." When we hear, therefore, a tutor making bitter complaints of the backwardness of his pupils, it may be fairly inferred that he is not fit for his situation. A teacher should endeavour to interest his pupils in their studies, and induce them to take a delight in their intellectual employments.

But I am far from advocating a lax mode of training, Mr. Abbott truly remarks" It is a great, though very prevalent, mistake, to imagine that boys and girls like a lax and inefficient government, and dislike the pressure of heavy control. What they dislike is sour looks and irritating language; and they, therefore, are, very naturally, averse to everything introduced and sustained by their means. If, however, exactness and precision in all the operations of a class and of the school, are introduced and enforced in the proper manner, i. e., by a firm, but mild and good-humoured, authority, scholars will universally be pleased with them. They like the uniform appearance, the straight line, the simultaneous movement. They like to feel the operation of system, and to realize, while they are in the school-room, that they form a community, governed by fixed and steady laws, firmly, but pleasantly, administered. On the other hand, laxity of discipline, and the disorder which will result from it, will only lead the pupils to despise their teacher, and to hate January, 1836.-VOL. III., NO. XIV.

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