arrondissement, the department, then of the whole of France, and then of the surrounding countries.

use.

The teacher, setting aside all scientific data, should endeavor to make his pupils understand how a geographical map is really constructed, and what is its For this purpose he should trace upon the blackboard the largest streets in the village, or the town in which the school is situated, and should mark with a dot the relative positions of the principal buildings. Then, representing the town itself by a dot, he should place in their respective positions the surrounding villages, beginning with those best known, and going on successively, till the limits of the canton be reached. He should indicate by lines the different roads leading to them, the rivers that run past them, and should fill up his outlines by introducing the most important or remarkable buildings, or the physical features of the country, such as woods or forests, hills or mountains.

Next, the canton should be represented by a dot, as the village was in the first instance, and around this dot should be traced the outlines and features of the arrondissement. The same method should be applied, but with fewer details, to the department, and then to the neighboring departments, and finally to the whole of France, which should then be studied in its ensemble. The principle traits of its general configuration; boundaries and mountains, rivers and watercourses, great cities and celebrated places, should be marked on the blackboard, or shown on a wall map, which the pupils should be exercised in reducing.

To these graphic studies the master should add practice in finding the points of the horizon, which is indispensable for understanding a map thoroughly. He should teach the pupils to find the points by the sun, by the polar star, or the compass; should point out that on maps and charts, the north is generally represented at the top, the east on the right hand side, the west on the left, the south at the bottom, &c. To such purely graphical exercises the course of geography in the preparatory division should be limited.

MATHEMATICS.

The instruction herein consists during the preparatory year far more in practical exercises than in theoretical lessons; all the pupils execute simultaneously on the slate with which they are furnished, the calculations and graphic operations indicated by the master.

Practical Arithmetic.-The four operations by whole and decimal numbers; numerous exercises in mental calculation; application of calculations to the solution of ordinary questions. As tasks, some problems.

Plane Geometry.-1. The straight line.-Drawing a straight line on paper; means of verifying whether a rule is quite straight; use of the metre. Drawing a straight line of a certain length; means used by carpenters for drawing straight lines on beams which they have squared; drawing a straight line on land (sur le terrain); how gardeners, trenchers, masons, &c., draw straight lines; proceedings employed in making plans and surveys; the surveyor's chain, &c., &c.

2. The Circumference of the Circle.-Drawing the circumference, use of the compass, examples of circles, wagon-wheels, millstones, &c., examples of semicircles, the arcades of many buildings, two circumferences of equal radius

or equal diameter are alike, &c., division of the circumference into degrees, example, the dial of watches, &c.

3. Angles.—Use of the protractor, its verification, relation of two angles, angles opposed at the summit, &c.; to make two equal angles, application to drawings, to the plans of architects, &c.

4. Perpendiculars and Obliques.—Drawing of perpendiculars with the simple square, the T, and the compass, to raise a perpendicular on the middle of a plane, carpenter's and stone-cutter's square, joiner's and designer's square, their verification, each point of a perpendicular in the middle of a plane is at an equal distance from the two extremities of the plane, &c., oblique lines (obliques), at equal distances from the foot of the perpendicular, drawing equal obliqe angles (obliques égales), unequal oblique angles, verification of the perpendicularity of a straight line by means of equal oblique angles, &c.

5. Parallels.-Drawing parallels with the help of rule, square, and compass, two straight lines perpendicular to a third are parallels, to draw through a given point a parallel to a given straight line, &c, the instrument for measuring tenons, its use, and its verification, equality of alternate internal angles and alternate external angles.

6. Proportionality of Straight Lines (des droites).—To divide a given straight line into a certain number of equal parts. Construction of the scale of a plan, a fourth proportionate to three straight lines, the compass of proportion, its use, proportional mean, &c.

Before commencing the explanation of theorems, the master should make the pupils understand the truth which he is about to establish, by quoting numerous examples from industry or the arts, and by the side of each proposition he should always place the most useful applications which have been made of it.

NATURAL HISTORY.

Preliminary notions. It is from nature that industry and art draw their means of action; natural history addresses itself to all minds, as to all ages, and to nearly every profession, a taste for it should, therefore, be given to children at an early age.

This science may be taught in various ways, but it should never be forgotten that in the special school the object is not to form consummate anatomists, learned geologists, or botanists and zoologists acquainted with the entire nomenclature and all the problems of physiology, but men who, meaning to devote themselves to the intelligent culture of practical affairs, and the industrial arts, have a great interest in learning to observe correctly, and to fix their attention seriously, on the processes of nature.

In order to develop the powers of observation of the children, the master should induce them to avail themselves of their walks to collect insects, plants, shells, and other like objects. He should devote two or three of the class hours each month to the examination and classification of these little collections, and should add a few explanatory remarks within the comprehension of the pupils. He should insist on the logical use of certain characteristics for determining the objects, and thus gradually and practically familiarize the children with the use of the natural methods; finally, he should endeavor to habituate them to reason correctly according to the facts which they have well studied, and always to submit their reasoning to the test of experience.

Zoology. In the classes of the preparatory year the professor of zoology should choose for subjects of his conversations the natural history of animals which the pupils have constantly under their eyes, such as the horse, the dog, the cat, the mole, &c. He should at first merely touch upon isolated facts calculated to rouse youthful curiosity, and to give the pupils the habit of accounting sensibly for that which they observe; then he should proceed to a comparative examination of two or more animals which are like each other in some things, but which differ from each other on other points. He should explain, while indicating the relative importance of each point of resemblance and of dissemblance, how one may, by means of classification, summarize the knowledge one has acquired, and group the individual facts, so as to relieve the memory to put order into one's ideas, and to rise gradually to correct generalizations.

era.

Thus with the study of the horse its character and the services which it renders to man should be combined; details as to the habits of wild horses, and as to the means of taming them, as also comparative remarks on the horse, the ass, and the zebra, in order to awaken the idea of families of animals, or genWhen the master has sketched the history of the dog, pointed out the acuteness of its sense of smell, its uncommon intelligence, and the effect of education on the development of its faculties, he should dwell on the qualities which the bull dog, the shepherd's dog, the spaniel, the terrier, the greyhound, and the poodle have in common, and whence it will be easy to draw an exact notion of the species. The cat should be compared with the tiger and the lion. The mole, the appearance and the habits of which should be described; the swallows and the charming history of their periodical migrations; the frogs and their metamorphoses; the cockchafer and its ravages; the silkworm and its useful cocoon; the bee and its honey; the inhabitants of the poultry-yard, the birds of passage, &c., will form most interesting subjects of conversation.

Botany. The lessons in botany should be given in the same order, and in the same spirit. The professor should choose a few plants known to every one; he should induce the pupils to gather these for themselves, and during his lesson they should have constantly before their eyes either the plants or colored plates of them, giving the ensemble as well as the details. It seems natural first to fix the attention of young pupils on an active phenomenon, such as the germ, which is susceptible of being reproduced and examined in all its principle circumstances, in the bean, in corn, in Indian corn, the horse-chesnut, &c. The special history of certain plants, selected according to locality and season, and studied in their entirety and in their applications, will afford the master an opportunity of making known the general part played by the root, the stem, the flower, and the fruit, as also their essential modifications. He should commence with the study of plants bearing large flowers, such as almond, peach, apple, pear, and cherry-trees, the strawberry plant, the rose bush, the comparison of which will awaken in the mind of the pupil the idea of natural families of plants, peas, beans, and other common leguminous plants, colza, mustard, and a few other cruciferæ, the peony and poppy, mint, rosemary, thyme, sage, and some labiated plants, the potato and tobacco plant, the artichoke, nettle and daisy, beetroot, hemp, the lily, garlic, and the tulip, &c., and finally some common plants, the analysis of which is more difficult, such as wheat, oats, barley, Indian corn, all these may serve as tests for useful remarks relative to their struc

ture, their duration, the uses they are put to, and the particulars regarding those parts of them which are made available by man. Among trees the oak, the walnut, the maple, the pine, the fir, &c, furnish equally interesting examples.

Geology. The same method should be followed in geology. The examination of existing phenomena will help to make the pupil understand how many parts of the earth have been formed. Thus, after a violent shower of rain, the master may point out that the loose earth carried away by the currents form alluvion on the banks, or in the beds of rivulets, and rivers, and particularly at the mouths (deltas of the Rhone and of the Nile); that these deposits overlie each other and are constantly rising in height (stratification), and that animals which live in the water or have their habitations near the sea, must frequently be buried in the alluvion; hence the origin of fossils. The water spread over the earth is always undergoing evaporation, forms clouds, and falls again as rain or snow, which is imbibed by the soil. Formation of springs, of rivulets, rivers, &c. The rain-water dissolves certain substances which it encounters in the earth. Incrustations.-On high mountains the snow remains perpetually glaciers; artesian wells, the water in these is tepid; thermal springs; central heat; volcanoes; metallic mines, &c.

CALIGRAPHY.

Commerce and industry demand, with right, a good handwriting of the persons they employ. In the schools for special instruction, the handwriting of the pupils will be the object of particular care; there will be four writing les Bons in the week. As the art of symbolizing words by the use of conventional characters is a purely initiative art, in order to hasten the progress of the chil dren, those whose writing is defective should be mixed with those who write better. During the first years the length of the tasks given should be limited, so that the master may exact a very careful execution, and so that every task should be an exercise in caligraphy.

Instead of giving as copies insignificant and disconnected phrases, a series of moral maxims should be composed, and expressed in a way easily retained in the memory, or very short fragments relating to industry, to history, or to the natural sciences. The pupils should collect these copies into books, which they will perhaps, at future periods, consult with pleasure.

DRAWING.

The pupils of the special schools should learn to handle the pencil as well as the pen. Only on this condition will they acquire that firmness of hand and correctness of eye which will be of so much importance to them in their future

careers.

As among the pupils who frequent these schools there will be future foremen, to whom a knowledge of the use of the rule and compass is indispensa ble, the lessons in free-hand drawing should alternate with exercises in linear drawing.

These exercises should be made on the board with wooden instruments, foot-rule, square, &c. The subjects of study will only admit of two dimensions. and should be chosen so as to enable them to be constructed with the help of a few, simple data. To join two straight lines, to develop a broken line; to trace perpendiculars and parallels with the compass; the division of straight

lines; proportional lines; construction of a scale of proportion; division of arcs and angles, &c., horizontal and vertical lines; the diagonal of the square, octagons, starred polygons, &c., &c.

Free-hand drawing, which should occupy the greater part of the time, should comprise parallel straight lines, and curved lines parallel to each other, the division of lines into equal parts, measured by the eye only; the first outlines of the face, the veins in leaves, very simple architectural roses (rosaces), the stems of plants, some animals, &c., &c. A series of well graduated ornaments lithographed in alto relievo.

But it is not sufficient to train the eye to see correctly, and the hand to execute well, the taste for the beautiful which is to direct their future artistic creations, must also be instilled into the pupils. Care should therefore be taken that the lithographs, engravings, and plaster models, given to them to copy, should always be excellent of their kind, and of simple execution, and the forms should never be concealed under unnecessary shadings (crayonnage.) This choice of models is of the greatest importance.

GYMNASTICS.

Gymnastics are to the body what study is to the mind. The intellect is fortified by exercise, and the body develops itself more normally if, at fixed hours, it be made to go through regular movements. Now the mind itself is the gainer if the body perform its functions regularly. Gymnastics are therefore a duty as well as a hygienic recreation. Every special college should have a gymnasium, and, as nothing connected with the important matter of education, whether mental or physical, should be left to chance, the programme of the lessons in gymnastics has been elaborated with the same care as that of the other branches of instruction. If, indeed, a certain amount of gymnastics is favorable to the development of nature, there is reason to fear that an excess of these exercises may injure this development, just as the mind is injured by excess of study. The pupils in the preparatory division should only be put through gentle and easy exercises, and these should be accompanied with singing. The rhythmic cadence which regulates these common movements, has even an effect on the moral nature of the children, and the efforts which they make to emit the tones in singing, exercise a progressive and salutary influence on the respiration, by causing a periodical expansion of the chest. Placing themselves in a row, with or without intervals; marching, with accompaniment of songs; rhythmical running, but never long enough to cause fatigue; movements of the arms and legs, accompanied by singing; series of exercises preparatory to swimming; principles of jumping on the spot, or leaps, preceded by a run; series of exercises with dumb-bells, of a weight proportionate to the age and strength of the children, &c., &c.

SINGING.

All the special colleges will

Singing is a powerful means of education. therefore comprise singing-classes. Each lesson should commence with singing in unison, in order to steady the voice; the pupils should be grouped according to the capacity of their voices, and each group should, in its turn, go through the exercises prepared. The lesson should conclude with the practice of easy and melodious choruses. During the preparatory year there should be taught