to let in the light on all the dark places of the school system, it must be composed of men whose names will be a guarantee of ability, integrity, and impartiality, and under no circumstances must it be allowed to degenerate into a machine, to whitewash the reputation either of a system or of an institution.

The opening session of the sixth annual meeting of the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools, at Cambridge, was devoted to what President Eliot called "the most important educational problem in America," namely, the shortening or enriching of the grammar-school curriculum, and the consequent shortening of the time required to fit for college. As presented by Mr. Frank A. Hill, of Cambridge, the subject involved the following propositions: the nine years of elementary instruction in the grammar schools ought not to be abridged; the secondary schools ought not to dip down into the lower grades like those abroad; the colleges of the country should connect with the high-school system all along the upper line, and so reduce the age of admission for many of the belated; the highschool course of four years will not bear reducing; pupils who begin at six and move along normally reach college early enough; an enrichment of the grammar-school curriculum is desirable; the chief aim in preparatory work should be to improve quality within existing time-limits rather than to attain the present level of quality in reduced time-limits.

In opening the discussion on this subject, President Eliot called attention to the fact that most of the boys were taken out of the grammar schools before completing the grammarschool course of study, and were fitted for college elsewhere, because the shortest route to college lies through the private schools. Only one-third of the men who enter Harvard are prepared in the public schools. There was a general concurrence of opinion that too much time is now given to arithmetic and geography (English grammar was not mentioned, but it might have been) in the grammar-school course, and that with proper omissions from these subjects, room would be found for elementary algebra and geometry, a foreign language, and elementary science. The long-continued monopoly enjoyed by arithmetic as the mathematical study of the

grammar school was justly attacked. The three subjects, arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, may be pursued simultaneously. It was well argued also that the best time to learn a language is during childhood, and that elementary science may profitably be pursued from the outset of the child's career. in school.

The improvements suggested were two, with some difference of opinion concerning which of the two was the better, or rather which was the more practicable. As a matter of fact the two plans are not mutually exclusive. They are: (1) the "dipping down" of the secondary school, and beginning the preparatory course earlier in the pupil's career, as is now done with good results in the Boston Latin School and in the schools of Germany and France; (2) the enriching of the grammarschool course of study so that, whether the pupil goes to college or not, he advances regularly in his preparation for college. Superintendent Seaver, of Boston, expressed a preference for the "dipping-down" method because of the great practical difficulties in the way of the proposal to enrich the grammarschool course, and because of the relatively small number of pupils who would be benefited by the change. On the other hand, representatives of the private academies declared the "dipping-down" process impracticable for them, and it was further asserted that it could not be successfully accomplished in cities having a population of less than 50,000.

In reply to Superintendent Seaver, President Eliot admitted the "dipping-down " process to be at present the more practicable but not the more advantageous, since that plan is best which improves the whole grammar school instruction. He argued further, that the question really turns upon the wisdom or the unwisdom of a uniform course of study for all. Such a course of study is philosophically unsound. Formerly the colleges were so administered. The schools must abandon forced uniformity as the colleges have abandoned it.

All this is good so far as it goes. The next step must be a detailed statement of the omissions and changes suggested for the grammar school course of study. A tabular view-on the plan of the one used by Mr. Hill, showing the relation of the several grades of instruction in Germany, France, and the United States-to show what omissions are desirable, and just what should be substituted for them, would materially aid a practical solution of the question; or it might at least lead to

the definite experimentation which Mr. Tetlow suggested to President Eliot should be tried in a Cambridge grammar school.

Time was also given to a discussion of "Natural Science as a Requisite for Admission to College." Professor Clarke, of Williams College, opened the discussion with a paper urging the claims of natural science. It was interesting to note the readiness of the secondary schools to furnish preparation in science when the colleges ask for it. Out of one hundred schools sending students to Williams College, ninety replied "yes" to an inquiry asking if they could respond to scientific requirements in 1893; and among the Greek teachers in the secondary schools were many who spontaneously recommended preparation in science as an alternative with Greek. In the discussion that followed, the practical difficulties of the plan evidently influenced the attitude of many who took part. Dr. Gallagher, of Williston Seminary, presented quite a long list of practical difficulties, while acknowledging that his own school was fortunately so situated as not to be hampered by them. The discussion throughout showed a real desire to recognize requirements that mean actual work in science as distinguished from text-book science. The most interesting question was, however, as to what particular science should be required. It was denied, and also affirmed, that one science would answer as well as another. The truth seems to be that there are as yet not enough data upon which to base a final opinion as to preparatory work in science. One science, physics, was admitted to be excellent because it could be made to yield numerical results. In closing the discussion President Eliot pointed out that physics is the best science available, and that chemistry is also good. Of the other sciences, zoology and botany cannot be advantageously pursued at all seasons, and much of physiology is both unproved, and in the present state of the science, unprovable.

VII.
REVIEWS.

Life and Works of Horace Mann.-Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1891, 5 vols., pp. 587, 571, 466, 403, 573.

His

A generation has arisen that knows not Horace Mann. name and, to a certain extent, his fame survive; but the precise grounds on which his reputation rests, and the definite ends that he sought to accomplish, are neither clearly nor generally understood. The common school never had a more enthusiastic and unselfish apostle than Horace Mann, and it is quite fitting that in the present era of educational activity attention should be called anew to his life and writings. In this handsome edition the publishers have made both accessible, and no educational library, public or private, can afford to be without it. That the editor should have abridged many of the reports and papers is unfortunate, but it is probable that only the few special students of the history of American education will be inconvenienced.

Mann was led to espouse the cause of the common school both by his philanthropic temperament and his personal experience. The vivid description of his own school-days reads almost like a passage from some oration of the present decade. "With all our senses glowing and receptive, how little were we taught," he exclaims in a letter to a friend, "or rather, how much obstruction was thrust in between us and Nature's teachings! Our eyes were never trained to distinguish forms. and colors. Our ears were strangers to music. So far from being taught the art of drawing, which is a beautiful language by itself, I well remember that when the impulse to express in pictures what I could not express in words was so strong, that, as Cowper says, 'it tingled down to my fingers,' then my knuckles were rapped with the heavy rule of the teacher, or cut with his rod, so that an artificial tingling soon drove away the natural. Such youthful buoyancy as even severity could not repress was our only dancing-master. Of all our faculties, the memory for words was the only one specially appealed to." From his boyhood he longed for more education, not only for himself but for his fellow-men. His ruling passion was benev

olence and its instrument knowledge. Through knowledge, education, all social reformation was to be accomplished. Poverty must be no barrier to educational opportunity. The state, through its system of common schools, must open to all the avenues to knowledge.

With these principles as his creed, Horace Mann labored long and earnestly for his fellow-men. As private citizen, as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education; as the successor of John Quincy Adams in Congress, and as President of Antioch College, he kept his lofty aim steadily in mind, and never ceased to strive for its accomplishment. Moreover, he understood what so many of his contemporaries and successors overlook, that in a democracy any real and lasting reform must rest upon an intelligent and instructed public opinion. Horace Mann, therefore, appealed to the parent as well as the teacher, to the citizen as well as to the legislator.

He had the faults of his generous, impetuous nature. His diffuseness is often very trying, and he lent a too ready ear to certain counsels and opinions that were pressed upon him. But citizen and teacher alike cannot rise from the reading of any one of these five volumes without feeling that popular education is a chief bulwark of civilization and of social order, and that to labor in its behalf is one of the noblest of lifeworks.

N. M. B.

The Present and Future of Harvard College: an Address delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, Mass., June 25, 1891.-By WILLIAM WATSON GOODWIN, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature in Harvard University. Boston: Ginn & Co., 1891, pp. 42.

The Harvard Commencement season has been dignified by many Phi Beta Kappa orations that have become permanent contributions to American literature. Professor Goodwin, in choosing a homely theme and in appealing to a smaller audience than many of his illustrious predecessors, has not failed to sustain the traditions of his office. His address, which has happily been published for general circulation, is a broad and scholarly treatment of some of the most important movements in American higher education. It professes to discuss Harvard College only, but in reality it passes in review the development of the American university and the function of the col