be appointed to examine and report how far a reform in English spelling is desirable, and what changes in orthography, if any, may be wisely introduced into the public documents. Resolved, That the educational claims of the spelling reform merit our most careful consideration, and that a committee of four be appointed to report at the next meeting of the Institute what steps should be taken by this association to aid in the simplification of English spelling.

SPELLING REFORM.

The following telegram, from the president of the New York Teachers' Association, in session at Albany, was read:

"The State Teachers' Association has resolved that we sympathize with the efforts of the Spelling Reform Association to simplify the orthography of the English language, and pledge ourselves to do what we can to further the objects of this Association.

(Signed)

JOHN W. MEARS, President.

Resolutions were submitted to the meeting for approval, as follows:

66

Rezolushons on Hav, giv, and liv."

Whereaz, Within the memory ov the prezent jenerashon, serten superfluous leterz hav bin dropt, for egzample, k, from such wurdz az "muzic, public," etc.

1. Rezolvd, That authorz and the pres jeneraly ar hereby ernestly solisited tu further aid the cauz ov speling reform, by riting and printing the wurdz "hav, giv, and liv" without the silent e.

2. Rezolvd, That teecherz ar invited tu giv ther help tu the speling reform by omiting tu mark agenst ther pupilz az erorz the riting ov the wurdz "hav, giv, and liv" without the silent e.

3.

Rezolvd, That this assosiashon recomends all teecherz tu giv thuro training in speling by sound az an aid tu acurate pronunsiashon and az an introducshon tu an amended orthography.

The meeting thereupon appointed a committee on "Spelling Reform," consisting of D. B. Hagar, Mrs. Geo. A. Walton, Mrs. D. B. Hagar of Massachusetts, and Zalmon Richards of Washington, D. C., to whom were referred all resolutions relating to a change of the orthography of the language, with instructions to report at the next meeting of the Institute.

THE KINDERGARTEN.

Madame Kraus-Boelte, of New York, gave an address on this topic. (See Addresses.)

THE EDUCATION OF LABOR.

President E. E. White, of Purdue University, Indiana, followed with a paper on this subject. (See Addresses.)

The discussion of the subject was continued by Mr. M. A. Newell, State Superintendent of Education of Maryland. If our public-school system were perfect, it would develop and direct in youth all the activities which adult life would call into exercise. Every one admits that the best interests of society demand good carpenters, good blacksmiths, good machinists, and good cooks, as well as good penmen, good calculators, and good elocutionists. We live just as truly by the labor of the hand as by the labor of the head, and yet all the machinery of education, from the primary school to the high school, is devoted to the cultivation of brain-power exclusively. The hands need training to make them efficient workers in the actual business of life, but our schools think it beneath them to train the hands.

THE TELEPHONE.

An illustrated lecture was delivered by E. A. Dolbear, of Tufts College, on the above subject, a short sketch of which follows:

In the old legend, the Goddess of War is said to have sprung full armed from the brain of Jupiter, but it is only in mythology that one may look for an event without something of a history. No important invention has been the work of a single man, and the speaking-telephone has a history which is much longer than it appears to have had, seeing that it is but a year or two old. It is my intention to trace briefly the various discoveries that have led up to this invention, giving them in their chronological order so far as possible. The instrument is exceedingly simple, there being but three essential parts to it, namely, a magnet, a coil of wire, and a small plate of tin or iron. In its action there are involved some of the laws of electricity, of magnetism, and of sound. Of the first of these, we are all familiar with the story of Franklin and his kite, of Galvani and the frogs' legs, and of Volta, and Sir Humphrey Davy, who did such great things with a galvanic battery, about the beginning of this century. In 1820 Oersted discovered that a magnetic needle was deflected by a current of electricity in a neighboring wire; and in 1825 Sturgeon learned how to make an electro-magnet. Henry, in 1829, increased the lifting-power of the magnet a hundred-fold and more by insulating the wire, and used such battery and magnets in the first electromagnetic telegraph. Morse merely improved the mechanism and invented an alphabet. Page made the first electric telephone; and in 1863 Reiss undertook to make a telephone to convey articulate speech. He did not succeed, but mainly for reasons which I will state by and by.

Let me speak a little of sound, as consisting of vibrations in the air or other sound conductor. Hold a piece of paper rather tightly in front of the mouth, and speak or sing against it, and you will feel it vibrate; the same would be true if you take a piece of sheet iron or

wood, the iron moves back and forwards, varying in rapidity with the pitch and in character with the kind of a sound. Suppose that a piece of iron be fixed to a membrane and this mounted in front of an electro-magnet, and you should make the membrane to vibrate, it is evident that this movement would generate corresponding currents of electricity in the conductor; and if a suitable magnet was prepared to be affected by these vibrations of the current, vibrations like the first will be set up, and given out to the air. This was Prof. Bell's invention, as exhibited at Philadelphia, a very unexpected invention, and rightly very highly spoken of.

The next invention which belongs in the category is one of my own, and it consists, as before said, of three parts, and to understand its action we must go back to an experiment of Faraday's in 1832 Here is a magnet, a coil of wire, and a galvanometer; there the magnet is thrust into the coil, the needle moves, showing that electricity has been developed; the same thing happens if I permit a piece of iron to approach the magnet while the coil of wire is about the pole of the latter, this is called magneto-electric induction. When the plate of the telephone vibrates, it acts upon the magnet and the coil in like manner, and the electricity affects the magnet of the other instrument to increase and decrease its attractive power, and so makes its plate to vibrate as the first plate did. It will be seen that this instrument is unlike all the others, in that it dispenses with the battery; and both instruments are alike. This instrument, which is now in use so extensively, is, I repeat, my invention, and was made at a time when I had no knowledge of the structure of Bell's device.

Comparing this telephone with that of Reiss, it is seen that the latter had nothing for his receiving-magnet to act upon, no armature. Take a Reiss telephone, and let it be connected with a proper receiver, and it makes a very loud telephone; indeed, I have such a one, which I will now exhibit.

а

We have lately heard very much of the microphone, new name given to an old invention of Edison's. I have a

modification of this which I have been using for a good while, and which I wish to show to you, hoping that you can all hear what my assistant may say to you. There are many devices for doing this kind of work, but the public is already losing its interest in the telephone as a novelty. The phonograph has supplanted it, and directly we shall forget that, and like the old Greeks be looking for some new thing.

In view of Prof. Dolbear's inventive skill in the Dolbear Telephone, he was unanimously elected an honorary member of the Institute.

EVENING SESSION.

The exercises of the evening were opened by music by the orchestra, after which came the following miscellaneous proceedings:

SCHOOL SUPERVISION.

The following resolution was offered by W. A. Mowry, of Rhode Island, and adopted:

Resolved, That the supervision of schools should be in the hands of persons who, by study and observation, know the philosophy of education, and who are experts in the art of instruction and school management; and that the present need in New England is for a system of general supervision by districts or counties, which shall supplement that of the towns.

John Hancock, LL. D., of Ohio, president of the National Teachers' Association, occupied a few moments in remarks complimentary of New England teachers and schools. He stated that the West was solving the problem of education by striving for the establishment of high and normal schools. He invited the Institute to the meeting of the National Teachers'