3. Above these schools are the two universities, for Danish students, at Copenhagen, founded in 1479, and for German students, at Kiel, founded in 1665. The university of Copenhagen contained, in 1841, about 1.260 students, and 40 professors and instructors. Its revenue is about $72,000 a year, and its library contains about 110,000 volumes. There is annexed to it a polytechnic institute, or school of arts, in which instruction is given in the application of science to industrial occupations. The university of Kiel contained at the same time about 390 students, and about fifty professors and teachers. It receives a revenue from the State of about $30,000 a year, and has a library of 70,000 volumes. Besides the above-mentioned university revenues, the students at both pay fees to the professors, whose lectures they attend at Copenhagen, after the rate of from two to four dollars for a course of lectures, (one a week for six months,) and at Kiel, about a dollar for the same.

4. There are eight normal schools, in which the course of instruction occupies three years, and includes Danish, mathematics, natural sciences, writing, pedagogy, history, geography, gymnastics, and drawing. The Lancasterian system of instruction, which was very generally tried and rejected in Germany, succeeded much better in Denmark. It was permissively introduced in 1822, and actively advocated by M. D'Abrahanson, aid-de-camp to the king, and by others, and spread with so much rapidity that in three years it was used in 1,707 schools, and in 1830 in 2,673, of all grades. It has, however, been considerably modified, and as now used is called the reciprocal or Danish system, to dis tinguish it from the original mutual, or Lancasterian.

The royal chancery is the highest board of educational inspection. The balit and provosts of each town inspects its schools, and the pastor and "school patroons" those of each parish. The school patroons are all having a revenue, estimated, to equal or exceed 32 tuns, or 1,520 bushels of corn.

The institutions of special instruction, besides those already mentioned, are a medical school, a pharmaceutical school, a foresters' school, a military high school, a land-cadets' academy, a sea-cadets' academy, (lower schools for sea and land military service,) an academy of fine arts, a school for the blind, and one for deaf mutes.

Considerable funds are used in paying pensions to teachers' widows, and to retired or invalid teachers.

Iceland, an appendage of the Danish crown, with a population of 70,500, is remarkable for the universality with which elementary instruction is diffused, not by schools, but by the family. The only school on the island is a gymnasium for the higher studies at Bessestad, which was endowed in 1530.

III. NAVAL AND NAVIGATION SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

BEFORE describing a class of schools in England, which is now receiving special attention and aid from the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, viz. NAVIGATION SCHOOLS, we will glance at the condition of Nautical Education generally in this great maritime and commercial country.

awe.

The old system of training officers for the Royal Navy, under which mere children with the smallest possible amount of elementary knowledge, made the ship their school, even after a Naval Academy was established, had its peculiar advantages as well as its drawbacks. The captain, having the nomination of an almost indefinite number of "youngsters," stood towards them in loco parentis. He was their governor, guardian, and instructor, and did not "spare the rod" when he thought its application necessary. The captain was then looked up to with a feeling bordering on Without assigning a reason he could disrate or discharge a midshipman; and he could also do much towards pushing him on in the service. The youngster felt that he was entirely in the power of his captain, and, unless of a reckless cast, used his best endeavors to gain his favor. The captain, on the other hand, talked of his youngsters with pride. He, (if he belonged to the better class of naval captains,) took care that every facility should be afforded them for learning their duty, often made them his companions on shore, and superintended their education afloat, sometimes taking a leading part in their teaching. He felt responsible for their bringing up, for some were sons of personal friends or relatives whom he had promised to watch over the youthful aspirants, and all were more or less objects of interest to him. But all this was swept away in 1844, and the captain's patronage limited to one nomination on commissioning a ship, the Admiralty taking the rest of the patronage into their own keeping. And what was the result? No sooner had the Admiralty absorbed the naval patronage-for the captain was frequently shorn of his one nomination before leaving Whitehall with his commission-than old officers and private gentlemen in middling circumstances found themselves unsuccessful applicants, while the influential country gentleman totally unconnected with the service, but able perhaps to turn the scale of an election, was not under the painful necessity of asking twice for a naval cadetship for his son, or the son of his friend. But what cared the captain for these Admiralty nominees? Too many of them were incapable of profiting by

their opportunities, and others neglected to avail themselves of the instructions of the professors of mathematics, and became the victims of dissipation.

I. NAVAL OFFICERS.
Royal Naval Academy.

The first attempt to educate lads for the naval service of England was in 1729, when the Royal Naval Academy was instituted in Portsmouth Dockyard. The course of instruction included the elements of a general education, as well as mathematics, navigation, drawing, fortification, gunnery, and small arm exercises, together with the French language, the principles of ship-building and practical seamanship in all its branches, for which latter a small vessel was set apart. The number was limited to forty cadets, the sons of the nobility and gentry, and attendance was voluntary. Small as the corps was, it was never full, probably because there was an easier way of gaining admission to the service through official favoritism, by appointment direct to some ship, on board of which during a six years' midshipman's berth, he acquired a small stock of navigation and a larger knowledge of seamanship and gunnery practice. In these ships where the captains were educated men, and took a special interest in the midshipmen, and competent instructors were provided and sustained in their authority and rank, this system of ship instruction and training worked well, as under the same conditions it did with us. In 1773 a new stimulus was given to the Academy by extending a gratuitous education to fifteen boys out of the forty, who were sons of commissioned officers. In 1806, under the increased demand for well educated officers, the whole number of cadets was increased to seventy, of whom forty were the sons of officers and were educated at the expense of the government. From this date to 1837 the institution was designated the Royal Naval College, but without any essential extension of its studies. In 1816 a Central School of Mathematics and Naval Architecture was added to the establishment, and in 1828 the free list was discontinued, and the sons of military officers were allowed to share the privileges of the school with the sons of naval officers, at a reduced rate in proportion to their rank. To keep up the number of students who would go through the four years course, it became necessary to extend special privileges, such as made promotion certain and rapid over those who entered the navy direct. This produced inconveniences and jealousies, and in 1837 the Naval College was discontinued.

Training Ship and Naval College.

In 1857 the Admiralty adopted the plan of a Training Ship for naval cadets. The candidate was to be from thirteen to fifteen years of age, and to pass an examination in Latin or French, Geography, Arithmetic, including Proportion and Fractions, Algebra, to Simple Equations, the First Book of Euclid, and the Elements of Plane Trigonometry. At the end of twelve or six months, according to age, spent in study and practice on the Training Ship, the cadet was examined in the studies before enumerated

with the addition of Involution and Evolution, Simple Equations, the Elements of Geometry, and of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, the simple rules of Navigation, the use of Nautical Instruments, Surveying, Constructing Charts, and the French language, besides an elaborate course of Seamanship, and attendance on lectures on Chemistry, Physics, Hydrostatics, &c. If this examination was satisfactory, the cadet was appointed to a sea-going ship, and at the expiration of fifteen months' service he was eligible for the rating of midshipman upon passing a further examination. The course in the Training Ship (first the "Illustrious," and subsequently changed to the "Britannia," first in Portsmouth harbor and more recently at Dartmouth,) proved too extensive for mastery in one year; and in 1861 the conditions for admission were lowered, the examinations in the school were made quarterly, and competitive, and if passed creditably at the end of a year, according to a fixed standard, (3,000 being the number of marks attainable, and 2,100 giving a first class certificate,) the cadet is rated at once as midshipman, and credited a year's sea-time. If he receives a second class certificate (1,500 marks,) he must serve six months at sea, and pass another examination before he can be rated midshipman. The cadet with a third-rate certificate (1,200 marks,) must serve twelve months at sea, and pass another examination for his midshipman's rating. Prizes and badges are also given, and the stimulus of competitive examination is applied as shown in the grading of certificates.

Gunnery Instruction.

In 1832 a uniform and comprehensive system of gunnery instruction was provided on the "Excellent," under command of Captain (now Sir Thomas) Hastings. To give such officers who were found deficient in the scientific knowledge requisite for a full understanding of the theory of gunnery, the Naval College was re-opened in 1839, under the general superintendence of the Captain of the Excellent, with Professors of Mathematics, Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, Steam Machinery, Chemistry and Marine Artillery. Accommodations were provided for twenty-five half-pay officers, (captains, commanders, and lieutenants,) and a certain number of mates on full pay, for whom a special course of study was instituted. The time allowed at the College was a clear year's study, exclusive of vacations, and those who have completed the course rank among the most distinguished officers of the profession.

Instruction in Steam and the Steam-Engine.

When steam vessels came into use in the Navy, to qualify officers for special service in them they were encouraged to resort to Woolwich Dockyard, and afterward to the Portsmouth yard, where an instructor was appointed and facilities for observation, study, and experiments were provided. Many officers repaired to private factories, and worked at the lathe, in stoke-hole and the engine-room, and thus acquired a practical knowledge of this department of their profession. When the Naval College was estab

lished on its present footing, a small steamer, the "Bee," was built and attached under the charge of the instructor in steam-machinery. And now the greater part of the captains and commanders on the active list have obtained certificates of having passed the course in Steam and the Steam-engine.

Admiralty Order respecting Naval Cadets and Midshipmen, dated

April 1, 1860.
CADETS.

"I. No person will be nominated to a Cadetship in the Royal Navy who shall be under 12, or above 14 years of age, at the time of his first examination.

"II. Every candidate, on obtaining a nomination, will be required to pass an examination at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, within three months of nomination.* In the special cases of nomination granted to the sons of natives of the colonies a candidate will be allowed to pass a preliminary examination on board the flag or senior Officer's ship on the Station. But such an examination must be passed in strict accordance with these regulations, and should the candidate be found qualified, it will still be necessary that he should be sent to England, to be entered on board a training ship, where he will be subject to the same regulations as other Cadets.

"III. The candidate must produce a certificate of birth, or a declaration thereof made before a magistrate.

"IV. Must be in good health and fit for the Service-that is free from impediment of speech, defect of speech, rupture, or other physical inefficiency.

"Candidates will be required-1. To write English correctly from dictation, and in a legible hand. 2. To read, translate, and parse an easy passage from Latin, or from some foreign living language-the aid of a dictionary will be allowed for these translations.

"And to have a satisfactory knowledge of 3. The leading facts of Scripture and English history. 4. Modern geography, in so far as relates to a knowledge of the principal countries, capitals, mountains and rivers. To be able to point out the position of a place on a map, when its latitude and longitude are given. 5. Arithmetic, including proportion, and a fair knowledge of vulgar and decimal fractions. 6. A knowledge of the definitions and axioms of the First Book of Euclid.

"As drawing will prove a most useful qualification for Naval Officers, it is recommended that candidates for the Service should be instructed therein. "V. Candidates will be allowed a second trial at the next quarterly examination. Should he not pass this second examination he will be finally rejected. "VI. If the candidate succeeds in passing the required examination he will be at once appointed to a training ship, for the purpose of instruction in the subjects contained in Sheet No. 1, as well as in the rigging of ships, seamanship, the use of nautical instruments, &c.

"VII. Quarterly examinations will be held on board the training ship, when any candidate may be examined in the subjects contained in Sheet No. 1, and also, in the course of instruction, in the rigging of ships, seamanship, &c.

"VIII. If a candidate be found at the quarterly examinations, not to have made sufficient progress, or if, by indifferent conduct or idle habits on board the training ship, he shall show his unfitness for the Service; it will be the duty of the Captain to make a special report thereof to the Admiralty, in order that the Cadet may be at once removed from the Navy.

"IX. When the candidate shall have completed twelve months' instruction, exclusive of vacations, in the harbor training ship, he will be examined, and

* These examinations will take place on the first Wednesdays in the months of March, June, September, and December.

↑ The examination on leaving the training ship will embrace all the subjects of the former examination, except Latin, and in addition to them it will include, in algebra, simple equations; the elements of geometry, plane trigonometry, and the solution, &c., as in the Circular No. 288, dated Feb. 23rd, 1857; and in addition the use of the globes with correct definitions of latitude, longitude, azimuth, amplitude, and other circles of the sphere, and drawing,