"things" must include human life. Pupils must be led to think about conduct, about social and economic problems, about institutions and art, especially literature, conceived as Matthew Arnold has taught us to conceive it, as "interpretation of life." It is a common error to assume, as President Eliot seems to, that training to observation in one field is training to observation in all. Nothing could be more fallacious. All experience teaches us that the specialist is strong only in his own field. The geologist is not a good observer of social phenomena, nor the physicist apt at diagnosing disease. The training to accurate observation and clear expression then may not be confined to one field. It must be sought in all fields, but more especially in those which relate to the conduct of life, if the schools are to help in overcoming the evils upon which President Eliot dwells.

THE MONTH.

WISCONSIN NEWS AND NOTES.

S.

-The State Superintendent has annulled the certificate of T. C. Morrow, of Wonewoc, for immorality.

-C. J. Albert has removed his school and college bureau agency from Elmhurst, Ills., to 211 Wabash Avenue, Chicago.

-F. F. Wood has become principal of the high school at Black Earth, in place of Mr. Walker who goes to Whitewater.

-Of the 82 teachers in Calumet county, 77 attended the recent institute. This is the work of an efficient superintendent.

-The Platteville Normal school dedicated the new north wing of the building on Wednesday, December 21, with appropriate exercises.

-The short course in agriculture at the University is to open January 4th, instead of January 9th, which is the date of the opening of the winter term of the University.

--According to the Ashland News the north. part of the State will have a summer assembly on Madeline island, a worthy rival to the Monona Lake assembly. It will be opened this

summer.

-Circulars of the southern Wisconsin summer school at Rochester, Racine county, are already issued. It will be the fourth annual session which opens July 10 next and continues five weeks.

-The Beaver Dam high school celebrated e eighty-fifth anniversary of the birth of John Whittier December 17, by a "Whittier

evening," with a program of selections from the poet's works.

-The Alumni of the Whitewater Normal School held their reunion and banquet during the week of the Teachers' Association. The idea is a good one, and might well be adopted by other institutions.

-Over one thousand kindergarteners were graduated from the seventy different training classes this year. This shows that kindergarten work has become a recognized specialty in the teacher's profession.

-Prin. E. W. Walker, of Black Earth, has accepted the position of Superintendent and Principal of Schools at Whitewater, made vacant by the resignation of Mr. Sylvester. The school at Black Earth is a striking witness of Mr. Walker's success as a teacher and manager.

-The Dairy School at the University is overwhelmed with applications for admission far beyond the capacity of its present accommodations. Preference is always given to students from Wisconsin, but it seems certain that the school could readily be filled by students from other States.

-By appointment of the State Superintendent conventions of county superintendents will be held in January as follows: At Chippewa Falls, 5 and 6; at Milwaukee, 9 and 10; at Oshkosh, II and 12; and at Madison, 19 and 20. Secretary Parker, Inspector Sylvester, and Librarian F. A. Hutchins will probably attend these meetings and take part in the discussions.

-The practice of regularly inaugurating a new president has been long in abeyance at the State University, but will be resumed in the case of President Adams, who will be inaugurated Jan. 17th. The occasion gives the new incumbent an opportunity of giving expression to important views on educational matters under conditions which assure for them wide spread attention.

-The teachers' institute held at Madison, Dec. 2 and 3, by Prof. Pray, Pres. Harvey and Prof. Brier was a large and profitable gathering. The enrollment reached two hundred and twenty-five, and much interest was manifested throughout by those in attendance. Superintendents Ames and Kiser, of Dane county were both present, and their districts were well represented.

-Supt. Wells has appointed as High School inspector Supt. C. H. Sylvester, of Whitewater. Mr. Sylvester has won for himself a high rank among the teachers of the State,

and we predict for him a hearty reception in his new field of work and genuine usefulness in it. He is well known to readers of the JOURNAL by his valuable and attractive contributions to our columns. We hope that in his new position he may still find time for the occasional use of his pen in the service of our readers.

-An examination of the catalogues of our State Normal Schools, with a view to see what they have done to enrich the grammar course in their model schools, shows that Oshkosh is decidedly in the lead. Here botany and word analysis are studied in the first year of the grade, and in all the course the reading. is from standard authors, studied as a means of culture and expression. In the second year the grammar grade takes up English history, algebra and zoology; in the third year United States history, academic geometry, elementary physics, algebra, physical geography and civics. The geometry is by the inventional method, and with a view to practical uses. The civics is by weekly lessons throughout the year on government of nation, state, county and town, and relations between these. At River Falls we find in the same grade the readings in literature, science teaching, geometry and United States history. At Platteville and Whitewater the United States history and elementary science.

-The death of Robert Graham at Oshkosh December 13, takes away one who has been for many years prominently in the educational work of this State. He was a graduate of the Albany Normal school and began his work as a teacher in the State of New York. His services as teacher and superintendent in Kenosha county, as teacher and institute conductor in the Oshkosh Normal school, and afterwards for two terms as Superintendent of Public Instruction for this State, are well known to our readers. As institute conductor he impressed himself strongly upon this part of our educational work, giving to it the vigor and peculiar trend shown in the seventies. As State Superintendent he labored especially to elevate and extend the professional training of teachers, and some of the most important legislation on our statutes relative to this was the result of his efforts. Since leaving the superintendency he has repeatedly conducted institutes, and showed a deep interest and delight in this work. The remains were taken to New York for burial.

-At the Oshkosh Normal School lately, we were much interested in the class scheduled on

the program as "Library Work." On the

blackboard of the recitation room were the names of some of the leading reviews and magazines with brief mentions under them of articles of special interest. We learned that the demand for the articles thus gazetted was so great as to keep the periodicals containing them in constant use. On another board was a brief list of the leading events of the day; as the bimetallic conference, the Panama scandal, etc. The class was occupied with written accounts of books read, the reader being closely questioned on many points after he had finished presenting his paper. Thus habits of careful and intelligent reading are promoted, while the whole class is made to profit by the special reading of each of its members. struction as to books best worth reading is given in the class, and guidance in the use of the library. Another class on the program, marked "Social Ethics," occurring twice a week, also deserves mention as showing the effort of the school to aid the pupils beyond. the traditional lines. We regretted that it was. not scheduled for the days of our visit.

In

-The success of the Columbian History of Education in Wisconsin is assured. The volume will contain a carefully prepared sketch of the educational history of the State, with particular reference to the development of the public school system down to the present time Special historical sketches of many of our cities and counties will follow. There are now on hand for the volume historical sketches by competent hands of the Institute work of the State, of the State Historical Society, of the School Libraries, of city Libraries in Wisconsin, of the Milwaukee Library and Museum, of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, of Lutheran Education in Wisconsin, of the State Normal Schools, of Beloit, Ripon, Milton, and Carroll Colleges, of the University of Wisconsin, Lawrence University and the North Western University, of the School for the Blind, the School for the Deaf, the Local Schools for the Deaf, the Reform School for Girls, at Milwaukee, etc. Some other papers are promised and expected before the volume is finally given to the printers. It will be seen that a wide range has been given to the educational history, and as the papers have been uniformly prepared by competent persons from authentic data, its value as a source of information regarding the intellectual development of Wisconsin is sufficiently evident.

-By the completion of the handsome new building erected by the generosity of Mr. Stout, Menomonee high school has superior accommodations for manual training and sci

ence teaching. Principal Hoyt says in the Dunn County News: "Upon the third floor, three-fifths of which is given to this use, will be found the science lecture room, 20x34 feet, the preparation room-a private laboratory and service room to those adjoining, 15x28 feet, the laboratory in biology, 16x24 feet, where will be carried on the work in the elements of botany, physiology, zoology and anthropometry, that in physics, 19x30 feet, and that in chemistry, 28x33 feet. Hoods, cases and working tables of the most convenient pattern will be provided, and water, steam and gas will be distributed wherever needed. Pumps and blowers working by water pressure will be connected with the plumbing, and a separate set of wires connecting with the lighting plant are provided for work in electricity. It is probable that the cost of plumbing and gas fitting alone for this suite of rooms will exceed all that the city has expended on the natural sciences. All the science work of the school will, after the opening, be carried on in the new building. Physical geography will be helped by collections of rocks, ores, fossils, woods, by maps and graphic charts; botany, by natural products representing the arrangements and morphologies, the orders. and genera; physiology, by the microscope and dissections, by anthropometrical measurements and records, by casts, charts and samples of physiological chemical products. In physics, in due time, opportunity will be offered to those who are prepared for it, to take the elements of electrical engineering. In chemistry the aim will be to cover the range of general chemistry and qualitative analysis. Courses in hygiene, domestic and public, are contemplated in connection with the department of cooking, as are also, courses in the care of the sick and invalid cookery.

-It is a pleasure to call attention to a circular in every way so satisfactory as that on the Architecture, Ventilation and Furnishing of School Houses, recently issued from the office of the State Superintendent. The pamphlet is small, well written, practical and abundantly illustrated. The treatment of the topics of lighting, heating and ventilating and furnishing is especially excellent, both in the general introduction and in the several plans of buildings presented in the volume. There are nineteen of these, ranging from the simple, one-room rural school houses to the more elaborate structures for city schools. amination of the plans for country school 'houses will convince any one that even in the simplest there is need of intelligent study of

An ex

the problems of comfort and convenience, and that great improvements can be made in these matters without material addition to the expense of building.

-The Western Teacher, Prof. Gillan's new educational monthly, appears at the middle instead of at the beginning of each month. It is a double column twenty-eight page publication, with bright editorials, contributions from prominent teachers, usable material for school work, and a budget of educational news. Only ten numbers are issued each year. Prof. G. speaks highly of the new circular on Architecture, Ventilation and Furnishing of School Houses, suggesting a new edition "in which such words as schoolhouse and schoolroom shall be correctly spelled." That is the schoolmaster of it; for who but a schoolmaster

will attempt off-hand to tell what the correct spelling is? Is there a correct spelling? If so, how are we to know that it is correct? Is it not possible to be finicky about such matters, especially at a time when so many of us are ready to break loose from the traces of tradition, and try to find our way to a little common sense in this matter of representing the sounds of our familiar words?

FROM OTHER STATES.

-Only principals can punish in Brooklyn, Albany, San Francisco and New Orleans, and corporal punishment is prohibited in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Cambridge.

-As one means for æsthetic development the study of color is introduced into the Minneapolis schools. The early work is done largely with colored papers, expressly prepared for the purpose,-in standard colors, with their tints or shades. Colored papers are arranged in the order of their spectrum colors,

then a color scale is made with the tints and shades of some standard. Experiments have been made in many schools of the country to determine which colors are preferred by the children, and how far their color sense is developed. The result shows that children. almost invariably chose bright colors,-red, orange or yellow,-and that their mistakes in "matching" or in distinguishing colors are almost entirely at the other end of the spec

trum.

-According to the latest returns at hand, Boston expends annually for school purposes a larger sum than any one of twenty-seven of the States in the Union, including all the New England States but Massachusetts, and a larger gross amount than any other city except four;

namely, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Even in comparison with these cities its expenditure for this purpose is the largest according to population. Philadelphia expends $2.40 per capita; Brooklyn, $2.95; New York, $3.36; Chicago, $4.00, and Boston, $4.55. And yet it is true that Boston finds it impossible to build school-houses with sufficient celerity to accommodate the rapidly increasing numbers of her juvenile population. —Common School Education.

-A correspondent of the New York School Fournal writes: "Drexel institute has become a central figure in the uplifting forces of Philadelphia. Though only opened in February last, it now numbers on its register over 1,000 students. A tour through its elegant rooms with Dr. MacAlister found classes in elementary and advanced drawing; normal and ordinary classes in cooking; classes in drawing from the cast, in typewriting, in physics, in typesetting, in chemistry, in domestic economy, and in gymnastics-here a class of young ladies were being trained in military evolu

tions. The visitor is struck at once with two things: First, the elegance and commodiousness of the structure; the rooms are large and well lighted. It is steam heated, electric lighted; the furniture is unusually handsome; the rooms set apart for teachers are attractive. Second, the breadth of the culture attempted. Every part of the field will be eventually traversed."

-At the Oswego, N. Y., Normal School

the observation of children in connection with the study of psychology is becoming a recognized, and even an indispensable feature. The students constantly bring to class items satisfactorily authenticated, which indicate observations made upon children at various times and under various conditions. These items are classified according to the mental states which they indicate, and are presented as material for examination in connection with the topic under discussion. To these items the students add stories of personal experience, together with reminiscences of their own child life.

By the use of these concrete examples the abstract truths of psychology are made at least tolerably comprehensible to even the immature minds in the class. In addition to this general observation, each student makes a special study of one child during the term. The special observations are designed to form the basis for more scientific classifications than those first made. While this training is designed to enable the student readily to recognize the physical condition of the child, its

main purpose is to enable him to read the mind of the child as manifested through the body. The work is full of interest and gives a new value to psychology, giving it more attention in its true place as the essential foundation of all successful pedagogy.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES IN KEWAUNEE COUNTY.

The following letter in correction of a note in the last issue of the JOURNAL shows that Kewaunee county is the banner county of the State in the matter of school libraries. We are sure that this is largely due to the faithful work of Superintendent Moore. We gave some account of this work last year, and are now highly gratified to learn that his labor has its reward. School libraries have a special value in Kewaunee county, where so large a part of the parents do not speak or read English. We shall be glad to learn what books schools, which of them are used generally for have been supplied to the Kewaunee county popular for home reading: supplementary reading, and which are most popular for home reading:

DEAR SIR:-I see in your last issue of THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION a comment on school libraries. I think Kewaunee county must have been overlooked in some way.

Two years ago not a library existed in the county, except in the two High Schools. Last year every town in the county was brought in line, money withheld and library books purchased, with the exception of one town; and this year it is unanimous, every town withholding the money, and our county has a library established now in each of the schools. throughout the entire county. Kewaunee, Wis.

R. A. MOORE.

dicate that the superintendent devotes, etc. The two names of cities omitted are Ashland and Racine. Again, on page 267, at the bottom of the first column, you say that the Racine High School has only three assistants, while the list given on page 262 names four. Racine, Wis. A. J. VOLLAND.

CORRECT as follows in list of County Superintendents as published in December number: Ashland Co., Miss Maggie Ryan, Mellen; Burnett Co., Tena M. Davidson, Grantsburg; Monroe Co., Timothy Bowler, Sparta; Price Co., Georgie Beaver, Phillips; Sheboygan Co., A. J. Strassburger, Glenbeulah; Taylor Co., Kuno Kuene, Chelsea.

THE CRITIC CRITICIZED.

ED. JOURNAL OF EDUCATION: A brief criticism of my book "The Science of Thought" in your October number has lately come, by mere chance, under my notice. The statements therein are so incorrect and do me so much injustice that I trust you will allow me a little space for their correction.

(1) You say that the author "by means of the key (theory of self-consciousness) which he thinks he has thus found goes on to solve the main problems of metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics." Nothing could be more incorrect than that. I had a certain law or fact to prove concerning all kinds of thought. I began with self-consciousness, as one kind of thought and proved that the law in fact applied to that. Then I proceeded in the same way with regard to perception and so on through all kinds of thinking. There is not a line in the book which even hints at using self-consciousness as a key for unlocking other problems. You appear to have hopelessly misunderstood the whole trend of my exposition. Self-consciousness explains itself; it explains nothing more.

(2) You somewhat superciliously declare that I have failed to comprehend the problems discussed. And as the sole proof of this sweeping statement you say that in my book "cause sometimes means what has been called efficient cause and sometimes what has been called formal cause." I had supposed that the use of such barren and misleading distinctions-survivals of the Middle Ages had long ago been abandoned, especialy in our Universities. But if the above words mean that I have confusedly used the term causation in two different senses, I most unqualifiedly deny the assertion. Causation has for me but one meaning

that of not merely uniform but necessary connection the unconditional dependence of the effect upon its cause. At every point of my exposition, I have kept this one meaning

steadily in view. And I confidently challenge any one to point out a single sentence in which I have spoken of causality in any other sense

but this.

(3) You say that my explanation of space does not explain. Of course you meant that it explained nothing to you. Others have declared that it explained much to them.

S. S. HEBBERD.

Viroqua, Wis., Nov. 30, 1892.

[It is quite possible that we have failed always to understand Mr. Hebberd's explanation, but if so we have been misled by such expressions as the following:

(1) "But although this principle is so simple it will be found to be of immeasurable value. It will put an end to the chief disputes which have heretofore divided and distracted human speculation; it will furnish a basis for true theories of science, morality and art; it will explain the course of human civilization, and so provide a genuine philosophy of history." p. 7. See also pp. 11, 18, 19, 26, etc.

(2) As to the distinction see Webster's International under "Cause." Mr. H. says: "The extension (of a concept) gives us objects classified; the intension points to the ground or cause of their classification," (i. e., the formal not the efficient cause.) p. 23. "Pure space is never the cause of change; on the contrary it is the cause or ground of the very opposite of change that is of separation and position or relative fixedness." p. 21.-ED.]

THE SCHOOL ROOM.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

AN INSPIRATION. One evening as the teacher sat alone reading her Shakespeare, an inspiration came. They should know Shakespeare, too. She would get the "Merchant of Venice" and let them read it. Then she wavered was it sacrilege? Would they understand it? Perpaps not, derstand it? Perpaps not, and they might lose even the little interest they now possessed. Finally, she determined to try, and invested in a number of little paper school editions, for the the committee absolutely refused to pay for "such extravagances," and brought them to school one winter's day. She gave them, first, a little talk. Told them of the great master who lived so long ago in the little town on the Avon. Of his life, his boyish scrapes, his after troubles and triumphs, and the immortality he has left behind him.

The next day they began to read the play. The story pleased them, the notes carefully