Pensions paid to teachers of elementary schools in Europe.

a In Bavaria the dues paid by teachers vary considerably in the different parts of the Kingdom-i. e., between $1.25 in central Franconia and $25 in lower Palatinate. Also initiation fees are paid.

bLowest amount of salary.

c At pleasure of the Crown.

d In some crown lands of Austria dues are paid by teachers.

e In Switzerland the cantonal governments are, as a rule, opposed to pensioning teachers. Where it is done, it is the result of local agreement. The teachers themselves maintain annuity funds.

fIn Norway pensions are paid to all teachers, but each case is individually decided by Parliament.

gIn Italy the State pension fund is not large. Hence private annuity funds are numerous. h See last column.

General notes.-The foregoing statements have reference to men teachers. Women teachers are retired, on an average, ten years earlier, and their pensions amount to about 10 to 20 per cent less than those of the men.

In most German States the communities (or the State) make a single relief payment if a teacher is disabled before he reaches the end of the tenth year of servicei. e., the lower age limit. The same practice prevails in Austria and a few other countries.

Pensions paid to teachers of secondary schools in Europe.

a In Würtemberg the pensions may reach 924 per cent in cases where the salary is not higher than $600. The rate of increase is 14 per cent; as high as 85 per cent with salaries over $600. No pension can exceed $1,500.

The population is not favorably inclined to paying pensions to teachers or other civil officers. Where it is done, it is the result of local agreement.

In Denmark each case is decided by the minister of education, but usually according to the scheme indicated in the table.

dEach case is decided by Parliament.

e In the Netherlands the teacher pays one year's salary into the pension fund within the first five years of service.

fIn Spain the State pays two-fifths of salary for two years after twenty years of service: three-fifths of salary after twenty-five years, and four-fifths of salary after thirty-five years of service, but only for two years.

gIn Italy teachers may retire from service on account of ill health, and still draw one-half or three fourths of their salaries, according to the length of service.

h In Greece an addition of one fiftieth of the salary is paid for each additional year of service, over and above the 40 per cent paid after twenty years,

i In Russia the pensions are not uniform; they range between 300 and 400 rubles after twentyfive years of service.

kIn Great Britain a few distinguished schools, such as Eton, pay pensions; the majority of secondary schools being private institutions do not pay pensions to teachers.

In the United States no teachers are pensioned from public funds. Voluntary beneficial associations have been formed in some cities, and in other localities specified below. State laws provide for similar ends in a similar way, the essential difference being that in the latter case participation is enforced upon all teachers. The following paragraph shows the varieties of organization, etc.:

Voluntary mutual benefit associations for temporary aid only exist in Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, San Francisco, St. Paul, and one interstate association. These call for $1 to $2 initiation fee: $1 to $5 annual dues. Special assessments of $1 are made in some cases. Benefits in

sickness range from 50 cents a day to $10 a week; at death funeral expenses only are paid in some instances, and in others a sum equal to $1 from each member of the association.

Associations for annuity, or retirement fund only, are in New York, Boston, and Baltimore, and there is an annuity guild in Massachusetts. The initiation fees reported are $3 to $5. The annual dues are 1 to 14 per cent of salary up to $18 or $20. The annuity is from 60 per cent of salary to $600 a year. Time of service required for retirement is from two to five years with disability, or from thirtyfive to forty years without disability.

Associations for both temporary aid and annuity exist in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and District of Columbia. Initiation fees, $1 to $10; annual dues $5 to $40. Annuity, $5 per week to $500 per year, and $100 for funeral expenses in case of death. Temporary aid, during illness, $5 or $6 per week. Time of service required for retirement is two to five years with disability, or thirty-five to forty years without disability.

Pension or retirement funds are authorized by State legislatures for St. Louis, all cities in California, Brooklyn, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, all cities in New Jersey, Cincinnati, and Buffalo. Dues vary little; they are generally 1 per cent of salary. Annuity, $250 to one-half of salary; maximum, $1,200. Minimum length of service with disability, twenty to thirty years; without disability, twenty-five to thirty-five years.

There are no new establishments of annuity funds to be reported for 1898-99, but the existing ones report progress, though some fears are expressed that the annual dues are generally too low, a fact which may lead to financial difficulties in the future unless special efforts are made to increase the funds by holding bazaars and securing donations.

ED 98-108

CHAPTER XXXVII.

MISCELLANEOUS EDUCATIONAL TOPICS.

Contents: Athletic gymnastics, by A. Mosso-The artificial production of nitrates for agricultural purposes, from an address by Sir William Crookes-The use of pictures in public libraries, by Samuel Sweet Green.

ATHLETIC GYMNASTICS.

[From "The Physical Education of the Young." By A. Mosso, professor in the University of Turin.] I.

I asked one of the most celebrated physicians in Italy what he thought of gymnastics. His answer was that many of the best gymnasts whom he had known died of consumption. That is equivalent to saying that vigor and force are two distinct things.

Galen, who was the greatest physiologist of antiquity, treated the subject in his works more than sixteen centuries ago. During the time that he was physician of the gladiatorial school, and at Rome where he was the most illustrious physician at the end of the second century, Galen had occasion to make observations on athletic gymnastics as no one could make them to-day. In one paragraph, speaking of the diseases of athletes and in order to show that vast development of muscle obtained by constant exercise is not an indication of health, Galen said "Gymnastics is dangerous to health."

It seems strange to one who is not a physician that an athlete, with every appearance of extreme robustness which the extraordinary development of his muscular system gives him, should not be for that reason more healthy than others, and that the excess of his force should itself be a cause of weakness. Every physician knows hundreds of persons more agile and of greater force than himself, as acrobats, famous gymnasiarchs, with whom he would not be willing to exchange either lungs or digestive mechanism or any other organism of the body.

"You strangely impose upon our credulity" some readers will say; "this crowns all; after hearing gymnastics preached, to see so much ranting against it." Listen to me. I do not say that gymnastics ought to be suppressed. I am making a criticism of it from a physiological standpoint in the hope of advancing its evolution toward a method more natural and more efficacious in the exercises of the body. The gymnastics to which the people of Rome devoted themselves was not military, but merely civil and recreative. Of this we have numerous proofs among Roman writers. In a letter to Calvisius, Pliny the younger said that he would take as a model the aged Spirinna, who was admired by everybody for his vigor. He mentioned the endless walks taken by him every day, how he went about entirely naked in the sun before taking his bath, and he spoke of his passion for ball playing.

In Martial's Epigrams there is a ludicrous portrait of a sycophant who, after taking his bath, ran to the therma to gather up the balls, and ran with them to

Galeni Ars tuendae sanitatis num ad medicinalem artem spectet an ad exercitatoriam. 'Deinde movetur pila vehementer et diu. (Book III, letter 1.)