CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.

EDUCATION,

TORONTO: JANUARY, 1856.

I. An Educational Museum for Upper Canada..
II. PAPERS ON PRACTICAL EDUCATION.-1. Classified Public Schools.
2. Education of Girls. 3. Instruments of Moral Training. 4.
Reading..

III. EDITORIAL.-1. Almanac and Educational Calendar for Upper
Canada. 2. Appointment and Duties of Local Superintendents,
IV. County Superintendent..

V. MISCELLANEOUS.-. The Mitherless Bairn. (Poetry.) 2. Dr.
Whately on Political Economy. 3. Anecdote of Dr. Whately.
4. Science and Social Progress-a Speech by Prince Albert.
5. The Century Trees of California. 6. Castle of Balmoral....
VI. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.-1. Canada Monthly Summary.
2. Newmarket Grammar School Examination. 3. The late
Daniel Wilkie, L.L.D. 4. British and Foreign Monthly Sum-
mary. 5. United States Monthly Summary. 6. Proposed Free
Academy for Girls in New York..

VII. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.-1. Monthly Summary. 2. Book Trade in Norway. 3. The Calculating Machine. 4. Ascent of Mont Blanc by a Boy..

VIII. Departmental Notices
IX. Advertisements

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AN EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM FOR UPPER CANADA. From the following correspondence, it will be seen that it is the intention of the Chief Superintendent of Schools, to procure, in Europe, suitable specimens for an Educational Musum for Upper Canada-in the highest sense of the term. The collection will not only include specimens of school apparatus, furniture and other requisites used in the European and American Schools and Universities, but it will also include one or two specimens of each of the most celebrated Ancient and Modern Schools of Painting, Sculpture, etc.

The contemplated arrangement for procuring apparatus to enable the Masters of Senior Grammar Schools, in connection with the Educational Department, to record Meteorological Observations, will also be a matter of much interest to the Province. The annual publication of the result of these observations, in the Chief Superintendent's Report, will assist scientific men in arriving at the solution of various physical phenomena as yet but partially understood and explained.

Canada.

No. 1.

2. During the last two years I have experienced occasional attacks in my head of an alarming character, accompanied with a good deal of pain, and followed by both physical and mental 6 prostration. These attacks became more frequent and severe, and seized me almost invariably during or after long and late application to any particular subject. I was repeatedly cautioned by medical advisers against all such applications, and recommended to leave the office and travel, if it were only a week at a time. I found myself sensibly relieved of these attacks, and the painful feelings preceding and following them, during my tour, last autumn, or rather mission, to New Brunswick, and still more so during two subsequent journeys to Quebec. Under these circumstances, I made official application early last spring for permission to visit Europe-believing that a few months' travelling would fully re-establish my health, and that, during the season of the Universal Exhibition at Paris, I might render such a visit useful to the objects of my Department. His Excellency, in accordance with the recommendation of his advisers, having cordially granted my request, I left Canada the first week in July, and landed in England about the middle of the month. I am happy to say that I have not had one of those painful attacks for some months past; and I now feel as strong and able to work as I did ten years ago.

3. In connexion with my Department, I had a fourfold object in view during my tour. 1. To gain all the information possible as to the character and working of systems of public instruction, and the most important institutions of education in European countries at the present time. 2. To procure the philosophical instruments necessary for making the meteorological observations authorised by law, in the Senior County Grammar Schools of Upper Canada-the specimens of the only instruments which I had been able to obtain for that purpose, not having proved satisfactory. 3. To purchase specimens of all improved instruments or apparatus of instruction, which I might find at the Paris Exhibition or elsewhere. 4. To procure objects, books, &c., for the Educational Museum and Library, placing an annual sum at my disposal for that purpose.

LETTER FROM THE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, U. C., in accordance with the liberal intentions of the Legislature, in

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE PROVINCE.

(Copy.)
Paris, Nov. 20, 1855.
SIR,-I have the honor to communicate, for the information
of His Excellency the Governor General, the results of my
visit to Europe, down to the present time, and the course I pro-
pose to pursue for its further accomplishment.

4. After my arrival in London, I conferred with Captain (now Lieut.-Col.) Lefroy on the subject of procuring the philosophical instruments for the Grammar Schools. Col. Lefroy, so long and favorably known in Canada, with whom the provision

of the Grammar School Act in question originated, (and who had promised me at the time of its adoption to give the benefit of his experience and practical knowledge in giving it effect,) readily aided me by his counsels and advice. I found, on inquiry and the comparison of catalogues, that some of the instruments could be procured more cheaply in Paris, while it was more advisable to get others made in London. At length Messrs. Negretti & Zambra (the London manufacturers of philosophical instruments) agreed to furnish all the instruments required as low as they could be obtained in Paris, to mark the thermometers according to both the Centigrade and Fahrenheit systems, and to make them range as low as thirty-five degrees below to test all the instruments before packing them, and to deliver them in New York, to a brother of Mr. Negretti, at their own risk-I only to pay the freight. I beg to append

zero;

to this letter, marked A, the admirable memorandum with which Col. Lefroy kindly furnished me in London, on the subject of these instruments; and I am happy to be able to add that Professor Cherriman, who succeeded Col. Lefroy in the Observatory at Toronto, has cordially consented to afford me all the aid I may require in the preparation of the tables and instructions necessary to render the sytem of Meteorological observations adopted in the Senior County Grammar Schools harmonious with that adopted at the Provincial Observatory, and to prepare and transmit the proper returns. Messrs. Negretti and Zambra cannot execute the order for the whole of these

instruments (forty sets-and which will be made under the inspection of Col. Lefroy) until some time in February. The cost of them will be from £12 to £15 a set. The system of Meteorological observations in Canada, when once established, will be more complete than that of any other part of America.

5. I have made the Paris Exhibition a School, in which to learn what has been done and is doing in different countries of Europe, as to the instruments, illustrations, &c., employed in the communication of knowledge, from the first elements to the highest branches, and in the various departments of human learning especially of mechanical and physical science. Instruments of this kind are included, for the most part, in the Eighth Class of the Catalogue of the Universal Exhibition. After frequent examination and comparison of these instruments, and after witnessing, in every case possible, the mode of using them, I have made a selection of such as appeared to be the best adapted to our Educational Museum and Institutions. I think that some of them will be found to be of very great interest and utility.

perity of a country-that nothing should be imported from abroad which can be as cheaply and well produced in the coun try itself. I trust the models of agricultural implements which I have procured, and to which I hope to make considerable additions, will be interesting to Canadian agriculturists, both as illustrating the science and practice of agriculture in Europe and as affording, possibly, some useful suggestions for the im provement of some agricultural implements in Canada, whil the introduction of some of the articles or instruments of domestic economy, of which I have selected specimens, wil contribute not a little to the conveniences of many Canadian households, and I hope, in some degree, to the improvement and extension of Canadian manufactures. In some of these selec tions and purchases, I have been not a little assisted by Mr. Alfred Perry, of Montreal-Curator of the Canadian Depart ment of the Exhihition. Mr. Perry seized favorable moments to make purchases for me, and in other instances I availed myself of his experience and knowledge in my selection and Exhibition is much indebted to Mr. Perry's intelligence, indus purchases, I believe the very great success of Canada in the try and attention to visitors, if I may judge from references which have been spontaneously made to him in connexion with the Canadian Department of the Exhibition, by French, Ger man and English Commissioners, in the conversations which have had with them.

has been specially directed-another agency of national civiliza 7. But there is another class of objects to which my attention tion and refinement which I wish to see introduced into Canadainfluence, as it is varied and delightful in itself. I refer to another source of enjoyment, as elevating and improving in its objects of taste, sculpture and paintings, engravings and photo graphs-that last and wonderful discovery and improvement in the fine arts. My attention was first practically drawn to this subject by Col. Lefroy, and to which, by appointment, a break fast conversation was subsequently devoted, at his house in London, in company with Chief Justice Robinson, a day or two before he left London for Canada. At my request, Col. Lefroy embodied his views and suggestions in writing, in an excellen and beautiful letter, which, with his permission, I append to this communication, marked B. I need scarcely say that I fel most deeply grateful to Col. Lefroy for his suggestions on thi subject, and entered into them with all my heart; but befor proceeding to act upon them, I thought it advisable to submi them to the several members of the Canadian Government and Legislature who were at that time in London, as also to Lor Elgin, and they all, without exception, warmly approved of the 6. Having observed collections of small models of agricultural suggestions, and of my devoting the time necessary to carr implements, and having also, among the endless variety of them into effect, to the extent of the means placed at my dis articles of domestic economy, observed some of novel and useful posal. I at once applied myself to studies and observations in character, I have purchased all the former that I could obtain, order to acquire sufficient confidence, and qualify myself in som and that appeared to be worth procuring, and a selection of the degree, for this new task. I made frequent visits to the Syden latter, such as I have not seen in Canada, and which are, for the ham Palace, as also to the Galleries of Sculpture and Painting most part, cheap and of simple construction, and very convenient in London, and subsequently in Paris, in reference to the specia and useful, and which, together with many of the articles of domes- objects I had in view, besides reading the best works I coul tic use, (specimens of which I have purchased and am purchasing at procure on the subject-among which were the four excellen the Exhibition in Paris,) when once seen, can, I think (like the ar- volumes of Kügler, two of which have been edited by Sir Edmun articles of school furniture, the models of which I introduced a few Head, and the other two by Sir Charles Eastlake. I also visited years since,) be as cheaply and successfully manufactured in Cana- and spent considerable time in the principal establishment o da as they are in Europe. I think it is a true principle of political antique and modern statuary in London, and several simila economy--an essential condition of the development and pros-establishments in Paris, especially those of the Beaux Arts an

Louvre. From the heads of these establishment, I have received all the attention and information I could desire; and after careful comparison of prices and the qualities of the objects, and in accordance with the judgment of persons of knowledge and taste in the fine arts, I have decided, upon the ground of both cheapness and quality, to make my purchases of antique and modern continental statuary in Paris.

8. Col. Lefroy suggested, in his letter, the selection of only a few beautiful statues, which he designated. But after considering the subject, I could not but think it would be peculiarly interesting to the classical pupils and students, the scholars and general readers of ancient history and literature in Canada, to have presented to them in the exact forms that ancient sculpture has transmitted, the most celebrated characters of antiquity, whether mythological or historical, and that it would be scarcely less interesting and instructive, to make a considerable collection of engravings and photographs-exhibiting characters, and scenes and objects which history and literature have rendered familiar to the general reader. On my mentioning to Col. Lefroy and other gentlemen from Canada, the propriety of making these additions to the collection, they cordially concurred in the suggestion. In addition therefore, to a selection of antique statues, I have purchased of the moulder to the National Museum of Beaux Arts, casts of upwards of two hundred and fifty antique busts, and that at an almost incredibly low price. I have also made a large selection of modern busts of distinguished characters on the continent; and, on my return to London, I purpose to procure a selection of the busts of great men who have adorned the annals of British history.

9. I need not say how much I have been aided by the Universal Exhibition, in the selections of art that 1 have made and purpose to make. The collection of fine arts-in statuary, in marble, in plaster, en terre, in porcelain, in bronze, in wood,paintings, engravings, and photographs, &c. &c, may be regarded as the germ of that marvellous assemblage of human enterprise, science, taste and skill; nor have I selected any object which has not undergone the severe scrutiny and test imposed by the previous examinations of a commission, in order to its admission into the Universal Exhibition. In regard to paintings, engravings and photographs, I have not yet advanced beyond preliminary inquiries and inspections, and ascertaining the prices at which copies of such as I should wish to select can be purchased in London and Paris; nor do I think it advisable to make many purchases of these, until I see whether it may not be more advantageous and advisable to purchase some of them, at least, in Germany and Italy. The high prices demanded here for approved copies of Raphael's and other paintings, puts it quite out of the question for me to think of purchasing them in London or Paris. But I am assured it is otherwise in Florence

and Rome. In Germany, objects of art, as well as of necessity, are exceedingly cheap and executed with great taste, if I may judge from the specimens sent to the Universal Exhibition; and articles can now be exported to America from any of the great cities of Germany almost as easily, and cheaply as from

Paris or London.

10. In thus making the Universal Exhibition the starting, instead of the terminating, point of what I propose to accomplish during my present tour, and in pursuing these objects in different countries and cities, and in foreign languages, I shall equire at least three months more time than I had thought

thus to employ when I left Canada-an employment which I have no doubt will meet the entire approval of His Excellency. From the acquaintance I have made of the principal Commis sioners from Austria and Prussia, and the aid they have proposed to afford me, and the letters of introduction, with which they have favored me, to distinguished persons intimately acquainted with the objects of my pursuits, in Berlin, Leipsic and Vienna, I anticipate much greater facilities in all that I desire to accomplish, than in my visit to those countries and cities ten years ago. I may also add that the Earl of Clarendon has favored me with a letter of introduction to the British Ambassadors or representatives in the several countries I may visit; and several English ladies and gentlemen whom I have met at the Paris Exhibition, who are well acquainted with the objects of art and artists in Rome and Florence, and who intend to spend the approaching winter there, have kindly offered me the benefit of their experience and local knowledge in case of my visiting those cities.

11. I am sure that no argument is necessary, to justify cr commend to public favor the additions I thus propose to make to the Educational Museum of Upper Canada. But it may serve to impress the value and importance of what is proposed, if I give a few extracts from a pamphlet kindly forwarded to me at Paris, through Mr. Hincks, by the Earl of Elgin. This pamphlet consists of an address lately delivered by C. H. Wilson, Esq., at Glasgow, "On the formation of Provincial Museums and Works of Art,"-a subject on which a deep interest is being felt in various cities of both England and Scotland. Mr. Wilson remarks

"There is no difficulty in carrying out this idea. The museums of Europe furnish the means; casts can be had of the busts of great men of nearly every age, and at a cost which renders it easy to form such a collection, and the youth proceeding from his class-rooms, might pass through an avenue of images of the great, the learned, the benefactors of mankind. Students occupied with history, might see each page illustrated by the ancients themselves-Grecian history by Greeks, Roman history by the Romans. The arms, dresses, instruments, utensils, in fine, nearly everything which is thought so important to read about in our seminaries of learning, might be rendered as familiar to the eyes of the students as the description of them is to their thoughts, and this without difficulty, and at a cost which is absolutely trifling, when the benefits to be conferred are estimated. Whilst truer ideas on these subjects would thus be formed, taste, and that appreciation of the arts which ought to be an accompaniment of civilization, would take the place of that absence of both which we are painfully called upon to acknowledge.

"When museums are spoken of, I have no doubt thoughts instantly cross the minds of all, of rare and precious marbles and bronzes, of costly pictures by the great masters, and of other works of art of equal rarity and value, and it may be that this idea of museums deters from all attempts to form them, seeing that the cost of such collections is so great; but I look at the whole subject from a totally different point of view, from one which, instead of presenting us with the prospect of an outlay which it would be hopeless to attempt to meet, renders a collection of works of art of standard excellence comparatively easy and economical. It is desirable to preserve the original and precious works of art in a great central museum in the

14. It cannot but be desired by all that the treasures of European art should be rendered accessible to all parts of our rising and noble country, as are the treasures of European science and literature. I have the honor to be, sir,

(Signed,)

Your most obedient servant,

Provincial Secretary, Toronto.

E. RYERSON.

APPENDIX TO THE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT'S LETTER.

(Copy.)

A.

metropolis, and it seems reasonable that the power and wealth
of the nation should be principally concentrated upon its central
collection; yet provincial museums should be furnished with
casts of sculpture, copies of pictures, electrotypes of bronzes,
and such transcripts or imitations of other works of art as could
most readily be made in the central establishment. By means
of casts all the beauty of form of the original is rendered with
such perfect fidelity, that they may be termed in every respect, The Hon. G. E. Cartier, M.P.P.,
except material, duplicates of the original works. This system.
has been acted upon in Berlin; and the suggestion which I had
the pleasure of submitting to the Royal Scottish Society of Arts
in 1836, has been completely realized by Monsieur D'Olfers,
the director of the Gallery at Berlin, to whom the same idea
had occurred, and who has been enabled by the liberality of his
government to form the most perfect collection of casts in the
world, illustrating the whole history of art during a period of
300 years. By a process which he was so good as to describe
to me, these casts have been rendered durable, their appearance
much improved, and their resemblance to the original works
increased. Preserved in a series of halls, quite unsurpassed in
beauty and fitness, they are chronologically arranged, and cer-
tainly form one of the most perfect and interesting series exist-
ing. The electrotype process, by which statues and other works
in metal may be copied in provincial museums, in a perfectly
satisfactory manner and at a very moderate cost, is another apt
and economical method of furnishing provincial museums with
faithful copies of fine works of art."

12. To promote these objects in Upper Canada in ever so humble a degree, will confer a public benefit, and will, I have no doubt, bo duly appreciated,-more especially when it is considered, that I had first collected and rendered accessible to every municipality in Upper Canada, publications and suggestions for the improvement of school architecture, school apparatus of every description, and the best books for libraries that are published in both Europe and America. And a very considerable proportion of the collection I am now making, consists of specimens or models of objects connected with the pursuits of every day life. But in providing for the indispensable and the necessary, we ought not to overlook what is instructive and refining, agreeable and delightful, by creating a taste and encouraging the cultivation of those arts which are the conservators and living souvenirs of the thoughts and passions of nations, and which are regarded as the just expression of the civilization of a people.

13. One of the most serious embarrassments which I experience, is in the selection of objects-being restricted, for the most part, to those of cabinet size, by our limited space, and to those of very moderate price, by my limited means.

But if

this first and humble effort to introduce into Upper Canada a public collection of objects of both the fine and practical arts, meets with approval, I have no doubt but larger means will be provided for purposes so useful and elevating, and so truly national. For what I do, I purpose to render national by the following means:-1. By having the Museum gratuitously open following means:—1. By having the Museum gratuitously open to the public, at least certain days of the week. 2. By making such arrangements with the parties concerned, in each city or town where I make purchases, that I can hereafter procure any of the same things for any municipality or educational or other public institution in Upper Canada desiring them. 3. By affording the information by which any individual in Canada may procure the same and kindred objects.

Memoranda on the supply of Instruments for the Canadian

Grammar Schools.

1. The instruments are to be-Barometer, Air Thermometer, Evaporation or wet bulb Thermometer, Rain Guage and Measure, Wind Vane, with suitable books for Registration, and forms for periodical returns.

2. It is desirable that maximum and minimum Thermometers be added at each station, and there must be standard Barometers and Thermometers at the Normal School, unless the work of Comparison and verification be performed at the Observatory; even then standard Thermometers should be furnished.

3. To allow for inevitable breakage, whether it be paid for by the parties or not, a considerable surplus stock must be provided, so that interruptions in the Registry be as short and unfrequent as possible.

Aneroid Barometers.

4. Until there are better means of conveyance to the more remote districts, Aneroid Barometers may be sufficient. The extension of railways and other engineering operations will soon supply all data required for levels; the diurnal laws of Barometric changes are well determined for Canada. The chief remaining object of Barometric observation, viz: to define the limits of atmospheric disturbances, and elucidate the laws of storms, may be attained by observations of the Aneroid. These will be purchased at a lower rate in Paris than in London; but the graduation in English inches must be specially ordered. I should recommend thirty. Wherever they can be conveyed with safety the mercurial Barometer should be preferred, not only for its greater accuracy and delicacy, but because its construction illustrates physical laws in a very instructive manner, and so is always useful to lecturers and schoolmasters. The risk of getting them from Paris is however, so great that I strongly recommend their purchase from Green of New York, maker to the Smithsonian Institute, unless a Paris or London maker will undertake to deliver them; and it would answer well to make

him, for an extra payment, deliver them at the stations. He would and a skilful person, whose expenses would have to be paid, but they would then be secured, if he wont do this, two persons should be sent for them; travelling is so cheap, that this precaution will add but little to the cost, none but those this precaution will add but little to the cost, none but those who have had experience, know the fearful casualities among barometers sent otherwise. There should be twenty of them. Standard Thermometers.

5. Fastré aîné Rue de l'ecole Polytechnique 3, the maker to M. Regneault, and the College de France is the maker I should recommend in Paris, Negretti in London.