DEVICES IN PRIMARY ARITHMETIC. Mental gymnastics are as exhilarating and strengthening to the mind as bodily gymnastics are to the muscles. Arithmetic furnishes many and various exercises by which the mind may learn to act with surprising facility. From the lowest to the highest grade, tact and skill on the part of the teacher will make these exercises of intense interest to the pupil. A few moments spent in this way may be made to furnish enthusiasm for the remainder of the day; and a school without enthusiasm is like food without salt. The following are a few of the devices I use in spare moments-when ready too soon for recess; when the interest in other lessons has lagged; when Friday afternoon exercises do not occupy the full time; or whenever we need a general stirring up. No The game of questioning is begun by one pupil taking the floor, and each pupil in the room or class asking him a question. pupil must ask a question he cannot answer himself. As the pupil answers each question the teacher hands him a ticket made of paper or card-board, or else keeps count of each pupil's answers on paper or black-board. If the pupil on the floor cannot give the answer required, the questioner answers, takes his place, and the game goes on. The pupil having the greatest number of tickets or marks wins the game. One little boy, accused of working his problem on his slate, said, "Why, I don't know how to work it on my slate; I had to use my head." The ring game keeps the attention of every one, and requires quick work. A large circle is drawn on the board and numbers beginning with 1 and running as high as you desire, are written just inside the circumference. small circle is inscribed, and within this is written +, X, +, = A smaller circle in A the center of this one contains the number you wish to work with. For an illustration, we will place 5 in the inner circle. Taking the pointer, we point to the five, to one of the signs, say X, then to a number in the outer circle, say 11, to the sign-, to 4 in outer circle, to, and then name the pupil who is to answer. He is to tell that 5x11-4-51. Never name the pupil until you are ready for the answer, as you desire the attention of all. Send a pupil to the board. Allow him to choose a rival. Give them an example. The one that gets the correct answer first remains at the board, the other one taking his The mute game is carried on in this manner: The teacher holds up four fingers, then makes X with two fore fingers, holds up three fingers, by holding a fore-finger horizontally, holds up five fingers, then = by fore and middle fingers horizontally. The pupils give answers by using the fingers. then Of course, the beginners, who are learning that three balls and two balls are five balls, give just such simple examples, but they are allowed to take part in the game, and, sometimes, if we play entirely for their benefit, we start with a little one on the floor, and in that case, no one is to give any combination exceeding ten. Do you think this ends in the class-room? Or have you seen the delighted expression of the boy's face, who, upon meeting a companion, exclaims, "Frank, I've a hard one for you to-day?" Frank is equally delighted if he is successful in giving the right answer. In the third year grade, problems like these are often brought in: 4x 13, double, take away 12, then add 5. I had $1; I spent of it for a hat, bought sugar for 25 cents, apples for 25 cents, paper for 5 cents, candy for 5 cents; how much am I in debt? Not every one in the grade is able to solve all problems brought in, but if you doubt the increased mental activity such an exercise will bring about, and have not already tried such a device, give it a trial, and be prepared to be surprised at the results. If the pupils are large enough to do written work, one or more may be sent to the board to write 4×3-5-7. No word is spoken while going through this exercise. Where the work is not written by the pupils, the teacher nods or shakes her head, according to whether the answers are right or wrohg, and then puts the work on the board for the pupils to see. "Follow where I lead" is an old exercise, but a good one. The teacher gives a problem of several combinations, the pupils following and giving the result at the end. Give the problem but once. They will soon learn to hear the first time when they know it is the only time. In this it is necessary to begin slowly at first, and with short examples; thus, 6+2-4, double it what? In a short time you can give longer and more difficult problems, and soon may find many of your pupils able to follow as rapidly as you can lead.— Ohio Ed. Monthly. BOOK TABLE. He -THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY, by William James, (Henry Holt and Co., 2 Vols., 689 and 704 pp.; $6.00) will, we feel certain, awaken new interest and zeal in all students of philosophy who may be so fortunate as to read it. It is a remarkably rich, fresh and inspiring treatise. Every chapter is replete with information and suggestions which reveal the many-sidedness and wide range of the subjects under discussion. Those who go to a text for sharp cocksure statements of conclusions will be dismayed at such a book. The author seems to see all sides of his subject. delights to turn it over and look at it again and again in a new light. He holds no brief to defend any doctrine, and finds stimulus and zest in open problems. Moreover, he possesses the literary instinct, and surprises the reader with deftly turned phrases, and pat but unexpected comparisons. We often detect the twinkle in his eye, and are surprised into a laugh. So we say that this professor is not a dry-asdust, while we are compelled to conclude that he is a philosopher, and one who keeps close to his work. His position is that of a scientist. He now and then plays with metaphysical problems, but his serious work is in other regions. The book," he tells us, "rejects both the associationist and the spiritualist theories; and in this strictly positivistic point of view consists the only feature of it for which I feel tempted to claim originality." But when he includes the discussion of necessary truths in his treatise and pronounces the theory of associated ideas 'metaphysics' fragmentary, irresponsible, and half awake, and unconscious that she is metaphysical" we are compelled to ask what metaphysics is. The order of topics is also unique. Of course the physiological considerations come first, but are followed by discussion of the theories of mind. Then we have the stream of thought, consciousness, attention, conception, discrimination, memory, sensation, (and surely this is a surprise,) imagination, the perception of things, space and reality, instinct, emotions and will. The author regrets the length of the book, which the reader will not, since it is such a storehouse of facts and suggestions; but the omission of all treatment of pleasure and pain and of the moral and aesthetic emotions and judgments is cause for regret and for anticipating a separate treatment of them at some future time. For advanced students in psychology we know of no book which can compare with this in power to inform, to stimulate, and to put in right relations of thought to the great subjects which it discusses. -OUTLINES OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY, a text-book of mental science for Academies and Colleges, by George Trumbull Ladd, (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons. 505 pp. $2,00) Prof. Ladd's great work, "Elements of Physiological Psychology," published in 1887, was the first to place before American students a systematic and tolerably complete account of the present status of this rapidly advancing science. It was promptly recognized by scholars all over the world as a standard authority on the subject, and is still the best in the English language. The extent of that work, and the multiplicity of details necessarily accumulated in it, render it unsuitable for a class text-book in the subject. The author has therefore prepared this shorter work as a text-book. It is not an abridgment or revision of the other, but an independent treatise. The subject necessarily involves special knowledge of two sciences, physiology and psychology, and Prof. Ladd gives more attention to the first in the beginning of his book and to the second in its latter part. Thus he treats of the chemical composition of nerve matter; of the structure and development of the nervous system and of the organs of sense and motion; of the reflex and automatic nervous functions; of the sensory and motor functions of the cerebral hemispheres. The quality and quantity of sensations are next studied, perception by the senses, and the time relations of mental phenomena. The later chapters are devoted to feelings, emotions, consciousness, memory, will, the connection of body and mind and the nature of mind. Prof. Ladd's position on the last subject he states as follows: "We regard the following statement, then, as justified: The development of mind can only be explained as the progressive manifestation in consciousness of a real being, which, although taking its start and direction from the action of the physical elements of the body proceeds to unfold powers that are sui generis, according to laws of its own." To the statement that this conclusion makes it impossible to comprehend the connection of mind and body he replies: "This is true-as true and mysterious-of the subjects with which physiological psychology deals as of those considered by other forms of science.' The book is clear, compact, admirably conceived and thoroughly executed in every part; its spirit is scientific and conservative; and it is the only text now available for instruction in this subject, a text however, so excellent that it is likely to remain for a long time in possession of the field. -THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK for 1890 is a bulky volume of more than eleven hundred pages. The following features of it attract special attention: It contains a large number of Besides views and plans of school buildings in the state. such institutions as we look for in the Wisconsin report we note full reports of the Indian Schools on the reservations of the state; on uniform examinations for county certificates; on state scholarships in Cornell University; on teachers' training classes; on arbor day; on the nautical school; and on teachers' institutes. The latter contains full reports of various conductors, several institute programs, a syllabus of the state institute course in drawing, and statistical tables. Over three hundred pages of the volume are devoted to an appendix, which contains (1) a full report of the proceedings of the State Teachers' Association; (2) a detailed account of Prussian elementary schools; (3) Sup't Draper's address on The Authority of the State in the Education of her Children; (4) the proceedings of the state council of superintendents; and (5) minutes of "The Society of Associated Teachers of the City of New York" 1794. A specially interesting feature of the arbor day report is the report of a committee awarding a prize for the best kept school grounds (rural) with plans and photographs. -SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH PROSE FROM ELIZABETH TO VICTORIA, by James M. Garnett, (Ginn & Co.; 701 pp.; $1.65,) was prepared as a book of samples to accompany a manual of English literature. Thirty-three authors are represented, each by at least one extract of considerable length, some by two or three. It may be said "better go to the works of these men," but every teacher of literature is confronted by the fact that the great body of his pupils cannot have access to the numerous volumes implied in the remark. Moreover, for critical study in order to appreciate the justness and value of the criticism which the manual offers these extracts are more useful than the original volumes would be. One does not care to read all of John Lyly, Thomas Fuller, Sir William Temple, or many other worthies of whose work in the development of English thought and the English language, he may desire to have some knowledge. Therefore, as it seems to us, there is a place and a very useful one, for such compilations as this. It has been well made. The selections are judicious, and the general student of literature has reason to be grateful to the teacher who has culled for him so well in a field so large and in parts of so little promise. -OPEN SESAME; POETRY AND PROSE FOR SCHOOL DAYS, edited by Blanche Wilder Bellamy, and Maud Wilder Goodwin, (Ginn & Co. Vol. II., 376 pp.; Vol. III., 361 pp.; each 90c.) in its magical name suggests the purpose of the editors, to make the volumes a means of opening to young minds the treasure house of literature. The first volume of the series sought to meet the tastes of children from four to ten or twelve years of age; the second volume is adapted to those from ten to fourteen; and the third to those older than fourteen. The selections are classified under several departments; as Sentiment and Story; Art and Nature; Loyalty and Heroism; Song and Laughter; Holidays and Holy Days; etc. The larger portion of the selections are poetical, but poetry and prose alike are, as they should be, of a very high order of merit, without being beyond the range of the readers for whom the books are intended. The books are full of delightful reading, such as will form a taste for good literature, and we can conceive of nothing better for a boy or girl than to take one of these volumes to heart and live in it until it forms him after its own model. -THE NORMAL COURSE IN READING-FIFTH Reader, by Emma J. Todd and W. B. Powell, (Silver, Burdette & Co.; 511 pp.) completes an admirable series. Like its predecessors it keeps in view and endeavors to contribute to various departments of school work. We have a series of scientific reading lessons, devoted to to the phenomena of nature and to plant and animal life. These are followed by lessons in history and patriotism; and the purely literary lessons in the next part are of two sorts, the miscellaneous selections, and the illustrative extracts in which seven authors are represented, each by several selections, and one or more of these is analyzed suggestively to help the young reader in appreciating its art. Finally, part six, “Literary Notes and Suggestions," gives an account of twenty-five authors, selections from whom are found in the volume. This bare statement shows how varied are the contents and how original is the plan. The editors have made a series which places the reader in organic relation with the different lines of shool work, and makes it, as it ought to be, the center and fountain head of all the instruction. -PHILOSOPHY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, by Greenough White, (Ginn & Co. 66 pp.; 35c.) though brief is a vigorous, rich and suggestive essay. The author, who is not only thoroughly at home with our earlier literature, but also a discerning critic, shows that American literature from very early times was not a feeble echo of English thought, but a veritable product of our soil, reflecting truthfully the spirit and life of the people among whom it originated. He sketches effectively the periods of national growth, and with quick, strong touches shows how completely this literature expresses them. There is more of insight and suggestiveness in this brief sketch than in some large volumes upon our literature. -GOOD NIGHT POETRY, compiled by Wendell P. Garrison, (Ginn & Co. 143 pp.; 70c.) has moral training in view as its purpose. The compiler suggests that bed time is especially adapted for moral instruction, and good poetry, which may be heard again and again with pleasure, because of its perfect form, and may even be committed to memory with delight, is one of the best means. What he has selected is thoroughly excellent as literature, and those who are looking for "memory gems" for children which will refine their tastes and elevate their thoughts, will find this book a treasure. -THE BOSTON HERALD PRIZE SCHOLARSHIP, (Boston Herald, 50 pp.) gives a detailed account of the prize offered for English Composition to graduating students in New England preparatory schools, and of the disappointing results. We are here given not only the criticism of the judges to whom the 220 essays were submitted, but specimens of the compositions which justify their verdict. Herald did a service to sound education by its offer, and its full and honest publication of the results. The work of the schools ought to be greatly improved by this candid criticism of its products. The -THE BIBLE ABRIDGED, for Families and Schools, arranged by Rev. David G. Hoskins, (D. C. Heath & Co. 399 pp. $1.50) is distinctly a theological text-book. By this we mean that the selections have been made not as historical narratives, nor as literature, but as related to religious dogma. To the Old Testament 155 pages are given, and to the New 244, the gospel narratives being blended into one. -FROM COLONY TO COMMONWEALTH, by Nina Moore Tiffany, (Ginn & Co. 100 pp.; 70c.) follows 'Pilgrims and Puritans" by the same author. As that was devoted to early colony days, so this is occupied with the events leading up to and opening the revolutionary war, to the evacuation of Boston by the British. The narrative is fresh and well adapted for young readers. -Ginn & Co. have added to their excellent series of "Classics for Children," Sir Walter Scott's OLD MORTALITY, (504 pp.: 70c.) The work is unabridged, and is supplied with brief notes at the foot of the page and a glossary at the close of the volume. -The first two extant books of Quintus Curtius' HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT have been edited for sight reading by Harold N. Fowler. (Ginn & Co. 96 pp.; 30c.). Prof. Greenough's introduction illustrates the modus operandi of reading at sight. -FABLES AND FOLK STORIES, Part II., by Horace E. Scudder, is the last issue of the "Riverside Literature Series." It is admirably adapted to the tastes of the youngest readers. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 15c.) -The Talleyrand Memoirs in the Century are awakening wide interest, and will certainly give rise to renewed interest in his time. We shall see books and articles in great numbers inspired by these papers. LITERARY NOTES. -Harper's Magazine for February is noteworthy for the interest of its geographical papers. Charles Dudley Warner writes of The Heart of the Desert which lies this side of California, in New Mexico and Arizona, a veritable land of wonders as his vivid descriptions show. Mr. Child has left Chile and takes the reader with him iu a trip through Smyth's Channel and the Strait of Magellan. Two striking illustrated articles on Finland interest the reader in a little known country; and Rev John Hurst's article on English Writers in India, telling of the residences of Francis Reynolds, Macualay and Thackeray in that country, is geographical as well as biographical. The annual report of the Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia for 1889, contains a very interesting sketch of the great changes made in the city schools since the establishment of the superintendency, by the adoption of uniform revised courses of study, the establishment of supervising principals, of uniform and systematic examinations, of the manual training school, the introduction of sewing and cooking into the schools, the introduction of public kindergartens, the establishment of a pedagogical library and the development of the city normal schools. This is a wonderful advance to secure in a conservative Eastern city in the brief space of six years, and has brought well-earned fame to Supt. McAlister. Teachers of the state need to know more of the Public Museum ol the city of Milwaukee, the annual report of which is just at hand. It has valuable collections in geology, botany, anthropology, entomology, poleontology, etc., which may be very instructive to those who have a little time at their disposal when visiting the city. The museum is open to the public, free from 1 to 5:30 P. M., and 52,971 visitors are recorded the past year. -Wide Awake in its new dress and large print is wonderfully attractive. It is full of good things for young readers, wholesome, instructive and beautifully illustrated, and is the cheapest of the children's magazines-$2.40 per year. We will furnish it to our subscribers with the JOURNAL for $2.50. Do you not want it for the children? Editor W. A. Mowry, of Education, announces that he has associated with him Rev. Frank H. Kasson, and announces "within the next few months definite and specific changes and improvements may be looked for." Education has been a sturdy and vigorous monthly, and has steadily grown in vigor and worth during the five years that Mr. Mowry has conducted it. The December Academy has two articles of special interest-an account of how gymnastics is taught in Sweden by Baron Nils Posse, and a delightful sketch of the Ecole des Chartes, in Paris, an institution for training paliographers. Besides these, "What the College has a Right to Expect in English from the High School" is timely and suggestive. The last issue of the Educational Monographs, edited by Nicholas Murray Butler, is The Education of the Jews, by Henry M. Leipziger, and is a very valuable sketch of the tabernacle educational system, The Monographs cease with this issue and give place to the Educational Review. which appears under the same ediitor. The address of State Sup't A. S. Draper, of New York, before the Massachusetts Teachers' Association, "A Teaching Profession," has been issued in pamphlet form. It is a vigorous plea for professional standards. -The Report OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT of California contains many cuts of school buildings in the state; an arbor day report with programs for the celebration of the day; and a full report of the proceedings of the State Teachers' Association. The report shows a large increase in school attendance, school buildings and school property. Journal of Education AND. MIDLAND SCHOOL JOURNAL. Vol. XXI. MADISON, WIS., MARCH, 1891. No. 3. ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO JOURNAL 23 East Main Street, Madison, Wis. J. W. STEARNS, Į A. O. WRIGHT, SUBSCRIPTION institution for the feeble minded has been OF EDUCATION, prepared and introduced into the legislature. Pres. Salisbury made an address on the subject in the Senate Chamber Feb. 12, and considerable interest seems to have been awakened. It is yet too early to determine the results. EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS. PRICE $1.00 A YEAR. [Entered at the Madison postoffice as second-class mailing rates.] TABLE OF CONTENTS. EDITORIALS. - Brief Comments.-City Schools and THE SCHOOL ROOM.-Some Useful Exercises in Read- OFFICIAL Department. -A Code of Ethics for Teach ers.. BOOK TABLE. EDITORIAL. PAGE. 49-51 51-55 55-61 62-67 67-69 70 70-72 IN a late lecture on Herbert Spencer's Views of Education, Rev. R. H. Quick says: "No one despises theory who is capable of understanding it. An insight into the theory of education is capable of making the humblest teacher of children a conscious worker for the good of the human race." THE Iowa Teachers' Association adopted a resolution, which originated in the college section, to spell in the reports of the Association, thru, tho, altho. That is well; but why stop there? Are not the teachers of Wisconsin ready to adopt these reforms and some others? This is a matter in which Associations of teachers may well take the lead. THE Committee charged by the Wisconsin Teachers' Association with the duty of attending to interests in the legislature has been at work, and a bill for the establishment of an ARBOR Day ought to grow in favor with both city and country schools, and to help teachers in making programs we publish a number of appropriate selections elsewhere in this number. It is desirable to have as many pupils as possible take part in the exercises, and to that end we have gathered a number of appropriate sentiments, a poem to be recited by nine children, and in general short selections suited to pupils of different ages. Let the preparation for planting be carefully made, looking to the beautifying of the school grounds. To this end careful plans should be formed and recorded, so that they may be followed for several successive years. The festival is an excellent means of extending knowledge of trees and plants among the pupils, and of promoting an intelligent love of nature. A PHILANTHROPIC woman has a plan for a newspaper to be called "The Record of Virtue." This is to offset the disproportionate attention given to the records of crime in the daily newspapers. It is a curious fact that every great crime published in the newspapers leads to many imitations or attempts to imitate. The Police Gazette and papers of that class are the private reading of criminals. Lewd novels and sensational story papers lead boys and young men to the reform school or to prison. Why should not heroism be cultivated and imitated as well as crime? An engineer who stands by his engine in the face of almost certain death in order to save the train load of passengers, is a better figure to hold up to the gaze of youth than the highwayman who enters the train and single-handed robs all the passergers. Both deeds have actually occurred recently, but the average daily newspaper gives column to the crime and twenty lines to the heroic deed. W. CITY SCHOOLS AND COUNTRY SCHOOLS. A year ago the Boston Herald offered some prize scholarships to pupils for English composition. The prize was carried off by a little town in New Hampshire. And now the Boston people are waking up to the fact that their schools do not produce the best results. Boston public schools have long had "an admirable system," which looks well on paper and adds to the glory of the engineer who keeps the machine grinding. But it fails to grind out geniuses, which are not produced by machine methods. Our city systems of schools are all subject to this evil, that they destroy the originality of teacher and pupil and tend to reduce all to the common level of "the system." A friend, now dead, who taught in a Boston high school for many years, long ago told the writer of this that whenever she found a pupil with originality, she always found that the pupil had not been educated in Boston, but in the country. A country school with a teacher who has the power of inspiration, is the best school in the world, because it gives the greatest play for individuality. A country school with a poor teacher is the worst school in the world, because there is no system to uphold the teacher. W. HIGH SCHOOL COMMENCEMENTS. We know an academy in a distant city where the Principal employs a teacher of Rhetoric each year for the express purpose of writing the graduating essays for the students, for which the teacher receives extra pay. These productions are spoken as the pupil's own, before large audiences, and favorably reported in the newspapers as such. The school flourishes by reason of this sort of humbug. There are persons who make a business of selling essays to graduates, and who advertise extensively, but so shrewdly that few know of their existence except the persons to be benefited. Teachers who mean to be honest will do well to guard against this form of fraud. Ordinarially plagiarism can be easily detected because the essays are too perfect in language and too advanced in thought for the pupil's mind. To arrange a good commencement requires long and careful preparation. The selection of the subjects, the preliminary preparations, the criticism and rewriting of the essays or orations, and the training in elocution, especially to speak so as to be heard perfectly by a large audience, cannot be done in a hurry. It is time now that this work should be well under way. Well done, such exercises help to create public interest in the school, keep pupils longer in school with a view to graduating, furnish memories for them for later years, and give a very valuable training, all the more valuable because it is not in the line of ordinary school work. Be honest and keep your pupils honest. Let the work be their own, under your supervision and criticism, but still really their own. Give them subjects near at hand, of immediate or local interest, and in which they will be forced to rely upon something else than the cyclopedia. Teach them to be natural but earnest in style of writing and of speaking. So will the commencement be a success in the truest sense. W. CLASSICS AND CULTURE. Two European movements bearing on liberal education are now of special interestthe action regarding Greek in the Conference of Headmasters of English public schools, and the speech of the German emperor. At the conference a resolution in favor of dropping Greek as a required study for admission at Oxford and Cambridge was defeated by a very narrow margin - 31 to 29. Of course our readers know that the change indicated has been made in most American colleges for many years, and the consternation among the English conservatives over it has therefore an amusing aspect for us. The English papers have taken up the question now, and the alarm and zeal of theGrecians is very great. Prof. Freeman, the historian, says that he "cannot calmly argue the question, "-as apparently others cannot. But Greek learning would survive in England if the measure were adopted, and perhaps even gain strength. It is amazing that intelligent men fail to see that such things live by virtue of the vitality and worth there is in them and not by artificial defenses. The German emperor's address to the conference on secondary Education has been represented as an attack upon classical training. But this is to mis-represent it. Really it is an exhortation, supported by a telling array of facts, to give over cramming with learning and to make character-building the great aim of the schools. He wishes German citizens and German soldiers as the results of the schools, and he says we have instead social democrats and near sighted learned beggars. We must study hygiene so as to cease making our people nearsighted; we must give up the excessive demands of the schools, which sap the strength |