a good philosophizer of his facts; and for a thoroughly earnest book we do not know of one more entirely trivial and empty than this. The humor is of the kind that we are glad to get from the pulpit, but that we do not find it so easy to smile at on week-days, and the eloquence has the loose texture of sermons. Neither the past nor the present of India is sufficient to make the author say anything not perfectly expected and commonplace; but with the help of the beautiful pictures of Saracenic and Hindoo architecture, the descriptions of certain tombs and temples becomes agreeable reading. What is the oddest thing is, that in the vast empire, which we have always supposed to be teeming with millions of native popu lation, Dr. Macleod seems to have seen only three or four Indians.

Report on Education. By JOHN W. HOYT, United States Commissioner to the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. Washing. ton: Government Printing-Office. 1870.

MORE than fifty pages octavo of this able Report are given to a general comparative review of the state of education of every one of the European nations, and of Brazil, the Argentine Republic, Hawaii, the Canadian Provinces, and the United States of America. It may surprise some of us to know that the United States by no means bears the palm, in the proportion of public appropriations, for even the primary education, nor in the proportion of the comparative number of children educated; but must yield this at least to all the German States, to Scandinavia, Holland, and Switzerland. That the superior education is beyond all comparison in Europe has been always conceded; but we have generally supposed ourselves beyond all nations in the diffusion of primary education, which term in this Report includes what we call the grammar schools.

To say nothing of Prussia, with its 25,000 primary schools alone, in Saxony, with a population of 2,000,000, 331,854 pupils are in the primary schools. In Baden, with a population of 1,500,000, there are 15,000 primary schools. Ninety-four per cent of the children of the German provinces of Austria are in the primary schools. In the canton of Berne, whose population is 500,000 (less than that of the city of New York), there are 13,393 primary schools, as

well as thirty high schools, five gymnasia, six normal schools, one real (or practical) school, two cantonal schools, and one university, besides one hundred and forty-four private institutions. In Zug, with a population of 2,000, there are forty-five primary schools, besides a university, and thirty-nine superior schools, of which only five are pri

vate.

But it is not the comparative number of educational opportunities that is most noticeable in this comparative review, but the quality of the schools, as shown in the comparison of the courses of study and methods of teaching. Instead of being confined to reading, writing, and mental arithmetic, as most of our country primary schools are, singing and logical exercises (that is, careful oral exercises in the power of expressing what is impressed by a superintended observation) are included in the teaching of all below eight years of age; and in the grade of schools corresponding to our so-called grammar schools, geometry, drawing, the science of music, gymnastics, history, geog. raphy, and natural history are always included in the course.

;

Nor is it even by enumerating the things taught that we can fully estimate the superior quality of European primary education, but we must consider the quality of the teachers; for, as Dr. Hoyt says, "the excellence of whatever schools are excellent, of whatever grade they may be, and wherever found, is to be traced to the provisions made for competent teachers" and he adds: "Economically considered, the expense of furnishing first-class teachers to schools otherwise poorly equipped is small as compared with schools in other respects well provided, but falling into the hands of incompetent instructors; since the one may, to a considerable extent, supplement every other lack, while the other will assuredly pervert what he does not know how to use."

"The first movement in the German States for the careful preparation of teachers was made directly in the interest of primary instruction; and the foresight that decided upon the qualification of teachers for this grade of schools is justified by the results to every other, the office of teacher, from the highest to the lowest, having become professional, permanent, remunerative, and respectable."

"To make it professional, and to give high tone as such in addition to the acquirements demanded of those who aspire to the

office of teacher, tests are adopted to ascertain the natural aptitudes of candidates for this profession, without which the wider range of scholarship may be comparatively valueless; and it is the practice to discourage all such persons as are tempted to teach as a resource, after failing in other pursuits."

"After having been accepted as candidates for normal training, each student is requested to verify, from time to time during the entire course of several years, his practical ability to make the instructions given him available to the uses intended; and any failure in this puts an end to further preparation for an office the individual is not likely to fill acceptably."

"When graduated from the instructions of the most accomplished teachers of the kingdom, a yet further test of one year, as the assistant of an accredited master, is necessary to gain the coveted position; and a failure in any particular here insures the profession riddance of so much incompetency; no attempt to make up for such failure being ever permitted in a State institution; and no such person being ever admitted to the staff of public-school instructors! Nor ought it to be omitted that any discreditable conduct, any discoverable tendency to moral delinquencies, anything but the tone and practice of a Christian gentleman, is in itself a disqualification for preparation or practice in this art of arts, so cherished and environed by the combined watchfulness of state, church, and people. "Slowly and surely this trio has co-operated to raise the standard and improve the methods of qualifying teachers, to the end that the primary instruction of advancing years might keep pace with the growth of national prosperity and the demands of civilization." And "when all is done, and every test is satisfied, the installation of a teacher into the sacred duties of his office is made the occasion of a civil and religious ceremonial, in which the honor conferred is bound to be that of a lifelong and beloved profession."

"Of course, the wisdom of the authorities also provides for the contingencies of withdrawal from the service, when the best good of either the individual or the public demand it"; and for the support of those who have spent their lives in this public service.

"Such is the system in Prussia, and, with

slight modification, in other of the German and Scandinavian States, for qualifying, retaining, and dignifying the teachers of their primary schools"; and Dr. Hoyt contrasts it with our “almost universal habit of placing the children of our country school districts under the school management of quite young," and he should say quite untrained,

persons of either sex, because they have given, at the hastily passed over examinations, some 'smart' answers, and because they can be had cheap,” which he justly characterizes as "execrable."

"Placing children in their most plastic conditions of soul and body, with every nerve and sense and faculty keenly alive to impressions, under the tuition of mere children themselves, so far as fitness for this duty comes of experience and matured observation, is a crime against the child who is the subject of it, in comparison to which allowing the child to grow up unlettered is excusable. There is no crusade that could be inaugurated in behalf of childhood and its rights so holy as a combination against such practices. Better, a thousand - fold better, send out this army of innocents, children whose early years are not merely defrauded of their most sacred rights, but perverted to irremediable results, to spend their school-days amid the novelties and interesting objects of nature; and while they at least invigorate their bodies, let the empty school-houses of the land bear the inscription, Poor teachers worse than no teach ers.'

We have let Dr. Hoyt plead for himself the value of his Report by the above extracts, in order to attract to it the attention of those of our readers who have a voice in the election of school committees, and especially those who are ever themselves elected to discharge the duties of committees. We hope these will send to the members of Congress for copies of what should be spread broadcast over our land, and carefully studied, especially at this moment, when Mr. Prosser's speech in the last Congress has brought to view the appalling state of things in many sections of the United States with respect to the deficiency of educational opportunities, and Mr. Hoar's bill for a national compulsory education to supplement the shortcomings of the State provisions is coming up for debate.