Of the impressions made upon his mind by what he saw of the scholastic establishments of Europe, we' have the following general summary:

"In the course of this tour I have seen many things to deplore, and many to admire. I have visited countries where there is no national system of education at all, and countries where the minutest details of the schools are regulated by law. I have seen schools in which each word and process, in many lessons, was almost overloaded with explanation and commentary; and many schools in which 400 or 500 children were obliged to commit to memory, in the Latin language, the entire book of Psalms and other parts of the Bible,-neither teachers nor children understanding a word of the language which they were prating. I have seen countries, in whose schools all forms of corporal punishment were used without stint or measure; and I have visited one nation, in whose excellent and well-ordered schools scarcely a blow has been struck for more than a quarter of a century. On reflection, it seems to me that it would be most strange if, from all this variety of system and of no-system, of sound instruction and of babbling, of the discipline of violence and of moral means, many beneficial hints for our warning or our imitation, could not be derived; and as the subject comes clearly within the purview of my duty, 'to collect and diffuse information respecting schools,' I venture to submit to the Board some of the results of my observations.

On the one hand, I am certain that the evils to which our own system is exposed, or under which it now labors, exist in some foreign countries, in a far more aggravated degree than among ourselves; and if we are wise enough to learn from the experience of others, rather than await the infliction consequent upon our own errors, we may yet escape the magnitude and formidableness of those calamities under which some other communities are now suffering.

On the other hand, I do not hesitate to say, that there are many things abroad which we, at home, should do well to imitate; things, some of which are here, as yet, mere matters of speculation and theory, but which, there, have long been in operation, and are now producing a harvest of rich and abundant blessings." pp. 71-2.

And again:

"Throughout my whole tour, no one principle has been more frequently exemplified than this-that wherever I have found the best institutions-educational, reformatory, charitable, penal or otherwisethere I have always found the greatest desire to know how similar institutions were administered among ourselves; and where I have found the worst, there I have found most of the spirit of self-complacency, and even an offensive disinclination to hear of better methods." pp. 73-4.

The subjects of inquiry to which he more particularly directed his attention, during this tour, were the following: "The examination of schools, school-houses, school systems, apparatus and modes of teaching, has b en my first object, at all times

and places. Under the term 'schools,' I here include all elementary schools, whether public or private; all Normal schools; schools for teaching the blind and the deaf and dumb; schools for the reformation of juvenile offenders; all charity foundations for educating the children of the poor, or of criminals, and all orphan establishments-of which last class there are such great numbers on the continent. When practicable and useful, I have visited gymnasia, colleges and universities; but as it is not customary in these classes of institutions to allow strangers to be present at recitations, I have had less inducement to see them." p. 74.

We have a highly interesting account given of the method adopted in Prussia, Saxony and Holland, of teaching the deaf and dumb to speak by the utterance of articulate sounds. The first step taken is to convince the child that he breathes. The process of doing so is particularly described. The next thing is to convince him of the fact of sounds, and of their effect and value. The third is to instruct him in the nature of the elementary sounds. Of these the letter h, being an aspirate, is first taught, and then the vowel sounds:

"Here it is obvious that the teacher must be a perfect master of the various sounds of the language, and of the positions into which all the vocal organs must be brought in order to enunciate them. All the combined and diversified motions and positions of lips, teeth, tongue, uvula, glottis, windpipe, and so forth, must be as familiar to him, as the position of keys or chords to the performer on the most complicated musical instrument. For this purpose, all the sounds of the language, and of course all the motions and positions of the organs necessary to produce them, are reduced to a regular series or gradation. The variations requisite for the vowel sounds, are formed into a regular sequence, and a large table is prepared in which the consonant sounds are arranged in a scientific order. To indicate the difference between a long and a short sound, a long sound is uttered accompanied by a slow motion of the hand, and then a short sound of the same vowel accompanied by a quick motion.

As the pupil has no ear, he cannot, strictly speaking, be said to learn sounds: he only learns motions and vibrations, the former by the eye, the latter by the touch. The parties being seated as I have before described, so that the light shines full upon the teacher's face, one of the pupil's hands is placed upon the teacher's throat, while he is required at the same time to look steadfastly at the teacher's mouth. The simplest sound of the vowel a is now uttered and repeated, by the teacher. He then applies the pupil's other hand to his (the pupil's) throat, and leads him to enunciate sounds until the vibrations produced in his own throat, resemble those which had been produced by the utterance of the teacher. At this stage of the instruction, the pupil understands perfectly what is desired; and, therefore, he perseveres with effort after effort, until, at last, perhaps after a hundred or five hundred trials, he hits the exact sound, when, conscious of the same vibration in his own organs, which he had before

felt in those of the teacher, at the same moment that the teacher also recognizes the utterance of the true sound, their countenances glow into each other with the original light of joy, and not only is a point gained in the instruction which will never be lost, but the pupil is animated to renewed exertions." p. 77.

All this is surprising, but the effects produced are still more so. Facts and anecdotes, in this connection, are given:

"In some of the cities which I visited, the pupils who had gone through with a course of instruction at the deaf and dumb school were employed as artisans or mechanics, earning a competent livelihood, mingling with other men, and speaking and conversing like them. In the city of Berlin, there was a deaf and dumb man, named Habermaas, who was so famed for his correct speaking, that strangers used to call to see him. These he would meet at the door, conduct into the house, and enjoy their surprise when he told them that he was Habermaas. A clergyman of high standing and character, whose acquaintance I formed in Holland, told me that when he was one of the religious instructors of the deaf and dumb school at Groningen, he took a foreign friend one day to visit it; and when they had gone through the school, his friend observed, that that school was very well, but that it was the deaf and dumb school which he had wished to see. Were it not for the extraordinary case of Laura Bridgman-which has compelled assent to what would formerly have been regarded as a fiction or a miracle-I should hardly venture to copy an account of the two following cases from the work of Mr. Moritz Hill, the accomplished instructor of the deaf and dumb school at Weissenfels. They refer to the susceptibility of cultivation of the sense of touch, which he asserts to be generally very acute in the deaf and dumb. The importance of this will be readily appreciated, when we consider how essential light is to the power of reading language upon the lips and the muscles of the face. In darkness, the deaf and dumb are again cut off from that intercourse with humanity which has been given to them by this beneficent instruction. Mr. Hill gives an account of a girl, whose facility in reading from the lips was so remarkable, that she could read at a great distance, by an artificial light, and even with very little light. She was found to be in the habit of conversing in the night with a maid-servant, after the light was extinguished. And this was done only by placing her hand upon the naked breast of her companion. The other case was that of a boy, who could read the lips by placing his hand upon them in the dark, in the same way that Laura reads the motions of another's fingers in the hollow of her own hand. Mr. Hill also mentions instances in which the facility acquired is so great, that the motions of the face can be read by the deaf and dumb when only a side view of the countenance can be obtained, and, consequently, only a partial play of the muscles is seen." p. 79.

The reasons assigned by the Germans for preferring the method of teaching the deaf and dumb to speak by the voice rather than by signs, are, that oral communication is more

consistent with nature, and more convenient, than the language of signs; that the pupils can attain to very considerable fluency in the use of it; that it renders those who employ it more susceptible of further instruction, and more capable of imparting what they know to others; and that, by restoring common links of communication between themselves and their race, it humanizes their character. These conclusions are the result of experience. They, therefore, in their schools, prohibit the employment of pantomimic signs in teaching, and enforce the constant use of the voice alone. Mr. Mann tells us that after a few lessons are given, the pupils manifest the most intense desire to learn more. This he attributes to the natural fondness for knowledge which belongs to our race, but more particularly to the fact, that the teachers arrange all the subjects of their instruction in a scientific order, and communicate from the beginning only distinct and luminous ideas. They adopt a mild, gentle and affectionate manner in teaching, in order to secure the requisite degree of attention.

The instruction of the deaf and dumb has, as Mr. Mann acutely remarks, rendered quite obsolete that old doctrine of the Common Law laid down by Lord Coke, Fitzherbert and others, and recorded by Sir William Blackstone in vol. i., book 1 and chap. 8 of his Commentaries, as follows:

"A man who is born deaf, dumb and blind, is looked upon by the law as in the same state with an idiot; he being supposed incapable of any understanding, as wanting all those senses which furnish the human mind with ideas." p. 82.

This discovery is a great triumph for humanity, and affords evidence stronger than any professions, of the real advancement of the age. Facts are worth a thousand brave assertions.

Is a universal, preferable to a partial, system of education? Mr. Mann thinks it is. There is much involved in the question-more than, at first view, may be imagined. What does the question mean? In Europe, it has a different signification from what it has in this country. There, it has reference to national-here, to State education. There is no nation in this country, unless each State be a nation, and for all the purposes of education, it must be admitted that each State is a nation. The General Government has no control whatever over the subject of education. Each State

has a right-a reserved right, to do whatever it thinks proper in relation to this matter. It admits no control, it acknowledges no responsibility, on the subject of education. National universities are national castles in the air, as far as the Constitution is concerned. The question in the United States then is,-Are State systems of education preferable to those established by private individuals? Mr. Mann brings from Europe some valuable information, which will enable us to settle this question, and an important one it is. In Prussia, Saxony, Holland, Scotland, Ireland, France and Belgium, there are educational establishments-systems organized by law and enforced by law. In England, there is no national system. Like religion in the United States, education in England is left to the voluntary support of the citizens. There are private institutions, but the government makes no provision for the support of schools. Where, then, are the people best educated? In those countries, as in Prussia, where a universal system prevails, or in England, where there is a partial, or no system? Let us turn. to England. The information which this Report gives in respect to the charity foundations of England and Wales, is very

curious:

"A few years ago, a parliamentary commission was instituted to inquire into the amount and state of public charities in England and Wales. The commission sat for a long time, and made most voluminous reports,-the mere digest or index of which fills two thousand three hundred and forty-one printed folio pages. From these, I select the following facts:

The annual income of the charity funds for schools is set down in these reports at £312.545; but some schools, very richly endowed, were not included in the investigation, and, in conversation with several most intelligent men,-members of parliament and others,-I found their opinions to be, that, as the respective amounts of the charity funds were rendered by persons who had an interest in undervaluing them, the above aggregate was doubtless much below their real value; and that probably £500,000 would be a moderate estimate of their total annual income. This is equivalent to almost two million five hundred thousand dollars of our money. It is easy to see that, if this sum were consolidated, and then distributed on principles of equality, it would be productive of incomputable good. Yet in a country where such splendid endowments for the cause of education have been made, and their income is now annually disbursed, there are, according to the estimate of a late British writer, more than a million and a half of children of a suitable age to attend school, who are left in a condition of complete ignorance.'

The following are instances of the present mode of distributing the income of the abovementioned funds,-the country and town