which any stream will afford as a feeder, or for any hydraulic purpose.

He must be familiar with taking specific gravity of materials for construction.

He must be familiar with the necessary calculations for water works; whether conveyed in pipes, boxes, or open raceways.

He must be familiar with calculating the height and pressure of the atmosphere.

He must be familiar with casting the height of clouds.

He must be familiar with taking and calculating latitude and longitude.

He must be familiar with taking the heights of hills and mountains with the barometer and thermometer; also, with taking extemporaneous surveys and profiles with the barometer and triangular spans. He must be qualified by practice to fix a transit line whenever required.

He must be qualified by practice to determine the variation of the needle at any time and place very nearly.

He must be qualified by practice to make a topographical survey of any district of country.

He must be qualified to change spherical areas of large districts, taken by latitude and longitude, into rectangular areas, by Mercator's method.

He must be an accurate land surveyor in theory and practice.

He must be a practical geologist, so far as to be able to make a correct report of the rocky and earthy deposits through which he lays out a canal or rail-road.

He must be so far versed in architecture, as to be enabled to direct a construction of bridges and other works of engineering in a comely style.

He must be perfectly familiar with plotting and business drafting."

This institution is under the supervision of a Board of nine Trustees, a Secretary and Treasurer, and a Faculty consisting of a President, two Vice-Presidents, and two Professors. The family of its first patron and founder have invested a handsome sum of money as a permanent endowment, and the city of Troy, where the institution is located, has given lands and buildings to an equal amount, and “its friends were never more sanguine in relation to its prospective reputation and usefulness." Such institutions are destined to become as popular in our country, as they are eminently useful. They are suited to the demands of a plain, republican people, and of an utilitarian age; nor can they be too highly recommended to the attention of philanthropic and affluent individuals, and to enlightened States, as furnishing the most efficient means of promoting the interests of the rising generation, and the welfare of the whole country. Why cannot South-Carolina sustain at least one

such institution? It is a matter well worthy the consideration of her public-spirited Legislature.

Are there any infallible indications to guide the teacher in acquiring such a knowledge of the disposition and capacity of his pupils, as will enable him to apply his instructions beneficially to all particular cases? Phrenologists tell us that there are, and if phrenology be true, it will, sooner or later, not only create an entire revolution in our systems of intellectual philosophy, but it will and must exert a decided influence upon the character of all our systems of moral and mental training. There seems to be a nearly unanimous consent, on the part of learned men, at the present day, both in Europe and America, as to the truth of the leading doctrines of this science. Notwithstanding the shafts of satire and ridicule which have been aimed at it by sceptics, its principles are said to be now ascertained and settled beyond a reasonable doubt. If this be so, the question of its controlling influence on education, in various aspects, must be fairly met by those who have the direction of the studies of the young, and the sooner it is met and answered, the better for governments and the better for society.

There is no doubt that the organization of a thorough system of State institutions of education, is a subject attended with its difficulties, but they are such as patriotism and resolution and an enlarged spirit of philanthropy will easily overcome. Some of the commissioners are of opinion that no general system of schools, upon an extensive scale, could be established, at a cost less than two or three hundred thousand dollars per annum,—an amount, the magnitude of which seems actually to alarm them, especially when taken in connection with the fact, that it would have to be "assessed in a compulsory manner upon a people, above all, independent in their opinions, and wedded to their notions and habits." There can be no question that an extensive system of State education,-if it actually come up to the standard of what such a system ought to be,-would require the annual expenditure of a much larger amount than the State has hitherto been accustomed to appropriate to purposes of education, perhaps quite as large an amount as is here suggested. But the question arises, Is this amount too large to carry out successfully the noble object in view, and is it more than the resources of a State which has, in the wealth of its citizens, abundant means to accomplish almost any public object

would justify? Is it larger than other States, whose resources are no greater, have long been in the habit of expending for the support of their schools? What are the facts? In Massachusetts,* in 1834, provision was made by law for a permanent school fund, to be limited to a million of dollars. This fund, in 1839, amounted to $437,592. In 1836, the amount raised by taxes levied on towns and cities, amounted to $391,993, to which are to be added $47,593 in voluntary contributions, and $20,000, the interest accruing from the State fund,-making, in the aggregate, the sum of $459,586. In 1841-2, and 1842-3, the amount raised by taxes alone for the support of the schools throughout the commonwealth, was, each year, considerably upwards of half a million. In the course of five years anterior to the 1st March, 1844, Massachusetts expended the sum of $634,326 80 upon the single item of school-houses, in erecting new edifices and repairing old ones. In Connecticut, there is a permanent school fund, which, in 1831, amounted to $1,902,057; and, in 1838, to $2,028,531; to which is to be added another million, arising from subordinate funds, such as society and local school funds, town deposit funds, school society taxes, district taxes, and the taxes on parents of children attending school. In New-Jersey, the school fund, in 1835, amounted to $344,000, from the income of which $30,000 was appropriated to public schools, each town being authorized to raise by tax a further sum, not exceeding twice the amount received from the school fund. The system established in that State, is pronounced by Chancellor Kent a feeble one, although the income for the support of schools, resulting from the sources mentioned, might, during that year, amount to the sum of $90,000. In Pennsylvania, the State appropriation for schools, in 1839, was $350,000, and a like sum was to be raised by taxes in 840 school districts. There was a permanent school fund established in the State in 1831, the interest of which, when amounting to $100,000, was to be applied to the support of common schools. In Ohio, the school fund, in 1839, amounted to $1,424,175. In Maryland, the school fund, in 1831, amounted to $142,663. In Georgia, in 1821, half a million of dollars was appropriated as a school fund, one half for the support of free schools, the other half to endow county academies. In 1836, one

* Vid. Kent's Commentaries, vol. ii., p. 196.

third of the surplus fund derived from the United States, was added to the school fund. In Kentucky, in 1839, the annual income of the school fund was $50,000. In Tennessee, there is a perpetual fund for the support of schools, but its amount we have no means of ascertaining. The capital of the school fund of Indiana, in 1839, was stated to be two millions of dollars; and that of New-York, the same year, amounted to $1,978,069, yielding a revenue of $282,472, to which is to be added the capital of the literature fund, which then amounted to $268,164, yielding a revenue of $48,109, placed at the disposal of the regents of the university to pay tutors in the academies, and for instructing teachers of common schools. In South-Carolina, the sum of $37,000 only is annually appropriated for the support of her free school system. We are not surprised that many of the commissioners should regard so small an amount totally inadequate to the support of a system of public schools, on a scale at all commensurate with those which prevail in several of the States. The amount, however, is large enough, and too large, if it is to be applied only to the education of orphans and paupers indeed, if such is to be the policy of the State, we see no sufficient reason why she should be at a large additional expense for the support of a teachers' seminary, and a Superintendant of Education of first-rate abilities. If a complete system of schools is to be organized and sustained, it will be attended doubtless with a heavy expense; and if the State is neither able nor willing to meet this expense, the project of public schools, on any liberal scale, suited to the spirit of the age, must be abandoned. If a permanent and constantly accumulating school fund were raised, in the manner suggested by the Hon. R. F. W. Allston of Winyah, in his Report on the Free Schools, which lies before us, and an amount equal to that derived from this fund were raised by taxes, to be assessed upon the citizens at large in proportion to their property, upon the New-York plan,-the best and most effective plan for the purpose, we think the difficulty which alarms so many, and which prevents any effective action on the subject, arising from the supposed want of means and the impracticability of raising them, would be removed. Any such plan of sustaining a system of public instruction must, of course, emanate, in the first instance, from the people, but after having once received the sanction of the Legislature, it would be idle to say, that it should not

be compulsorily enforced. All laws, which are not voluntarily obeyed, must be compulsorily enforced, and however "independent in their opinions" a people may be, the highest liberty they enjoy must always consist in the power of voluntarily obeying just and equitable laws emanating from themselves; and if they have any "notions and habits" which conflict with great public interests, the sooner they are abandoned the better.

Upon reviewing the Reports of the commissioners and others to the Legislature, on the Free Schools, one is struck with the preparation, the thought, the intellectual energy, the extent of information, and the roused attention and anxiety in respect to indispensable reforms, which they, in almost every instance, exhibit. They are at once indicative of the wide-spread intelligence and patriotism of our fellowcitizens; and one cannot help being surprised, that a State which contains among the directors of public opinion men, in large numbers, of such high-minded and generous purpose, and entertaining such opinions as to the pressure of existing evils, and the necessity of prompt, vigorous and concerted action, should not have long since proceeded boldly and resolutely to the organization of a system of public schools, at least equal, if not superior, to any that prevails in any part of the world. There may be something in the circumstances by which we are surrounded, calculated to embarrass for a time the free action of the State. We hope it is not so, but if it be, the very fact should only stimulate her to more vigorous and victorious efforts. It is the characteristic of all great minds, if we have read history aright,-to control circumstances and shape them to good and noble ends. This is the province of genius and philanthropy. The only circumstance by which it would seem proper that a sovereign State should be controlled in its legislation, is the public good; and any circumstances which interfere with that object should be looked upon, not as paramount but subordinate matters, not as exercising a mastery over affairs, but only as subject to the influence of that mastery. No circumstances should ever be permitted to stand in the way of what is right, just, honorable and fit to be done. Circumstances are the syren song of the tempter, whose voice is not to be heard either in the court of conscience or before the altars of patriotism.