lands in each township for the use of public schools.' The amount of lands thus appropriated by the Federal Government, up to January 1st, 1854, is exhibited in the subjoined table :

"The table given on the following page shows the number of public schools, academies, and colleges, with their incomes and the number of pupils in attendance, and also the number of libraries and volumes, of the several States, as derived from the Census of 1860.

"Maine has one pupil at school to every 3-2 of the whole population; being a greater proportion than in any other State or country. In the whole United States the proportion at school is 1 to 4·9, not including slaves, or 1 to 57, including slaves, either of which is greater than in any other country in the world except Denmark, where the proportion is 1 to 4·6.

"A greatly increased interest in the subject of popular education has been manifested within the last few years; especially in the Northern and Western States. Public sentiment has demanded a higher standard of qualification in the teachers; and, as a consequence, normal schools, expressly designed for their instruction and training, have been established in several States; besides which, teachers meet regularly in convention, to interchange views upon the best methods of teaching; thus opening a larger field of comparison, and stimulating through emulation to far greater efforts for improvement. These conventions, we believe, are now held in every free State in the Union, and in some States they assemble twice annually in each county; the sessions generally continuing a week. The classification of schools is also undergoing a thorough revision. Union schools, or what is termed the 'graded system,' which comprises high, grammar,

* Lippincott's Gazetteer, p. 1994.

intermediate, and primary schools, are being established in all the principal cities, towns, and villages. By placing the classes in the intermediate and primary schools, in charge of competent female instructors, school committees are enabled to secure the services of male teachers of the highest qualifications for the more advanced pupils, without increasing the aggregate cost of tuition.

"The education bestowed in many of the high schools, especially in the Free Academy of New York, and the Philadelphia High School, is, in the opinion of competent judges, equal, if not superior, in all that relates to the practical pursuits of life, to that of any other institution, of whatever class, in this or any other country.

“It should be remarked that not only in the public schools (which are especially referred to in the foregoing observations), but also in the various private schools throughout the country, renewed zeal has been manifested, and important improvements have been made.”*

Scientific Institutions are yet in their infancy in the United States, but are growing in number and importance. One of them, the Smithsonian Institution, already holds a deservedly high rank in this country, as well as in the estimation of Europeans.

THE PRESS.

The press of the United States has kept pace with the wonderful growth of the country. In 1860, the number of newspapers and periodicals published in the States and Territories of the Union, was as follows: