FOREIGN NOTES.

ENGLAND.

ADVOCATES OF FROEBEL'S PRINCIPLES.

For a score of years

or more the Froebel society of England has labored zealously to excite public interest in the principles of Froebel, and to secure their adoption in the elementary stage of public schools. At the annual meeting held in London, January 16, great satisfaction was expressed at the evidence of the growing interest in the subject. The Italian Government has made the Froebel system a part of its scheme of education. A Ger man disciple of Froebel, Mrs. Schwabe, proposes to endow a college and school in that country, and to dedicate it to the memory of the Empress Frederick, who has taken a deep interest in the working of the system in Germany, and its introduction into Italy.

DEATH OF A DISTINGUISHED OFFICIAL. The death of Mr. Patrick Cumin, C. B., for many years Secretary of the Education Department, England, deprives that country of a most zealous and accomplished school officer.

SCHOOL OF Oriental Studies. The school for modern Oriental studies established by the Imperial Institute in union with University College and King's College, London, was inaugurated January 11. The Prince of Wales presided on this occasion, and Prof. Max Müller delivered an interesting address. The distinguished philologist gave the following particulars respecting the new seminary of Oriental languages at Berlin. The staff of professors and teachers includes "one professor of Chinese; two teachers of Chinese, both natives - one for teaching North Chinese, the other South Chinese; one professor of Japanese, assisted by a native teacher; one professor of Arabic, assisted by two native teachers - one for Arabic as spoken in Egypt, the other for Arabic as spoken in Syria; one native teacher of Hindustani and Persian; one native teacher of Turkish; one teacher of Suaheli, an important language spoken on the east Coast of Africa, assisted by a native. Besides these special lectures, those given by the most eminent professors of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and Chinese in the Universities of Berlin are open to the students of the Oriental Seminary. The number of students amounts at present to 115. Of these, fifty-six are said to belong to the faculty of law, which must be taken to include all who aspire to any employment in the consular and colonial services. Fifteen belong to the faculties of philosophy, medicine, and physical science; four to the faculty of theology, who are probably intended for

missionary work. Twenty-three are mentioned as engaged in mercantile pursuits, three are technical students, five officers in the army, and nine are returned as studying modern Greek, Spanish, and languages generally counted as Oriental, though, no doubt, of great usefulness in the East and in America."

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION.

The London Chamber of Commerce has fixed March 11, as the date for the examination for Commercial Certificates.

The Educational News says: "The minimum of general knowledge to be demanded of all the candidates is greater than in most examinations for youths of sixteen. English, including handwriting, orthography, grammar and composition; History of the British Isles and Colonies; Geography, with special reference to commerce and industry; Arithmetic, including a general knowledge of foreign weights and measures, currencies and exchanges: Algebra; Euclid; Elementary Mechanics; Drawing and Bookkeeping, are all obligatory, and to these must be added one modern foreign language to be selected from the following: (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish, (d) Portuguese, (e) Italian; comprising translation, composition, and conversation, and a knowledge of commercial terms and phraseology. A considerable latitude of choice is then allowed in what are called the optional subjects, one at least of which must be taken. These are eight in number, namely: (1) Mechanics and Hydrostatics; (2) Shorthand (any system); (3) Drawing freehand, with model, or mechanical, or geometrical drawing; (4) Chemistry, theoretical and practical (the examination will be limited to the non-metallic elements, and to very simple questions on metals; (5) Elements of Heat, Light, and Sound; (6) Electricity and Magnetism; (7) Natural History: two of the following Elements of Botany, Zoology, Geology, and Physiology; (8) one or more of the modern foreign languages not taken as an obligatory subject."

With the curriculum the Chamber of Commerce has issued a list of members who have consented to give a preference to candidates for employment holding commercial certificates, either of the London Chamber, or the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board. The examination scheme is significant as showing the scholastic requirement for commercial pursuits. It carries a moral for educators.

CAMBRIDGE EXAMINATIONS. The report on the Cambridge Higher Local Examinations in 1889 has been lately presented to the Senate. It is interesting to note that the number of candidates in 1869 was only thirty-six, and that it had risen in ten years to 741. It touched the

highest point in 1887, — when as many as 1,001 candidates presented themselves. Since that year it has been declining and is now only 898, while the percentage of failures is greater than usual. This decline is undoubtedly due in part to the fact that the teaching profession is overstocked, and consequently offers less chance of employment than formerly.

HUNGARY.

The university Francis Joseph at Kolozsvar, Hungary, is maintained entirely at public expense. In 1887-'88, the amount appropriated for it was $96,500. The average enrollment of students for the year was 528. The teaching corps numbers sixty-five professors or masters. The Emperor visited this institution during the year and expressed great satisfaction with its condition. The Polytechnic school at BudaPest, which was founded in 1882, is in a prosperous condition. Its annual expenditure has reached the sum of $674,078 for an attendance of 539 students. The multiplication of schools for industrial and industrial art training is a noticeable feature of the recent history of education in Hungary. In this provision woman's share among the special schools of recent date is a school of painting upon glass. The results of the last named are seen in the beautiful windows prepared for palaces and for churches.

FRANCE.

REFORM OF SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.

An association has just been formed at Paris having for its object the reform of secondary instruction.

It proposes to set before the public by every means possible all the conditions affecting this grade of instruction, and to create in this way a public sentiment intelligent and forcible enough to bring about the desired reforms.

It is asserted by the founders of this society that secondary instruction no longer responds to the needs of society. In spite of the fact that the Republic has fostered secondary schools in which science and modern languages are substituted for the classics, the latter still absorb the energies of students and professors. The society condemns the dual system of secondary instruction. In place of this, it advocates secondary instruction of two degrees. The first is to be uniform for all students. At the end of the first degree the student is to pass an examination admitting him to the superior degree; there the studies should be specialized and the student make his choice according to his inclination and aptitudes. In this second degree the classics are to be placed. The society is thoroughly organized and numbers among its founders

many of the leading men of France.

The president is Monsieur Berger, deputy commissary general of the Paris Exposition.

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION.- The decennial report of the Minister of Public Instruction just issued forms with the preceding report for the decade 1868 - 1878, a complete history of superior instruction under the republic.

The last decade has been characterized by great activity in building. The entire sum spent in this work amounts to $22,195,000 of which the State has borne above $12,000,000 and the cities the remainder. The number of students enrolled in the faculties in 1887-'88 was 17,630 an increase of seventy-five per cent. in the decade. pal appropriation for superior education in Paris for at a sum equivalent to $146,049.

The munici1890 is fixed

A. T. S.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CURRENT PERIODICAL LITERATURE UPON EDUCATION.

The following bibliography of current periodical literature includes articles upon education and other subjects calculated to interest teachers. Only articles from peri. odicals not nominally educational are mentioned. Articles of special importance to teachers will, as a rule, be mentioned in notes.

Army of the United States, The. General Wesley Merritt. Harper's, March.

Art, The Relation of, to Truth. W. H. Mallock. Forum, March.

Art Teaching and Technical Schools. Lady Dilke. Fortnightly Review, Feb. Associations françaises d' étudiants, Les. Emile Borgeois. Revue Bleue, Feb. 15.

Athenes, Les fouilles de l' acropole d'. Maxime Collingnon. Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 15.

Bachelor of Arts, Significance of the Degree of. Science, Feb. 14.

Contains extracts from a letter from President Gilmau, and remarks by Professor Griffin.

Bashkirtseff, Marie. A Personal Reminiscence. Marion Hepworth Dixon. Fortnightly Review, February.

Bee-masters, On Some Old. R. C. Day. Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. Books and Newspapers, The Illustration of. Henry Blackburn. teenth Century, February.

Nine

Botanic Gardens, Walks in the Sidney. C. Parkinson. Knowledge, Feb. Bright, John. Jennie Fowler Willing. Methodist Review, March-Apr.

Browning, Robert, as a Poet. I. John Vance Cheney. Chautauquan, March.

Browning, Robert, as a Teacher. Annie E. Ireland. Gentleman's Magazine, February.

Bruno, Giordano, The Trial, Opinions, and Death of. Wm. R. Thayer. Atlantic, March.

Parnell, Charles Stewart. New Review, Feb.

Chautauqua as a New Factor in American Life. Frederic P. Noble. New England Magazine, March.

Chemical Prologue, A. C. Hanford Henderson. Popular Science Monthly, March.

Citizenship in the United States. Irving B. Richman. Political Science Quarterly, March.

Classische Universität Englands, die. Friedrich von Aschen. Unsere Zeit, February.

Cobra Stone, The Najâ-Kallu, or. H. Hensoldt. Harper's, March.

An interesting illustration of snake instinet.

Coming Men in England. Justin McCarthy. North American Review,

March.

Concurrence des états psychologiques, La. A. Binet. Revue Philosophique, February.

Corner, The Value of the. George Parsons Lathrop. Atlantic, March.

Creed, The City of the. J. Theodore Bent. Fortnightly Review, February. Creeds as Tests of Church Membership. Wolcott Calkins. Andover Review, March.

Crime politique, Le, et le Misonéisme, ou la Loi d' Inertie dans le Monde moral. I. Cesare Lombroso. Nouvelle Revue, Feb. 15.

Forgotten Episode, A. George A. Jackson. Atlantic, March.

France, L'enseignement supérieur en, pendant la Révulution, d' après le livre de M. Liard. Ernest Dupuy. Revue Bleue, Feb. 1.

France in 1789 and 1889. Frederic Harrison. The Forum, March.

Frauen, Zur Psychologie der. G. Simmel. Zeitschrift f. Völker-psychologie, H. 1.

Free Trade or Protection. J. S. Morrill. North American Review, March.

Germany, The Making of. W. Miller. Westminster Review, March. Glasgow: A Municipal Study. Albert Shaw. Century, March.

Goethe, Ueber. Gustav Glogan. Zeitschrift f. Philosophie, H. 1.

Gordon, General, A Voyage with. Wm. H. Spence. Contemporary Re

Dante and the New Reformation. J. W. Cross. Nineteenth Century, Feb. Denken, Das, als Hülfsvorstellungs Thätigkeit und als Anpassungsvorgang. Beiträge zur Kennzeichnung des Positivismus. II. Johannes Volkelt. Zeitschrift f. Philosophie, H. 1. Depths, Out of the. A. E. Gathorne Hardy. National Review, February.view, February. Disguises of Nature. Wm. Seton. Catholic World, March. Dogma, A Protest against. Amos K. Fiske. The Forum, March. Easter in Jerusalem. Frank G. Carpenter. Cosmopolitan, March.

Educated Women, The Mission of. Mrs. M. F. Armstrong. Popular Science Monthly, March.

An answer to Grant Allen's "Plain Words on the Woman Question."

Eight Hours Question, The. R. B. Haldane. Contemporary Review, Feb. Electric Lighting, Sir Wm. Thomson and. George Westinghouse, Jr. North American Review, March.

John

Wm. Mor

Electricity, Dangers from.
Trowbridge. Atlantic, March.
English and Americans.
ton Fullerton. Fortnightly Review,
February.

Ericsson, John, The Engineer. Wm.
Conant Church. Scribner's. March.

Erziehung der deutschen Jugend, Die. (Schluss.) Paul Güssfeldt. Deutsche Rundschau, February.

Explosives, Smokeless. I. Frederick Abel. Nature, Feb. 6.

Facultés françaises en 1889, Les.
II. La vie et l'organisation intér-
ieures. Louis Liard." Revue des Deux
Mondes, February.

Fairy Mythology of Ireland, The.
C. S. Boswell. National Review, Feb.

Fatalistic Science and Human SelfDetermination. IV. Edmund Montgomery. New Ideal, March.

Films, The Laws of. Sophie Bledsoe Herrick. Popular Science Monthly, March.

Government Bureau, Story of a
Busy. The Greatest Auditing Office
in the World. Milton T. Adkins.
Magazine of American History, March.
Ground-Values, The Taxation of.
C. H. Sargant. Contemporary Review,
February.

Gymnasium und Universität.
Zeller. Deutsche Rundschau, Feb.
An important article.
Hamilton, Alexander.

E.

Anson D.

Morse. Political Science Quarterly,
March.

Hawthorne's First Printed Article.
Kate Tannett Woods. Magazine of
American History, March.

Heredity, Professor Weismann's Theory of. A. Weismann. Nature, Feb. 6.

Homer and Longfellow. S. D. Hillman. Methodist Review, March - Apr. Hypnotism, Recent Studies in. Science, Feb. 28.

Idealism of Science, The. George A. Denison. Unitarian Review, March. Idées-forces, L'évolutionnisme des. A. Fouillée. Revue Philosophique, February.

Imagination, L', dans la découverte scientifique, d'après Bacon. Adam. Revue Philosophique, February.

Iris, The Restored Head of, in the Parthenon Frieze. Charles Waldstein. Harper's, March.

Irrigable Lands of the Arid Region, The. J. W. Powell. Century, March. Italy, The Politics of Mediæval. Philip Van Ness Myers. Chautauquan, March.

Johnson Characteristics, Some. H.