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A.D. 1864. The verses have been circulated through the whole of the North-west.

ALDERMANIC DESCRIPTION OF HAVELOCK.-We were glad to see that at the Court of Common Council last week it was unanimously agreed that a bust of General Havelock should be placed in the Guildhall. The alderman described the dead hero as "a great linguist and a good Christian "-a concatenation not very inferential. It is pretty though to see peaceful commerce acknowledging the religion and the justice of honorable war. Surely, never since Wolfe or Moore has an English leader earned so rapid a fame. We lament that a sorrowing nation has to place the laurel crown so lately given upon the coffin instead of on the head.-Scotsman.

NEW FOUNTAIN FOR HOLYROOD.-There formerly PERSIAN PROPHECIES CIRCULATING IN INDIA.stood in the center of the quadrangle of Linlithgow A correspondent of the Calcutta Englishman Palace a fountain of remarkably quaint and interest- affirms that General Low has received a number of ing design, erected, as antiquarians tell us, in the couplets in Persian, said to be composed by Niamureign of James II., and familiar to all readers of tollah 700 years ago. They begin with a prophetic Scottish history as the fountain which "ran with enumeration of the successive rulers of Hindostan, wine on those occasions when royalty wished to and conclude with stating that the rule of the Engcelebrate auspicious events by a wholesale hospital-lish is to expire in 1260 Hegira, corresponding to ity. During the troubles of 1745 this rare specimen of ancient humor and elegance became the wreck it at present appears. We are glad to learn, however, that Sir Benjamin Hall, Chief Commissioner of Her Majesty's Works, etc., who recently visited the spot, has interested himself in the direction of Mr. Matherson, of the Board of Works; its scattered remains were carefully examined and measured, and although the old stones are too much shattered to admit of reconstruction, we understand it is in contemplation to reproduce the design with every fidelity in front of Holyrood Palace, and on the site recently occupied by the statue of her Majesty. The plan of the fountain is octagon, surrounded by a basin of twenty-five feet diameter, from which it rises to a height of about thirty-five feet. The elevation is divided into three tiers, surmounted by figures supporting a large crown, from the soffit of which a grotesque face, with open mouth, emits a volume of water, which, falling into a basin on the highest tier, discharges itself through various quaint heads into other troughs on each successive stage. The second tier is decorated with eight characteristic carved figures representing musicians and hunters, while the lowest is surmounted with eight alternate pinnacles and effigies of animals bearing armorial shields. The supply of water is to be obtained from springs in the Park now running waste; and there is no doubt that the erection of such an edifice will be a great embellishment to the Palace, and accord well with the historical associations already connected with the locality. We are glad to observe that an elevation of the fountain proposed to be erected is exhibited by Mr. Matherson in the Royal Academy Exhibition, which opens to-day.-Scotsman.

CHINESE MEDICINE.-The following appears in the Opinione of Turin: "A missionary who has just returned from China, states that in that country, a kind of polygala is successfully used as a cure for hydrophobia. This plant has thick leaves, and its stem contains a milk juice; it grows to the height of two feet, with a thickness like that of a goosequill. The flowers are small, and of nearly the same color as the leaves. Its root is perennial, and annually produces new shoots and stems. There are several kinds of polygala in Europe, two of which are used in medicine against the bite of reptiles. In order to apply this plant as a remedy, the Chinese gather a handful of the stalks, crush them, and cook them in water in which about two pounds of raw rice have been washed. The decoction is effected by means of a water-bath. The juice is then strained, and half a quart of it is administered to the patient, if he be an adult, and this draught is continued for several days, gradually diminishing the dose. Sometimes a single dose suffices for a radical cure. It is also administered to animals with their food, large cattle requiring a much larger quantity."

IN 1824, there were 50,000 tons of coal used in the production of gas in London! in 1851, there were 500,000 tons used in one establishment.

THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS FREDERIC-WILLIAM. -A letter from Berlin says: "The Prince and Princess show themselves on every occasion towards the people in a manuer so as to secure the homage of the heart. The young Princess is effecting a quiet little revolution of her own in the fearfully stiff style that formerly kept the Court circle here in a state of automatic petrifaction; and royal highness, ladies-in-waiting, and chamberlains are now seen to smile and look happy, just as if they were really human beings like other people."

AUSTRALIAN ACADEMIC HONORS.-A late Gazette announces that the Queen has directed that letters patent to be passed under the Great Seal, granting Master of Arts, Bachelor of Laws, Doctor of Laws, and declaring that degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Medicine, and Doctor of Medicine, already granted or conferred, or hereafter to be granted or conferred, by the Senate of the University of Sydney, in the colony of New South-Wales, shall be recognized as academic distinctions and rewards of merit, and be entitled to rank, precedence, and consideration in the United Kingdom, and in the colonies and possessions of the Crown throughout the world, as fully as if the said degrees had been granted by any University of the United Kingdom.

A TREMENDOUS IDEA.-A member of the Académie des Sciences of Paris, who is also an eminent chemist. has invented an apparatus which he thinks will enable human beings to breathe as freely at the bottom of the sea as on the surface of the earth. He proposes to form an association for collecting all the treasures now lying at the bottom of the ocean, and estimates at about £800,000,000 sterling the harvest of treasure to be gleaned on the route between England and India only.

A MEDAL has been struck at the works of Mr. G. R. Collis, to commemorate the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Social Science. Upon the obverse there is a capital likeness of Lord Brougham, and upon the reverse an appropriate inscription.

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STRANGELY enough, the most glaring defect in our programmes of education is entirely overlooked. While much is being done in the detailed improvement of our systems in respect both of matter and manner, the most pressing desideratum has not yet been even recognized as a desideratum. To prepare the young for the duties of life is tacitly admitted by all to be the end which parents and schoolmasters should have in view; and happily the value of the things taught, and the goodness of the method followed in teaching them, are now ostensibly judged by their fitness to this end. The propriety

* Some Thoughts on Education. By JOHN LOCKE.

London. 1710.

of substituting for an exclusively classical training a training in which the modern languages shall have a share, is argued on this ground. The necessity of increasing the amount of science is urged for like reasons. But though some care is taken to fit youths of both sexes for society and citizenship, no care whatever is taken to fit them for the still more important position they will ultimately have to fill-the position of parents. While it is seen that for the purpose of gaining a livelihood, an elaborate preparation is needed, it appears to be thought that for the bringing up of children, no preparation whatever is needed. While many years are spent by a boy in gaining knowledge, of which the chief value is that it constitutes "the ed

Levana; or, the Doctrine of Education. Trans-ucation of a gentleman ;" and while many

lated from the German of JEAN PAUL FR
RICHTER. London: Longmans. 1848.
The Quarterly Journal of Education.

1835.

VOL XLIV.-NO. II.

1831 to

years are spent by a girl in those decorative acquirements which fit her for evening parties; not an hour is spent by either of

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the time. Commenting on the chaotic state of opinion and practice relative to family government, Richter writes:

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them in preparation for that gravest of all responsibilities-the management of a family. Is it that this responsibility is but a remote contingency? On the contrary, it is certain to devolve on nine out of ten. Is it that the discharge of it is easy ? Certainly not of all functions which the adult has to fulfill this is the most difficult. Is it that each may be trusted by self-instruction to fit himself, or herself, for the office of parent? No: not only is the need for such self-instruction unrecognized, but the complexity of the subject renders it the one of all others in which self-instruction is least likely to succeed. No rational plea can be put forward for leaving the Art of Ed-something in the state;' in the sixth, ‘not the ucation out of our curriculum. Whether as bearing upon the happiness of parents themselves, or whether as affecting the cha racters and lives of their children and remote descendants, we must admit that a knowledge of the right methods of juvenile culture, physical, intellectual, and moral, is a knowledge second to none in importance. This topic should occupy the highest and last place in the course of instruction passed through by each man and woman. As physical maturity is marked by the ability to produce offspring, so mental maturity is marked by the abil ity to train those offspring. The subject which involves all other subjects, and therefore the subject in which the education of every one should culminate, is the Theory and Practice of Education.

In the absence of this preparation, the management of children, and more especially the moral management, is lamentably bad. Parents either never think about the matter at all, or else their conclusions are crude and inconsistent. In most cases, and especially on the part of mothers, the treatment adopted on every occasion is that which the impulse of the moment prompts: it springs not from any reasoned-out conviction as to what will most conduce to the child's welfare, but merely expresses the passing parental feelings, whether good or ill; and varies from hour to hour as these feelings vary. Or if these blind dictates of passion are supplemented by any definite doctrines and methods, they are those that have been handed down from the past, or those suggested by the remembrances of childhood, or those adopted from nurses and servants methods devised not by the enlightenment, but by the ignorance of

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"If the secret variances of a large class of ordinary fathers were brought to light, and laid down as a plan of studies, and reading catalogued for a moral education, they would run somewhat after this fashion: In the first hour pure morality must be read to the child, either by myself or the tutor;' in the second, mixed morality, or that which may be applied to one's own advantage;' in the third, do you not see that your father does so and so?' in the fourth, you are little, and this is only fit for grown-up people;' in the fifth, the chief matter is that you should succeed in the world, and become temporary, but the eternal, determines the worth of a man;' in the seventh, therefore rather suffer injustice, and be kind;' in the eighth, but defend yourself bravely if any one attack you;' in the ninth, 'do not make a noise, dear child;' in the tenth, a boy must not sit so quiet;' in the eleventh, you must obey your parents better;' in the twelfth, and educate yourself.' So by the hourly change of his principles, the father conceals their untenableness and onesidedness. As for his wife, she is neither like him, nor yet like that harlequin who came on to the stage with a bundle of papers under each arm, and answered to the inquiry, what he had under his right arm, 'orders' and to what he had under his left arm, 'counterorders.' But the mother might be much better compared to a giant Briareus, who had a hundred arms, and a bundle of papers under each."

This state of things is not to be readily changed. Generations must pass before any great amelioration of it can be expected. Like political constitutions, educational systems are not made, but grow; and within brief periods growth is insensible. Slow, however, as must be any improvement, even that improvement implies the use of means; and among the 'means is discussion.

We are not among those who believe in Lord Palmerston's dogma, that "all children are born good." On the whole, the opposite dogma, untenable as it is, seems to us less wide of the truth. Nor do we agree with those who think that, by skillful discipline, children may be made altogether what they should be. Contrariwise, we are satisfied that though imperfections of nature may be diminished by wise management, they can not be removed by it. The notion that an ideal humanity might be forthwith produced by a perfect system of education, is near

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