and expression and outgoing of human character! What specimens for example and for guidance in the invaluable art of composition, an attainment of the highest importance in every sphere of professional life, and one too little attended to by far in our present system of college training! In addition to all this, what a fund of intellectual resources would be found in such studies as these, and that not only akin to the wants and exigencies of literary life, but eminently fitted also to give development to the faculties, vigour to the understanding, elevation to the character, refinement to the taste, and to raise the whole man above all that is frivolous or grovelling among the multifarious pursuits of the world. How very dry and unavailing is the study of logic in comparison with such studies as these. At the very most, logic is but an attempt of more than questionable success at the preparation of the instruments, while this is alike their preparation, their employment, and their achievements in the reaping of rich and plentiful harvests. Away then with these dry bones, these relics and leading strings of bygone times, and let us betake ourselves to studies worthy of our modern manhood, and worthy too of the increased and increasing intelligence and consequent demands of modern society. In support of these views, we would quote the following authorities. The celebrated Locke, whose opinions on all matters connected with the constitution and working of the human mind, cannot but command respect, says, "If you would have a man reason well, let him study, What? Logic? no, not logic, but geometry." In this recommendation we see the great mental philosopher realising the simple fact that the faculty of reason, being implanted in us by the author of our nature, all we can do for its improvement is to be done by suitable exercise, in no way subjecting it to rules, but by engaging it distinctly and immediately, as occasion requires, in the actual performance of the function itself. The great political economist, Dr Adam Smith, the author of the "Wealth of Nations," &c., when appointed to the chair of logic in the University of Glasgow, "soon saw the necessity of departing widely from the plan that had been followed by his predecessors, and of directing the attention of his pupils to studies of a more interesting and useful nature than the logic and metaphysics of the schools." "Accordingly, after explaining so much of the ancient logic as was requisite to gratify curiosity with respect to an artificial method of reasoning, which had at one time occupied the universal attention of the learned, he dedicated the rest of his time to the delivery of a system of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres." The late Lord Macaulay, in his review of the works of Lord Chancellor Bacon, by Basil Montague, after giving a searching analysis of the ancient philosophy, and shewing how very powerless it was, with all its logic and metaphysics, to effect the solution of any problem bearing in any degree upon the progress and wellbeing of the human race, likens its results to those of the workers in a tread. mill, where there was much exertion but no progress. And in reference to logic as between Aristotle and Bacon he observes, that, "what Aristotle did for the syllogistic process, Bacon has done for the inductive process; that is to say, he has analysed it well. His rules are quite proper; but we do not need them, because they are drawn from our constant practice. Considered as an intellectual feat, the Organum of Aristotle can scarcely be admired too highly." "But the more we compare," says Macaulay, "individual with individual, school with school, nation with nation, generation with generation, the more do we lean to the opinion that the knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." Upon the whole, then, as it cannot be maintained that the study of logic is fitted to make men good reasoners, and this is confessedly its only object, it would certainly be desirable to leave it out of the curriculum, and to take in those about which no doubt can exist as to their power in effecting this most important object. This would appear to be all the more desirable, inasmuch as while the power of reasoning would be naturally and easily acquired in the prosecution of other studies, an amount of information, a stock of real substantial attainment would at the same time be secured, and that too of a highly available kind in the great practical pursuits of professional life. G. L., ST ANDREWS. Name. Correspondence. The INDEX should, of course, be alphabetical in form, the above extracts representing the page devoted to W. 2. No child's name should be entered more than once. 3. A double line should be drawn under the entries for each year, thus shewing at a glance the number of new comers for the year. 4. At the bottom of every page a space should be provided for the signature of the managers, as to the correctness of the assigned "Occupations of Parents." This is strongly recommended by the Committee of Council in their last Report (Min. 1864-5, xxii). 5. The Reference No. is thus used: it is required (e. g. by a manager, guardian, or employer) to trace a child throughout its school career. The name is found in the Index; the Reference No. shews in which year's class registers, and in what part of them, the child's name was first entered; in every succeeding year's registers a similar reference connects and continues the history till his attendance has ceased. CLASS REGISTER. (1.) The column for age should be headed Age at date of next examination, which in the above case is supposed to become due in June '66. The age is thus dated forward to save trouble in filling up the corresponding column in the examination schedule. (2.) The column headed Standard Passed, in the case of new boys or re-entrants, indicates their amount of Previous Education. The fifth boy on the list, Oswald, has passed no exami nation under the Revised Code; but his present knowledge is sufficiently shewn by the class in which he is placed. (3.) The figures in this column indicate the class register, quarter and number in which the child's name is last found. A new boy (e. g. Wilson) has, of course, no reference number to former registers; while for re-entrants (such as Smith and Oswald) it may be necessary to refer back several years before their former attendance can be found. This, with other reasons, make it advisable to have the class registers of each year bound together and II. CLASS REGISTER. (4) .... June. W. 4. Th. F. 3 3 4 5 No. present 3 3 3 10 17 Saddler (5). 8 14 10 17 At another 10 10 School. (5) Quarterly Results. Attendances Year. Fees for Quarter. carefully preserved. In the second and succeeding quarters, as no Reference No. is required, the column it would occupy is subdivided for Fees and Attendances brot. for'd. (4.) On the examination schedule the principal teacher is required to certify that he has himself verified the No. of Attendances of each child presented for examination, which entails very considerable labour and no slight chance of error, if it be postponed till near the date of the inspector's visit. I introduce the column Attendances this Quarter, which I would have marked each week by ⚫ the master himself, to lesson the trouble by distributing it over the year, and to reduce the chance of error to a minimum. (5.) It will be observed that opposite the names of those boys who have left, I have given the reason for withdrawal, on the principle that the class register should contain the complete "School History" of the individual child. It is thus, also, I compensate for the corresponding entry in the admission register. (6.) The column Week of Entrance and Withdrawal, I consider one of the most important of the modifications here proposed. It serves to give the date of admission and leaving of each child, thus dispensing with another portion of the admission register; it gives at a glance the number of boys entering or being withdrawn from the class, than which there can be no better test of the work there done; lastly, it enables us to record the number of re-entrances, thus measuring a species of irregularity, of which, hitherto, no account has been taken. The mode and meaning of the entries above made in this column, may require some explanation. They shew that Jones (first on the register) finally left this school in the ninth week of the quarter; that Wilson, a new boy, entered on the first week; that Smith, a re-entrant, who had twice gone from this school, returned in the first week (R3 1, where R re-entrant, the small 2 the number of times he had been withdrawn, and the larger 1 = the week of return), and left again in the 6th; that Oswald, another re-entrant, who had once before been withdrawn, was readmitted in the second week of the quarter. WEEKLY RESULTS. In determining what facts should be each week required from the registers, it is to be remembered that three sums furnish the materials for all the more important school statistics. These are, 1, the number of children who have been even once in the school, within any given period; 2, the number of times the school has been open during the same period; and 3, the whole number of attendances. The second and third have the principal place assigned to them in the above forms of Class and Summary Registers.* The first (number present at all) is obtained for each class by simply numbering the names on its registers, and the sum of these numbers gives the same fact for the whole school. As it is thus easily obtained, and also, because it is one of those particulars which become significant only when calculated for large numbers and considerable periods, I have thought it better to give it a place only at the end of each quarter (vide Summary). The average number of times, for the same reason, and because of its dependence on the result just mentioned, occupies a similar position in the Summary Register, and is deleted from the weekly returns. The number of Entrances and Withdrawals, besides being returns required in Form IX., are tests so sensitive and indubitable of the success or non-suecess of the school, that they deserve to be frequently and closely investigated, and should, therefore, I think, have a place in the weekly table. I have not thought it necessary to enter into any explanation of the mode of calculating the above results. It will perhaps be sufficient to mention that the arrows touch, on either side, numbers which check each other. This letter cannot more appropriately conclude, than by quoting the opinions of three inspectors on the system of registration now in use. Mr Sparke, in his report for 1863, says, "Registers, as at present kept, often contain useless items, carried forward through the year All such entries are worse than useless, wasting much valuable time." Mr Stokes, in his report for the same year, is of opinion that "the registers in common use might be with advantage simplified." And Mr Gordon, in this year's minutes, affirms, that school registers, "in numerous instances, still admit of being framed to meet more readily and correctly the requirements of the Revised Code." In a new Class Register by Mr Binns of Derby, which I have just seen, these two particulars form part of the Weekly Table. These opinions perhaps contain sufficient to justify the attempt I have made, and, if necessary, to excuse its failure. J. B. M. L. or system which should be well defined and intelligible to managers and teachers, and which should not leave me to work by an uncertain and random estimate, residing somewhere in my own imagination, and sure to vary when I was fatigued, annoyed, or unwell." THE REPORT OF MR MIDDLETON, H. M. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS (SCOTLAND). SIR,-In examining the Blue Book recently issued If Mr Fearon finds it so essential to guard against by the Committee of Council on Education for 1864-forming erroneous opinions in deciding on a dicta65, I was struck with the confidence of Mr Middleton tion exercise, he must surely envy Mr Middleton in the value of his mode of determining the relative his ability to estimate to a fraction the discipline merits of the several schools examined by him under of the whole school. I suspect that those who are the provisions of the Revised Code. Most people who sceptical as to the value of such rigid conclusions have any acquaintance with school work will ques- will be of opinion that the estimate of the school tion the reliability of the Merit Table so ostenta- discipline will occasionally depend more on whether tiously paraded in Mr Middleton's Report; indeed, the inspector is "fatigued, annoyed, or unwell,” those best entitled to express an opinion on the mat- than on its own intrinsic merits. ter deem it impossible to arrive at a just estimate of the relative efficiency of different schools. In Mr Stewart's Report, published in the Blue Book referred to, he says, at page 150: My own experience of school work leads me to think that it is scarcely possible to devise any form of limited examination of individual children which will test all the really important points which a good teacher has in view, and on which the efficiency of every good school more or less depends. "I have more than once attempted to place in the order of efficiency all the schools visited in an official year, by adopting in each case the same or a similar combination of inspection and individual examination; but I have only succeeded in convincing myself that each case must be judged on its own merits, unless the standard adopted is so low as to be valueless." Inspectors are, on the whole, as fallible as other men, and not more likely to escape erroneous conclusions than the majority of intelligent men in the other walks of life. It is, therefore, not too much to suppose that Mr Middleton, under the influence of fatigue, &c., may sometimes err as much in forming a judgment on other points of school duty as he undoubtedly must, occasionally, in forming his decimal estimate of discipline. True, there is less room for mistake under the Revised Code than formerly existed; still, so long as it is a necessity with the inspector to prescribe to different schools different sets of exercises, it will be impossible to estimate to a fraction their relative merits, the more especially since it appears that the accident of a difficult set of books in a school may most undeservedly tell against it. A child may fail to read accurately a difficult book, and yet be really a better reader than another who succeeds in reading an easier one satis "I have children (averaging from eight to nine) presented in books which I should readily accept for Standards IV. and V. If the school suffers by this arrangement, it is the master's fault, and one to which his attention cannot be too pressingly directed." Let us examine how Mr Middleton arrives at re-factorily. Mr Jack, in his Report, page 251, says: sults deemed unattainable by a colleague of equal, if not greater, experience than himself. Under the head of Merit Remarks, discipline holds a foremost place. "In reducing this vital part of school merit to numerical value, I assume good = 1, adding 2 or 1-5th for every step above, and subtracting 2 for every step below this standard: thus, excellent = 1.40; very good 1.20; good 1.00; very fair 0.80. We are not informed what exact degree of merit entitles a school to the distinction of good, nor by what nice shades of merit or demerit decimally calculated, 2 or 1-5th, is to be added to or deducted from this standard. Probably this is a mystery beyond ordinary comprehension. It is impossible, however, to suppose that conclusions so nicely calculated can be the result of mere judgment, as we have it on the authority of another inspector that such acts of judgment are not to be relied upon. Mr Fearon, at page 59, says: "I desired, in a case where the passing or rejecting of each child was to be attended with results so important to the schools, to tie myself to a method One would have thought that a gentleman occupying the position of inspector could decide on the reading powers of a child, independently of the simple method of counting the mistakes. It seems not, however. Is it rational, then, to suppose that such a system can give exact reliable results? I do not assert that Mr Middleton makes a mere machine of himself. I have reason to believe, indeed, that he exercises his judgment in all cases like an honest man. What I assert is, that so many different things are to be taken into account in different schools, that no man can judge to a nicety their relative efficiency, and that a system under which it is possible to determine so important a point by counting up mistakes, irrespective of the nature of the exercises prescribed in different schools, is utterly undeserving of confidence. Nobody questions Mr Middleton's ability to form a tolerably correct general estimate of a school; but when, on the faith of a few hours spent within the walls, he proceeds to reduce the matter to decimals and fractions, his opinion becomes simply ludicrous. Such considerations as the kind of citizen turned out by different schools, are entirely beyond the reach of his Table, yet will any one deny that this is the highest test of a school's efficiency? Mr Middleton must be aware that schools, never very conspicuous for excellence in any of the three "R.'s," have acquired a notoriety for the honourable success in life of their pupils; yet such schools would undoubtedly rank low in his Merit Table. There is a kind of teaching-perhaps, indeed, the best—which seeks more to cultivate the mind than render it precocious-to sow the seeds of future excellence than produce ephemeral results-to obtain a natural growth than force a short-lived blossom. A PARISH SCHOOLMASTER, NOT INCLUDED IN THE MERIT TABLE. August 16. 1865. REGULATIONS RESPECTING GOVERNMENT INSURANCES AND ANNUITIES, SIR,-A copy of regulations has appeared, made by the Postmaster-General, with the consent of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, for the purpose of carrying out the provision of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Act, in so far as the Post Office department is concerned, and for the guid ance of its officers. A short and plain abstract of these regulations, together with full and clear illustrations of the tables of premiums, and instructions as to the course to be followed by persons desiring to insure their lives or to purchase Government annuities, will soon be prepared. These regulations extend over forty-four folio pages, and are sold at 6d. As an important means of training the working classes to habits of economy and forethought, this Act is truly educational, and claims a place in our educational notices. Perhaps the above will answer your correspond ent's inquiry of last month. A. J. Notices of Books. Principles of Education drawn from Nature and Reve- | guided by theory is worth little, and there is theory lation, and applied to Female Education in the Upper Classes. By the Author of " AMY HERBERT," and other Tales, &c. &c. In two Volumes. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green. 1865. The first impression which this book produces is one of disappointment. It begins with a mistaken application of a passage from Scripture. The author expounds this passage in such a way as to shew that it is useless to discuss education, and then gives a reason for discussing it, which refutes her explanation of the passage of Scripture, and is contrary to her own premises. Throughout the book we meet with specimens of incorrect reasoning, and there is general want of hard grappling with facts and thoughts. The author is also frequently in error in her expositions of Scripture. She is evidently unacquainted with the original text, and the results of modern Biblical criticism; and basing her whole expositions on her native sense and the authorised version, she cannot help falling occasionally into serious errors. But notwithstanding these defects, these two little volumes are exceedingly valuable. Most of the chapters abound in the results of a most careful and penetrating observation of human na ture. The author says in her preface that "these volumes are the result not of theory but of experience;" and though in reality experience that is not as well as experience in the book, yet the words give a just idea of the book, for there is very little of theorizing. The author has watched the action of the human heart with great care, and possessing sound sense and high aims, she has given us here her observations and experiences. The author looks on education as the "guiding or leading the young mind in the way which will best enable it to obey the commandments of God." Her exposition of the principles of education is, therefore, almost exclusively an exposition of the principles of morality and religion. Her great aim is to shew how right moral principles may come to sway the heart, and how evil habits may be eradicated. The titles of her chapters accordingly are such as Obedience, Justice, Tenderness and Sympathy, Reproof, Forgiveness, Advice, Training, Confidence and Responsibility, Human Faith, Respect, Truth, Selfishness, Prejudice and Illiberality, Pride, Vanity, Temper, Purity, Love, Friendship. Her lectures or homilies, as we may call them, on these subjects, are in every way admirable, well written, studded with beautiful and true thoughts, and pervaded by sound sense and healthiness of soul. They may be read by all classes of people with considerable profit, and they may do as much good to those who have not children as to those who have. They are of course specially fitted to influence women, and they are fitted to influence all women. For the |