The Best Text-Books for Students.

A Complete Series-The "Pioneer" SeriesFully Up with the Times.

Professor O. R. WILLIS, Editor.

WOOD'S OBJECT LESSONS IN BOTANY.

For beginners. 346 pages.

12mo., cloth. Price, for examination, $1.00, Re

tail, $1.25.

WOOD'S BOTANIST AND FLORIST.

The best Field and Forest Botany. 447 pages. 12mo, half leather. Price, for examination, $1.75. Retail, $2.25.

WOOD'S CLASS BOOK IN BOTANY.

The standard book, including all the flora east of the Mississippi, North and South. Contains the best introduction to the morphology of plants. Has about 500 more different species than any other single Flora. 832 pages. 8vo, half leather. Price, for examination, $2.50. Retail, $3.00.

WOOD AND STEELE'S FOURTEEN WEEKS IN BOTANY. For the amateur, and an interesting and instructive reading book. 12mo, cloth. Price, for examination, $1.00.

WOOD'S BOTANICAL APPARATUS.

Consists of tin trunk, 161⁄2x111⁄2 sheets of absorption (drying) paper, wire netting, knife, trowel, tweezers, lens, straps, and Wood's Plant Record. Essential for Field work. Price, $8.00. By the dozen, $5.60 each.

WOOD'S PLANT RECORDS.

Wood's Plant Record. Plain; 4to, cloth. Price, for examination, 55 cents. Wood's Plant Record, with King's Check Tablet. Price, for examination 55 cents. Morgan's Plant Record. Price, for examination, 40 cents.

For full description and sample copies, address

A. S. BARNES & CO., Publishers,
New York and Chicago.

J. W. THACKSTON, Agent, Atlanta, Ga.

Entered at the Post Office at Richmond, Va., as Second Class matter.

ARE THE NATIONAL STANDARD.

Throughout the United States schools which have attained the highest proficiency in practical writing, without a special teacher, have used and are using the SPENCERIAN SYSTEM, which includes

THE TRACING COURSE,

THE SHORter courSE,

COMMON SCHOOL COURSE.

Complete for Every Requirement.

Send 25 cents for "THEORY OF SPENCERIAN PENMANSHIP."

WHITE

Aims to Do a Few Things Well.

It Teaches: I, to make WORKING-DRAWINGS, to scale, of any simple object; 2, to execute such drawings so accurately that the article represented may be MADE BY A MECHANIC, following these drawings, with certainty and precision; 3, to make a drawing giving a faithful representation of the appearance of simple objects, either singly or in groups; 4, to compose an original design, suitable for the decoration of any object of general use.

White's System provides definite COURSES OF STUDY for all grades. Full Information and Specimen Pages Furnished Free on Application.

Elementary Physiology and Hygiene.

Having special reference to the effects of

Stimulants and Narcotics on the Human System.

By WILLIAM THAYER SMITH, M. D., Dartmouth Medical College. An original and striking work, as remarkable for its judicious omission of unimportant details as for its masterly treatment of the essentials of the science. "So far as we can see

*

*

* it is the most complete treatise, in a concise form, yet given to the American reader."-Every Other Saturday, Oct. 11th, 1884. Full cloth. Richly illustrated with colored plates and wood cuts. Over 200 pages. Introduction Price, 50 cts. Copies sent for examination, post-paid, on receipt of Introduction Price. Specimen pages free on application.

ISH'S NEW ARITHMETICS.

FISH'S

BRIEF, YET COMPLETE; PRACTICAL, NOT PUZZLING.
Judicious in Selection of Topics.

Thoroughly Inductive in Treatment.

Fish's Arithmetic, Number One; Full Cloth; Illustrated; 158 pages. Introductory Price, 30c. Fish's Arithmetic, Number Two; Cloth; Leather Back; 336 pages. Introductory Price, 60c. Copies for examination sent, post-paid, on receipt of Introductory Prices.

Send for our Descriptive List, mailed free to any address on application, containing title and descriptions of over three hundred and fifty popular school-books, maps, charts, etc.

IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR & CO., Publishers,

753 and 755 BROADWAY, N. Y.

THE

Educational Journal of Virginia.

Vol. XVI. Richmond, Va., February, 1885.

"Physical Circumstances of Education."

No. 2.

The following directions for teachers were prepared by Superintendent James Mac Alister, of Philadelphia, who used as the basis the treatment found in Currie's "Early and Infant Education," a book which, for the judicious treatment of every subject connected with the primary school, is unrivaled:

1. Duty of the Teacher.- It is the first and constant duty of the primary school-teacher to attend to the regulation of physical influences She has to deal with a large number of children of tender age, of different temperaments and degrees of health, keenly susceptible of external influence on their bodily frames, and liable to suffer from even slight irregularities. A disregard of the plainest laws of health in the school-room must, in the end, affect the health of the children; in the meantime it prevents them deriving any benefit from the work in which they are engaged. For her own sake, too, the teacher must be mindful of these laws. If she is depressed in spirits, not to say enfeebled in health, the whole school suffers. One day's work in a close room may not affect her much; but no constitution can resist the effect of a continuance of this over several years. It is in the fact that such influences operate almost imperceptibly that her danger lies. Let the sanitary state of her school-room then be her first thought when she enters it in the morning, and let her thoughts recur to this at the end of every lesson."

2. Ventilation.-"First in order of importance is ventilation. The school must have a steady supply of fresh air throughout the day. The symptoms which indicate neglect of this are very plain. Perhaps the teacher may often be conscious of a dimness of eyesight, a giddiness of head, a general langour and drowsiness, which nothing can shake off, and for which she cannot well account; it is probable they are largely owing to her working in impure air. Many continue even to bear headaches, sickness, or sore throat, without ever sus

pecting that these are owing to the same cause. If such be the effect on the teacher, is it to be supposed that the children will escape? Their countenances and the tones of their voice are some index to the state of the school. And if the teacher will scrutinize these, as she should accustom herself to do, she will be kept from error in this matter. It is not enough that the air be fresh in the morning, or that the windows be opened and closed fitfully throughout the day, just as accident may direct her attention to the subject, or that there be one stereotyped degree of ventilation throughout the year. This is a matter that requires attention from hour to hour, and from day to day, according to wind and weather. An atmosphere which is fresh in the morning very soon becomes vitiated unless it is changed, and the teacher may not be conscious of its condition." Nothing but constant watchfulness will suffice to maintain the air in proper condition. During recess the windows should be opened, and the schoolroom thoroughly aired.

3. Temperature." Another important feature is the keeping up of a proper degree of temperature in the school-room. Both extremes of temperature must be avoided. If the temperature be kept habitually too high the children will become nervously sensitive of cold. At the same time the air may be fresh, and yet injuriously cold. Particularly are drafts to be avoided. As many schools are constructed, it is hardly possible to avoid these. A class should not stand immediately under an open window or behind a door." A thermometer is provided for each school-room; it should be hung in the middle of the room, and examined by the teacher once an hour at least, while the heating apparatus is in operation. 68° Fahrenheit should be the maximum temperature of the school-room, although 70° is not objectionable during the first half hour of the session in very cold weather.

4. Light.-"The management of light is not so much attended to as it ought to be in schools. A dull, dingy room, in which the eye has to strain itself to discern objects, must depress the elasticity of children. On the other hand a body of bright light, streaming into the faces of a class, cannot but produce restlessness and inattention. If the windows are not well placed for the distribution of light, the teacher may perhaps modify their effects by regulating the state of the blinds. A primary school should be a light, cheerful place." The best position for the pupils is where the light comes from the rear and left sides. The one position which should not be tolerated in any school-room is where the light comes from the front.