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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



them, as implicated with human pas- 

 sions and prejudices, and the influences 

 of race, faith, nationality, states of socie- 

 ty, and all the forces of obstruction and 

 acceleration by which the human mind 

 is affected. The most conspicuous and 

 important feature in the history of 

 science he considers to be its long con- 

 flict with theological authority. Reli- 

 gion was first in the field, and reigned 

 supreme before science appeared. It 

 put forth supernatural claims to the un- 

 derstanding of Nature, so that the pro- 

 found ignorance of the natural world 

 had a kind of religious consecration. 

 To inquire was to question received 

 explanations, to doubt pious beliefs, 

 and was therefore impious. In its faint 

 beginnings, therefore, among the pagan 

 Greeks, science was denounced for the 

 same reasons and in almost the same 

 terms that it was recently anathema- 

 tized by the Vatican Council. To fill in 

 the links of the long-protracted strug- 

 gle that has intervened, and delineate 

 the stages of the mighty controversy 

 which Dr. Manning declares to be now 

 impending, was the object of Dr. Dra- 

 per in preparing his work. He has, 

 therefore, not only supplied an obvi- 

 ous want of historic literature, which 

 would have been valuable at any time, 

 but in the present crisis of the great 

 elements, political, religious, and scien- 

 tific, he has given us a text-book of the 

 subject, by. which the experience of the 

 past is made the basis for an intelligent 

 judgment of the present. The problem 

 is undoubtedly immense too great for 

 any thing but proximate solution, and 

 in a pioneer attempt we are not to ex- 

 pect perfection; but Dr. Draper has 

 done his work ably and courageously, 

 and in a manner worthy of his high 

 reputation and the greatness of the 

 theme. His book will be read with 

 avidity by thousands in both hemi- 

 spheres, who will gladly acknowledge 

 their indebtedness to it for help and 

 light in the present crisis of the ques- 

 tions it considers. 



NORMAL CO-EDUCATION. 



In the October Monthly we pub- 

 lished a letter of Prof. Cochran, from 

 Dr. Clarke's late work, " The Building 

 of a Brain," on the effects of co-educa- 

 tion in the Albany Normal School. 

 We have received a suggestive letter 

 from a lady who was connected with 

 the institution at the time, and who 

 says that "the cases of illness or of 

 failing health among the young ladies 

 were sent to me to inquire into and 

 care for; " and she adds that, "to those 

 familiar with the work of the Albany 

 school, at this period, no statistics 

 drawn from its health-roll would count 

 any thing whatever in this discussion." 

 It is mentioned that, "in 1864, when 

 Prof. Cochran left Albany, in a school 

 of over two hundred pupils, there were 

 twenty gentlemen, so that, as far as edu- 

 cation is concerned, it would seem that 

 some deference might have been paid 

 to the greatest good of the greatest 

 number." The curriculum is, however, 

 characterized as " oppressive." Our cor- 

 respondent claims to have investigated 

 the subject, and says that, while " with 

 regard to the facts there is little ques- 

 tion, with regard to the causes there is 

 a very important one." Her general 

 view of the case is presented in the 

 following passages from her communi- 

 cation : 



"I have reached the conclusion, from 

 my investigations, that no statistics drawn 

 from mixed schools can prove any thing 

 with regard to co-education or identical edu- 

 cation, until the two sexes can be placed in 

 those schools upon equal or similar condi- 

 tions. 



" While there are a hundred outside 

 things that militate against a woman's suc- 

 cess in such a school, which find no parallel 

 in the conditions of the male pupils, ill 

 health or want of power among the female 

 pupils can prove nothing. In every quarter 

 woman is unfairly weighted for the race ; 

 but especially in our normal schools these 

 conditions have reached their climax. For 

 example : 



" In 1856 one of the young ladies, whose 



