182 



SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 



thrive. The deeper it can be made, the 

 better." 



Our extracts will give our readers an 

 idea of the pleasure and instruction they 

 may expect from the perusal of Mr. Elli- 

 ott's volume. We cordially recommend it 

 to those who like to find the agreeable and 

 the useful blended, and hope it may have an 

 enduring influence on the taste of the west- 

 ern states. 



School Architecture : or contributions to the 

 Improvement of School- Houses in the United 

 States. By Henry Barnard, commissioner of 

 schools in Rhode Island. New- York, A. S. Barnes 

 & Co. (1 vol., l2mo., 369 pages.) 

 If education (in the largest sense of the 

 word,) is the greatest boon that can be be- 

 stowed on man, and we think there can be 

 no question raised on this point, then the 

 best mode of imparting il, and the most 

 favorable circumstances which may be 

 brought to bear on its diffusion, are topics 

 of no common interest at the present day. 



Notwithstanding the large interest which 

 is really felt in the subject of general edu- 

 cation, in this country, in placing it within 

 the reach of all classes to obtain, at least, 

 the rudiments of learning, we must take 

 shame to ourselves that so little attention 

 has been paid to the manner of educating 

 youth, and, more especially, to the condi- 

 tion of our common school-houses. 



It is, therefore, with feelings no less of 

 duty than of pleasure, that we solicit pub- 

 lic attention to this most excellent volume 

 on School Architecture, which, we are sa- 

 tisfied, will speedily become a standard 

 work in the United States. 



Mr. Barnakd is already widely known 

 as the intelligent and indefatigable school 

 commissioner of Rhode Island. Portions of 

 the present work have, indeed, been previ- 

 ously published, and widely circulated by 

 him in New-England. But, in the present 



volume, he has brought all his information 

 on this subject together, in a well digested 

 and systematic form ; and we have rarely 

 met with a volume more replete with truly 

 valuable, practical information. 



The author grasps the whole subject of 

 school-houses in this compactly printed vo- 

 lume. There are, for example, designs 

 for all the sizes of school-houses known in 

 this country, — primary, district, grammar, 

 intermediate, public or high, and normal 

 schools, as well as free academies. 



Plans of model school-houses by Mr. 

 Emerson, Dr. Alcott, Mr. Mann, and oth- 

 ers, well known for their long devotion to 

 the cause of public education, as well as 

 a number by professional architects, are 

 given, and thoroughly explained in the 

 body of the work. 



But these plans, numerous as they are, 

 constitute but a small part of the utility of 

 the work. What gratifies us quite as much, 

 or even more, is the pains taken by the 

 author to point out and suggest remedies 

 for some of the crying evils in almost all 

 the common school-houses at present exist- 

 ing, — evils which exert a most injurious 

 influence on the health and the minds of 

 pupils. 



We allude especially to improved modes 

 of ventilation, warming, and seating the 

 inmates of common school-houses. A want 

 of proper attention to the two first most 

 important considerations is the cause of a 

 great deal of bodily discomfort ; and we 

 have the opinion of some of the most skilful 

 physicians in the country, for believing that 

 a large number of the spinal distortions, of 

 late so prevalent, owe their origin to the 

 cramped and unsuitable seats and writing 

 desks, to which the tender frames of pupils 

 are confined in schools. 



To assist in banishing these evils, Mr. 

 Barnard has not only very lucidly ex- 



