INTRODUCTION. 
11 
quities, callisthenics, chemistry, composition, conic sections, criticism, drawing, 
embroidery, ecclesiastical history, the French language, geography, geology, his¬ 
tory, logic, music, mechanics, mineralogy, natural history, natural philosophy, 
moral and intellectual philosophy, painting, rhetoric and technology. 
For the impulse which the public mind has received in favor of female educa¬ 
tion, it is only just to acknowledge obligations to Mrs. Emma Willard of Troy, 
the founder of the first successful institution on a scale commensurate with the 
importance of the object; and to James Kent, John N. Campbell and their asso¬ 
ciates, the founders and patrons of a similar institution at the capital.* It is also 
due to the conductors and patrons of the female academies, to acknowledge, that 
with far less pretension and more limited public aid than our colleges, they are 
successful in maintaining a high standard of pure education ; and that their pupils 
exhibit proficiency and acquirements comparing favorably with the best results of 
collegiate education. The female academies have very careful public examina¬ 
tions and annual celebrations, in which essays written by pupils are read by per¬ 
sons appointed for that purpose, and medals and other testimonials of merit are 
awarded. The benign influences of these institutions are already observable in 
the more frequent employment of women as instructors of youth, in the increasing 
respect which the sex receives, and in the greater refinement of society. 
The tendency, however, of a popular government, is to favor rather the 
diffusion of general knowledge, and that which is immediately useful, than the 
advancement of pure science, and the cultivation of liberal and ornamental arts. 
In a community where each individual shares the responsibilities of govern¬ 
ment, there is an obvious necessity for universal education. This principle may 
be discerned in the earliest legislation at the close of the revolution. In 1789, 
two lots were set apart in each township of public lands, to constitute a local 
fund for the support of religious instruction and popular education. The regents 
of the university, in 1793, submitted to the legislature the importance of “insti- 
• Notes concerning female education wero furnished by A. Crittenton, Principal of the Albany Female Academy. 
