January 4, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



9 



dress by the newly elected president, Professor Hall, in which he 

 recounted the history of the development of geologic science in 

 America from its first inception, through the informal meetings of 

 the four State geologists of New York, for discussion of their re- 

 spective observations, in 1838-40 ; through the organization of the 

 American Society of Geologists, into which these informal meetings 

 grew, in 1840; through the development of this geologic society 

 into the most powerful scientific organization in the country, the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science ; through the 

 development of the various State and Federal surveys ; through the 

 various efiforts made for concerted action among American geolo- 

 gists ; and down to the completion of the organization of the pres- 

 ent society. With every step in this half-century Professor Hall 

 has been identified. The progress has been due to his own efforts 

 perhaps more largely than to those of any other individual. His 

 heart was touched, and his spirit touched, by the recognition of his 

 decades of patient labor ; and his picture of the progress of these 

 decades was painted in glowing colors. 



The next meeting of the Geologic Society of America will be 

 held at Toronto in August next, in connection with the annual 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence. 



The Geologic Society of America will hereafter hold regular an- 

 nual meetings during the holiday week, perhaps in connection with 

 those of the American Society of Naturalists. Biennial meetings 

 for the presentation of papers, for the study of representative geo- 

 logic areas, etc., will be held each summer in connection with the 

 regular meetings of the American Association, beginning with the 

 Toronto meeting in August next. 



AN AUTHORITATIVE DEFINITION OF MANUAL 

 TRAINING. 



At the regular semi-annual meeting of the New Jersey Council 

 of Education, held at Trenton, Dec. 26, 1888, a report was received 

 from the special committee on manual training, which contained a 

 definition of manual training. This definition was unanimously 

 indorsed by the council, which is made up of the leading educators 

 of the State. It has therefore more than usual significance, and, if 

 generally adhered to, will not only place the discussion of manual 

 training on the plane which it should occupy, but will render the 

 discussion itself more intelligent and intelligible. 



An abstract of the report is presented below. The committee 

 charged with its preparation consisted of Dr. Nicholas Murray 

 Butler of Paterson (chairman), Henry R. Russell of Woodbury, 

 Superintendent C. E. Meleney (now of Somerville, Mass.), S. R. 

 Morse of Atlantic City, and C. C. Stimets of Jersey City. 



" It seems most essential at this time that some definite meaning 

 should be attached to the phrase ' manual training,' and some ac- 

 tion taken which would clearly indicate the opinion of the council 

 as to exactly what ' manual training ' means. It is now used in a 

 variety of senses, and no single, definite idea is connoted by it. 

 We hear of the ' manual-training problem,' the ' manual-training 

 movement,' the ' manual-training school,' ' manual training in con- 

 nection with geography,' and various other uses of the word, which 

 are strangely incongruous and misleading. Some one use of the 

 word should be selected as the proper one ; and it is the opinion of 

 the committee that this council is a body of such educational au- 

 thority that it may with propriety undertake the decision of this 

 difficult question. 



" Sir Philip Magnus, an authority of much weight, says, ' By 

 manual training one commonly means exercises in the use of tools 

 employed in working wood and iron." Professor Woodward of St. 

 Louis adds to this definition the comment, ' Drawing is understood 

 to be included in the exercises as a matter of course.' These quo- 

 tations sufficiently illustrate the lack of definiteness with which the 

 term is used even by men of high educational authority. Sir Philip 

 Magnus defines what he means by manual training, and Professor 

 Woodward immediately says that Sir Philip Magnus of course 

 means to include something which he has very evidently intention- 

 ally omitted. 



" Manual training was first used in this country in the sense in 



which Sir Philip Magnus uses the phrase. In the report which 

 Professor Runkle submitted to the trustees of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, after seeing the European exhibits at the 

 Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, he used the term in this sense ;: 

 and in consequence of his argument, based in turn upon this use 

 of the term, a school of mechanic arts was added to the courses 

 of instruction already in operation at the institute. It is to be ob- 

 served that instruction in drawing already formed part of the cur- 

 riculum of the institute, and that it was not included in the term 

 ' manual training ' at the time to which we refer. When, however, 

 the St. Louis manual-training school was founded, and later the 

 manual-training school at Chicago, the phrase ' manual-training *' 

 was broadened sufficiently to include instruction in drawing, in ad- 

 dition to the instruction in the tools commonly used in working wood 

 and iron. Judge MacArthur, Mr. Charles H. Ham, Col. Augustus. 

 Jacobson, and others who wrote and spoke on the subject of man- 

 ual training about this time, also used the word in the sense just 

 indicated. 



" When, however, the principle of the manual-training school 

 was attacked and criticised, and it became necessary to show on 

 what grounds it could appeal to the public funds for support, it 

 immediately became necessary to examine very critically, not alone- 

 the economic arguments which were urged in its favor, but the- 

 educational ends which it was expected to serve. It was at once- 

 claimed by its advocates that the manual-training school was not 

 a trade school, nor a school for apprentices, but an educational in- 

 stitution, in which certain trades and technical occupations were 

 called upon to furnish material to develop the mental powers of 

 the pupils in certain directions. Immediately this position was- 

 taken, it was necessary to show what the mental powers in ques- 

 tion were, and why they should be developed in the directions indi- 

 cated. The advocates of the manual-training school were prompt 

 to reply that that institution was only putting into practice the 

 educational doctrines taught by Comenius and Rousseau, and 

 those which were carried out in another sphere of educational ac- 

 tivity by Froebel. With the mention of Froebel and the drawing 

 upon the kindergarten and its fundamental principles for arguments 

 in support of the manual-training school, the narrow conception 

 and application of the word ' manual training ' then in vogue broke 

 down, and it began to be used in a much broader as well as a much 

 truer and more significant sense. It is because some who write 

 and speak on this subject use the phrase in its older and narrower 

 acceptation, while others refer to it in its broader and more com- 

 prehensive sense, that the confusion to which we have above 

 alluded exists. It seems to us that the council should note care- 

 fully the difference between the narrow and the broad use of the 

 phrase, and we urge upon the council the advisability and necessity 

 of giving the weight of its authority to the more liberal application 

 of the words. 



" ' Manual training,' in the narrower sense, may be defined as- 

 ' exercises in the use of tools commonly used in working wood and, 

 iron, together with instruction in drawing.' In this sense, the kin- 

 dergarten ; the movement for drawing and form-study in the pri- 

 mary and grammar schools ; the movement for better and more 

 objective methods of teaching history, geography, number, etc. ;. 

 and the manual-training movement, — are all distinct. That they 

 are, on the contrary, not distinct but closely related, and indeed in- 

 terdependent, is the decided opinion of your committee. This 

 close relation and interdependence makes the narrower significa- 

 tion of the term ' manual training' at this time an impossible and 

 a wrong one, and lays the basis for the broader and more compre- 

 hensive definition. ' Manual training,' in the latter sense, is ' in- 

 struction in thought-expression by other means than verbal lan- 

 guage and gesture.' It includes necessarily instruction in delinea- 

 tion and instruction in constructive work. Whether or not the 

 tools commonly used for working wood and iron shall be employed 

 for the purposes of giving a part of the instruction in constructive 

 work, is a mere incident. 



"We are of opinion that the educational value of proper instruc- 

 tion in the use of tools has been fully proven ; but it is not to be 

 supposed that the means of giving instruction in manual training' 

 will not improve and develop, as text-books, maps, and other 

 schoolroom apparatus have improved and developed. 



