February 18, 1887.] 



SCIEN'CE. 



163 



in a witness-box, could give reasons for his judg- 

 ment which would satisfy a jury. The question 

 is determined by the most delicate weighing of 

 probabilities, by a subtle tact similar to that by 

 which the most complicated operation of an artifi- 

 cer is carried on. Is not this the very process 

 which we have to apply to the most difiScult prob- 

 lems of life ? The organon of mathematical 

 reasoning is a far clumsier and blunter instrument 

 than the organon by which humanistic difficulties 

 are decided, while the organon of scientific rea- 

 soning is clumsier and blunter still. Mathematics 

 deals *f or the most part witli things whicli can be 

 accurately apprehended by the mind. It aims, 

 more than anything else, at exactness, and 

 although in its higher branches it admits hypoth- 

 eses of probability, yet its principal object is cer- 

 tainty. Science goes farther than this ; it not 

 only admits certainty of apprehension, but it 

 claims that it should touch, see, and handle the 

 matters with which it deals. Few results can 

 stand this coarse analysis. If biology and chem- 

 istry refuse to acknowledge any truth which can- 

 not be demonstrated to the senses, they put out of 

 their reach those truths which are the most im- 

 portant to know, and which can be arrived at by 

 probability alone. If methematics admits of de- 

 monstation which shall give a clear proof to any 

 one who asks it, it removes from its sphere those 

 judgments which rest upon the trained instinct 

 of experts, and which can only be made clear to 

 one who has undergone a similar training. 



Regarded from this point of view, liumanism 

 was no bad preparation for active life or for de- 

 votion to any other study. It had the advantage 

 of being small in compass, and of limits which 

 were easily ascertained. Devotion to humanistic 

 studies, properly understood, did not exclude ap- 

 plication to other studies which might be con- 

 sidered more grave and important. William Pitt, 

 chancellor of the exchequer at twenty-two, prime 

 minister at twenty-four, was a first-rate humanist, 

 as he was an excellent mathematician ; but this 

 did not prevent him from being an admirable 

 orator, a close reasoner, a profound student of 

 history and politics, and a political economist far 

 in advance of his time. Much as vpe may regret 

 that education in Protestant countries, especially 

 in England, Holland, and Sweden, was narrowed 

 by the humanistic tendency, we must not refuse 

 to give that training all the cr6dit which it de- 

 serves. Oscar Browning. 



Of 250 railway employees examined in Buda- 

 pest by Lichtenberg, 36.8 per cent were found to 

 have impaired hearing, — a result which is cer- 

 tainly startling. 



PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN NEW YORK 

 STATE IN 1886. 



The advance sheets of the annual report of the 

 superintendent of public instruction of New York 

 state, Andrew S. Draper, while not containing the 

 full tables of statistics and the appendices that 

 will accompany the full report, enable us to judge 

 of the work of the past year. 



The aggregate amount of money expended by 

 the department during the year was $13,896,- 

 834.08, and it covers the expenses of supervision, 

 of normal schools, teachers' institutes, Indian 

 schools, and institutions for the deaf, dumb, and 

 blind. It does not include the expenses of tliose 

 parts of the school system that come immediately 

 under the supervision of the regents of the uni- 

 versity. The total number of teachers employed 

 was 31,335, of whom 25,373 were females. The 

 average annual salary of teachers was $701.81 in 

 the cities, and $361.66 in the towns. The num- 

 ber of children of school age — between 5 and 31 

 years — was 1,735,073. The number who attended 

 tlae public schools at some time during the year 

 was 1,037,767 ; the average daily attendance was 

 635,813. The whole number instructed in the 

 common schools, normal school, academies, col- 

 leges, private schools, and law and medical schools, 

 was 1,313,337. The average number of weeks 

 taught was, in the cities, 39.7, in the towns ; 33.6. 



From the data collected, it seems that fifty-nine 

 per cent of the school population attended the 

 public schools at some time during the year, 

 against sixty-nine per cent in 1870. At first 

 sight this number seems very small, but its small- 

 ness is apparent rather than real ; for all persons 

 between the ages of five and twenty-one are 

 reckoned as of school age, and it is therefore pos- 

 sible for a boy to be returned as not attending 

 school who has been fifteen 3 ears a pupil. 

 Furthermore, it must be recollected that among 

 the forty-one per cent of non-attending children 

 are reckoned all these who attend private schools 

 and academies ; and in a state like New York, 

 which contains a very large urban population, 

 the number of pupils in private schools and 

 academies will be very large : so the figures as to 

 school attendance cited above, and which first 

 meet the eye in reading the report, are mislead- 

 ing. In another paragraph, however. Superin- 

 tendent Draper makes the direct statement that 

 the number of pupils in the public schools, pri- 

 vate schools, and academies, at some time during 

 the year, was sixty-eight per cent of the school 

 population. 



Mr. Draper finds that the compulsory-education 

 act of 1874 has not only been inefl'ectual, but that 

 in its present form it is hardly capable of being 



