256 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 251 



exercises as was necessary to pass the examination for graduation 

 from the Swedish common school. The instruction given in the 

 seminary was partly theoretical, and partly practical. The theoreti- 

 cal instruction occupied eighteen hours weekly, and included arith- 

 metic, geometry, physics, mechanics, mechanical drawing, and 

 pedagogics. The practical instruction occupied eighteen hours a 

 week, and was intended to teach the use of the various implements 

 of the joiner, the turner, the modeller, and the smith, to impart 

 familiarity in the use of these tools, and to enable the pupils to 

 make the furniture and implements that are found in every house- 

 hold. For practice, the students gave instruction, under the su- 

 pervision of a trained teacher, in the schools for boys and girls above 

 mentioned. On graduating, the student had to pass an examina- 

 tion in the theoretical subjects, and demonstrate his practical ability 

 and his fitness to teach. On meeting these requirements satisfac- 

 torily, a diploma was awarded. 



In 1880 this plan of instruction was essentially altered. The 

 scientific subjects were dropped, and the entire time devoted to in- 

 struction in manual training. The length of the course was re- 

 duced to six weeks, and the training was arranged to meet the 

 needs of certificated teachers who wished to fit themselves in these 

 other subjects. Several, usually four or six, of these six-weeks' 

 courses are given each year, and so popular have they become that 

 many applicants have to be turned away. An account of one of 

 these courses is interesting. That given in 1885 from July 8 to 

 Aug. 18 was attended by 42 students, of whom 28 were Swedes, 3 

 Norwegians, i a Dane, i a German, i a Swiss, and 8 were female 

 teachers from Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Six hours daily were 

 spent in the workshop, under the supervision of Herr Salomon. 

 The same gentleman, who is the director of the seminary, lectured 

 seven hours each week on the historical development and the 

 methods of manual training, and also presided twice weekly at as- 

 semblies of the students, held for the purpose of discussing the 

 Naas system in general and in its details. The results of these 

 discussions were registered in a book kept for the purpose, and 

 they accomplished diverse improvements in the details of the course. 

 Throughout the course a religious service was held daily, which 

 was opened and closed with prayer and sacred song. No one was 

 compelled, however, to attend this service. 



The programme of instruction included a daily lecture from seven 

 to eight o'clock in the morning, slojd exercise from 9.30 to 1.30 and 

 from 2 to 6 p.m., excepting Saturdays, when the slojd ended at 

 noon, and the remainder of the day was devoted to school-work 

 and trial lessons. Two evenings weekly were given over to the 

 discussions, and two more to lectures by Director Salomon. Herr 

 Abrahamson was often seen in the work-rooms, and for every 

 student he had a cheering word or a suggestion, and his personal 

 influence was strongly felt among them. 



In his lectures, Director Salomon developed the ends which man- 

 ual training is to subserve, with great ability and perspicuity. He 

 distinguished these ends as formal and material. The formal ends, 

 he showed, were, (i) to arouse a desire for work and a pleasure in 

 it ; (2) to accustom pupils to independence, and to fit them for it ; 

 (3) to instil the virtues of exactness, order, and accuracy ; (4) to 

 train the attention ; and (5) to train pupils in habits of industry 

 and perseverance. 



The material ends of manual training, Herr Salomon explained to 

 be as follows : (i) to win the interest of thq, children, and therefore 

 (2) to give them something useful to work at ; (3) to require and 

 promote orderliness and exactness ; (4) to develop cleanliness and 

 neatness ; (5) to provide an opportunity to exercise and develop the 

 sense of form ; (6) to appeal to both the mental and physical powers 

 of the child ; (7) to strengthen the muscles ; (8) to afford a relief 

 from long-continued sitting at school ; (9) to train' the pupil to 

 methodical and accurate expression; and (10) to promote a general 

 ability to do hand-work. Nicholas Murray Butler. 



A PLEA FOR THE STUDY OF LOGIC. 



Most intelligent persons are very lavish in their expressions of 



admiration for the many important aids to the science of education, 



and consequently to the armamentarium of the teacher, which have 



been developed during the last fifty years. And yet, notwithstand- 



ing our progress in the methods and appliances which aid the 

 teacher so much, many of our best educators are not satisfied with 

 much of the work at present accomplished, and remedies are sug- 

 gested from various quarters. It seems to me that most persons 

 fail to appreciate the direct cause of the trouble, and in consequence 

 their proposals are not such as will cure the ills of our great school 

 system. 



The object of an education should be to so train the faculties 

 which nature has given the student, and to impart to him such 

 knowledge, that he will be the better prepared to fill that particular 

 station in life for which he seems destined, and which will enable 

 him to grow in knowledge with his years, if he will continue the 

 same methods of study after his graduation. 



The school and college course should be regarded only as a be- 

 ginning ; and by reason of this education, if it has been as success- 

 ful as we have a right to expect, the further acquisition of knowl- 

 edge will be much easier. It is a source of great satisfaction tcv 

 perceive that the old idea of a higher education, which consisted in 

 turning out a polished man or woman upon society, who was. 

 almost wholly ignorant of the laws of nature, and especially so in 

 all that pertained to their own organization, is no longer defended 

 in the institutions of learning in this country. It is so at least in 

 those worthy of any consideration as educational centres, and yet 

 much remains to be accomplished under the new regime. 



One of the desirable objects at present is to educate a man so 

 that he may be able to overlook intelligently the whole field of 

 knowledge, and to know how and where to obtain what he needs. 

 The departments of human learning are already so numerous, that 

 a general education can give but an insight and acquaintance with 

 the many ; while, if excellence in any one is desired, one must be- 

 come a specialist. 



Up to the present time, our greatest achievements in knowledge 

 have been effected by our adherence to a certain form of reason- 

 ing known as the ' scientific method,' which combines the induc- 

 tive and deductive processes. Until the full recognition and defini- 

 tion of this combination, progress was painfully slow, and was often 

 retarded by the timely discovery that what had previously been re- 

 garded as truth, was, by reason of the imperfect methods made use 

 of, only partly true, or altogether false. Certainly we had a right 

 to expect that when the new method had been worked out, and 

 had achieved grand results, every educator would be enthusias- 

 tic in its praise, and never cease to urge its study upon those who. 

 are seeking the knowledge in possession of the race at the present 

 time, and especially upon those who hope that they themselves may 

 be able to make some additions to the common fund of knowledge^ 

 But instead of this, it seems to have been forgotten, at least as any 

 thing of importance with which young students should become ac- 

 quainted ; and when it is taught, it is reserved until they have 

 nearly completed their school-education. 



The very principles that would be of incalculable advantage ta 

 the student, if inculcated early, are reserved until he has, perhaps,, 

 formed vicious habits of statement and reasoning, and which are 

 not then so easily described. Perhaps the greatest defect of our 

 educational system at present is the almost universal manner in 

 which logic as a study has been ignored by our educators. 



It may be urged that the logical principles are contained in some 

 of the other branches taught ; and as, in this way, knowledge is 

 gradually increased, the pupil naturally appreciates the laws of 

 reasoning involved in these studies, and therefore does not need the 

 separate study of logic. But I do not believe this ground is well 

 taken ; for, although it is true that we are all to some extent logi- 

 cians, too many are very imperfect ones, and they are unfortunately 

 in the majority. 



When a boy is placed at a trade involving the use of tools, the 

 first step usually taken is to acquaint him with their construction,, 

 use, and care. But such delicate and intricate instruments as those 

 which make up the human mind, seem to call for no special knowl- 

 edge or training as to their use or care. Would it not be fully as. 

 wise to teach the younger scholars in the beginning of their edu- 

 cation, soon after learning to read cleverly, — say, between the age- 

 of ten and twelve, — the fundamental principles of correct reason- 

 ing? The study of logic would be likely to cultivate the faculty of 

 observation, which is so necessary in a true education. 



