MARCH 21, 1884.] 
of each other. An average of the last four 
years shows, that, out of every hundred stu- 
dents who have persevered, thirty-four have 
taken English literature and thirty-three his- 
tory, twelve have taken science and eleven art, 
five have taken German and four French. His- 
tory is taught by topics, and there are circulars 
giving minute directions for critical study in 
the literatures of the different languages. The 
Shakspeare paper is particularly suggestive and 
valuable. Much thorough scientific work is 
done, if it is of an elementary character. Ge- 
ology and mineralogy are taught by sending 
specimens and requiring observation and de- 
scription, as in the class-room. Excellent 
work has been done in blowpipe analysis, and 
several students who live in fossiliferous regions 
have made discoveries in their own neighbor- 
hood. Botany has always been well taught: 
most of the teachers have been pupils of Gray, 
Goodale, and Farlow. Biological subjects 
have not been popular; possibly owing to the 
lingering survival of a lady-like repugnance to 
frogs, mussels, and moulds. Physics and 
chemistry have not been attempted. That the 
scientific department is thoroughly well con- 
ducted is assured by the fact that it is under 
the charge of the head of the woman’s chemi- 
cal laboratory of the Massachusetts institute of 
technology. 
The society has a lending-library, which 
began with the purchase of twenty-nine books 
in 1874, and which has now about a thousand 
volumes, many of them valuable works in il- 
lustration of archeology and art. Out of the 
eight thousand issues which have been made 
to the most distant states and _ territories, 
through floods and railroad accidents, only 
twelve volumes have been lost in the mails, 
and five through the carelessness of students. 
A small pamphlet enforcing obedience to the 
rules of health has been prepared by the secre- 
tary, and is sent to every one who joins the 
society. The pupils are widely distributed, 
both socially and geographically. Massachu- 
setts and New York have always furnished the 
largest number, but not so many as the remain- 
‘ing Middle States together. The extreme 
south and the remotest west, as well as the 
Canadian provinces, are well represented. 
Many industries and all grades of society, 
above absolute penury and ignorance, furnish 
students. ‘There are girls in cities with large 
allowances, and married women far from any 
post-office, who do their own household work. 
A telegraph-operator, a compositor, a matron 
of a public institution, a railroad paymaster 
(acting also as treasurer, and going up and down 
SCIENCE. 
349 
her road in that capacity), a colored teacher at 
the south, another colored woman well married 
at the north, have taken advantage of the 
society’s courses. Six deaf-mutes have been 
among the pupils; and one, after studying 
several years, has become an associate teacher, 
and takes charge of four of her companions 
in misfortune. Mothers study for the sake 
of teaching their children; and even grand- 
mothers, not to be left too much alone, join 
the rest of the family group. In age, half the 
pupils are between twenty and thirty, and one- 
fourth between thirty and fifty. Many con- 
tinue their studies for several years. Last 
year there were more old students than new. 
One has been eight years in the society, has 
taken a full course in many subjects, has read 
a small library of important works, and has 
taken, after the first two years, the first rank 
in every thing. ‘‘ Now and then an enthusi- 
astic student tells us that she hopes to con- 
tinue with us all her life;’’ and one writes, 
** The very thought of leaving makes me home- 
sick.’’ ‘Those who have only known the active 
life of cities can have no idea how great a boon 
to a country girl is a correspondence with an 
intelligent and sympathetic woman. The 
students’ letters are full of appreciation and 
oratitude. One says, ‘‘ I only regret that I 
did not know of the society at the beginning 
of its existence ;’’ and another speaks of hay- 
ing derived ‘‘ pleasure and incalculable benefit 
from the systematic course of study pre- 
scribed.’’ After buying a science text-book, 
a student writes, ‘‘ It has cost me my summer 
hat, but I do not regret it in the least;’’ and 
another, ‘‘ I pin my lesson copied the night 
before, to the kitchen wall, and the drudgery 
of dish-washing is removed.’’ With such 
eager material to work upon, it will be strange 
if the society does not find some mute, in- 
glorious Herschel, or some village Somerville, 
upon whom it will act as an inspiration to great 
things. If Du Bois Reymond was able to 
become a great physiologist at a time when 
rubber tubing was not an article of commerce, 
a girl who has learned to use the blowpipe by 
teaching at a distance must blame herself, and 
not her circumstances, if she does not do good 
work as a mineralogist. 
A society for home study for young men has 
had an existence for three years, and has come 
to anend. Longfellow, Howells, and Holmes, 
John Hay, Justin Winsor, and Charles Dudley 
Warner, are among the names on its committee, 
and the reports for the first two years were 
very enthusiastic. They state that the stu- 
dents are twice as many as in the young women’s 
