application of the laws of human life to the chances and the responsibilities of human action, and thus the very object of this popular physiology is neglected, in the ambitious attempt to become extensively learned in science.

Some prefer to teach anatomy more minutely, and for this purpose their books describe the individual muscles and the blood vessels and nerves in their multiplied ramifications, and have numerous engravings to correspond.

There is something very taking in this method of teaching this science. It seems to convey a depth of knowledge, and to - reveal the hidden intricacies of the human body, and thus the pupil is flattered with the hope of becoming a scientific scholar.

There arises an objection to this system similar to that which was offered to the extensive study of physiology, its uselessness and the want of time.

There is necessarily a limit to the amount of time and attention that can be devoted to any of these studies by the general student; and yet there is seemingly no limit to the range of anatomical or physiological science that may be learned. It is therefore necessary to make a selection of those topics which are most intelligible to the scholar, which will be remembered, and are applicable to purposes of life.

The general scholars, the pupils in common schools and academies, all who do not intend to become physicians or surgeons, stand in need of some knowledge of physiology. Their object is not to become men of science, but to gain that knowledge which will teach them how to manage the organs entrusted to their care, and how to appropriate their powers of body or mind so as to secure for themselves the greatest health and the longest life.

If, therefore, they spend the time and attention which is allotted to this subject, in the study of comparative physiology or of minute anatomy, they have little or none left to study that practical application, which will secure them in after life, against the errors and ailments that fall so commonly upon men. And though they may become learned naturalists or anatomists, they yet remain in want of that knowledge of the law of life which will be useful to him, and serve to guide them in their future self-management.

The only way in which this science can be profitably taught to the general student, and the only way he can advantageously learn it, is with the view to its application to the government of his life. This would include the general anatomy of those organs that are entrusted to his care, and only so much of this as is requisite to the understanding of their actions, powers and wants, or the physiological law which he needs to learn; and lastly, the relation of these organs and of his whole frame to all the chances and exposures of life. This will comprehend as

much as the pupils or even the general scholars will have time to study, as much as they can understand, and certainly all that they will find useful in fulfilling their duties of the present being.

It is important in all instruction, and especially in teaching a new science, that it be clothed in the most natural and simple language, that the learners be not burdened with strange words, and that the ideas be so clearly presented, that he who runs may read, or he that reads may understand. The common scholar can gain no advantage from learning the scientific terms of Latin or Greek, which represent objects that have common English names. This is not merely a negative evil, but it is positive; for, that mental labor which might be advantageously devoted to understanding the nature and character of the wind pipe is, in part at least, taken up and wasted in understanding the meaning of trachea, when the same idea is given under this Latin name.

Certainly, when the language of any book is so clear and transparent, that nothing seems to stand between the learner's mind and the author's ideas, these can be transferred from the one to the other, much more easily than when the student hesitates at the meaning of words, and sometimes is obliged to consult a dictionary.

This plan of the study of popular physiology and its application to active life, or rather physiology and hygiea combined, is less pretending than others. There is in it less show of learning, and it seems to promise less to the teacher and the scholar; consequently, some who are desirous of making large acquisitions in a new science, or who consider new and strange facts as practical wisdom, may be turned from this and be drawn to other plans. But those who look to the future and practical objects of this science, and are content to study it as a law that shall guide them in the fulfilment of their responsibilities in life, will look for those facts and those principles that shall thus teach them this law of self-management, rather than for the barren learning of useless facts and inapplicable principles.

E.

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR

as if

any

Is a subject which is very much overlooked. Our system of education, excellent as it is in many respects, is faulty in this point. The prizes held out to the young mind are not those which are to be gained by physical toil united with and guided by mental energy. Children, young men, are not encouraged to put their hands to the plough and the spade; to the cultivation of the soil; to the improvement of agriculture. They are not told that this, of all pursuits, is the most natural to man; the most dignified, the surest in its results; but they are taught to aspire to some higher position, other were higher; to spend their best energies over the midnight lamp, to exhaust all their powers of body and mind in the acquisition of that sort of knowledge which shall qualify them to become "professional men;" lawyers, physicians, preachers. This false view of life is not, perhaps, inculcated by our public teachers, but neither is it checked by them. It takes its rise under the parental roof, where every boy who indicates the possession of ordinary faculties, is held by his fond parents to be a prodigy, and destined by them to shine with a brilliant lustre among his fellows in after life; to become a leading star an ornament to society, a guide to his fellow men. He is taught to believe that the occupation of his father is undignified that it may do for ordinary minds, but is beneath such a capacity as he possesses; that physical toil is vulgar, that the true marks of a gentleman are white hands, kid gloves, and a "profession;" that a farmer, especially, is, and of right should be, a dull, plodding animal, just the lowest grade of humanity; who is fit for nothing else but to till the earth, and who is just fit for that because he is fit for nothing else; and these absurdities, if they are not encouraged, are not checked in the school room, the academy or the college.

Reformation is needed in this matter, else all our brightest and best, to say nothing of those who are only supposed to belong to that class, will be drawn from the noble pursuit of agriculture and induced to waste themselves in a vain struggle for pre-eminence in other pursuits, wherein a thousand fail to one who succeeds. But reformation is needed for another reason. The "professions" are all overstocked with students and teachers; science is pursued in all directions but the most important, and applied to all subjects but the right one. The ingenuity of the human race is exhausted in its endeavors to make cloth by some easier and cheaper mode; but nothing is done to test the capacity of the earth and compel it to yield an increased production of bread and fruit. The great

reservoir from which all our prosperity must ever flow, is left to its own care, while every channel that leads from it is freed from obstructions and increased in capacity. This is all wrong. The careful, industrious cultivator of the soil is always sure of a living while he has land and health; of a living at least, in any and all times generally of something more; and of what other pursuit or occupation can so much be said? How important, then, that science should be compelled to lend her aid to this glorious pursuit, thereby to render it still more productive and useful to the great human family!

We have become a great nation. We have increased in numbers and in wealth beyond any precedent in history; and to what do we owe our greatness? An eloquent English writer says, "The pride of America is the pride of successful toil; not the toil of conquest; not the struggles for empire; not the ef forts of grasping ambition; but the humblest toil of the humblest manhood; the toil of the hewers of wood and. the drawers of water. Hence, to guard the struggling against insult, and the successful against detraction, may be called the chivalry of America. It is the great feature of its social system. It is the dear bought hereditary honor which its people seek to guard. He who would sneer at any man for his honest calling in America, would but bring himself social martyrdom; and the man who would be ashamed of the calling by which he rose, would find most men ashamed to recognize him." This writer has answered our question. We owe our greatness to "successful toil;" and if we would retain the position we have grasped, more espe cially if we would advance in wealth and greatness, it must be done by the same means. But why has our toil been successful? Simply because it has been directed by intelligence; because the mind of America has lent its aid to the hands of America; and both have worked together zealously, not for a landlord or a master, but for individual self. Because we have in some sort appreciated the dignity of labor. The great cause of fear, and it is that which we would guard against, is, that our children shall be taught to look with contempt upon the means by which their fathers rose. That such a feeling exists, that it is increasing in breadth and strength, is obvious to any keen observer. That it should be checked, if possible eradicated, is no less clear. Parents should inculcate upon the minds of children the value and the dignity of labor, and teachers should do their part of the work. Children should ever be taught not to call upon others to do for them what they are able to do for themselves. Cultivation of the soil should be presented to the young mind as the highest, the most dignified vocation of man; a vocation to which all others owe their existence, by which all others live; a vocation which affords employ not for the hands

only, but for the head, the heart and mind; a vocation upon which genius may labor and science may expend its treasures for ages with benefit to the human race; a vocation which strengthens the physical and enlarges the mental powers of a man, however strong-however great he may be.

We desire to see the present course of things changed. Instead of drawing away the best minds from the best of pursuits, we desire to see these minds so educated that they will turn back again to the soil and expend their genius and their science and their energy in rendering that more productive. Labor, in any honest calling is honorable, but more honorable, more dignified than all other, is labor, guided by intelligence, cultivating the earth.

SCHOOL HOURS.

CHILDREN in towns and cities where annual schools are kept go to school too much both for their mental and physical good. They commence at too early an age, and are confined too steadily to their tasks. It is not strange that they become listless and inanimate; that they too often regard the school room as a prison house, and their teacher as a cruel task master. We dwarf and enfeeble the intellect by this constant pressure. The great and good men who have preceded us in life-bright and shining lights in their day and generation—were not thus tasked in their youth, and even in their infancy. The good old fashioned District Schools have produced giant intellects even in our own time. Children then worked and played in the open air a part of the year, and went to school the remainder to study and to learn; and while we would not advocate a return to the old system of "six months' schooling" in the year, we cannot refrain from expressing the opinion, that children now go to school too much. The consequence is that we are rearing a puny, feeble, sickly generation; and well will it be for them, if they do not grow up as feeble in intellect as in body. Three hours in a day, or four at the most, is enough for close mental application even for adults. Children should go to school in the morning, but not in the afternoon. In the morning the body has been strengthened and invigorated by sleep, and the mind is fresh and active for study; but in the afternoon it is not so. Then children are restless, impatient and idle. It is then that school discipline becomes difficult. Children require time for recreation and amusement every day. More than half their waking hours should be thus appropriated; and if sufficient time