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There are some difficulties, however, the report admits, one being the "tendency to excessive recreation." It is suggested that an official be appointed to be styled "dean of the woman's department." At present the university has no control over the deportment of the large majority, who live in clubs and boarding houses. Yet the superintendent says, "It is a pleasure to add that in general none is needed."

WYOMING.

Report for 1895 and 1896, Miss Estelle Reel, superintendent of public instruction.

Complaint is made of the lack of sufficient facilities for obtaining correct and reliable statements of school statistics, subordinate officials being slow and often inexpert in rendering accounts to county superintendents. The difficulty lies partly in objections to the provisions which district treasurers and clerks are required to observe, which to some of them seem needlessly exacting and onerous. The law requires these officials to report to the voters of the district at the annual district meeting on the first Monday in May, and afterwards on the first Monday of September to report to the county superintendent. This added burden is much complained of, and delay and laxity are the consequences.

Yet increments are reported in several lines. The number of schools in 1894, 379, increased to 425 in 1896, of teachers from 407 to 465, and of pupils 1,272. Attendance of children is better than ever before. School buildings have gone from 257 to 306. But the average of wages has decreased; also the cost of tuition to some extent. Under operation of the act of 1895 for reduction in the number of school districts, they have been brought down to 182. Notwithstanding reduction in the salaries of county superintendents, high praise is bestowed upon their diligence and efficiency. The report argues strongly for the adoption of a uniform course of study for the whole State. It has already been adopted in several of the counties with signal benefit.

Much praise is bestowed upon the county institutes. The good results from regular reading of educational magazines and like publications lead the superintendent to urge every teacher in the State to subscribe for them.

The superintendent is earnest, like her predecessor, in the matter of free text-books, and commends the following arguments made by the latter in one of his reports. After carefully studying the question, noting the experiences in other States where the system prevails, the following summary of benefits is given:

"First. A gain of from 25 to 40 per cent on first cost.

"Second. A gain of at least 33 per cent in the time the book will be in proper condition to use.

"Third. Considering first cost and time of use, there is a gain of about 50 per cent in cost to the community.

"Fourth. The classes are uniformly supplied at the proper time and with the proper text-books.

"Fifth. The very unpleasant distinction between rich and poor is avoided. "Sixth. Increased attendance.

"Seventh. Schools are more successfully graded.

"Eighth. A State or county system is more easily carried out.

"Ninth. A very great and unnecessary expense to teachers is avoided

Inasmuch as adoption of the system in general will be, in all probability, delayed by consideration of the great expense which the first outlay must necessarily incur, the report recommends for the present that the matter be left to the voluntary action of the several districts.

Attention is called to the extremely onerous duties of the State superintendent's department. This official, in addition to being school superintendent, is ex officio a member of the board of trustees of the State University, secretary of the State board of charities and reform, and secretary and register of the State board of land commissioners. Without seriously complaining, the superintendent uses the following sufficiently pertinent language:

"The law authorizes a contingent which allows the heads of other departments to appoint such clerks for their office as they deem advisable, and it is not easy to discern the wisdom of the restrictions placed upon the clerical assistance afforded to this department."

The university is reported to be advancing. The trustees this year did away with what was styled the "subpreparatory class." The standard has been considerably raised, and some valuable accessions have been made to the faculty.

Much benefit is claimed to have come already from the State Teachers' Association, which was formed in the year 1891.

Quite a liberal grant of land was lately made to the State Agricultural College. To guard against the hindrances probably attaching to judicious disposal of land in large quantities, it was provided that selections be made of tracts not less than 160 acres, nor more than 640.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES.

I. Arranged according to date of founding.

II. Arranged according to number of students.

III. Arranged alphabetically.

IV. Arranged according to countries.

V. List of polytechnica.

VI. List of agricultural, forestry, and mining schools.

INTRODUCTION.

The authors of "Minerva, Jahrbuch der Universitäten der Welt," which is the chief source of information offered in the following six lists, say that they have submitted their work at various stages of completion to different professors of the countries mentioned, so that they are assured that their decision as to which of the learned institutions of the world should be regarded as universities is upheld by the most trustworthy authority. They call their Jahrbuch a collection of names of teaching bodies, of universities, or similar institutions of the world. In the first edition the authors admitted that, despite the most rigorous search, a few of the smaller institutions of the Western Hemisphere escaped their notice. In subsequent editions these omissions have been corrected, and libraries, societies, and museums added, so that the fifth edition, that of 1895-96, is a remarkably valuable source of information. Since this Report of the Bureau of Education contains direct information concerning the higher institutions of learning in the United States, they have been omitted from the following lists, which are devoted exclusively to foreign institutions.

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1266 Perugia, Italy.
1288 Coimbra, Portugal.

1402 Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany.
1409 Leipzig, Saxony, Germany.

1409

Aix, France.

1411

St. Andrews, Scotland.

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