fulness; a stubborn and unsubdued spirit can be made docile and tractable; vanity and heedless levity can be subdued; negligence in dress and personal habits can be remedied; uncouth or disagreeable manners or habits can be cured; anything can be effected in a mind endued with reason, conscience, and affection, if proper efforts are made, and proper facilities afforded.' pp. 43, 44. Let us suppose an institution where the pupils are all members of the same family, and in this establishment one teacher of suitable qualifications devoted to the formation and regulation of the moral character and the social feelings. Let it then become a prominent object with this teacher to gain the confidence and affection of the pupils. In accomplishing this it would be indispensable, that all the benevolent and generous affections of her own heart should be cultivated and in active exercise. Let her endeavor to discover all the good and interesting traits in the character of her pupils, that she may become really interested in them, and thus regulated by affection in all her efforts for them. This is the only way to secure their confidence, and to make them feel that all that is said and done is the offspring of kindness, and intended for their happiness. Let her also endeavor to make them acquainted with her own peculiar characteristics and feelings, and thus gain their esteem and affection; let her come to them with all the authority of a teacher, the affability of a companion, and the affection of a friend, and what might she not accomplish in correcting bad habits and forming good ones?

In addition to this, let her be able to command the aid and cooperation of all the other teachers of the institution. From them she can learn their failings and their improvement, and to them communicate her views, and direct those efforts and that moral suasion, which can be used by others as well as herself in restraining and correcting faults.' pp. 46, 47.

The following remarks seem to us deserving of attention. 'Another defect in education has arisen from the fact, that teachers have depended too much upon authority, and too little upon the affections, in guiding the objects of their care. It is not uncommon to see teachers, in their intercourse with pupils, feeling it necessary to maintain a dignity and reserve, which keeps their scholars at such a distance as prevents all assimilation of feeling and interest.

'But if teachers possess such a character as, when known, entitles to respect; if they are firm and decided in making and enforcing the regulations that are necessary; if they take sufficient pains to show their pupils, that every regulation has their comfort and improvement as the primary object; if they can gain their confidence and affection, the decided and dictatorial voice of authority is seldom required. A request is the most

effectual command; a kind and affectionate remonstrance the most severe reproof. Teachers can mingle with pupils as companions, and gain a thousand times more respect and influence than could be gained at the most elevated and imposing distance. And they can cause the principles of assimilation and imitation, which are so powerful in forming the young mind, to act only in familiar contact with those committed to their care; and for this very reason every teacher of youth needs to make the cultivation of easy, affectionate, and affable manners, an object of especial attention. But while alluding to this defect, it ought to be remembered, that oftentimes teachers are so oppressed with care and responsibility, and their efforts are so constantly needed in discharging other duties, that it is impossible to seek a frequent and familiar intercourse with their pupils. Yet still it is believed, that if teachers generally would make this a definite object of attention and effort, more than double the influence could be exerted over the minds of their charge; for the wishes of a beloved teacher have unspeakably more influence, than the authority of one who is always beheld only at a respectful distance.

For these and other reasons, it seems of great importance that the formation of the female character should be committed to the female hand. It will be long, if ever, before the female mind can boast of the accurate knowledge, the sound judgment, and ready discrimination, which the other sex may claim. But if the mind is to be guided chiefly by means of the affections; if the regulation of the disposition, the manners, the social habits, and the moral feelings are to be regarded before the mere acquisition of knowledge, is not woman best fitted to accomplish these important objects. Beside this, in order to secure the correction and formation of intellectual and moral character, which is deemed so important, it is necessary that a degree of familiarity of intercourse, at all times and places, an intimate knowledge of feelings, affections, and weaknesses be sought by a teacher, which is not practicable or proper for one of the other sex to attain.

It may be said, and said truly, that women are not prepared by sufficient knowledge to become teachers in many branches. But they can be prepared, and where they are not so well qualified as one of the other sex, they so often excel in patience and persevering interest, as to more than counterbalance the deficiency.

The writer cannot but believe, that all female institutions, for these and many other reasons, ought to be conducted exclusively by females, so soon as suitable teachers of their own sex can be prepared.' pp. 49-51.

Some disadvantages undoubtedly attend on all places of

which exists, in regard to the arts and their practical influences, appear to me to have created a want, not yet provided for, in our courses of elementary education. Information on these subjects is scattered through the larger works on mechanics, on chemistry, mineralogy, engineering, architecture, domestic economy, the fine arts, &c., so that it rarely happens, that a student in any of our colleges gathers information enough to understand the common technical terms which he meets with in a modern book of travels, or periodical work. It is only by making the elements of the arts themselves subjects of direct attention, that this deficiency is likely to be supplied.' pp. iii, iv.

Such are the purposes for which the lectures were originally written, and for which the substance of them is now given to the public. Probably few young men, during the last twenty years, have come out from their courses of study at college into the business and interests of the world, without feeling more or less of the want, of which Dr Bigelow speaks. The great end of a rightly conducted education is, to bring out and give the complete exercise of one's faculties; and so long as the possession of a clear judgment, a quick apprehension, a fine taste, a correct mode of reasoning, and the right and ready use of language shall continue to be desirable, something like the system now pursued at our highest places of education will undoubtedly be continued.

But these are not enough. There is this great want to be supplied. The young graduate finds the conversation of people in society occupied with subjects that are new to him, on which he feels, notwithstanding, that he is expected to be better informed than others. He has long had his best thoughts absorbed with the principles of science; he is eagerly looking round for their applications. In considering the connexion he is to have with the productive classes of society, he sees how important it is to him, in whatever relation he is to stand to them, to have some knowledge of their pursuits. He is surrounded by the products of the arts; his necessities are supplied, his taste is gratified by them; he wishes to understand how the raw productions of nature have been so skilfully and beautifully converted into the fabrics which minister to his use and convenience, and give such facilities to his advancement. What are the combinations of machinery, which have, in a few years, in the manufacture of cotton, woollen, and iron, increased the productive labor of a great nation in a twofold or threefold degree? What are the modifications in the

of the scientific and practical principles of many of the useful, curious, and elegant arts. All the arts may safely be called useful; it would be difficult to bring one to mind, which has not been, or might not be, made to 'promote the benefit of society,' and all probably owe their remote origin to that necessity which has so long been recognised as the mother of inventions. But what are the elegant arts, if not some of those treated of in this volume, Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Engraving? And what objects of Art are more curious than the Steam Engine, the Hydrostatic Press, the beautiful exhibition of mechanical contrivance called a Governor, checking or hastening, almost of itself, the too rapid or too tardy action of water or of steam; the Hydraulic Ram of Mongolfier, creating a perennial fountain by the simple passage of the current of an open river through a tube; or the machine called Barker's Mill, in which, without wheels or flume, corn is ground by the reacting force of a stream of water spouting against the empty air?

Everything however, in the volume, has a practical tendency, and is suited to fulfil the intentions of the founder of the Rumford Professorship, from the chair of which the lectures of Dr Bigelow were delivered.

A certain degree of acquaintance with the theory and scientific principles of the common arts, is found so generally important, that most educated men, in the course of an ordinary practical life, are obliged to obtain it from some source, or to suffer inconvenience for the want of it. He who builds a house, or buys an estate, if he would avoid disappointment and loss, must know something of the arts which render them appropriate and tenantable. He who travels abroad to instruct himself, or enlighten his countrymen, finds in the works of art the most commanding objects of his attention and interest. He who remains at home, and limits his ambition to the more humble object of keeping his apartment warm, and himself comfortable, can only succeed through the instrumentality of the arts.

'There has probably never been an age in which the practical applications of science have employed so large a portion of the talent and enterprise of the community, as in the present; nor one in which their cultivation has yielded such abundant rewards. And it is not the least of the distinctions of our own country, to have contributed to the advancement of this branch of improvement, by many splendid instances of inventive genius, and successful perseverance.

"The importance of the subject, and the prevailing interest

which exists, in regard to the arts and their practical influences, appear to me to have created a want, not yet provided for, in our courses of elementary education. Information on these subjects is scattered through the larger works on mechanics, on chemistry, mineralogy, engineering, architecture, domestic economy, the fine arts, &c., so that it rarely happens, that a student in any of our colleges gathers information enough to understand the common technical terms which he meets with in a modern book of travels, or periodical work. It is only by making the elements of the arts themselves subjects of direct attention, that this deficiency is likely to be supplied.' pp. iii, iv.

Such are the purposes for which the lectures were originally written, and for which the substance of them is now given to the public. Probably few young men, during the last twenty years, have come out from their courses of study at college into the business and interests of the world, without feeling more or less of the want, of which Dr Bigelow speaks. The great end of a rightly conducted education is, to bring out and give the complete exercise of one's faculties; and so long as the possession of a clear judgment, a quick apprehension, a fine taste, a correct mode of reasoning, and the right and ready use of language shall continue to be desirable, something like the system now pursued at our highest places of education will undoubtedly be continued.

But these are not enough. There is this great want to be supplied. The young graduate finds the conversation of people in society occupied with subjects that are new to him, on which he feels, notwithstanding, that he is expected to be better informed than others. He has long had his best thoughts absorbed with the principles of science; he is eagerly looking round for their applications. In considering the connexion he is to have with the productive classes of society, he sees how important it is to him, in whatever relation he is to stand to them, to have some knowledge of their pursuits. He is surrounded by the products of the arts; his necessities are supplied, his taste is gratified by them; he wishes to understand how the raw productions of nature have been so skilfully and beautifully converted into the fabrics which minister to his use and convenience, and give such facilities to his advancement. What are the combinations of machinery, which have, in a few years, in the manufacture of cotton, woollen, and iron, increased the productive labor of a great nation in a twofold or threefold degree? What are the modifications in the