the greatest care. Contrary to the usage of most orphaned creatures, the little snakes throve and grew. They learnt to know their friend and foster-father and were not afraid to approach him.

One day Melampus, tired with study and labour, lay down, in the soft grass close to the serpents' oak, to rest. A gentle breeze played in the oak leaves and lulled him to sleep, and the sunshine, tempered by their shade, soothed him with its warmth. Presently a curious sensation woke him from his dreams; something touched both his ears. Opening his eyes, he saw the little serpents playing about him, and finding that he lay still they again crept close to him and licked his ears. Strange visions opened before him; he saw future events as in an open scroll. The voices of the birds which sang in the oak tree sounded strangely familiar to him, and he soon learnt to interpret their meaning. Thus the service which he had rendered was paid back to him; and the legend continues to relate what honours and favours from the gods awaited him, and how, at last, temples were erected to his memory.

No people who despised the lower animals would have originated or preserved this charming myth.-School Newspaper.

V. Education in Various Countries.

1. ENGLISH PUBLIC AND RAGGED SCHOOLS.

3. EDUCATION IN HUNGARY.

The Manuel Général of Paris gives interesting details from the official report presented to the Chamber of Representatives as to the state of education in this country, from which we make some extracts. Hungary, including Transylvania, has 11,352 communes, or parishes, with a population of 13, 155,030 souls, of whom 2,121,430 are children of an age to attend school. The schools number 15,445, of which 1,542 are communal or non-confessional, where children of all creeds are collected, and receive religious instruction from their respective ministers. Of the 2,121,430 children of age to attend school, 1,443, 263 do actually attend, who are composed of seven separate nationalities, nearly a third part being Magyars. The diversity of origin is one of the difficulties which the Minister of Instruction has to contend against, it being naturally not easy to present a common system that could form of such heterogeneous elements & body of young men animated with a love for their common country. Happily the Minister's efforts have not been without much success: the number of scholars attending school has been increased during the past year from 64 to 68 per cent.; the schools of arboriculture have increased 571, the gymnastic establishments 374. The number of scholastic libraries is 1,508. The normal schools are 57, of which 10 are for female teachers, with a course of three years, frequented by 2,471 pupils, of whom 594 are girls; the teachers of the normal schools number 510. There are

4. NORMAL SCHOOLS IN GERMANY.

5. SCHOOL SUPERVISION.

The London School Board has discussed the relations of the pub-in addition 147 gymnases, with 1681 professors and 27,220 pupils ; lic school and the ragged schools, owing to certain charges that the and 24 royal schools, with 337 professors and 7,310 pupils. In the Board had broken up these schools, and thrown 30,000 poor chil- universities 1,046 students are following the courses of the faculty of dren into the streets. The public interest and discussion awakened, theology, and 1,744 are pursuing the studies of the faculty of law. led Sir Charles Reed, M.P., Chairman of the London Board, to The salaries of the teachers are still small, averaging 289 florins make several important statements at the meeting of the Board, each; but the Minister is making efforts, in which he is aided by Feb. 2. He said that "at the close of the year 1870, in which the different communes, to increase these salaries, and to provide the Elementary Education Act was passed, the number of children pensions for those teachers who have served forty years.-Ibid. on the roll of the various ragged schools was 32,309. According to the last report of the Ragged School Union, the number of children on the rolls of ragged schools was 9,347. The roll, therefore, had fallen off by 22,962, or in round numbers 23,000. Of these 23,000 The total number of normal schools now exceeds 100, of which children formerly attending ragged schools, between 12,000 and some are very ancient, that of the Hallberstadt having been found13,000-say 12,500-have been directly transferred to the Board, ed in 1778, and that of Gotha in 1780; but the greater number in many cases with their former managers, and have either been owe their origin to near the beginning of the present century. drafted into permanent schools, or, are still in temporary build- Saxony is the country the most advanced as to the means of eduings waiting for the erection of permanent schools. A few more, cation, having for a population of two millions and a half of souls say about 500, were drafted into schools of the Board by their no less than 2,143 schools, with 16 normal schools.-Ibid. managers when the schools were opened. Other ragged schools, with an attendance of say 1,500, have ceased their connection with the Ragged School Union, a small fee being charged for instruction. It has often been said, and with great truthfulness, that Altogether, therefore, there will remain 8,500 children to be ac-most important branch of administration, as connected with educacounted for. But these 8,500 children have not been thrown upon tion, relates to school inspection." the streets. Many of the ragged schools have been discontinued where What is needed for all our schools, and what is essential to their there are no Board schools at all, and the children have been trans-highest efficiency, is a constant thorough, intelligent, impartial, and ferred to efficient voluntary schools in the neighbourhood. The rule of the Board, it may be here stated, is never to take action varied qualifications so indispensable to success in this delicate and independent supervision. Comparatively few persons possess the. against the parents of children attending inefficient schools except important work. So important was it regarded by the distinguished in districts where there is an available supply of efficient school author of the Dutch system of inspection, that after a long life deaccommodation. What the opinion of the Ragged School Union it- voted to educational labour, he said: "Take care how you choose self is may be gathered from their last report, which was adopted on the 10th of May, 1875, Lord Shaftesbury, himself being in the your inspectors; they are men whom you ought to look for with lantern in hand. chair. On the first page of this report it is stated, "The committee have no reason to believe that the children formerly cared for by them are not scholars elsewhere."" Such a report as the above is the best possible commentary upon the practical workings of the free school system in London, inasmuch as its influence is to place under the very best public instruction, children who have been brought together on account of poverty by poor charitable institutions.-New-England Journal of Education.

the

vision of our schools is confided, by their own acknowledgment The great majority of school men to whom by statute the superdischarge this duty very imperfectly. There are very few men in any community who can afford to devote the time and labour which this service requires.

"A school," says Everett, "is not a clock which you can wind up and then leave to go of itself." Our railroads and factories require some directing, controlling and constantly supervising mind for their highest efficiency, and do not our schools need the same? How to meet this great want of a proper supervision of our schools is the great problem of the day. The more direct, frequent and constant this supervision is, when wisely and judiciously exerted, the more successful will be the results. Hence the emshall devote his whole time to one county is unquestionably the best thing. Next to this, is for several counties to unite in embe paid proportionately by them according to the time and services ploying such a person, who shall divide his time among them, and rendered.-American Journal of Education.

2. ENGLISH EXHIBITION OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. A new exhibition of a very interesting nature is about to be organized in England: a collection of scientific instruments, which is to take place on the 1st of April, 1876, in the Palace of South Ken-ployment of a person possessing the needed qualifications, who sington, and is to last six months. The object of the exhibition is to collect and open to public inspection the greater number of instruments to which are attached historical associations, such as the astrolabes of Tycho, the lenses of Galileo, the balances of Lavoisier, the lightning-rods of Franklin, the injector of Gifford, the pendulum of Leon Foucault, etc. An influential committee has been formed in England to promote the undertaking, and local committees are to be organized in various other countries which have been invited to take part in the same; and the Academy of Science, of Paris, and the Conservatory of Arts and Trades, have promised to cooperate, and will send a great many of the scientific curiosities which they possess.—Ibid.

6. REV. DR. JENNINGS.

THE REV. DR. JENNINGS was born in Glasgow in October, 1814, and on the death of his parents was sent to his uncle, Rev. Mr. Tyndal, in Fifeshire, from whom he received his early education. The Rev. Mr. Tyndal was a minister of the United Secession Church,

Why we Laugh. By S. S. Cox, author of "Eight Years in Congress,"

etc.

and through his influence Jennings studied at the Theological Hall though hardly bearing on the stern character of thrift, is very interof St. Andrew's, for the ministry of that body. When he had com- esting. pleted his studies he was licensed, and ordained for work in Canada, in connection with the Missionary Society of the United Secession Church. He arrived at Toronto with Mrs. Jennings in the spring of 1838, and for some time travelled as a missionary in various parts of the Province, and in July of the following year he was ordained, and settled as the minister of the Secession Church of this city in 1848. The Bay Street Church was erected, and the Rev. Dr. Jennings entered upon his duties as its pastor, continuing to act as such until the 10th March, 1874, when he resigned in consequence of failing health. During the twenty-seven years that he occupied the pulpit of the Bay Street Church, he identified himself with the educational system of the Province. He was a member of the Council of Public Instruction since 1850, as well as one of the trustees of the Grammar School, now the High School. At Dr. Jennings' funeral his friend and colleague in the Council of Public Instruction (Rev. Dr. Ryerson) thus referred to him :

"I am sure, in my brief utterances in regard to the deceased, I will have the heartfelt sympathy of my reverend friend, Dean Grasett, here present, who with myself have, during the last twentyfive years, been connected with our departed friend in the most intimate relations, and which deeply concerned the educational interests of this country. I have never found a man more fervent or more earnest in advancing those interests, affecting as they did in the highest degree the Christian education of this country, than the deceased was. He was well known to us in the Council of Public Instruction, and we regarded him as one of the educational benefactors of the country.'

VI. Short Critical Notices of Books.

This book is more an attempt to aid in solving the Horatian queryQuid Rides?-than an actual answer itself. It is, perhaps, more a plausible title to introduce to the world some American oddities. Of humour in general, and American humour in particular, Mr. Cox writes. His opinion, after all, is that Artemus Ward, Josh Billings, Mark Twain and Bret Harte are the lights in the firmament of American wit. Exaggeration and extravagance of a somewhat solemn cast seem to be its peculiarity and its national stamp. Both Houses of Congress furnish all its examples; they are taken as types of the nation's jokers, and amid what is sometimes strained and attenuated there is much that will provoke a hearty laugh.

Barnes' Notes on the Epistles. By Albert Barnes.

what has already appeared. It contains notes on the general or “CathThis last publication of the series of "Barnes' Notes "is uniform with olic" epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude. The book will be welcomed by those who have consulted with pleasure and profit the former works, critical and otherwise, of this lamented author.

German Principia. Part I.

French Principia. Parts I and II,

Those who prefer the "Plan" of Dr. William Smith's "Principia Latina" will find these elementary works on the modern languages ar ranged after that manner. It may be somewhat difficult to carry out in all cases a perfect likeness, but where it has been found practicable it has been done. These books will no doubt prove of material advantage to students of French and German.

From BELFORD BROS., Toronto:

Pausanias the Spartan. By the late Lord Lytton.

From Messrs. HARPER & BROS., New York; HART & RAWLINSON, last in the literary arena in which he played so varied and important a Toronto:

Athenagoras. By F. A. March, LL. D. This is the fourth volume of a series which owes its origin to Mr. B. Douglass, who has endowed a chair for the professorship of "Christian Greek" in Lafayette College, U. S. This and the volumes already published contain full explanatory notes by Mr. W. B. Owen, A. M., who fills the chair endowed by Mr. Douglass. They will doubtless be well received by those who have long felt the want of the historical publications of early Christian authors.

Elijah the Prophet. By Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., of New York, author of "David, King of Israel."

The present Governor-General of India has edited and given this unfinished fragment from his father's pen to the public. How active was that mind and how powerful was that intellect which was busied till the part! Nearly every one of Bulwer's works was a wonderful monument of the literary skill and versatility of the author, and each different in thought, style and purpose. "Kenelm Chillingly " and "The Parisians," the first an English tale, where one central character entwines around itself philosophy and romance; the second a fountain of brilliancy and wit, a Parisian story, with its gay carelessness of life and an orphan's sadness seeming to form a perfect picture of life in the truth of its light and Pausanias," the last published work, was begun first nearly twenty years before its author's death, and though interrupted from many causes was never abandoned. We can only regret its unfinished state, unaided by even a hint as to what the probable termination would

shade.

66

have been.

Messrs. Belford Brothers, the Toronto publishers, are to be highly commended, both in regard to the appearance of the work and for the despatch which they have displayed in its publication. This is the first edition of the work which we have seen, and is, we believe, out before the American reprint.

Those who have enjoyed the pleasure of reading Dr. Taylor's former book ("David, King of Israel,") will be prepared to welcome this his succeeding work. The success which attended the story of David was mainly due, as before intimated, to the way in which it was treated. We saw David not merely as the shepherd boy and the king, but as the central figure of the famous men of his time, working and warring, sinning The New Poems of Jean Ingelow, J. G. Whittier, H. W. Longfellow. and suffering, just as his fellow-men did then and do now. Elijah the Prophet" is thus drawn also. Not only by the brook in Cherith first edition in which they have all been collected and published toThese poems have already been published at intervals, but this is the and alone under the juniper tree do we see him, but staking his life on gether. We need do no more than mention the names of the authors his belief among the fierce priests of Baal on the top of Carmel, and rebuking the powerful yet vacillating king of Israel in the vineyard or field of Naboth. It is only in these relations that we can estimate his whole character, and feel that he was but "a man of like passions" as we are, yet strong, dauntless and sublime in his trust in Israel's God. Through and through the Tropics; or 30,000 Miles of Travel: Oceanica, Australasia and India. By Frank Vincent, Jr., author of the "Land of the White Elephant.'

The title sufficiently indicates the contents of Mr. Vincent's work. Leaving New York with the author, we are taken round the dreaded

up

whose poems are here given; they are all well known on this side of the
line. The volume contains "The Hanging of the Crane,”—the latest born
of Longfellow, and is a touching domestic poem-tale, from the "setting
"of a new home, or "the hanging of the crane," until a golden wed-
ding day and later. "Mabel Martin, a harvest idyl," by J.G. Whittier, is
another quiet domestic sketch of New England Quaker life. Mabel, a
"witch-wife's child," is the heroine. Her mother had
"Witched and plagued the country side,

Till at the hangman's hand she died."

And let the hay-mow's shadow fall
Upon the loveliest face of all."

"Sat apart,

Cape Horn, up to San Francisco, to the manners and customs of the But her scorned and orphaned daughter, from many other maidens (at inhabitants of which one very interesting chapter is devoted. Then off husking bee), to Australia, where we get rapid glances of Melbourne and Sydney-both thoroughly English cities. Next we find ourselves in India, inspecting famous mosques and palaces, viewing tombs of kings, wondering at fantastic religious rites of the natives, and shooting antelopes. Provided as Mr. Vincent was with letters of introduction to native princes and gentlemen, he enjoyed exceptional opportunities for obtaining just the information needed on a subject of this kind. We can bear witness to the singularly good use that has been made of it.

Thrift. By Samuel Smiles, author of "Character," "Self-Help,'

etc.

There is really no necessity for advocating the perusual of this last effort of Mr. Smiles; his reputation as a useful practical writer is already made, and so generally acknowledged, that we can only add our tribute of pleasure to the universal verdict. Not only do we find chapters devoted to the result of thrift, the effect of improvidence and the use of savings banks, but there is an excellent and forcible chapter on Healthy Homes and Sanitary Reform. This is a subject which everyone could read with profit; it is one which we have often urged in this Journal with regard to our schools, and it still deserves more attention than it receives. The art of living, which forms the subject of the last chapter,

At

66

The volume also contains sixteen poems by Jean Ingelow, besides the Masque of Pandora,' "Morituri Salutamus," and "Birds of Passage (Flight the Fourth), by Longfellow.

Protestantism and Catholicism. By Emile de Laveleye, with an Introductory Letter by Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.

It is proposed that The Journal be continued as a publication years' probation as third-class teachers would be an unnecessary for the following objects:

hardship. In these two classes of cases alone were Inspectors anthorized to exercise a wise discretion and to permit such Teachers to compete for a higher rank in their profession in Ontario, before the expiration of the three years probation fixed by the regulations.

In some cases, however, which have come under the notice of the Department, Inspectors have not acted on this view of the

5. Proceedings of Teachers' Institutes, Associations and Con- case, but have allowed pupils of High Schools holding third

As the School Census of 1875, which the School Trustees are required by law to take, will likely be the basis of the They also claim the right of advertising in their catalogue both Legislative School apportionment of 1876, it is most important authorized and unauthorized books, to meet the wants not only of that the Inspectors should see that it is accurately taken in the High and Public Schools, but of the many other Educational every School Section, incorporated village, town, and city. Institutions of the Province.

RELIGIO.SCIENTIA LIBERTAS

(5.) The issuing of Certificates to successful Candidates1. The seventh of the General Regulations prescribed by the respectfully recommends that His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor