series of lines are ruled by the pupils upon the slates, on which they write; one is a set of two parallels for the standard letters; another of three parallels for the letters which project above the standard lines, the interval between the upper two being less than that between the lower; another set, also of three parallels, for the letters which extend below, and a fourth for those which extend in both directions. Words are formed as soon as possible, and of a kind intelligible to the child, and sentences of the same character. I doubt much if the pupil receives any real aid from the connection assumed between sounds and signs. The determinate sound of the letters in the German renders the spelling easy, when the true sound and the signs of the letters have been connected in the memory.* The previous practice of drawing has prepared the hand, so that there is a remarkable facility in requiring the manual part of writing. The selection of intelligible sentences carries out the habit of understanding every thing as it is brought forward. Reading the written hand soon becomes familiar, and the transition, to the printed letters is easy. In all this instruction the blackboard is used for illustrating the lessons. Elementary principles of grammar are inculcated in connection with the writing and reading.

In the next class, occupying also six months, the instruction is connected with "life in the community." This includes the political organization of the community, with the reasons for it; the geography of the place; the continuation of the exercises of thought and speech; the commencement of Bible history; an extension of instruction in morals, technology, and natural history; of the elements of form; of grammar; of drawing and writing; so at least they would be called in the other schools. The plan of arrangement is as follows:

LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY. History of the formation of communities, with their wants and obligations. Original existence of man. Union of several families. Fatal accidents in communities. Necessity of mutual aid in misfortune. Necessity of a magistracy. Arrangements for safety. Taxes. Laws and punishments. Wants of the community. Roads, bridges, &c. Watchmen. Servants. Council-house. School-house.

2. IN REFERENCE TO MAN. The five senses. Their abuse exposes to punishment. Information in regard to the organs of sense. Their injury or deficiency. Their preservation and exercise. The mind. Perception not required for thought, or for distinguishing the true from the false, the good from the evil. She soul. Man has reason and will. Stories of good actions. The good is not always rewarded in this world, but there is a God.

3. RELATION OF MAN TO GOD. Attributes of the Deity. God is the creator, the supporter, the governor of the world, the father of all men, the high and righteous judge, a spirit. Du ties to God. Honor, love as of a child, trust, thankfulness, reverence. Constant remembrance of God. Conscience. Stories related. The evil conscience. Conscience makes a man anxious and uneasy when he does wrong. The moral to be inculcated is, that man has within him a monitor which warns him against doing evil. Story of a pleasant evening. There is also approval within one's self of good deeds. Necessity of a revelation to man. Stories from the Scriptures related. The creation. Cain and Abel. The deluge. Those saved. The prophets. Expectation and coming of the Messiah. The three wise men. The child Jesus. John. Jesus the teacher, saviour, and founder of the kingdom of godliness. 4. RELATION OF MAN TO NATURE. The native place and its environs. The village as the dwelling of the community. The cardinal points. Position of the buildings. Streets. Roads. Springs. Stories of the village. Review of the position of the village. Natural history. Beauties of nature. First walk in the garden. Fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers. The fields, hills, valleys, woods, and forests. Morning ramble in the woods. Morning song. Insects. Stories of cruelty to insects. Natural philosophy. Heat. The sun. Sunrise. Song Division of time. The calendar. Vapor. Storms. Thunder and lightning. Rules for protection.

5. RELATION OF MAN TO SOCIETY. Age and youth. Infirm persons. The able bodied and the sick Duties toward and protection of the sick. Employments. Laborers and tradesmen. Peacefulness. Willingness in service. Uprighteousness. Respectfulness. Disposition to work. Poverty and riches. Contentment.

In

The same elements of instruction are, in the next class, grouped about the next political division, the circle, the course occupying, as before, six months. Beginning here, the division restricts some portions of instruction unnecessarily. general, however, I was satisfied with the progress of this class. I had no opportunity of judging of the results of the following division, namely, "life in the province," no class being in that stage of progress.

In the next following, or "life in the kingdom," the political circumstances became too abstruse for the intellectual development of the children, and the attempts at induction in regard to the government failed almost entirely. All

I have a specimen of writing from one of a class who had been five months under this instruction, remarkable for the correctness of spelling and execution. It was written from dictation. The pupil was seven years of age.

the circumstances, except those relating to the army, were out of the pale of their ordinary experience, and the complex mechanism of government was beyond the power of their reason to grasp. The German language is taught grammatically in this class, and, besides the geography and natural history of Bavaria, its history, the biography of its most distinguished men, arithmetic, mental and written, geometry, drawing, singing, and morals from the Bible. At this stage of progress, it is quite apparent that the branches require a different mode of instruction, that they must be separated, and the progress of each regulated according to the adaptation of the mind of the pupil to its reception, and not according to any extraneous theoretical circumstances.

The two highest classes being joined under a teacher who pursued altogether the old method of instruction, I had no opportunity to put to the test the judgment formed in the lower class, which I have just expressed. Social or political circumstances do not afford, I am satisfied, a just method of arranging the details of instruction, though a knowledge of them should doubtless form a part of education. The reasons why the arrangement of Graser produces satisfactory results in the lower classes are, first, that elementary instruction does not require a systematic division of its subjects, in order to apply them to cultivating the intellect or morals, or for communicating knowledge: and second, that the subjects are within the pale of the child's experience, and refer to his every day wants and perceptions. Just the reverse, however, is the case in the higher divisions, and hence a different method becomes absolutely necessary. Still the leading idea of the system, that to develop the intellectual, moral, and physical faculties of man is not sufficient, but that he must be educated in reference to the life in which he is to take a part, strikes with the force of truth, independently of the details which may be devised to carry it into effect.

The institutions which Dr. Graser considers necessary to give the entire public instruction of a nation are:

POPULAR SCHOOLS.

1. The elementary school.

2. The real school, ("real gymnasium.") 3. The real institute, ("real university.")

SCHOOLS FOR HIGHER INSTRUCTION.

1. The elementary school.

2. The gymnasium.

3. The university.

The character of the instruction appropriate to these establishments may, according to his views, be thus expressed. In the elementary school, it should be popular and inductive; in the real school, practical and scientific; and in the university, scientific and practical, or applying science to practice.

This view is also taken by Dr. Kröger, whose experience and skill as a teacher I have already so often referred to. See his journey through Germany. (Reise durch Deutschland, &c., pp. 132, 133.)

AUSTRIA.

AUSTRIA has a system of education which, from the village school to the university, is gratuitously open to all, and which, in all its departments, is based on religion, and governed and molded by the State. Its universality is secured not by direct compulsion, as in Prussia, but by enactments which render a certificate of school attendance and educational proficiency necessary to exercise a trade, or be employed as a workman, to engage in the service of the State in any capacity, or to be married. Besides this, it is made the interest of the wealthy landholders to contribute liberally for the educa tion of their tenants and the poor, by throwing upon them the support of the pauper population.

All the institutions for education are under the supervision of a Board or Council (the Hof-studien Commission) at Vienna, composed of laymen appointed by the crown, and at the head of which a Minister of Public Instruction was placed in 1848. It is the duty of this body to investigate all complaints against these institutions; suggest and prepare plans of improvement, and counsel the crown in all matters referred to them. Under them is a graduated system of superintendence, to be exercised jointly, by the civil and spiritual authorities in the various subdivisions of the empire. The bishop and his consistory, jointly with the landestelle, has charge of all the scholastic institutions of the diocese; the rural dean, jointly with the kreisamt, of those of a district; the parochial incumbent, and the civil commissary, those of a parish. This general arrangement has reference to the Catholic establishment; but the proper authorities of the Protestant, Greek, and Hebrew churches are substituted for those of the Catholic, for all that regards the members of their several communions.

There are six classes of schools subjected to the superintendence of the education-board; namely, the popular, the gymnasial, the philosophical, the medico-chirurgical, the juridical, and the theological. The four last of these form separately the objects of various special institutions; and, combined together, they constitute the four faculties of the universities.

The gymnasium is the school for classical learning, mathematics, and elementary philosophy.

The popular schools comprehend the establishments of various degrees, in which instruction is imparted of a more practical character, to those whose station in life does not fit them for the study of the learned languages. The lowest of these are the volks-schulen, or, as they are often termed, the trivial or the German schools, established, or intended to be established, in every district or parish of town or county, for the primary instruction in religion

The following account of the educational system or Austria is abridged mainly from Turnbull's Austria.

+ Turnbull mentions an instance of a large manufacturer in Bohemia, who was fined for employing a workman not provided with the requisite certificates of education.

and morality, reading, writing, and accounts. In the larger places are also numerous upper schools, haupt-schulen, wherein a somewhat more extended education is given, for persons designed for the mechanical arts and other similar pursuits. These have an upper class called Wiederholungs-schulen, or Repetition Schools, who receive instruction in drawing, elementary geometry, and geography, and with it is combined a Normal School for teachers in the volks-schulen. In the larger towns are also commercial academies, termed real-schulen, in which are comprised two divisions of scholars: the one general, receiving instruction in accounts, geography, and history; the other special, having, in addition thereto, teachers in book-keeping and the principles of trade for mercantile pupils, in natural history and rural economy for those intended for agricultural life, in mathematics, chemistry, and principles of art for students in the higher arts, and in various foreign languages, especially English, French, and Italian, for those who may desire to receive such instruction. In the volks-schulen girls are taught, except in rare instances, in separate rooms from the boys; and for the superior instruction of females there are distinct establishments corresponding with the hauptschulen and real-schulen of the boys, many of them managed and directed by certain communities of nuns, which are especially preserved for the purpose of education. Industrial schools of various kinds, and for both sexes, are also in some parts combined with these more general educational institutions; but the expenses attending such establishments prevent their being very numerous.

The establishments thus last described constitute the class of popular schools. The next above these are the gymnasial; of which there are one, or two, or several, in each district, according to the extent of its population. The pupils of the gymnasium are divided into several classes: the earlier ones are taught in religion, moral philosophy, elementary mathematics and physics, and Latin philology. To these subjects are added, for the more advanced classes-partly as perfect courses at the gymnasium, and partly as introductory to the higher instruction in the same branches at the lyceum or university-general history (and especially that of Austria), classical literature, Greek philology, æsthetics (namely, rhetoric, poetry, and a knowledge of the fine arts), and the history of philosophy. Above the gymna sium are the eight universities of Prague, Vienna, Padua, Pavia, Lemberg, Gratz, Olmutz, and Innspruck; to which must be added the Hungarian university at Pesth. These are divided into two orders-those of Prague, Vienna, Padua, Pavia, and Pesth, are of the first, having chairs for all the four faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy; the others have a smaller number-as, for instance, Gratz, which has but three, having no professorship of medicine, and Lemberg, which has only two. In further addition, according to circumstances and localities, professorships are established, either at the gymnasium, the lyceum, or the university, in the Italian and Oriental languages, in theoretical agriculture, astronomy, chemistry, mechanics, and other branches of practical science.

In most of the provincial capitals, where no university exists (in such towns, for instance, as Linz, Laybach, Klagenfurt, &c.), there is an institution, under the name of Lyceum, which answers the purpose of a minor university; wherein public courses of lectures are given in some or all of the four faculties, and in other branches of knowledge. The degree cannot, indeed, be taken at the lyceum in any of the faculties; but certificates may be there obtained, which are accepted in lieu of those of the universities, for a large number of cases where certificates are required, and for youths who require them not, the education of the lyceum, extending as it does to the highest Greek and Latin classics, and natural philosophy, answers every purpose of general education. Of these lyceums, there are, in the empire, twenty-three under Roman Catholic direction; besides eleven Protestant.

Lutheran or Calvinist, and one Unitarian. For the instruction of the Hebrew subjects there are gymnasiums and other schools, wherein the same books are read as in the general establishments of the empire, except only that works of Jewish are substituted for those of Christian theology. In special branches of knowledge, the government establishments are very numerous medical and surgical academies, clerical academies, polytechnic schools, military institutions in all branches, and a college for the Eastern languages, &c.

The popular schools are inspected and directed by the parochial incumbent, who, with a view to this duty, is bound to receive instruction, previous to his induction to a benefice, in the system of scholastic management, or, as it is termed in the language of the edicts, the science of pædagogy. He is required, at least twice a week, at certain fixed hours, to examine and catechise the pupils, and to impart to them religious instruction; the parish or district being obliged to provide him with a carriage for that purpose, when the schools to be visited are distant from his residence. He orders removals from lower to higher classes, and grants those certificates, without which no pupil can pass from the popular school to the gymnasium. He is bound to render, periodically, statistical and discriminating returns on the state of the schools, both to his spiritual superior and to the kreisamt; to urge on parents the great importance of education to their offspring; and to supply books to those who cannot afford to purchase them, and clothes (so far as the poor fund or private contribution may enable him to do so) to such as, for want of clothing, are prevented attending the schools. Where children of different creeds are intermixed in one school, religious instruction and catechization is confined to the last hour of the morning and afternoon attendance, during which hour the non-Romanists are dismissed, to receive instruction elsewhere from their respective pastors; but where the number of non-Romanists is sufficiently great to support a separate school, the minister of that persuasion, whatever it may be, is charged exclusively with the same duties as, in the general schools, are imposed on the parish priest. To ministers of all professions an equal recourse is, by the terms of the ordinances, allowed to the aid of the poor fund and of the grants from the kreisamt. If the schools be too distant or too numerous for the proper supervision of the local minister, a separate instructor is named by the bishop, or, if the school be Protestant, by the provincial superintendent; and, for the visitors of all denominations, the expense of a carriage is equally borne by the public. Except in the points above enumerated, the parochial minister has no power to act, but only to report; in all those connected with defects or deficiencies of the buildings, he, in conjunction with the civil commissary, reports to the kreisamt, and in those of merely scholastic nature, as well as in the conduct of the teachers, he addresses his remarks to the inspector of the district.

The teachers at all the popular schools are required to produce testimonials from the Normal School at which they have been instructed, and receive their appointment from the diocesan consistory, or from the provincial chief of any special religions for which they may be intended, but require in all cases the confirmation of the landestelle. They are provided with residences attached to the schools, together with fixed stipends during good health and good conduct, and are allowed superannuation pensions, which, if they shall have served for a period of ten years, are extended to their widows, and to their orphans under fourteen years of age.

Each district has an aufseher, or inspector (named by the bishop from among the parochial clergy holding benefices therein), who compiles detailed statements on every point connected with education, for his spiritual superior, and for the kreisamt. Once a year he makes a tour of personal inspection, examines the pupils, distributes rewards to the best scholars, and super