ceum for the ensuing year, by ballot; and that the other officers of the Lyceum appointed the last year, together with those added by them, be continued until another election, agreeably to the article of the constitution on this subject. Whereupon President Duer of Columbia College was unanimously elected President, and Professor Griscom of Rhode Island, and President Cushing, were chosen Corresponding Secretaries.

Mr John P. Ayres of Nashville, Tenn. presented a letter of introduction from President Lindsey, one of the Corresponding Secretaries, and letters from other gentlemen, being bearer of an apparatus, and printed accounts of methods for the Instruction of the Blind, invented by William Thompson, Esq. of Tennessee; which were referred to a committee consisting of Dr Russ, and Messrs Dwight and Disosway.

On motion of Mr Woodbridge,

Resolved, That the thanks of the Lyceum be presented to the Society for the promotion of Manual Labor institutions, and to their agent, Mr Weld, for their interesting report; and that they be assured of the cordial sympathy and coöperation of this Lyceum in the object of their association.

President Cushing having presented some valuable verbal information to the Lyceum concerning the state of education in Virginia, On motion of Mr Disosway,

Resolved, That President Cushing be requested to furnish to the Executive Committee a written account of the state of education in Virginia, and the means devised for the diffusion of knowledge.

The publications of the Lyceum now on hand, were, on motion, ordered to be delivered to the Executive Committee for distribution. According to the amendment of the Constitution, authorized by the Lyceum, the following gentlemen were added to the Executive Committee:

J. Kearney Rodgers, M. D.; John Durbin, Esq; Abraham Halsey; James Donaldson; Prof. McVickar; Prof. Renwick; G. W. Morris; P. G. Stuyvesant; W. B. Lawrence; Prof. Vethake; and John D. Russ, M. D.

The Lyceum unanimously adopted the following resolution : Resolved, That the thanks of the Lyceum be presented to the board of Aldermen for the use of their Hall.

The following resolution was then laid on the table, on motion of Mr Woodbridge, for the consideration of the next annual meeting of the Lyceum :

Resolved, That as a standing order of the Lyceum, the Committee of nomination be requested to prepare printed copies of the list of officers of the Lyceum, nominated by them, so soon as the same shall be accepted by the Lyceum, to be furnished to each member, before the election.

The minutes were then read and adopted, and the Lyceum adjourned.

The following is a list of officers of the American Lyceum for the ensuing year.

President-William A. Deur, Esq, President of Columbia Coliege. Vice Presidents - 1st. Alexander Proudfit, D. D., Salem, N. Y.; 2d. Robert Vaux, Philadelphia; 3d. Hon. Edward Everett, Boston; 4th. Thomas Grimke, Charlestown, S. C; 5th. Philip Lindsley, D. D., Nashville, Tenn.

Recording Secretary— William B. Kinney, Newark, N. J.
Treasurer-William Forrest, N. Y.

Corresponding Secretaries - 1st. Theodore Dwight, jr, New York; 2d. J. L. Comstock, M. D., Connecticut; 3d. Josiah Holbrook, Boston, Mass.; 4th. Rev. Timothy Flint, Cincinnati, Ohio; 5th. Professor J. M. Sturtevant, Illinois; 6th. Professor Parker Cleaveland, Maine; 7th. Rev. B. O. Peers, Kentucky; 8th. Thomas P. Jones, M. D., D. C.; 9th. Professor Amos Eaton, M. D., N. Y.; 10th. Alva Woods, D. D., Alabama; 11th. Professor John Griscom, Providence, R. I.; 12th. President Cushing, Hampden Sidney College, Virg.

Additional Members of the Executive Committee· Professor Olmsted, Yale College; Jonathan D. Steele, Esq, N. Y.; S. H. Pennington, M. D., Newark, N. J.; Seth P. Staples, Esq, N. Y; Professor J. Smith Rogers, Washington College, Ct.; J. Kearney Rodgers, N. Y.; Professor J. Durbin, N. Y.; A. P. Halsey, Esq, N. Y.; James Donaldson, Esq, N. Y.; Professor McVickar, Columbia College; Professor James Renwick, N. Y.; Wm. B. Lawrence, N. Y; Professor Vethake, N. Y. University; John D. Russ, M. D., N. Y.

ART. III. JUVENILE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.

PATRIOTISM, and philanthropy, and christian benevolence are awake in every part of our country, to promote its intellectual, and political, and moral improvement. It is a problem, ever recurring, on whom shall they seek to operate? Where can most good be done, and most permanently? Shall they endeavor to rouse legislators to influence the public, or engage public opinion in directing legislators? Shall they attempt to act upon our elective assemblies, or our schools, or our churches? Shall our associations, and our writers, and editors, address themselves to the rich or the poor to the educated, or the ignorant, to the few, or the many to the old or the young? This problem must be solved by a combined proportion of the facility of action, and the numbers to be influenced.

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No class of community ought indeed to be neglected, no post

left unoccupied. But in reference to the first question, the conclusion is more and more settled in the minds of the most intelligent and faithful laborers for the improvement of man that, whether in science, or morals, or religion, the most successful efforts are those made upon the young. The mind is not only most susceptible of ideas and impressions at this period, but the impressions of our youth have a permanency and depth which can never belong to those received in subsequent life. It is a consideration of not less importance, that it is the only period in our country, when the mind is sufficiently free from the cares and perplexities of life, to receive new impressions. It is, in our view, a national error, that we enter upon active life before the mind or the body are matured, and almost shut the door to improvement while we are still but half prepared to be men and citizens. We are misled by the immediate success which results from scanty materials; we assume an amount of responsibility and labor, which requires the full strength of well formed manhood to endure, at a period when we have not attained manhood; and thus add to the necessary difficulties of life, all those which arise from our ignorance or unskilfulness. To act upon those who are thus involved in the whirl of business, is like writing upon the moving sands of the desert. In contrast to all this, the young, on the other hand, are like flowers opening to the sun, living only to receive impressions, eager to acquire new ideas, and ready to exercise new powers in every mode adapted to their age.

But we have felt no small interest in another element of this calculation the relative numbers of the respective portions of society, as indicated by our census. To ascertain this, we have collected into one view the following account of the inhabitants of the United States under twenty years of age, and the results fully indicate, that he who would operate on the largest part of the community, must operate upon the young. [See the Table.]

We are told that in other countries the persons above fortyfive years of age, form nearly a fourth part, or twenty five per cent of the whole population. In our country, on the other hand, they amounted in 1810, in some States, only to seven per cent, and in none to more than seventeen per cent of the whole population. In 1830, the number above 50, the age adopted in place of fortyfive, amounted only to 83 per cent, or one in twelve of the whole number of inhabitants. In the same year the number under 20 exceeds one half of the population, and the number under 15 amounts to one third.

The distribution of our youthful population is by no means equal. In the northern populous States, the proportion under 15 is much less than in the southern and western States. In New England,

TABLE OF THE JUVENILE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1830.

with the exception of Vermont and Maine, it does not exceed 38 per cent, while, in the west and south it averages 50 per cent. It is a striking fact that Louisiana, which is in effect a long settled country, although located among new States, differs from all around it, and resembles those usually ranked as old States, in this respect.

It must be recollected that in Louisiana as in New Hampshire and Maine, the population has been long established and thickly settled, on a portion of the territory, while a large portion remains entirely unoccupied. This circumstance would lead us from the mere inspection of an ordinary table to suppose the population much less dense than it really is.

The number from 5 to 15, which is the age most usual for our common schools, falls a little short of one fourth in the oldest States. In all the other States it exceeds one fourth, amounting in the average to 27 per cent. In New York it amounts to 31 per cent, and in a few other States to 29 per cent.

It would appear, therefore, that if we confine education to the narrowest limits which can be admitted in a prosperous country, and under a popular governinent, and suppose no instruction provided for any but those between 5 and 15 years of age, the schools for a State should be sufficient for one fourth part of the population, and in some States, to more than this. If Infant Schools be considered as a part of this provision, they must be sufficient for more than one third of the population. If we include the whole number under 20, schools must be provided to one half of our population. If we attempt to continue instruction only for one half of those between 15 and 20, the whole number under a course of instruction in our country, ought not to be less than 40 per cent, or one to every 2 of our population.

The necessities of the western States, which are universally admitted to be so urgent, are rendered still more obvious by observing this census. While the means of education are far less ample than in the northern States, the number to be taught is one third larger.

The difficulty of giving instruction is also increased in the southern and western States by the more scattered state of the population. If the average number of pupils to a single instructor be estimated at 50, a school could be collected in the northern States on every four square miles, so that the most distant children would be little more than a mile from it. But in the southern and western States the mode of settlement would require from 11 to 14 square miles to supply such a school, and would place a portion of the children at the distance of 3 or 4 miles from the centre of the district. In order to bring the means of instruction within reasonable distance of each pupil, it would be necessary,