is taking as its model the Medical Registration Act of 1858, has unanimously withdrawn the clause which would prevent an unregistered person from recovering fees in a Court of Law, and proposes to enforce penalties only against those who obtain registration under false pretences, and those who fraudulently assume the name, title, or description of a registered teacher. Such are the main provisions of the Bill, which we are told is shortly to be laid before the House. The objects which its promoters have in view are undoubtedly good. They wish to elevate an occupation to the rank of a Profession, by getting the Law to recognise a distinction between a qualified and an unqualified Schoolmaster. They wish also to raise the character of Education throughout the country by gradually discountenancing and discrediting the incapables, who being without knowledge themselves are communicating their ignorance to others. When we ask ourselves how far the passing of this Act is likely to attain these objects, the first reflection that occurs is, that unless it is supported not only cordially, but almost unanimously, by the respectable Schoolmasters, the Act will be powerless either to raise the character of the scholastic profession, or to drive charlatanism out of the field. It is permissive merely. A Schoolmaster may be registered if he pleases; but if he should not please, he is still a Schoolmaster; and though nowhere mentioned in an Act of Parliament, can use the law to recover his schoolfees. What if the majority of University men, through pride or laziness, decline to be registered? They may not care to merge the high-caste M.A. in a universal R.S. They may vote registering a bore, and adjourn the question. When it is borne in mind also that by becoming registered under this Act, they will subject themselves to the possible interference, or it may be dictation, of the General Council, to whom it is proposed to entrust the power of enquiring into the course of study pursued in their schools, and of reporting them to the Privy Council if it seem to be defective, it can hardly be doubted that a large number of Schoolmasters of the first rank will decline a relationship, which at any moment might become troublesome. In that case it may come to pass that not to be registered will be the distinction, and then the scheme will have failed of both its objects at once. It would undoubtedly be an enormous gain if the "irregular practitioners" of the art of educating could be segregated, and perhaps next in merit to the device of putting a mark upon them, may stand that of marking all the others. To forbid them the use of even any two letters of the alphabet after their names, would probably be of some service in calling attention to their deficiencies. Of course, if we could draft them off, as an awkward squad, to practise the goose-step in a corner of the barrack-yard until they could keep line, it would be better; but the military system" of Prussia does not, we know, suit our freer institutions. But seriously we doubt whether any mere sign of degradation, especially one which is simply negative, will warn parents off from entrusting their children to the care of incapable men. It would be something, no doubt, if, as would happen if to register were looked upon as a social duty by all respectable Schoolmasters, the public had a test whereby they could distinguish a qualified man from a charlatan. How ignorant they are at present of what qualification means, is shown by the fact that M.C.P. is accepted as a voucher for some scholastic ability, while in reality it vouches only for the ability to subscribe to a certain public Institution. How careless they often are of distinctions between unqualified and duly qualified, is shown again by the fact that but very few persons are aware of the difference that exists between a chemist who writes himself "pharmaceutical" and one who does not, and that very few care to enquire whether the man who mixes their doses has given any -proof upon examination that he has a knowledge of drugs, or no. Such ignorance and such carelessness, however, is doubtless not wholly irremediable. If a Scholastic Registration Act were to pass, at least a diploma would be created, which would have the highest possible sanction. Those persons engaged in Education at the time of the passing of the Act, who at present have no public credential, would probably at once avail themselves of the opportunity of gaining recognition. In course of time, however, there would exist a certain number, who would be entirely unable to obtain from any public body that Certificate which would entitle them to registration. Here would be the trial-point of the whole scheme. If these men found themselves standing alone without a diploma, they would surely, though it might be very slowly, lose the confidence of the public, and we should have fewer and continually fewer schools opened by men unable to face a public examination. If, however, on the other hand, any considerable number of able men should hold aloof from registration, not only would the intrinsic worth of the diploma be greatly diminished, and Registration run the risk of falling into ridicule, but its value as an endorsement of merit would be reduced to nothing, and the public would know no better than now in which street Ignoramus resided. We believe that the success of the scheme would depend entirely upon the reception which it met with from Schoolmasters of the higher ranks; and we should have little hope of its producing beneficial results, until we saw the names of our leading educators pledged to support it. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS AND PROGRESS DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Pestalozzianism-Home and Colonial School Society. Colour and Form hold a distinct place among the means of cultivating the habit of observation. Not without reason. They are two qualities of objects to which attention is continually directed, and which give material aid to the forming and fixing of accurate ideas. They also serve to prepare the children for lessons, in which pictures and diagrams are employed as mediums of instruction. Colour early attracts the attention of the child, and on this account has claims to an early use in infant training. But it has other claims. Colour," quoted in the Society's Manual, from Redgrave, "gives to the world of form beauty and ornament; it also assists us to distinguish form; it aids us to determine distance and space, and enables the eye more readily to separate objects and parts of objects from each other." "Colour," says Miss Mayo, "is a subject intimately connected with the consideration of objects, and a series of very interesting lessons might be formed upon it. First, a colour should be exhibited to the children, and when the idea of the particular colour is thus formed in their minds, they should be taught, secondly, to connect the right name with it. The next step should be the calling upon them to mention what they see before them of that colour, so that their sight may be well exercised in discriminating the one learnt, from others. Next, they should be required to name objects, from recollection, of the colour in question,-this will tend to form the abstract idea, and will also furnish the teacher with an opportunity of cultivating accuracy of observation, and propriety of expression. For the commencing lessons on Colour, a few wafers on a card will be sufficient, one being added when a new colour is brought before their view. When they are learning the various shades, they should have them painted on slips of card, which should be kept as standards to be referred to; also, the proper names for each should be learnt, as apple-green, grass-green, &c. Whenever they receive a lesson upon flowers, or stones, or any other coloured object, they should be called upon to determine its precise hue. A cake of each of the primitive colours, red, blue, and yellow, might be kept in the school, and it could be made evident to them, how all other colours may be produced by their combination in different proportions. It is not sufficient that they are simply shewn two colours, and then told what they will produce if mixed together. This kind of instruction is of little or no value, for the knowledge of the fact is but of small importance to the children; it is the Papers for the Schoolmaster. No. XXVIII.-NEW SERIES. APRIL 1ST, 1867. MR. CORRY'S MINUTE. If The New Minute of the Committee of Council on Education is at least as officially obscure as any of the previous codes and minutes which have emanated from Downing Street. Teachers are not usually unintelligent, and sundry unexpected forfeitures under article so-and-so R. C., have in many instances stimulated them to such a careful study of that document as ought to have made them as expert in getting at the pith of an educational minute as a conveyancing barrister at that of a deed, or an attorney at that of an Act of Parliament. But we question whether with all this preparation any teachers can be found who discovered the meaning of the minute of the 20th February at the first reading. such an one there be, we envy him. Our sympathies, however, go rather with those who are in the position of an old and esteemed friend-a veteran teacher-with whom we were lately conversing, who confessed that after reading it carefully over thrice he felt so puzzled and bemuddled by the constant references to "paragraphs," and "financial years," and "year's residence," and "exemptions from articles," that he gave up, and confessed their Lordships had fairly floored him. Indeed, in their anxiety to follow closely the principles of the Revised Code, and dovetail together the systems under which grants are paid to Elementary Schools and to Training Colleges, "my Lords" would seem to have perplexed even themselves; for, as we shall show hereafter, their arrangement will, after a most curious fashion, leave numbers of schools in a position to earn the additional grant offered without doing anything to increase "the present ratio of teachers to scholars," while others can only do so by expending more than they can earn in fulfilling the condition upon which it is granted. But of this as we proceed. Let us first give a brief outline of the minute, so as to bring out clearly what it offers, and under what conditions it may be obtained. As a property of objects, Form has claims on the trainer of infants. Doubtless it may be made to yield a higher culture to riper years, but this is its legitimate office in infant training. As a means of culture, it is of higher value than colour, partly because of the greater complexity in the act of perception, and partly because of the greater distinctness with which it can be recalled in idea. In consequence too of the greater adhesiveness of form, comparison may be instituted of forms now present, with others held in the mind, and thus a severer mental effort may be secured than when all the objects examined are present. It becomes, also, under proper guidance, a powerful aid to discrimination. Among the endless diversities of forms found in surrounding things, likeness presents itself amidst dissimilarity, and may be seized upon, and separated by an eye in search of likeness amidst diversity. With such a purpose as this, judiciously pursued, a power is at length created, than which few things could be so beneficial to the intellectual life and activity of the child. Scarcely an object can then come under its notice but it will at once discern, and mentally separate triangles, rectangles, circles, cylinders, cubes and other forms, to perceive which its eye has been educated, and the habit given. From such considerations it becomes evident that Form should hold no secondary place in infant training. This Society attaches much importance to it, and has published an elaborate course of lessons in relation thereto. Lessons on Size and Weight form the complement to the other means of training the senses. Besides bringing into play the muscular sense, and causing attention to be fixed on personal states as indications of external conditions, they present the opportunity of making children acquainted with the actual standard weights and measures of the country. Thus a foundation is laid for their intelligent use at a later school-stage. G. THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE IN GERMANY AND Joseph Kay, Esq., brother of Sir J. P. Kay Shuttleworth, has written a letter, from which we make the following extracts: Prussia and Saxony were the first to treat the education of the children as a national duty. They were the first to devote the power and the resources of the state to the serious promotion of their work. They have done much more for its development than any other German state. But even Prussia and Saxony only commenced this work after 1820, and one great motive which induced the Prussian government to do so was the desire to improve the mental and physical condition of the classes from which the ranks of the army |