Chemistry.-Physiology.-Its importance.

This

seeing the principles illustrated by experiment is a great field; let not the teacher be satisfied with cropping a little of the herbage about its borders.

13. CHEMISTRY. As a matter of intelligence, the teacher should have acquaintance with this branch. It is comparatively a new science, but it is almost a science of miracles. It is beginning to be taugh in our common schools; and that department of it which relates to agriculture, is destined to be of vast importance to the agricultural interests of our country. "Instead of conjecture, and hazard, and doubt, and experiment, as heretofore, a knowledge of the composition of soils, the food of plants, and the processes of nature in the culture and growth of crops, would elevate agriculture to a conspicuous rank among the exact sciences."* The teacher should not be behind

the age in this department.

14. HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY. The teacher should well understand this subject. There is an unpardonable ignorance in the community as to the structure of the human body, and the laws of health, the observance of which is, in general, a condition of longevity, not te say of exemption from disease. By reference to statistics, it has been ascertained that almost a fourth part of all the children that are born, die before they are one year old. More than one third die before they are five years of age; and before the age of eight, more than one half of all that are born return again to the

* Col. Young.

Dr. Woodward's opinion.-Quackery.

earth! Of those who survive, how many suffer the miseries of lingering disease, almost sighing for death to deliver them from the pangs of life! There is something deplorably wrong in our philosophy of living, else the condition of man would not so commonly appear an exception to the truth that God does all things well.* Dr. Woodward, late of the Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital, says: "From the cradle to the grave, we suffer punishment for the violation of the laws of health and life. I have no doubt that half the evils of life, and half the deaths that occur among mankind, arise from ignorance of these natural laws; and that a thorough knowledge of them would diminish the sufferings incident to our present state of being in very nearly the same proportion." I know not how an acquaintance with these laws can be in any way so readily extended as through the agency of our teachers of the young. At any rate, the teacher himself should understand them, both for his own profit and the means thus afforded him of being directly useful in the discharge of his duties to others. I have already

* "It is the vast field of ignorance pertaining to these subjects, in which quackery thrives and fattens. No one who knows any thing of the organs and functions of the human system, and of the properties of those objects in nature to which that system is related, can hear a quack descant upon the miraculous virtues of his nostrums, or can read his advertisements in the newspapers,-wherein, fraudulently towards man and impiously towards God, he promises to sell an 'Elixir of Life,' or 'The Balm of Immortality,' or 'Resurrection Pills,'-without contempt for his ignorance or detestation of his guilt. Could the quack administer his nostrums to the great enemy, Death, then indeed we might expect to live forever!"— HORACE MANN.

Intellectual and Moral Philosophy.-Rhetoric and Logic.

shown that he is responsible to a great extent for the bodily health of his pupils. A thorough knowledge of physiology will enable him to meet this responsibility

15. INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY. This is necessary for the teacher. His business is with the mind. He, of all men, should know something of its laws and its nature. He can know something, indeed, by observation and introspection; but he should also learn by careful study. His own improvement demands it, and his usefulness depends upon it.

16. MORAL PHILOSOPHY. A knowledge of this may be insisted on. for the same reasons which apply to intellectual philosophy. It is so important that the moral nature of the child be rightly dealt with, that he is a presumptuous man who attempts the work without the most careful attention to this subject.

17. RHETORIC AND LOGIC. These are of great service to the teacher personally, as means of mental discipline and the cultivation of his own taste. Even if he is never to teach them, they will afford him much assistance in other departments of instruction. He certainly should have the advantage of them.

18. BOOK-KEEPING. Every teacher should know something of book-keeping, at least by single entry; and also be conversant with the ordinary forms of business. The profound ignorance on this subject among teachers is truly astonishing.* Book-keeping

* A teacher, who had kept a private school, was met in a country store one day by one of his patrons, who paid him for the tuition of his chid, asking at the same time for a receipt. The teacher stared vacantly at his

Book-keeping.-Anecdote.-Science of Government.

should be a common-school study. In looking over the able Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools in New-York, I notice in fifty-three counties, during the winter of 1845-6, that among 225,540 pupils in the common schools only 922 studied book keeping! That is, a study, which in practical life comes home to the interest not only of every mer chant, but of every farmer, every mechanic, in short, every business man, is almost entirely neglected in the schools, while it is yet true that our courts of justice display evidences of the most deplorable ignorance in this important art. Some still keep their accounts on bits of paper;

others use books, but

without any system, order, or intelligibility; and others still mark their scores in chalk, or charcoal, upon the panel of the cellar-door!

The teacher should qualify himself not only tc understand this subject, but to teach it in such a way that it can be easily comprehended by the classes in our common schools.

19. SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT. The teacher should, at least, be well acquainted with the history and genius of our own government, the constitution of the United States, and of his own state. In a republican govern ment, it is of great importance that the young, who are

66

patron. "Just give me a bit of paper," said the patron, "to show you've got the money." Oh, yes, sir," ," said the teacher; and taking a pen and paper, wrote the following:

"I have got the money.

J-D--."

Anecdote.-Drawing.-Vocal Music.

to take an active part in public measures as soon as they arrive at the age of twenty one, should before that time be made acquainted with some of their duties and relations as citizens. This subject has been introduced successfully into many of our common schools; but whether it is to be matter of formal teaching or not, it is a disgrace* to a teacher and to his profession, to be ignorant of the provisions of the constitution for the mode of choosing our rulers.

20. DRAWING. The good teacher should understand the principles of drawing. He should also be able to practise this art. It is of great consequence to him. Without neglect of other things, children can be very profitably taught this art in the common schools. In the absence of apparatus, it is the teacher's only way of addressing the eye of his pupils, in illustrating his teaching. Every teacher should take pains, not only to draw, but to draw well.

21. VOCAL MUSIC. It is not absolutely essential, though very desirable, to the good teacher, that he should understand music, theoretically and practically. Music is becoming an exercise in our best schools; and wherever introduced and judiciously conducted, it has been attended with pleasing results. It promotes

* Not long since a teacher of a public school afforded lasting amusement for the hangers-on at a country grocery. He was jeered for belonging to the whig party by which Mr. Tyler was I rought into power. "No, no," said he, "I voted for Gen. Harrison, but I never voted for John Tyler." "How did you do that?" inquired a by-stander. "Why I cut Tyler's name off of the ticket, to be sure!"