you about to give an Object Lesson? What purpose do you propose to yourself in doing so? Is it to make the child acquainted with the various qualities which it possesses, and the uses to which they may be applied? This may be, according to the manner in which it is done, an interesting exercise; but it is not employing Instruction as an instrument of Education. On the other hand, have you bent your whole energies,-indifferent as to the manner in which your lesson was given, or even as to the amount of information which it supplied,- -on an effort to lead the child to exercise its own faculties, and to impress it with the conviction that it has powers of investigation, comparison and reasoning, for the right use of which it is accountable to Him, who has implanted them in us all? Have you left in the child's mind a conscious pleasure in the exercise of its faculties, and a desire to employ them again? If so, you are employing Instruction for its legitimate purpose, as an instrument of Education. We wish to be understood, as speaking of Instruction as one of the instruments of Education, but not the only one. would have the Educator in all his arrangements, whether as regards Organization, Discipline, or Instruction, to keep in view as his governing aim, the Education of his charge.

We

Instruction should be graduated. It is scarcely necessary to point out that the development of the faculties is gradual. Simultaneous development does not exist. For instance, sensation must precede perception, and perception precede conception. In the Education of childhood, two evils are to be avoided,—that of taxing the mind with an amount of exercise or information which it cannot sustain without injury to the brain, and that of proceeding with instruction too fast, so as to destroy its thoroughness. In the early stages of infancy, the senses are the most active, and these in the younger children should be chiefly occupied. Their attention should be directed to Colour, Form, Size, Weight and Qualities, for the purpose of aiding their perceptions, and of forming habits of observation.

In a somewhat more advanced stage, when the brain is strengthened, and not so likely to be injured, the conceptive faculty may be exercised, accompanied by Experiment and Comparison; and thus we would proceed, through each successive state, calling into play, as the brain was able to sustain it, the faculties of Judgment, Reasoning and Imagination. From these remarks, it will be inferred that we conceive Classification in an Infant School to be as necessary as in a Juvenile School. In fact, nothing can be more unphilosophical and dangerous, than the common practice of throwing children of two or three years of age, on a gallery along with those of five or six years, for either there will be an excitement of the brain in the younger portion, and tha must be injurious, or there will be a habit of inattention fostered, which in its ultimate effects may be equally so.

G.

Mental Science.

We wish in this paper to recommend the study of Mental Science to all who are engaged in the education of the young, or who purpose to take part in this work. Perhaps it will not be too strong an assertion if we say that multifarious as are the sciences with which an educator of youth should be intimately acquainted, there is none that more imperatively demands a persevering and careful study than this; and that other branches of knowledge should be considered as subordinate and auxiliary, commanded and directed by this as central and paramount, as we see ridges of inferior elevation running parallel to a vast mountain chain.

The importance which we think proper to attach to the study of Mental Science stands we are aware in almost startling contrast with the all but universal neglect of it, apparent among practical Teachers and among the Students of our Normal Colleges. While other subjects are pursued with a most praiseworthy vigour and perseverance, this is nearly unthought of, or if thought of, deferred to some less active season. The claims of Grammar and Arithmetic, Geography and History, Euclid and Algebra, are so loud, that scarcely another voice can be heard: and so, with a good Certificate of Merit, the Student goes forth, and the Teacher goes on, to prosecute his work in the dark, striking at random, often doing mischief he cannot avoid, and at the best gaining experience at the expense of his pupils. The time will come perhaps, when Mental Philosophy as affording a knowledge of the material on which education has to operate, will be looked upon as an important part of those studies which are necessary to obtain a Certificate; but we urge its importance now, as indirectly and powerfully tending to success even in this point of view, but especially as altogether essential in the far more serious work of carrying on the education of a number of children. What would be said of a physician or surgeon who, with a good knowledge of other sciences indispensible to him, should have neglected to acquaint himself with the principles of Physiology and Anatomy? We should hesitate before we trusted life or limb to one who had so unaccountably omitted the chief part of his professional education. We should with reason expect him to know, not something only, but a good deal of the machine whose disarrangement it is his business to remove or prevent. And shall it be thought a light thing then, for one who is intended to educate the mind-to manage a machine a thousand times more intricate and difficult of control, to go forth to his task in blank ignorance of its nature and constitution?

Independently of the consideration of practical utility there is in the prosecution of any science a pleasure which forms the student's principal incentive and reward. Curiosity, "the thirst of the soul," is gratified and intensely delighted at the discovery of new truths:

at the starting up of new relations unperceived before: and is set on tip-toe with eager excitement as it contemplates the long series of unexpected deductions stretching out before its view. Hence it is that Euclid is so fascinating a study,-dry indeed at first and repulsive, but unfolding as the student advances a thousand charms which we could never have believed would evolve themselves from those few simple intuitive truths on which it rests. What a noble stream of thought flows from that meagre fountain! The student is constantly surprised with startling deductions; arguments and discoveries of new relations follow one another at times like peals of thunder, and one is hurried on impetuously to the result. For this reason Euclid is always a new book,-one of the few new books in the world; you constantly turn with pleasure to him, though for the thousandth time; the delight you receive from him is a rich reward for any labour you may have taken in your first studies.

So it is with the physical sciences. Without thinking at all of any purpose the stars may serve to the seaman, we behold with solemn gratification the hosts which are "the poetry of heaven.” Their distances, their magnitudes, their motions; these very words when uttered with respect to the heavenly bodies instantly fill the mind and set imagination on the stretch to span their meaning. So the other departments of natural science, as those which relate to the structure of the earth, the nature of plants, or the habits and constitution of animals-all form a never failing source of pure delight. That man has more to be thankful for, than if the wealth of Croesus were his own, whose mind can luxuriate in pleasures like these ; who can sit down, in however humble an abode, and can summon knowledge to spread before him an intellectual feast, with which the intensest of sensual delights deserve no comparison.

Now cannot pleasure of as pure a kind and of equal intensity be derived from the study of Mental Science? The world around us is rich in various objects of lofty and refined contemplation; is there not a world within teeming with greater wonders? Turn your thoughts within; you will find marvellous phenomena there. Think of Memory, Imagination, the Power with which you control your thoughts, dismissing them and recalling them at pleasure. Think of that mysterious faculty of.Abstraction which the mind possesses; and ask, if it is really to this power, visibly working early in childhood, that all the inventions of life owe their origin? Make your mind the subject of a little study;—you will soon find it a palace of enchantment; a universe of wonders, an entire marvel. When you sit down to this sort of study; when you introvert your thoughts, and consider the mysteries of your own spirit, you will see what Young meant when he said

"I tremble at myself And in myself am lost."

Moreover by carefully and habitually observing the phenomena of your mind you may derive interesting information from the most trivial occurrences that affect it; even castle-building may contribute its fraction of benefit, and the mad phantasies of the night may show that

"Dull sleep instructs, nor sport vain dreams in vain."

It is an interesting occupation of the mind while engaged in the study of the natural Sciences to mark the evidence of design exhibited each step we take. We find the construction of animals adapted peculiarly to their mode of living; and when this construction is not thus adapted, it is curious to observe, in numerous instances, how the defect is remedied. Now the evidences of skilful contrivance are no less manifest in the mind than in the external creation. We say the Judgment compares two ideas, i. e., sees whether they are alike or unlike, and whether they belong or do not belong one to another. The Judgment could not do this if Memory were not to recall these ideas for the purpose. Memory not only does this, but when conclusions have been arrived at by the Judgment, she takes charge of these also; and is able to present them to the Reason, who compares these several conclusions and deduces another from them. But simply recalling ideas, or the conclusions arrived at by the comparisons of the Judgment, is not enough; they must be kept before the mind for a time that the Judgment or the Reason may have a due opportunity of considering them. The power of so keeping these ideas fixed before the mind is that remarkable one called Attention. The power of Attention is the great faculty of the human mind, and the possession of it in different degrees by different individuals is the chief cause of the immense superiority of some minds over others. A prompt, retentive memory; a clear judgment; strong reason, are to a great extent attributes of a vigorous Attention. To attend is the most difficult operation of the mind, and it may be doubtful whether it be not impossible without the signs supplied by language. It is a curious fact too, that Curiosity should have such a tendency to quicken Attention; and it is precisely in these circumstances that Curiosity is most alive. And it is observable also that this Curiosity is generally in proportion to our ignorance. The Curiosity of a child in his first or second year is constantly on the alert;—a rude piece of wood, or a pebble, he turns over and over, receiving an accession of ideas at every turn;-hence probably a child in his earlier years makes greater advances in knowledge than he will ever make in any equal period of time afterwards.

As it is our purpose merely to direct attention to this branch of human knowledge we will pursue the subject at present no further; but conclude with one or two observations. In regard to the study of this science which, let it be remarked, may be pursued like the other sciences in accordance with the rules of sound induction-there

will not only be felt the pleasure to which we have referred, but great profit will be derived in two ways:-First to the teacher considered as being himself a learner. No teacher will succeed in his profession who is not a persevering student; and surely an acquaintance with the principles of Mental Philosophy joined to a careful observation of the workings of his own mind, cannot but elicit useful practical rules for his guidance as a student. For instance what we have just said about Attention, may lead him to consider whether in his studies it may not sometimes happen that the greater haste is the worse speed; and that Sat cito, si sat bene, may be as apt a motto in study as on the panel of the Quaker's carriage. Secondly, it will prove of great benefit to the teacher in conducting the education of his children. We shall not dwell on this point, but take it for granted that a man should have some knowledge of that which has to be the subject of his daily and hourly training. "Education," says Dugald Stewart, "would be more systematic and enlightened, if the powers and faculties on which it operates, were more scientifically examined and better understood."

Notes on Chemistry.

Part of a series to direct the self-taught Student or, the Master who purposes carry a class through an elementary course.

SECTION I.

1. Every substance consists of two or more of other substances called Elements. These elements are 54 in number, the principal of which are the 8 following, together with the metals.

1. Hydrogen.

6. Carbon.

8. Oxygen.

14. Nitrogen.

16. Sulphur.

31. Phosphorus

35. Chlorine.

126. Iodine.

The above are arranged in the order of their atomic weights, which with the figures attached to the names, will be afterwards explained.

2. Difference between mechanical and chemical combination. The properties of a mechanical combination form the sum or mean of those of the components, Ex. A book made up of leather, pasteboard, paper and glue. The properties of a chemical compound have no relation (except as to weight) to the properties of their components, such as smell, colour, combustibility, support of animal life. Exp. Chlorine gas has a suffocating odour; but common salt, of which it forms more than half, has none. Exp. 2. Three of the above substances, Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, are not injurious to animal life, but, chemically combined, they form the deadly poison, prussic acid. Two elements A and B mechanically combined A + B in all properties. Chemically compounded A and B C a new compound, differing from either A or B in every particular, except absolute weight. The object of Chemistry is to examine the changes in