· Physiologists tell us that coloring matter mixed with the food of an animal will diffuse itself throughout the whole system and give its tint even to the bones. So with reading, the mental aliment. It gives color to the very constitution of mind, hue and complexion to thought, and leaves its traces in the intellectual, moral, and social life. What the scholar reads in schools and elsewhere, and how he reads, are matters which involve weighty consequences.

"Two serious difficulties are in the way of the proper elevation of the standard of reading in our schools. The first is the incapacity of the great mass of teachers, the want of refined taste and that culture which an extensive and thorough reading of the best authors alone give. The second, the imperfection of the Readers made use of. The pedagogue whose thoughts never range beyond the covers of his text-books, whose clumsy hands never remove the husk which covers the living germ of truth; whose eye can not see, and whose mind can not appreciate the principles which underlie all science, can not teach any thing rightly, much less can he form the young mind to correct habits of thought, and lead it to the pleasant vales and mountain heights of literature. Again, a teacher of cultivation and taste can do comparatively little unless he can place in the hands of his scholars such reading as is calculated to elevate and refine, and then placing himself on a level with them, discover for them the beauties of thought, and hold them up to admiration."

One of our chief aims through the columns of THE STUDENT is to inculcate these ideas, and at the same time to furnish a means for carrying them into practice, which does not exist when the pupils are wholly confined to the common reading books. It affords us much gratification to know that teachers are awaking up to the importance of this subject, and their responses come back to us, not only as words of encouragement, but as living witnesses to the correctness and practical benefits of these principles.

"I have long felt," says one who but recently saw THE STUDENT," the need of something which would afford a greater variety of reading matter than is found in most school readers, and at the same time make the reading exercises more pleasant and instructive. This want, I am happy to find, is amply supplied by THE STUDENT. My scholars are much pleased with it, and derive much useful instruction from it."

A superintendent of a union school in Ohio writes: "The scholars are delighted with THE STUDENT, and the parents are much pleased."

Another says, "My pupils realize more fully than ever before the relation between school education and the affairs of life. THE STUDENT has a charming influence in awakening a new interest in their school exercises."

Hundreds of similar responses come to us from various parts of the country. Reader, if you are a teacher, and have not tried its influence in your school, take the advice of hundreds who have used it for years, and introduce it at once.

NEW YORK STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION will hold its ninth annual meeting in Oswego, on the 1st, 2d, and 3d days of August. The exercises will commence on Tuesday, at 2 P. M. Addresses may be expected from Rev. G. W. Hosmer and W. D. Huntley, of Buffalo; Horace Greeley and D. H. Cruttenden, of New York; James Johonnot, of Syracuse; J. W. Taylor, of Albany, and others. We understand that arrangements have been made with the railroad companies to furnish tickets to those attending this convention to go and return for the fare one way.

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OUR MUSEUM.

Our Museum.

ULY, the seventh month of our year, was the fifth month of the old Roman

JULY

year, and was then called Quintilis. It afterward received the name of July in honor of Julius Cæsar, who reformed the calendar in such a manner that this month stood as it does now with us, the seventh in the year. On the first of this month the sun is at its apogee, or greatest distance from the earth, being 96,768,000 miles, or more than 3,000,000 miles farther from us than on the first of January.

The planet Mercury is now an evening star, but sets about fifteen minutes past 8 o'clock P. M. Mars is also an evening star, and sets about 10 o'clock P. M. Jupiter will remain morning star until July 15, and then become an evening star. Venus and Saturn are each morning stars.

FIVE VOWELS IN ONE WORD.-The five vowels are found in alphabetical order in the words abstemiously and facetiously.

MUSICAL TASTE IN CHINA.-There are upward of five hundred journals in China consecrated exclusively to the musical art, and almost all the considerable capitals contain two or more theaters for operas.

NUMBER OF LANGUAGES.-There are three thousand six hundred and sixtyfour known languages now in use in the world. Of these nine hundred and thirty-seven are Asiatic; five hundred and eighty-seven European; two hundred and seventy-six African; and one thousand six hundred and twenty-four American dialects.

LABOR OF HISTORIANS.-The historian Gibbon was twelve years in completing his" Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," and Adam Smith occupied ten years in producing his "Wealth of Nations."

CORK is the bark of an evergreen oak, growing principally in Spain, and other countries bordering the Mediterranean. The bark has attained a thickness and quality suitable for manufacturing purposes when the tree is about fifteen years old. It is then stripped at intervals of eight years.

LAWS IN CHINA.-In China the law regulates every thing. Even ladies must dress according to the statute. No man must dare to notice the varieties of temperature before his superiors. The governor of a province lets its inhabitants know when it is cold enough for a change of costume, and when the signal is given by these functionaries, all China puts on its winter dress.

MINIATURE OAK.-If an acorn be suspended by a piece of cord within half an inch of the surface of some water contained in a glass, and permitted to remain without disturbance for a few months, it will burst, send a root into the water, and shoot upward a straight, tapering stem, with beautiful little green leaves. In this way a young tree may be produced on the mantle-shelf of a room, and become an interesting object. The chestnut will also grow thus, and probably other nut-bearing trees.

BRIDAL MARK OF THE JAPANESE.-At her marriage the teeth of the bride are made black by some corrosive liquid. The teeth remain black ever after, and serve to show that the woman is married, or a widow.

ITEMS.

Answer to Puzzle in May number. thy youth."

Answer to Enigma in June number.

107

"Remember thy Creator in the days of

"Honour thy father and thy mother."

ENIGMA, from J. F. S., of Pennington, N. J.

I am composed of twelve letters.

My 4, 2, 1, 9, is a portion of the human figure.

My 10, 5, 3, is an evergreen tree.

My 1, 7, has struck with terror many a luckless swain.

My 6, 12, 1, is what all occasionally relish much.

My 11, 8, 5, is metal unrefined.

My whole is now before you.

D

Items and Events.

URING the past month the news from Europe have not shown any marked change in the state of affairs. The war still proceeds between Turkey and Russia, and the Turks continue to be victorious.

NEW YORK CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.-Hon. Samuel S. Randall, who formerly held the office of Deputy State Superintendent of Common Schools for the State of New York, has now been chosen Superintendent of the schools of the city of New York.

RECENT DEATHS.

MRS. EMILY C. JUDSON, better known to the literary world as Fanny Forester, widow of Rev. Adoniram Judson, for many years a missionary to India, died at the residence of her brother, at Hamilton, N. Y., on the 31st of May.

MADAME SONTAG, so widely known as a talented singer, died of cholera, in Mexico, on the 17th of June. She was born in Coblentz, Germany, on the 13th of May, 1805. In 1828 she was married to Count Rossi. During some revolutions a few years since they lost their property, and in 1852 she came to this country with her husband to retrieve their fortune.

JOSIAH HOLBROOK, so well known for his indefatigable educational labors, unfortunately met his death about the 17th of June, at Lynchburg, Va. He had been in that city for several months, occupied chiefly in geological and other scientific pursuits, to which he was enthusiastically devoted. It is supposed that while searching along the banks of Black Water Creek for geological specimens, he accidentally fell down into the creek and was drowned. His body was found on the 19th, in the creek, near the mouth of the Tunnel, at Lynchburg, Va, He had been absent from his boarding-house since the morning of the 17th. We have seldom known any person more ardently attached to his object than Mr. Holbrook. His plan was to simplify science to the capacity of youthful minds! and to interest them in its prosecution by practical and pleasant experiments. One of his plans was to interest schools in making exchanges of specimens of minerals, rocks, and other natural productions, also, to exchange drawings, etc. In this way many boys were stimulated to greater pursuits in science and edu

cation.

ว

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NOTICES.

Literary Notices.

Books noticed in THE STUDENT may be obtained by persons residing in any part of the United States, at their own post-office, free of postage, by inclosing the price here given, in a letter, post-paid, and directing it to N. A. CALKINS, 348 Broadway, New York.

MAN'S DEVELOPMENT BY EDUCATION.

109

ON

MAN'S DEVELOPMENT BY EDUCATION.*

BY HORACE MANN, LL. D.

NE grand want of the human being in this world of ours, is the development of his mental faculties, with skill to use them. There are two ways of making the mind more powerful. The first is by improving the bodily constitution, or physical organization of the race, so that with more healthy bodies we may have stronger minds; and the second is, by giving all the skill and efficiency we can to such mind as there is; whether it be the miserable mind that belongs to a weak race, or the powerful mind that belongs to a strong one. The first is the work of physiology; the second, of education.

Of the necessity of mind, what need have I to speak? I might as well speak of the necessity of air to the bird's wing, or of water to the fish's fin. Almighty mind guides the universe. As to this earth, just in proportion to the development and culture of man's intellect, he participates in that guidance. Knowledge enables him to lay his hand upon the great machinery which God has constructed, and to direct its movements for his own benefit.

Hence, in order to be fitted for our present sphere, we need mind, the clear-shining and far-shining of the luminous intellect. Mind is immeasurably more valuable than any form of wealth. For one such man as Arkwright, or Fulton, or Sir Humphrey Davy, the world could afford, if it had them, to give a hundred Californias. One such man as Whitney is worth more than all the Common Schools of New England ever cost. One such Christian patriot and statesman as John Quincy Adams, once in a hundred years, would reward all the bravery and pay all the perils of the Mayflower.

There is no increase of absolute truth in the universe, and there can be' none. The number of minds that know truth may be indefinitely increased, but there can be no more truth to be known. All truth pre-existed in the Divine Mind. * * * The race knows vastly more now than it ever knew before, and will doubtless go on redoubling its stores. But He who was always infinite can not be more than infinite now.

Ever since the creation of Adam, the heavens have been as full of starry glories as they will be to-night. The distant constellations

*Extracts from the Inaugural Address at Antioch College, situated at Yellow Springs, Ohio, of which the Hon. Horace Mann is President.

VOL. IX.-NO. 4.-AUG., 1854.