(e) How laws made by Legislature are enforced. (f) State divisions: towns, cities, and counties. How they are controlled, etc.; using town meeting as a basis. (In this try to teach the duties of good citizenship, pointing out evils of political wire-pullers, etc. This requires two thirds of our allotted time.) (2) To teach from this, by comparison, the United States government. In this method of work we keep supplied with votes, reports of conventions, legislative work, etc.; everything bearing directly on the subject in hand. I have yet to find a class which is not alive to the subject, and many graduates go so far as to say it was their best study. XI. From Arthur Stanley, principal High School, Cohasset, Mass.: I think the best plan usually in teaching such a study is to assign the work in topics and in queries which may be discussed at home, pupil with parent; but finding the matter so well arranged in the book we are using (Young's), I have followed it through in detail. In studying contracts the class should write them in simple form, make promissory notes with their varying modifications, and there will always be some in the class who will gladly bring to the class-room insurance policies, deeds, mortgages, etc., thus adding very much to the interest awakened, and accordingly the notions established. When we were considering the character and organization of a state Legislature, and the manner of enacting laws, these ideas were exemplified by considering the members of the class representatives from different towns and cities in the State, by organizing, reviewing petitions and bills, referring them to proper committees, debating upon and passing for the similar attention of the Senate; all this, of course, in general, and yet the real truth is reached only in some such way. A trial of a case at court might be profitably done in outline. A town meeting, in which the actual warrant is handled as if the pupils were the voters now, is useful. The messages of the President and of the governor should be read and preserved in a class scrap-book. A permanent committee on national affairs and another on state happenings might be appointed to glean from newspapers items of interest, and to report at regular times. While the treatment of the matter in Young's text-book in regard to state government is general, we should always insert the query, What is the law in our own State? thus sending the pupils to the statutes, knowing that if at any time a point shall be forgotten, they have formed the habit of referring to original sources. XII. From Frank A. Hill, principal English High School, Cambridge, Mass.: I have but few suggestions to make. In teaching the Constitution of the United States, I have found it a stimulating plan to organize the class into a convention, to have it select a presiding officer, a clerk, and a general committee, to have this committee report the Constitution as a whole to the convention, and then to let the convention take up the articles by parts for adoption, amendment, rejection, etc. Pupils thus become familiar with the elements of parliamentary practice, with forms of recording, with the workings of a deliberative assembly. Anachronisms, of course, are to be pardoned. The days of the county lyceum were precious days for many a young man who became absorbed in its questions. The study of civics gives a fine opportunity to organize an excellent substitute. I know of no better book to give one a bird's eye view of the government of Massachusetts than the Manual of the General Court, issued each year. Indeed, this contains so much in the way of information, in addition to the Constitutions of the State and the United States, that, with a full and enthusiastic teacher, it is enough to put into the hands of a class. My experience leads me to conclude that if an attempt is made to present the numerous facts that a study of government involves, it is difficult to awaken interest. If, however, the class pause long enough on a single theme to see it open, enlarge, branch out; if the pupils find themselves taking sides; if they read at length, or think hard to establish points, they fail to cover much of the ground that one maps out as proper to go over. It is hard to kindle genuine interest; it takes time; the fire is supported from the inside; there must be long pondering on a subject; it must be turned over and over, and the pupils must do the turning. Yet, I think this kindling is what is wanted, at every sacrifice. The conditions of success here make it difficult, not quite impossible, to realize an extended or elaborate scheme. But I have written more than I intended. In view of the abominable ideas of citizenship that throngs of defiant, cursing, and stone-throwing boys and men so often express in times of difference and earnestness, to say nothing of that ominous laxity about political duties in other multitudes less outwardly demonstrative, I feel keenly the need of that sort of instruction that, whatever it is, will reach the springs of action and make them pure, if possible. To get at the multitudes something needs to be done in primary and grammar schools. Civics is too big a word to cover that something, perhaps. Civil government is a grand theme for the high school; but how about the large numbers that don't reach the apex of the school pyramid? Important deductions can be made from these returns. 1. It is evident that there is a wide interest in this subject. When forty-five out of fifty of the high schools report that they have this branch in their course of study, it shows that the teachers and committees of the Old Bay State are not neglecting the instruction of the youth in this important subject. 2. These replies give us some valuable hints in regard to the nature of the instruction given upon this subject. (a) They show that more schools use Martin's Civil Government than any other text-book. (b) That the next book in popularity is Young's Government Class Book. (c) That the larger number have this study assigned to the last three years in about equal proportion; thirteen classes taking it the senior year; fifteen classes in the year below that; and eleven in the year preceding that; while only three report the study in the entering class two schools not reporting on this point. It is further evident from these returns that there is a noticeable lack of uniformity in the course of study, a great diversity of text-books in use, and a wide divergence in methods of teaching. Your committee desire to express the hope that the queries here raised, the suggestions made, and the further discussions likely to grow out of these reports, will prove helpful for future work, but do not yet feel at liberty, without further consideration and comparison, to suggest a specific course of study. It is hoped, however, that the matter will be pursued until a definite course of treatment for this important branch will be mapped out, such as will be likely to receive very general following. All of which is respectfully submitted, Chairman. THE AIR-SUPPLY OF SCHOOL-ROOMS.1 BY SAMUEL W. ABBOTT, M.D., SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. (Concluded from September Number.) 4. Methods of supply. The object of this paper being rather to show the necessity of a pure air-supply than the modes of furnishing it, this division of the subject will be dealt with briefly. As to the point or elevation at which vitiated air should be withdrawn from an apartment, less importance is attached to the question than was given to it previous to the discovery of the law of diffusion of gases. Dr. Billings gives the following simple rules relative to ventilating plans: (a) The fresh-air registers should be in such positions and of such size that the requisite amount of air can be introduced without causing currents of air of such velocity as will cause discomfort to the occupants. (b) Fresh-air registers for introduction of warm air should not be placed below foul-air registers unless the former are scattered at various points, thus preventing the formation of direct currents between the two, so that but little change is effected in the general mass of air in the room. (c) Flues of proper size cannot usually be placed in thin partition walls. (d) Fresh-air registers should not be placed in the floor so as to be flush with its surface. Dust and dirt are dropped into them and again returned to the room by currents of air. (e) In buildings of moderate size it is economical to centralize the heating apparatus as much as possible. (f) Most modern French engineers advise that the fresh air be introduced near the ceiling and that the outlets be near the floor. The object of this is to prevent unpleasant air-draughts. It is not absolutely essential, however, since by making the inlets of larger size objectionable currents of air may be avoided. 1 Read at a Sanitary Convention at Manchester, N. H., January, 1887. The table on page 3 of the September number should follow the diagram on page 6, and is inserted to show the temperature and the humidity of the air in the school-room at the time of each observation indicated in the diagram. (g) For a thorough distribution of the air the outlets should be on the side opposite to the inlets and as far as possible from them. In dwelling-houses, especially where the number of occupants is small, a good air-supply may be furnished by placing the fresh warm-air openings in an inner wall and the outlets in the same wall at the same or a lower level. Currents in air outlets may be facilitated by the aid of heat by the introduction of a single gas-burner or steam-coil into an upward shaft of brick or iron, or by placing such shaft by the side of, or inside of, a heated chimney. Open fireplaces and open grates are very efficient ventilators. It is needless to add that their efficiency depends upon their being put into active service. Grates are now constructed which will introduce fresh air, at the same time carrying away the vitiated air of an apartment. One of these, having a six-inch inlet duct, was found to admit about four thousand cubic feet of fresh air per hour to a small dining-room, a brisk fire burning in the grate and the outer and inner temperature showing a difference of about fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Forced ventilation. In large buildings an abundant air-supply may be secured by means of steam or other power, employed either to force air inward by means of a fan or blower, or for withdrawing it by a similar device. The latter method is at present applied to the ventilation of several schoolhouses in Boston, the fan being placed just below the cupola of the building, at which point shafts converge from each of the school-rooms. This plan requires the services of an engineer, but economy may be secured by combining the offices of engineer and janitor in one person. An objection to this method by aspiration is its liability to draw into and through the occupied school-rooms air from the cellar or other objectionable places an accident which cannot occur under the use of the plenum method. In the schoolhouses in question great care is taken to provide separate ventilation for the water-closets independently of the general plan. It should be borne in mind that especially in cold weather, with considerable difference between outside and inside temperatures, a constant transmission of air takes place through the walls, ceiling, floors, and around doors and windows, amounting, |