mental crutches, and learning, either directly from nature, or from a man of science, who concentrates the knowledge in his own mind, and conveys that knowledge, in the most speedy and efficient manner, to our own. In proportion as we would have our knowledge positive and free from delusion, we must observe-we must make own experiments and dissections-our own surveys and calculations-travels and researches. In proportion as we would have our knowledge extensive, we should obtain the assistance of many teachers, who can communicate to us all their acquisitions. In proportion as we would economize time, in our ordinary intellectual education, or transfer into our own minds what is well known to those about us, we must rely on the energies of the living teacher: but, in proportion as we would extend our researches over various subjects, upon which no living teacher is accessible, and, in reference to which, we have not the opportunity of making personal observation, it would become necessary that we should rely upon books. Books, then, are to be regarded simply as the substitutes for personal observation and oral instruction-to be used only where better means cannot be obtained.

In reference to the whole course of juvenile instruction, there is in reality no necessity for books. The teacher is, or should be, master of a sufficient amount of knowledge to meet all the demands of childhood; and should also have a sufficient amount of scientific apparatus within his reach, to exhibit every important fact in the physical sciences; and to present everything which needs illustration by specimens, drawings, models or experiments, in the most satisfactory manner. Books will be principally necessary for the teacher; because it is not probable that he will have access to sufficient opportunities of living instruction or of information direct from nature; or, that he will be able to carry in his mind a sufficient amount of learning to meet all the emergencies of such a course of instruction.

I am convinced that it would be quite a beneficial change, if the common schools of the United States should at once throw aside their crutches-if every book designed for the use of children should be at once consumed in the fire, and the pupils thus compelled to rely upon oral instruction alone. I do not, however, advocate the total rejection of books from the hands of children. On the contrary, I believe that the oral system of instruction would lead to a more efficient use of books, than is met with at present. When the instruction of the school has been delivered entirely in the oral manner, and when children have learned to read, which they will be exceedingly eager to do, when they find how much knowledge is to be obtained by reading, they will be exceedingly eager to get hold of books, which they are capable of understanding. And although books should be but sparingly used in the exercises of the school. I would have every common school provided with a Library of juvenile books, not to be used as task-books for the school, but as premiums and as favors to the children, allowing them to

take home one or more volume, that they might read something upon the subjects of their school exercises, or upon any subject about which their minds were much interested. If they were thus allowed frequently to take home a book, upon condition of making a verbal or written report, of the most interesting items of information it contained, they would thus soon be led into literary habits, and acquire not only the capacity for research, but a power of communicating their own ideas by pen or tongue, in a clear and comprehensive manner.

I know by experience, that children who are just learning to read, are not too young to take a lively interest in books, and beg, as a favor, to be permitted to carry home their school books to read at their leisure hours.

The great change, then, which our system of popular education demands, is a substitution of living for dead knowledge, the mind and voice of the teacher for the paper and ink of the book. In listening to a successful teacher, the child is continually expanding its mental horizon toward the wider sphere of thought presented to it, and its faculties are constantly, though agreeably, approximating the standard of adult strength. Whereas, in looking at the book, his mind is assimilated to the dull and lifeless character of the paper on which he is gazing. But in listening to the teacher, every fibre of his brain is aroused. The emotions are called out, the firmness and dignity of his character are aroused, the feelings are active; observation, memory, reason, fancy, all are in active play. And the power of analytical reasoning is no less active than the knowing and recollective faculties.

Thus the teacher who has in himself the fire of genius, will impart an irresistible enthusiasm to his pupils. The teacher who is amiable, calm and dignified, will inspire his own manliness into his pupils by the very sound of his voice falling upon their rapt attention; and will thus unconsciously so elevate the moral tone of the school, as to render it entirely unnecessary to recur to any species of punishment to maintain a proper discipline or decorum. The children, delighted in their occupations and exercising their reasoning powers, will soon learn to scorn all idle mischief and vulgar animality. The moral atmosphere of the school room will thus become so pure as to repress all vicious inclinations; and as new pupils are from time to time introduced, they will, by the power of association and sympathy, be speedily assimilated to the mass, and thus at once, reformed without perceiving the agency by which the change has been accomplished.

If there were no other motives for this revolution in our system of education than the benefit to the teacher himself, that alone should be sufficient to effect it. To be able to dispense with the untiring vigilance of the overseer, to find himself surrounded by friends in the children, to be able to lay aside the arbitrary discipline of the school room, to accompany his cheerful young friends into the fields and to join in their sports, to pour forth his knowledge on

all occasions, even in the midst of their plays and gymnastic exercises, without ever subjecting himself or his pupils to any degree of sedentary restraint, relieves the profession of all that is now irksome and repulsive. But in addition to this, to be able to indulge the most unbounded activity of his own mind, to be able to bring to bear upon the mind of the children all the knowledge which he may have obtained from various sources, to watch and encourage the growth of the independent intellect, and to find in his older pupils those whose mental activity invigorates his own, and whose researches sometimes extend beyond the bounds of his own knowledge to find thus the prison-like lethargy of the school-house replaced by intellectual life and active exhilarating thought-can but impart a fascinating interest to his labors. Each little school will thus become a charming resort, like the ancient schools in which the Greek philosophers diffused their knowledge, in the lyceum and in the groves of the Ilyssus-each "academy," what the first was, a garden for pleasant recreation, and for giving and receiving oral instruction, amidst the freshness and the beauty of nature, the free thought unconstrained by sedentary application.

Happy would it be, indeed, for the children of the present age, if our common schools were as destitute of books as the philosophical schools of Greece, before the age of printing, compelled to rely on natural methods alone, and therefore to seek and follow the living teacher. Could the little victims of common school despotism, assert their rights, as their elder brothers have done, against despotic forms of government, they might with great propriety rebel and expel their tyrannical autocrat, the teacher. The whole system of forced study in our schools, is a tyrannical invasion of the rights of children. The child is right in rebelling against the teacher: he is but demanding an inherent right. The laws of health and happiness are stamped upon his organization, and he is but endeavoring to obey them. The laws of health prescribe to young children an almost incessant muscular activity: these laws they are endeavoring to obey. Resistance to their scholastic tyranny, is obedience to the laws of Nature. The law of health requires joy, good humor, and the indulgence of a variety of feelings. The edict of the school prohibits the indulgence of the emotions, and requires an artificial, laborious, concentration of the attention; requires the unremitting action of the front lobe of the brain, and the temporary suspension of the whole moral and physical nature; a process repeated over and over again until the character and the physical constitution are equally enfeebled. The child rebels against this tyranny, this marring of his constitution. He is right. No system of education should be allowed, which would not be allowed and supported by the free and cheerful suffrages of the children to whom it is applied. No child should ever be compelled to go through a process of intellectual education, against which his natural instincts rebel; for he will never rebel against the proper acquisition of real knowledge. He rebels against the destruction of his constitution.

He rebels against a process, which benumbs three-fourths of his brain, which cramps and cripples his intellect. But, he never rebels against the proper and natural acquisition of knowledge: as soon would he rebel against a due supply of food and clothing. When the teacher is merely supplying a natural want, and thus gratifying the child, his labor consists in the natural exercise of his own intellect, not in the vigilance and hectoring of an overseer. He is free from care; his temper is not harrassed by frequent irritation; his mind is not stupified by contact with the exhausted dullness and indolence of his pupils. On the contrary, he feels his intellect strengthening, his knowledge increasing, his energy aroused by the interest of his pursuits, his mental ascendancy over his pupils and his moral power continually improving by exercise, so that he becomes better fitted to enter society and exercise an efficient influence in behalf of rational education.

In his daily labors, he will be cultivating the art of interesting and impressive conversation. His vocal exercises will not consist merely of a few questions, languidly proposed, alternating with rebukes and admonitions, but will rise to the character of earnest and eloquent lectures. Upon most of the subjects of his instruction, pupils of various ages may profit by the same course of lectures, if he expresses himself in a simple and natural manner, Hence he may instruct large classes orally, in which less subdivision and separation will be necessary than among those who rely upon books alone. The exercise of addressing these large classes and illustrating to the eye the subjects of the lectures, will not only be an animated and interesting scene, but will give a vigor and tone to the teacher's constitution, decidedly favorable to health and longevity. Very soon the teacher will find that instead of exhausting himself in the effort to arouse sluggish minds, he has now a far different task. The minds of his pupils are springing forth in all the gay, restless activity of childhood, in the pursuit of knowledge, and his task will be to regulate and guide their activity, to teach them to concentrate their powers to the subject of investigation. A host of questions upon collateral subjects arise to the minds of the children, which must be postponed to some other occasion, and the number of pertinent questions which will be proposed, will ́maintain a habit of eager inquiry and investigation.

The principal objection that would probably at first occur against the plan of oral instruction, is the unusual amount of labor involved and increase of expense which might be anticipated, from the number of teachers requisite for different classes. But in truth these objections are fallacious. The voice of a single teacher may instruct a class of hundreds if necessary, and while oral instruction admits of much larger classes, it also requires much less uniformity of attainments and capacities among the members of each class. Oral instruction will, therefore, attain an economy in the larger size of classes and smaller number of books, which would provide the means for a liberal supply of suitable apparatus.

ART. II.-PSYCHOMETRY.-(CONTINUED.)

FOR the practical illustration of Psychometry, I have selected, from the records of a number of experiments, the following reports. The opinions given were, in all cases, pronounced with impartiality by an individual who had no knowledge whatever of the manuscript from which he derived his impressions. Great care was taken, in all cases, that the psychometer should have no opportunity, by seeing the manuscript or hearing any conversation about it, of forming any idea that could bias his conclusions. Equal care was taken not to propose any question which, by its leading character, might modify his opinions. He was thrown upon his own resources and perceptions for the conclusions which he should express. The reader will make due allowances for the imperfection of an opinion formed and expressed in the course of a few minutes, by means of an impression derived from a single autograph. The various phases which any character may present on different occasions the difficulty of appreciating any one so fully as to describe his conduct under any emergency-and the difficulty of perfectly portraying our conception of the character, even when rightly conceived-should induce us to regard with great liberality any attempt to describe a character by means of such impressions.

It is necessary, too, that we bear in mind the different mental positions from which each surveys the character, and the different degrees of facility with which the same traits of character would be recognized by different individuals. In the following reports, the character of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS is given by a clergyman much disposed to admire such a character, and to express himself in glowing language. The opinions pronounced on Mr. Clay, by three individuals, illustrate their differences of character. Mr. S., a well educated young gentleman from the north, of mild, well balanced character, gives a judicious, moderate statement; Mrs. R., a lady of much ambition and force of character, with a good deal of philanthropy and radicalism, gives a bold, emphatic and critical sketch; Mrs. W., a lady of remarkable gentleness and amiability, accustomed to think well of all, is quite enchanted with her impressions of Mr. Clay, and finds him a much better man than she had previously supposed from the opinions which, as an abolitionist, she had formed.

There is much more fullness and life in the portraits, when the psychometer has a proper sympathy with the subject of his investigation. In the sketch of Dr. Channing, by Miss P.-of Dr. Harney, by F. R., and of Miss Martineau, by Miss N., we perceive this cordial appreciation.

The following reports are not presented as extraordinary examples of accurate portraiture, or remarkable success of experiments,