Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/783

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FITTINGS-UP AND FIXTURES OF SCHOOLS. 759 elevation of the same ; in which may be observed the inclined plane which passes up the middle, and by which tlie children ascend and descend to their seats. In some cases, for this inclined plane is sub- 1402 stituted a stair, with very low steps, which is, perhaps, safer for the infants, being less liable to cause them to slide. The lesson station is a fixture, which the infant school has in common with the others. It is the segment of a circle, generally formed of a brass hoop, let edgewise into the floor, with a socket in the point to which it is concentric, for holding a pole or rod, from which a lesson is suspended. Fig. 1403 represents one of the lesson stations in Baldwin's Gardens, in which e is an arc or segment, the size of which is three feet two inches and a half, for six infants to stand round, with their toes touching the bright edge of the brass hoop, and looking towardsales- son, suspended by a rod fixed to a socket, four inches by three inches, at /; g g are two brass lines, twenty inches long, to connect the segment with its central point, and to aid in guiding the eyes of the infants to the lesson suspended at f. 1609. The Fittings-up and Fixtures of a School on the Madras System consist of little more than the hat and lesson pins, and the writing-desks which sur- round the walls. The latter are about the same dimensions in height as those given for the Lancasterian schools, § 1541. Fig. 1404 is a view of one of the desk* in the Madras School, at Baldwin's Gardens ; of which a is a cross section, or end view. 1404 ^^ showing the cast-iron supports, h, and the plugs, c, by which the upper part is fixed to the walls ; d is the row of pins for hats, slates, lesson-boards, &c. ; every boy being allowed two pins for these purposes. In some schools the pins are in two rows on different levels. The efficiency, and even beauty, of the cast-iron supports are worthy of notice. 1610. The Fittings-up and Fixtures required for Stoafs Circulating System of Instruc- tion consist chiefly of single circles of sixteen feet in diameter, or of a circle of this diameter, with three concentric circles within it, marked on the floor by grooves, into which brass hoops are fitted ; or which are filled with iron cement, or other composition, so as to form distinct lines for the children to stand round. Along the walls of the schoolroom are desks and benches, with two rows of pins fixed over them into the wainscoting, the same as described for the Madras system, from which Mr. Stoat's differs only in adopting the circulating mode of teaching, instead of the square or fixed one. 1611. The Fittings-up and Fixtures of Lancasterian Schools have already been given at such length, § 1540 to § 1545, that little remains to be said of them, except to give a section of the desks and seats, fig. 1405, the dimensions of which have been already stated, § 1559. Hat pegs, and pegs for pointers, lessons, &c., are fixed against the wainscoting round the room, in the manner already described, § 1535. (See plate ii. of the Manual of the System of Primary Instruction, §-c.) The semi- circles, according to the Lancasterian method, are marked in the