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EDOM OR IDUMEA after Mr. Arthur became president. He took an active part in the prosecution of President Johnson, and was one of the electoral commissioners appointed in 1877 to decide upon questions connected with the counting of the electoral vote of the disputed presidential election of the previous year. He was the author of the acts of 1882 and 1887 for the suppression of polygamy in Utah. In 1891 he withdrew from political life. He is noted for legal knowledge and great parliamentary skill.  E'dom or Idumea, a name given to the whole country extending from the Dead Sea southward to the Gulf of Akabah. It was about 100 miles long from north to south. The mountains are steep, bare masses of chalk and porphyry. The Edomites were recognized by the Israelites as a closely connected race, being the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. Their religion was a belief in many gods. They were conquered by Saul and subdued by David, and were subject to Judah until the reign of Joram. They regained independence under Ahaz, and after the fall of Judah became masters of southern Palestine and Hebron, but were completely subdued about 126 B. C. From that time the western part (Idumea) was held by Jewish governors, one of whom, Antipater, became procurator of all Judæa in 47 B. C. His son, Herod the Great, founded the last Jewish dynasty. After the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A. D.) the country was merged in Arabia Petræa, and the name of Idumea disappears from history. See The Desert of the Exodus by Palmer.  Education, History of. A liberal professional preparation for teaching is hardly possible without a comparative study of educational progress as shown in past and present educational systems. It may take either of two general forms: that of education as a whole or that of formal pedagogy in particular. If the former, the field includes a history of the growth of all branches of learning and of the various institutions of civilization in general; if the latter, it is limited to the development of educational doctrine and the growth of systems and methods. There are commonly recognized five great epochs in educational history: the Oriental, the Classical, Christian before the Reformation, the Reformation and the Modern Epoch. Each epoch is rich in instructive material, throwing light upon nearly every problem which the teacher meets and helping him to a more comprehensive view of the methods by which they may be solved.

The following are among the most commonly used texts on this subject: Compayre, Painter, Seeley and Williams. See also Boone's Education in the United States, Swett's American Public Schools, Klem's European Schools, Quick's Educational Reformers, Laurie's Rise and Early Constitution of Universities, Lang's Great Teachers of Four Centuries and the histories of education in the different states of the Union, published by the bureau of education. Among these texts one of the oldest and perhaps the most interesting is Quick's Educational Reformers. A more recent and comprehensive work is Paul Monroe's History of Education. This is a volume of nearly 800 pages, and is an extremely valuable work. The substance of this is now available, also, in a volume of a little over half the size, suitable for beginning students. The title is A Brief Course in the History of Education.  Education, Modern. Perhaps no phase of social activity has undergone so radical a development in modern times as that of education. This evolution may be outlined under the headings of aim, subject-matter, method and organization of education. In regard to aim, four points may be noted. First: The ideal has come to be more and more progressive. Education no longer regards itself as confined to the task of fitting the child to live contentedly the life of the parent, but consciously labors to inspire the young to strive for better conditions and to prepare them to attain these. Second: Education no longer, as in ancient times, aims to train the individual merely in the interest of society nor, as in medieval and comparatively modern times, for individual culture or development, but rather for what may be called social efficiency. Third: Such an aim includes not only the religious, ethical and cultural training toward which attention was formerly almost solely directed in the education of the school, but vocational training, whether along professional or industrial lines, and such political training as fits for citizenship in those advanced nations where self-government prevails. Fourth: All this involves the extension of education to all classes, so that no general phase of culture is peculiar to any social order.

The subject of education has been affected by all of these modifications in aim. Science, history and modern literature have been added to mathematics, theology and the classics. In general the curriculum has been enriched by subjects giving interesting or valuable subject-matter, and the disciplinary subjects have been reduced in importance. The elementary school has developed geography, nature study, literature, manual training and art in addition to the three “Rs.” The subject-matter of the various vocations, from engineering to medicine, has been organized and taught.

In method the most important reform is due to the growth of the now well-established belief that mastery of method is quite as important to the teacher as knowledge of subject-matter. Psychology has