Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 8.djvu/130

120 a "School for Observation" appears to be original to the St. Louis system. This school for observation differs from the "Model School" in that the Normal scholars here simply observe the process of managing a school as conducted by highly-competent teachers, while in the Model School they make experiments in teaching. The school selected for observation is one of the district schools of the city. The members of the senior and middle classes of the Normal School are sent regularly to the "School for Observation" in order to acquire a more thorough knowledge of their future profession.

The experiment begun two years ago, of establishing a Kindergarten in connection with one of the public schools, has, according to the Report, proved a decided success. Like every effort toward new and improved methods in education, the project, at the outset, met with strong opposition. It was urged that children enough would not attend to justify the expense. The younger children of three and four could not be sufficiently interested; small children would not attend regularly; the training would unfit for ordinary primary work; the physical exercises would be injurious to health; and so on, to the end of the string of imaginary difficulties that objectors are forever ready to throw in the way. The result was that, when the school opened, the room was quickly filled. At the beginning of the second year nearly all the children of the previous year reëntered, and a second room of equal capacity was found necessary, and this also was filled. The average attendance was ninety-five per cent., exceeding that in the primary rooms. The children advanced to the primary department made rapid progress in its studies, excelling rather than falling behind their fellows. The physical exercise produced a marked improvement in the health and general appearance of the pupils; and, finally, it has been determined to establish Kindergartens in two more of the public schools.

This and other parts of the Report show what preceding reports from the same source had previously shown, that the authorities in St. Louis are alive to the necessity for improvement in our methods of primary instruction, and it would be well if school-officers in Eastern towns could be charged with a similar spirit. The streets of New York, for example, are swarming with children from three to six years old, receiving at the most impressible period of their lives the lessons that only the streets can teach. If, in place of these abominable associations, they were gathered into Kindergartens, the formation of habits that later become actual obstacles in education would be in great part prevented, while a positive advantage would be gained in the training which such schools afford.

Reference and Dose Book. By C. Henri Leonard. 16mo, 80 pages. Price, 75 cents; and Vest Pocket Anatomist. By same. 16mo. Price, 50 cents. Detroit, 1875. Pp. 56.

The Origin of the Sun's Heat and the Chemical Constitution of the Matter of his System. By William Contie. Troy, 1875. Pp. 23.

Tinnitus Aurium. A Consideration of the Causes upon which it depends, and an Attempt to explain its Production in Accordance with Physical Principles. By Samuel Theobald, M. D. Baltimore: Innes & Co., Printers. 1875. Pp. 13.

Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education. No. 6. Washington: Government Printing-office, 1875. Pp. 208.

On the Flexure of Continuous Girders. By Mansfield Merriman, C. E. 1875. Pp. 12.

Printing for the Blind. Reply to the Report of a Committee of the American Social Science Association. By the Trustees of the American Printing-House for the Blind. Louisville, Ky., 1875. Pp. 16.

Have we Two Brains? Soul and Instinct, Spirit and Intellect. Address by Rector of St. Mary's Church, Station 0, N. Y. 1875. Pp. 12. Price, 10 cents.

Alimentation of Infants and Young Children. By B. F. Dawson, M. D. New York: William Wood & Co. 1875. Pp. 22.

Catalogue of the Iowa State University for 1874-'75.