LA t.05 ■Te f ft* f f hi f^^' Mffi m ■^^^ -J* ■jS**-!' ' •v^'v; ^iV- J^:^^ ^i^^.'^r<;,:•^^; .^'" <*■ jm / %. ''■<■ '-^ -0 ^^ / THE ORIGIN, GROWTH AND TENDENCIES EDUCATION IN THE UNITEO STATES. AN OUTLINE SKETCH V^ Bv ORISON TOMLTNSON. * - ^.: ^ SOUTH BEND, IND.: HENRY A. FORD 1874. COPYEIGHT SECUBED. VS- o [DUMTIOI IN TIE UNITtI STATES, FIRST THE PURITANS. There have been two forces in this country that have proved themselves capable of organizing and maintaining schools — one, the Christian church in its various branches; the other, political State organizations. The Puritan branch of the Protestant church was the founder of our school systems. This was a work of such importance that the attention of the nation will be directed to it as long as it maintains its existence as such, and the public interest will increase and intensify in the same ratio that time advances. It will be the purpose of this paper to. estimate, with sufficient fullness to convey a distinct idea, the two great jDrinciples on w^hich our school systems rest, yet with the greatest possible brevity consistent with this idea; and as they had their origin in firmly fixed religious convictions, our attention will first be di- rected to that department of the subject. In the last half of the 16th century a very small portion, both of the clergy and laity of the Church of England, became dissat- isfied with its practice and the form of its organization. Of these there were two general classes — one that proposed to remain in the church and purify it; the other, having no hope of accom- plishing so great a work, separated from it. The latter are those whose principles and j^ractice we shall briefly trace. The reasons they gave for leaving the Church of England were that its organization as national permitted the administration of the sacraments established by Christ to the vile — those who did not even make a profession of the common moralities; and that the offices by which its government were administered were al- 4 OnroiN, Gjjownr, axo Texdexcies of nujst an entire (leparture iVoni tlio practice of the churches estab- lished by the A}X)stles,* who received tlieir appointment from? ( 'hrist Himself. The ory Geo. B. Emerson. Education in the United States. 9 " At a court holden Sept. 8th, IGSO, and continued by adjournment to the 2Sth of the eighth month, October, 1636, the court agreed to give four hun- dred pounds towards a school or college ; two hundred pounds to be paid next year, and two hundred pounds when the work is finished ; and the next court to appoint where and what building. " Two years thereafter, John Harvard, a clergyman, died, be- queathing one-half of his property, amounting to eight hundred pounds, and his entire library, numbering about three hundred voltimes, to the college; and they immediately commenced its construction, giving it his name. At the time of the passage of the law we have quoted, the inhabitants did not, at most, number over four, thousand souls, and had organized in sixteen 'owns. They were generally poor, living in log houses, huts, and hovels, and were worshipping in a church in Boston, the walls of which were made of mud, and the roof of straw. At the time of the completion of the college there were four colonies:* New Ply- mouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven. They all contributed from the very agonies of want to its officers and students. The names of the donors have been carefully- pre- served, and the donations consist of money, cows, cotton cloth, salt dishes, dishes for fruit, sugar spoons, pewter flagons, globes, bells, goblets, and corn from many bushels down to a single peck. Dr. Dwight says: " It is questionable whether a more honora- ])le specimen of public spirit can be found in the history of man- kind." In 1647 the following jDreamble and law were prej^ared by the Legislature of the same colony, establishing primary and inter- mediate schools. This was the first law passed in the country, establishing these grades of schools, and will always he referred to with interest : f * Both of the settlements of Rhode Island were made previous to this : but Williams was a Baptist and Ann Hutchinson a Quakeress, and their re- ligious doctrines so obnoxious tliat the other New England colonies would have nothing to do with them. They were not even in the confederation of 1643, which was formed under the title of the United Colonies of New England. A copy of the articles of agreement of that confederation can be found in Bradford's History. It will also show that neither the Massachusetts nor the Plymouth Colony had even business relations with the Ehode Island settle- ments at that time. t I am still following Emerson. 10 Okigix, Growth, axd Texdexcies of " It being one chief project of the old deluder. Satan, to keep men fronj the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue ; so in these latter times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded by false gloss of saiut-seeming deceivers: now that learning may not l)e buried in the grave of our fathers, in the church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors, it is therefore ordered : That every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as sliall resort to him to write and read ; whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children^ or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supplj'^, as the major part of those that order the pruden- tials of the town shall appoint ; provided those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns ; and it is further ordered, that where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or householders, thej^ shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being al)le to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university : provided that if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year, that every such town shall pay five pounds till they shall perform this order."' We discover that this is plainly the work of the church, and that it was then so far in the ascendant in that colony as to di- rect and control the Legislature. The passage of this law com- pleted the theory of their educational systems. It surpassed, in its scope and aims, what had ever before been attempted by any potentate or people.* It contains every element of the school systems of the present. The lowest grade corresponds to our primary schools, and the grammar schools to our high schools and academies. To relieve parents of all excuse for not sending their children, power was given to the town committees to make them free. In entire accordance with the spirit of the foregoing laws, the following law was passed May 3, 1G54: " Forasmuch as it greatly concerns the welfare of the country that the youth thereof be educated, not only in good literature, but sound doctrine, this Court doth therefore commend it to the serious consideration and special care of the officers of the college, and the selectmen of the several towns, not to admit, or suffer, any such to be continued in the oflfice or place of teaching, educating, or instructing of youth or children, in the college or schools, that have manifested themselves unsound in the faith, or scandalous in their lives, and not giving due satisfaction according to the rules of Christ "' Lord Macaulay's speech in the British Parliameur, (pioted by Emerson. Education ix the United States. 11 In Connecticut, as already noticed, there were originally two •colonies — the Connecticut Colony and the New Haven Colony. They were united under a charter given by Charles II. of Eng- land, in 1662. The laws of the Connecticut Colony were first printed in 1650, and those of "the New Haven Colony in 1656. Both of these codes specially provided for the education of all the children. School systems, however, had been provided for from the very first settlements. They were town schools similar to those of Massachusetts. In 1712 the church parishes, or ecclesiastical societies, com- prising usually a part of a town, but sometimes parts of two or more towns, were entrusted with the supervision of schools with- in their several limits. In 1798 the parishes were constituted school societies, and had their management till 1860. This shows a strictly religious supervision to a very recent date.* Grammar schools, in which the Greek and Latin lanp-uagres were tausrht, were also organi5:ed at a very early date in that colony. Con- necticut has, at no time, been without an efficient school system. They were supported with greater steadiness, through its entire colonial history, than in any other colony. Until immigration filled up her manufacturing towns with a foreign population, an adult person who could not read and write was considered a cu- riosity. New Hampshire first established schools by law in 1658. The town system of the two colonies previously mentioned prevailed, which shows that they were acting on the same general plan.f Rhode Island was at first settled in two colonies, one by Roger Williams at Providence, the other on Rhode Island in Narragan- set Bay by Ann Hutchinson and her followers, who were Qua- kers. In 1661 they received a charter, and were united under the present name. The school system of the other New England colonies was adopted.]; * For the facts in relation to the Connecticut Schools, I am indebted to the statements of Hon. B. G. Northropj'Secretarj- Conn. State Board of Ed- ucation. t For an account of the New Hampshire schools I am indebted to the state- ments of Hon. A. C. Hard}^ State Supt. Public Instruction. At the time of the founding of their schools they were under the protection of Massachusetts, See histories of the United States: Hildreth, Quackenboss, and Venable. X For knowledge of the Rhode Island schools, I am indebted to Hon. T. W. Bicknell, Secretary of the State Board of Education. 12 Origin, Growth, axd Texdexcies of In New York, we search colonial records in vain for evidence of the founding of school systems by law. In 1795 the subject was first discussed with a view to practical results. In 1805 a State fund was created to aid in their support; Init a common school system was not permanently organized till 1812.* The town of NfeAvark, in New Jersey, established a school by vote at a town meeting, Nov. 21, 1676, in which reading and writino- were tauirht, and arithmetic if the inhabitants desired it. On the 12th of October, 1693, which was 17 years after the school at Newark was organized, the Assembly passed an act " For estab- lishing School Masters within the Province." In 1695 the act of 1693 was so amended as to allow of the moving of the schools from place to place, f From that time nothing was done in New Jersev, in relation to schools, while it remained a colony of Eng- land."^ Pennsylvania made no effort while a colony to found a school system. The first determined effort was made in that State in 1833, under the leadership of Thaddeus Stevens. In the course of the next two years a State system was permanently organized.]; The first legislative action in Delaware, in relation to primary schools, was taken in February, 1829. A State system was then or- ganized, which has been gradually changed l)y legislative enact- ments into its present form. Judge Hall, of Wilmington, w^as the leader of the movement.*! Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina took no action in re- lation to public school systems until after the census of 1840 showed the alarming number of adults who could neither read nor write. On the 8th of April, 1710, an act passed the General Assem- bly of South Carolina, under the Governorship of Lord Craven Palentine, appointing commissioners of free schools, and requir- ing them to take charge of legacies and other sums given for that purpose. In 1811 the Legislature passed an act appropri- * Hon. A. B. Weaver, State Snpt. Public Instruction, New York. t Hon. E. A. Apgar, State Snpt. of New Jersey. X H. Valentine, D-D., President of Pennsylvania College. *t I received a detailed account of the Delaware primary school system from Mr. Hall ; and an account of the interest he had taken in it from Prof. Riley, ex-President of St. Mary's College. Education ix the United States. lo ating three hundred dollars per annum for the support of free schools.* The unavoidable inference is that the most South Carolina had done, up to 1811, was to recognize the necessity of general education, without making any adequate provision for it, Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, was an earnest and effi- I'ient promoter of education. John and Charles Wesley were among the first settlers, both of whom returned to England, and became distinguished as the founders of the Methodist Church — particularly the former. The celebrated Whitefield passed some years in the colony, and founded an orphan asylum. All of these distinguished clergymen supported the efforts of Oglethorpe in l^ehalf of education. The first constitution of Georgia, adopted Feb. 5, 1775, declares that schools shall be erected in each county, and supported at the general expense of the State. In 1783 one thousand acres of land were appro})riated to each county for the support of free schools. In 1792 an act was passed appropria- ting one thousand pounds for the endowment of an academy in each county. f This was far ahead of the legislation of any of the New England colonies at that time. The most they had done was to make general provision for education. There were well- educated men in all of the colonies, at all times. These advanced movements in Georgia were plainly the work of the scholars, as there was neither sufficient population, nor the disposition on the part of what there was, to support them. We see that there were no common school systems outside of New England, reaching the masses of the people, during the colonial period. Even they improved but little in their methods of im- parting instruction. Their courses of study were of the most ■elementary nature — not attempting much more than to teach reading and writing, and hardly advancing beyond the Bible as a reading or spelling book. The steadiness with which they were maintained, however, made them an incalculable power for good, demonstrating, beyond all possibility of contradiction, that they must forever accompany all high forms of civilization. Any community, entirely composed of persons who can read and * Hon. N. B. Middleton, President of the College of South Carolina. t Win. Henry Waddell, Professor of Ancient Languages and Literature in the University of Georgia. 14 Origin, Gkowth, and Texdexcies of write, are beyond l:)eing made the victims of grave impositions, or tolerating for a very long period of time abuses detrimental to the public good. They can not be considered otherwise than a legacy — a noble legacy of the Church to the ReiDublic. When the colonies had declared their independence of Great Britain, and formed the confederation of 1777, each of them formed a new constitution adapted to the new order of things, Georgia taking, theoretically, the highest position, being the only one that declared in her constitution that " schools should be sup- ported at the general expense of the State." The more thoughtful of the statesmen of the revolutionary })eriod clearly saw, after a short trial, that the confederation could never be the permanent form of government for this coun- try, and were looking to a republic as an ultimate realization. The discussions of the period of the transformation from the con- federation to the republic show that there was great unanimity of opinion upon two points — that in a republic there could be no standing army, and that education must be universal. third THE FOUXDATIOX OF THE STATE SriIOOLS AXD OKIGIX OF ACADEMIES. The success of the colonies placed in their possession a tract of Umd known as the Northwestern Territory. To permanently provide for the education of the people who might settle the ter- ritory, the sixteenth section of each township of land was reserved for the purpose of forming a permanent fund for the support of common schools, and seventy-two sections were subsequently granted to each State formed out of the territory, as the founda- tion of a university. This was the commencement of the peo- ple's schools. The reserve of lands in the northwestern territory, which comprised the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, formed a precedent that has governed the coun- try in all of its acquisitions since that time. There are now well- organized school systems in all of the new States, some of which have levie'd a tax of two mills on the dollar on all of the taxable property within their jurisdiction, for the support of common schools, — this being in addition to the income derived from the land fund. Besides this, the States have passed laws permitting Educatiox in the United States. IT) discretionary taxation in localities for the support of high schools In many places property is paying four mills, and occasionally more, on the dollar, for the support of schools. The reserve of lands we have mentioned dates back to tlie celebrated ordinance of 1787; but j;he first organization of a svs- tem connecting each district with a state department is wholly within this century. The improvement in text-books and meth- ods of teaching have kept pace with the general advance of sci- entific knowledge and the development of the industrial arts. After the seventeenth century the distinctly Puritan type of thought began to give way. As the colonies prospered and the industries became diversified, l^oth grades of their town schools Ijecame somewhat neglected, on account of other employments affording better remuneration for the services of young men. The fact that woman could teach had not then been discovered. In 1761, which was over a century after the primary and gram- mar schools had been in operation, the first acadenn^ was founded at Byfield, in Massachusetts, by Gov. Wm. Dummer. The Phil- lipses soon after followed his example by the endowment of acad- emies at Andover and Exeter. They performed the same office as the grammar school, the intention of which was the prepara- tion of the student for college. They were extensively organized both in and out of New England. Education was still pursuing the old monastic course — teaching the mathematics, but placing the Greek and Latin classics as the foundation and the pinnacle of the system. The laws, however, in relation to towni schools, including the high standard of qualification for teachers, contin- ued in force till' 1787. At that time they were so modified as to lessen the time the schools were taught and increase the numbei- of families requisite for the maintenance of a grammar school. We discover a coincidence of time between the breaking up of the old system and the adoption of our present form of govern- ment. They had always lacked one vital element, which was supervision. The Puritans were the founders of our school systems; so their descendants were the first to bring their organization to a high state of efficiency. The first meeting which led to practical results w^as held in Boston, in 1830. It was attended bv distinguished educators (> K) Oeigix, Growth, axd Tp:xdexcies of I'roiu all parts of New England, and resulted in the organization of the American Institute of Instruction, intended for the mutual benefit of actual teachers. By its efforts State boards of educa- tion were appointed, and by them normal schools and teachers' institutes established. The old States have varied in their methods of creating State funds, and in their systems of taxation for making the schools free; but free schools may now be said to have arisen to a national principle. The experience of all the States that have had expe- rience in this direction conclusively shoAvs that schools for teach- ers and vigilant supervision are indispensable. Connecticut and Rhode Island established normal schools and suspended them; but future legislatures restored them with g-reat unanimity. New York, in 1850, adopted the system of supervision by county superintendents, and soon abolished it, but in 185G returned t it, and, after a trial from that time to this, approves it. The co-education of the sexes in the lower grades of the colo- nial schools during the latter part of their existence, demonstra- ted the capacity of woman to successfully investigate subjects requiring analytical methods of thought, which led to her employ- ment as a teacher. In each decade since 1830, the ratio of female teachers has rapidly increased, and several State Superintendents have officially stated that the schools, as a rule, have prospered as well in their hands as in the hands of men. This is the most substantial compliment that woman has ever yet received. The one hundredth anniversary of the republic is now nearly at hand, yet but little over half of the States have school sys- tems that are adequute to the most urgent public necessity. The deficiency is so groat as to have alarmed the most thoughtful minds of the nation. There are eight States where between fifty and sixty per cent of the entire population over ten years of age can neither read nor write; five between thirty and fifty; and four between fifteen and thirty.* AMiile our record is as dark as this, it will become us much more to be clothed in sackcloth and ashes than to be proclaiming- from our forums and tribunes, in rounded periods, that we have the most efficient common school svstems of anv nation in the * See Eeport of the Coiumissioner of Education for 18^ Education in riiE Uxitki) States. 17 world. While such an evil is hangiiig, with portentous oiuens, over the very sources of republican existence, every iniiid should be aroused to the danger, and bestow its njaturest thought upon the means of its removal. Great and incalculable as are the benefits which arise from the common schools, we never should have had them, had it not been for the interest taken in general education ])y men who had received a classical education in the colleges; hence our at- tention will now be directed to the subject of FOURTH HI(;i)KR EDUCxVTlOX ])KX( >.AriXAT10N A L ( OLLEiiES. AVe have traced the primary and intermediate schools to the Puritans as their originators. Collegiate education had the sanK:" origin. The classical department of Harvard University was the only college in the country for more than half a (-(Mitur}-, and < luring the colonial period there were l)ut nine colleges, all oi wdiich were under the control of different branches of the church. They were located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New^ Ham])shire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vir- ginia. As an elementary educator the Static is iirconiparal)ly ahead of all other agencies; but as a collegiate educator the church has kept in the van of advancing knowledge. Fully eighty-five per vent of all the colleges in the country are under the cbntrol of the different l)ra.nches of the church.* I'he ol^ject of the old rinciple is iield to be of such li-anscendent importance, and their confidence^ that Chiistianity supplies this necessity is so great, that they do not feel safe to tiust any theory of education which does not em- l)race it. The church, in its \ ai-ious forms, including- the ancient Hebrew Church, has always b(>cn the re|X)sitory of learning. Martin Luther declared, on various occasions and in the most ex- plicit manner, that the only way to preserve the Scriptun^s was ro preserve their orio-inal lanouaii-es. The Roman Catholic Church was the repository of nearly all the learning cultivated in Eu- roj)e, from the inted to a professoi-ship in the University of Wurtemburg, Its cultivation of learning-, (M)ml)ined with its ecclesiastical svs- tem, was what constituted its pow(M- during- that lorg])eri()(l: and it was the learning that the clergy possessed, in contrast with the ignorance of the masses, which enabled them to maintain their ec- clesiastical systetn. The Protestant sects all understand this power of learning. Not one of them considers itself firndy es- tablished, ur»til it has a well-endowed college. The men that go out from them are generally towers of strength to the-ir several d«'nominations. The courses of studv in the old colleo'es were literarv and iJiblical — the literaiy ccuii'se IxMug composed of the (rreek and * My correspondence with these colleges has extended from the oldest to the most recently organized, and to every Christian sect to which they belong : also to nearlj' every State where they are located. It will be impossible to make special acknowledgments, as I am only proposing an outline sketch of their origin in this country — the principles upon which they are endeavoring to direct the ATnerican uiind, and their methods of dointj it. Kduoation in the United States. 10 Latin classi(;s. and the Biblical course consistiiiir of those Asiatic languages pertaining to ancient Biblical learning. At the conunencement of this century, the divinity course be- gan to constitute a school by itself, which was the origin of our system of theological schools — the first of which was organized jit Andover, M{i,ss., in 1808. That class of schools has rapidly in- I'reased, and the college proper is nowhere placing in its curricu- lum the sacred languages. The rapid growth of universities within the last forty years has changed the management of the colleges of the church in every respect. They now fully endorse the idea that without ■a knowdedge based upon the facts of luiture, religion itself may be made a degrading superstition. To give expression to this conviction they luive established scientific schools, wherein the laws governing the different departments of nature are thorough- Iv investigated. Some of these scientific courses are as exten- sive and efhcient as any in the universities. 'I'he principle that the student will succeed best in studies for which he has a natu- ral taste is also i-ecognized, and elective courses established, t(v the full extent of the teaching force The occupations which the alumni of these colleges follow have ])een traced* in several instances by the colleges from which Th(^y graduated, and the discovery made that they enter the three professions of divinity, law, and medicine, and kindred intel- lectual work. It is rarv indeed that one enters any of the anu- niercial or industrial enterprises. We sometimes hnd fault with our classical courses on account .)( their antiquitv, and complain of th<'ir lack of ada)>tation to our ])resent educational needs. Tn reply, the colonial colleges pu1)lis'n catalogues of their grad- uates from the hrst, anllege. tVaiii tVuiii expressing an abiding synipathv with tl\<' inijxtrtant Avork nf the colleges of the church. FIFTH — r N IVKIISITIES. The fottudei's nl" the republic lully comprehended its necessi- ties, and saw that, however great our sympathies might be with denominational schools, none of them coidd take charge of State universities while the national government ]).ohibits an estab- lished religion. They also luiderstood that the j>(H)ple could never lay claim to nu al)ility to permanently maintain republican institutions, unless they could organize and maintain schools that were caj)abh^ ot" investigating all departm<^nts of knowledge that underlie civilization. To enabh^ the p(M)ple to enter upon these investigations, the seventy-two sections of land already' noticed were granted to each of the States formed out of the Northwestern Territory, as a foundation for a university. Those grants foimed precedents that have since governed the country in this respect. Our oldest universities have been built up by the addition of ]>rofessional schools, at vari(»us periods of tinu', to colleges that had previ(tusly existed. It was the colonial i)ractice for many of the profes- sional stu(huits to graduate first at the colleges, then prepare for their professions in private offices. It was found that a school einbodying all tlu^ instructions of the private office, with many tmd valuable additions, could be oro-anized that would more thor- oughly prepare students for professional work. The first of these was a medical school, organized in Philadelphia in ITbT), The first endowment of a professorshij) of law was by tlie Hon. Isaac Royal, of Medford, Massachusetts. It consisted of two thousand acres (^f lanut in no sense complete or exhaustive survey of the departments of learnino; thev are examinino-. In our statements we shall make no attempts whatever at professional language in any de- partment. Our purj)ose is accomplished if we succeed in stat- ing the facts in our vernacular language only. ft is the established and uniform practice of all the classical schools of the country to give the Greek and Latin languages, and the literature connected with them, the first place in their courses of study. The ancient Asiatic languages are taught when there are students enough wishing to learn them to organize classes; but the catalogues nowhere show that they exist. There is a growing interest in Oriental learning, and a Sanskrit profes- sorship is now endowed at Harvard University; but the funds are not yet available, nor the school organized. Many of us ask why our colleges giv'e such prominence to Greek and Roman beaming. Is it still necessary to conduct every generation of young men through the mythology, legends, and fables of those nations':' Is there no knowledjre of more modern origin of higrh- er importance, and equally disciplinar}^ to the leainer? We can ascertain by examining the works of three or four Greek and Roman historians — especially those that give a synopsis of the ])hilosophies — that there is a remarkable agreement between them in tracing some of the theories in relation to the construc- tion of the earth, which modern science is actually demonstratino- * Our knowledge of the universities was obtained in the same manner as that pertaining to the other classes of schools ; which was by a correspond- ence with them extending over the entire country. I received letters from dl classes of prof assional men connected with them : also papers and official tf-oformation upon all phases of university work. Education ix the Uxiti:i) States. ;>:) to them. The human intellect there received a new })irth, and has shed a luminous halo over all the centuries since. There were several extensive and powerful military empires that exist- ed previous to Greece and Rome; but nearly all knowledge con- cerning them that has reached us in an authentic manner, intU'- pendent of the Hebrew Scriptures, has come through those lan- o-uages. The early Greek historians are referred to as the fatheis of profane history, Tn speculative philosophy they rose to a higli position as thinkers. Their literature has thrilled and delighted th(^ world from its lirst appearance. Their oratory was so near the ultimate of all attainment as to have been consulted ever since as a model. Every sculptor and painter is at this moment consulting the Greek masters. Rome is accredited with havinii- made valuable additions to Grecian learning in military science and jurisprudence — especially the latter. It also surpassed all previous nations in stamping its language upon its conquered provinces. The works of Roman statesmen, jurists, militaiy writers, historians, orators, sculptors, painters, poets, rhetoricians, and scholars of all classes, will be consulted while learning is cultivated among men. Tn fact, these two nations made such great additions to the learning of the world, and the necessity of preserving their languages in order to preserve the knowledge they contain is so universally acknowledged, that they have been awarded the hrst position in every school both in Europe and this country which attempts to conduct its students to the sources of knowledoth kingdoms, furnish ground for the po- sition that the earth contains a history of itself. There is a class of scholars examining this highly interesting- department of nature, for the purpose of discovering general laws in obedience to which the ve^retable and animal kino-doms have been developed. The rocky masses not only succeed each other in orders or classes, but Avhen viewed on a broad and general scale, embrac- ing the whole earth, they occupy the same relative situation. The science of g^eology is of such practical importance that every State and territory of the Union has either made a geolog- ical survey or is desirous of doing so at the earliest possible mo- ment. In ascenclino- from the mineral to the vegetable world it is dif- ticult to find the precise line of separation. There are structures that have been assigned to both. When viewed as a whole, how- ever, the distinction is plain to all. The highest manifestation of the mineral world is found in the operation of the laws of chemical affinity and crystallization. What causes chemical com- bination is yet unknown. In what that power consists which gives a definite and geometrical figure to the primary molecule of the crystal, and with absolute accuracy enables it to maintain its configuration through every stage of its growth, thus separa- ting one species from another, and enabling us to discriminate its class by its figure alone, we are also ignorant. In the vegetable kingdom Ave first meet with the ^^/-/^c/^j/e o/?//6'. The boulder, that may be picked up from the earth, is fortuitous in its origin and receives its growth by accretions from without; the plant receives its growth from within and by the use of or- gans mutually dependent upon each other. The rock may be destroyed by mechanical or chemical force, and each particle will possess the characteristics of the aggregate mass. If a branch is broken from the stalk of the plant it loses the characteristics it possessed while attached to. it; and if the plant is removed from the soil the operations of its organs are entirely suspended Education in the United States. 31 and decay follows. The plant receives its origin in generation, its growth by nutrition, and its existence is terminated by a ces- sation of the operations of those vital forces manifested by the principle of life. What this principle of life is has been a subject of profound in- quiry from remote antiquity. It would swell this paper into pro- portions entirely beyond the limits assigned to it to merely men- tion the theories advanced to account for it, and give an abstract of the reasons by which they have been supported. I must con- tent myself with a statement of the conclusion we should reach, which is this: that it has entirety eluded the researches of all who have yet lived on the earth. Like the principle of perpetu- al motion, it is yet to be discovered. The highest manifestations this principle receives in vegetable growth are those of contract- ility in its circulatory organs, irritability, and the simple instincts dependent upon the manifestation of the forces of life. Beautiful and varied as the principles of chemical affinity and crystallization are, these superadded manifestations introduce us to a vastly more varied and higher development of natural forces. The botanist discovers the same law of development and clas- sification in ♦he vegetable products of the earth that controls minerals. It is said that Solomon carried his investigations through this department of nature from the hyssop upon the wall to the cedars of Lebanon. Nothing approaching a systematic and exhaustive classification has been made until a very recent period. The practical advan- tages arising from the possession of a knowledge of this depart- ment are so apparent that they need not be presented. They are so great that it will not do to entrust them to isolated obser- vations. The necessities of any commonwealth require the abil- ity not only to call into its service all that is now known upon the subject, but to vigorously prosecute original investigations. The one great purpose of vegetable nature, which rises above all others, has been to prepare the earth for the abode of animals and man, and to sustain their existence while upon it. The amount of vegetable production precisely measures the capacity of the earth to sustain all the higher orders of animal organiza- tions, of which man is the crown. Surely, then, it is the first o2 Origix, Growth, axd Texdexcies of and most imperative duty resting upon us to understand the laws that govern it. In the mineral and vegetal^le world we have seen that trans- formations have been effected on a scale of grandeur and mag- nitude that should awe every beholder to silence; but great, beautiful, and varied as these are, a higher achievement was re- served for manifestation in the animal kingdom. Tlie study of this dei)artment commenced at a very remote period. The He- brew Scriptures abound in references to diiferent kinds and spe- cies, and detailed accounts of the habits and manners of individ- ual animals. This department of learning was also cultivated for a long period in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia; but Aristotle was the first physiologist who pointed out the expediency (^f a me- thodical and scientific classification. He w^as a Greek scholar, and w^as aided by the powerful patronage of Alexander the Great. The most that he accomplished was to point out some general principles on which such a classification should proceed and the utility arising from it. No great achievement in this direction was accomplished until since the middle of the 16th century — a period wholly embraced within the modern revival of learning. Since that period many distinguished names have been and are now connected wath it. It will be entirely inconsistent with our purpose to point out the valuable additions that each individual scholar has made to the general stock of knowledge. It is nt) disparagement to the great services of the scores of scientific in- vestigators who have ma.de this study a specialty to say that the labors of Ray, Linn;\?us, Cuvier, and Agassi/, have been highly ap})reciated ai?d have obtained a wide celebrity. The classification of Linnivus has been more generally ad()j)t- ed than any other. "It divides the whole animal creation into six classes, and each class into a definite number of orders, and the orders into an indefinite number of kinds or genera; the kinds again into an indefinite number of species — the individuals of each species amounting to numbers perhaps innumerable." The six classes are as follows: worms, insects, fishes, amphibi- als, birds, and mammals. As before stated, we can not even at- tempt a description of this classification or give an abstract of the facts on which it is based; but can assure those interested Education in the United States. 33 that it is elaborated with great minuteness and care, evinces the broadest and most comprehensive research, and is of the most thrilling interest. Most naturalists have considered man as the crown of the ani- mal races. Some, however,' have not. On this point facts have recently been presented that strongly sustain the position that man is but an outgrowth or development of the animal orders below him. These facts are so numerous that scientific men everywhere are endeavoring to see if they can be. confirmed by repetition, or by the operation of any general law that will bring the theory into the domain of positive knowledge. The advance of science is now so great in all departments that any new position that is sustained, even by the probability of facts, can be taken without subjecting the discoverer to the de- privation of civil liberty, or even social ostracism. He who has a sneer to utter because it disputes the correctness of long es- tablished opinions, is much more likely, in the sequel, to be sneer- ing at his own ignorance than otherwise. In the animal organization we first meet with the properties of muscularity, sensation, and voluntary motion. It is in this great department that man first feels himself bound to the surrounding organizations by common sympathies, impulses, and emotions. Here the forces of matter have forms of manifestation almost in- finite in number and possessing a subtlety and delicacy of opera- tion that surpasses the operations of the mineral and vegetable world, and which have a tendency to purify, refine, and exalt all who laboriously and conscientiously make them a study.* There is a department of science relating to the elements of * I have not referred to authorities upon the natural sciences, because I am confining myself more to a statement of results than to an explanation of theories, classifications, or methods of investigation. The labors of any one author have not been followed far enough to give a statement of principles on which he was conducting his inquiries. There is a general concurrence among all scientific men on most points in relation to fundamental principles. The presentation of the condition of learning in relation to the sciences made by Dr. John Mason Good, in a course of lectures before the Surrey Institute, England, has been more closely followed than any other. An examination of later authorities shows a change in the fundamental basis of investigations, only in such instances as have been or will be noticed. There is a very ex- tensive literature upon all of these sciences of great value and interest. 34 Origix, Growtii, a^d Tendexcies of change teniied heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and affinlt\', that have been formerly classed as a kind of "imponderable ele- ments " in distinction from other kinds of matter. The demonstration of the indestructibility of matter at the (^lose of the last century, established a basis on which the science of chemistry^ has made bold and rapid advances. It is now as- piring to create organic substances. One of the most distin- guished physicians and ablest writers on physiology in Germany asserts that several organic suljstances have been made in the chemical laboratory. If the chemist could assert that a part of the substances with which he commenced an analysis was des- troyed, when the results did not meet his expectations, there were no exact bounds within which he must work — no inexora- ble law of matter that he must account for and explain. "When he became compelled to account for every particle of the mate- rials with which he started, whatever form they had assumed, new, and the most practically valuable and magnificent results attended his labors. The same principle holds good with the forces. If a given quantity of mechanical effect is not equal to the amount of power expended in producing it, the residue must be sought for in other forms. The idea that it is destroyed must not be entertained. Long and carefully conducted experiments by men whose tastes, ability, and education qualified them to make them, have shown that heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and affinity, are immaterial forces and convertible into each other — that is, each may be made to produce all the rest. This establishes a correla- tion or balancing influence between every object of nature and its surrounding objects, and opens one of the widest fields of research that has ever been presented to the mind of man. The machinist will study its applications to all questions of power; the botanist, to the profoundest prol)lems of vegetable germination and development; and the physiologist, to the most complex of all structures, the human body. "The forces manifested in the living system are of the most varied and unlike character — mechanical, thermal, luminous, elec- tric, chemical, nervous, sensory, emotional, and intellectual." It can be demonstrated that these subtle and potent forces hange their form of action, or in other words, what starts in one Education ik the United States. 35 form changes to one or two other forms before visible manifesta- tion in the living body, hence is subject to the same law of cor- relation as the purely physical forces. The researches growing out of this discovery will not stop with the chemist, the natural philosopher, the machinist, the botanist, the medical professor, and physiologist, but will take the form of speculative philoso- phies that will endeavor to show how the human race as a whole is correlated with the earth, its capacities of production and forces controlling it. It is a matter of national pride that the first real demonstra- tions that threw light upon these discoveries were made by our •uwn countrymen. Like the antecedents to the discoveries in all the natural sciences, the students of science had long suspected their existence — they had become wholly dissatisfied with the philosophy which classed these agents of change with tangible matter. The first demonstration in this direction was made by Benjamin Franklin, in showing that lightning is nothing but common electricity. Benjamin Thompson, a native of New Hampshire, was the first to fuller transfer investigations in rela- tion to these agents from metaphysics to jjhysical experiments; the first to demonstrate the falsity of the prevailing view of their materiality; the first to demonstrate that quantitative relation exists between the heat produced by friction and that by com- Imstion; the first to show that there was a numerical relation be- tween a definite amount of mechanical work and the production of heat; the first to suggest the application of these principles in the study of the organic world; the first to demonstrate the quantitative convertibility of force and the fundamental conclu- sion that heat is but a mode of motion. These discoveries fully established the basis of the new philosophy. Although Mr. Thompson was a native of this country, all of his labors were performed in England and Europe. These discoveries were made at the close of the last century and the commencement of this, and as finally accepted without material alteration; but, like all great advances in knowledge, they had to bide their time. The succeeding generation did not prosecute its studies on this basis, wuth but very few exceptions. Sir Humphrey Davy continued to press the discoveries upon the scientific mind. About the year 1840, Grove and Joule in England, Mayer in 36 Origix, Growth, axd Texdexcies of Germany, Codling in Denmark, and Seguin in France, originated and conducted, with minute and critical care, systems of variously modified experiments, which fully confirmed the conclusions of Thompson and greatly extended their application. Since that time the subject has been vigorously prosecuted in Europe and this country by men who, without dispute, stand in the front rank of scientific investigators. There are various reasons, which we shall not stop to explain here, why a new science does not rapidly get into the university curriculum. I notice, however, that the "correlation and conser- vation of forces" has, even at this early date, found its way into the courses of study of some of our colleges and universities.* We are often reminded that there has always existed a class of men who have rendered the greatest services to the various de- partments of science, and to states and nations who have quali- fied themselves mainly independent of all schools. If we were compelled to name three men to whom we are indebted for the success of the war of 1776 more than to any others, we should name George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Mor- ris. Certainly no men have yet appeared on this continent that have rendered greater services to the human race than these. Neither of them had a classical education. American biography abounds in the most illustrious examples of those who have made contributions to the stock of knowledo;e, of priceless value, and executed the trusts incident to the most responsible positions with credit to themselves and their country, who rose by their own inherent forces and mainly independent of external aid. Their names will forever be classed with those who possessed qualities of mind and heart that enabled them to rise above all personal ambition and take a position among the true conservators of the nation's greatest interests. No cynic can pluck one laurel from their brows. Their good name and fame are indelibly inscribed upon the memory of the people and * I am more indebted to a work entitled the "Correlation and Conserva- tion of Forces," edited by Edward L. Yonmans, and containing an able intro- duction by him, than to any other work in preparing this department of the subjects noticed. It contains papers by Grove, Joule, Helmholtz, Maj^er, Faraday, Liebig, and Dr. Carpenter. The science already has quite a volu- minous literature. Education ix the United States. 37 will be transmitted to posterity in tradition and history. Such an element of scholarship will always be needed. It looks at subjects Vvdtb the naked eye, and refines its investigations, in the ^»- ^ * /• .A $^ ^ ' a\ "^.^ v^ . r ■'" 'A'-c ■^ i, V. - .-> sf.^^'^^S vr ^ .v\^' '^ .^.^^ vOo \^' .r^^^e:^ 4. ' -^., a\ ^'. v^ : oo^ '^^^h^^' .«; ^^o. .^' ■'^-o °.. \'. ,3 -;> ""''\<^'' 0^ rV'-^: ^^ O 0' ^ %>;^!^v xO<^.. ^' Jl o>' =^ ' .<^ ^^ ■^^% 0^ c«^'^-P 0^ > O^ .-^^ )\:.:^^: <^ ''i ^, .iv^ ?/ 1^ ^- -^ c ^^ - -J-' .^^^• ^ rl^- .^%^ <. "' f -^ . ^ ^ ,0^ -"y^ V^ Oo^ ° -^c,^ ^>V, V ^^v'*' f^{r;^% ^, c-' ,^C^ v.. 1^:: J>' ,.