affect all the particles of the water and the ripple finally reaches the farther shore.

The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in New York has been co-operating with the public schools by giving three courses of talks on the Museum collections, to the teachers. The talks are given in the galleries in front of the objects so as to promote accurate observation and first hand study. The lectures present material that can be made directly available for use with the children. The teachers are encouraged to bring their classes afterwards, to see the objects or else to show pictures of them in the school room. These courses are graded, some of them being elementary, describing such things as Life and Customs in Early Egypt; The Parthenon (including myths and customs as seen in its sculpture and in the Greek vases); A Roman House; A Mediaeval Knight, His Castle Furnishings and His Armor; The Holland of our Dutch Settlers; Portraits and Furniture of Colonial Days. Other courses are for more mature pupils and are on the art of Greece; Rome; Middle Ages; Renaissance: Architecture and Sculpture; Renaissance: Painting and Minor Arts; Modern Painting; Modern Sculpture; Renaissance, Italian; 17th century, Dutch and Flemish; 18th century, English; 19th century, French; Early American and Contemporary art.

"Special Features in City School Systems" is the title of Bulletin No. 31 of the United States Bureau of Education. It is an important document worth the attention of all educators. It deals with such subjects as the All-Year School, Literary and Club Work, Home Study, the Honor League, Caring for the Pupil's Health, Janitor Service, Improvement of Teachers, School Improvement Associations, Special Schools and Classes, and many other subjects. It gives specific account of movements along these lines of educational life, naming the places and sponsors for particularly successful or suggestive examples of such work. Application for the document can be made direct to the Bureau of Education at the National Capital.

From the above-named document we quote the following about the Honor League at the Lynchburg, Virginia, High School.

"An Honor League was organized in the Lynchburg High School in 1909 by the alumni of the high school who were in attendance at the University of Virginia, where the honor system prevails.

"Representatives were chosen from each class in the high schools to draft a constitution, the pledge reading:

"We, the undersigned, do hereby pledge that we will neither give nor receive assistance on any written test whatsoever and will do our best to promote honor in the Lynchburg High School.'

"If a pupil is seen cheating he is not reported to the principal, but a committee of the league goes to him and warns him that the honor

of the school does not permit cheating. If he does not heed the warning, he is brought before the executive committee of the Honor League and a committee of his own class and given an opportunity to prove his innocence. The accused may have witnesses in his or her defense. If adjudged guilty, the executive committee recommends that he or she be suspended or punished in some manner by the principal and faculty, who co-operate but do not interfere with the plans of the league. Any conduct that affects the honor of the school becomes a matter for investigation by a committee of the league."

The Grand Rapids, Michigan, Public Library has printed a valuable Bulletin in which is included a full revised list of the Library's books on Vocational Guidance, with the outline of a course of study on this subject.

Mr. Lovejoy, Secretary of the National Child Labor Committee, states that at least nine-tenths of the boys who leave school under sixteen enter low wage industries and remain unskilled workers throughout their lives.

Mr. Lovejoy estimates that about one-half of those now at work under sixteen in all occupations are white American children, one or both of whose parents are native born. American families are as ready as foreign families to let children enter the factory before they are sixteen. The Connecticut State Commission, in a study of more than 11,000 women and girls representing fourteen racial groups, found a larger percentage of Americans with American fathers among the workers under sixteen than among the older workers.

A complete school for the instruction of public school graduates in the three R'S has been established by one Chicago business concern as a solution of the educational problem.

The plan originated in the stockyards plant of Swift & Co. Daily sessions of the school are held. Officials of the company say they have found it cheaper to give their employes this direct and easy opportunity to make up deficiencies in their education than to use the slower process of teaching the new assistants in their daily work in the offices. The continuation school at the Swift plant yesterday held eighty-six pupils. The pupils, all of whom were boys, ranged in ages from 14 to 16 years. Almost all were graduates of the public schools. The subjects taught were arithmetic, spelling and geography. The rudiments of these subjects are imparted in order to supplement the public school education with such actual knowledge as may be necessary in the performance of the duties to be taken up by the students. "The boys being instructed here are messengers and office boys," says Lewis Atherton, chief instructor at the school. "The subjects taught are those that are absolutely necessary to make the services of the boys worth the salaries paid to them."

Foreign Notes

CURRENT TOPICS IN GERMANY.-The Prussian school law of 1906, a compromise measure, was a great disappointment to the progressive party in that kingdom and the same feeling was experienced by the Liberals of Saxony at the failure of the education bill of 1912. In their sympathy with progressive movements, Americans are inclined to attribute these compromises and failures to sinister influences; but in fact they simply show that the German people, as a whole, are not ready for liberal policies. The real source of progress in popular education is the developing life of the people themselves. This is recognized by Herr Tews, Secretary of the German Teachers' Association, who in a recent exposition of the underlying principles of school legislation in Germany dwells particularly upon the relation between the laws and the living demand. In summing up the ideals of progress, he says "They will be fulfilled, step by step, perhaps in shorter time, than the faint hearted dare to hope, as our people advance in their economic importance, as they aspire to a higher place in the world market, * * and when with the economic, there is equal progress in the higher social development." At present the teachers of Germany are much more progressive than the mass of the people.

One of the most noteworthy events in the development of university life in Germany relates to the admission of women students, and the increasing numbers of women availing themselves of this privilege is attracting great attention and has given the text for current discus.. sions of social and economic problems. The number of women students reported in the summer semester of 1913 was 3,400, which was a little more than 5 per cent. of the total student body. In 1903 only 320 women students were registered, hence the number has increased ten fold. At the later date the faculty of philosophy attracted 2,502 women, and medicine followed with 804. The faculty of law reported only 82, and the faculty of theology 12. It is of further interest to note that the University of Berlin registered 770 women, or nearly one-fourth the total.

THE FRENCH LYCÉE. To the student of education who has had no personal experience in the French lycées, they suggest little more than official uniformity, pedantic Latinity and exaggerated regard for the classical diploma; but, in fact, few scholastic institutions have had such success in forming the taste, exciting the sensibilities, and creating a national culture as the lycée. It is this sense of participation in a high and common heritage that causes old lycéens to oppose the

changing course of culture studies in France and to pay tribute to the old ideals on ceremonial days which bring former comrades together.

An eloquent example of such tributes is afforded by an address recently delivered by M. Morillot, dean of the faculty of letters of the University of Grenoble, on the occasion of the distribution of prizes at the lycée of that city. With ironical pleasantry, M. Morillot sketched the advantages of the present day students over those of his own time, when the "Sporting journal" and the auto were not in existence, and students were reduced to hiding under their desks a romance of Jules Verne, or the "Adventures of Jean-Paul Choppart." "We did not even imagine" he said "those Anglo Saxon contests in which you are past masters, and we were ignorant of the terms of the noble sport of boxing. * * We were also delightfully ignorant of the simplest conditions of practical life. Fortunately you are fortified against these dangerous illusions and thanks to the scientific methods which prevail in all the instruction, you have acquired a taste for strong and sane realities."

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While admitting the value of these things, M. Morillot added: "But in the lycée you seek something that is taught only here, and that nothing, but disinterested study under experienced teachers can enable you to master. Here you seek the harmonious and complete development of all the intellectual faculties; here is supplied. the implement for such development, forged of the precious metal of the human reason, tempered by union with the imagination and the sensibilities. * * * Here the entire movement of the human mind is developed before you; beginning with the great writers, the great savants of all nations and all times. Through their works you are initiated into the efforts and the achievements of human thought. Here you taste the beauty of the world in its flower and its fruit."

As the most convincing testimony to the value of this culture Prof. Morillot cited the words uttered by President Poincaré a few days before, at the celebration in the Sorbonne of the 75th anniversary of the society of men of letters. To the distinguished company of authors and critics assembled before him the President said:

It is your mission to maintain, chiefly, our influence throughout the world. From the "chansons de geste" to the modern romance, our literature, constantly animated by the social spirit, and by the desire of influencing men, conscious of the power of commanding attention. by its art, its instinct for order and for beauty, and sustained by a language which seems the natural expression of logic and of reason, has always possessed an incalculable force of expansion, and has never failed to throw across the world the light of French thought. It depends upon you that this light should increase in splendor. Among other nations you are the natural ambassadors of our intelligence, our manners, and our taste. You are therefore in the front ranks of those who contribute to the pacific development of national power.

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UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS.-The University of Brussels is designated as free (libre) to distinguish it from the universities supported by the State. Of the four universities of Belgium, two, one at Liége the other at Ghent, are State universities and a third the University of Louvain is supported by the Catholic church. The University of Brussels, on the contrary, was established by private enterprise and is maintained entirely by subscriptions, donations, legacies and fees; being free from either State or ecclesiastical direction, it offers an example of the free, disinterested pursuit of the sciences and the human-. ities.

A report on the University by M. L. Leclére of the faculty of philosophy, pertaining to the last scholastic year, 1912-1913, shows marked increase in personnel and equipment. The faculty of philosophy and letters was enriched by the addition of a course in the history of French literature conducted by Professor G. Charlier, doctor of Romance philosophy, and author of a work entitled "Le sentiment de la nature chez les Romantiques français" which in 1912 received the prize from the Royal Academy of Belgium.

From its foundation, the University of Brussels has given prominence to the study of geography, and during the year reviewed, the subject was divided between two regular professors, the course in geography, properly so-called, being assigned to a doctor of sciences, while the course in the history of geography, or political geography, was assigned to a doctor of history. The first assignment was intended to emphasize the relation of geography to the natural sciences. The faculty of sciences gained several important additions to its laboratory facilities which will be opened for use the present year.

In Belgium as in France, the faculty of philosophy and letters and the faculty of sciences, have the task of preparing future professors for secondary schools. In order to supplement the theoretic instruction in pedagogy and methodology by practical acquaintance with the art of teaching, arrangements have been made by which students in the faculties of the University of Brussels are allowed to be present and take part in the lessons in selected establishments of secondary education (enseignement moyen). They submit reports of these lessons to the university professors of the respective specialties.

The University of Brussels has also been one of the chief agencies of university extension in Europe. Since its foundation in 1894, the university has organized 670 courses of instruction and lectures in 69centers, with approximately 100,000 attendants. During the present year the university celebrates its twentieth anniversary, and offers to local committees the choice of 143 courses in the extension program.

A. T. S.