7. Make much use of geography-knowledge in languagetraining. 8. Encourage much reading of descriptions, travels, novels, etc. 9. Mold and draw maps to definite scales. 10. Give direct attention to observed phenomena. Of the papers submitted upon the first month's syllabus, the two best have come from San Francisco, Cal., and Columbus, Ohio. The first is comprised in twenty-six pages of well written matter, the second in sixty-three pages. The writer of the first cites the following authorities as consulted in connection with the first three books. Other authorities are cited with Quick's Educational Reformers. I. Painter's History of Education. 2. Rosenkranz's Philosophy of Education. Joseph Payne's Lectures on Education. Compayre's History of Pedagogy. Tr. by W. H. Payne. Cyclopedia Articles on Socrates. Rosenkranz's Philosophy of Education. Hamilton's Metaphysics. Stewart's Philosophy. Sully's Outlines of Psychology. Porter's Elements of Intellectual Science. 3. James's Psychology. Spalding on Instinct in MacMillan's Magazine. Sully's Mind. Darwin's Origin of Species. 4. Porter's Elements of Intellectual Science. Welch's Teachers' Psychology. Spencer's First Principles. Gage's Physics. THE HE illustrations herewith presented to the eye will show after a very little study the immense importance to the nations of the earth, and to American nations in particular, of the Nicaragua canal. In March last, the people of California, in convention assembled, urged the governor of that state to issue a call to the governors of the other states of the Union to appoint delegates to a convention, to be held at St. Louis in June, to consider the practicability and utility of the projected Nicaragua canal, and to devise the best means of perfecting the scheme. Twenty-nine states responded to the call, sending a total of three hundred delegates, all of them able business men. The convention took the position that a canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans ought to be constructed by the United States and controlled by them, for the most important commercial, strategic and patriotic reasons, and that the Nicaragua route is by far the most feasible. The illustration makes this evident. The entire distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific is 169 miles. Of this only 263 miles will have to be excavated, the remaining distance being occupied by Lake Nicaragua [110 x 60 miles], the San Juan river and depressions in the *This sketch is a condensation of the address to the public of the National Canal Convention's Committee (St. Louis, June 2d and 3d, 1892), and the illustrations are officially furnished by them. earth, which will all be utilized in constructing the canal. Lake Nicaragua will constitute an absolutely safe harbor sufficient to accommodate the navies of the world. Vessels entering the canal from the Atlantic ocean will sail on a level with the sea for twelve and threefourths miles and then be raised by three locks to the level of the lake. Sailing along the San Juan river and the lake to a point within three and one-half miles of the Pacific, they will be lowered again by three locks to the level of the sea. The estimated cost of the work, including interest to date of completion, is about $100,000,000. The time required is five years. From New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn, the distance for vessels is now 15,660 miles. By the Nicaragua route (see Plate 2), it will be 4,907, a distance saved of 10,753 miles. From New York to Puget Sound, present distance 13.935 miles, it will be reduced to 5,665 miles. There will be a saving of 3,055 miles between New York and Hong Kong, 3,878 miles between New York and Melbourne, 7,993 miles between Liverpool and San Francisco, and 11,853 miles between New Orleans and San Francisco by the long sea routes. To offset the expense consideration, we have the following significant facts: The wheat crop of the Pacific coast in 1891 was 1,800,000 tons, and eighty per cent of this was exported by sailing vessels, a large proportion of it passing around the Horn. The Nicaragua canal, by shortening the route to Atlantic ports, would save the producer more than half the cost of freight, and at the same time the revenue of the canal at $2.00 per ton would be almost $3,000,000 on wheat alone. It is estimated that the gross addition to the value of the merchantable timber in Washington and Oregon, at the low estimate of $2.00 per Pacific Ocean] thousand feet, would be $1,000,000,000, or ten times the entire cost of the canal. The fruit industry of California would be quadrupled in two years, and the transportation of precious metals would be vastly facilitated. New markets would be found for the cotton crop of the Southern states, in Japan, China and Corea, the coal trade of South America and the Pacific coast, now monopolized by England, would come to the United States, while every other branch of commerce would feel the quickening influence. The tonnage now tributary to the Nicaragua canal which would pass through after its opening, is over 6,000,000 tons a year. At $2.00 a ton, the charge made by the Suez canal, this would be $12,000,000 in tolls. The cost of operating and maintenance is placed at less than $1,000,000, and 6,000,000 tons would show a net income of $11,000,000 per annum. The committee is confident that within five years the income will be over $20,000,000. The canal is a political necessity. Both the commercial and the naval supremacy of the nation which might secure its control creates an imperative demand that it should be constructed and owned by the United States. All surveys and examination of strata have been completed. The harbor of Greytown has been restored. Extensive wharves and permanent buildings have been constructed, the canal has been cleared of timber for twenty miles, and a railroad twelve miles in length built and equipped. The biggest dredging plant in America has been purchased and over a mile of the canal has been dredged. About $6,000,000 have been spent. Other nations have looked upon the enterprise with covetous eyes, and European syndicates have already made overtures to the company to take up the work where it is and complete it. "It therefore behooves us," says the committee, "as a nation conscious of the power we wield, and of the greater influence we may exert upon the destinies of this continent, to perform the duties without delay which we deny other nations the privilege of assuming, and to adopt the best means of securing the early completion of this work whose advantages we are willing to share with the world, but whose control should never be allowed to pass out of our hands." We are sure that these sentiments will find an echo in every patriotic Ameribreast. can's F. H. P. Statistics of Education. - Recent official reports give the population of school age (6 to 14) in Austria as 3,366,898; of these 2,831,667 or 84.11 per cent. were enrolled in public elementary schools in 1889, and 106,908 or 3.18 per cent. in private elementary; 1,346 were in asylums, 51,836 (1.54 per cent.) in secondary or special schools or under private teachers. This accounts for 89 per cent. of the whole number. Of the remainder 22.048 were unable to attend school on account of bodily or mental infirmities, and 367,769 or nearly 11 per cent. of all children of school going age were withheld from school. This violation of the law is almost entirely confined to the Slavic provinces. The teaching force reported for public elementary schools, i. e., 60,126, comprises 13,875 teachers of religion, and 6,930 women teaching knitting, sewing, embroidery, etc. These deducted there is a total of 39,321 secular teachers, of whom 81 per cent. are men and 19 per cent. women. Salaries differ widely in the various provinces so that no general estimate can be given. In Vienna by a recently adopted schedule, the male principals of burgher schools (a high grade public school) receive from $800 to $950; female principals, from $700 to $825. In the people's schools (i. e., ordinary public schools) salaries for men run as high as $650 and for women to $625. The mixture of nationalities in Austria is reflected in the schools. In 41 per cent. German is the language employed; in 25 per cent. Bohemian; in 9.6 Polish; in 10.7 Ruthenian. The remainder are divided between Slavonian, Italian, Servian, Roumanian, and Hungarian. These same language distinctions obtain in the secondary schools (gymnasia, realgymnasia, and real schools) which had some 70,500 students in 1889. The universities enrolled 14,274, and professional, art and technical schools of all kinds 137,027. These various items give a grand total of 3,160,421 pupils and students in the year specified. HUNGARY. In the same year Hungary had a total of 2,191,790 youth under instruction, viz. in elementary schools, 2,074,678; in secondary, 43,670; universities, 4,098; technical, art, and professional schools, 69,344. It is difficult to ascertain the cost of any grade of schools in Austria, |