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words, where they were necessary to connect the sense of passages, brought together on the removal of rescinded portions. He has thus diminished the work to about half its former size, and abstaining from note or comment of any kind, except a short and modest Preface, has presented it to the public, in a form, we think, in which the author would have been satisfied to see it. The division into Lectures is exchanged, of course, for that of Chapters and Sections, agreeing with the natural divisions of the subject.

Of the propriety and even absolute necessity of some such abridgment, as the present, for the purposes of a class or text book, there can be no doubt. But setting aside the service, which has thus been rendered to the business of education, we think the community have good cause to be gratified by the appearance of this edition. The doctrines supported in the Lectures of Dr Brown have certainly not been so generally understood or received, as their simplicity, truth, and importance to science deserve; and this is principally owing to the voluminous form, in which they have hitherto been offered to the reader. In their present state they will doubtless be much more attractive, and will soon become more commonly known and understood. And this is the more important, as some of the main points, though obviously correct and unavoidable, have been long regarded with a degree of suspicion and dislike, which is wholly unmerited, and chiefly to be ascribed to the dangerous and unwarrantable inferences drawn from them by Mr Hume and others of his school. The fallacy of these conclusions is in most instances exposed with great success by Dr Brown, and we are thus permitted to receive the truth, without the supposed necessity of connecting with it the offensive consequence.

10.-Address delivered before the Worcester Agricultural Society, Oct. 11, 1826, being their Eighth Anniversary Cattle Show, and Exhibition of Manufactures. By Emory Washburn Esq.

THE influence of the associations throughout the country, for the improvement of Agriculture, has undoubtedly been salutary, principally from the opportunity which they afford to persons engaged in this branch of industry, at their annual exhibitions, to become acquainted with one another, and with the improvements made by any of them, and from the tendency which this inter

course has to form a better taste, and a more correct judgment of the objects most deserving of their attention. Farmers who devote their attention strictly to the management of their own affairs, are, by the nature of their pursuits, confined to a narrow sphere of observation. They have not the opportunities, which are presented in many other departments of industry, to measure their skill, and the results of their labors, with those of other persons, successfully engaged in a similar pursuit. At these established festivals, the occasion is presented to them, of bringing together and comparing the fruits of their respective exertions, of enlarging the scope of their observation, of wearing off their prejudices, and of participating in common of that spirit of improvement, with which any portion of them may be animated. It affords also a favorable opportunity, in which an enlightened member of the association, appointed for the purpose, may, in a formal address, communicate the results of his observation, on the subjects which engage the common attention, and give useful advice, for the correction of faults which he may have discovered, in systems of husbandry, or in the methods of conducting affairs, prevalent among his neighbors.

The present Address affords a favorable illustration of the species of instruction which the occasion admits of being imparted to the yeomanry of the country. It calls their attention to mistakes and injudicious methods in the management of their concerns, which require only to be pointed out by an intelligent observer to be gradually corrected. The address is suited to the occasion which called it forth, and adapted to the promotion of those improvements, which it is the object of these associations to encourage. As a sample of the advice given in this address, and as a judicious and striking illustration of an error very frequent among our farmers, we extract the following passage.

'The rock upon which the fortunes of many of our most industrious citizens founder, is an overweening desire of possessing many acres, rather than well managed farms. This propensity is so common, that its effects are visible in the loose state of agriculture in many districts. We generally agree in sentiment with those writers who condemn the large and almost useless commons, to be met with in many parts of England; and yet, many of our farms present but a little better picture, in their pastures, overgrown with brush and briers, and the rank weeds and unseemly balks which deform their mowing and tillage lands. Whether this disposition to become large proprietors is natural, or was brought by our fathers, with other prejudices, from a land where large manors are often the only evidence of greatness in their owners, it would be useless to decide. If it be a relic of those prejudices, it must have been found to produce effects the

reverse of those intended, since the possessor of a large farm, without the means of cultivating it as it should be, becomes a slave rather than a lord, and ere long finds himself dressed in the tatters of poverty, rather than the ermine of state.'

This becomes not only a private but a public evil. It prevents the increase of our population and of our wealth. It drives our young and enterprising men to seek their fortunes in distant regions and new territories. Every fifty acres, that are thus withdrawn from the market and the improvement of proper husbandry, though they may lead to the occupation of a portion of the western wilderness, deprive us of the enterprise, wealth, and industry of our valuable citizens at least, and proportionably affect the actual wealth and physical strength of the state. By a proper division of our farms, not only would our territory support a larger population, but it would render our land proprietors more independent, since they would possess a more productive capital, than real estate alone, under ordinary circumstances, can ever be. Money would thus be thrown into the market at its fair value, and our farmers and mechanics need no longer be the dupes and victims of rapacious misers and relentless usurers. There would be a more equal proportion between the monied capital and landed interests, and though we might still have the croakings of the discontented about the hardness of the times, the prudent farmer would be beyond their influence, and his cottage, though small, would be the abode of ease and contentment.' pp. 10-12.

11.-Nouvelles Idées sur la Population, avec des Remarques sur les Théories de Godwin, Malthus, Say, Sismondi, etc. Par ALEXANDER H. EVERETT. Traduites de l'Anglais par C. J. FERRY. Paris. Jules Renouard. 1826.

As we have already more than once taken notice of this ingenious work, we have only occasion now to say, that the translation, in which it is put into the possession of the French public, and of the reading community of Europe, appears, from our partial examination of it, to be made with fidelity and good taste, keeping near enough to the original to present all the thoughts in proper shape and succession, and yet not adhering to it so rigidly, as to lose the beauties of a flowing and idiomatic French style. The new Preface by the author contains, as we have before observed, some brief animadversions on the works of Say and Sismondi, the former of whom, Mr Everett maintains,

* See Vol. XVII. for Oct. 1823, and Vol. XXIV. for Jan. 1827.

1827.] Reports of the Faculty of Amherst College.

485

deserts the leading principles common to himself and Malthus, in developing the juster views on which he is at issue with that writer; and the latter, though approaching nearer to the true theory, still admits some important errors, which, in consistency, are only to be deduced from that to which it is opposed. These strictures, with some passing remarks upon Malthus, Adam Smith, and Gray, the writer mentioned in the Preface to the first edition of his New Ideas,' are made in the frank and respectful tone which becomes philosophical discussion.

12.-The Substance of two Reports of the Faculty of Amherst College, to the Board of Trustees, with the Doings of the Board thereon. Amherst. Carter & Adams. 1827. pp. 22. THE purpose of the two Reports, the substance of which is given in this pamphlet, was to recommend certain improvements in the system of education, pursued in Amherst College. The first of these Reports consists of some general reasoning in favor of a material change in the course of instruction in the College. In the second, the subject is considered more in detail, in obedience to a resolve of the trustees, requesting the Faculty to draw up a specific plan of improvement, upon the basis of their former report.

The results of their investigation of the subject are presented in five distinct propositions. I. In relation to preparatory studies, they recommend that no change should be made, in the qualifications required for admission to the College. 2. They recommend that the present four years' course of study and instruction, in the languages, and the scientific and literary branches, should remain unchanged, for all students who shall make their election to prosecute that course. 3. They recommend that provision shall be made for pursuing an entirely different course of instruction, for the benefit of all students, who, by the advice of their friends, on admission to the College, shall prefer it; this new course to occupy the same period of time with the other, but to be entirely different from it, by a substitution of several of the modern languages for the ancient, and a more popular and practical course of studies, in the place of those which now form the basis of a collegiate education. 4. They recommend the establishment of a distinct department of instruction, to be devoted to the science and art of teaching; but more especially at first, to the education of schoolmasters.' Their views in relation to this new department will be collected from the following paragraphs, which we extract from their Report.

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To occupy the whole ground, will require,

1. Much time and talent in the selection, revision, and compilation of elementary school books.

2. An experimental school, consisting of young children, under the entire control of the department, where students may have opportunity to learn the art of teaching from example, and in which new methods of instruction may be tried, and the results carefully recorded.

3. Adequate provision for the systematic instruction of schoolmasters, in all the branches of education, in which they may have occasion to teach in our primary or district schools, together with the theory of teaching and government.

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4. An able and connected review, or rather series of reviews, of all the popular systems of education now in use, particularly in our own country, with free and critical remarks upon College text books.

5. A course of lectures annually, by the professor, on the science of education, for the particular benefit of the regular members of College, but which other young men, wishing to qualify themselves for teaching, might be permitted to attend.' p. 18.

Their fifth proposition recommends an establishment of a department of theoretical and practical mechanics; which may serve to afford exercise and amusement to the students, and 'to a few of the more ingenious and active, some pecuniary advantage.' In connexion with these opportunities for exercise, they propose that a course of practical lectures upon mechanics should be provided, during a part of one of the collegiate years. In recommending this measure, they say;

For a considerable time, at least, the skill and industry of this department might be profitably employed, in furnishing the College rooms upon a uniform plan; in keeping all the buildings and furniture in constant repair; in making some of the more common articles of philosophical and chemical apparatus; as also many curious models in machinery, for the use of the professors in other departments. Here would be ample scope for the exercise of all the mechanical ingenuity in the seminary; and surely, it would be no disadvantage to any professional man in after life, to have learned how to drive a nail, or put on a lock, or use a plane or a saw, when he was a student in College.' p. 20.

It would be out of place here to express any opinion of the merits of these plans of improvement. The subject is much too important to be despatched in a few sentences, which is all that we could here devote to it. We may be disposed on some future occasion to devote a few pages to an examination of a part at least of the projects here stated.

We learn from the pamphlet, that the Report of the Faculty.

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