The Dyaks of Borneo are probably the most interesting of the Malay savages whom he encountered. But the objects of his search and study were rather butterflies and birds than races of men, and the descriptions of his eager pursuit of new or rare species of butterfly or bird, and his intense delight at their capture, bespeak the true naturalist, and arouse in the reader a feeling of interest in some degree akin to that of the writer himself. He made five voyages to different parts of New Guinea and adjacent islands, in which the Bird of Paradise is found, each occupying many months, with the desire of obtaining numerous specimens of this bird, finally securing but five out of the fourteen species known to exist in this region. The orang-utan of these islands does not exceed 4 feet 2 inches in height, and 7 feet 8 inches with arms outstretched. The author apologizes for having delayed his book for six years after his return, but it is all the better on this account, as the delay has enabled him to present the knowledge obtained in his travels in such systematized form that the work is rendered both more attractive to the general reader, and more valuable as a scientific authority. The groups of islands visited are treated in their proper order, each from a geographical, zoological, and ethnographical point of view. An introductory chapter is given on the physical geography of the whole region-the Archipelago 4,000 miles in length by 1,200 in breadth, including three islands, each of them larger than Great Britain, three or four larger than Ireland, eighteen or twenty larger than Jamaica, with hundreds of others smaller in size. A concluding chapter gives a general sketch of the races of man in the Archipelago and the surrounding countries. The work opens up to the reader, more clearly than any previously issued, a most extensive and wonderful portion of the world hitherto but imperfectly known.

IMPROVED COPY-BOOK COVER. With Pages of Oblique Lines. Boston: Woolworth, Ainsworth & Co. Price $3.00 per hundred.

The publishers of Payson, Dunton & Scribner's System of Penmanship, have just brought out something very convenient in the way of a copy-book cover, for the protection of the writing-book while in use. It is neatly made of strong paper, and so folded as to be easily applied, to protect the book, and to remain constantly in its place. The inside folds have each the full page of oblique lines, which, placed under the page before the pupil, are designed to secure uniformity of slope in teaching writing. An ingenious and useful affair. The pages of slope lines, always at hand for the pupil's use, are of themselves worth more than the price at which the cover is sold. THE BRAWNVILLE PAPERS. Being Manuscripts of the Athletic Club. By Moses Coit Tylor, Prof. of English Literature in Michigan University. 12mo. Pp. 215. Cloth, $1.50. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. 1869. Two years ago, when these papers were appearing monthly in the Herald of Health, each as we read it, confirmed the resolve, that when completed, the several numbers of the magazine should be bound and preserved within reach, as the best series on physical training yet given to the public. But we have them here in a shape more satisfactory than the bound numbers of the periodical. This handsomely issued book preaches the gospel of health -proper physical training-better than any other book of our time. Judge Fairplay, Parson Bland, the Doctor, the Schoolmaster, the Deacon, and Mr. Leondas Climax are among the celebrities of Brawnville and its Athletic Club. We have, during the past two or three weeks, been reading to our pupils-occasionally calling upon one of them to read-that hearty story for boys, Tom Brown's "School Days at Rugby." Of course they were interested in Tom,

and East and Arthur; and Dr. Arnold, that noblest of teachers, whom Hughes has there sketched so happily, has impressed some of them at least as he did his boys at Rugby, with a sense of deep regard for the character of a true man-a man too who has made his influence for good felt more widely through England than any monarch that has occupied her throne in hundreds of years. We want them to know Judge Fairplay and two or three other members of the Brawnville Club and these Papers have followed Tom Brown. This exercise in schools is a good one for several reasons. It gives the pupil new ideas, is a relief from the "grind" at the school-house mill, interests pupils in books; and can be made a powerful agent in moulding character, which, after all, should be the main thing aimed at in the work of education. Time can readily be obtained for these readings by ending the day's work fifteen minutes before the regular hour for evening dismissal, and occasionally continuing the reading for twenty-five or thirty minutes, as pupils will gladly remain a few minutes beyond the hour to hear something new and interesting. For this purpose or for the teacher's own entertainment, few more desirable books can be named than The Brawnville Papers. THE DODGE CLUB; or Italy in 1859. By James De Mille, author of "Cord and Creese," etc., etc. With One Hundred Illustrations. 8vo. Pp. 133. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1869. Paper, 75 cents. A series of papers that attracted much attention in Harper's Magazine a year or two ago, republished in this convenient form. The book is one of genuine humor, which, for rollicking fun, extravagant drollery, and an odd mixture of the serious and absurd, has few, if any, equals in our current literature. The reader of Harper makes the tour of Italy a second time with the irrepressible Senator, the volorcus Doctor, Dick the jolly, and Buttons the imperturable, laughing with all the old heartiness over the incidents of their varied experience, told first by the author and over again by the artist. It has the merit, rare in books of its class, of being humorous without degenerating to silliness.

JANUARY AND JUNE. By Benjamin F. Taylor.

12mo.

Pp. 280. Cloth, $1.50. New York: Oakley, Mason &Co. Received through 7. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia.

After a delightful evening's ride to the country, now flushed with the beauty of early summer-haying and harvest not yet begun, we are again ready to agree with the author, that "The world is curved around about with Heaven, and Heaven never seems nearer than in June. The great blue rafters bend low on every hand, and how one can get out of this world without getting into Heaven, seems a physical mystery." The book before us

is made up of short sketches that touch a hundred

themes as the fancy of the hour might suggest, varied with here and there a charming bit of verse. It is such a summer book as one finds pleasure in taking up for a short time and frequently, for its odd fancies and pleasant or suggestive thoughts. The writer passes readily "from gay to grave, from lively to severe," and the taking title, January and June, may have been adopted because of the wide range of subjects treated.

results of this search, as presented here, are worthy of the author's fame, and will serve to deepen the interest always felt by the intelligent reader, in that gloomy pile, the Tower of London, which stands out so prominent on the page of English history. With its written record extending back through eight hundred years, and its legendary history back through the period of Roman supremacy to the Christian era, it is perhaps the oldest structure of its kind, whether prison or palace, to be found in Europe. Sir John Oldcastle, Bishop Fisher, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, the great Sir Walter, and others whose heads

went to the block or who perished at the stake, here live again their lives of deathless fame. The dark character of Richard, and the radiant loveliness of Lady Jane, in feature as in soul, here offset each other powerfully. But no chapters will attract the reader equally with those devoted to Sir Walter Raleigh, the greatest State prisoner ever confined in the Tower, and the first great martyr to the cause of American freedom. The reader may, in this little book, learn how much is owed to Raleigh that America is "English and free," not "Spanish and theocratic."

BLAIR. A Normal department, specially designed for the preparation of teachers, was opened at the Juniata Collegiate Institute, Martinsburg. Examinations were held in all the schools of Hollidaysburg, which were well attended by directors and citizens, and awakened a good degree of interest.

CAMBRIA. Mr. George W. Cope, editor of the Teachers' Advocate, having removed from Ebensburg to Johnstown, that paper will hereafter be published at the latter place. Mr. C. has beeu chosen superintendent of common schools of Johnstown, for which position he is well qualified. We may add that the Teachers' Advocate is an ably conducted journal, and worthy of generous support.

CHESTER." The Catalogue of Prof. Wyers' Scientific and Classical Institute at West Chester, for the year ending June 25, shows this school to be in a flourishing condition. It could not well be otherwise with this educational veteran at its head.

COLUMBIA. A correspondent of the Mifflinburg Telegraph seems to think that town blessed with school directors that look after the taxes and their private affairs more diligently than after the schools, and the important public interests with which they have been entrusted. He says, "I desire to call attention to our public school building and its surroundings. Do we discharge our duty as citizens, without regarding higher considerations, if we allow the present state of affairs to continue? No good citizen will be satisfied to leave things go on as at present, which must compel all who have the welfare of their children at heart, to take them away from the public schools, and to maintain private schools at their own expense. Complaints are general. Will the present Board repair the house, put up the fences, construct board walks, and make such improvements as are needed to render it a fit place for our children during the school term soon to

open ?"

ELK.-"Good work has been done by the School Board of Jones township. At Wilcox Station a very fine school building has been erected, containing two large rooms, both on the first floor, each forty feet square. They are separated by two large folding-doors. The rooms are supplied with the most approved furniture. There have recently been added to the apparatus a supply of Globes, (Excelsior), an Orrery, a Tellurian, Outline Maps, Cube Root blocks and Geometrical Solids. Too much praise cannot be awarded to the School Directors of Jones for the good work which they have done. Mr J. L. Brown, Secretary of the Board, is one of the few men who believe in 'showing faith by works.' If there were a thousand such directors as he in Pennsylvania, what a blessing it would be to eight hundred thousand children in the public schools? But, unfortunately, five

directors in every six-taking the State throughoutseem either 'blind or deaf' to the true interests of the schools under their care."

LANCASTER.-At the session of the County Institute, held in November last, Prof. J. V. Montgomery, of the Millersville State Normal School, who gave instruction in Penmanship, made an offer of a silver medal to be awarded that pupil who should make the most marked improvement in penmanship during the four months succeeding. The specimens sent to Prof. M. from various schools in the county have been carefully examined, and the medal is awarded Master Hiram Musser, a pupil of the Franklin School, East Donegal township, Mr. J. M. Gable teacher. It was a happy thought of the Professor, himself an enthusiast in his art, and has aroused in our schools a greater degree of interest in this important but much neglected branch of instruction.

LEHIGH: The City Superintendent of Allentown, Mr. R. K. Buerhle, in his report to the Department, describes a school building recently erected in that growing city: "The following are the dimensions of the new school house: Length of the main building, one hundred feet, with projections at each end of seventeen feet, making the total length one hundred and thirty-four feet; width, seventy-five feet, with projections at each side of five feet, making the whole width eighty-five feet; height of each room, thirteen and three-quarters feet in the clear. The building is three stories high, with four rooms, fifty by thirty-seven and a half feet on each floor. It is intended that each of these rooms shall accommodate sixty scholars. The house is built of stone, in the most substantial manner, and furnished with the most approved kinds of furniture. Especial attention has been paid to means of ingress and egress, and the subject of heating and ventilation has not been neglected. The ground upon which it is built, and which will be wholly devoted to school purposes, is two hundred and forty by four hundred and eighty feet. One not familiar with our state of affairs, cannot form any idea of our feelings, when contemplating this building, and speculating on the blessings it will bring in its train. It will remain a lasting monument to the practical foresight and benevolence of the board of control." We may add, in this connection, that no man in Allentown is doing more for the future of that city than C. M. Runk, Esq., President of her small, but for that reason, more efficient Board of Control.

LUZERNE-Scranton.-The pupils of the Junior Grammar School, in charge of Miss E. J. Chase, gave a public exhibition, which was largely attended by the citizens. The performances were highly satisfactory, and reflected credit upon pupils and teachers. Interesting exercises took place in the High School on the 28th inst., P. M., consisting of declamations, dialogues, singing and the

sas.

tion. The million dollars United States bonds originally given with coupons attached, have been exchanged for registered bonds, and have been enhanced in value with the rise in public securities at least $25,000. The outlay has not been sufficient, including all the expenses of the Board and its agents, to consume the interest on the bonds, and, consequently, the principal remains untouched. By the terms of the gift, Mr. Peabody stipulated that 40 per cent. of the principal might be used in establishing schoo's in the South; but so judiciously has the business been managed, that it has not been found necessary to encroach beyond the interest which has accrued. The report of Dr. Sears embraced many interesting particulars of his travels in the South, giving many details of the establishment of schools. His journeyings last year were mainly confined to Tennessee and ArkanIn the latter-named State he has established schools at Little Rock, Camden, Napoleon, Fort Smith, and at a few other points. He states that he found the people ready and anxious to assist in carrying out the object of the gift. The schools which have been established already have generally been aided by a gift of one or twothirds of the amount necessary to commence them, while the remaining sum has been raised by the citizens of the vicinity. Dr. Sears' manner of proceeding has been to meet and converse with the leading citizens of the neighborhoods which he visited, and then explaining to them the possibility of educating all the youth of the vicinage with but little addition to the expense required to educate a few by sending them North, he has aroused a general feeling of interest in educational matters, which results in raising a good subscription, and this, supplemented by the Peabody gift, starts the ball rolling. Of the schools already established many will be self-sustaining at the end of this year. Most of the schools have been commenced for the exclusive benefit of the whites, as the gifts from the North, with the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau, have been sufficient to aid the blacks, and it is the desire of Mr. Peabody that the fund should be expended in a manner to give the greatest benefit to the most needful classes, regardless of politics, caste, or color. A majority of the schools are normal, three of which are intended for the education of colored teachers.

THE Pennsylvanià Historical Society having become possessed of a library of 15,000 volumes and 83,000 pamphlets and manuscripts, with a large number of portraits and paintings, all illustrative of the history of Pennsylvania and the United States, has appealed to its members for a fund to erect a fire-proof hall where its collections may be safe and available.

MEXICO. A correspondent of the Tribune says: "The State of Zacatecas lately did the most considerable act of the past year of Mexican history, by passing a law which provides for the establishment and promotion of popular education throughout its extent. This law apportions to villages of five hundred inhabitants one public school, and to those of two or three hundred more population, an additional school for girls. Primary education is declared compulsory. Zacatecas has, undoubtedly, the leadership of all the Mexican States in good enterprises, has decreed the abolition of bull-fights and cock-fights; has, through its former Governor, made some wise and liberal concessions to mineral industry; has not been overawed by robbers; has, fortunately, not one good man alone, menaced by thieves, but a number of public-spirited men who have been able to drive their reforms over the needy indifferentism under which some, if not many, of the States suffer more or less. Except in the State of Zacatecas, it cannot be said that education in Mexico, at present, is a live and aroused movement, such as the times demand; such as the poor require; such, in fact, as the nation needs and can never do without, as the best investment of a more important capital than the Minister of Finance is called upon to handle,-I mean the buman capital, the young souls which Mexico can put out at interest with the school-master, instead of selling them at frightful discount to the influences of outlawry and roguery. The educational figures just come to hand from the State of Yucatan, are not bad-that is to say, for Yucatan; and it must be remembered that this State is troubled with chronic Indian war. Merida district has 30 schools with fifteen hundred pupils; and twelve towns count an average of four or five schools, each, with two hundred and fifty pupils. These statistics and others, here and there, from the States, are rather a novelty."

FEW people on this side the water know that Finland has a University superior to most of those in Germany, and far ahead of anything in America. It has five departments, thirty-one professors, a rich library of 200,000 volumes in all languages, &c. Most of us have had an indefinite idea that the Finns are in culture about halfbrothers of the Laps and Esquimaux.

PROF. MITCHELL, the great mathematician, died at Vassar College on the 20th ult. He was at the time of his death a teacher in the college, and devoted much of his time to the study and practice of astronomy. Prof. Mitchell was the father of Miss Maria Mitchell, the celebrated female astronomer.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, has 800 male and 3000 female teachers of the Piano.

Henry Houck, of Lebanon county, has been appointed Deputy Superintendent of Common Schools, in place of Hon. Charles R. Coburn, deceased, and entered upon the duties of his office on the first Monday of June last. The appointment was asked for by many Superintendents, teachers and friends of education. Mr. Houck, then Principal of the High School in the borough of North Lebanon, was appointed County Superintendent of Lebanon county, by State Superintendent Hickok, in 1859. He was elected to the same office in 1860, and re-elected in 1863 and 1866. In 1867, without solicitation on his part, he was asked to accept the position of Recording Clerk in this Department, then vacant, the duties of which he has since discharged with marked ability and faithfulness. During Mr. Coburn's illness and since his death, he has performed much of the labor devolving upon the Deputy Superintendent, and has richly earned his pres

ent promotion. His past, is ample security for his future, success.

RETIRING SUPERINTENDENTS.

In the list of Superintendents newly-elected, thirty-three new names appear, thus indicating that the same number of old officers have retired from the work of the Superintendency. This Department closes its official intercourse with these officers with much regret. For the past three years we have worked together in a common cause, have borne a common burden, and there has naturally grown up between us a common sympathy and interest. Nothing has occurred to prevent friendly relations from existing between the Department and every one of the retiring Superinten. dents, and nothing now exists to prevent us from wishing them, one and all, success in any business in which they may find it convenient to engage, and we do it heartily. New men will take the places of those who retire, but it is to be feared that we shall sadly miss the judicious counsel and well-directed efforts for the good of the schools of such veterans as Ermentrout, of Berks, Chubbuck, of Bradford, Overholt, of Bucks, Woodruff, of Chester, Miller, of Mercer, Mohler, of Mifflin, Gilchrist, of Washington, and Heiges, of York. To these gentlemen and such as these much of the progress of the last three years is justly attributable, and the friends of education throughout the State owe them a debt of gratitude.

SCHOOL JOURNAL FOR 1869-70.

The SCHOOL JOURNAL for the ensuing year, commencing with the present number, will be sent as heretofore, at the expense of the State, to the following parties:

1. Ten copies to the School Department. 2. One copy to each of the Principals of our State Normal Schools.

3. One copy to each County, City and Borough Superintendent in the State.

4. One copy to each member of the Board of Control in the city of Philadelphia.

5. One copy to each Board of School Directors in the State. This copy will be directed to the Secretary of the Board.

The July number of the JOURNAL will be sent as soon as issued to all, designated above as entitled to receive it, whose address is known; and it will be sent to all others, likewise entitled, as soon as known.

Secretaries of Boards of Directors should remember that the JOURNAL is not sent to them exclusively for their own use. It belongs to