in the hands of female teachers. No unfavorable comment is to be made on this tendency, yet it ought not to go too far. Intelligent and careful observation accords to women, as teachers, the possession of equal tact, skill and fidelity with men. For instructing younger children, especially, they are by natural endowments better fitted than men. They have met with good success also in more advanced work. But for schools composed of older pupils, where a somewhat vigorous discipline is necessary, there are reasons for preferring male teachers." No one has a "right" to a position in a school.-Superintendent Stockwell, of Rhode Island: "One great obstacle in some of our cities and towns to the employment of a better class of talent, is that by a sort of unwritten law residents of the place are supposed to have a sort of pre-emptive right to the position of teacher, and so they present their 'claims' and they are elected. Now, no one should be allowed to entertain the notion that he has any 'right' to a position in a school. Other things being equal,' as is sometimes said, it is well enough to give a preference to residents, but even then there is a liability of a dangerous precedent creeping in and establishing itself. The committee should always keep the matter of appointments so completely in their hands as never to feel bound to any one, except to the best one that can be found for the salary to be paid. "Moreover, there is oftentimes great advantage to be gained by introducing into a system of schools teachers who have been trained in a different way, in another atmosphere, under different minds. By so doing new ideas and methods, a new spirit and life are set at work, and progress is the inevitable result." How security in position is to be attained.-Superintendent Stockwell, of Rhode Island: Security in position for the teacher, not so much through a 'tenure-of-office' law as by the fact that the power to hire and to discharge is in the hands of a board specially chosen for the work, and if not specially qualified at the outset, very soon becoming so in the discharge of their duties, and governed, as a rule, solely by the desire to secure the best service for the means at command, is the result to be looked for." A teacher should not be allowed to learn to teach at the expense of the children.-Superintendent Preston, of Mississippi: "If a man should undertake to operate a machine shop with hands gathered in from the cotton fields, his speedy failure would teach him a pointed lesson of experience, viz, that he should have selected skilled workmen. Can we, then, expect to operate the complex machinery of a school system without providing a reliable and strict test of the capacity of those artisans who are to labor in our great intellectual workshop? "In the expenditure of large means in any important enterprise, the worst and unwisest economy is that which fails to provide the necessary agencies and appliances to utilize all the forces which contribute to successful results. Yet the State had ignored that a poor teacher is worse than no teacher,' a maxim which is embedded in the very heart of all educational philosophy, and which has been demonstrated by the experiments of all States that have developed a system of public instruction. "No person should be permitted to teach in a public school without a valid license issued by an agent of the State, after a careful test examination. A teacher should not be allowed to learn to teach at the expense of the children, robbing them of their time and opportunities by his futile experiments and fatal blunders." XIX.-TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION. Present status of temperance instruction.-In the autumn of 1887 the following inquiry was addressed to State superintendents: "Is the study of physiology and hygiene with special reference to the effects of stimulants and narcotics required by law, and in what grades?" The following replies were received up to the time of going to press, the remarks within parentheses being added by the Bureau: North Atlantic Division MAINE.-Yes; in all grades. (Laws of Maine relating to public schools, 1885, p. 31.) NEW HAMPSHIRE.-Yes; in all grades sufficiently advanced. (Laws of New Hampshire relating to common schools, 1886, p. 66.) VERMONT.-It is required by law to be taught to all scholars, in every grade. (Act approved November 24, 1886, repealing previous acts.) MASSACHUSETTS.-It is required by law and in all grades. (Act approved June 16, 1885.) RHODE ISLAND.-Yes; in all grades. (Public laws, January session, 1884.) CONNECTICUT.-It is required in all grades. (Laws of the State of Connecticut relating to education, 1886, Chap. III, sec. 5, p. 15.) Korth Atlantic Division-Continued. NEW YORK.-Yes; grades not specified. (Act passed March 10, 1884. General School Laws of the State of New York, 1886, p. 125.) NEW JERSEY.-(No law upon the subject, so far as known to the Bureau.) PENNSYLVANIA.—In all grades. (Act of April 2, 1885. Pennsylvania School Laws and Decisions, 1885, p. 113.) South Atlantic Division DELAWARE.-Yes. (Act of April 12, 1887, requires the above instruction to be (Act of April 5, 1886.) DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.-Required by United States law in all grades. (Act of May 20, 1886.). VIRGINIA.-Not required. WEST VIRGINIA.-Shall be taught in all the free schools. NORTH CAROLINA.-Named (i. e., physiology and hygiene) as one of the public school branches to be used at option of pupils, but all teachers are examined on the subject as on other subjects. (Public School Law of North Carolina, 1887, p. 25.) SOUTH CAROLINA.-Yes; matter of grade left to local authority; no general rule. GEORGIA. (No law upon the subject known to the Bureau.) FLORIDA. By the regulations made by the State board of education, all schools are required to teach the evil effects, etc. South Central Division KENTUCKY.-General instruction to each school on laws of health. Text-book on physiology and hygiene in highest class in common schools. (The Common School Laws of Kentucky, 1886, p. 15.) TENNESSEE.-(No law upon the subject known to the Bureau.) ALABAMA.-Yes; in first and second grades. (Public School Laws of Alabama, 1885, p. 26.) MISSISSIPPI. (The curriculum of the common schools of the State embraces, among other studies, the elements of physiology, without any special reference to stimulants and narcotics. Laws in Relation to Common Schools, secs. 48 and 51.) LOUISIANA. (No law upon the subject known to the Bureau.) TEXAS.-No. North Central Division OHIO.-No. INDIANA. It is not required by law, but is generally taught in the fifth grade (eighth year). ILLINOIS.-Not especially required by law, but school authorities may prescribe such a study. MICHIGAN.-Yes; in all grades. (Amendments to the School Laws, 1887, p. 4.) WISCONSIN. (Required in all grades. School Laws of Wisconsin, 1885, p. 73.) MINNESOTA.-Yes; generally in all grades. (The law does not specify the grades, but requires "systematic and regular" instruction. School Laws of Minnesota, 1887, p. 99.) IOWA.-Yes; in all grades and in all public schools. (Act approved February 17, 1886. Amendments to the School Laws of Iowa, 1886, p. 5.) MISSOURI.-Yes; in all grades. (This instruction must be given upon the demand of any patrons of the public schools, and only to the children of those so demanding it. School Laws of Missouri, 1885, sec. 7077.) DAKOTA.-(Required by United States law in all grades. Act of May 20, 1886.) NEBRASKA.-Yes; in all grades. (School Laws of Nebraska, 1885, p. 53.) KANSAS.-In all grades of all public schools. (Laws for the Regulation of the Common Schools, 1885, p. 92.) Western Division MONTANA.-(Required by United States law in all grades. Act of May 20, 1886.) WYOMING.-Same. COLORADO.-Yes; grades not specified. (To take effect July 3, 1887. School Law of Colorado, 1887, pp. 3 and 65.) NEW MEXICO.-(Required by United States law in all grades. Act of May 20, 1886.) ARIZONA.-Same. UTAH.-Same. IDAHO.-Same. WASHINGTON,-Same, Western Division-Continued. NEVADA. It is, in all grades, but is too much neglected by county schools. OREGON.-Yes; in all grades. (Amended School Laws of Oregon, 1887, p. 34.) Summary. From the above replies it will be seen that instruction in physiology and hygiene with special reference to the effects of stimulants and narcotics is made compulsory by statute in some part of their school life on all pupils in 24 out of the 38 States, viz: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and California; reference has been made to the statute whenever it could be found by the Bureau. The same compulsion exists in all the Territories and in the District of Columbia by United States statute. In Missouri the instruction under consideration is compulsory upon the demand of patrons of the public schools and forbidden otherwise.1 Reports of Pennsylvania county superintendents on the operation of the new law.Adams County: "The study of physiology and hygiene met with considerable opposition in certain quarters, but it was owing mainly to a misapprehension of the intent and purpose of the law, and a want of proper judgment on the part of teachers and directors in introducing it in the schools. The people everywhere entertain a commendable respect for law and authority, yet they are apt to chafe under supposed arbitrary exercise of power. Upon the whole the results of this new branch of study have thus far been most satisfactory." Carbon County: "Little or no trouble has been caused by the introduction of physiology and hygiene into the schools, and the teaching of the branch has been fully equal to that of the teaching of any of the other branches." Clarion County: "Physiology and hygiene has been taught in all the schools. The new study met with some opposition in places, but is rapidly gaining a foothold in the public schools of this county. Teachers are learning how to teach it better, and parents are becoming better satisfied with the results." Clinton County: "The new branch of physiology and hygiene met with considerable opposition the past year." Dauphin County: "The new law requiring physiology and hygiene to be taught has been obeyed in all the districts of the county. Text-books were not used by all the pupils, but suitable oral instruction was given in the subject where pupils were not competent to use the book. I am of the opinion that in some cases text-books were used when oral instruction would have accomplished better results." Monroe County: "About the only drawback experienced was in the introduction of the new branch of study-physiology and hygiene. It was not very favorably received by the people, and a great many parents refused to supply their children with books, so that it became necessary, in such cases to teach it by the oral method. In fact this was the only way in which it could be taught to quite young pupils who had not yet learned to read, or to those who had been in school but a year or two. Such, I take it, is not the letter, nor indeed the spirit, of the law, but it is the best that can be done and it is the best that ought to be attempted." Potter County: "That physiology shall be studied seems now to have become an accepted fact, and with a few slight exceptions our teachers report no opposition in carrying out the law." Susquehanna County: "Physiology and hygiene is growing in popularity with both schools and people. It is impossible, however, to act up to the letter of the law in some localities; the general use of the branch by oral exercises being the only undertaking practicable." Wayne County: "Physiology and hygiene was taught in all the schools, with varied success. We believe much good will follow the study of this branch." Recommended in Minnesota.-Superintendent Kiehle: "In view of the alarming spread of intemperance and the devastation it is working in the State and in the home, in the bodies and in the minds of men, fostering all vice and destructive of all thrift and virtue, in addition to the restraints imposed by law, the youth should be instructed in the natural and necessary effects of stimulants and narcotics. I recommend that a law be enacted requiring the teachers of youth to include in their instruction in hygiene careful teaching in the nature of narcotics and stimulants, and the evil effects of their use." Though the matter does not chronologically come within the scope of the present Report, it may be remarked that the General Assembly of Ohio enacted a law April 11, 1888, requiring the nature of alcoholic drinks and narcotics, and their effects on the human system, in connection with the subjects of physiology and hygiene," to be "included in the branches to be regularly taught in the common schools" of the State, Oral instruction is to be considered sufficient compliance. Over-teaching is perilous.-Superintendent Nelson, of Michigan: "In my opinion, it is the design of the law to give to this class of studies the same status it gives to other practical topics, such as reading or grammar, i. e., that somewhere in his course, the pupil shall be taught the physiological and moral effects of narcotics and alcoholic stimulants upon the whole being of man. To my mind, this is quite enough. Less would be insufficient; more would be unnecessary, and possibly harmful. It is to be regretted that in any public school the full requirements of the law should suffer neglect; yet, it would be a mistake quite as serious, to give to these special studies a disproportionate, unequal place in the school curriculum-to co-ordinate them, as some extremists insist upon doing, with every other subject from the low zones of a, b, c, up to the high regions of calculus. Over-teaching upon a subject which relates to moral conduct, especially if it concerns the appetites or passions, is really perilous. Too constant dwelling upon topics of this character has a tendency to invoke morbid conditions in the mind of the youth which either provokes or fascinates him to attempt dangerous experiments. Were you to teach a boy the flagrant wickedness of burglary it would not be expedient, nor would it be necessary, to induct him into the mysteries of picking a lock. The specialist finds a peculiar charm in the ugly spider-he sees a thousand beauties in the bright colors and sinister eyes of a loathsome snake. We may well fear the consequences of making our boys and girls too familiar with nauseating details of any evil which we desire them to shun. The teacher or parent cannot be too earnest to enjoin correct principles, to give warning of penalties, and to himself exhibit a blameless example; which having done, he can effectively add nothing further, except to devoutly leave the result with God." In Kansas.-Superintendent Lawhead remarks: "A vigorous mind inhabiting a healthy body can do more for the State than the same mind can in a body that is weak and diseased; and as the public school is sustained at public expense upon the theory that the permanency of the State depends upon the intelligence of its citizens, the State claims the right to have those branches taught in her schools that will best secure these results. Now a thorough knowledge of the human system is essential to its preservation and highest development, which can only be secured by a study of its physiology and hygiene, and the effects of such substances as may be deleterious to its growth and the healthy exercise of its various functions; and it has been decided by the best medical authority, as well as by universal observation of mankind, that both alcoholic stimulants and narcotics exert a baneful and destructive influence, not only upon the body and its various functions, but it likewise destroys the intellect and deadens the moral sensibilities. In view of all these results, we, as school officers and good citizens, should unite to make the teaching of the effects of alcoholic stimulants and narcotics upon the human system a success. We should supply our teachers with all the necessary appliances to secure the best results, and furnish our schools with the best maps, charts, and books, to enable the teacher to perform his part in this great work. I am pleased to note that teachers throughout the State have, in most instances, taken hold of this subject with an earnestness that is full of promise for good results." Action to secure proper text-books.-Report (1887) of Iowa State Board of Health: "The law enacted by the Twenty-first General Assembly requiring physiology and hygiene to be taught in the public schools, with special reference to the effect of alcoholic drinks, stimulants, and narcotics upon the human system, was a step in the right direction toward the preservation of public health. Experience, since the passage of the law, has shown an important omission therein. No provision is made to protect the public against the mercenary wiles of unscrupulous book-makers and the propagation of error. "Books on physiology and hygiene generally need no approval nor censorship, but when the law requires that they shall treat upon the effect of alcohol and narcotics upon the human system, it becomes important that the subjects shall be given truthfully. It can be readily seen that unless the approval of some reliable board or censorship be secured, a class of books might be introduced in the public schools, at least in some sections, most pernicious and erroneous in their teachings. "In view of the apparent importance of this matter the State board, at its May meeting in 1-6, unanimously adopted the following resolution: "Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the president to examine the various publications on physiology now in use in the public schools in Iowa under the provisions of Chapter 1, Acts of the Twenty-first General Assembly, and such other publications as they may deem proper with a view to recommend to the next General Assembly the adoption of a series on said subject best calculated to furnish correct knowledge upon the subjects required to be taught by said chapter, and to report at the next Regular meeting of this board, with such recommendations as they shall deem proper. "It is not the purpose of the State board to select or recommend any particular publicafans, but to secure such supervision as will prevent the introduction into the schools of erroneous ideas." May be made interesting and profitable.-W. W. Hyde, acting visitor of Hartford, Conn.: "While there seems to be good ground for regretting that this study is to be forced into our schools, and also good reason to doubt whether it will be of any advantage in the direction hoped for by its promoters, yet if we are to teach it at all, it must be in a systematic and thorough way. The whole subject can easily be made ridiculous, and of no value; but we hope by the exercise of care to make this study, like all others, interesting and profitable to the pupils." For other information coming under this head consult the Index. XX.-TEXT-BOOKS. An argument for State uniformity.-Superintendent Baker, of Texas: "I again most earnestly recommend that provision be made for uniformity in school books. I fear that gentlemen of the Legislature have not heretofore realized the enormous expense attending the present mode of selecting books. Whatever interested parties may say as to the merits and demerits of the various publications, the best educators know that all school books now in use are nearly of equal merit, and that it is a matter of small importance which a child may use. It is rather a question of expense than one of the merits of the various books. My views, expressed in other reports upon this subject, have undergone no change. The years that have passed have strengthened me in the belief that the demand for uniformity is imperative. The sum annually expended for school books can not fall short of half a million dollars. Not only do the frequent and unnecessary changes in books help to make up this large sum, but the prices demanded for the books are unreasonable and extortionate. These prices are a grievous burden to the poor parent, and instances are not wanting in which they have effectually barred the door of the schoolhouse against the poor. I admit that other States have failed in efforts to remedy this evil, but I believe that the failures can be safely attributed to a want of nerve and perseverance. The State has assumed the power to maintain public schools, and the right to manage and make rules for their government follows. It is said that the right of the parent to select the books his child shall study should not be taken away; that popular prejudice is against the proposition. The universal demand for uniformity shows that the argument is without foundation. Besides, it is a well known fact that it is not the parent, but the teacher, who selects the books. Other benefits would also arise from uniformity. The superintendent of public instruction, knowing the books that would be in use in a certain county, would be able to prescribe a course of study for the schools of that county, and thus practically grade the country schools. As the matter now stands, with all sorts of books in every school, he can not do so; the result being that the cities with graded schools march smoothly on, while the rural schools scamper hither and thither without object or aim." Superintendent Harvey, of Chester County, Pa.: "While district uniformity is entirely proper, I have no faith whatever in State or county uniformity." Uniformity desired in Arkansas.-Superintendent Thompson writes: "The importance of this subject demands the earnest, thoughtful consideration of every friend of economy and progress in our public schools. All admit that text-books have ever been a source of annoyance to parent and teacher. Parents complaining because they are called on to buy some new book when they think their children have old ones that are as good, if not better, than the new ones. Teachers complaining and discouraged because the children have no books, or, if they have, some are old and almost worn out and worthless, and others have an entirely different one. This want of uniformity in books, necessitates the forming of too many classes. The teacher knows at the time, he can not be successful in his work, when his time is so completely occupied with giving only a few minutes to each class. If these pupils had the same book, the classes could be consolidated, and more time given to each recitation. The complaint made by parents is reasonable, since there is no doubt that too many books are asked for by teachers-too many changes are required." State uniformity in Indiana.-Superintendent Holcombe, of Indiana: "Several expedients for securing uniform text-books at the cheapest rates have been tried in other States. One of these is the State list, the books to be used in all the schools being prescribed by a central board or committee. This plan was tried for ten years in Indiana, but was never successful. The selections of the State board were generally disregarded in the more progressive schools, and the provision of the law requiring such selection was repealed in 1865. "Another plan is the State contract system, by which the State controls the manufacture, distribution, and sale of books. The merits claimed for it are that perfect uniformity in books is secured throughout the entire State, and that books are supplied to |