The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

MR. DODD, ON MODERN EDUCATION.

Ah ! Tom, it was not without some sharp self-reproaches
that I saw this young fellow, poor and friendless as he
started in life, struggling with that hard fate that insists
upon a man's feeling independent in spirit and humble in
manner, fighting that bitter battle contained in a dis-
pensary doctor's life, emerge at once into an accomplished,
well-informed gentleman, well versed in all the popular
topics of the day, and evidently stored with a deeper and
more valuable kind of knowledge—l say, I saw all this,
and thought of my own boy, bred up with what were un-
questionably greater advantages and better opportunities
of learning, not obliged to adventure on a career in his
mere student years, but with ample time and leisure for
cultivation ; and yet, there he was—there he is, this
minute—and there is not a station nor condition in life
wherein he could earn half-a-crown a day. He was edu-
cated, as it is facetiously called, at Dr. Stingem's school.
He read his Homer and Virgil, wrote his false quantities,
and blundered through his Greek themes, like the rest.
He went through—its a good phrase—some books of
Euclid, and covered reams of foolscap with equations ; and
yet, to this hour, he can't translate a classic, nor do a sum
in common arithmetic, while his handwriting is a cunei-
form character that defies a key : and with alI that, the
boy is not a fool, nor deficient in teachable qualities. I
hope and trust this system is coming to an end. I wish
sincerely, Tom, that we may have seen the last of a teach-
ing that for one whom it made accomplished and well
informed, converted fifty into pedants, and left a hundred
dunces ! Intelligible spelling, and readable writing, a
little history, and the " rule of three," some geography, a
short course of chemistry and practical mathematics—
that's not too much, I think—and yet I'd be easy in my
mind if James had gone that far, even though he were
ignorant of " spondees," and had never read a line of that
classic morality they call the heathen mythology. I'd
not have touched upon this ungrateful theme, but that
my thoughts have been running on the advantages we
were to have derived from our foreign tour, and some
misgivings striking me as to their being realised.

For the present, then, we take leave of our
interesting author, with .a reluctance nearly as
great as we should feel in parting with a highly-
accomplished personal friend. In the writings of
this gentleman, we find the man so thoroughly
mixed up with the characters, the scene, and the
accompaniments which he places before us, that
we insensibly assume the enviable distinction of
most agreeable personal intimacy, and hear him
pronounce the chilling word " farewell," with a
feeling kindred to that we should experience in
parting with a valued intimate, the sense of the
privation modifigd by the hope and the desire of
meeting him again ere long. From certain hints
dropped in this number, he seems inclined to break
ground next in America, a field of observation
worthy of his scrutinizing eye, and full of themes
happily adapted to his facile and delineative pen.

Household Medicine and Surgery. London and
Liverpool : W. S. Orr and Co.

This, which is the third part of one of Orr's
Handbooks for conveying household information,
seems a well-arranged treatise on the healing art,
as practised in a homely way. It contains, or pro-
fesses to contain, instructions for sick-room manage-
ment and cookery for invalids, all useful and
admirable in their way, so far as we can judge : a
task at all times difficult of performance when the
work is produced in small portions and at distant
intervals,but rendered doublydifficult when isolated
parts only are furnished. To pass•an opinion on a
work, under such circumstances, would be about
as sapient a proceeding as to form a judgment
respecting a mansion from the inspection of one or
two bricks.

The Journal of Industrial Progress. Nos. 111.
and IV. Dublin : W. B. Kelly.

In this serial we are glad to hail another literary
pioneer in the social progress of Ireland. It con-
tains numerous well written• papers on various sub-
jects intimately connected with mdustry, as that is
likely to render a country prosperous—a people wise
and happy. Socially speaking, it is much wanted,
and is likely to effect much good in a country so
circumstanced as Ireland is, with abundant natural
resources, and a high-spirited and warm-hearted
people.