Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1856-04-15
(:sntatioual 9fpartmrnt.
PHYSIOLOGY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

PHYSIOLOGY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
SG .ba seething pot of public opinion is not
= -gitated at present, we will add another
-.,lisnt which may not make it boil more
,rsly than viii be for the general good.
.f,e cause of Education, it Is comparatively
D. natter TO ascertain about the amount Of
~ and money, necessary to erect suitable
8 -:llincs. furnish apparatus, pay teachers, &c
= i not always so easy a matter to deter
r-b,cb Is the best course to pursue, after
: hose have been provided to know just how
i, nroceed that the pupils may advance most
M aud what studies viii be most suitable
- aces. So far as we are acquainted, it is
.,,,,r,or practice after children have learned
-.,l toIerablv correct, and, perhaps, have
80 some knowledge of Geography, to have
them commence Grammar
81 With the voung learner, the almost universal
,,.r,r..ion has been, that, it is So dry that
not understand it, and, for good reasons,
~ rnrS- continue to be the objection, with
children. who commence the study of Grammar
At too early an age.
Now. if some study which could be more
/ o,sfIr understood should be pursued, till the
] minds of the pupils had become more matured,
81 - believe it would be decided advantage in
r,nv respects. Physiology, for many reasons,
r;,IIt be studied instead of Grammar, till chill
] t,,a have reached the age of twelve or fourteen
q years.
] IT'S evident to every one, that scholars will
q sudv with more interest, and advance most
4 -qrillv ii those branches which can be ex-
planned by maps, or pictures Even the labor
Il Of teaching, and learning the A B C's, has been
81 ls7sered at least one-half, to both teacher and
pupil, since the pictorial alphabet has been
introduced INTO our Schools. And the same
] method is pursued in illustrating nearly every
Subject taught, in all our Schools, from the Dis
r.. up to the University. In fact, We believe
j Granmar is nearly the only study which can
rlt Be made much palmer to the understanding
a pupils by the aid of diagrams So far as we
3 lave learned but one author has attempted to
4 teach Grammar in this way and if there is any
saase in the explanation, the author must be the
Only individual who has ever discerned il.
Is well might an artist attempt to paint
agh, as for teacher TO explain Grammar to
children by maps or diagrams
Why then should we not first teach scholars
those branches which can be most easily un-
derstood, and equally useful, leave such as are
less interesting and more difficult TO under
stand to be pursued after the minds of the pu-
pIls have become more matured 1t is fact
tia, children, who are entirely too Young TO
study Grammar, by hearing a class recite in
Histology, VIII remember and repeat to their
parents all the leading ideas in a lesson And
will remember with wonderful exactness, an
explanation given of plate representing any
part Of the system. Certainly we know of no
class q persons who would be more benefited
by knowledge Of HISTOLOGY than children, es-
pccially those who are obliged to sit in our ilIv
constructed School houses portion of their
time.
BIT it may be objected by some that children
80 young can not understand such subjects, and
consequently it VIII only be throwing AWAY
their time. But IS it any harder for a child to
remember the number Of bones in the human
system, than the number of parts of speech in
Grammar2 And can pupils not as readily com
I-elend the manner in which the blood circu-
la.es, as the process by which verbs are made
active. Or passive, transitivc or intransitive p
Aud viii 1t he more difficult to understand the
process Of digestion, than the method by which
nouns are converted into adjectives, adjectives
Ia-o aiverhs, a3yerbs into propositions, preposi-
tans INFO conjunctions, DC
Should a mother tell her children that chew
7s their food was the first operation in the pro-
cess of digestion, they would doubtless as readi-
+ understand what she meant, as they would
s-ou}d Sic tell them that the word cEcasinq might
be used as verb, adjective or noun, aud that 1t
j. always known By the name Of particirle.
Again, by simply opening and shutting the
land. it Is an easy matter to convince any one
new The muscles contract and expand, and con-
-aaHently how we walk, or make any other mo-
ton we desire
aud there are but few children, of ordin-
a-v understanding who VIII not much more
readily remember such facts and be more likely
e DIT them into practice than they would the
rules of Grammar. let children then be early
taught the leading truths of Physiology. That
exercise IN the open air tends to the purifying
ut tbs blood, gives a healthful glow to the coun-
'eaaace. and strength and elasticity to the limbs
tould this be done among all classes, in a few
Eea-s We should not see half as many marble
boxing faces, and feeble constitutions as we do
now
Wherever Physiology has been taught 10
Young children, they have apprehended the
nam facts with a rapidity far beyond the ex-
Tee,ation Of the most sanguine of their teach
e7s- And have shown by their conduct in after
years that they knew how to use their knowl-
edge for the weu-being of themselves and their
fellows.
Ie-haps, at some future time, we may give
or reasons more fully for believing that Gram
mar As commenced, by most children. too early
T Life, loHr before they can understand why it
is Thus and SO, or even its use.
Z SINGULAR CAsE-SFIRIr UTTERLY broken.
IA .ae fall Of 1883, young man about %
,''.S p a@e, named Grady, was sentenced to
''." "a r. T. the Connecticut State Prison for