The Portland daily press., 1876-03-11
Recent Publications.

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. For sale by
Dresser, Mcclellan & Co. and Loring, Short &
Harmon.
A thorough and complete education, says
Doctor Hill, ought to preserve and increase
the pupils bodily health and strength; give
him command of his own muscular and men,
eal powers; increase his quickness in perceiv-
ing through his five senses, and quicken his
mental perception; form in him the habit of
prompt anu accurate judgment; lead to delicacy
and depth in every right feeling; and make
him infiexible in his conscientious and stead
fast devotion to all his duties In other words.
an integral education must include at least
these four anches:-gymnastics, or care of
the body; noetics, or training of the mind;
aesthetics, or cultivation OF the tastes: and
ethics, which shall include religion as well as
duty. And in every part of each branch of
education there will be double end in view,
namely, the increase Of knowledge, and the
increase of skill.
In The True Order of Studies DR.. Hill occu-
pies himself chiefly with the second branch,
the education of the Intellectual powers, and
divides these powers into three groups, the per-
ceptive, the imaginative and the reflective.
Perception he defines as the direct vision of
truth; imagination as the reproduction, or in
ltation, in the mind, of the impressions pre-
vously made by direcs perception; and rehec-
ton, as the act of comparing, by help of the
imagination, the truths of perceptions when
| this comparison of truths elicits new truths of
relation it is called reasoning. The intellectual
| powers are developed in the order of these
| groups, as he clearly states. In the child the
powers of external perception give the earliest
evidences of activity. Then the power of i'm
| asination comes into play. Latest of all,
the reasoning power, long time dormant,
awakens. Thus nature has pointed out the
true order of studying and teaching. Atten-
tion should earliest be given to the develop
ment OF the child's perceptive powers and he
should not at first, nor for long time, be re
quired to reason. Any direct training of the
logical powers, DR.. Hill says, before the age OF
| twelve years is premature, and in most cases a
positive injury to the scholar. The common
| sense view will give facts before reasoning.
On this natural order, then, our studies
are TO be prosecuted, and the author pro-
ceeds to inquire whether thera is any
| comprehensive order embracing all the
| objects of human knowledge. which will help
Us in deciding what are the proper prelimi.
nary studies requisite for the pursuit of any
l branch, or which of two given studies ought to
| be placed first in the curriculum of school
This natural order he conceives he has dscov.
cred, and nObly names it The Hierarchy Of
| Sciences. Into consideration of the chapter
devoted to this order we do not purpose to go.
Its compactness of thought and closeness OF
reasoning make it rather rugged reading and
absolutely forbid any effort at further condens
ation.f Suffice it to say that of the fonr ele
ments into which human knowledge is divided
Space, Time, Matter and Spirit, he finds that
Space aud Time are the earliest objects of dis
| tinct Intellectual action. the attention being
| called to them by the phenomena of motion
and the shape of material things. Presently
| our attention is turned to matter; later we be-
| gin to investigate ourselves, to analyze and
study our minds and souls, and then to push
our thoughts upwards and enter upon theo.ogi
cal speculation. This fgefold division o
knowledge is the basis of the Hierarchy of Sci.
ences; an order agreeing with the expanding
powers of the child's mind and with the !ogica
sequence and dependence of thoughts. In tbi
order the mathematics take logical precedence,
for the child's first perceptions are of space snd
| form, and the momest he begins to use his eyes
aud hands he is in reality studying geometry
though he mag be as unco nscious of it as Mo-
liere's celebrated bourgeois that he was speak.
ing prose. AS number is an abstraction yer,
early made FROM the contemplation Of forms il
space arithmetic follows geometry. From tha
we pass to the consideration of time and it
science algebra. Then we take up the second
division of the hierarchy and so on. Succeed
ing chapters of the work are given to the con
sideration Of these studies, to practical ugges
| tions about them, to the proper method OF
| teaching them, and to the history of expert.
ments made in accordance with the plans laid
out by the author The first and second
chapters, which call for the closest attention
and which are the keys to tho whole book, once
mastered, those which followswill be found not
only of great general interest but of much val
ue to the teacher. They are very naeaty, and
there is in them wealth of suggestion. Scarce.
ly page can be- found that does not convey
some hint of great value, some practi-
cal method of conveying the knowledge
OF studies which a teacher wonld not willingly
miss. Not the least interesting portions of the
work are those relating to the tests made in the
schools CT Waltham of the principles and
methods here brought forward. As some of
these tests are being applied in the Portland
schools they are of peculiar interest to our
citizens. The success in this city, limited as
the trial has been, is marked. Those who
have of late visited the North School, for ex-
ample, have noticed the ease and rapidity with
which the children learn to read by means of
the modified phonotype there in use, and the
eagerness with which they apply themselves TO
the study of geometrcal forms. During the
winter the reviewer CHANGED to see sight
which thoroughly convinced him of the interest
the pupils take in geometry Two boys of that
stature which we sometimes hear designated
as knee high to toad" were playing between
sessions in the school yard. One of them had
drawn a figure in the fresh snow which he in
sisted upon calling a sri tange." The other,
who had better eye or better understanding
OF definitions, claimed that it was an "acu
tange." The discussion grew warm, and
recourse was had at last to the old arbitrament
of the fist. The champion of the acute angle,
who fortunately had both right and might on
his side. gave the other sound pommeling;
nor would he let him up until the offender
against the4aws of geometry had acknowledged
his error. Certainly geometry is not a study
devoid of interest if boys of tender years can
bring themselves to fight over its definitions.
Did space permit we would gladly make ex.
tended extracts from the work, or dwell at
greater length upon its scope aud matter. But
we must content ourselves with cordially rec
ommending the work, not only to teachers, but
to parents and to all interested in the develop.
ment of theSsuman understanding. There is
hardly person who will not find something in
its pages to attract, and its simple, easy style
makes its perusal pleasure. At risk of un-
duly extending an already long notice we make
room for DR.. Hills views, given in the chapter
entitled Theology, on subject which is now
exciting the attention of so many people, the
reading of the Bible in the schools. He says
Debates have arisen in America within q
few years concerning the use of the Bible in
schools concerning the introduction of the
idea of God into the public teaching; concern
inc hac ratinf Of tha ,N,hl - u