National Republican., 1877-03-04
iSD FOREIGN EDUCI-
TIOS COHp.iEED.

Interesting Lecture by the Hon. u. q. North
iup-Beauty and Practical business Value
oi the MCtricnl systCm-uints For Edit
catlnrRl Ecforms.
The lecture of Hon. D. G. Northrua, Secre-
taTy Of the SGLCol Board Of Connecticut, deliv-
cred in the Curtis' School Building Georgetown,
before the teachers Of the District, during the
convention Of the Department Of Superlnten.
dtnce Of the National Educat onal Association,
which closed It's session yesterday, contained
many suggestions Of public interest After
briefly referring 10 tho Centennial as great
national educator, which, In fact constituted It's
most important aspect and saying that tho fact
that nearly 100000 people could be brought to-
getber at cnce, without the least disturbance
although entirely dispensing with the
gcn dGrmes and military, so necessary
In Europe, was the highest compll-
ment that could he paid to our educational
system. He proceeded to consider some OF tho
lessons OF tho Centennial. The first was, the
absolute necessity Of commencing TO teach the
metrical system OF weights and measures in all
our schools. And this was because that system
has now been adopted as the standard by al tho
countries Of Europe except England, Rus lla and
Turkey, and Of these countries England inc very
near adopting II in 1871, bill for its compulsory
use having failed in the House OF Commons bT only
five votes, and Russia has lately appointed
commission to visit Paris and investigate It,
impetus given to our commercial relations with
Europe, renders q conformity In our system OF
weights and measures imperative. To Illustrate
this he referred TO the fact that our cotton goods,
which we are now exporting extensively to Eu-
rope and South America, all have to be put up in
meters. A large carriage manufacturer In his
own city (New Havcn) who had made fine dis.
play at the Centennial, had begun to receive
orders from abroad, but the dimensions given
were all meiricdl, and he did not know, at htst
how to fill them; the same thing was true OF Gov.
Jewell, on whom he called recently In Hartford
who showed him an order for y machine belts,
received from European tirm In which the
lengths and widths were all giyeu In tho same
way, and he showed him flexible meter, which
he had procured in Paris, to measure them with.
The large car. wheel factory of Senator Barnum,
of Connecticut, had been filling a number Of
European orders, though the hrst lot sent over
had to be sold for cid iron, on account oil not
| being of the size called for. Tho
same trouble was iouni by our largo
| manufacturers Of fire arms, machinery.
waltham watches, etc. The Fairbanks Cjm
pany have been for some time manufacturing
scales adapted to the metric system, and have
already sent $4,000 to metric countries. There is
q special reason why 1t should be taught in the
schools Of Washington because the General Gov.
ernment has endorsed 1t; and II is used to some
extent in the Coast Survey Once, the Mint. and
the Post.offce Department. 1t 10 the language
| of scientific men. No chemical laboratory eau do
without it. and II Is being made per luiste quail.
| ihcatlon for admission to colleges and high
| schools. The cablegrams from Europe are bring.
| ing the system TO public notice, and the ladies
| ind they cannot use Parisian fashion plates
without understanding II. 1t was the opinion OF
high official that ebo, 900 year would be saved
| in the British Post.ofiice Department alone by
the adoption Of the system, and experienced edu.
education OF children, by hbolishing tho cum.
hrous and perplcxing operations Of fractions,com
Mr. N. then gave n brief account Of the origin
ofthe system, the pains taken to insure accuracy,
| and the beautiful simplicity and inter dependence
| Of the linear, superficial and cubic measures In
| their relation to those OF weight and capacity.
He said the experience of teachers In the schools
Of Germany and Of this country where IL had been
| introduced showed that few hours Mt most, was
all the time required to impress ndelibly on the
The & the meter are Sy
already used in orr decimal currency, and through
the larger mulliples, dekoneter, hectometer,
kiiometer and myria ameter, appear, at FIRST sight,
more formidable, their Greek prciixcs enter into
tables dce, ite, kiL mgr, which even I've very % youhs Z
children can easily menortze The linear mea-
sure the unit Q, Which Is tss meter Is the most
are founded upon It, This portion Of tho lecture
was illustrated by an Illuminated chart and
The second lesson taught by the exhibits in the
Swedish and other educati ti0nal departments, was
thai sogeometrical forms should be taught by
samples. BY the use OF flexible, jointed yard.
stick, Mr.. N. showed how easily this could be
done, and the advantage oft In teaching children
to diierentiate forms, NAL king IL much easier for
| them. even In learning the alphabet. This point
was illustrated by q reiereHce to kindergarten
| methods. Another important thing is to IocaIi-e
teaching. The different cantons OF Switzerland
and districts Of other countries showed very com.
plete collections Of their respective minerals
iamiliariLe the pupils with their home produc.
tons. he himself had years ago used small
blocks Of the different native woods, teaching the
children TO discriminate the species by the grain
| Reference was made to the uniyoTsality with
| which music was taught in European schools,
and n description Of an Ingenious attachment tG
| the organ In the Swedish school. house. The al
yantages Of French and German artZans over
our owD, in consequence Of their early instruction
| In drawing, was shown by reference to work on
| the new State-ho at Hartford. He said that
| Germany and Switzerland surpassed US in school
apparatus, while We are ahead In school archi.
| lecture and furniture. But these nations ma Ike a
better use Of their inferior furniture, particularly
| In training the pupils 10 preserve a correct pos
| ture, they sitting much more erect on their some
| times backless benches, than our boys In their
| easy-baeked seats. This was explained partly
by the fact that every boy there expects to serve
| In the army at some time, and so take pride In
| an erect form and carriage. The importance OF
instruction on this suhjec. by teachers, In a SAM.
tary point OF view, was insisted upon, and the
practice Of light gymnastics recommended. The
lecture was lis ened to with deep interest by the
teachers and warmly appauded.