Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-11-18
TEACHERS INSTITUTE.
THE LAST DAY OF THE SESSION

An Instructive Dissertation ON the Trausit OF
Venus-Parker Oh the eacher's Mis-
sion-The Close OF tho session.
Friday afternoon Notwithstanding the
inclemency Of the weather, another large
crowd filled the court room, and the inter-
est in the proceedings seemed undated.
Observation-Disclosures Ferry" "Home's
Not -Four Square Walls.''
Tho Transit of veaus.
G.. NJ. Philips, principal Of the West
Chester Normal school, then entertained
the audience with scientific discussion on
the g Transit of Venus" 1t will be Wis
ibla in this latitude on December 9Th, be-
tween the hours of 0 and ; o'clock. By
the transit Of q planet is meant its pas
sage across the SUMS disc. On that day
astronomers the world over will be ON the
lookout for tho phenomenon, and the
times Of. its beginning and ending will de
accurately noted. TIE observation of the
transit of Venus furnished at one time the
only data by means of which the distance
of the earth flOm tho sun could be calcu-
lated. This distance, for q long time be-
lieved to be $4,000, 900 miles, has been
very appropriately termed 1.-The yardstick
of the universe" To find it, it is first
necessary to determine the parallax Of the
sun, that is, the angle at the sun subtended
by the earth's radius. This done, two sets
Of observers stationed at points north and
south note the times of the beginning and
ending of the transit. The distance across
the suns disc may then be found, and
having the distance apart of the two
places of observation, the distance between
the sun and earth is easily computed.
The first transit of Venus was seen in
1850 by young English cura;e. 1t was
next visible in 1869, ard American as
tron0mers, Rittenhouse in particular, made
somo very valuable observations at the
time Of its appearance. Subsequent in.
vestigations proved many Of tho earlier
observations inaccurate, and in 1850 it was
believed that the accepted distance between
tho sun and earth, %, O00, 900 miles. was too
great. Expeditions were sent out by
Congress in 1874 for tho purpose Of max
ing observations, but the result Of their
work has not yet been made public. II
the sun, as it is generally supposed is the
case, has clouds iii near cOntiCuity to
itself at all times, observations Of transits
and deductions therefrOm are necessarily
uncertain. Congress has appropriated SO,
600 for the scientific observation of the
expected transit. If the day is Clear, it
will be visible to US through an ordinary
piece of smoked glass. 1t will be seen near
tho southeastern end of the sun, SO to
speak, first as a little notch then q small
black ball will be manifest, creeping
slowly across the sun. taking five hours in
It's passage. Tho next transit will not
occur until 2004.
The skill with which this abstruse sub.
ject was handled showed Prof. Philips to
be possessed of more than al ordinary
share of mathematical ability. His To-
marks were listened to with the closest
attention, and were the subject Of much
favorable comment.
Music-"The Chapel
Col Parker on OrthOeraphy.
Col. Parker took up tho thread Of his
discourse with \ few observations OH the
importance Of the subject Of spelling.
Spelling per Sc is the making of the forms
Of words. There is an oral spelling, So
called, in which the separate letters of the
word arc named. But oral spelling does
nothing more than describe written forms.
When you paint a thing in words you
must have it in your minds. else the de.
scriptiOn will be woful!y lacking.
Oral spelling should he postponed until
the form is firmly fixed in the mind. Much
teaching is wrongly directed to bringing
from the mind that which it does not
possess. Spelling books should DO piled
up in a pyramid and burned, and the blaze
would bs productive Of more light than
they now give.
After being trained to copy and having
the form Of tho object in his mind. tho
child is ready to dispense with a copy.
Tho speaker claimed that seven-cights OF
the work Of grammar schools ought to be
done in primary schools Train :: child to
know when ho does not know how to
spell word observing this principle, in
o short time all spelling can be taught by
composition. AccustOm children to dis
cribe your actions while instructing them,
SO as to teach them to think for them
selves. The system of guessing was
sharply criticised. Let pictures be placed
before tho children and have them write a
composition on them. When the child reads,
let him tell you in his own words what to
has read. Object teaching, Col. Parker
asserted, is responsible for great deal Of
fOolishness in education. The proper
kind of object teaching IS to 60 to each
child and find out how the object present.
ed itself to the mind Of the individual
child.
Prof. Little drew successiyely on tho
black board u rose, pear, blade Of wheat,
dogs head, horses head and lily. His
sketches of Prcfs. Brown and Shaub
evoked considerable merriment. At their
conclusion he babe good by to the and
ience, retiring amid hearty applause.
Music" Speak Gently"
Prof. Browns Last Address.
Some chronological observations of Prof.
Brown proved highly interesting to the
audience. His striking resemblance to
Ben Butler was intensified by few facial
and his impersonation of
Chinaman set the audience in roar.
Recurring to his subject, he said that the
great law which governs all oratory is
" strength at the centre and freedom at
the surface" He then drew a parallel be-
tween tho mental, moral and vital elements
alluded to in previous remarks, and the
head, torso and limbs Of the human frame.
The orator who possesses ease. precision
and harmony, has necessarily that most
invaluable Of gifts, grace. These repre-
sent the different elements in their order,
but they must not be carried to an extreme
He terminated by giving a brief history of
the life and influence Of the great elocu-
ZIONIST Delsarte. He it was who first for
mulated human expression on true basis.
In bidding farewell to his auditors he re-
turned thanks for their kind attention
and manifest sympathy with him in his
endeavors to elucidate few difficulties III
the way Of proper expression.
A recess of few minutes was here