cises in writing may consist of a copy of the problems and directions, whenever the improvement of the pupil in penmanship is sufficient for that purpose. As to the drawing materials to be introduced into schools, especially for boys, I would recommend that they be confined principally to slate-pencils, lead-pencils, common crayons, and Indian ink, believing from experience, that the introduction of other colors, would, in most schools, be a source of more inconvenience than profit. The procuring and preparing for use, of suitable patterns, will probably present itself as a difficulty in the first introduction of this as a branch of school education; but this obstacle will soon disappear, if teachers and others manifest a disposition to cultivate the study. The presses of our engravers and lithographers, to say nothing of foreign sources, are sufficiently prolific, and might soon be induced to furnish abundant supplies. We have not seen that the calls of the public for improved school-books, were either tardily or sparingly answered; and there can be no reason to believe that those who work on stone, box-wood and copperplate, will be less vigilant for the public good, than their more numerous brethren of the type. I have thus endeavoured to exhibit a practical view of the subject before us, noticing its connexions and tendencies in regard to intellectual improvement, its bearing on the useful arts and various occupations of life, its relation to another branch of early education of great practical importance, the methods in which its elements may be successfully communicated, and its usefulness in reacting on other departments of science and literature, throwing new light on the paths of learning and sensibly alleviating the pains of teaching. The course of instruction now offered to the consideration of this assembly, claims not the merit of originating from a master of the art, who might be thought anxious to support a peculiar theory, or to further the extension of his particular practice. It is founded on no startling paradoxes or metaphysical subtleties. It offers to all classes, in all schools, a degree of practical skill, proportionate to the time, industry and talent devoted to its attainment. If but one step has been taken, the knowledge acquired is still not without its use in the business of life. If from any cause the career of the scholar be interrupted, he has not to indulge the useless regret, that for want of further instruction, all his past application is of no avail. The circumstance just alluded to adapts this method to every class of public as well as of private institutions. The uses and applications of what is learned, to the mind, will keep pace with its uses and applications to the purposes of life, and to the business of instruction. The powers of conception, no less than the perceptive faculty, will be strengthened and improved. The taste will find abundant and profitable exercise, and a foundation will be laid for some discrimination in regard to the works of our meritorious-much neglected artists. Note. In the course of the lecture, a number of models and drawings, intended to exemplify the method described, were presented and explained. For several of these, the author takes pleasure in acknowledging his obligations to Mr William Mason, of Philadelphia; and to his pupils, under the instruction of that gentleman, for the remainder. |