upon schools any scheme or theory of instruction of its own. The greater variety we can have in the types of schools, the larger the number of able and enthusiastic men and women whom we can contrive to leave free to carry out their own theories, and even to try new experiments in education, the better for the community.

Here, then, we have the problem before us, how to give parents authentic knowledge of what schools are doing and perfect guarantees of efficiency, and at the same time to leave to teachers and to governing bodies that large freedom, that seuse of independence and of responsibility, and that encouragement to spontaneous effort which have long characterized English schools, and which are so indispensable to the maintenance of all that is best in the national character. We waut, in short, to make this great modern instrument of examinations a useful servant and not an imperious master.

The two main points urged by Mr. Fitch, namely, the need of such supervision of all secondary schools as shall enable the public to judge of what they are doing and what they are meant to do and the maintenance at the same time of the "liberty of teaching," are equally desirable for our country; consequently the efforts that are being put forth in England for the accomplishment of these purposes will be followed with the deepest interest in the United States.

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION.

Table showing the number of persons, native and foreign, in the United States in 1880 whose pursuits necessitate appropriate superior or special knowledge and training.

From the above table it will be seen that about 9 per cent. of the population of the United States have a direct interest in the provision for superior and professional instruction on account of the vocation they follow. Moreover, these vocations are, for the most part, such as deeply affect the public welfare, so that the table suggests even to those not likely to participate in the superior training themselves reasons for their

personal concern in its adequate provision and efficient conduct. Liberal culture, it is true, should not be viewed with sole or supreme reference to its use in particular callings. It serves a nobler end as an instrument for the discipline and development of the highest powers of mankind; nevertheless, the history of institutions shows that provision for instruction and training of a high order bears, first or last, intimate relation to the service which it enables men to perform; hence in the demand for such service and the agencies for supplying the demand we have a certain criterion of the intellectual status of a people.

The varied origin, character, sources of support, &c., of the schools in the United States professedly engaged in the work specified make it impossible to treat of them collectively. Before passing to their consideration in the separate classes to which they belong or in which they report themselves, it may be well to bring into general view certain particulars concerning them.

Tables VIII, IX, and X relate to schools engaged exclusively or partly in the work of superior instruction. Table III, which for obvious reasons is placed with other tables of the public school system, and Tables XI, XII, and XIII relate to schools engaged in the work of specified training for pursuits in which learning and intellectual discipline are universally required.

The total number of students reported in 1884 in the schools of the first group is 110,878. Of these, 66,437 are in the departments for superior instruction, i. e., collegiate or scientific. The sex of the students is not reported in all cases; so far as known, the number last stated includes 25,022 women. The number of students in the second group of schools, omitting Table III, is 23,276. Adding to this the number reported in Table III as in training for teacherships, viz, 38,354, the total of students under special training for the professions specified becomes 61,630.

In the first group of schools the number of degrees conferred in course in 1884, as shown in Table XV, was as follows: In classical and scientific colleges, 6,820; in colleges for women, 844; or, a total of 7,664.

The number of graduates from the second group of schools in 1884 was 10,368, of whom 4,144, or 40 per cent., are reported in Table III. To sum up, so far as reported to this Office, the total of persons in courses of superior and special training in 1884 was 128,067 and the total of graduates from the same was 18,032,

The number of students who before entering the professional schools received degrees in letters or science was 2,729, distributed among the schools as follows: Schools of theology, 1,095, or 20 per cent. of the whole number. Schools of law, 677,

or 25 per cent. of the whole number. Medical and surgical schools, Table XIII: regular, 774, or 7 per cent. of the whole number of students; eclectic, 43, or 5 per cent. of the whole number; homeopathic, 67, or 5 per cent. of the whole; dental schools, 69, or 7 per cent. of the whole number; pharmaceutical schools, 4, or of 1 per cent. of the whole.

The present status of liberal and professional education in our country will be best understood by the tables and summaries pertaining to the several classes of institutions.

TABLE VIII. SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION OF WOMEN.

Statistics in detail of schools for the superior instruction of women will be found in Table VIII of the appendix. The following is a comparative summary of institutions, instructors, and pupils from 1874 to 1884 inclusive (1883 omitted):

1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1884.

'This number is known to include 20,375 women; 2,161 other students are reported without distinc

tion as to sex.

Degrees conferred by institutions for the superior instruction of women.

Table VIII presents the statistics of 236 institutions for the superior instruction of women, having 2,989 instructors and 30,587 students. Five colleges for women1 in New York State which, on account of their relation to the University of New York, are included in Table IX, report 894 students; coeducation universities or colleges, Table IX, report in preparatory departments 8,161 female students, in classical courses 2,009, and in scientific courses 1,196; coeducation colleges and schools of science, Table X, report in preparatory departments 460 female students-making the total number of women reported in institutions for superior instruction 43,307 as against 40,407 reported in 1882-'83. Of the whole number, 18,196 are reported in preparatory departments and 19,916 in collegiate, special, and graduate courses, the classification of the remainder not being specified. It will be observed that no statement is given of the number of female students in the schools of Table X in other departments than the preparatory.

The property valuation for the schools of Table VIII is, as far as reported, $9,938,591. The amount of productive funds is $1,211,665, and the income from the same, $56,248. Tuition fees, which are the chief sources of income, amounted for the year, so far as reported, to $926,248.

The number of the institutions reported authorized by law to confer collegiate degrees is 152. The number of degrees conferred in 1884 was 844, or 60 less than the number reported in 1882-'83.

Every year shows a slight increase in the number of young women pursuing superior courses of study, a due proportion of this increase being in the leading coeducation colleges and in the colleges for women that maintain the highest standards. For example, Boston University reported in 1880-'81 108 women students out of a total of 507; in 1883-284 the number of women reported is 154 out of a total attendance of 614. The attendance of women students at Michigan University for the corresponding years was as follows, the figures in parentheses being for 1880-'81: Departments of literature, science, and the arts, 118 (81); department of medicine and surgery, 40 (43); law department, 1 (1); school of pharmacy, 2 (2); homœopathic medical college, 11 (8); college of dental surgery, 5 (3); total, 177 (138).

2

Harvard Annex had 27 pupils the first year of its existence, 1879, and 50 in 1884.
Cornell University had 60 women students in 1880-'81 and 49 in 1883-'84.
The attendance at Vassar, Smith, and Wellesley Colleges for the corresponding

The colleges are Wells, Elmira Female, Rutgers Female, and Vassar, and Ingham University. *The figures for 1883-'84 have been made up from the catalogue of students, the sex being inferred from the name. The inference is possibly not correct in every case.