depends for its success upon the intelligent co-operation of the women of the nation, in the home, the school, and in all the varied walks of useful

ness.

The following is an abstract of the discussion which followed the reading of this paper.

FRANK ABORN of Cleveland, Ohio:-With regard to Vacation Schools I fail to see why girls should be taught to sew and boys to do something else. I have learned to sew and the knowledge has served me a good purpose. I think a boy had much better go to school to learn to sew than to learn so much book-keeping as he often does. I don't see why boys should be barred out of one kind work and girls out of another, why a mathematical line should be drawn between the kinds of work each may engage in.

MRS.- :-I prefer the Kindergarten system which begins at the beginning and in which each boy and each girl shall have a special training in the direction in which he or she shows special talent.

MRS. EZRA S. CARR of California:-With reference to the need of these vacation schools, the school children through the eight or ten weeks of summer vacation are almost a terror to their parents and to quiet people on the street. Something is required to employ their time and energies and vacation schools for these manual arts afford the most useful and most practical means.

PROF. MANLY MILES of the Illinois Industrial University then read the following paper on

INSTRUCTION IN MANUAL ARTS IN CONNECTION WITH SCIENTIFIC STUDIES.

The number of institutions organized under the Congressional land grant for promoting industrial education and the great diversity of opinions that exist in regard to their management and methods of instruction-give an importance to the relations of labor and study in an educational course that can hardly be over-estimated.

That labor is desirable in a system of industrial education will perhaps be generally admitted-but as to what extent it may be profitably used in imparting a knowledge of the industries and to what extent it may be required without interfering with the mental culture of the student-diversities of opinion will undoubtedly exist.

As the brief limits assigned me will not permit a full discussion of this subject I shall confine myself in the main to the statement of propositions that appear to me to be well-founded with the purpose of drawing out in discussion the opinions of the members present.

It would not be desirable on the present occasion-at least-to consider this subject in the abstract-and I shall therefore present it with sole reference to existing institutions engaged in teaching the industries.

As a starting-point I would call attention to the purpose of the Congressional land grant-which as concisely stated in the act itself is "to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life."

No language could perhaps better express the purposes of the grant, and the emphatic declaration that a · liberal and practical education of the industrial classes" is aimed at, should be carefully considered by those in charge of the institutions organized under its provisions.

But what is the meaning of these terms-and how are they to be construed by those having charge of this great interest.

A liberal education has been defined to be "such as is extended beyond the practical necessities of life.”

It is an education not limited by practical uses but one that gives the broadest and fullest development of the intellect-without reference to utilitarian considerations.

The object of the grant was evidently-to place within the reach of the industrial classes an education adapted to their wants in pursuing the industries of life—and to add to it that higher culture and mental training that would place them on an equality with those engaged in the learned professions.

The time-honored system of so-called classical education until within a recent period-was all that could be desired—as it furnished the key to all that was most prized in existing knowledge and gave a thorough discipline to the intellectual powers. Within the present century however— the wonderful progress of the physical sciences has opened fields for study and investigation that were not included in the old methods of instruction.

The intimate relations of these sciences to the various pursuits of lifegave rise to the belief that a system of education embracing to a greater extent the details of scientific knowledge, would be better adapted to the wants of those engaged in industrial pursuits than the classical course of instruction that had so long been taught in the higher institutions of learning.

The relative merits of the two methods of instruction, as a means of mental culture do not concern us here and we need not stop to consider them.

For our present purpose it may be assumed that a course of instruction that provides for a thorough training in science without neglecting those other branches that form a part of a system of liberal culture—is better adapted to the wants of those engaged in the industries than the exclusive study of the classics.

In accordance with this idea the Congressional land grant was made and industrial colleges were organized in several of the States.

It is for us to consider how they may best be conducted in conformity with the condition of the grant.

The precise terms of the land grant seem to preclude the idea that schools for teaching "trades" in the ordinary acceptation of the term were intended.

These could be readily learned elsewhere and the highest degree of manual skill and dexterity could be obtained in the practical routine pursued in the shops and on the farms.

The object evidently was to supply an existing want or defect in our system of higher education-by furnishing to the artisan and the farmer the means of a higher culture in harmony with their chosen pursuits and having a more direct relation to their interests-thus laying a foundation for the progressive development and elevation of the industries above the position of mere handicrafts that they had before occupied.

In addition to the study of language and mathematics and other disciplinary studies that were deemed essential in a liberal course of instruction-it seemed desirable to furnish to those engaged in the industries the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the physical sciences not only for their value in the direct applications that might be made of them in the business of life-but for the more important purpose of securing that peculiar discipline derived from their study-and fixing those habits of thought that are of especial importance in practical pursuits.

In some of the industries at least and particularly those relating to rural affairs the direct applications of science-notwithstanding all that has been claimed for it-are limited by the imperfect knowledge we possess of the details of organic laws and phenomena-so that the capabilities of science as a means of developing such industrial arts consist in the main in a hope that may be realized in the future-instead of a tangible reality that is now within our grasp.

From this state of facts it must be evident that the indirect influence of the study of science, in giving a familiarity with its methods of investigation and developing those habits of thought that are essential to the success of those engaged in experiment will prove of far greater value to the student than any direct benefits he may now reasonably expect to gain from its immediate applications in his particular industry-as it will enable him by the familiarity he gains with correct methods of investigation-to profit by any developments that the future progress of knowledge may place within his reach.

A knowledge of the true inductive philosophy and a thorough training in exact methods of experimentation cannot fail to be of far greater value to the student who would improve and perfect any particular industry than the most extended knowledge of empirical details.

If we acknowledge the imperfection of the industries in their present development and look to their improvement-through the influence of those who now come to our industrial colleges to obtain some discipline and training in their life's work-it must be admitted that an accurate knowledge of the best methods of investigation, in connection with that breadth of culture that will enable them to make effective use of such methods must be of the first importance in their college course.

That manual skill in the practice of an industrial art is desirable, if not essential to the highest success must be generally admitted-but it should

not be sought in the college course of training to such an extent as to interfere with the full development of all of the intellectual faculties in breadth and depth of culture.

That manual skill and technical knowledge in a special industry may exist, without that mental training and symmetrical development that a liberal education is intended to give, is a fact that cannot be denied—and care must be taken to avoid the tendency in special culture to this partial and defective training.

The aim of industrial colleges should be to lay a broad foundation of mental culture in connection with thorough scientific training with a bias in the direction of the special industry in which the student is particularly interested and thus correct the tendency to that one-sided development that necessarily results from that exclusive attention to empirical technicalities and manual dexterity that obtain in the learning of a trade.

If the old methods of instruction were objectionable from the general neglect of those studies having a relation to the practical pursuits of life— the new education by limiting its methods to the purely practical, is liable to fall into the opposite error of exclusiveness and thus fail to a great extent in giving that liberal culture that is needed to supplement and correct the defects of exclusively-empirical training.

In practical education the idea of labor and technical training is involved to such an extent that it becomes a question as to how far they may be carried without interfering with that broad and full development that is included in the idea of a liberal education.

If we keep in mind the fact that a "liberal and practical education” is aimed at, we shall be less likely to urge the claims of the one at the expense of the other and be ready to adopt a course giving the best possible training in both directions.

In the old methods of higher education the student who had finished his common-school studies-was required to spend from two to three years in preliminary study before entering upon the regular college course of four years.

A liberal education therefore involved from six to seven years of severe study after the common-school branches had been mastered-and it is generally admitted that this time could be profitably extended.

In learning a trade several years of constant application were thought necessary to master its details and give the desired manual skill.

In Germany and England the term of service for an apprentice is fixed at from seven to eight years and in the State of New York the term is fixed by law at "not less than three nor more than five years."

Experience has shown that the requisite knowledge of details and the required manual skill could not on the average be acquired in less time than that fixed in these terms of service.

In most of the industrial colleges organized under the congressional land grant "the graduates of the common schools" are admitted to the college course which they are expected to pursue for four years before receiving a diploma.

Have these institutions discovered a "royal road to learning" which will enable them in a four-years' course to give the student a liberal edu

cation and at the same time make him a thorough master of the particular industry to which his attention is directed.

Can we reasonably expect them to accomplish in the brief space of four years that which required from nine to fifteen years of earnest work under the old methods.

It is true, that a trade may be learned in less time by the student who has received a liberal education but it cannot be reasonably assumed that the education and the trade can both be gained under the new method in a shorter time than was required for but one under the old system.

The liberal education of the student may undoubtedly go hand in hand with the practical-with marked advantage to those who are to devote themselves to the industries, if the purely practical features of the course are not allowed to encroach upon and obscure the first grand purpose of general culture.

In a four-years' course of instruction in colleges aiming to furnish their students with the means of acquiring a liberal education in connection with practical training (particularly when they are received direct from the common schools) the grand leading object should be mental development in its truest and widest signification.

As a means to this end the physical sciences-from their direct relations to the industries-should receive prominent attention, but they should not entirely exclude those departments of study that serve to discipline the reason and judgment in other directions and give facility and force of expression.

The introduction of manual labor as a part of the regular course of instruction will be found under judicious management to possess many advantages.

Without calling attention to it as a means of promoting health and physical vigor-its claims in an industrial course may be urged for the following reasons:

In its practice the student is brought in contact with the various processes of his special industry and can therefore better appreciate in all its details the practical instruction he may receive in the class-room.

It promotes habits of industry and tends to keep the student in sympathy with industrial pursuits while it gives him an increased interest in his special department.

As an incident of regular work the student to a certain extent gains a knowledge of practical details that can be learned in no other way and he acquires in a moderate degree that manual dexterity and skill that is only possessed in perfection by the experienced workman.

The practice of manual labor for the latter purpose alone would result in disappointment unless it was carried to such an extent as to interfere with his progress in more essential methods of training.

Proficiency in the manual of an industrial art can only be gained by a long course of practical training and time cannot be safely allowed in the college course to obtain it.

With a large number of students at work in the shops or on the farm it will readily be seen that it would not be possible to give them all that thorough training in every detail of work that would make them accomplished and skilled workmen.