a close connection with the city. It was "the town's college," and the town council of Edinburgh were its patrons and rulers, sometimes enlightened and sometimes not. The model for Edinburgh was not Paris nor Bologna, not Orleans nor Cologne, but Geneva. Geneva, however, was a sovereign republic, and the relations of the government of this city republic to its academy were transferred to the case of Edinburgh. It was historically fitting that when the constitution of Edinburgh University was reorganized by government in 1858 the town council should be represented in its ruling body (the court); but there were no reasons of historical fitness why the provosts of the other university towns should have been accorded a similar position in connection with the three older universities, which were never in any sense municipal institutions.2

These are only a few miscellaneous notes. But it is perhaps worth while to try to see some present usages in the light of their far-back origins. Of course, to know what universities originally were does not of itself settle the question of what they ought to be now. Different times have different needs. But it is always worth knowing the past life of the institutions under which we live. There is great gain in the continuity of sentiment that links distant generations together. It is a pity to drop old traditions when they are harmless; it is worth reviving some things that are not merely venerable, but useful.

The immediate effect of the ecclesiastical revolutions of the sixteenth century was to destroy, to a great extent, the international character of universities and to make them merely national institutions. Scotland was, indeed, in some respects less cut off from the Continent than England. Scottish students, after the Reformation, resorted to Leyden and Utrecht, as in older days they went to Paris or Bologna. In this century we are recovering a little of the international academic sentiment between students of different countries; and it is a most valuable sentiment, which may make more for peace and civilization than much of the work of statesmen and ambassadors.

1Cf. Grant, Story of the University of Edinburgh, I., p. 126, etc.

2 Cf. the remarks of Prof. S. S. Laurie, "The rise and constitution of universities," p. 194. ED 99-5

provisions or its consequences will tend to the proper correlation of primary with secondary teaching, and to a clearer recognition of the manner in which their interests are connected. As we have been told by the lord president, it is contemplated that in the new education office there shall be three departments-one for primary, one for secondary, and one for technical education. The separateness of these departments is of less moment than the fact that all three will be brought under the cognizance of a single board. Such an arrangement can not fail to facilitate the provisions of the requisite links between the different grades and kinds of schools. Continuity and unity of system will be more easily secured, while at the same time due regard will be had to those circumstances in which primary and secondary schools require different modes of treatment. Then the bill provides for a consultative committee, which is to advise upon such matters as are referred to it by the board of education. This committee will consist, as regards two-thirds of its members, of persons nominated by the universities and by "other bodies interested in education." The expression "other bodies interested in education" is a comprehensive one, which leaves no room for doubt that the interests of primary education will be duly represented on the consultative committee. This committee will also, with the approval of the board of education, frame regulations for the registration of teachers. It has thus become unnecessary to reintroduce the teachers' registration bill of last year. Under the provisions of that bill the register was to contain primary and secondary teachers in one common list, while, in addition to this list, it might give also separate catalogues of the two classes. A similar plan, it may be expected, will be adopted under the new bill, and the unity of the teaching profession will thus receive an express recognition. It might be premature to discuss the probable constitution of the local authorities which are to be established at no distant date, and it would plainly be inappropriate on the present occasion to enter on the discussion of details connected with that subject. It may, however, be regarded as certain that primary education will find adequate representation on those bodies. Altogether, then, it appears reasonable to hope that the coming legislation, of which we are to have an important installment this year, will lead to beneficial results for our whole system of education, primary and secondary alike. It will be not the least of those benefits if the actual and visible unity of the new education board should serve to impress upon teachers of every kind the unity of the cause in which they are engaged, the demand which that cause makes upon them for unity of endeavor, even at some sacrifice of personal predilection or convenience, and the greatness of the reward which will be theirs who, in a country which is still too little alive to the supreme importance of education, shall yet succeed, by unity of effort and by unity of spirit, in securing for the kingdom and for the empire an indispensable safeguard-one not less needful, in the long run, than ships or swords-the safeguard of intellectual and moral competence to hold our own in every field with the most progressive nations of the civilized world.

THE WELSH LAW OF 1889.

The Welsh intermediate education law, passed in 1889, is of great importance, not only because of its immediate effects in Wales, but because of the suggestions it offers to guide similar efforts in England. Briefly outlined, it may be said that the law constitutes every county of Wales a district for educational administration under a local authority called the joint education committee of the county council, and consisting of five persons, three of whom are to be nominated by the county (a county borough) council and two by the lord president of Her Majesty's privy council. Nominees of the county council are not

required to be members of that body. Nominees of the lord president are required to be "persons well acquainted with the conditions of Wales and the wants of the people," preference being given to resi dents within the county for which the committee is appointed. The joint education committee has the duty of reporting to the county council, but its acts and proceedings are not required to be submitted to that body for approval.

The county organizations are unified through a central board (central Welsh board of intermediate education) created in 1896, whose most important functions are the examination and inspection of schools. The law is administered under the general oversight of the charity commission, which has the relation of a Government authority.

Under the operations of this law, adequate provision for secondary education has been made throughout the province. The public funds available for the work are, besides existing endowments, local taxes, supplemented by a grant from the treasury equal in each district to the income from the tax.

The proceeds of the liquor duties have also been almost entirely applied to immediate education in Wales. In 1897-98 88 county schools were reported as in operation, and provision had been made for 8 other public secondary schools.

The schools had a force of 410 permanent teachers, mostly university graduates, and 130 visiting teachers. Their pupils numbered 7,000, equal to 35 for every thousand inhabitants.

The annual income of the schools from the public sources above specified was about $420,000. Tuition fees are charged in these schools, ranging from £2 to £12 ($10 to $60) per annum. About 10 per cent of the pupils hold free scholarships, and another 10 per cent half scholarships.

The average annual expenditure per capita is about $70 a year.

NEW SCHEME OF CLASSIFICATION FOR SCHOOLS OF SCOTLAND.

In Scotland the general conception of education approaches much more nearly that maintained in the United States than the English idea..

In the northern division of the Kingdom there is little trace of those educational distinctions based upon social caste, which color all the discussions of the subject in the southern division.

The latest regulations for day schools issued by the Scotch department have swept away at one stroke all cast-iron limits and provided for flexible classification, national tests of attainment, and regular progression from the elementary schools to the secondary. These reg ulations, which embody the most advanced idea of popular education which has thus far been officially promulgated in Great Britain, are here briefly epitomized.

They provide that

After April 1, 1900, the six standards, with their distinctive limits, shall disappear. Along with them goes the formal yearly inspection, as well as the many and varied grants fixed for optional subjects. In future, elementary public schools will have three divisions: (a) infants, (b) junior, (c) senior, and the arrangement of work in each division is to be such as shall secure the attainment of the education department's merit certificate by the completion of the elementary course of instruction. The classification of work is to be such as to afford every opportunity for progress. Promotion in one subject is not to be hampered by lack of proficiency in another. The scheme of education must provide principally for the instruction of the pupils in reading, writing, and arithmetic, amplified by the teaching of English, geography, history, and nature knowledge, together with adequate physical exercise, singing, and, for girls, needlework.

In cach class a record of work in every subject is to be kept by the teacher with sufficient detail to show the previous course of instruction at any time throughout the year, and any examination of a class which the inspector shall make at any time of his visits, in order to satisfy himself as to the efficiency of the teaching, is to be based on this record. The grants to be earned will be determined by the scheme of work approved by the department and the general efficiency and thorongliness of the instruction given. Subject to conditions securing satisfactory staffing, there is to be paid on the average number of children in attendance throughout the year, (a) under 7 years of age a normal grant of 188., (b) from 7 to 10 years of age a normal grant of 20s., and (c) over 10 years of age, who have not obtained the merit certificate, a normal grant of 22s. These grants may be increased, on the recommendation of the inspector, by 6d. a head for meritorious work, or diminished by the same sum for defects in instruction, and by 1s. for any omission of essential requirements.

Where efficient instruction in drawing is given for at least 14 hours per week, an addition of 1s. 6d. in the junior division and 1s. 9d. in the senior division will be paid, with 3d. more if exercises in simple forms of manual occupation are given. Scholars who have obtained the merit certificate pass into the advanced department of the school or enter a higher grade school. The so-called secondary departments of elementary schools have hitherto been encouraged or in great measure provided for out of a grant paid to committees in counties, and the larger burghs in Scotland for the purposes of secondary education. They will now have their definite name and place given to them. In the advanced departments managers must arrange for the continuance of adequate instruction in English, geography, history, arithmetic, and drawing; also for instruction in such subjects as the department, having regard to the circumstances of the school, shall determine-viz, languages, mathematics, science, practical instruction in experimental science. Laundry work and dressmaking are to be encouraged by special grants.

A distinct class of schools, to be called higher grade (science) schools, finds its place in the code. To it has been added also a higher-grade commercial course, in which modern languages are given an important place, along with bookkeeping, shorthand, and knowledge of commercial products. The first year of these science and commercial courses may be made identical, provided that it includes instruction both in experimental science and a modern language. In the second year of the commercial course at least eight hours, and in the third year ten hours, a week must, as a rule, be devoted to the study of modern languages. These courses are designed for pupils leaving school to begin the work of life at thirteen or fourteen years of age, and their chief value lies in their constituting, if effectively carried out, a sound general education of a distinctly modern type, and preparatory to the commercial, scientific, or technical training to be obtained in the evening classes of a technical institute or college.