rizing, and too little in making use of knowledge. It was, therefore, a great prize to find in the examination papers received from many towns and cities one in which the use of the textbook was permitted. This unusual paper is printed in full:

GEOGRAPHY

Pupils may make any use they wish of the textbook in writing answers to these questions. (Fourth Grade-B Class.)

1. Tell the important facts about the climate of New Mexico and Arizona.

2. What is the exact population of Wisconsin as given in the textbook? The exact population of Wyoming? Of Pittsburgh, Pa.? Of Chicago? Of Milwaukee?

3. On what page of the textbook will you find a picture of a cattle ranch? Of a geyser? Of a stone quarry? Of a river scene with steamboats? An irrigation scene or a fruit farm? 4. Write the names of ten important cities shown in the map on page 80. Use the map on page 93; write the names of five large cities located on or near the line marked 39. In what direction does this line extend? Give name of the state in which each of these cities is located and tell which of them are capital cities.

5. Write the names of two ranges or groups of mountains found on this map; also names of two mountain peaks.

6. What is the number of the line that separates New York State from Pennsylvania? South Dakota from Nebraska? Rhode Island from Massachusetts?

7. Copy what your book tells you about the State of Michigan. 8. State some of the geographical facts which you can learn from the picture on page 91.

There were questions on other papers which referred the pupils to the textbook, but the above is the only paper which has come to hand in which this practise was uniformly carried out. It is not to be assumed that this type question is to be preferred above all others; it is but one among many. The wonder is that it is not more common, not alone in geography, but in other subjects. The use of the atlas, of gazetteers, books of reference, statistical tables, supplementary readers, government publications, and so on, are fruitful sources of tests; and the manipulation of all these forms the

equipment of an educated man. The habit of using books is urged and even demanded; how often is a test given to discover how far this teaching of habit-acquiring has been effective? V. The disappearance of old types of questions

There were three types of questions very common in the examinations of a few years ago, namely, the definition as of some land form, the naming of areas in order, as the counties. of a state, and the bounding of areas. It is not necessary to discuss here the causes of their disappearance. There are other questions of more recent date, which are opposed to the principles set down for the teacher, and these are displaying signs of vanishing, but these are too difficult to classify at present. In a list of 1,038 questions asked in the grade schools, ranging from the III to the VIII grade, there were seventeen and one-half questions asking for a definition, seven requesting that an area be bounded, and three and onehalf demanding a recital of states or counties in order. Of the seventeen and one-half questions on definition, fourteen and one-half were in the same city and twelve and one-half in the same grade (VIII), covering two examinations in mathematical geography. The author of the examination paper was not familiar evidently with the aim and scope of mathematical geography. In cases of this nature, then, the change in geographical instruction is marked, but this is to be explained largely by the greater length of the period covered in the change.

As a whole, the examination papers displayed one great weakness, the lack of any consistent development in the geography work. This was the marked feature of the upper grade examinations in a large percentage of cases. Among the IV and V grade papers were found more examples of progress, and more noteworthy examination tests than among the VI and VII grade papers. There is a great need over the country of a more thoughtful consideration of the issues of upper grade geography.

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

ROBERT M. BROWN

VI

THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF STUPIDITY IN SCHOOLS

[The following article appeared in the second number of the Popular Science Monthly for June, 1872, apparently reprinted from the London Journal of Psychological Medicine. The name of the writer was not given, but the article itself was widely discust by American teachers. EDITOR.]

It is related of a learned judge, that he once praised a retiring witness in the following words: "You are entitled to great credit, sir. You must have taken infinite pains with yourself. No man could naturally be so stupid."

We cite this well-worn anecdote because it contains, probably the earliest public recognition of the principle which the title of our article is intended to convey. Existing in all ages of the world, in all conditions of life, and described by a copious vocabulary in every language, stupidity is something which it has never been possible to ignore or to forget. The fact of its all-pervading presence, its vitality in the most different climates and scenes, has tended to convince mankind of the necessity of an evil which they have never failed to perceive; and which has served, from time immemorial, as a subject for the lamentation of the wise, and a basis for the calculations of the designing. The lessons of proverbial wisdom, the results of hasty generalization, and the daily experiences of life, all point out, or seem to point out, that stupidity is inseparable from the existence of the human race; and that it must appear, not in every individual, but in many individuals of every community. It follows that the persons in whom the phenomenon is most conspicuously manifested are regarded with something of the compassion which attaches to physical infirmity; and enjoy, in a certain degree, the power of blundering, with the privilege of being exempt from punishment.

We have long entertained a conviction that this passive acquiescence in stupidity, as an ultimate fact of human nature, and this confident expectation of its unmitigated recurrence in each succeeding generation, are founded upon errors of considerable practical importance. By directing attention to causes that are remote, they induce forgetfulness of those which lie at every man's door; and by bringing into prominence the stupidity which is irremediable, they lead us to neglect examination of that which may be prevented.

In truth, the varieties of hebetude are numerous. It must be admitted that some of them are displayed by persons whose intellects are obscured by organic defect, “native and to the manner born," in the nervous apparatus-by continuing deficiency, or excess in the composition or quantity of the circulating fluid; and it is probable that, in many cases of this nature, the scalpel, or the microscope and test-tube, would fail to disclose the cause of the infirmity. Inherited diathesis, or hereditary disease, may doubtless weaken the faculties of the mind, as they evidently weaken the physical powers of the body, and may produce effects varying in degree from idiocy to mere dulness of apprehension. We are far from saying that in these instances stupidity can neither be alleviated by judicious, nor confirmed by improper treatment; but we indicate them as affording a substratum of truth to popular prejudices touching the general invincibility of the state in question, and as giving evidence of its centric rather than eccentric origin.

By leaving this subdivision of the stupid entirely out of consideration, and remarking, by the way, that the word stupidity is misapplied when used to denote the mere absence of brilliant talent, we would call attention to the large class of persons who are dull and obtuse, not by reason of any probable congenital deficiency, nor by an unfair comparison with great wits or geniuses, but by comparison with what the individuals themselves clearly ought to be-with what they would have been had their faculties been developed in the right way. And this comparison is not so difficult as it may appear; for the simple reason that the human capabilities

do not greatly depart, save in exceptional cases, from the standard of mediocrity. Among a score of men taken at random, but approaching to equality in point of conformation, we may observe that physical strength or endurance will vary only within very narrow limits; there being, perhaps, a single athlete, or a single weakling, and a remainder composed of individuals whose powers are not precisely on a level, but nearly so.

Let us suppose, however, that among the twenty men there were a certain number who had been employed from their early years in pursuits calculated to produce muscular vigor and hardihood, and who had observed all rules and precautions likely to insure to such pursuits their most favorable effects. It is certain that, whatever differences might exist among themselves, these men would surpass all their competitors. Bendigo, the champion of the prize-ring, was one of a triple birth, and was the weakliest child of the family in which, by reason of diligent training, he became the strongest man. So universally has this principle been recognized and acted upon, that in every barbarous or half-civilized community, or under all circumstances which give an unquestioned superiority to bodily strength, we may find evidences of special care to foster and increase it. The "games" obligatory upon the little Spartans, the exercises of "gentle youth" during the age of chivalry, the description given by Mr. Catlin of the early training of the American aborigines, are all instances in point; and all show the recognition, under circumstances widely dissimilar, of the principle that the powers of the human organism are bestowed only in possibility to be developed by culture, or to dwindle under neglect.

The state of physiological knowledge permits us to lay it down as an axiom that what is true of one system or apparatus, among those given to man, must also be true mutatis mutandis (the necessary changes being made), of the rest. Without in the least degree failing to perceive the dependence of the higher faculties upon a spiritual nature, we must also perceive their dependence, during this life, upon the qualities