No, it cannot be justified on any ground. All teachers make blunders of some sort, it is to be granted, but let us pray to be delivered from this, and failing of such delivery-because of the hardness of our hearts from long indulgence of the habit-let us go away and dig ditches or scrub floors, until we learn humility and a sense of fitness in the use of any weapons that nature may have put into our hands. F. L. HARTJAN.

WHY SOME TEACHERS DO SUCCEED.

They have a clear and definite idea of what they wish to teach. This requires a clear and distinct knowledge of the subject, or, in other words, of the entire group of ideas that constitute that part or pha e of the subject which they are undertaking to teach. The order in which these ideas follow one another is also seen, and this constitutes the method of teaching.

2. They have a definite notion of what the pupil already knows, which they have discovered by conversation with the pupil and by questions. An inventory of the child's mental possessions has been taken, and the teacher has compared its knowledge with the subject, and knows what is the next thing to teach.

3. They have thought through the lesson before the recitation hour, and have chosen a way of approaching the main point that is to be impressed. They have thought of illustrations and other matter that will add interest to the subject of the lesson.

4. But they use this preparation freely and as the state of mind. of the class suggests. A preparation servilely followed will prevent the spontaneity that makes a recitation a success. They follow the inspiration of the moment, but the antecedent preparation gives a general direction to this inspiration.

5. They always connect the first part of the lesson of to-day with what has gone before, and make the entire work of the month or term one connected whole.

6. They hold the class for a definite amount of preparation and test them thoroughly upon it.

7. They are genial and pleasant in their intercourse with the children, but exacting in the matter of work assigned and of duty. But they never allowed any barriers to grow up between themselves and their pupils.

8. They do not talk about rules, but what is right and for the

best. They are indeed earnest in their efforts to help the children, and are alive to every suggestion and source of help within their reach.

9. They do not worry about what they cannot help. They do the present duty as well as they know how, and then do the next thing cheerfully but earnestly, and have faith. Worry kills more people than work.

IO.

10. They have learned to labor intelligently and to wait with patience. And, besides, they take good care of their health, and so are full of hope and courage, always looking up and not down, forward and not backward, and are ever ready to lend a hand. - The Pennsylvania School.

ENTOMOLOGY.

Overhearing the remark at one of our recent Institutes, "Do the results obtained amply or even sufficiently repay the labor expended in the teaching of entomology?" Let me commit myself to a reply.

In the first place, does not entomology deal with nature itself? Bodily, before the child must be the object of his observation-thus the fundamental principles of our great educators can be carried out, thereby developing in the youth the faculties of perception, attention, accuracy and minute observation. Even in the little tots, just entering school, the idea of number, feeling (in more than one sense of the word), form and color can readily be inculcated; the expression of which you will find to be a natural consequence. Thus it becomes a lesson in language.

Then again; have the child make a rough outline of the insect, which becomes beneficial, in that it gives freedom of movement to the hand, practice to the eye, an idea of natural forms-the curved lines of

nature.

Again; the inquiry into the various habits of the insect will of necessity throw the child into other fields, noticing thereby the things in nature injured by the little pests, or benefited by God's wonderful little creatures, thus educating the child how to avoid the one and cherish the other.

From the above view of the study, I think we may at least establish the equation that the labor expended equals the results obtained. DORA FITZ MAURICE.

INDEX MEMORY.

The public schools are called upon to meet all sorts of criticisms, not the least frequent being that of memory training. A parent recently said to me: "My son completed the work of the Grammar School with distinction. He graduated from the High Schools with one of the highest records ever made; and yet it was only yesterday that I asked him where Archangel was and he neither knew nor could find out. He studied geography four or five of the twelve years that he was in school and he always stood high in his reports. There's something radically wrong in your public schools."

The criticism was not without force. It contained an element of serious truth; not because the boy did not know the location of Archangel, for, perhaps, not one in a dozen really educated people could tell, but because he could not find out. If his geography work did anything for him it should have trained him in the use of the atlas, maps and encyclopedia. It should have trained his index memory.

The great mass of facts now memorized by the pupils in our geography classes-the locations, boundaries, areas, populations and other data-must in a large measure be soon forgotten. The mental powers are not sufficiently potent to carry so great a quantity of isolated, disconnected, uninteresting facts. Only leading facts should be memorized. The lesser ones should be delegated to the index memory, should they ever be needed.

What is true of geography is quite as true of history. Life is too short to justify us in memorizing all the minor dates of discoveries, explorations and battles. The children should be trained to find these facts if they should ever need them, but not compelled to memorize that which would be worthless to even an educated person.

The pupils should have much training in index memory-training in the use of the dictionary, the globe, maps, charts, atlases, encyclopedias and the reference books in the libraries. It has been well said that the difference between the educated and the uneducated is that the former always know where to refer.

SUPT. WILL S. MONROE, PASADENA.

EXPERIMENTS WITHOUT APPARATUS.

TO ILLUSTRATE THE FORMATION OF DEW.-As long as the earth gives off considerable heat at night, up to October and November, dew is formed on its surface on clear nights. Place a pitcher full of water in a warm room and throw a piece of ice into it. Dew soon forms on the outside. The pitcher does not sweat, but the moisture of the air is condensed, since the air coming in contact with the cool pitcher is cooled down below the dew point. In this way the formation of dew can be made clear.

TO ILLUSTRATE THE FORMATION OF FROST.-A certain amount of cooling deposits moisture from the air and still more cooling freezes it, hence frost or frozen dew. Thus can the formation of frost be studied in the fall of the year and it should be in every school. Artificial freezing can be produced by making a mixture of five parts of sal-ammoniac and five of salt-petre, finely powdered, and put in nineteen parts of water. Freezing can also be illustrated at any time of the year and in the hottest room, by drenching powder and sulphate of soda (glauber's salt) with muriatic acid. The temperature will sink from eighty to thirty, the vessel in which the mixture is made becoming covered with frost.

DEW FROM A FLAME.-If a piece of clean cold glass be held a short distance above a candle flame, fine dew will be deposited on it. This is water generated within the flame. If an inverted tumbler be held above a flame, so that the rising current may enter it, dew will form. If the tumbler be closed with a card and set down, and a little clear lime-water poured into it and shaken, it will become milky from the combination of carbonic acid with the lime, showing that carbonic acid was generated within the flame.

HOW STARCH IS OBTAINED FROM POTATOES.-If raw potatoes are grated and the pulp washed on a linen cloth with clean water, a milky liquid passes through containing starch, which gradually sinks to the bottom of the vessel.-National Educator.

DEAR SIR: You are hereby notified that in accordance with Section 1532 of the Political Code, Subdivision Fourteenth, a Biennial Convention of the County School Superintendents of California will be held at the State Capitol, Sacramento, commencing Tuesday, December 2, 1890.

Under the provisions of said section each County Board of Education may be represented in said Convention by one delegate elected from and by its members. I would suggest that each County Board of Education elect its delegate as soon as possible. Said delegate should present to the Superintendent of Public Instruction a copy of the resolution appointing him, signed by the President and attested by the Secretary of his Board, under the seal of said Board.

The Convention is called early, that it may not interfere with the County Examinations of Teachers and meeting of State Association, and that there may be ample time to embody the amendments recommended, in a proper bill to be presented to the Legislature. It is also hoped that each County Superintendent and each delegate will come with his proposed amendment to the School Law prepared, to the end that the deliberations may be to the point, cover all needed changes and result in the greatest possible amount of good to the school system of the State. Very truly yours,

IRA G. HOITT,

Superintendent of Public Instruction.

MEETING OF STATE BOARD.

The State Board of Education met on Sept. 19. All members present except Governor Waterman.

The Board recommended for school libraries, "Bancroft Bros. and