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A PREPARATORY LATIN PROSE BOOK. Containing all the Latin Prose necessasary for entering College, with References to Kuhner's and Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammars; Notes, critical and explanatory; a Vocabulary; and a Geographical and Historical Index. By J H. Hanson, A. M., Principal of the High School for Boys, Portland, Me. 12mo. pp. 762. Price, $1.75

RICHARD'S LATIN LESSONS. By Cyrus S. Richards, A. M., Principal of Kimball Union Academy, Meridan, N. H. Price, 63 cents.

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A PRACTICAL AND COMPLETE GERMAN GRAMMAR. By A. Doui, teacher of German. Price $1 25.

FIRST PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS. By J. T. Champlin, President of Waterville College. Price 80 cents. For Schools and Colleges.

A TEXT-BOOK IN INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY.

By J. T. Champlin, D. D. Price 80 cents.

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ENGLISH ANALYSIS. Containing Forms for the complete Analysis of English Composition. By Edward P. Bates, A. M. Price 30 cents.

THE TEACHER'S ASSISTANT; OR, HINTS AND METHODS IN SCHOOL DISCIPLINE AND INSTRUCTION. By Charles Northend, A. M. Price $1.00.

TOWER'S GRAMMARS. Elements of Grammar, by Tower and Tweed, price 30 cents; Common School Grammar, price 50 cents; Grammar of Composition, price 67 cents. INTELLECTUAL ALGEBRA; OR, ORAL EXERCISES IN ALGEBRA. For Common Schools. By David Tower, A. M. Price 42 cents.

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ELEMENTS OF MAP DRAWING. By C. S. Cartee, A. M. Illustrated with Plates.
Price 25 cents.

TREATISE ON ENGLISH PUNCTUATION. Designed for Letter-Writers, Authors,
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By John Wilson. Price $1.00.
MANUAL OF GYMNASTIC EXERCISES. For Schools and Families. By Samuel
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Payson, Dunton & Scribner's Penmanship.

THE MOST COMPLETE, SYSTEMATIC, AND BEST EVER PUBLISHED

A system which has done more for the advancement of this important branch of education than any other ever published; and which has been the means of awakening an interest in the subject never before felt, which drew from the celebrated educator, the Hon. HORACE MANN, the following approval: "This is the first common-sense system I have

ever seen."

The complete and comprehensive character of this system may be seen from the following list of the works which it comprises:

1. TWELVE COPY-BOOKS, which include a regularly-graded system of instruction, commencing with the simplest principles and closing with a most beautifully finished hand. 2. OBLIQUE LINES, for teaching the pupil the proper slope in writing.

3. A MANUAL FOR TEACHERS: containing a full statement of Payson, Dunton & Scribner's celebrated Method of Teaching.

4. CHIROGRAPHIC TABLETS: A new and original method for illustrating the formation and combination of the elements. Designed for class-teaching.

6. A SYSTEM OF BOOK-KEEPING, adapted to the System of Penmanship, in which the Daybook, Journal and Ledger are presented in written form.

A full description of the books in the Series will be sent to all who desire it.

A Descriptive Catalogue of our Publications will be sent, if applied for.

CROSBY & NICHOLS, 117 Washington Street, Boston.

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Figure 1.

BY DIO LEWIS, M. D.

AFTER ventilation, no subject bearing upon the health of our children, during their school-days, is so important as position in sitting and standing.

First, a word on their attitudes while standing or walking.

Figure 1 shows a position of the arms which is much in vogue. If the hands be thus joined behind, it is not impossible to. carry the head and shoulders well back; but the tendency to hold the body in the illustrated position is so strong, that, among the thousands I have seen walking with their hands thus joined, not ten have carried their heads and shoulders erect.

Figure 2.

Figure 2 represents another attitude common in our best schools. Such folding of the arms tends to contract the chest. Whoever will fold his arms thus, and carefully watch the influence upon his shoulders and chest, will need no further illustration. One experimenter found that the quantity of

air inhaled at a single inspiration was reduced from ten to twenty per cent. by holding the arms in this position.

Figure 3 presents a good attitude for the spine and one which, if practiced in school would tend to form the habit of walking erect. If teachers will stand or walk but ten minutes, holding the hands and arms in this position, I think they will be convinced of the truth of what I am saying.

The attitude in figure 4, may appear somewhat unseemly; but in a physiological aspect, and as meeting certain defects which are almost universal among the young of our country, it is the best possible position. The muscles in the back of the neck are, in almost every young person, so weak as to permit the head habitually to droop. Carrying the hands thus interlocked upon the back of the head, with the requisition that the pupil shall, during five minutes three or four Figure 3. times a day, stand or walk with the head drawn firmly back against the hands, would do more to correct the habit of drooping shoulders, and a weak spine, than any other exercise of which I can conceive.

It is not, however, for me,- an outsider, -even to suggest to teachers how often, and how long such attitudes shall be practiced. I simply take the liberty to say, that they would tend strongly to correct certain distortions of spine, shoulders, and chest, which are more or less inevitable, with the present positions in our schools.

But a tenfold more serious evil, in position, is seen in the pupil at his desk.

The face, when the head is held erect, is perpendicular, while the top of the desk is nearly horizontal. But the line of vision must be not far from a right angle with the surface of the book or atlas. To secure this necessary relation between the face and the page, the pupil leans forward and holds his face nearly parallel with the desk-top, or the page of the book.

If it were possible to hold the head back, and see the part of the atlas nearest the pupil, with the line of

Figure 4.

vision at an angle of forty-five degrees with the surface of the page,

how is the pupil to see the part of the atlas which is one foot farther from his face? This he cannot do without carrying his head one foot forward. To be constantly changing the focal distance through the range of a foot, would soon ruin his eyes.

When pupils become fatigued by leaning forward, or from a conviction of duty would hold the head erect, we frequently see them attempt to secure the indispensable relation between the face and the page by placing two or three books under the upper end of the atlas.

Figure 5.

I have devised a simple, cheap, and, several eminent teachers say, perfect means, by which this evil is entirely removed. It is illustrated in figure 5. The ladder is strong and not liable to get out of repair. The wire pall which supports it is united with it at the upper end, not by a hinge, which might get out of repair, but by simply entering small holes in the side pieces of the ladder. The pall is held to the ladder below by a strap, which, with a hook, serves to alter the inclination of the ⚫ ladder at pleasure. The finger-bars are joined to the ladder by strong

hooks, which are caught upon the cross rounds, and may thus be raised or lowered by a single motion of the hand. If placed as seen in the cut, they will hold two books, - for example, a Latin Reader and Lexicon.

Figure 6 shows two books thus supported.

Figure 7 illustrates the position of the pupil while using the New BookHolder.

Every desk in the large school of N. T. Allen, Esq., at West Newton, is supplied with this new invention; and Mr. Allen has written me a

very warm note of commendation, attesting their success in securing an upright attitude in his pupils.

I have spoken of this book-holder, not because it is the only means by which such advantages may be secured, but as an illustration of possibilities. There is not an ingenious mechanic, but will, for a dollar, furnish some simple means which will, more or less, perfectly secure the same results.

Engaged for many years as a teacher of gymnastics in schools, my attention has constantly been called to the false positions among our pupils; and, in these few paragraphs, I have ventured, for the first time as regards part of them, to call the attention of the public to the subject.

Figure 7.

With lovely wreaths of beautiful bright flowers.

E'en in the city's crowded streets, were seen
Where dwelt the rich, the rosy garlands too.

But far removed from all these beauteous scenes,

Within a dark and dingy looking room,

Whose furniture was scanty, poor and worn,

Stifling with heat, a dying mother lay,
Attended only by a child of twelve.
Her face, once beautiful, was lovely still,

But ah! that loveliness was not for earth!

Too soon, yes, all too soon, for that frail child,
Earth's loveliness for heaven's would be exchanged.
She feels the dart, she knows the seal of death
Upon her brow is fixed unalterably sure.
She knows, yet trembles not, for she hath known
For many sorrowing years no will but His,

The wise, All-wise dispenser of good gifts.