knowledge and some special skill for his work. The most elementary requirement would be facility in the use of figures, the writing of a good hand and a reasonably accurate elementary acquaintance with the mother tongue."-Principal Sheppard.

"Manual training is destined to become a part of the curriculum of every school and to be a part of the work of every pupil. You may shake your head, oppose it, decry it as you will, it is as sure to follow as the night the day."-Principal Larkins.

The State Superintendents

The convention of New York State superintendents, held at Rochester in October, was the liveliest in years, interest centering about the decision of the State Board of Regents to allow no schools public money unless the State examinations are held therein. Rochester is opposed to what Professor Forbes calls the autocracy" of the State board. The opinion of the delegates from other cities was about evenly divided. The matter of adopting the simplified spelling method as advocated by Carnegie, Matthews, Roosevelt Corporation was presented, but no action was taken. In fact it was given very little consideration. The legislative committee was instructed to favor the establishment of State truant schools, apart from the State reformatories for boys and girls. The following officers were elected: President, Supt. R. R. Rogers, Jamestown; vice-president, John M. Dolph, Port Jervis; secretary and treasurer, E. G. Lantman, Port Chester. Albany was selected as a place of meeting next year.

The Holiday Conference

Syracuse, December 26 28, 1906.

The following preliminary announcement has been secured concerning the program of the Associated Academic Principals' Conference, which will be held at Syracuse the latter part of December. The annual address will be delivered by President Hadley of Yale University. Other addresses arranged at this writing are: "The True Function of the College," by President Taylor of Vassar; "The True Function of the Free Public High School," by Dr. W. H. Hickman, President of the Chautauqua Institution. The general subject of the meeting, aside from the special addresses, will be, "Problems in the Administrations of Secondary Schools." It is intended to make the meeting a time for a good deal of general discussion by the principals themselves. Commissioner Draper will speak on "The Teaching in the Smaller Academic Schools." A fare of 13 has been secured on the different roads. Headquarters will be at the Yates Hotel, and the meetings will be held in the City Hall. The officers of the organ

ization are: Milton J. Fletcher, Jamestown, president; A. W. Skinner, Oneida, vice-president; W. J. Deans, Palmyra, secretary; A. B. Vossler, Deposit, treasurer. Executive committee, A. E. Barnes, Freeport; H. L. Russell, Owego; C. A. Hamilton, Newark.

New York State Science Teachers Association

The next annual meeting of the New York State Science Teachers' Association will be held at Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York city, December 26th and 27th, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The program is as follows:

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Wednesday afternoon.—Dean James E. Russell; Dr. Kelly, Ethical Culture School, “Are High School Courses in Science Adapted to the Needs of Adolescents; W. M. Bennett, West High School, Rochester, "Some Demonstrations in Refraction and Dispersion of Light; Prof. Minchen, University of Rochester, 'Demonstration: The Principle of Interference and Its Applications;" Henry R. Linville, De Witt Clinton High School, New York city, "Biology as Method and as Science in Secondary Schools;" Dr. Grace E. Cooley, Newark High School, "The High School Biologist and the Citizen of To-morrow; Jennie T. Martin, Central High School, Buffalo, "Field Work in Physical Geography; W. H. Platzer, High School, Poughkeepsie, "The Value of the Inductive Study of Relief Forms in Field Work;" Prof. Gale, University of Rochester, "The Place of Transformation Theory in Geometry; Prof. Keyser, Columbia University, "Concerning the Introduction of Modern Notions into the Geometry of Secondary Mathematics."

Wednesday evening.-Prof. D. E. Smith, Teachers' College, Columbia University, “The Preparation of the Teacher of Mathematics in Secondary Schools; " Prof. E. L. Thorndike, Teachers' College, Columbia University, "The Teaching of Science as Seen from the Outside."

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Thursday forenoon.-Prof. Mann, Chicago University, "The New Move for the Reform of Physics Teaching in Germany, France and America;" Prof. Sherman Davis, Indiana University, "Purpose of Science in the Culture of the Adolescent; " J. M. Jameson, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, More Interesting Mechanics in the High School; " J. Y. Bergen, Cambridge, Mass., Plant Physiology in Secondary Schools; Prof. Bigelow, Teachers' College, Columbia University, "Some Established Principles of Nature Study;" Lester B. Cary, High School, Buffalo; George T. Hargitt, High School, Syracuse; and James T. Peabody, Morris High School, New York city, "The Teaching of Biological Science in Some of the High Schools in New York State;" Prof. Richardson, Syracuse University, “The

Study of Minerals and Rocks in Physical Geography in the High School; Dr. John M. Clarke, State Geologist, Barachois, Bar and Tickle; " A. W. Farnham, Oswego Normal School, The Relation which School Gardens may bear to Industrial and Commercial Geography;" W. T. Morrey, Morris High School, New York city, " Use of Reference Books in Physical Geography by Pupils in the High School; Prof. Hawkes, Yale University, Secondary Mathematics from a College Standpoint;" C. B. Upton, Horace Mann High School, What Equipment does a High School need for the Effective Teaching of Mathematics;" Prof. Webb, Stevens Institute,

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The Relation between High School and College Mathematics."

Thursday afternoon.-Prof. Hallock, Columbia University, Demonstration, Optical Oddities; Fred Z. Lewis, Boys' High School, Brooklyn, Demonstration, Photomicrographs; Prof. Davis, Harvard University,

Laboratory Exercises in Physical Geography, Illustrated; ' W. Betz, East High School, Rochester, Open Questions in the Teaching of Elementary Geometry;" J. T. Rover, Central High School, Philadelphia, "The Necessity of Closer Affiliation of Mathematical Associations; " Dr. E. C. Hovey, American Museum of Natural History, "West Indian Volcanoes and their Recent Eruptions, Illustrated."

Thursday evening-Reception given by President Nicholas Murray Butler.

Teachers of science and mathematics desiring to become members of the association may communicate with the president, John F. Woodhull, Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York city.

News of Schools and School Men

The decennial anniversary of the founding of the Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial School of Technology, was observed at Potsdam, Nov. 27-30. A Thanksgiving alumni dinner was served at one of the hotels. The principal address was delivered by Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Arthur Cooper, a representative of the American Book Company for over twenty years, with important territory in New York city and State, died Nov. 14, at the Hahnemann hospital, New York city, as a result of an operation for an affection of the liver.

The board of education of Ballston Spa has adopted a resolution requesting the teachers not to accept gifts from the scholars or parents. This has caused much hard feeling in the past, as children who were unable to give felt it keenly when other scholars made valuable gifts to the teachers.

At Auburn the board of education requires a deposit of one dollar from all who attend night school, as a guarantee of regular attend

ance and good conduct. This, however, will be returned at the close of the term, to all pupils standing 80 per cent. or above in attendance, unless otherwise forfeited.

The Elmira board has recommended that, instead of holding a teachers' institute, the superintendent secure three or four good speakers during the year to speak to the teachers upon educational topics. Elmira has adopted the course of study recommended by the State Education Department.

Hereafter the application of any married woman to teach in the public schools of Syracuse will not be considered. The women teachers in the high school have requested an increase in the maximum salary from $700 to $1,000 a year. John W. Scoville has been appointed a teacher in the high school. The elementary syllabus of the State Education Department has been adopted. The course of study committee has recommended as grade text-books, "Stories of Early New York State History," by Sherman Williams, and Builders of Our Country," by Mrs. Frank Southworth. The latter book is published by D. Appleton & Co.

At Lockport the board pays for the instruction given the high school orchestra. The high school also has a military organization, not yet recognized by the board, but an effort is being made to place the military drill on the same basis as other studies, allowing certain counts for proficiency and attendance at roll-call, and holding examinations during the year.

Mrs. Russell Sage has given $50,000 toward building a new union school at Sag Harbor. At the suggestion of Mrs. Sage the school will be known as Pierson High School, in memory of one of her forebears.

The teachers in the public schools of Kingston are making a strong effort to lessen the cigarette habit among the boys. In the annual report of the board of education recently issued there is a report from the principal of each school in the city, and in nearly every one of these reports there is mention made of the cigarette habit and the fight that is being waged to discourage it. The teachers all agree that the boys who are addicted to this pernicious habit do poor work in their classes and soon fall hopelessly to the rear. Some good methods to lessen the evil are suggested. One principal recommends "the help of the public press, which is mighty power for good. Let the teacher see that literature pertaining to the evil effects of smoking cigarettes be printed in the home papers and read." He adds, "if each of the 450,000 teachers of the land should save one boy each year; if they should band themselves together for one common purpose, what a mighty army would be marshaled for the right." Another suggests a heart to heart talk with the boy, showing him the results of such smoking by citing examples such as exist even in their own city.

Supt. Hayward, of Cohoes, gives a course of illustrated lectures during the winter season, under the auspices of the board of education, for the benefit of the teachers, pupils and general public.

The Orange County Teachers' Association met at Middletown, November 10. Papers were read by George H. Decker, E. E. Cortright, H. C. Woodworth, Edmund Cocks, A. C. Mayham, and T. L. McKnight. Principal Mayham's topic was, "In the average community with a school of less than 200 pupils, would it not be better to take the teaching force and equipment necessary for an academic course and use it to develop a stronger grammar school and not have an academic department?" The officers of the association are: U. F. Axtell, president; Jessie Hotchkiss, first vice-president; Frank M. Edson, second vice-president; Orville Eichenberg, secretary; and Anna A. Farrand, treasurer.

Cheney's English History has been adopted at Hornell, in place of Montgomery's.

Hart's Essentials in American History has been adopted at Rome.

The Buffalo Schoolmasters' Association has arranged an interesting program of meetings for the year. The topics and list of speakers follow:

October 2, "The Public Library and the Public School," Mr. Walter L. Brown, Librarian Buffalo Public Library; Supt. Henry P. Emerson; November 13, "Class Organization, -One division or two divisions?" Mr. R. A. Searing, Supt. of Schools, No. Tonawanda; December 4;, School Sanitation," Dr. Walter D. Greene,' Health Commissioner, City of Buffalo; January 8, "Inter-dependence of Manual Training and Drawing," Mr. Theodore M. Dillaway, Director of Drawing; Mr. Daniel Upton, Principal of Technical High School; February 5, 'Mid-winter Banquet; March 5, 'European School Systems," Mr. George M. Forbes, Professor of Education, Rochester University; April 2, "Relation of the Superintendent to the School System," Mr. Henry P. Emerson, Superintendent of Education; June 8, Annual outing.

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Highland; sec., Martin C. Nilon, New Paltz; treas., J. Hartley Tanner, Fly Mountain.

The annual session of the Ontario County Teachers' Association was held in the Canandaigua Academy, Nov. 15-16. The program arranged by Commissioner Ingalls was interesting and helpful, especially so the work on drawing by Miss Helen E. Lucas of the Rochester Schools. "Uncle John" Spencer was on hand to please and instruct in his winsome way. The address by Prof. George P. Bristol, of Cornell University, brought out old truths in new dress in such a way as to impress one with the importance of the teacher's mission. Hon. O. F. Williams delivered a masterly address on Our Rights and Duties in the Orient."

The officers for the current year are:

President, Supt. James Winne, Canandaigua; vice-pres., Prin. L. W. Herrick, Clifton Springs; secretary, Prin. William M. Fort, Phelps; treasurer, Miss Mary Rigney, West Bloomfield.

School affairs in Troy are reported to have become so bad that the women of the city have organized an "Educational Alliance," the object of which is to create and maintain public interest in the school system of Troy; to raise the standard of efficiency in the teaching force; to seek to eliminate abuses in the conduct of the schools; and to work for the appointment of a competent governing board which shall be representative of the best citizenship and devoted to the welfare of the schools." The work of this housecleaning brigade will be watched with interest. Just now a petition is being circulated for signatures, addressed to His Honor, the Mayor. It reads as follows:

"We, parents, citizens and taxpayers of the city of Troy, believe that the best interests of our public schools are jeopardized by the present conditions in our board of education. We call attention to the following facts:

"The existing board is, in its majority, politically out of sympathy with your administration and the majority of the voters who intrusted the conduct of city affairs to you.

"It is representative of an administration which those voters believe discredited our city, foisted upon it incompetent and unworthy officials, and, particularly in the Department of Public Education, has brought about an intolerable state of affairs.

"The present board in no sense represents the awakened public sentiment which is demanding a higher standard of intelligence, efficiency and honesty in our school officials.

"We therefore respectfully petition you to remove the present board of education."

After telling her pupils about the landing of the Pilgrims, a school teacher recently asked them to draw from imagination a picture of Plymouth Rock. There was considerable confusion when a little boy got up and asked if she wanted a hen or a rooster.

Cornell Scholarships.

The Education Department has issued a pamphlet relating to the competitive examination of candidates for the State scholarships in Cornell University for 1907. The examinations will be held in each county, June 1, 1907. New Rules Relating to Teachers' Certificates.

A booklet recently issued by the Education Department, covering the regulations relating to teachers' certificates, states that the last examination for the first-grade uniform certificate will be held in April, 1907. Thereafter the new plan of earning certificates will be in full effect, based on the rules enacted by the Regents in September, 1905. The certificates will include elementary, academic and training class, limited to a particular school not maintaining an academic department; training school, State life, normal, college graduate, and special certificates to be known as kindergarten, drawing, etc. The legal requirements for teaching in the primary and grammar grades of city schools are a State life, normal diploma, college graduate, or training school certificate, or three years' successful experience in teaching and a valid teachers' certificate.

New Education Building.

The roster of the Education Department shows the names of 251 officials and employees. The new education building will require at least 349,000 feet of floor space so that the work can be carried on with greater facility. The first competition for architects who have desired to furnish plans closed November 30. The board of award will select the ten most meritorious from among the set of designs submitted and will pay to the authors of these ten drawings the sum of $500 each. The board will then invite the ten authors of the selected designs to engage in a second competition and will pay the further sum of $1,000 to each author who competes. The authors of the three most meritorious designs finally accepted will be awarded $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. The last legislature appropriated $3,500,000 to cover the cost of the building and the sum of $400,000 with which to purchase the site.

Lantern Slides.

The Division of Visual Instruction is now ready to loan lantern slides to illustrate courses of study in various subjects. The slides are standard size, 334x4 inches, and so far as practicable, are colored. Almost every subject admitting of illustration is represented, including reproductions of national history, historic places, famous buildings, manners and customs of peoples, industries, scientific specimens, physical phenomena, sculpture, painting, literature and the classics. The scope of the work will be constantly broadened and new illustrations will be added as rapidly as possible. A printed catalogue will be issued containing a carefully classified list of slides

available. This catalogue will be supplemented by suggestive lists of slides upon a variety of topics for which there is special demand. There are in the collection several copies of nearly every slide catalogued, so no difficulty is anticipated in promptly filling every requisition received. Requisitions for illustrations not listed in the catalogue will be given careful consideration and filled if practicable.

All schools, institutions and organizations in the State of New York under the jurisdiction of the New York State Education Department, or chartered by or registered with the Regents of the University, are entitled to borrow slides.

School Decoration.

Teachers who have difficulty in finding appropriate pictures with which to adorn their classrooms will probably welcome an offer which is now being advanced by the Division of Educational Extension of the State Education Department. The offer is to supply framed pictures suitable for classroom decoration at an annual rental of fifty cents each.

Any teacher desiring suitable pictures for classroom decoration may obtain a list of one hundred by writing to the New York State Education Department, Division of Educational Extension, Albany, N. Y. After selecting the pictures desired, the teacher sends their captions, together with fifty cents to pay for the annual rental of each picture, to the Division of Educational Extension.

The pictures are then forwarded, the State paying transportation both ways to the railway or steamboat office nearest the school, but the teacher must pay the local cartage.

The list is not intended necessarily to represent the best art, but rather to include one hundred of the most satisfactory subjects for the decoration of high schools, taking into consideration not only the artistic merit, reputation, historical and literary significance and educational value, but also extreme or peculiar views on religious and ethical questions. Obviously certain pictures sure to be included among the best one hundred pictures for an art gallery would have to be excluded from a selection for public schools to be paid for out of public funds. In circulating pictures at State expense it has been thought wise to avoid those objectionable on religious grounds as tending to irreverence for things held sacred, or as tending to dignify and enforce or to ridicule or antagonize particular doctrines, and those objectionable on ethical grounds as tending to make vice or questionable habits familiar or attractive, or as disregarding prejudice against the nude in art.

The pictures provided by the State are about 42x54 inches in size, and comprise Braun, Elson, Hanfstangl and Hegger carbons, Copley prints and bromides and Berlin photogravures.

State Examinations Board.

The new State Examinations Board for which the Board of Regents provided at the

June meeting has just been appointed. The board consists of twenty persons-the Commissioner of Education, the three Assistant Commissoners, and the Chief of the Examinations Division are er officio members, and the Commissioner of Education is chairman. Fifteen other members are appointed by the Board of Regents, ordinarily at the time of the University Convocation, five of whom represent the colleges and universities, five the high schools and academies, and five the city superintendents. Only such persons as are engaged in teaching or in supervision in this State may be members of the board. The appointive members serve for five years, but the first appointees for each group serve for one, two, three, four and five years, as designated by the Board of Regents.

The functions of the Examinations Board are to appoint, with the approval of the Commissioner of Education, committees to prepare question papers for State examinations, and to advise with the Commissioner in respect to the form and contents of syllabuses covering the subjects of study in the elementary and secondary schools.

This board serves without compensation, but the ordinary expenses incident to attendance upon meetings called by the Commissioner of Education are to be paid by the State.

The committees appointed by the State Examinations Board to prepare question papers consist of three persons each. One of each committee must be an officer of the Education Department; the other two members, for preacadmic subjects are principals of elementary schools, and for academic subjects a college teacher and a secondary school teacher. Each teacher shall serve for one year and shall receive from the State the necessary expenses in attending meetings of his committee in each year and an annual honorarium as follows: on preacademic subjects, English, Latin, 'Greek, history with civics and economics, mathematics, biological science, and commercial subjects, $50; on German, French, Spanish and drawing, $40; on physics, chemistry and physical geography, $30.

The members of the first board have been selected as follows:

Colleges-President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University, to serve five years: President Rush Rhees of the University of 'Rochester, to serve four years; Chancellor James R. Day of Syracuse University, to serve three years; President David W. Hearn of the College of St. Francis Xavier, to serve two years; President A. V. V. Raymond of Union University, to serve one year.

Secondary schools-Associate City Superintendent Edward L. Stevens, in charge of high schools, New York City, to serve five years; Principal Walter B. Gunnison, Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, to serve four years; Principal Frank H. Rollins, Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan, to serve three years; Principal Frank D. Boynton, Ithaca High School, Ithaca, to serve two years; Principal L. F. Hodge, Franklin Academy, Malone, to serve one year.

Elementary schools-Superintendent Wil

liam Henry Maxwell, New York City, to serve five years; Superintendent Henry P. Emerson, Buffalo, to serve four years; Superintendent A. P. Blodgett, Syracuse, to serve three years; Superintendent Charles E. Gorton, Yonkers, to serve two years; Superintendent Richard A. Searing, North Tonawanda, to serve one year.

Educational Legislation, 1906.

Many inquiries have come to us regarding any changes and new laws relating to public education passed by the legislature of 1906. The majority of these acts are not of general importance, but are local in character and therefore we mention here only those likely to be of most interest to our readers.

CHAPTER 58. An act to amend the consolidated school law relative to misrepresentation in the sale of school supplies. Became a law, March 15, 1906. Makes it a misdemeanor for any employe, agent, or representative of a firm, company or corporation engaged in selling, publishing, or manufacturing papers, periodicals, books, maps, charts, school supplies, apparatus, or furniture, or any other person engaged or employed in such business to falsely represent to a school board, a teacher or school officer, that he is an agent, employe, or representative of the Commissioner of Education, the State Education Department, the Regents of the University, or any other school officer.

CHAPTER 150. An act to amend certain sections; and to legalize certain acts of trustees of school districts. Became a law, April 5, 1906. Authorizes trustees to have school houses insured. If the district meeting shall neglect to make such authorization, it shall be the duty of the trustees to insure such school houses and the premiums paid shall be raised by district tax. Relates also to the purchase of school sites, construction of school houses, additions thereto, purchase of furniture and apparatus, repairs, etc. The acts of the trustees in heretofore insuring school property in companies not created by or under the laws of New York State, but which are authorized by law to transact business in this State are hereby legalized.

CHAPTER 678. An act providing for the acquisition of a site and for the erection of a State Education Building, providing for the State Library, State Museum, and making an appropriation therefor. Became a law, May 31, 1906.

CHAPTER 698. An act to amend the consolidated school law, in relation to the apportionment of the free school fund. Became a law, June 2, 1906. To each district having an assessed valuation of $20,000 or less, as appears by the report of the trustees upon which such apportionment is based, $200; to each district having an assessed valuation of $40,000 or less, but exceeding $20,000, $175; to each district having an assessed valuation of $60,000 or less, but exceeding $40,000, $150; to each Indian reservation for each teacher employed therein for a period of 32 weeks or more, $150; and to each of the remaining districts, and to each of the cities in the State, $125. The apportionment provided for by this sub