Logically, then, when carried to any excess over
just sufficient to secure the needed clear perceptions and the
corresponding names for material objects and qualities, the
object-lesson system at once becomes the special and fitting education
for the ditcher, the 'hewer of wood,' the mere human machine in any
employment or station in life, where a quick and right taking to the
work at the hand is desirable, and any thing higher is commonly thought
to be in the way; but it is not the complete education for the
independent mind, the clear judgment and good taste, which must grow out
of habits of weighing and appreciating also thousands of _non_-material
considerations; and which are characteristics indispensable in all the
more responsible positions of life, and that in reality may adorn and
help even in the humblest. In a recently published report or address on
a recommendation respecting the teaching of Sciences, made by the
English 'Committee of Council on Education,' in 1859, Mr. Buckmaster
says:

'The object-lessons given in some schools are so vague and
unsystematic, that I doubt very much if they have any educational
or practical value. I have copied the following lessons from the
outline of a large elementary school; Monday, twenty minutes past
nine to ten, Oral Lesson--_The Tower of Babel_; Tuesday, _The
Senses_; Wednesday, _Noah's Ark_; Thursday, _Fire_; Friday, _The
Collect for Sunday_. What can come of this kind of teaching, I am
at a loss to understand. Now, a connected and systematic course of
lessons on any of the natural sciences, or on the specimens
contained in one of Mr. Dexter's cabinets, would have been of far
greater educational value, and more interesting to the children.
_This loose and desultory habit of teaching encourages a loose and
desultory habit of thought_; it is for this reason that I attach
great value to _consecutive courses_ of instruction. I think, it
will not be difficult to show that the study of _almost any branch
of elementary science_ not only has a direct bearing on many of the
practical affairs of every-day life, but also _supplies all the
conditions necessary to stimulate and strengthen the intellectual
faculties in a much greater degree_ than many of the subjects now
taught in our elementary schools.'

All the lines of our investigation, as well as the most competent
testimony