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In Belgium, attention was drawn to Clauson Kaas and his system by M. Herman Pergameni, on the occasion of a speech delivered by M. Paul Janson to the General Assembly of tho Education League, in which, among^ other reforms in primary instruction, he insisted on the necessity of giving a place of honour in tho popular schools to the practice of manual work, and the first elements of the principal industries and trades. In Holland, M. Kerdijk had already, in 1876, made known the system of Clauson Kaas by an article published in the Bode, the organ of the Netherland Society Volksondenoijs. In 1879 this same society sent M. Bouman, Director of the Normal School at Amsterdam, to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, there to learn how far manual work could be placed in connection with primary instruction. Later on, the Maatschajpjrij Tot Nut van't Algemeen, sent the chief schoolmaster of Amsterdam, J. Stam, to Emden, there to attend the course of Clauson Kaas. But the first who actually took the initiative in manual work in a school was the schoolmaster Groeneveld, of Eotterdam. Already, in 1878, ha had devised for his pupils a series of very simple exercises ; then he gave a course for teachers at Eotterdam, and finished by devoting himself entirely to this kind of instruction. We have already said that in Holland manual instruction is given in thirtyseven different communes to more than one thousand five hundred pupils, amongst whom six hundred receive these lessons gratuitously. The fee for the pupils who pay is from two to twenty francs a month. The age of the children also varies widely; in some communes they begin with children of seven, in. others we^ meet scholars of sixteen and seventeen. In the greater part of these schools two hours a week are devoted to instruction in manual work. Some among them count a large number of scholars. We will instance Dordrecht, with 250 ; Arnheim, with 147 ; and Amsterdam, with 145 scholars. The instruction comprehends in general pasteboard work, plaiting, and the use of the circular saw. In the Netherlands, as well as in Germany, there is but one voice in praise of the zeal and assiduity with which the pupils attend to their lessons. At Delftshaven it is quoted as a very good result that the twelve pupils, having attended during a period of two years a course of manual work, chose each a trade immediately after having completed their primary-school years. In general, wherever I have met with good schools of this description, analogous facts have been communicated to me. Nowhere, however, is instruction in manual arts more extensively carried on than in Finland, where, since 1866, it has been classed among the obligatory branches of normal and primary instruction. Finland owes this benefit to Uno Cygnaeus, who, by reading the writings of Pestalozzi and Froebel, had learnt the whole value of manual work as a means of education. In 1858 he was commissioned to go and study the system of instruction in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Holland. On his return he was nominated Inspector of Schools in Finland, and, thanks to his persevering efforts, manual work was introduced as an obligatory branch in all the schools of the country. Sweden is also to be reckoned among the countries where manual work occupies a real place in popular education. Likewise, in a great number of normal schools, this instruction is given regularly. At Landscrona, for example, the boys' school is so organized that instruction in manual work is given at the same time as instruction in other branches. About four hundred and twentyfive boys there receive, daily, five to six hours' lessons, and the work is so distributed that every child has about two hours' manual exercise each day. In this school, a number of objects very simple, but at the same time of great utility, are made. There it is maintained above all that the child should himself invent and construct, and that much more is accomplished in the case of an object not so well made, but which arises entirely from the initiative of the scholar, than in the case of remarkable objects for which he would have been compelled to seek aid and advice. Sweden also possesses two interesting Sloejdseininar,* one at Gothenburg, the other at Natis. The latter is under the direction of MM. Abrahamson and Salomon. Manual arts are there considered necessary in a popular school, and it is consequently found necessary also to train masters capable of teaching them. In principle, the ideas of Salomon differ essentially from those of Clauson Kaas. Whilst the latter seeks his exercises in the first elements of different, trades, Salomon finds that wood-work in general constitutes the best counterpoise to studies which involve bodily inactivity. We shall return to this point after having spoken of the Dresden course, and we shall then inquire which of the two systems should have the preference in school. Letters from Naas, sent to the journal Nordwest, inform us that the third course, which was given this year, beginning on the 19th of July, counted among its scholars three Frenchmen, three Germans, three Danes, two Finlanders, and two Swedes. The terms made with teachers by Abrahamson, who enjoys a large fortune, are so favourable that, from all sides, people come to take part in his course. It was also in the month of July that the normal course of manual work at Dresden was started, on which, I think, I must enter into greater detail. I have thought it well to sketch, in broad features, the movement which has been set on foot for some years past in different countries in favour of manual work, in order that it may be seen that the course at Dresden is only a fresh and noble effort to solve this question, which is so important to the masses especially. Our aim, besides, has been to set forth clearly by this introduction—First. That the tendency of our age to supplement intellectual with manual work has

sight of. Finally it is only just to trace back to the Encyclopaedists, especially to Diderot, the suggestion which i 3 being followed to-day, which was supported by Pestalozzi and Froebel, influenced, however, rather by Rousseau than by the eighteenth-century savants." I completely overlooked the fact, though it is a fact, that in France there has been an active effort for some time to introduce manual work into the schools. Among the gentlemen who this year followed the normal course oE manual work at Niias there were two professors from Paris and a schoo)-manager from Nancy sent by the French Minister of Public Instruction. The French Government also instructed MM. Salicis, and Ruhlman, senior and junior, to visit German}', Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Austria, to make themselves acquainted with the schools of manual work. This Committee, setting out in May, expected to return in October. * Sloejd : All manual work thit does not belong directly to a trade.