A PRACTICAL OUTCOME OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 14, 25 July 1884, Page 9

A PRACTICAL OUTCOME OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION.

(Brooklyn Catholic Review.) Jusr now educational circles are deeply interested in that department of the London International Exposition which is devoted to the exhibit of the workings and results of the various systems of education in vogue throughout the world. Its object is to submit to a thorough test the com pai alive value of the efforts made by zealous educators everywhere, for the purpose of determining what in each deserves to be retained and made prominent, and what to be rejected as a hindrance to the growth of the budding mind. The most eminent people in England have taken a deep interest in the success of this feature of the Exhibition, and with commendable impartiality solicited Cardinal Manning to lend his efforts in the same direction. The Cardinal accordingly notified the heaas of Catholic schools and colleges throughout the United Kingdom and the Continent to send proofs and specimens of their work, together with such particulars and information as might enable intelligent inquirers to understand just how much Catholic educators were contributing to the intellectual advancement of the world. To this notification the Superior General of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Paris promptly responded and issued orders to all the schools and colleges under the control of the Brotherhood to comply with the wishes of bis Eminence. In this country the work was undertaken at once, and it is to the results thereof, as indicating the educational activity of Catholics throughout the United States, that we now desire to call attention. In every school and college of the country controlled by the Christian Brothers a brief recapitulation of the work of a whole year has been made, and written proofs and specimens given. In this district alone thirty-six schools and four colleges have contributed to the work, and their productions are living attestations of the zeal and efficiency with which the Brothers are fulfilling their noble mission. In looking over the exhibits returned from Manhattan College, St. Louie, Providence, Rock Hill College, Phidadelphia, we will be surprised at what has been accomplished in a very brief space of time. Original' theses in Greek, Latin, French, English and German were required in the four collegiate classes of these institutions. These were carefully copied into suitable forms, and after deficiencies had been noted by the professors in red ink, so that the genuine work of the students might be distinguished from the corrections, they were immediately despatched to London. Papers were also prepared on the various branches of science, including chemistry and physics, the latest practical applications of electricity as an illuminator and motor power, its uses in telegraphy, the telephone, etc. Special essays on the different questions of logic and metaphysics were written by the members of the senior class in Latin, and the writers not only set forth the old orthodox views touching these matters, but were obliged to treat them also in the light in which modern science bas sought to place them as antagonized with its own discoveries. For this reason the opinions of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, and of those modern biologists who have rejected the claims of revealed religion were fully discussed and refuted, in so far, at least, as they were in open conflict with the revealed truths of religion. The original essays in English were a leading feature of the exhibit since the projectors of the educational department of the International Expositiou are especially anxious to note the progress the literature of our vernacular is making. Accordingly, the old and the new masters, in this field of intellectual endeavour, have been made the topic of various discussions, and the papers furnished so far have striven to convey a full and careful impression of the actual condition of English letters both at Home and abroad. Separate epochs were separately treated and comparative estimates made of the good and bad characteristics of the leading writers of each. Periodical literature, wbich is destined to leave an indelible impress on the literary history of our times, as well as the different schools and varieties of fiction, were duly considered, and such conclusions in regard to them arrived at as a wide range of reading, conducted under the guidance of competent teachers, justified. Tbe higher mathematics were illustrated by problems worked out in differential and integral calculus, infinitesimals, etc., while applied mathematics dealt with the subtle and exacting features of modern engineering and the mechanical and industrial arts. The difficulties of astronomy were likewise grappled with, and the results of the latest discoveries which the telephone and photographic art have brought to light succinctly stated. The fuiure of this science being pregnant •\vith results beyond the measure of our conception, the students were required to place themselves fully abreast of the times and to prepare themselves for an intelligent reception of those fresh revelations vhich any moment may bring forth. The higher mathematics in their application to astronomy and navigation formed a special feature of tbe work done, and will, no doubt, lend added interest to it in the eyes of those who are versed in the intricacies of modern science. Zoology and mineralogy were likewise discussed, classifications made' tribal and individual peculiarities pointed out, and those strange facts of natural history known as hybridism and reversion were explained the views of Agassiz and Quatrefages being for the most part adopted! Such is an outline of the work accomplished in the various departments of the collegiate institutions in charge of the Brothers. But the academic and parochial schools likewise contributed their' quota to the forthcoming Exposition, and in view of the more youthful age of those who have taken part in the production of the specimens, aad the wonderful proficiency exhibited by them, their efforts will prove of greater interest to the majority. Practical telegraphy, stenography — specimens having been sent, the record of which gives 167 words to the minute — type— writing, linear freehand, and perspective drawing are among the noticeable features of the exhibit made by the juniors. Moreover, specimens of work in plane geometry, algebra, English composition, etc., all done in the neatest and most finished manner, will no doubt canse the visitors to the great International Exposition to admit that the Catholics of America are zealous and intelligent friends of education, and equally

anxious with the most enthusiastic Europeans to trim the lamp of knowledge that its beams may Ehed a puie wMte ray and penetrate the palace and the hovel.