of conviction, that the knowledge gained will make for that physical control, health and vigor so essential to noble and enjoyable living.

7. But, while this instruction is to be given to all pupils in all schools, it does not follow that it should be given continuously to all pupils in each of the thirteen grades. This appears (a) from a fair interpretation of the spirit of the law, (b) from the interpretations put upon it by the various measures presented to the Legislature of 1899 "to strengthen" the law, and (c) from the interpretation unanimously adopted by the towns and cities of the State.

(a) The spirit of the law seems to be that pupils going through the schools shall have reasonable access to the instruction, and that it shall be offered at such times that no pupils, excepting, possibly, certain transient cases, can withdraw from school without having received something of the prescribed instruction suited to their years.

(b) of the several measures, drawn professedly "to strengthen" the present law and commended to the Legislature of 1899, not one required instruction in all the grades ; not one, instruction throughout the year. The most moderate of them was apparently content with instruction in the primary grades and in but four of the ten grades above, and in each of these grades with instruction for less than half the year.

(c) There is not a city, not a town in the State that, in its practice, interprets the law as requiring instruction in every grade.

8. Still, in view of the latitude of interpretation which school committees enjoy by law and have shown in practice, it is somewhat surprising that the trend of the State should be, on the whole, towards what is probably a too long-drawn-out policy of keeping the subject before the schools, a policy due, without much doubt, to too literal an interpretation of the mandate that it shall be taught as a regular branch of study to all pupils in all schools."

9. It needs to be kept in mind that long before the law under special consideration in this report was enacted the duty of teaching temperance was put upon the schools by the following statute:

It shall be the duty of the president, professors and tutors of the university at Cambridge and of the several colleges, of all preceptors and teachers of academies, and of all other instructors of youth, to exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred regard to truth; love of their country, humanity and universal benevolence; sobriety, industry and frugality; chastity, moderation and temperance; and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded; and it shall be the duty of such instructors to endeavor to lead their pupils, as their ages and capacities will admit, into a clear understanding of the tendencies of the abovementioned virtues to preserve and perfect a republican constitution and secure the blessings of liberty, as well as to promote their future happiness, and also to point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite vices.

10. It will favor a clearer view of the duty of the school if the entire obligation put upon it by the older statute and the later is considered (a) with reference to its academic aspects, (b) with reference to its physical culture aspects and (c) with reference to its moral aspects.

(a) The academic work, i.e., the formal and direct instruction required by the later statute, in physiology, hygiene and the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants and narcotics on the human system should probably be more concentrated than at present. Certainly the policy of spreading the instruction, at the rate of one or two lessons a week, over the entire year for numerous years in succession is more and more challenged by those who have tried it. It meets a certain interpretation that was given to the law by some of its friends in advance of any fair experience with its working; but, if it falls short of that spirit of the law which calls more emphatically, it must be presumed, for efficiency of instruction than it does for the instruction of all pupils in all schools, it should be abandoned in favor of something more incisive and impressive, if not so often reiterated and tediously prolonged. If studied as a regular branch, with some very simple text-book and helps, for, say, fourteen weeks, with from three to five lessons a week, during one of the three lower grammar years; and again for a corresponding period, with a more advanced text-book and richer

helps, during one of the three upper grammar grades; and, finally, for a more serious course still, with laboratory work, after chemistry has been studied, in such high schools as have an adequate teaching force, the instruction thus concentrated, and as earnestly and persistently given as child nature will permit, would seem to be a fairly generous provision for all pupils in all schools, as well as a fairly reasonable provision for efficiency of instruction.

(b) Physical culture, on the contrary, is not a theme for occasional treatment, to be disposed of in a few weeks of the year and in selected years of the course. It involves exercise, practice, training; it involves these things for health reasons; and to the extent that it promotes the health, strength and grace of the body, it promotes those vast interests that depend on such physical conditions. Physical culture, therefore, should be a daily care throughout all the grades. In the primary schools oral lessons upon the body and its care may be profitably united with physical exercises. If any teacher chooses to do this work as a branch of nature study, it is doubtless legitimate to do so. In addition to direct daily guidance of the children in their physical activities, there is that constant general attention to the sanitary conditions of the school that less obstrusively, but not less effectively, promotes the physical well-being of pupils. In this connection, while ideals of sound bodies and right living should be kept in the foreground, there is opportunity for the skilful and temperate teacher to put in just enough of the darker background to give relief to that soundness and righteousness which he is seeking to make impressive.

(c) And lastly comes moral instruction, which readily subdivides into that which is direct, formal and conscious, to be given at the time of the morning exercises or as fitting opportunity occurs, and that which is the subtle, quiet, but invaluable effect of even, tactful, just and high-toned management of the school. Such moral instruction, in both the phases mentioned, belongs, like the physical, to all the days of the year and all the years of the course.

11. Without venturing further with suggestions, it may be said, once for all, that whatever the difficulties in the way of respecting the statutes, they lie not in a spirit of indifference

or disobedience, but almost wholly within the pedagogical realm. And the remedies to be applied are not in the way of hard and fast legislation about grades and books and quantities of text-book matter and numbers of lessons and penalties and all that; they are to be applied rather in whatever way will promote a clearer understanding of the aims, the nature, the fitness and the efficiency of the instruction. All this calls for patience, study, comparisons of experience, improved teaching qualifications and what not; and when the best possible work has been done by the schools, it must still, like the work of the church, of the press, of the reform club, of any agency for establishing the feet of people in the right way, fall short of any ideals that are worth having, and so must continue to be exposed to adverse criticism and even condemnation.

An effort is now making to secure some concert of action among the educational and temperance forces of the State in formulating a policy of instruction to be submitted to the school authorities for their consideration.

A Former Investigation. - In 1891 Mr. George H. Martin, then an agent of the State Board of Education, made an inquiry into the quality and results of the instruction given under the law of 1885, so far as they could be inferred from written tests to which he subjected the pupils of the advanced grammar classes in his field. On pages 312-326 of the fifty-fifth report of the Board, abundant illustrations of pupils' work, as Mr. Martin found it, are given. Mr. Martin's conclusions were as follows:

1. The phrase "scientific temperance instruction," sometimes applied to this work, is a misnomer. There is, and in the nature of things can be, no such instruction. The two essential elements of scientific study - observation and inference-are necessarily wanting; neither the pupil nor the teacher can have first-hand information.

2. That the outcome in accurate knowledge, resulting from much of the work done, is meagre and out of proportion to the time spent upon it.

3. That many false impressions are left in the minds of the students.

4. That physiological details are not suited to young children. 5. That, however defective the instruction may be, the sentiment of the schools is sound, the conviction that alcohol and tobacco are bad things to use seems universal.

6. That the strength of this sentiment does not depend upon the amount of information acquired.

7. That, where exaggerated notions of the effects of stimulants have been acquired, there is danger of a reaction of sentiment in the light of after-knowledge.

To promote efficiency of instruction Mr. Martin adds the following suggestions:

1. That committees and superintendents give more careful attention to work in this department, prescribing definitely its limits, and requiring the prescribed work to be done as well as work in other subjects, using the same means for judging of its progress and results. 2. That teachers who are called upon to give oral instruction prepare themselves with great care for the exercise, and see that their statements are true; and by frequent tests, oral and written, ascertain that their teaching is intelligently comprehended by all the pupils.

3. That, when no text-book is used in any grade, the teachers prepare, for the highest classes, a summary of the effects of stimulants and narcotics upon the different systems of the body, aiming at clearness of statement and avoiding exaggeration.

4. That the use of text-books be limited to the older pupils. 5. That so much of explanation accompany the use of the book as may be necessary to guard against error and insure exact knowledge. 6. That, as far as possible, technicalities be avoided.

7. That the pupils have frequent opportunities to express their knowledge orally and in writing.

8. That throughout the course the moral and social effects of the use of intoxicants be made prominent, and abstinence be inculcated from higher ends than such as concern only the body.

The Obligation of Private Schools to comply with the Law. Private schools whose schooling is accepted as an equivalent of that given in the public schools are under as strong legal obligation to give instruction in physiology, hygiene and the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants and narcotics, as do the public schools. This obligation is practically placed upon them by sections 1 and 12 of chapter 496, Acts of 1898, and section 2, chapter 498, Acts of 1894. These sections need to be taken together to define the obligation. The present investigation does not extend to private schools.