GEORGE TAIT, and others to be appointed by the President. The report was adopted, and the President appointed, as additional members of Committee On General Arrangements: Messrs. BADGER, STORY, PELTON, and MYRICK. The following communication was received from the Mercantile Library Association, and placed on file: Hon. John Swett, President State Teachers' Institute: SAN FRANCISCO, May 2d, 1863.} By order of the Board of Directors of the Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco, I am directed to extend to the members of the State Teachers' Institute a cordial invitation to visit, during the session, our Library and Reading Rooms. It is our desire to extend every facility to the members, and we trust they will avail themselves of the use of our rooms for reference, study, and recreation. With the cheerful hope that the cause you represent will receive new impetus from your labors here, and with sentiments of high personal esteem for yourself, I have the honor to be, etc., F. D. CARLTON, Cor. Sec. M. L. A. On motion of J. C. Pelton, the report of the last Institute's committee concerning text books was referred to the committee of this year on the same subject. Mr. Bernard Marks, of San Francisco, was introduced to the Institute, and delivered an address on "Waste in the School Room." At the conclusion of Mr. Marks' address, Mr. John S. Hittell, of the Alta California, delivered an address on "Defects in Methods of Teaching." At two o'clock and forty minutes, P. M., a recess was taken for five minutes, when Miss Sullivan's class, from the Model School, (connected with the State Normal School,) consisting of little girls between five and eight years of age, appeared on the stage, and were exercised on illustrated cards, and in spelling by sound. They distinguished readily between words representing objects, or nouns, and other parts of speech, and analyzed phonetically, with remarkable accuracy, words of several syllables in length. A sheet of paper was held before them, which they described by naming its various qualities and uses. After going through some calisthenic movements with their hands, represented by numbers from one to thirteen, the class sang "See the Farmer in the Field," etc. The President announced that the What Cheer Hotel offered to accommodate fifty members of the Institute at half price; the International at somewhat reduced rates; that Mr. Dyer, of the Russ House, generously invited all the Teachers to come there and take their meals free, not being able to furnish any with rooms, as they were all occupied; that the American Exchange and Tehama House also reduced their rates for Teachers, etc. The programme for the following day and evening lectures was also announced. Mr. Swett exhorted the Teachers to practise punctuality, and expressed the belief that the influences of this Institute would be felt throughout the whole State during the ensuing year, to culminate, he hoped, in the next Legislature's making increased provision for the support of Public Schools. [Applause.] At three o'clock and thirty minutes, P. M., adjourned EVENING SESSION. At eight o'clock the Institute re-assembled, and Dr. Henry Gibbons assumed the Chair. - The body of the house and the galleries were comfortably filled by a highly respectable audience, a large proportion of which consisted of ladies. Hon. John Swett, Superintendent of Public Instruction, was introduced as the Speaker of the evening, and proceeded to deliver an address on "The Duties of the State to Public Schools." Adjourned. SECOND DAY. TUESDAY, May 5th. The Institute was called to order by the President at nine o'clock, A. M., and the Rev. B. N. Seymour, of Alameda County, offered prayer. The President stated that a large number of school books had been placed on the tables for examination by Roman & Co., and Bancroft & Co. Teachers were invited to use them freely in the hall of meeting, but were requested not to take any volumes from the building. The first thing in order was announced by the President to be a DISCUSSION ON TEXT BOOKS. After a pause of some length, Professor Swezey moved the adoption of Daboll's system of arithmetic by the Institute. [Laughter.] Mr. Thomas Ewing, of Yolo, thought that if that motion prevailed now, it would be springing the question. Mr. J. W. Josselyn, of Alameda, said his choice in arithmetic would be Thompson, for the reason that the matter was there presented in as concise a manner as possible. Mr. S. S. Wiles wanted to know if Daboll was to be adopted. Professor Swezey said he was surprised to hear any opposition to Daboll. [Laughter.] He remembered the time when its examples in addition and subtraction seemed very mysterious to him. He would not be very strenuous in his advocacy of it, however. He did not know but Old Father Pike was nearly as good. Thompson had many very great excellencies. In his days of teaching, he used Thompson, and liked it very much; but there were some things capable of improvement, which had been carried out in later publications. Four or five years ago, he had occasion to examine, with some minuteness, the merits of forty or fifty books, and twenty or thirty publishers furnished him with their series. He admired most of all the works of Professor Davies, which seemed to him philosophical in arrangement, and complete in their definitions; but not having submitted them to the test of the School, room, he was not able to speak of them with that certainty which the subject required. Greenleaf was very good, and had been used with more satisfaction by himself than any other; but Robinson had become very popular in the East, if not here. Mr. B. N. Seymour said he attended, a few days since, a School examination where Robinson was used, and it seemed to him a very excellent work. The great object was to instil principles, and that text book illustrated them most clearly and concisely. He alluded to Daboll with affection. Smith's School books came next, but he detested them, because not a single principle was stated in them with clearness, and the multiplicity of words only got the child's head into a muddle. Mr. W. A. Parkhurst, of San José, preferred Robinson to any other. He did not believe in teaching a child thirty-three rules, when the same substance might be expressed in ten. Mr. Thomas Ewing described the excellence of an arithmetic as consisting in two things: first, a clear statement of the principles; and next, giving it in as few words as possible. Robinson had these merits, and also another important advantage, viz: the adaptation of questions to problems. Mr. J. W. Josselyn advocated the adoption of different grades of books by different authors. Mr. N. Furlong, of Marysville, liked Robinson because it did not, like many other arithmetics, have a third or a fourth of each page taken up with questions. In Davis & Thompson the questions were, many times, longer than the answers, and the student was obliged, in order to comprehend the principles, to learn first a majority of the questions, consuming much time by looking up and down the page. Robinson's questions contained seldom over two or three words. Mr. R. E. Comins, of Calaveras, said it was quite natural that cach Teacher should be peculiarly attached to the author with which he was best acquainted, hence Teachers had their favorites, especially in arithmetic. For his part, he liked Ray's, which he regarded as the most concise, thorough, and analytical one in use. No teacher could use it without understanding arithmetic himself. Mr. N. Furlong had two objections to Ray. He put his com pound numbers before fractions, which was a mistake, because there were fractional parts involved in compound numbers. To work those problems Ray then advanced rules not founded on principle or reason. Further, his definitions were not always true: as, for instance, that of prime numbers. Mr. Comins thought it immaterial whether fractions or compound numbers came first. A fraction was a part of a unit. If a particular definition did not suit him, the gentleman might introduce one of his own, as he (Comins) often did both in arithmetic and grammar. On motion of Mr. C. S. Pease, the matter was temporarily laid on the table. Mr. J. C. Pelton, from the Committee on Rules, recommended The adoption of Jefferson's Manual for the government of the proceedings of the Institute; and, also, recommended that during all discussions the speakers be limited, in the first instance, to ten minutes, and, in the second instance, to five minutes; and that no speaker be allowed the floor more than twice, except by the unanimous consent of the Institute. On motion of B. N. Seymour, the report was adopted. Mr. D. C. Stone recommended as additional Vice-Presidents: Messrs. Higbie, Wiles, and Lynde, County Superintendents of Napa, Santa Clara, and El Dorado, respectively, and Messrs. E. H. Holmes, and G. W. Minns. Adopted. Mr. Sparrow Smith moved the addition of Mr. Howe, late of Sacramento, to the list, which was carried. The President announced the following gentlemen as constituting the TEACHERS INVITED TO AID AS MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF EXAMINATION. GEO. W. MINNS, San Francisco. THOMAS S. MYRICK, San Francisco. ELLIS H. HOLMES, San Francisco. D. C. STONE, Marysville. The President said the first session of the Board would be held at four o'clock, in the Committee Room, and called atten |