Opinion of the School Commissioner.

QUESTION.-By an arrangement between the teacher of a private institution or academy, and the directors of a school district in which said institution is located, the scholars of said district are taught in said institution. Are the principal of said institution or private academy, and all his assistants who give instruction to said district school scholars, obliged by law to obtain certificates in due form from the board of examiners, before the said principal or his assistants are legally entitled to the school moneys belonging to said district, and applicable to the payment of teachers' wages?

ANSWER.-Undoubtedly they are. See Sections 24 and 45 of the new school law. By the arrangement above referred to, said academy became to a certain extent a district school; and the township clerk can not legally draw an order on the township treasurer, in favor of said principal, for the school moneys or any part thereof, belonging to said district, except on the presentation of the proper certificates of all teachers who have given instruction to said district school scholars, although the directors should certify such amount to be due him. The true pol icy and spirit of the law is, that common school scholars,—whether taught in separate sub-district schools, or in private institutions as aforesaid, shall be instructed by teachers duly certificated; otherwise, the township treasurer would not be authorized to pay over to said teacher, or teachers, the school moneys of said district, applicable only to the payment of teachers' wages. On this subject I entertain not the least doubt.

JANUARY, 1854.

H. H. BARNEY.

He who seizes with a firm grasp, and wields with skill and force, a great truth, achieves nobler victories, and exercises a wider and more potent sway, than an Alexander or a Cæsar. His influence neither space nor time can measure, for truth partakes of the omnipotence and eternity of its Author. His 'sound will assuredly go into all the earth, and his words unto the end of the world,' and his power be felt when the sceptres and thrones of earthly dominion shall have been crumbled to dust.-Dr. George W. Eaton.

Editors' Portfolio.

THE annual meeting of our Association was one of great and thrilling interest: the attendance was large, the Addresses and Reports were of the highest order, and all the exercises of such a character as to do honor to the Association and the cause it is laboring to promote; while the harmony and cordiality of feeling which prevailed was refreshing to all. The only thing we deeply regret, is, that five thousand or more could not have been present instead of five hundred.

The Report by Mr. SANFORD is worthy of the careful consideration of Teachers and friends of science in every part of the State. We believe the time has come when large numbers may with propriety engage in the great work of original investigation and research now proposed. True, we have all much, very much to do; but this very fact furnishes the best guaranty that we can do more.

Though this number contains more than the usual amount of matter, we are compelled to postpone the Reports of the Executive and the Financial Committee, the Proceedings of the Phonetic Association, and several papers connected with the late Anniversaries, together with a number of Communications from Editors and Correspondents.

Correspondence, etc.

The Union Schools of Akron have been opened with new auspices, under the management of Mr. S. F. Cooper, late Principal of Youngstown Union Schools.

The whole number of pupils enrolled is eight hundred. The number in the Grammar and High Schools, three hundred and twenty-five; and all things, within and without, are moving on harmoniously. With so gentlemanly and competent a Principal, and so accomplished a corps of assistants, this school has now the prospect of unusual success.

The elegant building for the Grammar and High Schools, erected at an expense of about twelve thousand dollars, occupies the most commanding point within the corporation on the "East Hill." Its beauty and architectural taste, its elevated position, with its ample grounds and their natural declivity on all sides, render it one of the finest in the State. Its shining tower is the first object to meet the eye of the traveler, as he darts into town upon the iron track; and there it stands proudly, by the side of the magnificent Railroad Buildings, a forcible representation of the true principle of our country's success-Education and Industry, hand in hand. It crowns the summit of Summit county, is the Akros from which Akron derives its name; and divides the waters of the heavens to the right and left, sending a part to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and a part to the Gulf of Mexico. So may its influences spread, on either hand, till they shall

touch the sea.

Such a school house and such a school is an honor and an ornament to any town, and is worthy of the enlightened spirit of that industrious and thriving Yankee population.

Cincinnati, Jan. 5, 1854.

C. S.

Mr. Editor:-At a meeting of the Wayne Township Branch Bible Society, (Wayne Co., O.,) held in March, 1852, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to visit the directors of the different school districts in this township, and endeavor to persuade them to introduce the Bible into their respective schools, as an occasional reading book, not to supersede other text books now in common use.

The aforesaid committee was appointed. At a subsequent meeting of the Society, held in March, 1853, the committee reported, that they had visited the several school districts in the township, consulted with the directors thereof, and in every instance their request was most cheerfully granted.

At a meeting of the same Society, held in October, 1853, it was unanimously resolved

1st. That the thanks of this Society are tendered to the Board of Directors of Common Schools, in and for the township of Wayne, for the interest manifested in the introduction of the Bible, as an occasional reading book, in the schools under their care.

2d. That this Society donate to each sub-district in this township a large octavo Bible, for the use and benefit of the school in said district.

C. S. M.

In this place we have recently organized a Union School. Our building is 50 by 75 feet, well finished and pretty well furnished. We have about 550 pupils in attendance: eight Teachers are employed. There are three departments: Primary, Intermediate, and High School. If you hear of an Ohio Teacher who designs to visit Wisconsin, tell him to call on us.

J. G. McM., Racine, Wis.

It would be easy to fill pages with notices of the progress of education, and flattering expressions of esteem for our Journal and its influence, which are almost daily received. The following, from widely different parts of the Union, must suffice:-RES. ED.

The writer of the foregoing says:-"Inclosed find $2.00 for your Journal, or rather for our Journal, for every Teacher in the United States ought to have as well as feel an interest in it."

With all our boasted advantages and improvements at the East, I can not refrain from saying that your Journal would do honor to the Teachers of any State in New England.

W. H. W., Newburyport, Mass.

The last number of Vol. II. has been received and read, and I am a thousand times thankful that I became acquainted with it.

Notices of Colleges, Schools, etc.

J. B., Little Rock, Ark.

The Trustees of Union College, at Schenectady, N. Y., have recently received from Rev. Dr. Nott, its President for nearly fifty years, the sum of $610,000. This endowment will make that the richest Institution of the kind in the Union.

Asbury University, at Greencastle, Ia., now numbers some 200 students in its several departments.

The eighth annual session of the Ashtabula Co. Teachers' Institute was attended in Jefferson, in October last. The Catalogue contains the names of 110-39 Gentlemen and 71 Ladies, who attended.

The fifth session of the Normal Institute, in Georgetown, Brown county, under charge of Mr. E. C. Ellis, commenced on the 2d of January. In addition to the regular class instruction, more than 120 Lectures are to be given during the term. These lectures, arranged in courses of 20 each, for the most part, are on the following subjects: Analysis of the English language, Arithmetic, Physical and statistical Geography, Physiology, Civil Government, Moral Science, and the Science of Teaching.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.-Ashland Union School.-The first term of this school, for the year 1853-4, closed on Friday last, and during the last week, examinations in all the classes were had. We took occasion to visit several of the departments during the examinations, and can therefore speak from a personal knowledge of the condition of the school. We believe there was a thorough examination of all the pupils, in all the studies passed over during the session. This examination is rendered necessary, in order to see what students have prepared themselves to make an advance into a higher department. The result of these examinations, in the several departments, has been satisfactory to all-to teachers, visitors and parents, and to the board of education-and the improvement made by the scholars was perceptible. We believe that from each one of the classes lower than the High School, there are a number who are prepared to go to a higher department. The advantage of the Union School is of course to be seen in the highest department; and we are certain from what we saw last week, that this department of our school will compare favorably with any academy in our country. We do not believe that the best academies, or select schools, or high schools in our country, as they are variously termed, will show better scholarship or greater or more varied attainments, than were exhibited last week by the pupils in the department of our Union School, under the charge of Mr. Barber. Classes in the Greek Reader, in Cicero, in Algebra, bore a very good examination, and were evidently very thorough in what they had gone over. In oratory and compositions, the pupils did great credit to themselves and to their teachers. Look at this. Here are 94 scholars enrolled in this department, having the same advantages as the highest academies in our country afford, and where the tuition would be at least $25 per year for each scholar. These 94 scholars could not, at our High Schools, pursue the studies they are now pursuing under Mr. Barber, for a less sum than $2000 per year; which sum is about the amount that is annually expended for the whole Union School, its teachers and expenses. The academic branches are not only taught at our Union School, but they are taught diligently and effectively. To any one who desires to have a complete demonstration of the immense superiority of the Union School over the old system, let. him attend one of these examinations in the higher department. The perceptible improvement made by the scholars during the last term, is undoubtedly owing to the ability and great energy displayed by the superintendent, Mr. Barber, and to the excellent corps of teachers under him. Whole number enrolled, 383; average daily attendance, 266.-Ashland Times, Dec. 22d.

Ripley. The committee in attendance upon the late Examination and Exhibition of the Public Union Schools of Ripley, unanimously agree to the following report, to be published in the columns of the Bee:

"The committee had reason to be highly satisfied with the examination and the exhibition. It appeared very evident that the schools had been conducted successfully during the late term. The Teachers evinced good qualifications, and the Students showed to good advantage in the class room.

The committee embraces the present opportunity to say, that it perceives an important deficiency in the means of public education in the schools. There is no Apparatus in aid of several important branches.

It is the fortune of the committee to be acquainted with several Academical Institutions which would not compare favorably with the Public Schools of Ripley. When therefore the committee considers how much has already been effected, in rendering these schools of such great advantage to the public, it doubts not but that an anxiety to possess every reasonable facility for the instruction of students, will end in the procurement of the Apparatus so much needed.

Upon the whole, the committee felicitate the teachers and students upon their manifest success; and the inhabitants of Ripley and its neighborhood at large, upon the possession of a means of education which already rivals many institutions of higher pretensions, and which bids fair to ground students thoroughly in those preparatory studies, without which, it is of little use to proceed to College."

From the Report of the Superintendent, Mr. F. W. Hurtt, it appears that the number of scholars enrolled during the term ending Dec. 23d, was 538, and the average attendance 388. Mr. Hurtt adds: "Under the system of private schools, the cost of the regular attendance of 388 pupils, for three and a half months, would be over $1600; while under the present, the whole cost, including interest on all moneys invested in buildings, furniture, etc., is not more than $800, thus saving at least one half. Knowing this, will not the Board and people be willing to put up suitable buildings, on suitable grounds, for their Public Schools?"

The Public Schools of Portsmouth have recently been thoroughly classified, both sexes brought into the same school rooms, the town divided into two districts, and the schools in two buildings (one of which has just been erected.) The schools are still under the efficient supervision of Mr. S. HESLETT, who is aided by a spirited corps of Teachers, male and female; at least we judge them to be Teachers of the right stamp, from the fact that nearly every one is a paying subscriber to the Journal.

Selections.

Works of the Creator.-The mariner who first crossed the central Atlantic in search of a new world was astonished when, on the 19th of September, 1492, he found himself in the midst of that great bank of sea-weed-the sea-weed meadow of Oviedo-the Saragosa sea which, with a varying breadth of 100 to 300 miles, stretches over twenty-five degrees of latitude, covering 260,000 square miles in surface, like a huge floating garden, in which countless myriads of minute animals find food and shelter. Now, it is the eddy of numerous sea rivers which collect in one spot, and the cold water of the Northern Atlantic mixing with the warm streams of the southern and western currents, which produce the temperature most fitted to promote this amazing development of vegetable and animal life. What becomes of the dead remains of this vast marine growth? Do they decompose as fast as they are produced? or do they accumulate into deposits of peculiar coal, destined to reward the researches of future geologists and engineers, when the Atlantic of our day has become the habitable land of an after time? In the chart of the Pacific Ocean we are presented with another remarkable instance of the influence of sea rivers on vegetation.

From the shores of South Victoria, on the Antarctic continent, a stream of cold water, 60 degrees in width, (the reader will recollect that in high latitudes the degrees of longitude are very narrow) drifts slowly along in a northeast and earterly direction across the Southern Pacific, till it impinges upon the South American coast to the south of Valparaiso. There it divides into two arms, one of which stretches south and east, doubles Cape Horn, and penetrates into Southwestern Atlantic; the other flows first northeast and then northwest along the shores of Chili and Peru, carrying colder waters into the warm sea, and producing a colder air along the Pacific to the base of the Andes. This current, discovered by Humboldt and called after his name, lowers the temperature of the air about twelve degrees, while that of the water itself is sometimes as much as twenty-four