A HIGH SCHOOL ASTRONOMY, in which the Descriptive, Physical and Practical are combined, with special reference to the wants of Academies and Seminaries of Learning. By Hiram Mattison, A. M., Late Professor of Natural History and Astronoin the Falley Seminary.

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We have met with no work for schools which affords so great a variety of useful knowledge on the subject of astronomy as this. The subjects are presented to the young student in a manner perfectly intelligible, and in language calculated to produce vivid and permanent impressions, and are illustrated with numerous diagrams well suited to the blackboard. The author has diversified his work by frequent reference to the views of the most celebrated writers on this and on kindred subjects, and has adapted it to the most modern stage of discovery.

It is printed in large type, an advantage of no ordinary character in school-books of the present day, but to which every publisher should pay due regard, as we are quite certain that committees and teachers, knowing its importance, are not apt to overlook it. The work may be found at Ide & Dutton's, 106 Washington Street, Boston.

THE TEACHER AND THE PARENT. A Treatise upon Common School Education; containing practical suggestions to teachers and parents. By Charles Northend, A. M., Superintend ent of Public Schools, Danvers, Mass.; late, and for many years, principal of the Epes School, Salem, Mass. Published by Jenks, Hickling & Swan.

WE may anticipate for this work a wide circulation, among teachers and friends of education. The extensive and high reputation of its author, indeed, will bespeak for it more than pen of ours can do. It is a work of about three hundred and twenty pages, in good size type, and presents a very pleasant appearance to the eye, as well as the work noticed on the preceding page, both of whichs for their neat appearance, do great credit to the enterprising publishers.

Mr. Northend's book will prove interesting to all, and of great benefit to teachers, especially as a chart for those just commencing to engage in the profession. As a vade mecum, it will prove a very pleasant companion, for its pages are filled with the results of a large experience presented in a very pleasing form. We are glad to find that the author, in furnishing to teachers so useful a work, has not neglected the suaviter in modo, and has here and there thrown in a pleasant anecdote, which will enliven its character, and make it all the more acceptable. We

shall have frequent occasion to refer to it hereafter. In closing this short notice, we would assure our readers that a perusal of the work will more than realize to them the truth of all we have attempted to say in its favor. Appended to the volume will be found a catalogue of educational works suitable for the teacher's library.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION.

THE twenty-fourth annual meeting will be held at New Haven, Conn., on the 16th, 17th and 18th of August, 1853.

ORDER OF EXERCISES.

Tuesday.-The Institute will commence the session at 10 o'clock, A. M. After the introductory exercises, a prize essay will be read, "On the means of producing a Symmetrical Development of the Mental Faculties."

At 3 o'clock, P. M., a lecture by J. D. Philbrick, Principal of the State Normal School, New Britain, Conn.

At 7 P. M., a lecture by F. T. Russell, of Hartford, on "Elocution."

Wednesday. At 9 A. M., a lecture by Prof. Krusi, of Appenzell, Switzerland, late Professor in the London Home and Colonial Normal Seminary, on "The character of Pestalozzi, and his efforts in the cause of Education.”

3 P. M., a prize essay.

7 P. M., a lecture by Lowell Mason, "On teaching vocal music according to the Principles of Pestalozzi."

Thursday.-9 A. M. Second lecture by Lowell Mason.

3 P. M. Lecture by Henry Barnard, of Hartford," Practical Lessons to be drawn from an Educational Tour in Europe."

7 P. M. Lecture by Prof. Guyot, of Cambridge, "Method of Teaching Geography."

The Committee recommend a recess of fifteen minutes for social intercourse during each day session, and that the entire afternoon of Thursday, after the lecture, be devoted to the same purpose.

Discussions will succeed the several lectures on topics suggested by them, or on other subjects preferred by the Institute. Teachers and friends of education generally are invited to attend and participate in the deliberations.

Ladies who attend the meetings may expect the usual accommodations.

Railroad tickets from Boston to New Haven and back, will be furnished in Boston, by W. D. Ticknor, 135 Washington st.,

at half price, good from Saturday, 13th, to Tuesday the 23d of August. Also, from Worcester and Springfield on the same terms at the ticket offices.

Friends of the Institute who may receive this notice in season, are requested to call the attention of the community to the subject through the press in their vicinity.

SOLOMON ADAMS,

Chairman Com. Arrangements.

CHAS. E. VALENTINE, Secretary.

Notice of the place of meeting will be published in the Boston Journal and the Daily Traveller, and in New Haven papers.

PRIZE ESSAYS.

The following Prizes for original Essays are offered by the Massachusetts Teachers' Association

To the members of the Association, for the best Essay, on either of the following subjects, a prize of twenty dollars.

1. "The importance of increasing the number of Female Teachers qualified to give instruction in the Higher Departments of Education."

2. "The Evils and Remedies of Whispering, or Communicating, in School."

To the female teachers of the State, for the best Essay, on either of the following subjects, a prize of twenty dollars.

1. "Best Method of Conducting a Primary School." 2. "Thoroughness in Teaching."

The Essays must be forwarded to the Secretary, Charles J. Capen, Esq., Latin School, Boston, on or before the 15th of October. Each Essay should be accompanied by a sealed envelope, enclosing the name of the writer. The envelopes accompanying the unsuccessful Essays will not be opened. The prizes will be awarded by an impartial Committee; but no prize will be awarded to an Essay that is not deemed worthy of one. The successful Essays will be regarded as the property of the Association.

Newburyport, April 18, 1853.

W. H. WELLS, President.

"He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city.”

By self-control, I do not mean merely suppressing outbursts of passion, but entire obedience to our better judgment and reason in all the conduct of life. Whatever our judgment and reason bid us do, we must do: whenever they bid us go, we must go and whenever they bid us stop, we must stop.

The great battle of life is within, between the reason and the passions and propensities. He who is victor here, takes higher rank among heroes, than he who conquers a city, omniscient wisdom being judge. Achilles, at the seige of Troy, is no compeer for the humble peasant who has gained a conquest over his passions in the hour of temptation, and brought all his faculties into subjection to his reason.

The ordinary external struggles of life are comparative trifles in themselves. It matters little how they result. The ambitious man gathers up his resources for a mighty enterprise-it may be better that he be disappointed. Embarrassment blocks up the way of the man of business, and he summons all his energy to remove it-it may be best that he should fail. Whatever may be the result of such struggles, the combatant may come forth from them with all the noble qualities of his manhood unimpaired. But when the passions are aroused, and take the field against reason, clamoring imperiously for indulging, the contest is for life. The stake is not a mere transient external advantage, but manhood itself, with all its heaven-bestowed endowments. “That lost, all is lost!" When passion has conquered and become master,-what have you left?—a brute,

nay worse, a melancholy wreck of what was once a man, the noblest work of God-a glorious empire in anarchy and ruin.

"Gnothi seauton "-"Know thyself"-was the noble inscription written over the door of the Delphic Temple, where mortals were wont to seek the counsel of the gods. Govern thyself, would be a nobler inscription-as much superior as the teachings of Him who came from Heaven, to the philosophy of ancient Greece.

The young should be habitually and constantly trained to this one great duty, self-control. How shall it be done?

The teacher must first train himself. He should stand before his school, day after day, a model of self-control. Never should his pupil see him neglect his duty, yield to a difficulty, flinch from an unpleasant task, or give loose reign to his passions. Example in this thing will be tenfold more powerful than advice merely. Let him be thus firm, resolute and uniform, and his power over those about him will be like that of the sun over the lesser orbs of the solar system. They will yield a far more prompt and cheerful obedience to this silent, unpretending influence, than to any ostentatious display of authority. The mightiest influences over matter and mind are imperceptible and noiseless. As electricity, by induction, without spark or report, diffuses itself, and brings surrounding bodies under its mysterious influence, so the model teacher, by the silent power of a faultless example, shall make a model school. In electrotype, metals in solution, and therefore invisible, are so uniformly deposited on an immersed model, that a copy is produced so exact that it cannot be distinguished from the original, in form, though of a different metal. The teacher-if I may so speak, is surrounded by a moral atmosphere, in which his whole character is held in solution, and is transferred, by an invisible process, to his pupils, making them, in character and spirit, copies and counterparts of himself.

Brother teacher! if these things be so, are you all that you should be or can be in respect to self-control? Do you command yourself, and insist upon perfect obedience? If you do, others will obey you. Scrutinize your course for a single term, with an eye that can discern a fault even in self.

When a spirit of insubordination manifests itself in one or many, do you hold the reins with a steady hand, and look coolly around for the very best influences and appliances to suppress and eradicate it? Do you not sometimes chastise the offenders "in hot haste," giving no thought to removing the causes of the evil? It is better to pluck up than to lop off. It is of trifling consequence to dress and heal a single sore when the sources of life are diseased and corrupt. Do you not sometimes give the blow in the wrong place, because you do not keep