THE High School was organized July 11th, 1846, and for the first six months was open only to boys. For five years and upwards, it was taught in the basement of the Prospect Street Church, when it was removed to a wooden building on Euclid street, erected for its temporary accommodation. In September last, the school again migrated to rooms in the Prospect Street School House, to get out of the way and noise of workmen engaged in the erection of the new building. April 2d is the day set for the return of the school, not to the old, but to the new house, now completed and ready to be occupied.

Heretofore the school has been strictly an English High School; but

classical studies are about to be introduced, and a parallel and distinct course of study prescribed.

As a matter of history, it may be well to mention the fact that at the time the school was opened to both sexes, the course of study, being deemed too difficult and extended for girls, was considerably narrowed, especially in mathematical studies, and they were permitted to stop at certain points, and here and there drop out a study altogether. In justice to the young ladies, however, it should be stated that they indignantly refused to accept of this charitable arrangement; and from that day to this, they have traveled the same path marked out for the boysclimbing the same rugged steeps, and mounting as high.

The school will open on the day mentioned above, with about 120 pupils, under the charge of Mr. Emerson E. White as principal.

The new building, a cut of which is given on the opposite page, measures 60 feet in front, by 90 feet in depth, and is three stories high above a basement. The front is built with white sand stone-the other walls are of brick.

The basement is 9 feet in the clear. In front are entrance rooms, one for each sex, furnished with the usual conveniences for washing, lodgment of umbrellas, over-shoes, etc. A room 57 feet by 30 is finished for girls' gymnasium; and another, somewhat less in size, the floor of which is of flagging stone, is designed for boys to use in cold or stormy weather, when they prefer to spend their recesses within doors. Other basement rooms are used for fuel and the furnaces, which heat the upper rooms of the building. The first story above the basement, is divided into four rooms, two of which are to be occupied for the present by two primary schools, one for a lecture room, and the other as an office for the Superintendent of Instruction. These rooms are all twelve feet in height. Upon the second floor is the main hall, occupied by the High School. It is 54 by 57 feet, and is furnished with single desks of a sufficient number to seat 152 scholars. Two spacious recitation rooms open into the back part of the hall. Back of the teachers' platform, are two private rooms for the use of the teachers. The rooms of this story are 15 feet in the clear.

The upper, or third story, is occupied by a large hall 75 in length by 57 feet in breadth, and is 18 feet high. It is designed for examinations, exhibitions, etc. The whole cost of the building, including furniture, and other appurtenances, is about $19,000.00.

"UNFINISHED BUSINESS" FINISHED.

66

MR. EDITOR — As the Mathematical Department of the Journal has been discontinued, (I am very sorry for it,) method demands that there shall be no unfinished business." With this view, I herewith submit a solution to Problem 32, published in the September No. of last volume. I forwarded the same solution more than two months ago, but suppose it was miscarried. If it does not meet the case, will some of your correspondents tell why?

PROBLEM 32. To construct a triangle having given the base, altitude and difference of angles at the base.

=

whose basal angles d. Let the smaller angle B = x: then C = x+d by hypothesis. From A as a center, with radius AD = a, describe an arc of a circle, and it will be seen that DB and DC are respectively tangents of DAB and DAC, and consequently co-tangents of their complements, x and x+d. Hence the equation, co-t. x+ co-t. (xd) = b; or, putting for co-t. (x+d) its value, (see Trigco-t. x co-t. d R2

plete quadratic. Resolving by the usual methods we find co-t. x = b 2 co-t. d± √4R2 + 4co-t.2 d + b2

b

-

a

Make R = unity by putting

for b, and we find x in terms of a, b and d. Then having the an

gles B and C, (x, x +d,) we may construct the triangle as required. If the angle x + d is obtuse, as AC'B, co-t. (x + d) is negative. This is as it should be, for then we shall have the base equal to BD C'D.

OHIO UNIVERSITY, Feb. 23d.

W. H. YOUNG.

NOTE. Several friends of the Journal have expressed dissatisfaction with the action of the Executive Committee in regard to a Mathematical Department. We have considered ourselves bound by their vote, but after reflection we concluded to insert the above, and suggest to the Committee the propriety of recon sidering their decision.-ED.

YR OREOGRAFI AN AKTIV ENƐMI TW

EDYUKⱭXON.

It wud be ezi tu fo dat er speliŋ iz an estetik falyчr and a filolojikal falyчr; dat it prevents us from akwįriŋ sum yuniform standard ov pronunsiafon, or from lerniŋ de real çanjez hwię hav tákn plas in de kors ov ajez duriŋ de formafon ov er langwaj; dat it broz grat hindransez in de wa ov sr studi ov komparativ filoloji and de akwizifon ov modern laŋgwajez for dɛ sák ov praktikal interkomunikáĵon; but on dez materz we forbar tu dwel. a must okur tu everi tinkin mind. Ha qr born st bị konstant eksperiens; da qr ov de tiŋz hwig admit ov no dst.

But it iz nesesári tu rekur tu dɛ edyчkasonal efekts ov or prezent,ortografi, for da qr at wuns de most important, and de most jenerali felt. de wun gråt pont iz, dat wilt or prezent speliŋ it iz a loŋ and veri difikult proses tu lern tu red, and a stil loŋger and mor difikult proses tu lern tu rjt. He konsekwens iz dat gildren qr forst tu wást yerz over akwiriŋ de per tu yuz de mer tolz hwarwidel tu dig st nolej. In gråt Briten, hwar far iz no organizd sistem ov komon skolz, and hwąr gildren go tu skol veri yuŋ, and lev after spendiŋ, on an averáj, not mor dan åten munts at skol, it haz bin kalkulated bį dɛ akut skøl inspektor, Rev. Kanon Mozli, đat "probabli wun hqf” ov de gildren hó frekwent de Iŋglif nasonal and ufter skolz fer dɛ wurkiŋ klasez, "must lev de skolz and be absorbd intu te laboriŋ komyuniti ov de kuntri widst beiŋ abl tu red.” Nx, elđo it bị no menz foloz dat doz ho kan red and rįt, qi, and red and rịt wid de grátest ez and korektnes, qr in eni respekt edyųkated, yet it iz kwit serten dat doz ho qr not abl tu red and rit wid sum degre ov ez, qr entirli uninstrukted. He sistem ov instrukĵon at or skolz duz not admit ov edyukason bɛin kondukted widst rediŋ and ritin.

de grat sofal mizeri, den, hwię Inglif spelin produsez in Ingland, iz de wont ov edyukason amuŋ đɛ pɛpl. And evn in de Yunited Stats, hwar everi cild enjoz de oportuniti ov instrukfon in de komon skolz, de tim hwię iz stil wasted over de nesesari preliminari ov lẹrniŋ tu red, detrakts mug from de valyų ov de edyчkafon givn, bekez it deprivz de teger ov de oportuniti tu giv dat utter instrukfon and dat uđer traniŋ hwię konstituts real edyчkafon, hwil de veri serkumstans ov havin tu teg a subjekt ov de natyur ov er orðografi, givz đe çįld a fols tranin, a bend in de roŋ direkson, a sumbin tu unlern in hiz veri ferst lerniŋ. de proses ov instrukfon in rediŋ iz darfor not merli no asistans tu uđer tegiŋ, but absolutli a detriment. Or ortografi iz darfor an inkubus hwig el edyчkátorz must be dezirus ov skáriŋ; not merli a pasiv obstakl tu be overkum, but an aktiv enɛmi hwig iz perpetyчali lediŋ de pupil intu fels padz.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON THE SCHOOL LAW.

BY THE STATE COMMISSIONER OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

QUESTION 108.-Has a teacher the legal right to open his school with prayer? ANSWER.-On this extremely delicate and important matter, I have not been able to find any decision of the Supreme Court of this State. But in the State of New York it has been decided under a School Law, similar to that of this State, that "teachers may open and close their schools with prayer, and the reading of the Scriptures; provided they take care to avoid all controverted points or sectarian dogmas."

In some States it has been held that teachers cannot claim this right as a mat ter of course; but that school officers may, in the exercise of a sound discretion, permit them to open and close their schools with prayer, provided the inhabitants of the district do not seriously object, and provided also that the harmony of the district would not seriously be disturbed thereby.

If the teacher, in his prayers, avoids all sectarian dogmas, and does not improperly consume time, I do not see why he may not be permitted to do what he believes to be his conscientious duty for the welfare of those committed to his charge, by appropriately invoking the blessings of God upon his important and responsible labors, as by properly addressing or lecturing his pupils upon the importance of a strict adherence to the principles of truth, justice and morality.

But the teacher should not insist on this privilege, nor should the local directors grant it in cases where it would create dissatisfaction in the district, or induce a portion of the inhabitants to withdraw their children from school, because of sincere conscientious scruples on this subject.

The question as to the right of opening a school with prayer is one of great delicacy, and should be treated accordingly. In a matter of such grave character, involving the interests of religion, the freedom of conscience, and a sense of duty, school officers, teachers, and the inhabitants generally, should exercise great forbearance and a spirit of conciliation. John C. Spencer, one of the most distinguished jurists in the State of New York, while acting as Superintendent of Common Schools in that State, decided a similar question as follows, viz: "Prayers cannot form any part of the school exercises, or be regulated by the school discipline. If had at all, they should be had before the usual hour of commencing school in the morning, and after the hour of closing school in the afternoon. If any parents are desirous of habituating their children to the practice of thanking their Creator for his protection during the night, and invoking his blessings on the labors of the day, they have a right to place them under the charge of the teacher for that purpose. But neither they nor the teacher have any authority to compel the children of other parents, who object to the practice from dislike of the individual or his creed, or from any other cause, to unite in such prayers.

"And on the other hand, the latter have no right to obstruct the former in the discharge of what they deem a sacred duty. Both parties have rights; and it is only by a mutual and reciprocal regard by each of the rights of the other, that peace can be maintained, or a school flourish. The teacher may assemble in his school room before nine o'clock, the children of those parents who desire him to conduct religious exercises for them; and the children of those who object to