Farming, after the style of our Middle and New England States, is hardly possible there. Stock-raising and the culture of the orange and the vine are easy and more profitable. It is not difficult to picture the Indian in those regions passing through the same steps as oriental nations to a higher civilization. He leaves war, hunting, fishing, and takes on the habits of pastoral and agricultural life only by degrees, until, divested of the tastes, ideas, and associations of the war-path and nomadic life, he comes to live his own life in his own well-kept house with his own children, caring for his own stock on his own well-tilled farm. Facts in the history of the Indians in Western New York and among the Chippewas and Stockbridges, as well as the Cherokees,* Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, the Nez Percés, and the Indians at the Fort Simcoe reservation abundantly warrant these expectations. The dissemination of facts of this character is especially demanded to correct the sentiment so hostile to the Indians by the whites in their immediate vicinity. The sooner and the more completely the sentiment of those living in the neighborhood of the Indians shall become friendly and directed to their elevation instead of their degradation, the sooner will the present wise policy of the Government toward the Indians be successful. The school systems of the States in which there is a considerable population of Indians, as Oregon, California, Nevada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, could be instrumental in solving this difficult problem, by including and enforcing the education of Indian children. NATIONAL SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE. The recent grant of land by Congress in aid of superior instruction, intended to be specially promotive of science in its application to agriculture and the mechanic arts, the great industries of the country, yet not excluding classical learning, has given a new and important impulse to education, resulting in the establishment of what may be termed national schools of science, either on an independent basis or associated with older colleges and universities. The field is new to Americans, and the methods adopted here must be measurably experimental and tentative in the absence of the experience of the Old World. The gentlemen responsible for their management seek the most accurate and full information in regard to the objects aimed at and methods adopted by their fellow-laborers. *Hon. S. S. Stephens, superintendent of public schools, says that for more than twenty-five years the nation has been laboring to establish a system that shall give its children a good mental culture, but that the character of the education is yet superficial, and fails to teach a large portion of the children. For this condition of tho schools the United States Government is considered censurable, it being the public right and duty to fit their children to become good citizens. The superintendent urges the council to amend the school law so as to compel parents to send their children to school; to establish a system of graded schools, or at least three-one at Tahlequah, one at Gibson, and one at Weber's Falls; one to be employed for the higher, and the others for the primary department; to pass an act estab lishing the number of scholars to the teachers; to establish a normal school for teach ers; to establish an orphan school. A teachers' institute held in July was well attended and of great advantage to the teachers. The superintendent desires the passage of a law providing for a teachers' institute at the close of each school term. It is the opinion of the superintendent that, unless speedy and effective action is taken, the present generation will be thrown on the world utterly unfit for the proper discharge of their duties as citizens. The number of schools was 60, viz, 57 İndian and 3 colored. The number of pupils enrolled was 2,249, viz, 1,132 males and 1,117 females with an average attendence of 1,297. In view of the interests involved, I have, with your approval, committed the inquiries in regard to these establishments, and the statement of their experience, as bearing upon education, to a gentleman fitted in an eminent degree, by his acquaintance with scientific education both in Europe and America and by his position as professor in the Sheffield Scientific School at New Haven, to secure the hearty co-operation of his colleagues and to bring out the most satisfactory results for the benefit of the public. Attention is particularly invited to his able report. From the table of national schools of applied science the following appears as the summary of statistics up to date: Institutions receiving the Government aid. Number of instructors in twenty-four reported.. Number of students in twenty reported Average number of students Institutions having libraries... Volumes in all the libraries. Institutions of a similar character not receiving Government aid. 180 1,950 97 4 16,500 The Ninth Census, under the classification of "Unfortunates" in the United States, gives a grand total of 98,434. These are divided into blind, 20,320; of whom 17,043 are native, and 3,277 foreign. Deaf and dumb, 16,205; native, 14,869; foreign, 1,336. Insane, 37,382; native, 26,161; foreign, 11,221. Idiotic, 24,527; native, 22,882; foreign, 1,645. EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. The treatment of this subject was intrusted to Dr. Samuel G. Howe, the eminent director of the Perkins Institute and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, Boston, Massachusetts, to whom the Commissioner is under special obligations for his kind supervision of the preparation of the valuable facts which relate to this unfortunate class, contained in the accompanying papers. The following is the summary of the statistics on the subject: The census of 1870 gives the number of the blind in the United States as 20, 320. Among these none are counted who ought not to be, while many partially blind are not included. Of the 500 cases at the Perkins Institute the causes of blindness were as follows: congenital, 37.75 per cent.; disease, 47.09 per cent.; accidents, 15.16 per cent. Of 1,102 persons admitted to this institution, 878 survive; whereas the life table of Massachusetts calls for 964, and that of England for about 979 survivors, showing that the power of the blind to resist destructive influences is 8.9 per cent. less than that of the population of Massachusetts. The first public systematic efforts in the United States to secure to the blind the advantages of common-school instruction were made in Boston, in 1829. Thirty-one State legislatures have made special appropriations, either for the support of State institutions, or the support of the blind in institutions of other States. Twenty special institutions are in operation, and six others in which the blind share the benefits with deaf-mutes. The aggregate of the property of these institutions is about $3,000,000. They have received in all 6,476 pupils; their actual present number is 1,995. EDUCATION OF DEAF-MUTES. The able and enthusiastic president of the National Deaf-Mute College, E. M. Gallaudet, Ph. D., LL. D., who so successfully treated this subject in the last report, prepared the article which will be found among the accompanying papers. The following summary shows the present condition of this class of institutions: Number of females in thirty-two institutions in 1871.. Number of pupils sent to States having institutions for mutes from EDUCATION OF IDIOTS. Nine asylums for imbeciles or weak-minded youth are reported, with 659 inmates. They constitute a deeply interesting class of educational institutions, and offer many admonitory lessons bearing upon the rearing of the young. "Idiots are more numerous among the children of the rich and of the poor than of the middling classes, who suffer neither from the enervation of riches nor the pinchings of poverty. The pupils come mainly from the actually poor. Many are of families that have been deteriorating physically, and are nearly run out. The stock has become vitiated by various causes, among which intemperance and physical excesses are prominent." TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. In reviewing the accompanying papers, it is gratifying to observe how widely and uniformly the teachers' institutes have been employed throughout the country for the improvement of teachers, and through them of the schools. Many of the ablest thinkers and educators have contributed to their success. For many teachers they are the only source of correct ideas in regard to methods of instruction, discip line and school management. They scatter the germs of the best thoughts upon education, and, by the general attendance of the citizens of the places where they are held, contribute greatly to improve the public mind and correct and elevate the educational sentiment. often the expenses of these institutes have to be met by voluntary contributions. Undoubtedly there should be careful legal provision in every State for an adequate system of teachers' institutes by a sufficient fund, to be under the proper control of the State, county, or city officers, Too for the ample compensation of the best educators whose services can be procured in conducting them. EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO COLLEGES AND TO THE NAVAL AND MILITARY ACADEMIES. As one means of ascertaining the thoroughness of elementary training in the schools of the country, I sought to give in my last report the results of the examinations for admission to the United States Military and Naval Academies for the past fifteen years. The statistics from the Military Academy arrived in season to be included in that report. They showed that out of 1,459 candidates, 326 had been rejected; 41 for physical disability, 285 for literary incompetency, of whom 173 were deficient in writing, including orthography. The appreciation of these suggestive facts, as indicated by numerous teachers, induced me to pursue the inquiry, extending it also to a number of colleges, with regard to the number of candidates accepted and rejected the past year. Some of the colleges keep no record of those rejected, and were thus unable to respond to my inquiries. The following schedule presents the results obtained: Schedule of examinations for admission to the freshman class of the following six colleges (all that responded to inquiry) and the two United States academies. The entire absence of any uniform method of keeping suitable records among the different institutions renders it exceedingly difficult to secure satisfactory statistics. It will be observed that the failures reported from the Military and Naval Academies are still in elementary subjects, while the several colleges reported do not indicate uniformly any examination in the common English branches. I would earnestly 7 commend these facts to those in charge of our colleges, who can hardly desire that their future graduates shall not be well trained and thorough in the common English branches as well as in those subjects which are pursued under their own care; and would suggest for their consideration whether they cannot do much to aid teachers in elementary and secondary schools in securing the desired thoroughness in these branches by including in the examination of candidates for admission to their institutions an examination in the elementary studies. The law of supply and demand is applicable here as elsewhere. Have not these institutions an opportunity, by making this thoroughness in elementary English studies a requisite for admission, to be of great service to the community in raising the standard of secondary education throughout the country? If there is a sufficient demand for thoroughness in these subjects, the supply, beyond question, will be promptly furnished. HAZING. The barbarous practice of hazing has never been completely exorcised from American institutions of superior instruction. The growth of public opinion against it has been great during the last half century. Home and public influences have largely co-operated with the advancing sentiment of the officers of educational institutions. Recent special manifestations of this relic of the dark ages, in some of the colleges, and in the Naval and Military Academies, have deservedly met the most vigorous treatment. The intolerable nature of these practices, which often violate the rules of common decency, and sometimes leave permanent bodily injuries, should be understood by the public and by parents, that they may be duly abhorred, and the day of their absolute banishment from all institutions be hastened. By a late order of the Hon. W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War, a number of the cadets at West Point "are dismissed the service of the United States," and several others are furnished with furloughs, for "treating with violence and harassing other cadets." At the Naval Academy, also, several of the midshipmen have been found guilty of "coarse, cruel, and oppressive conduct" toward other members of the institution, and have had their names "dropped from the roll," in pursuance of an order from the Hon. George M. Robeson, Secretary of the Navy, who declares that "though mere youthful vivacity and mischief may be often overlooked, persistent blackguardism will not be tolerated.' EDUCATION AND ORPHANAGE. The results of our inquiries in regard to education and orphanage cannot be included in this report, but I hope yet to present a valuable summary of these facts. There is a growing conviction that the great evils suffered by society can be largely reduced by seizing every instrumentality to render possible the instruction and virtuous training of every child. More and more it is apparent how largely the seeds of mature criminality are sown in childhood. Mr. Mundella, M. P., in a recent address, after observing that he had sat for six months upon a royal commission examining into the details of vice in England, declared that "more than 25 per cent. of those poor wretches who barter the sanctity of woman for the wages of lust were under sixteen years of age." Society, unless constantly observant of its own conditions, may be unaware of the extent to which necessity operates in forcing, or seeming to force, individuals into courses of vice and |