Now let us put the water on the stove. What does it do? What comes off from this boiling water? Let us put the thermometer in the boiling water. What does the quicksilver do now? How high does it rise? What does cold do to the quicksilver? Heat? Let us put just a little water in this baking-powder box, and set it on the stove. We will put the cover on tightly, and make a small hole in the cover with an awl. When the water boils what happens? Hold a cold piece of glass in the steam a moment. What is on the glass? Breathe on the glass. What is on the glass now? We call water, when solid, ice; when liquid, as we usually see it, water; when hot, coming from boiling water, steam, vapour. In what form is water that comes from our breath? What form is in the well? Tell me some other forms of water. Fog, snow, cloud, hail, rain.

Catch snow-flakes on a piece of black cloth, and examine with a glass. Draw all the different forms you can find. Darken the room and put a thin piece of ice over a hole in the shutter, so that the sunlight can pass through. Now look with the glass. What do you see? Are these crystals like snow crystals? How do they differ? Get a sheet of ice from some little brook or puddle where the water has gone down after the ice has frozen. Examine the beautiful crystals on the under side. Examine crystals forming on a cold window. Examine the steam as it issues from a teakettle. Is it white just where it leaves the spout? Why not?

Take a spoonful of sugar and place it in a cup of cold water. Stir it around and pour off the water. Is all the sugar there? Where has the rest of it gone? Taste it. Do you taste any sugar? What has the water done to the sugar? Take a spoonful of sugar and put it in a cup of hot water. Stir one second, and pour off as before. Where is the sugar now? Does hot water dissolve more or less rapidly than cold water? Water dissolves substances put into it. Place the thermometer in freezing water. At what temperature does it freeze? Place the thermometer in boiling water. At what temperature does it boil? Place a small dish of water out of doors on a cold night; next day get it and see what has occurred. Why did the dish break? Why did the ice bulge? What does water do, then, in freezing? It expands. Hold up a glass of water. Look through it. Describe it.

Question the class about the uses of water, ice, snow. Have some of the various poems on snow, water, etc., been read in school? (Lowell's description of winter in the Vision of Sir Launfall is among the finest in literature.) Drawing snow crystals is interesting and instructive work. Frost on the windows is also very beautiful. An experiment may be made. by placing a tumbler of cracked ice in a warm room. There will soon form on the outside of the glass beautiful frost crys

tals. This proves the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere. From One Hundred Lessons in Nature Study, by Frank O. Payne. E. L. Kellogg & Co., Pub., New York.

Books Received and Reviewed.

[All Exchanges and Books for Review should be sent direct to the Editor of the Educational Record, Quebec, P. Q.]

The Canadian Magazine for March is in every particular a number of which Canadians may well be proud. Good reading in plenty is to be found between its covers. A principal feature is the continuation of Ian Maclaren's novel, "Kate Carnegie." Among the other articles are "The Nature of Robert Burns," by J. Campbell, M.D.; "The Men who made McGill," by A. H. U. Colquhoun, B.A.; "Photography Extraordinary," treating of the new process with Cathode rays, by F. T. Thomason. Book reviews, poems and papers on various subjects of interest make up the number. The Canadian Magazine deserves all the support it can get from Canadians. The April number promises an excellent table of contents. Published by the Ontario Publishing Company, Toronto.

In the January number of the Atlantic Monthly is a paper on "The School-house as a Centre," by the editor, Horace E. Scudder, which will prove of interest to the teacher. Mr. Scudder's ideal is the school-house forming the social centre of the municipality or district, and occupying the place which, according to him, is being usurped by the public library. This paper is an introduction to the discussion of The Status of the Teacher," in subsequent issues. The Johnson Club," by George Birkbeck Hill, is an entertaining description of a meeting of Johnson enthusiasts. The menu of the Atlantic is varied and of the best, and the January number is full of most interesting matter. The book reviews are, as usual, excellent.

The School Journal of New York makes a new move that will commend itself to educators, in publishing two illustrated magazine numbers a month from 36 to 44 pages each. The first number of the month is devoted to the interests of School Boards and Superintendents. The third week is to be a "Method" number. The Journal was established in 1870, and is published weekly at $2.50 a year.

The American Journal of Education deserves special mention among our exchanges. It is a splendid teachers' paper. One of the features of each issue is a beautiful specimen of art in the line of photogravure. The Journal is published by Messrs. Perrin and Smith, St. Louis, Mo.

The Atlantic Monthly for February carries its own recommendation. Among the special features of this number are: "Some Memories of Hawthorne," by his daughter, Rose Haw

thorne Lothrop; "The Bibliotaph," by Leon M. Vincent; a second of Mrs. Catherwood's studies in provincial France, entitled, "A Little Domestic "; and several short stories, including "Glasses," a very unique one, by Henry James. Gilbert Parker's Canadian novel, The Seats of the Mighty," continues, and has lost nothing of its original interest. We have no hesitation in saying that the Atlantic Monthly is one of the best and most reliable to the monthlies of the day.

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IN THESE DAYS of reprints and deceptions it behoves the teacher who is desirous of possessing a good dictionary to be wide awake in his quest for such a necessity. He should, if possible, get the best. There is one lexicon which has stood every test, and is to-day more popular among those able to judge in such matters than, perhaps, it ever was. We refer to Webster's International Dictionary, published by Messrs. G. and C. Merriam Company, Springfield, Mass. We have found it to be an unimpeachable authority in our own case, and we always defer the settling of any orthographical or etymological question till we have consulted the International. In the matter of dictionaries, the Messrs. Merriam have had the confidence of the public for some time. They were proprietors of the authorized Unabridged of 1864, and since then have published several editions of Webster's great work. In this connection, they have expended on revision and compilation many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consequently, in preparing the International, they have not been obliged to omit on account of copyright any excellence contained in former editions. It would be difficult to imagine any more complete lexicon of the English language than Webster's International Dictionary, and we advise all who are thinking of purchasing a reliable authority in lexicography to communicate with the publishers of this great work.

THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE, a branch series of Heath's English Classics, published by Messrs. D. C. Heath and Company, Boston, U. S. A. We have received two numbers of this series, MACBETH, edited by E. K. Chambers, B.A., and As You LIKE IT, edited by J. C. Smith, M.A. (Edin.), B.A. (Oxon.), and have nothing but good to say of them. The publishers announce that in this edition of Shakespeare an attempt is made to present the greater plays of the dramatist in their literary aspect, and not merely as material for the study of philology or grammar." The two volumes we have had the pleasure of examining are most complete, containing besides the text, a glossary, an essay on metre, an index, and appendices upon points of special interest, and we heartily recommend them as suitable for school work. The "Arden Shakespeare" is well arranged and has a most attractive appearance, though issued at a very reasonable price. These other plays have so far been issued: Hamlet, Julius Cæsar, Twelfth Night, and Richard III, with others to follow shortly.

FOR SECRETARY-TREASURERS.

Please notice that the RECORD is no longer addressed to the secretary-treasurer by name. Owing to the frequent changes it seems best to address "The Secretary-Treasurer of the Protestant Schools," &c., and so avoid the correction of the mailing lists or the loss of the RECORD.

Acknowledgment of Subscriptions to the RECORD for the current year.

F. Hamilton, Esq., Sec.-Treas., Longueuil.......

H. Howe, Esq.,

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E. W. T. Raddon, Esq.,

66

Et. LeBel, Esq.,

66

Barnston..
Westmount.

Kingsey.....

$2.00

1.00

3.00

1.00

Official Department.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION,

QUEBEC, November 28th, 1895.

On which day the quarterly meeting of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction was held.

Present: R. W. Heneker, Esq., D.C.L., LL.D., in the chair; the Ven. Archdeacon Lindsay, M.A., D.C.L.; George L. Masten, Esq.; the Reverend Principal Shaw, D.D., LL.D.; Professor A. W. Kneeland, M.A.; the Reverend Á. T. Love, B.A.; the Right Reverend A. H. Dunn, D.D., Lord Bishop of Quebec; H. B. Ames. Esq., B.A.; E. J. Hemming, Esq., D.C.L., Q.C.; the Very Reverend Dean Norman, D.D., D.C.L.; Peter McArthur, Esq.; the Reverend E. I. Rexford, B.A.; and N. T. Truell, Esq.

Sir William Dawson by letter expressed his regret that he would be unable to be present at the morning session.

The Chairman read the official announcement of the appointment of H. B. Ames, Esq., B.A., as member of the Council of Public Instruction and welcomed him to the meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were then read.

Moved by the Lord Bishop of Quebec, seconded by the Reverend Dean Norman, "That in order to make the minutes of the last meeting conform to the facts, the following words be inserted after the words authorized under existing regulations. Carried.' The Reverend E. I. Rexford then tendered his resignation as member of the text-book committee." Carried.

The name of the Venerable Archdeacon Lindsay, M.A., D.C.L., was inserted in the list of members who were present at the last meeting.

The minutes as amended were confirmed.

The present method of distributing the common school fund according to population was discussed. R. S. Q, 1892, sec. 1, and 2081.

The discussion resulted in the following resolutions:

1st.-Moved by the Lord Rishop of Quebec, seconded by the Dean of Quebec, "That this Committee approve the principle of using the sum now distributed among common schools largely in assisting the poorer municipalities." Carried.

2nd.-Moved by the Reverend Principal Shaw, seconded by the Venerable Archdeacon Lindsay, "In view of the pressing needs of the elementary schools of this province, which should be improved as the province advances in material interests, and in view of the general demand there is throughout the province for their improvement, while it may be claimed that in general the character of these schools is as favorable as the resources available allow, be it resolved that we respectfully and strongly urge upon the Government the advisability and the imperative need of increasing the Legislative grant for the elementary schools of the province." Carried.

3rd.-Moved by Professor Kneeland, seconded by the Lord Bishop of Quebec, "That whereas the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction have no means for increasing the efficiency of elementary schools by the leverage of grants made under like circumstances as those made to superior schools, and whereas the distribution of the money at the disposal of the Committee according to certain defined conditions, to the superior schools of the province, has conduced to a most satisfactory state of efficiency in these schools, and whereas this Committee believe that even the small sum now distributed to the elementary schools of the province, according to population, would, if distributed by this Committee according to definite conditions, have a like effect upon the elementary schools of the province, be it resolved that this Committee recommends that the grants to elementary schools be distributed in accordance with a scheme which shall recognize both the needs and the merits of the several schools and localities concerned, and that a sub-committee be appointed to prepare and submit such a scheme." Carried.

Sub-committee, Professor Kneeland, Convener; Dr. Shaw, Reverend E. I. Rexford, Mr. H. B. Ames and Sir William Dawson.

The Committee then examined a number of the bulletins of inspection for different parts of the province. After discussion it was moved by the Reverend E. I. Rexford, seconded by the Ven. Archdeacon Lindsay, "That after careful consideration of the best means of promoting the interests of our elementary schools this Committee recommends that an experienced teacher be appointed to the Department of Public Instruction to supervise wisely and intelligently the work of the Protestant elementary schools, through school bulletins and others (as is now done for the Roman Catholic schools), and to relieve the English Secretary of some of the routine work, in order that he