plished. To this we reply, that she must always adapt both teaching, exercise, and discipline to the nature and constitution of the child, that is, to the especial requirements of that particular child to which she may have to direct attention. In the first place, the school seats must be so constructed as to afford support to the back whenever the pupil needs to recline backwards. The seat and back also should be covered with cloth, and stuffed, so as to render them comfortable, and the pupils be allowed to rest occasionally. The teacher must always bear in mind that her object is to make her pupils proficient, and she cannot do this except their studies be made delightful to them. When the tuition is irksome, it will always be shunned if possible, and hated when it cannot be avoided. It is possible, we know, to drill a human being into a routine of mechanical movements, mental as well as bodily; but this is not education in the sense in which we use the term. There is no drawing out of the higher faculties of the soul, and consequently no love of wisdom imparted under such a system: neither walking, however, nor any other exercise of the body upon itself, can ever give all the movements necessary to a young person for the perfecting of the frame; and it was this conviction which led Dr. Caplin to invent the vast number of mechanical contrivances which make up his magnificent gymnasium. There is one apparatus, however, which we should recommend as indispensable for a family, and that is the Pilaster. This simple machine, which is at once compact and ornamental, supplies the means for fifteen different exercises, enabling us to expand the chest, or strengthen by exercise any member of the body that needs our aid. Nor is it possible to do this without some adaptation of mechanical means; and the more perfect the means, the more complete will be the success.
That the reader may have a clear conception of our meaning, we introduce here a short description of this apparatus from the "Lady's Newspaper." Take the first illustration of its use as a chest-expander. (See Fig. 1.)
The expansion of the chest is one of the first things to be attended to, in any efforts to improve the bodily health. Now, the thorax is composed of the spine posteriorly, and of the sternum, or breast-bone and ribs laterally. The ribs incline downward with the spine, and
