Pictures are also very imjportant. ^'Geographical and
historical information,, especially, can be illustrated and
maJe doubly interesting by ilie use of well-selected pic-
tures. The appearance of 'natural scenery, such as
mountains, glaciers, Tocky wivines, volcanoes, cataracts,
tropical foreste, and a greaiiumber of other things of
like character, can be unflOTstood better through the
means of pictorial illustrations than by the most com-
plete and elaborate doscriptions. Pictures should be
chosen with care, and such only taken for use as repre-
sent something important. In the study of natural his-
tory, pictures become indispensable, for scarcely any idea
of the peculiar shape and appearance of animals can be
gained from mere verbal description. In selecting pic-
tures for schools, avoid the cbarse, cheap lithographs of
the shops, for they will have a tendency to deprave taste
rather than elcYate it.
Nu>iERicAL Fbame. — A Small frame, known as the " Nu-
merical Frame," consisting^ 6f twelve rows of little balls,
and twelve balls in each row, strung upon wires, on
which they move easily, is li valuable auxiliary to the
teacher in giving instruction in tl^flrst principles of num-
bers. The simple rules of arithmenc, and many things of a

9*



202 COUNTBY SCnOOL-lIOUSES.
more complicatied character, can hp readily .ilHrstealrd "by
it, and the whole class can be instructed at the same lime.
m

SPECIAL APPARATU^i' ."* <^."^'*'

• ■• ■ . "

Several articles of apparatus ^e q^cessary for th€ illus-
tration of special piAniA in the different branches. eflludy,
and for the full underst&ndiag .of mattei-s of abstruse
science. The more important of these will be noticed
under the following heads : •?..
