V BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BALTIMORE, AT a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Public Schools, Baltimore, to hear the report of the Book Committee, upon Davies' Elementary Series. The following resolution was offered, and adopted: Resolved,-That DAVIES' FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC, DAVIES' ARITHMETIC, DAVIES' ALGEBRA, DAVIES' PRACTICAL GEOMETRY, and DAVIES' ELEMENTARY GEOMETRY, be introduced into the Public Schools of Baltimore. From the Minutes, JOHN F. TILYARD, Clerk. JAMES LUCAS, CHAMBER OF THE CONTROLLERS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Philadelphia, September 15, 1842. AT a meeting of the Board of Controllers of the Public Schools of the First School District of Pennsylvania, held at the Controllers' Chamber, on Tuesday afternoon, September 13, 1842, it was Resolved,That DAVIES' FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC, and DAVIES' ARITHMETIC, be introduced into the Public Schools of the District; and also, that DAVIES' ALGEBRA be introduced therein; the latter under the Resolution of the 12th day of November, 1839. From the Minutes, THOMAS B. FLORENCE, Secretary. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by CHARLES DAVIES, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. HARVARD COLLEGE Tafes Callega PREFACE. THE FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC are designed for beginners. They are the first steps in a course of arithmetical instruction. They begin with counting, and advance step by step through all the simple combinations of numbers. ΟΙ Ir order that the pupil may be impressed with the fact that numbers express a collection of units, things of the same kind, the unit, in the beginning, is represented by a star, and the child should be Inade to count the stars in all cases where they are used. Haying once fixed in the mind a correct impression of numbers, it was deemed no longer necessary to represent the unit by a symbol; and hence the use of the star was discontinued. From the combinations of the unit, forming the whole numbers, the child is next made acquainted with its divisions, which form the fractions; and great care has been taken to consider each fraction by itself. A second part is added, embracing the general properties of fractions and the proportion of numbers. As these relations of numbers are too difficult for the younger scholars of a class, it was thought best to separate them from the simple principles, and leave them as exercises for the more advanced pupils. At the end of the oral arithmetic a supplement is added, which is intended for an exercise with the slate. There is another advantage which may be derived from the supplement. Instead of dividing a class, or keeping back the more apt scholars for those who are less gifted, the former may be employed on the supplement until the latter are ready to be advanced. WEST POINT, JULY, 1843. |