University of Virginia Library

Letter

—I have examined the Third Part of Mr. Emerson's
Arithmetic with great pleasure. The perspicuity of its arrangement, and
the clearness and brevity of its explanations, combined with its happy adaptation
to the purposes of practical business, are its great recommendations.
I hope it will soon be introduced into all our schools, and take the place of
ill-digested treatises, to which our instructors have hitherto been compelled
to resort.

Letter

[Conclusion of a letter to the Author.] I should think it hardly possible
that a child could be faithfully conducted through these two works [First and
Second Parts] without being vastly better acquainted with the subject than
children formerly were. Being judiciously compelled in some measure to
invent their own rules, they can scarcely fail of being able to assign a proper
reason for the process, as well as to recollect it for future use. Indeed, I do
not know any one particular in which, for the use of very young pupils, they
could be improved.

Letter

I have carefully examined the Third Part of the North American
Arithmetic, by Mr. Emerson; and am so well satisfied that it is the best
treatise on the subject with which I am acquainted, that I have determined
to introduce it as a text-book into my school.

Letter

Notwithstanding the obvious improvements of the study, both in a practical
point of view and as an intellectual exercise, arithmetic is perhaps
the science which is most negligently taught in common schools, and the
true principles of which are left in the greatest obscurity in the minds of
scholars. One reason of this is the imperfection of the common treatises used
in our schools. The Arithmetic of Dr. Adams was a decided improvement
upon its predecessors in the way of lucid explanations, and, as might be expected,
others followed which went still farther in the track of inductive
illustration. The North American Arithmetic, by Frederick Emerson, appears
to me to exhibit the science in a manner more clear, simple and practical,
better adapted to the use of schools and the benefit of teachers, who
may not themselves be thoroughly conversant with arithmetic, than any book
I have seen. The doctrine of Ratio and Proportion is treated in the way in
which it can alone be rendered perfectly intelligible to the pupil, and far
more satisfactory than in any English or American Arithmetic that has fallen
under my notice.

Letter

—Having examined your North American Arithmetic
with much care, and made some use of it as a text-book in my classes, I do
not hesitate to regard it as better adapted than any other, to the schools of
the United States. It has long been objected to the books on this subject in
common use, that they are deficient in explanation, and unscientific in arrangement;
more apt to check than develop the powers of reasoning and calculation.
To your work, certainly, these objections are inapplicable. No
pupil, it seems to me, can go through Parts First, Second, and Third, with

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We have considered it our duty to render ourselves acquainted with the
more prominent systems of arithmetic, published for the use of Schools, and
to fix on some work which appears to unite the greatest advantages, and to
report the same to the School Committee of Boston, for adoption in the Public
Schools. After the most careful examination, we have, without any hesitancy,
come to the conclusion, that Emerson's North American Arithmetic
[Parts First, Second, and Third,] is the work best suited to the wants of all
classes of scholars, and most convenient for the purposes of instruction. Accordingly,
we have petitioned for the adoption of the work in the Public
Schools.