overthrow.

During the last few years Ontario has shared in the general growth
of temperance sentiment, and in common with other temperance
organizations the W.C.T.U. has received an increase in membership,
and has obtained a surer, warmer place in the hearts of the people.
Recently, owing, no doubt, to the agitation of the Scott Act contest
in many counties, and owing, too, to the earnestness and energy of
many of the county superintendents of the Provincial Union, the
number of societies has been more than doubled. The Ontario
Provincial Union now comprises ninety-six unions, with a membership
of about 2,600. The attention of this Provincial Union has been
largely directed to the importance of introducing scientific
instruction in our public schools. Dr. Richardson's "Temperance
Lesson Book," and other text books on this subject, have been widely
circulated in teachers' conventions and elsewhere; petitions have
been presented to school boards, literature on the subject has been
widely distributed, and during the spring months, while the Hon.
Minister of Education was visiting the public schools at different
points, he was waited upon in many places by deputations from the
W.C.T. Unions, asking that temperance text books be introduced into
the schools of Ontario.

The committee to whose care this branch of the work is committed,
also had an interview with Hon. Mr. Ross, Minister of Education, and
presented a petition from the W.C.T. Unions, and other temperance
societies, asking that scientific instruction in temperance be given
to the children of the public schools. The Hon. Minister informed the
deputation that a book on "Physiology and Hygiene," having special
reference to the effect of alcohol on the human system, was now in