Philipp Emanuel Von Fellenberg, a Swiss educator and philanthropist, founder of the institutions at Hofwyl, born in Bern, June 27, 1771, died there, Nov. 21, 1844. His father was a member of the government and a friend of Pestalozzi. His mother was a descendant of the Dutch admiral Van Tromp. He studied at Colmar and Tubingen, and travelled extensively with a view of familiarizing himself with the condition of the working and suffering classes. He was at Paris shortly after the fall of Robespierre, and there his early convictions became strengthened that improved systems of education alone can protect society against revolutions. Returning to Switzerland after taking part against the French, he was exiled when they had succeeded in taking Bern, and went to Germany, where he resided some time. After his return to Switzerland he was employed by the government in a mission to Paris, and in high military and political functions at home. Finding that nothing would be done by the government for the accomplishment of his favorite educational projects, he resolved to devote his large fortune to the purchase of the estate of Hofwyl near Bern, and to the establishment of model institutions in accordance with the views of Pestalozzi. Fellen-berg's aim was to elevate all classes by opening an institution alike to the poor and the rich, and by not only making agriculture the basis of his instruction, but also elevating that profession to the dignity of a science.

Apart from the agricultural school, he founded an establishment for the manufacture of improved agricultural implements. At the same time he laid the foundation of a scientific institution, for which the first building was erected in 1807. The agricultural institution was opened in 1808, and he established in the same year a normal school, which became popular among the teachers of Switzerland, and grew in importance as its advantages became known abroad. The institution was gradually enlarged, and comprised altogether seven distinct schools, to which a primary school was added in 1830, and still another school for children at a subsequent period. By these schools, and by his writings on the subject of agriculture and education, Fellenberg exerted a remarkable influence in Europe; and although the institutions which he founded were dissolved after his death; after having been conducted for several years by one of his sons, kindred institutions have sprung up in Switzerland and Germany, and the celebrated pauper colony of the Netherlands at Frederiksoord, province of Drenthe, was founded in 1818 by a pupil of Hofwyl. Fellenberg was assisted in his benevolent labors by his wife, and by the greater number of their nine children.-See Hamm, Fellenberg' s Leben und Wirken (Bern, 1845). Robert Dale Owen was a pupil at Hofwyl, and in his autobiography (" Threading his Way," 1874) has given an interesting account of the school.