CHAPTER XXI

THE METHOD OF THE ARTS

1. “Theory,” says Vives, “is easy and short, but has no result other than the gratification that it affords. Practice, on the other hand, is difficult and prolix, but is of immense utility.” Since this is so, we should diligently seek out a method by which the young may be easily led to the practical application of natural forces, which is to be found in the arts.

2. Art primarily requires three things: (1) A model or a conception; that is to say, an external form which the artist may examine and then try to imitate. (2) The material on which the new form is to be impressed. (3) The instruments by the aid of which the work is accomplished.

3. But when the instruments, the materials, and the model have been provided, three more things are necessary before we can learn an art: (1) a proper use of the materials; (2) skilled guidance; (3) frequent practice. That is to say, the pupil should be taught when and how to use his materials; he should be given assistance when using them that he may not make mistakes, or that he may be corrected if he do; and he should not leave off making mistakes and being corrected until he can work correctly and quickly.

4. With respect to these points eleven canons must be observed: six on the use of materials; three on guidance; and two on practice.

​5. (i) What has to be done must be learned by practice.

Artisans do not detain their apprentices with theories, but set them to do practical work at an early stage; thus they learn to forge by forging, to carve by carving, to paint by painting, and to dance by dancing. In schools, therefore, let the students learn to write by writing, to talk by talking, to sing by singing, and to reason by reasoning. In this way schools will become work-shops humming with work, and students whose efforts prove successful will experience the truth of the proverb: “We give form to ourselves and to our materials at the same time.”

6. (ii) A definite model of that which has to be made must always be provided.

This the student should first examine, and then imitate, as though he were following in the footsteps of a guide. For he who neither knows what has to be done nor how to do it, is unable to produce anything of himself, but must have a model placed before him. Indeed it is sheer cruelty to force any one to do what you wish, while he is ignorant what your wishes are; to demand, that is to say, that he form straight lines, right angles, or perfect circles, unless you first give him a ruler, a square, and a pair of compasses, and explain their use to him. Further, great care should be taken to provide in the school-room formulæ for or models of everything that has to be made, and these, whether drawings and diagrams, or rules and models, should be correct, definite, and simple; easy both to understand and to imitate. There will then be no absurdity in demanding of a man that he see, when provided with a light; that he walk, when he already stands on his feet; or that he use the tools that are already in his hands.

7. (iii) The use of instruments should be shown in practice and not by words; that is to say, by example rather than by precept.

It is many years since Quintilian said: “Through precepts the way is long and difficult, while through examples it is short and practicable.” But alas, how little ​heed the ordinary schools pay to this advice. The very beginners in grammar are so overwhelmed by precepts, rules, exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions, that for the most part they do not know what they are doing, and are quite stupefied before they begin to understand anything. Mechanics do not begin by drumming rules into their apprentices. They take them into the workshop and bid them look at the work that has been produced, and then, when they wish to imitate this (for man is an imitative animal), they place tools in their hands and show them how they should be held and used. Then, if they make mistakes, they give them advice and correct them, often more by example than by mere words, and, as the facts show, the novices easily succeed in their imitation. For there is great truth in that saying of the Germans, “A good leader finds a good follower.” Very apposite, too, is the remark of Terence, “Do you go before; I will follow.” This is the way, namely, by imitating, and without any laborious rules, that children learn to walk, to run, to talk, and to play. Rules are like thorns to the understanding, and to grasp their meaning needs both attention and ability, while even the dullest students are aided by example. No one has ever mastered any language or art by precept alone; while by practice this is possible, éven without precept.

8. (iv) Practice should commence with the rudiments and not with ambitious works.

A carpenter does not begin by teaching his apprentice to build turrets, but first shows him how to hold the axe, to cut down trees, to shape planks, to bore holes, and to fasten beams together. A painter does not make his pupil commence by painting portraits, but teaches him how to mix colours, to hold the brush, and to make lines; then to attempt rough outlines, and so on. He who teaches a boy how to read explains to him, not the contents of the book, but the names and nature of the letters, and shows him how they can be joined together into syllables; then he proceeds to words, and then to sentences. In the ​same way the beginner in grammar should learn, first how to inflect single words, then how to join two together. Then he may advance to simple and compound sentences, and so on till he reach continuous prose. So too in dialectic. The student should first learn to distinguish things and the concepts of things by means of their genera and species; then to classify them afresh, with respect to some other common quality (for such links exist between all things); then to define and distribute them; then to estimate the value of the things and their concepts in combination, seeking out the what? the whence? and the why? and whether it be necessary or contingent. When he has had sufficient practice in this, he may proceed to ratiocination and seek how to draw conclusions from given premises, and finally he may essay discursive reasoning or the complete conduct of disputations. The same course may with advantage be followed in rhetoric. The student should first devote some time to the collection of synonyms, and may then learn to add epithets to nouns, verbs, and adverbs. He may then proceed to the use of antithesis, and later on to that of periphrasis. Then he may substitute figurative words for the originals, alter the order of the words for the sake of euphony, and adorn a simple sentence with all the figures of speech. Finally, when thoroughly versed in all these several points, and not sooner, he may proceed to the composition of a complete discourse. If any one advance step by step in any art, as here indicated, it is impossible that he should not make progress.

The basis of the foregoing was discussed in chap. xvii. Principle 4.

9. (v) Beginners should at first practise on a material that is familiar to them.

This rule we obtain from the 9th Principle of the 17th chapter, and from the 6th Corollary of the 4th Principle. Its meaning is that students should not be overburdened with matters that are unsuitable to their age, comprehension, and present condition, since otherwise they will spend their time in wrestling with shadows. For example, ​when a Polish boy is learning to read or to write his letters he should not be taught to do so from a book written in Latin, Greek, or Arabic, but from one written in his own language, that he may understand what he is doing. Again, if a boy is to understand the use of the rules of rhetoric, the examples on which he is made to practise them should not be taken from Virgil or from Cicero, or from theological, political, or medical writers, but should refer to the objects that surround him, to his books, to his clothes, to trees, houses, and schools. It will also be of use if the examples that are taken to illustrate the first rule be retained, although familiar, to illustrate the remainder. In dialectic, for example, a tree may be taken, and its genus, its species, its relations to other objects, its characteristic peculiarities and the logical definition and distribution of the term may be treated of. We may then proceed to the various ways in which a statement may be made about a tree. Finally, we may show how, by a perfect train of reasoning, and by taking the facts already ascertained as our starting-point, we may discover and demonstrate other properties of a tree. In this way, if, in each case, the use of the rules be illustrated by the same familiar example, the boy will easily master their application to all other subjects.

10. (vi) At first the prescribed form should be imitated with exactness. Later on more freedom may be allowed.

A form will be expressed with more exactness in proportion as care is taken to make it resemble its original. Thus coins that are struck by one die are exactly like the die and one another. So also with books printed from metal type, and with casts made in wax, plaster, or metal. In all other artistic operations, therefore, as far as is possible, any imitation (at any rate the first) should be an exact copy of its original, until the hand, the mind, and the tongue gain more confidence, and can produce good imitations by working freely on their own lines. For instance, those who learn writing take a thin and transparent sheet of paper, place it over the copy that they wish to imitate, and thus can easily form the letters that show through. Or the ​characters may be printed very faintly on a white page, so that the pupil may go over them with pen and ink, and in this way may easily acquire the habit of shaping them. The same thing holds good in style, if any construction or sentence extracted from a classic writer have to be imitated. If the original phrase be “Rich in possessions,” the boy should be made to imitate it by saying, “Rich in coins,” “Rich in moneys,” “Rich in flocks,” “Rich in vineyards.” When Cicero says, “In the opinion of the most learned men, Eudemus easily holds the first place in astrology,” this may be copied with very little alteration as “In the opinion of the greatest orators, Cicero easily holds the first place in eloquence,” “In the opinion of the whole Church, St. Paul easily holds the first place in Apostleship.” So too in logic, if the well-known dilemma be given: It is either day or night. But it is night; therefore it is not day; the boy may learn to imitate it by similarly opposing contradictory conceptions to one another. As, “He is either unlearned or learned. But he is unlearned; therefore he is not learned”; “Cain was either pious or impious, but he was not pious”; and so on.

11. (vii) The models of the objects that have to be produced must be as perfect as is possible, so that if any one exercise himself sufficiently in imitating them it will be possible for him to become perfect in his art.

It is impossible to draw straight lines with a curved ruler, and in the same way a good copy cannot be made from a bad model. Great care should therefore be taken that models be prepared of everything that is to be done in school, or indeed in life, and that these be exact, simple, and easy to imitate. They may be either models, pictures and drawings, or precepts and rules; but all must be very short, very clear, self-evident, and absolutely correct.

12. (viii) The first attempt at imitation should be as accurate as possible, that not the smallest deviation from the model be made.

That is to say, as far as is possible. For whatever comes first is, as it were, the foundation of that which follows. If ​the foundation be firm, a solid edifice can be constructed upon it, but if it be weak this is impossible. According to the observations of physicians, the initial defects of digestion cannot be repaired later on, and similarly in any operation an error at the beginning vitiates all that follows. For this reason Timotheus the musician used to demand twice as large a fee from those pupils who had learned the rudiments of their art elsewhere, saying that his labour was twofold, as he had first to get them out of the bad habits that they had acquired, and then to teach them correctly. Those, therefore, who are learning any art should take care to make themselves masters of the rudiments by imitating their copies accurately. This difficulty once overcome, the rest follows of itself, just as a city lies at the mercy of foes when its gates are broken in. All haste should be avoided, lest we proceed to advanced work before the elementary stages have been mastered. He goes fast enough who never quits the road, and a delay which is caused by obtaining a thorough grip of first principles is really no delay, but an advance towards mastering what follows with ease, speed, and accuracy.

13. (ix) Errors must be corrected by the master on the spot; but precepts, that is to say the rules, and the exceptions to the rules, must be given at the same time.

Hitherto we have urged that the arts be taught rather by example than by precept: we now add that precepts and rules must be given as well, that they may guide the operations and prevent error. That is to say, the less obvious points of the model should be clearly explained, and it should be made evident how the operation should begin, what it should aim at, and how that aim can be realised. Reasons should also be given for each rule. In this way a thorough knowledge of the art, and confidence and exactness in imitating, will be attained.

But these rules should be as short and as simple as possible, since we do not want to grow gray while acquiring them. When once mastered they should be of perpetual use, even when laid aside, just as knee-bands are of ​use to a child who is learning to walk, and, though they are afterwards discarded, the advantage derived from them remains.

14. (x) The perfect teaching of art is based on synthesis and analysis.

We have already shown (chap. xviii. Principle 5) by examples taken from nature and the workshop that in this relation synthesis is more important. The following points in addition will show that synthetic exercises should generally come first: (1) We should always commence with what is easy, and our own efforts are easier to understand than those of other people. (2) Writers take pains to conceal the artifices by which their results are obtained, so that at first the student finds difficulty in understanding what he sees, or fails to do so altogether. This difficulty would be removed if he began by practising on his own attempts, which are void of artifice. (3) The chief thing aimed at should be given the chief place in practice, and our real aim is to accustom the student of art to produce original work, and not merely to copy what is placed before him (see chapter xviii. Principle 5).

15. For all this, the accurate analysis of the work of others must not be neglected. It is only by continually traversing it that we get to know a road, its by-paths, and its cross-roads. Besides, the variety that exists in nature is so great that it is impossible for rules to cover it or for one mind to master it. Many processes require many rules to express them, and these we can only learn if we analyse and study, and by imitation and emulation put ourselves in a position to produce similar results.

16. It is our wish then that in each art complete and exact models or examples of everything that can be produced in that art be supplied to the student. Precepts also and rules should be given him to help him to carry out the processes, to guide his efforts at imitation, to show him how to avoid making faults, and to correct them when made. Then other and different models should be given him, and these he should learn to classify and compare ​with the models that he has already used, and by copying a model that is like one previously used to produce work that resembles the original. After this, the finished works of other artists (who must be well known) may be examined and analysed in accordance with the models and rules that are already familiar. In this way the student will learn to employ the rules with greater ease, and will acquire the art of concealing his art. Only after a course of exercises of this kind will he be in the position to criticise artistic productions, whether his own or those of others.

17. (xi) These exercises must be continued until artistic production becomes second nature.

For it is practice, and nothing else, that produces an artist.

CHAPTER XX

THE METHOD OF THE SCIENCES, SPECIFICALLY

1. We must now collect together the scattered observations that we have made on the proper teaching of the sciences, of the arts, of morality, and of piety. By proper teaching I mean teaching that combines ease, thoroughness, and rapidity.

2. Science, or the knowledge of nature, consists of an internal perception, and needs the same accessories as the external perception of the eye, namely, an object to observe, and light by which to observe it. If these be given, perception will follow. The eye of the inner perception is the mind or the understanding, the object is all that lies within or without our apprehension, while the light is the necessary attention. But, as in the case of external perception a definite procedure is necessary in order to apprehend things as they are, so with internal perception a certain method is necessary if things are to be presented to the mind in such a way that it can grasp them and assimilate them with ease.

3. The youth who wishes to penetrate the mysteries of the sciences must carefully observe four rules:

(i) He must keep the eye of his mind pure.

(ii) He must see that the object be brought near to it.

(iii) He must pay attention.

(iv) He must proceed from one object to another in ​accordance with a suitable method. For thus he will apprehend everything surely and easily.

4. Over the amount of ability that we possess we have no control, for God has portioned out this mirror of the understanding, this inner eye, according to His will. But it lies in our power to prevent it from growing dusty or dim. By dust, I mean the idle, useless, and empty occupations of the mind. For our mind is in constant activity, like a continually running mill-stone, and is supplied by its servants, the external senses, with material from every side. But unless the chief inspector, the on, be continually on the watch, worthless material is supplied, such as chaff, straw, or sand, instead of corn or wheat. Thus it comes to pass that, as in the case of a mill, every corner is filled with dust. This inner mill, therefore, the mind (which is also a mirror) will be kept free from dust, if the young be kept away from worthless occupations and be skilfully trained to like worthy and useful things.

5. In order that the mirror may duly receive the images of the objects, it is necessary that these latter be solid and visible, and be also placed suitably before the eyes. Clouds and similar objects that possess little consistency make but a slight impression on a mirror, while objects that are not present make none at all. Those things, therefore, that are placed before the intelligence of the young, must be real things and not the shadows of things. I repeat, they must be things; and by the term I mean determinate, real, and useful things that can make an impression on the senses and on the imagination. But they can only make this impression when brought sufficiently near.

6. From this a golden rule for teachers may be derived. Everything should, as far as is possible, be placed before the senses. Everything visible should be brought before the organ of sight, everything audible before that of hearing. Odours should be placed before the sense of smell, and things that are tastable and tangible before the sense of taste and of touch respectively. If an object can make ​an impression on several senses at once, it should be brought into contact with several, though with the limitations imposed in the seventh Principle of chap. viii.

7. For this there are three cogent reasons. Firstly, the commencement of knowledge must always come from the senses (for the understanding possesses nothing that it has not first derived from the senses). Surely, then, the beginning of wisdom should consist, not in the mere learning the names of things, but in the actual perception of the things themselves! It is when the thing has been grasped by the senses that language should fulfil its function of explaining it still further.

8. Secondly, the truth and certainty of science depend more on the witness of the senses than on anything else. For things impress themselves directly on the senses, but on the understanding only mediately and through the senses. This is evident from the fact that belief is at once accorded to knowledge derived from the senses, while an appeal is always made to them from a priori reasoning and from the testimony of others. We do not trust a conclusion derived from reasoning unless it can be verified by a display of examples (the trustworthiness of which depends on sensuous perception). No one could have such confidence in the testimony of another person as to disbelieve the experience of his own senses. Science, then, increases in certainty in proportion as it depends on sensuous perception. It follows, therefore, that if we wish to implant a true and certain knowledge of things in our pupils, we must take especial care that everything be learned by means of actual observation and sensuous perception.

9. Thirdly, since the senses are the most trusty servants of the memory, this method of sensuous perception, if universally applied, will lead to the permanent retention of knowledge that has once been acquired. For instance, if I have once tasted sugar, seen a camel, heard a nightingale sing, or been in Rome, and have on each occasion attentively impressed the fact on my memory, the incidents will ​remain fresh and permanent. We find, accordingly, that children can easily learn Scriptural and secular stories from pictures. Indeed, he who has once seen a rhinoceros (even in a picture) or been present at a certain occurrence, can picture the animal to himself and retain the event in his memory with greater ease than if they had been described to him six hundred times. Hence the saying of Plautus: “An eye-witness is worth more than ten ear-witnesses.” Horace also says: “What is entrusted to the fickle ears makes less impression on the mind than things which are actually presented to the eyes and which the spectator stores up for himself.”

In the same manner, whoever has once seen a dissection of the human body will understand and remember the relative position of its parts with far greater certainty than if he had read the most exhaustive treatises on anatomy, but had never actually seen a dissection performed. Hence the saying, “Seeing is believing.”

10. If the objects themselves cannot be procured, representations of them may be used. Copies or models may be constructed for teaching purposes, and the same principle may be adopted by botanists, geometricians, zoologists, and geographers, who should illustrate their descriptions by engravings of the objects described. The same thing should be done in books on physics and elsewhere. For example, the human body will be well explained by ocular demonstration if the following plan be adopted. A skeleton should be procured (either such an one as is usually kept in universities, or one made of wood), and on this framework should be placed the muscles, sinews, nerves, veins, arteries, as well as the intestines, the lungs, the heart, the diaphragm, and the liver. These should be made of leather and stuffed with wool, and should be of the right size and in the right place, while on each organ should be written its name and its function. If you take the student of medicine to this construction and explain each part to him separately, he will grasp all the details without any effort, and from that time forth will ​understand the mechanism of his own body. For every branch of knowledge similar constructions (that is to say, images of things which cannot be procured in the original) should be made, and should be kept in the schools ready for use. It is true that expense and labour will be necessary to produce these models, but the result will amply reward the effort.

11. If any be uncertain if all things can be placed before the senses in this way, even things spiritual and things absent (things in heaven, or in hell, or beyond the sea), let him remember that all things have been harmoniously arranged by God in such a manner that the higher in the scale of existence can be represented by the lower, the absent by the present, and the invisible by the visible. This can be seen in the Macromicrocosmus of Robert Flutt,³⁰ in which the origin of the winds, of rain, and of thunder is described in such a way that the reader can visualise it. Nor is there any doubt that even greater concreteness and ease of demonstration than is here displayed might be attained.

12. So much of the presentation of objects to the senses. We must now speak of the light, the absence of which renders the presentation of objects to the eyes useless. This light of the teaching art is attention, and by its means the learner can keep his mind from wandering and can take in everything that is put before him. It is impossible for any man to see an object in the dark, or if his eyes be closed, no matter how near to him it may be; and in the same way, if you talk to one who is not attending, or show him anything, you will make no impression on his senses. This we can observe in the case of those who, while lost in thought, do not notice what is going on before their eyes. He, therefore, who wishes to show anything to another at night must provide light, and must polish the object so that it shines; and in the same way a master, if he wish to illumine with knowledge a pupil shrouded in the darkness of ignorance, must first excite his attention, that he may drink in information with a greedy mind. ​How this can be done we have shown in the 17th chapter, and in the first Principle of the 19th chapter.

13. So much of the light. We will now speak of the mode in which objects must be presented to the senses, if the impression is to be distinct. This can be readily understood if we consider the processes of actual vision. If the object is to be clearly seen it is necessary: (1) that it be placed before the eyes; (2) not far off, but at a reasonable distance; (3) not on one side, but straight before the eyes; (4) and so that the front of the object be not turned away from, but directed towards, the observer; (5) that the eyes first take in the object as a whole; (6) and then proceed to distinguish the parts; (7) inspecting these in order from the beginning to the end; (8) that attention be paid to each and every part; (9) until they are all grasped by means of their essential attributes. If these requisites be properly observed, vision takes place successfully; but if one be neglected its success is only partial.

14. For instance, if any one wish to read a letter that has been sent him by a friend, it is necessary: (1) that it be presented to the eyes (for if it be not seen, how can it be read?); (2) that it be placed at a suitable distance from the eyes (for if it be too far off, the words cannot be distinguished); (3) that it be directly in front of the eyes (for if it be on one side, it will be confusedly seen); (4) that it be turned the right way up (for if a letter or a book be presented to the eyes upside down or on its side, it cannot be read); (5) the general characteristics of the letter, such as the address, the writer, and the date must be seen first (for unless these facts be known, the particular items of the letter cannot be properly understood); (6) then the remainder of the letter must be read, that nothing be omitted (otherwise the contents will not all be known, and perhaps the most important point will be missed); (7) it must be read in the right order (if one sentence be read here and another there, the sense will be confused); (8) each sentence must be mastered before the next is com​menced (for if the whole be read hurriedly, some useful point may easily escape the mind); (9) finally, when the whole has been carefully perused, the reader may proceed to distinguish between those points that are necessary and those that are superfluous.

15. These points should be observed by those who teach the sciences, and may be expressed in nine very useful precepts.

(i) Whatever is to be known must be taught.

Unless that which is to be known be placed before a pupil, how is he to acquire a knowledge of it? Therefore let those who teach beware of concealing anything from their pupils, whether of intent, do the envious and dishonest, or through carelessness, as is the case with those who perform their duties in a perfunctory manner. The two things necessary are honesty and hard work.

16. (ii) Whatever is taught should be taught as being of practical application in every-day life and of some definite use.

That is to say, the pupil should understand that what he learns is not taken out of some Utopia or borrowed from Platonic Ideas, but is one of the facts which surround us, and that a fitting acquaintance with it will be of great service in life. In this way his energy and his accuracy will be increased.

17. (iii) Whatever is taught should be taught straightforwardly, and not in a complicated manner.

This means that we must look straight at objects and not squint, for in that case the eyes do not see that at which they look, but rather distort and confuse it. Objects should be placed before the eyes of the student in their true character, and not shrouded in words, metaphors, or hyperboles. These devices have their use if the object be to exaggerate or to detract from, to praise or to blame what is already known. But when knowledge is being acquired they should be avoided and the facts should be set forth plainly.

18. (iv) Whatever is taught must be taught with reference ​to its true nature and its origin; that is to say, through its causes.

This method of cognition is the best if the true nature of a fact is to be learned. For if its true nature be not made evident, this is not cognition but error. The true nature of a fact lies in the process that brought it into being. If it appear to contain elements not accounted for by that process, it is evident that there is some misapprehension. Now everything is brought into existence by its causes. Therefore to explain the causes of anything is equivalent to making a true exposition of that thing’s nature, in accordance with the principles: “Knowledge consists in having a firm grip of causes,” and “Causes are the guides of the understanding.” Objects can thus be best, easiest, and most certainly cognised through a knowledge of the processes that produced them. If a man wish to read a letter he holds it as it was written, since it is a difficult thing to read a document that is inverted, or on its side, and in the same way, if a fact be explained by means of the process that gave it birth, it will be easily and surely understood. If, however, the teacher reverse the order of nature, he is certain to confuse the student. Therefore, the method employed in teaching should be based on the method of nature. That which precedes should be taken first, and that which follows last.

19. (v) If anything is to be learned, its general principles must first be explained. Its details may then be considered, and not till then.

The reasons for this have been given in chap. xvi. Principle 6. We give a general notion of an object when we explain it by means of its essential nature and its accidental qualities. The essential nature is unfolded by the questions what? of what kind? and why? Under the question what? are included the name, the genus, the function, and the end. Under the question of what kind? comes the form of the object, or the mode in which it is fitted to its end. Under the question why? the efficient ​or causal force by which an object is made suitable to its end. For example, did I wish to give a student a general notion of a man, I should say: Man is (1) the chief creation of God, and destined for dominion over other creatures; (2) endowed with freedom of choice and action; (3) and on that account provided with the light of reason, that he may direct his choice and his actions with wisdom. This is but a general notion of man, but it goes to the root of the matter and says everything about him that is essential. To these you may, if you like, add some of his accidental qualities, still keeping to generalities, and this must be done by asking the questions from what origin? whence? when? You may then proceed to his parts, the body and the soul. The nature of the body can be demonstrated through the anatomy of its organs; that of the soul by examining the faculties of which it consists. All these points must be taken in their proper order.

20. (vi) All the parts of an object, even the smallest, and without a single exception, must be learned with reference to their order, their position, and their connection with one another.

Nothing exists in vain, and sometimes the strength of the larger parts depends on that of the smallest. Certain it is that in a clock, if one pin be broken or bent, or moved out of its place, the whole machine will stop. Similarly, in a living body, the loss of one organ may cause life to cease, and in a sentence it is often on the smallest words, such as prepositions and conjunctions, that the whole sense depends. Perfect knowledge of an object can therefore only be attained by acquiring a knowledge of the nature and function of each of its parts.

21. (vii) All things must be taught in due succession, and not more than one thing should be taught at one time. The organ of vision is unable to take in two or three objects at one time (certain it is that he who reads a book cannot look at two pages at once, nay, cannot even see two lines, though they lie quite close together, nor two words, nor two letters, otherwise than successively); and in the ​same way the mind can only grasp one thing at a time. We should therefore make a distinct break in our progress from one thing to another, that we may not overburden the mind.

22. (viii) We should not leave any subject until it is thoroughly understood.

Nothing can be done in a moment. For every process involves motion, and motion implies successive stages. The pupil should therefore not pass on from any point in a science until he has thoroughly mastered it and is conscious that he has done so. The methods to be employed are emphatic teaching, examination, and iteration, until the desired result is attained. This we have pointed out in chap. xviii. Principle 10.

23. (ix) Stress should be laid on the differences which exist between things, in order that what knowledge of them is acquired may be clear and distinct.

Much meaning lies concealed in that celebrated saying: “He who distinguishes well is a good teacher.” For too many facts overwhelm a student, and too great a variety confuses him. Remedies must therefore be applied: in the first case order, by means of which one thing may be taken after another; in the second, a careful consideration of the differences that exist in nature, that it may always be evident in what respects one thing differs from another. This is the only method that can give distinct, clear, and certain knowledge; since the variety and actuality of natural objects depend on their distinctive attributes, as we have hinted in chap. xviii. Principle 6.

24. Now it is impossible that all teachers, when they enter on their profession, should be possessed of the requisite skill, and it is therefore necessary that the sciences which are taught in schools be mapped out in accordance with the foregoing laws. If this be done it will be difficult for any teacher to miss his mark. For, if the laws be rigorously observed, it is beyond question that any man who is once admitted into the royal palace and is allotted a certain space of time can easily and without any trouble ​master its whole contents, its pictures, statues, carpets, and other ornaments; and just as easy will it be for a youth who is admitted to the theatre of this world to penetrate with his mental vision the secrets of nature, and from that time forward to move among the works of God and of man with his eyes opened.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PRINCIPLES OF CONCISENESS AND RAPIDITY IN TEACHING

1. “But these projects are too wearisome and too comprehensive,” many readers will here remark. “What a number of teachers and of libraries, and how much labour will be necessary in order that thorough instruction may be given in one subject!” I answer: This is undoubtedly so, and unless our labours are shortened the task will be no easy one; for this art of ours is as long, as wide, and as deep as the universe that has to be subdued by our minds. But who does not know that diffuse and difficult things can be brought into a small compass? who is ignorant that weavers can weave together a hundred thousand threads with the greatest rapidity, and can produce from these a great variety of stuffs? or that millers can grind thousands of grains with the greatest ease, and can separate the bran from the flour with great exactness and without any difficulty? Every one knows that engineers, without the slightest trouble and with comparatively small machines, can raise enormous weights, and that a weight of one ounce, if at a sufficient distance from the fulcrum of a lever, can counterbalance many pounds.

We see, therefore, that great achievements are more often a question of skill than of strength. Are learned men then to be the only people who do not know how to conduct their affairs with skill? Surely shame should ​compel us to emulate the inventive spirit of other professions and find a remedy for the difficulties with which schools have hitherto struggled.

2. It is impossible to find a remedy until we have discovered the diseases and their causes. What can it be that has impeded the efforts of the schools and hindered their success to such an extent that most men during their whole, stay at school do not traverse the whole range of the sciences and arts, while some of them scarcely even cross the threshold?

3. The causes of this are undoubtedly the following: firstly, no fixed landmarks were set up, which might serve as goals to be reached by the scholars at the end of each year, month, or day, and there was a complete lack of system.

4. Secondly, the roads that would infallibly lead to these goals were not pointed out.

5. Thirdly, things that should naturally be associated were not joined together, but were kept apart. For instance, the scholars in elementary schools were taught to read, but were not given lessons in writing till some months afterwards. In the Latin-School boys were allowed to spend some years in learning words without any reference to their meanings, so that their boyhood was wholly occupied by grammatical studies, and all philosophic interest was reserved for a later period. In the same way the scholars were only allowed to learn, never to teach, though all these things (reading and writing, words and things, learning and teaching) should be associated, just as, in running, the raising of the feet is combined with the setting of them on the ground again, or, in conversation, listening is combined with answering, or, in playing ball, throwing is combined with catching.

6. Fourthly, the arts and the sciences were scarcely ever taught as part of an encyclopædic whole, but were dealt out piece-meal. This has been the reason why, in the eyes of the scholars, they seemed like a heap of wood or of faggots, in which the exact connection and combining-​links can scarcely be discerned. Thus it came to pass that some grasped one fact, others another, and that none received a really thorough and universal education.

7. Fifthly, many different methods were employed. Each school and even each teacher used a different one. What was worse, teachers would use one method in one subject or language, and another in another, and, worst of all, even in one individual subject they varied their method, so that the scholar scarcely understood in what way he was expected to learn. This was the cause of the many delays that took place, and of the lassitude of the scholar, who had frequently no desire even to attempt new branches of study.

8. Sixthly, no method was known by which instruction could be given to all the pupils in a class at the same time; the individual only was taught. With a large number of pupils this must have been an impossible task for the teacher. The pupils also must have found it very wearisome and extremely irksome, if each had to go on preparing work until his turn arrived.

9. Seventhly, if there were several teachers, this was a fresh source of confusion; since each hour some new subject was introduced. Not to mention the fact that a diversity of teachers tends to distract the mind quite as much as a diversity of books.

10. Finally, both in school and out of it, the scholars had perfect freedom as regards the books they read, and the teachers gave them no assistance in their choice. For all were imbued with the idea that to read many authors afforded many opportunities of making progress, whereas such diversity produced nothing but distraction. It was not surprising, therefore, that very few mastered all the branches of study. The wonder was that any one was able to find his way out of such a labyrinth, and indeed only the most gifted succeeded in doing so.

11. For the future, therefore, hindrances and delays of this sort must be set aside, and we must make straight for our goal, neglecting everything that is not of immediate service. ​As the proverb says: “Where small means suffice, great should not be used.”

12. Let us choose the sun for imitation, since it affords a striking example of the operations of nature. Its functions are laborious and almost unlimited (namely, to send forth its rays over the whole world and to supply all the elements, minerals, plants, and animals, of which countless species exist, with light, warmth, life, and strength), but it proves equal to them all, and every year fulfils the circle of its duties in the most admirable manner.

13. We will therefore examine its various principles of action, with reference to the above-mentioned desiderata of school management.

(i) The sun does not occupy itself with any single object, animal, or tree; but lights and warms the whole earth at once.

(ii) It gives light to all things with the same rays; covers all things with moisture by the same processes of evaporation and condensation; it causes the same wind to blow on all things; it puts all things in motion by the same warmth and cold.

(iii) It causes spring, summer, autumn, and winter to make their appearance in all lands at the same time. At the same time, through its agency, the trees grow green, blossom, and bear fruit (though naturally some do so earlier than others).

(iv) It always preserves the same order; one day resembles another, one year resembles the next. It always operates on one object by the same method.

(v) It produces everything from its elementary form, and from no other source.

(vi) It produces in combination everything that ought to be combined; wood with its bark and its core, a flower with its leaves, a fruit with its skin and its stalk.

(vii) It causes everything to develope through definite stages, so that one stage prepares the way for the next, and each stage follows naturally from the previous one.

(viii) Finally, it brings into existence nothing that is ​useless, or destroys such an object if it be accidentally produced.

14. In imitation of this

(i) There should only be one teacher in each school, or at any rate in each class.

(ii) Only one author should be used for each subject studied.

(iii) The same exercise should be given to the whole class.

(iv) All subjects and languages should be taught by the same method.

(v) Everything should be taught thoroughly, briefly, and pithily, that the understanding may be, as it were, unlocked by one key, and may then unravel fresh difficulties of its own accord.

(vi) All things that are naturally connected ought to be taught in combination.

(vii) Every subject should be taught in definitely graded steps, that the work of one day may thus expand that of the previous day, and lead up to that of the morrow.

(viii) And finally, everything that is useless should be invariably discarded.

15. If these reforms could be introduced into schools, there is no doubt that the whole circle of the sciences might be completed with an ease that surpasses our expectation, just as the sun completes its circling course through the heavens every year.

Let us therefore get to work and see if these counsels can be carried into effect, and how the difficulties that hinder their realisation can be overcome.

First Problem

How can a single teacher teach a number of boys, no matter how great, at one time?

16. I maintain that it is not only possible for one teacher to teach several hundred scholars at once, but that it is also essential; since for both the teachers and their ​pupils it is by far the most advantageous system. The larger the number of pupils that he sees before him the greater the interest the teacher will take in his work (just as the hands of a miner tremble with excitement when he discovers a rich vein of ore); and the keener the teacher himself, the greater the enthusiasm that his pupils will display. To the scholars, in the same way, the presence of a number of companions will be productive not only of utility but also of enjoyment (for it gives pleasure to all to have companions in their labours); since they will mutually stimulate and assist one another. Indeed for boys of this age emulation is by far the best stimulus. Again, if a teacher’s class be small, this point or that may escape the ears of all his pupils. But many hear him at once, each one grasps as much as he can, and then, when the lesson is repeated, all comes back into their minds again, since one mind has an invigorating effect on another and one memory on another. In short, as a baker makes a large quantity of bread by a single kneading of the dough and a single heating of the oven, as a brick-maker burns many bricks at one time, as a printer prints hundreds of thousands of books from the same set of type, so should a teacher be able to teach a very large number of pupils at once and without the slightest inconvenience. Do we not see that one trunk can support innumerable branches and supply them with sap, and that the sun is able to vivify the whole earth?

17. How is this to be done? Let us take our former examples, and watch the processes of nature. The trunk does not extend to the outermost branches, but remaining in its place supplies sap to the large ones that are in immediate connection with it, these pass it on to others, and these again in their turn to others, and so on until the smallest twigs have been reached. In the same way the sun does not illumine each individual tree, plant, or animal, but, sending forth its rays from on high, lights up half the world at once, and thus supplies each creature with light and warmth for its own use. We should here ​notice that the sun’s action may be assisted by the lie of the ground. Valleys and depressions, for instance, collect the rays and thus attain a higher degree of warmth.

18. If matters be arranged in the following manner, one teacher will easily be able to cope with very large number of scholars. That is to say

(i) If he divide the whole body into classes, groups of ten, for example, each of which should be controlled by a scholar who is, in his turn, controlled by one of higher rank, and so on.

(ii) If he never give individual instruction, either privately out of school or publicly in school, but teach all the pupils at one and the same time. He should, therefore, never step up to any one scholar or allow any one of them to come to him separately, but should remain in his seat, where he can be seen and heard by all, just as the sun sends forth its rays over all things. The scholars, on the other hand, must direct their ears, eyes, and thoughts towards him and attend to everything that he tells them by word of mouth or explains by means of his hand or of diagrams. Thus, with a single blow, not one but many flies are killed.

19. (iii) With a little skill it will be possible to arrest the attention of the pupils, collectively and individually, and to imbue them with the notion that (as really is the case) the mouth of the teacher is a spring from which streams of knowledge issue and flow over them, and that, whenever they see this spring open, they should place their attention, like a cistern, beneath it, and thus allow nothing that flows forth to escape. The teacher also should take the greatest care never to speak unless all his pupils are listening, nor to teach unless they are all attending. In this connection that remark of Seneca’s is very apposite: “We should speak to none who is unwilling to listen.” Solomon also says: “Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding” (Prov. xvii. 24). That is to say, we should talk not to the winds but to the ears of men.

​20. It is not solely by means of the leaders or of the other boys in charge, that attention can be awakened and retained. The teacher is himself the most important factor, and will succeed in his efforts if he observe eight rules.

(i) If, when he teaches, he take the trouble continually to introduce something that is entertaining as well as of practical use; for in this way the interest of the scholars will be excited and their attention will be arrested.

(ii) If, at the commencement of any new subject, he excite the interest of his pupils, either by placing it before them in an attractive manner or by asking them questions. These latter may either refer to what has preceded, and thus illustrate the connection between it and the subject in question, or to the new branch of study. For, if the scholar’s ignorance of the subject be mercilessly exposed, he may be fired with a desire to master it and understand it thoroughly.

(iii) If he stand on an elevated platform, and, keeping all the scholars in his sight at once, allow none of them to do anything but attend and look at him.

(iv) If he aid their attention by appealing to the senses, especially to that of sight, whenever it is possible (as we have shown above, chap. xvii., in the third rule of the eighth Principle).

(v) If he occasionally interrupt his explanation with the words: Tell me (mentioning some boy), what have I just said? Repeat that sentence! Tell me; how have I reached this point? and remarks of a similar kind, the exact nature of which must depend on the class that he is teaching. If any pupil be found who is not paying attention, he should be reprimanded or punished on the spot. In this way the scholars will be made keen and attentive.

(vi) Similarly, if he ask one boy, and he hesitate, he should pass on to a second, a third, a tenth, or a thirtieth, and ask for the answer without repeating the question. ​The result of this will be that all listen carefully to what is said to one of their number, and apply it to their own use.

(vii) If some of the boys cannot answer a question he should ask the whole class, and then, in the presence of the rest, praise those who answer best, that their example may serve to stimulate the others. If any pupil make a mistake he should be corrected, but at the same time the cause of the error (which a clever teacher will have no difficulty in discovering) should be made clear and the necessity for its recurrence obviated. It can scarcely be realised what an assistance to rapid progress this will be.

(viii) Finally, when the lesson is over, the scholars should be given leave to ask questions on any point that they wish explained, either in the present lesson or in a previous one. Private questioning should not be permitted. Each scholar who wishes to ask a question should either ask the teacher openly or get the leader of his division to do so (if this latter is unable to solve the difficulty himself). In this way the whole class will be benefited, and as much by the question as by the answer. If any scholar help to illustrate an important point by the intelligence of his questions, he should be commended, in order that the rest may thereby be incited to industry and keenness.

21. Such a daily training of the attention will not only be of momentary use to the young, but will stand them in good stead throughout their whole lives. For if this training last for some years, and they get into the habit of concentrating their minds on whatever is being done at the time, they will continue to do so of their own accord without any external pressure. If schools are organised on this principle, surely we may look forward to a considerable increase in the number of clever and intelligent men!

22. To this it may be objected that individual attention is necessary to see that each scholar keeps his books tidy, writes his exercises carefully, and learns his lessons ​accurately, and that, if the class be large, this will take a great deal of time. I answer: It is not necessary for the teacher to hear the lessons or inspect the books of each individual scholar; since he has the leaders of divisions to assist him, and each of these can inspect the scholars in his own division.

23. The teacher, as chief inspector, should give his attention first to one scholar, then to another, more particularly with the view of testing the honesty of those whom he distrusts. For example, if the scholars have to say a repetition lesson, he should call first on one pupil, then on another, first one at the top of the class and then one at the bottom, while all the rest attend. He may thus ensure that each one be in readiness, since none can be certain that he will not be examined. If the teacher observe that a scholar begins his lessons without hesitation, and feel convinced that he knows the rest equally well, he may let another one go on, and if this one in turn seem well prepared, may pass on to a third. In this way, by hearing a few, he can rest assured that he has the whole class under his control.

24. The same method should be pursued with dictations. One or more scholars should read out what has been written, with the right punctuation and in a clear voice, while the rest correct what they have written in their books. The teacher should also himself examine the books from time to time, and should punish any scholar who has been doing his work carelessly.

25. The correction of written translations seems to demand more time; but here also the same method may be adopted with advantage. As soon as the leaders of divisions have secured attention, one scholar should be called upon to stand up and choose as his adversary any other scholar that he pleases. As soon as this latter stands up, the first scholar reads out his translation sentence by sentence, while all the rest listen attentively, the teacher in the meantime looking at the exercise to see that it is properly written. At the end of each sentence ​the scholar stops, and his adversary has the opportunity of pointing out any mistake that he may have perceived. Then other scholars in the division, and after them the whole class, may make criticisms on the rendering, and finally the teacher supplies any point that has been omitted. While this is going on, the others correct the mistakes in their own exercises. The adversary, however, should not do so, but should keep his own unaltered that he may submit it to the criticism of his companions. As soon as the first sentence has been properly corrected, the next is taken, and so on until the exercise is finished. Then the adversary should read out his in the same way, while the original challenger takes care that he really reads his original translation and does not insert the corrections that have been made. The individual words and phrases are then criticised as before. After this, a second pair of adversaries is chosen, and the same procedure is repeated for as long as the time permits.

26. In this connection the leaders have two duties to perform. Before the corrections begin they should see that all the scholars have their exercises ready, and while it is going on they should take care that each of them corrects his exercise when it contains the mistake that is under consideration.

27. The result of this will be

(i) That the work of the teacher will be lightened.

(ii) That no scholar will be neglected.

(iii) That the scholars will attend better than formerly.

(iv) That what is said to one will be of equal advantage to all.

(v) The differences in the mode of expression, that are certain to occur in so many different translations, will not only improve and strengthen the scholar’s acquaintance with the subject-matter, but will also give him facility in using the language.

(vi) Finally, as soon as the first, second, and third pair have finished, it will frequently happen that the ​others have few or no mistakes left to correct. When this is the case, the remainder of the time may be devoted to the class in general, that those who are still uncertain about a passage may bring forward their difficulties, or those who think that their rendering is better than that which has been given may read it and receive criticism on it.

28. The method here suggested has been illustrated by an exercise in translation. Its application, however, is just as easy, if the exercise be one in style, rhetoric, logic, theology, or philosophy.

29. We have thus seen that one teacher can instruct a hundred scholars with as little labour as he would expend in teaching a few.

Second Problem

How is it possible for all the scholars to be taught from the same books?

30. It is an undisputed fact that too many objects at once distract the attention. It will therefore be of immense advantage if the scholars be allowed to use no books but those that have been expressly composed for the class in which they are; and in this way it will always be possible to use with effect the order that was given to the worshippers in the temples of old, namely, “This shalt thou do.” Since the less the eyes are distracted, the easier it is to concentrate the mind.

31. Secondly, if all the materials that are required for instruction, blackboards, inscriptions, first reading books, dictionaries, schematic diagrams of the arts, etc., be kept in constant readiness. For if (as is often the case) the teacher must prepare the exercise-books for the scholars, and write a model for them to copy, or if he have to dictate grammatical rules, the text of an author, or its translation, how much time is thereby lost! It is therefore necessary that sufficient quantities of all the books which are used in each class be kept in readiness, and that translations be supplied with those texts that are to be ​translated into the mother-tongue. In this way the time that would otherwise have been employed in dictation, copying, and translating, can be used, and with far greater advantage, for explanation, repetition, and imitation.

32. There need be no fear that any concession is here being made to the teacher’s idleness. For a preacher is considered to have done his duty if he read a text from the Bible, explain it, and point out its application, and it is a matter of indifference to his hearers whether he has himself translated the text from the original, or has used some standard translation; and in the same way it makes no difference to the scholars whether the teacher has arranged his own materials or whether some one else has done so for him. The important thing is that everything necessary be ready to hand, and that, under the teacher’s direction, it be properly employed. It is indeed much better that everything of this nature be prepared beforehand, since, on the one hand, it will be freer from errors, and, on the other, more time will be left for the actual process of instruction.

33. For every school, therefore, books of this kind should be written,—in accordance with the rules already laid down for the attainment of ease, thoroughness, and economy of time,—and should constitute a complete, thorough, and accurate epitome of all the subjects of instruction. In short, they should give a true representation of the entire universe, which can thus be impressed upon the minds of the scholars. They should also, and this is a most important point, be written simply and clearly, and should give the scholars sufficient assistance to enable them, if necessary, to pursue their studies without the help of a teacher.

34. With this end in view it is desirable that they be written in the form of a dialogue. In this way (1) it is possible to suit the subject-matter and its exposition to the minds of the young, that neither may appear to them to be too full of difficulties. Nothing is more suited to inspire confidence than dialogue-form, and by means of it ​the mind can be gradually led on to the desired goal. It is in this form that playwrights have expressed their views on the deterioration of morals, and have thereby admonished the people; in this form Plato wrote all his philosophical, and St. Augustine all his theological works, and Cicero also has employed it largely, thus coming down to the level of his readers. (2) Conversational form excites and retains the attention, while the alternation between question and answer, the various forms of expression and the amusing remarks that may be introduced, and even the changes that may be rung upon the {lang|la|dramatis personæ}}, all tend, not merely to counteract any antipathy to the subject, but even to create a keen desire to know more about it. (3) Instruction makes a far greater impression when given in this way. We remember an event better when we have seen it ourselves than when we have simply heard it narrated, and, in the same way, instruction that is given through the medium of a drama or of a dialogue stays in the heads of the scholars far better than if it be merely set forth by a teacher in the ordinary way, as may be proved by experience. (4) The greater part of our lives consists of friendly conversation, and it should therefore be easy to induce the young to acquire useful information, when they are at the same time learning to express themselves fluently and well. (5) Finally, dialogues of this kind act as a mild recreation, and may enliven the private gatherings of the students.

35. It is also desirable that the books used be of the same edition, so that they may be similar page for page and line for line. This is important both for the sake of reference and that the localisation of passages on certain pages may assist the memory.

36. It will also be of great use if an abstract of the contents of all the books used in the class be placed on the walls of the room. This should consist of the text, greatly abbreviated and condensed, or of illustrative pictures and reliefs, by means of which the senses, the memory, and the understanding may be daily exercised in con​junction. Not without purpose was it that, as the ancients relate, the walls of the temple of Æsculapius were covered with the precepts of the art of medicine, written there by Hippocrates himself. This great theatre of the world, also, God has filled with pictures, statues, and living emblems of His wisdom, that He may instruct us by their means. (Of these pictorial aids we will say more when we treat of the individual classes.)

Third Problem

How is it possible for all the scholars in a school to do the same thing at one time?

37. It is evident that it would be a useful arrangement if all the pupils in a class did the same lesson at one time, for in this way the teacher would have less trouble and the scholars greater advantage. It is only when the attention of all is fixed on the same object, and when each tries in turn to correct the other, that keen rivalry can arise. In every way the teacher must imitate a captain of recruits. This latter does not exercise each of his men separately, but leads out a whole company at once and shows them how to use their arms; and even if he explain anything to one man apart, the remainder have to go through the same exercise in order that their attention may be retained.

The teacher should proceed on precisely similar lines.

38. Before he can do this it is necessary

(i) That the course of instruction commence at one definite time in each year, just as the influence of the sun on the vegetable world commences at one definite time, namely, in spring.

(ii) That the subjects of instruction be so divided that each year, each month, each week, each day, and even each hour may have a definite task appointed for it, since, if this be done, everything that is proposed will be completed with ease. But of this we will say more in the proper place.​

Fourth Problem

How is it possible to teach everything according to one and the same method?

39. That there is only one natural method for all the sciences, and only one for all the arts and languages, will be shown in chaps. xx., xxi., and xxii. Any deviations that may be necessary are not important enough to constitute a fresh class, and are due less to peculiarities in the subject-matter an to the tea himself, who must be guided by the ability, or the reverse, of his pupils and by the progress that they make in the actual languages or arts that he is teaching. The universal adoption of the natural method, therefore, will be as great a boon to scholars as a plain and undeviating road is to travellers  It will be easier to point out special aberrations, if the universal principle be first laid down as indisputable.

Fifth Problem

How can many things be explained in a few words?

40. To fill the minds of scholars with a dreary waste of books and of words is lost labour. For it is certain that a crust of bread and a mouthful of wine are more nutritious than a paunchful of trifle and of ragout, and that it is better to have a few gold pieces in one’s purse than a hundred-weight of lead. Rightly does Seneca say of instruction: “Its administration should resemble the sowing of seed, in which stress is laid, not on quantity, but on quality.” The conclusion, therefore, that we reached in chap. v. holds good: In man, the microcosm, everything is contained potentially. Bring light and he will straightway see.

And indeed for men who are working in the dark the faintest glimmer of light is sufficient. It is therefore necessary to select or to write handbooks of the sciences and languages which are small in compass and practically ​arranged cover the whole subject and contain a great deal of matter in a short space (Ecclesiasticus xxxii. 8)—that is to say, which place before the scholar the whole of the subject-matter by means of a small number of rules and definitions expressed in the simplest and clearest language, and sufficient in themselves to lead to more profound study.

Sixth Problem

How is it possible to do two or three things by a single operation?

41. The example of nature shows that several things can be done at one time and by means of the same operation. It is an undoubted fact that a tree grows above the ground and beneath it at the same time, and that its wood, its bark, its leaves, and its fruit, all develope simultaneously. The same observation applies to animals, whose limbs all develope and grow stronger at the same time. Further, each limb performs several operations. The feet, for instance, not only support a man but also move him forwards and backwards in various ways. The mouth is not only the entrance to the body, but also serves as a masticator and as a trumpet that sounds whenever called upon to do so. With a single inspiration the lungs cool the heart, purify the brain, and assist in voice-production.

42. We find the same thing in the arts: (1) In the sun-dial, the single shadow cast by the gnomon points out the hour of the day, the sign of the zodiac in which the sun is moving, the length of the day and of the night, the day of the month, and several other things. (2) One pole serves to direct, to turn, and to hold back a carriage. (3) A good orator or writer instructs, excites, and pleases at the same time, even though his subject may make it difficult to combine these three elements.

43. The instruction of the young should be similarly organised, so that every activity may produce several results. It may be laid down as a general rule that each ​subject should be taught in combination with those which are correlative to it; that is to say, words should be studied in combination with the things to which they refer; while reading and writing, exercises in style and in logical thought, teaching and learning, amusement and serious study, should be continually joined together.

44. Words, therefore, should always be taught and learned in combination with things, just as wine is bought and sold together with the cask that contains it, a dagger with its sheath, a tree with its bark, and fruit with its skin. For what are words but the husks and coverings of things? Therefore, when instruction is given in any language, even in the mother-tongue itself, the words must be explained by reference to the objects that they denote; and contrari-wise, the scholars must be taught to express in language whatever they see, hear, handle, or taste, so that their command of language, as it progresses, may ever run parallel to the growth of the understanding.

The rule shall therefore run as follows: The scholar should be trained to express everything that he sees in words, and should be taught the meaning of all the words that he uses. No one should be allowed to talk about anything that he does not understand, or to understand anything without at the same time being able to express his knowledge in words. For he who cannot express the thoughts of his mind resembles a statue, and he who chatters, without understanding what he says, resembles a parrot.

But we wish to train up men, and to do so as quickly as possible, and this end can only be attained when instruction in language goes hand in hand with instruction in facts.

45. From this it follows that we ought to exclude from our schools all books that merely teach words and do not at the same time lead to a knowledge of useful objects. We must bestow our labour on that which is of real importance, and, therefore (as Seneca says in his 9th Letter), must devote ourselves to the improvement of our understanding ​rather than to the enlargement of our vocabulary. Any reading that is necessary can be got through quickly out of school-hours without tedious explanations or attempts at imitation; since the time thus spent could be better employed in the study of nature.

46. Exercises in reading and writing should always be combined. Even when scholars are learning their alphabet, they should be made to master the letters by writing them; since it is impossible to find a more agreeable method or one that will give them a greater incentive to work. For, since all children have a natural desire to draw, this exercise will give them pleasure, and the imagination will be excited by the twofold action of the senses. Later on, when they can read with ease, they should be made to exercise their powers on subject-matter that would in any case have to be learned, that is to say, something calculated to give them practical information or to instil morality or piety. The same plan may be adopted when they learn to read Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. It will be of great advantage to read and copy the declensions and conjugations over and over again, until, by this means, reading, writing, the meaning of the words, and the formation of the case-endings, have been thoroughly learned. In this case we have a fourfold result from a single exercise. A system of concentration that is of such vital importance should be applied to all branches of study, in order that, as Seneca says, what is learned by reading may be given form by writing, or that, as St. Augustine says of himself, we may write while we make progress and make progress while we write.

47. As a rule, no care is shown in the choice of the subjects that are given as exercises in style, and there is no connection between the successive subjects. The result is that they are exercises in style and nothing else, and have very little influence on the reasoning powers; indeed it frequently happens that, after much time and study have been devoted to them, they prove absolutely worthless and of no use for the business of life. Literary taste should therefore be taught by means of the subject-​matter of the science or art on which the reasoning powers of the class are being exercised. The teacher should tell his pupils stories about the originators of the subject and the times in which they lived, or should give them exercises in imitation based on the subject-matter, so that, by a single effort, notions of style may be imbibed, the reasoning powers may be improved, and, since either the teacher or the pupils are continually talking, the faculty of speech also may be exercised.

48. Towards the end of the 18th chapter I have shown that it is possible for the scholars to give instruction in the subject that they have just learned, and, since this process not only makes them thorough but also enables them to make progress more rapidly, it should not be overlooked in this connection.

49. Finally, it will be of immense use, if the amusements that are provided to relax the strain on the minds of the scholars be of such a kind as to lay stress on the more serious side of life, in order that a definite impression may be made on them even in their hours of recreation. For instance, they may be given tools, and allowed to imitate the different handicrafts, by playing at farming, at politics, at being soldiers or architects, etc. In spring they may be taken into the garden or into the country, and may be taught the various species of plants, vying with one another to see who can recognise the greater number. In this way they will be introduced to the rudiments of medicine, and not only will it be evident which of them has a natural bent towards that science, but in many the inclination will be created. Further, in order to encourage them, the mock titles of doctor, licentiate, or student of medicine may be given to those who make the greatest progress. The same plan may be adopted in other kinds of recreation. In the game of war the scholars may become field-marshals, generals, captains, or standard-bearers. In that of politics they may be kings, ministers, chancellors, secretaries, ambassadors, etc., and, on the same principle, consuls, senators, lawyers, or officials; since such pleasantries often ​lead to serious things. Thus would be fulfilled Luther’s wish that the studies of the young at school could be so organised that the scholars might take as much pleasure in them as in playing at ball all day, and thus for the first time would schools be a real prelude to practical life.

Seventh Problem

How are the subjects of study to be progressively graded?

50. How this can be done, we have seen in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Principles of the 16th chapter, and in the 5th, 6th and 7th Principles of the 18th chapter. The important point is that suitable books should be written for the classical schools, and that these should embody hints to the teacher for their proper use, so that learning, morality, and piety may be led from one stage to another until they reach the highest.

Eighth Problem

Of the removal and avoidance of obstructions.

51. Truly has it been said, that nothing is more useless than to learn and to know much, if such knowledge be of no avail for practical purposes; and again, that not he who knows much is wise, but he who knows what is useful. The task of schools will therefore be rendered easier if the subjects taught be curtailed. This can be done if omission be made

(i) Of all unnecessary matter.

(ii) Of all unsuitable matter.

(iii) Of all minute detail.

52. Anything is unnecessary that is productive neither of piety nor of morality, and that is not essential for the cultivation of the mind. Such are the names of heathen deities, the myths connected with them, and the religious observances of the ancients, as well as the productions of scurrilous and indecent poets and dramatists. It may occasionally be necessary for the individual to read these things in private, but in the schools, where the founda​tions of wisdom should be laid, nothing of the kind should be permitted. “What madness it is,” says Seneca, “to learn so much trash, when time is so precious.” Nothing, therefore, should be learned solely for its value at school, but for its use in life, that the information which a scholar has acquired may not vanish as soon as he leaves school.

53. Knowledge is unsuitable when it is uncongenial to the mind of this or that scholar. For there is as great a difference between the minds of men as exists between the various kinds of plants, of trees, or of animals; one must be treated in one way, and another in another, and the same method cannot be applied to all alike. It is true that there are men of great mental power who can compass every subject; but there are also many who find the greatest difficulty in mastering the rudiments of some things. Some display great ability for abstract science, but have as little aptitude for practical studies as an ass has for playing on the lyre. Others can learn everything but music, while others again are unable to master mathematics, poetry, or logic. What should be done in these cases? If we attempt to counteract a natural disinclination we are fighting against nature, and such effort is useless. For there will be either no result or one totally incommensurate with the energy expended. The teacher is the servant and not the lord of nature; his mission is to cultivate and not to transform, and therefore he should never attempt to force a scholar to study any subject if he see that it is uncongenial to his natural disposition; since it is more than probable that what is lacking in one direction will be compensated for in another. If one branch be cut off a tree, the others become stronger, because more vitality flows into them; and if none of the scholars be forced to study any subject against his will, we shall find no cases in which disgust is produced and the intelligence is blunted. Each one will develope in the direction of his natural inclinations (in accordance with the Divine will), and will serve God and man in his station in life, whatever that may be.

​54. In the same way, if all minute and technical details (such as the species of plants and of animals, the various callings of mechanics, the names of all their tools and so forth) had to be learned, this would be a most wearisome and confusing task. In school-work it is sufficient if the wide classes that exist in nature, with their most important and most essential divisions, be made thoroughly clear. More specialised knowledge can easily be acquired later, as the opportunity arises.

Those who wish to win a speedy victory over the enemy, do not waste time in storming unimportant places, but go straight to the head-quarters of the war; since it is certain that, if they can get the upper hand in a pitched battle, and capture the most important strongholds, all the others will surrender of their own accord. In the same way, if the principal points of any subject be mastered, the subsidiary details will be acquired with great ease. To this class of obstructions belong the voluminous dictionaries that contain every word in a language. For, since the greater number of them are never used, why should we force boys to learn them all, and thus overburden the memory?

We have now treated of the saving of time and effort in teaching and in learning.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PRINCIPLES OF THOROUGHNESS IN TEACHING AND IN LEARNING

1. It is a common complaint that there are few who leave school with a thorough education, and that most men retain nothing but a veneer, a mere shadow of true knowledge. This complaint is corroborated by facts.

2. The cause of this phenomenon appears on investigation to be twofold: either that the schools occupy themselves with insignificant and unimportant studies, to the neglect of those that are more weighty, or that the pupils forget what they have learned, since most of it merely goes through their heads and does not stick fast there. This last fault is so common that there are few who do not lament it. For if everything that we have ever read, heard, and mentally appreciated were always ready to hand in our memories, how learned we should appear! We do, it is true, make practical use of much that we have learned, but the amount that we recollect is unsatisfactory, and the fact remains that we are continually trying to pour water into a sieve.

3. But can no cure be found for this? Certainly there can, if once more we go to the school of nature, and investigate the methods that she adopts to give endurance to the beings which she has created.

I maintain that a method can be found by means of which each person will be enabled to bring into his mental ​consciousness not only what he has learned, but more as well; since he will recall with ease all that he has learned from teachers or from books, and, at the same time, will be able to pass sound judgment on the objective facts to which his information refers.

4. This will be possible:

(i) If only those subjects that are of real use be taken in hand.

(ii) If these be taught without digression or interruption.

(iii) If a thorough grounding precede instruction in detail.

(iv) If this grounding be carefully given.

(v) If all that follows be based on this grounding, and on nothing else.

(vi) If, in every subject that consists of several parts, these parts be linked together as much as possible.

(vii) If all that comes later be based on what has gone before.

(viii) If great stress be laid on the points of resemblance between cognate subjects.

(ix) If all studies be arranged with reference to the intelligence and memory of the pupils, and the nature of language.

(x) If knowledge be fixed in the memory by constant practice.

We will now consider each of these principles in detail.

First Principle

5. Nature produces nothing that is useless.

For example, nature, when commencing to form a bird, does not give it scales, gills, horns, four feet, or any other organs that it cannot use, but supplies a head, a heart, wings, etc. In the same way a tree is not given ears, eyes, down, or hair, but bark, bast, wood, and roots.

6. Imitation in the arts.—In the same way no one who wishes to grow fruit in his fields, orchards, and gardens, ​plants them with weeds, nettles, thistles, and thorns, but with good seeds and plants.

7. The builder, also, who wishes to erect a well-built house, does not collect straw, litter, dirt, or brushwood, but stones, bricks, oak planks, and similar materials of good quality.

8. And in schools.—In schools therefore (i) Nothing should be studied, unless it be of undoubted use in this world and in the world to come,—its use in the world to come being the more important (Jerome reminds us that knowledge, that is to be of service to us in heaven, must be acquired on earth).

(ii) If it be necessary to teach the young much that is of value solely in this world (and this cannot be avoided), care must be taken that while a real advantage is gained for our present life, our heavenly welfare be not hindered thereby.

9. Why then pursue worthless studies? What object is there in learning subjects that are of no use to those who know them and the lack of which is not felt by those who do not know them? subjects, too, which are certain to be forgotten as time passes on and the business of life becomes more engrossing? This short life of ours has more than enough to occupy it, even if we do not waste it on worthless studies. Schools must therefore be organised in such a way that the scholars learn nothing but what is of value (the value and importance of recreation will be treated of in the right place).

Second Principle

10. When bodies are being formed, nature omits nothing that is necessary for their production.

For example in the formation of a bird, nature does not forget the head, the wings, the legs, the claws, the skin, or anything, in short, that is an essential part of a winged being of this kind.

11. Imitation in schools.—In the same way schools, ​when they educate men, must educate them in every way, and suit them not only for the occupations of this life, but for eternity as well. Indeed it is with a view to the future life that all strenuous human effort should be undertaken.

12. Not the sciences alone, therefore, should be taught in schools, but morality and piety as well. Now a training in the sciences improves the understanding, the faculty of speech, and manual dexterity, so that everything that is of use can be suitably considered, discussed, and put into practice. If any one of these elements be omitted, a great gap is left, and, as result, not only is the education defective but the stability of the whole is endangered. Nothing can be stable unless all its parts are in intimate connection with one another.

Third Principle

13. Nature does not operate on anything, unless it possess a foundation or roots.

A plant does not shoot upwards before it has taken root, and would wither and die if it tried to do so. For this reason a clever gardener does not insert a graft unless he sees that the stock has taken root.

In the case of birds and of beasts we find, in the place of roots, the intestines (for in these the vitality is situated), and this part of the body is the first to be formed, being, as it were, the foundation of the rest.

14. Imitation.—In the same way an architect does not build a house without first laying a solid foundation, since otherwise the whole structure would soon fall down. Similarly an artist paints a foundation of colour before he puts in the fine shades; otherwise the colours would easily crack and fade.

15. Deviation.—The laying of such a foundation for their instruction is neglected by those teachers (1) who take no trouble to make their pupils diligent and attentive, and (2) who do not begin by giving a general idea of the whole course of study, so that the pupils may realise how ​much of the scheme projected is actually got through. For if the scholars perform their work without inclination, without attention, and without intelligence, how can any lasting result be expected?

16. Rectification.—Therefore

(i) Every study should be commenced in such a manner as to awaken a real liking for it on the part of the scholars, and this should be done by proving to them how excellent, useful, pleasant, and otherwise desirable it is.

(ii) A general notion of the language or art (consisting of a sketch, as slight as is possible, but yet embracing every branch of the subject in question) should be given to the pupil before the detailed consideration of the subject is proceeded with, in order that he may thus, at the very beginning, realise its aims, limits, and internal structure. For as the skeleton is the foundation of the whole body, so the general sketch of an art is the foundation of the whole art.

Fourth Principle

17. Nature strikes her roots deep.

Thus, the entrails of an animal are buried deep in its body. The deeper a tree strikes its roots, the firmer it will stand; while if the roots only just penetrate beneath the turf it is easily rooted up.

18. Correction of the deviation.—It follows, therefore, that the desire to learn should be thoroughly awakened in the pupils, and that the general conception of the subject should be thoroughly got into their heads. Until this has been carefully done a more detailed exposition of the art or language should not be attempted.

Fifth Principle

19. Nature developes everything from its roots and from no other source.

The wood, bark, leaves, flowers, and fruit of a tree come from the roots and from no other source. For although ​the rain may fall on the tree and the gardener may water it, the moisture must all be taken up through the roots, and then dispersed through the trunk, branches, boughs, leaves, and fruit. On this account the gardener, though he takes his graft from some other source, must let it into the stock in such a way that it may become incorporated with it, absorb moisture from its roots, and, nourished in this way, be capable of development. It is from the roots that a tree derives everything, and there is no necessity to supply leaves and branches from any other source. It is just the same when a bird is to be clothed with feathers. They are not taken from another bird, but grow from the innermost part of the body.

20. Imitation in the arts.—The prudent builder, too, erects a house in such a way that it can stand securely on its own foundations and can be supported by its own beams, without the need of any external props. For, if a building need external support, this is a proof of incompleteness and of a tendency to fall down.

21. When a man lays out a fishpond or a lake he finds a spring, and, by means of canals and pipes, conducts its water to his reservoir; but he does not allow water to flow in from any other source, nor does he use rain-water.

22. From this precept it follows that the proper education of the young does not consist in stuffing their heads with a mass of words, sentences, and ideas dragged together out of various authors, but in opening their understanding to the outer world, so that a living stream may flow from their own minds, just as leaves, flowers, and fruit spring from the buds on a tree, while in the following year a fresh bud is again formed and a fresh shoot, with its leaves, flowers, and fruit, grows from it.

23. Terrible deviation in schools.—Hitherto the schools have not taught their pupils to develope their minds like young trees from their own roots, but rather to deck themselves with branches plucked from other trees, and, like Æsop’s crow, to adorn themselves with the feathers of other birds; they have taken no trouble to open the ​fountain of knowledge that is hidden in the scholars, but instead have watered them with water from other sources. That is to say, they have not shown them the objective world as it exists in itself, but only what this, that, or the other author has written or thought about this or that object, so that he is considered the most learned who best knows the contradictory opinions which many men have held about many things. The result is that most men possess no information but the quotations, sentences, and opinions that they have collected by rummaging about in various authors, and thus piece their knowledge together like a patchwork quilt. “Oh you imitators, you slavish pack!” cries Horace. A slavish pack indeed, and accustomed to carry burdens that are not their own.

24. But why, I ask you, do we allow ourselves to be led astray by the opinions of other men, when what is sought is a knowledge of the true nature of things? Have we nothing better to do than to follow others to their cross-roads and down their by-ways, and to study attentively the deviation that each makes from the right path? O brother mortals! let us hasten to the goal and give up this idle wandering. If our goal be firmly set before us, why should we not hasten to it by the shortest road; why should we use the eyes of other men in preference to our own?

25. The methods by which all branches of knowledge are taught show that it really is the schools that are to blame for this; that they really teach us to see by means of the eyes of others, and to become wise by employing their brains. For these methods do not teach us to discover springs and conduct streams of water from them, but place before us the water that has been drawn off from various authors and teach us to return from these to the springs. For the dictionaries (at least so far as I know, though perhaps with the exception of the one by Cnapius,²⁷ but even in this one there are some things left to be desired, as will be shown in chap. xxii.) do not teach how to speak but only how to understand; the grammars do not teach how to construct sentences but only how to ​dissect them; and no vulgary gives any assistance towards joining the phrases skilfully together in conversation, or towards ringing changes on them, but only provides a haphazard collection of sentences. Scarcely any one teaches physics by ocular demonstration and by experiment, but only by quoting the works of Aristotle and of others. No one seeks to form the morals by working on the inward sources of action, but by purely external explanations and analysis of the virtues a superficial veneer of morality is given. This will be more evident when I come to the special methods of the arts and languages, but still more so, please God, when I give the outline of my Pansophia.

26. It is really to be wondered at that the men of former times did not understand this better, or that this error has not long since been rectified by those of the present day; since it is certain that we have here the actual reason why such slow progress has hitherto been made. Does the builder teach his apprentice the art of building by pulling down a house? Oh no; it is during the process of building a house that he shows him how to select his materials, how to fit each stone into its proper place, how to prepare them, raise them, lay them and join them together. For he who understands how to build will not need to be shown how to pull down, and he who can sew a garment together will be able to unrip it without any instruction. But it is not by pulling down houses or by unripping garments that the arts of building or of tailoring can be learned.

27. It is only too evident that the methods which are so faulty in this respect have not been rectified (1) since the education of many, if not of most men, consists of nothing but a string of names; that is to say, they can repeat the technical terms and the rules of the arts, but do not know how to apply them practically; (2) since the education of no man attains the position of universal knowledge that can give itself support, strength, and breadth, but is a heterogeneous compound of which one part is borrowed from one source and another from ​another, whose elements are joined together on no logical principle, and which therefore bears no worthy fruit. For the knowledge that consists of the collected sayings and opinions of various authors resembles the tree which peasants erect when they make holiday, and which, though covered with branches, flowers, fruit, garlands, and crowns, cannot grow or even last, because its ornamentation does not spring from its roots, but is only hung on. Such a tree bears no fruit, and the branches that are attached to it wither and fall off. But a man who is thoroughly educated resembles a tree which grows from its own roots and is nourished by its own sap, and which, on that account, increases in size (and from day to day with more vigour), and puts forth leaves, blossoms, and fruits.

28. Rectification.—We arrive therefore at the following conclusion: men must, as far as is possible, be taught to become wise by studying the heavens, the earth, oaks, and beeches, but not by studying books; that is to say, they must learn to know and investigate the things themselves, and not the observations that other people have made about the things. We shall thus tread in the footsteps of the wise men of old, if each of us obtain his knowledge from the originals, from things themselves, and from no other source. We may therefore lay it down as a law:

(i) That all knowledge should be deduced from the unchanging principles of the subject in question.

(ii) That no information should be imparted on the grounds of bookish authority, but should be authorised by actual demonstration to the senses and to the intellect.

(iii) That in dealing with any subject the analytic method should never be used exclusively; in fact, preponderance should rather be given to the synthetic method.

Sixth Principle

29. The more the uses to which nature applies anything, the more distinct subdivisions that thing will possess.

For instance, the greater the number of joints into ​which the limbs of any animal are divided, the more complex will be its movements, as we can see if we compare a horse with a snake. In the same way a tree stands more firmly and is more picturesque if its branches and roots spread out well and stand away from one another.

30. Imitation.—In the education of the young, care should be taken that everything that is taught be carefully defined and kept in its place, so that not only the teacher, but the pupil as well, may know exactly what progress he has made and what he is actually doing. It will also be of great assistance if all the books that are used in schools follow nature’s example in this respect.

Seventh Principle

31. Nature never remains at rest, but advances continually; never begins anything fresh at the expense of work already in hand, but proceeds with what she has begun, and brings it to completion.

For instance, in the formation of the embryo, it is the feet, the head, and the heart that come first into existence, and these organs are not discarded but are perfected. A tree which is transplanted does not cast the branches that have previously grown upon it, but continues to provide them with sap and vitality, that with each successive year they may put forth more shoots.

32. Imitation.—In schools therefore

(i) All the studies should be so arranged that those which come later may depend on those that have gone before, and that those which come first may be fixed in the mind by those that follow.

(ii) Each subject taught, when it has been thoroughly grasped by the understanding, must be impressed on the memory as well.

33. For since, in this natural method of ours, all that precedes should be the foundation of all that comes after, it is absolutely essential that this foundation be thoroughly laid. For that only which has been thoroughly understood, ​and committed to memory as well, can be called the property of the mind.

Truly does Quintilian say: “The acquisition of knowledge depends on the memory. Instruction is in vain if we forget what we hear or read.” Ludovicus Vives also says: “The memory should be exercised in early youth, since practice developes it, and we should therefore take care to practise it as much as possible. Now, in youth, the labour is not felt, and thus the memory developes without any trouble and becomes very retentive.” And in the Introduction to Philosophy he says: “The memory should not be permitted to rest, for there is no faculty that acts with greater readiness or developes more through action. Commit something to memory daily, for the more you commit to memory the more faithfully it will be retained, and the less, the less faithfully.” The example of nature shows us that this is true. The more sap a tree sucks up, the stronger it grows, and, conversely, the stronger it grows, the more sap it pours through its fibres. An animal also developes in proportion to the strength of its digestion, and, conversely, the larger it grows the more nourishment it requires and the more it digests. This is the characteristic of every natural body that developes. In this respect, therefore, children should not be spared (though of course no over-pressure should be applied), for the foundations of unfailing progress will thus be laid.

Eighth Principle

34. Nature knits everything together in continuous combination.

For instance, when a bird is formed, limb is joined to limb, bone to bone, and sinew to sinew. So too in the case of a tree, the trunk is joined to the roots, the branches to the trunk, the young shoots to the branches, the buds to the shoots, and to these again the leaves, flowers, and fruits; so that, though there may be thousands of each, the whole constitutes one tree. So with a house, if it is to be durable, the walls must rest on the foundations, the ceilings and the ​roof upon the walls, and, in short, all the parts, from the largest to the smallest, must be connected and fitted together, so that they form a single house.

35. Imitation.—From this it follows:

(i) That the studies of a lifetime should be so arranged that they form an encyclopædic whole, in which all the parts spring from a common source and each is in its right place.

(ii) That everything taught should be supported by good reasons, so that no easy entrance may be given either for doubt or for forgetfulness.

Indeed these reasons are the nails, the clasps, and the clamps that hold an object fast in the memory and prevent it from fading away.

36. Now, to strengthen all information by giving reasons is equivalent to explaining things by their causes. That is to say, not only the nature of each object is pointed out but also the reason why it cannot be otherwise. For knowledge is nothing but the acquaintance with an object that we gain by mastering its causes. For instance, if the question arose whether it would be more correct to say totus populus or cunctus populus, and the teacher were merely to say “cunctus populus is the right phrase,” but omitted to give any reason, the pupil would soon forget it. If, on the other hand, he were to say “Cunctus is a contraction for conjunctus,²⁸ and therefore totus should be used when the object denoted is homogeneous, cunctus when the conception is collective, as here,” it is scarcely conceivable that the pupil could forget it, unless his intelligence were very limited. Again, if the grammatical question were to arise why we say mea refert, tua refert, but ejus refert; that is to say, why we use the ablative (as it is supposed to be) in the first and second persons, but the genitive in the third person; if I were to answer, that refert is a contraction for res fert, and that the phrases are therefore mea res fert, tua res fert, ejus res fert (or in their contracted form mea refert, tua refert, ejus refert), and that therefore mea and tua are not the ablative but the nominative, would not the pupil be stimulated to further efforts?

​The scholars, therefore, should learn, and learn thoroughly, the etymology of all words, the reasons for all constructions, and the principles on which the rules for the various subjects of study have been formed (the principles of the sciences should in the first instance be impressed on the mind, not by merely giving the reasons, but by actual demonstration on the objects themselves).

This will prove most congenial to the pupils, and will therefore be of the greatest use in paving the way for the most thorough education possible; for their eyes will be opened to a remarkable extent, and they will acquire the habit of easily and naturally advancing from one thing to another.

37. In schools, therefore, everything should be taught through its causes.

Ninth Principle

38. Nature preserves a due proportion between the roots and the branches, with respect to both quality and quantity.

The development of the branches above the earth is proportionate to that of the roots beneath. This could not be otherwise; for if the tree were only to grow upwards it would be unable to maintain its erect position, since it is the roots that help it to do so. If, on the other hand, it only grew downwards it would be useless, for it is the branches and not the roots that bear the fruit. With animals also there is a close connection between the external and the internal organs, for if the internal organs are healthy the external ones are so also.

39. Imitation.—The same holds good of education. It must first be applied to the inner roots of knowledge, and thus develope and gain strength, while at the same time care must be taken that it afterwards spread out into branches and foliage. That is to say, whenever instruction is given the pupil should be taught to apply his knowledge practically, as in the case of a language by speaking, and not merely to assimilate it mentally.

​40. Therefore (i) With every subject of instruction the question of its practical use must be raised, that nothing useless may be learned.

(ii) Whatever has been learned should be communicated by one pupil to the other, that no knowledge may remain unused. For in this sense only can we understand the saying: “Thy knowledge is of no avail if none other know that thou knowest.” No source of knowledge, therefore, should be opened, unless rivulets, flow from it. But of this will say more the following principle.

Tenth Principle

41. Nature becomes fruitful and strong through constant movement.

Thus, when a bird hatches eggs, it does not only warm them, but, in order that they may be warmed equally on all sides, it turns them round daily (this can be easily observed in the case of geese, hens, and doves, since these hatch their eggs under our very eyes). When the chicken has broken through the shell it exercises itself by moving its beak, its limbs, and its wings, by stretching itself and raising itself from the ground, and by repeated attempts to walk and to fly, until it is sufficiently strong to do so.

The more a tree is buffeted by the winds, the faster it grows and the deeper it drives its roots. Indeed it is healthy for all plants to be stimulated by rain, storms, hail, thunder, and lightning, and for this reason those localities that are greatly exposed to storms of wind and of rain ought to produce harder wood than others.

42. Imitation in the mechanical arts.—In the same way the builder leaves the wind and the sun to make his buildings dry and firm. The smith also, who wishes to harden and temper his iron, places it repeatedly in the fire and in water, and thus, by alternating cold and heat, and by repeatedly softening the metal, ultimately renders it hard and durable.

​43. From this it follows that education cannot attain to thoroughness without frequent and suitable repetitions of and exercises on the subjects taught. We may learn the most suitable mode of procedure by observing the natural movements that underlie the processes of nutrition in living bodies, namely those of collection, digestion, and distribution. For in the case of an animal (and in that of a plant as well) each member seeks for digestion food which may both nurture that member (since this retains and assimilates part of the digested food) and be shared with the other members, that the well-being of the whole organism may be preserved (for each member serves the other). In the same way that teacher will greatly increase the value of his instruction who

(i) Seeks out and obtains intellectual food for himself.

(ii) Assimilates and digests what he has found.

(iii) Distributes what he has digested, and shares it with others.

44. These three elements are to be found in the well-known Latin couplet:—

To ask many questions, retain the answers, and to teach what one retains to others;

These three enable the pupil to surpass his master.

Questioning takes place when a pupil interrogates his teachers, his companions, or his books about some subject that he does not understand. Retention follows when the information that has been obtained is committed to memory, or is written down for greater security (since few are so fortunate as to possess the power of retaining everything in their minds). Teaching takes place when knowledge that has been acquired is communicated to fellow-pupils or other companions.

With the two first of these principles the schools are quite familiar, with the third but little; its introduction, however, is in the highest degree desirable. The saying, ​“He who teaches others, teaches himself,” is very true, not only because constant repetition impresses a fact indelibly on the mind, but because the process of teaching in itself gives a deeper insight into the subject taught. Thus it was that the gifted Joachim Fortius²⁹ used to say that, if he had heard or read anything once, it slipped out of his memory within a month; but that if he taught it to others it became as much a part of himself as his fingers, and that he did not believe that anything short of death could deprive him of it. His advice, therefore, was that, if a student wished to make progress, he should arrange to give lessons daily in the subjects which he was studying, even if he had to hire his pupils. “It is worth your while,” he says, “to sacrifice your bodily comfort to a certain extent for the sake of having some one who will listen while you teach, or, in other words, while you make intellectual progress.”

45. This would certainly be of use to many and could easily be put into practice if the teacher of each class would introduce this excellent system to his pupils. It might be done in the following way: in each lesson, after the teacher has briefly gone through the work that has been prepared, and has explained the meanings of the words, one of the pupils should be allowed to rise from his place and repeat what has just been said in the same order (just as if he were the teacher of the rest), to give his explanations in the same words, and to employ the same examples, and if he make a mistake he should be corrected. Then another can be called up and made go through the same performance while the rest listen. After him a third, a fourth, and as many as are necessary, until it is evident that all have understood the lesson and are in a position to explain it. In carrying this out great care should be taken to call up the clever boys first, in order that, after their example, the stupid ones may find it easier to follow.

46. Exercises of this kind will have a fivefold use.

(i) The teacher is certain to have attentive pupils. For since the scholars may, at any time, be called up and asked to repeat what the teacher has said, each of them ​will be afraid of breaking down and appearing ridiculous before the others, and will therefore attend carefully and allow nothing to escape him. In addition to this, the habit of brisk attention, which becomes second nature if practised for several years, will fit the scholar to acquit himself well in active life.

(ii) The teacher will be able to know with certainty if his pupils have thoroughly grasped everything that he has taught them. If he finds that they have not, he will consult his own interest as well as that of his pupils by repeating his explanation and making it clearer.

(iii) If the same thing be frequently repeated, the dullest intelligences will grasp it at last, and will thus be able to keep pace with the others; while the brighter ones will be pleased at obtaining such a thorough grip of the subject.

(iv) By means of such constant repetition the scholars will gain a better acquaintance with the subject than they could possibly obtain by private study, even with the greatest diligence, and will find that, if they just read the lesson over in the morning and then again in the evening, it will remain in their memories easily and pleasantly. When, by this method of repetition, the pupil has, as it were, been admitted to the office of teacher, he will attain a peculiar keenness of disposition and love of learning; he will also acquire the habit of remaining self-possessed while explaining anything before a number of people, and this will be of the greatest use to him throughout life.

47. Following out this idea, the scholars, when they meet one another after school hours, or when they go for walks together, should compare notes and discuss information that they have recently acquired, or should converse on anything new that attracts their attention. It would be of great assistance, when a certain number of scholars meet for such discussion, if one of them (to be chosen either by lot or by vote) were to take the place of teacher, and control the proceedings. If the scholar thus selected by his companions refuse the position, he should be severely reprimanded. For, far from being rejected, such ​opportunities of teaching and of learning should be sought after and competed for.

Of written exercises (a great help to progress) we will speak in our chapters on the Vernacular-School and on the Latin-School (chaps. xxvii. and xxviii.)

CHAPTER XVII

THE PRINCIPLES OF FACILITY IN TEACHING AND IN LEARNING

1. We have already considered the means by which the educationist may attain his goal with certainty, we will now proceed to see how these means can be suited to the minds of the pupils, so that their use may be easy and pleasant.

2. Following in the footsteps of nature we find that the process of education will be easy

(i) If it begin early, before the mind is corrupted.

(ii) If the mind be duly prepared to receive it.

(iii) If it proceed from the general to the particular.

(iv) And from what is easy to what is more difficult.

(v) If the pupil be not overburdened by too many subjects.

(vi) And if progress be slow in every case.

(vii) If the intellect be forced to nothing to which its natural bent does not incline it, in accordance with its age and with the right method.

(viii) If everything be taught through the medium of the senses.

(ix) And if the use of everything taught be continually kept in view.

(x) If everything be taught according to one and the same method.

These, I say, are the principles to be adopted if education is to be easy and pleasant.​

First Principle

3. Nature begins by a careful selection of materials.

For instance, for hatching a bird she selects fresh eggs and those that contain pure matter. If the formation of the chicken have already begun, it is in vain to expect any result.

4. Imitation.—The architect who wishes to erect a building, needs a clear plot of ground, and, if there be a house already standing there, he must pull it down before he can build the new one.

5. The artist, too, does his best work on a clean canvas. If it have already been painted on, or be dirty or rough, it must be cleaned or smoothed before he can use it.

6. For the preservation of precious ointments, empty jars must be procured, or those that are in use must be carefully cleansed of their contents.

7. The gardener, too, prefers to plant young trees, or, if he take them when too old, cuts off the branches in order that the sap may not be dissipated. For this reason Aristotle placed “privation” among the principles of nature, for he held that it was impossible to impress a new form on any material until the old one had been removed.

8. Deviation.—It follows from this: (1) That it is best to devote the mind to the pursuit of wisdom while it is still fresh, and before it has acquired the habit of dissipating its strength over a variety of occupations; and that the later the education begins, the harder it will be for it to obtain a hold, because the mind is already occupied by other things. (2) That the result must be bad if a boy be instructed by several teachers at once, since it is scarcely possible for them all to use the same method, and, if they do not, the boy’s mind is drawn first in one direction and then in another, and its development is thus hindered. (3) That it shows great lack of judgment if moral instruction be not made the first point when the education of children or of older boys is commenced; since, ​when they have been taught to control their feelings, they will be the more fit to receive other instruction. Horsetamers keep a horse under absolute control with an iron bit, and ensure its obedience before they teach it its paces. Rightly does Seneca say: “First learn virtue, and then wisdom, since without virtue it is difficult to learn wisdom.”

And Cicero says: “Moral philosophy makes the mind fit to receive the seeds of further knowledge.”

9. Rectification.—Therefore

(i) Education should be commenced early.

(ii) The pupil should not have more than one teacher in each subject.

(iii) Before anything else is done, the morals should be rendered harmonious by the master’s influence.

Second Principle

10. Nature prepares its material so that it actually strives to attain the form.

Thus the chicken in the egg, when sufficiently formed, seeks to develope itself still further, moves, and bursts the shell or breaks through it with its beak. After escaping from its prison, it takes pleasure in the warmth and nutriment provided by its mother, opens its beak expectantly and swallows its food greedily. It rejoices to find itself under the open sky, exercises its wings, and, later on, uses them with enjoyment; in a word, it displays a keen desire to fulfil all its natural functions, though throughout the whole process of development it advances step by step.

11. Imitation.—The gardener also must bring it about that the plant, properly provided with moisture and with warmth, take pleasure in its vigorous growth.

12. Deviation.—Therefore, those who drive boys to their studies, do them great harm. For what result can they expect? If a man have no appetite, but yet takes food when urged to do so, the result can only be sickness and vomiting, or at least indigestion and indisposition. On ​the other hand, if a man be hungry, he is eager to take food, digests it readily, and easily converts it into flesh and blood. Thus Isocrates says: “He who is anxious to learn will also be learned.” And Quintilian says: “The acquisition of knowledge depends on the will to learn, and this cannot be forced.”

13. Rectification.—Therefore

(i) The desire to know and to learn should be excited in boys in every possible manner.

(ii) The method of instruction should lighten the drudgery of learning, that there may be nothing to hinder the scholars or deter them from making progress with their studies.

14. The desire to learn is kindled in boys by parents, by masters, by the school, by the subjects of instruction, by the method of teaching, and by the authority of the state.

15. By parents, if they praise learning and the learned in the presence of their children, or if they encourage them to be industrious by promising them nice books and clothes, or some other pretty thing; if they commend the teachers (especially him to whom they entrust their sons) as much for their friendly feeling towards the pupils, as for their skill in teaching (for love and admiration are the feelings most calculated to stimulate a desire for imitation); finally, if, from time to time, they send the child to him with a small present. In this way they will easily bring it about that the children like their lessons and their teachers, and have confidence in them.

16. By the teachers, if they are gentle and persuasive, and do not alienate their pupils from them by roughness, but attract them by fatherly sentiments and words; if they commend the studies that they take in hand on account of their excellence, pleasantness, and ease; if they praise the industrious ones from time to time (to the little ones they may give apples, nuts, sugar, etc.); if they call the children to them, privately or in the class, and show them pictures of the things that they must learn, or explain to them ​optical or geometrical instruments, astronomical globes, and such-like things that are calculated to excite their admiration; or again, if they occasionally give the children some message to carry to their parents. In a word, if they treat their pupils kindly they will easily win their affections, and will bring it about that they prefer going to school to remaining at home.

17. The school itself should be a pleasant place, and attractive to the eye both within and without. Within, the room should be bright and clean, and its walls should be ornamented by pictures. These should be either portraits of celebrated men, geographical maps, historical plans, or other ornaments. Without, there should be an open place to walk and to play in (for this is absolutely necessary for children, as we shall show later), and there should also be a garden attached, into which the scholars may be allowed to go from time to time and where they may feast their eyes on trees, flowers, and plants. If this be done, boys will, in all probability, go to school with as much pleasure as to fairs, where they always hope to see and hear something new.

18. The subjects of instruction themselves prove attractive to the young, if they are suited to the age of the pupil and are clearly explained; especially if the explanation be relieved by a humorous or at any rate by a less serious tone. For thus the pleasant is combined with the useful.

19. If the method is to excite a taste for knowledge, it must, in the first place, be natural. For what is natural takes place without compulsion. Water need not be forced to run down a mountain-side. If the dam, or whatever else holds it back, be removed, it flows down at once. It is not necessary to persuade a bird to fly; it does so as soon as the cage is opened. The eye and the ear need no urging to enjoy a fine painting or a beautiful melody that is presented to them. In all these cases it is more often necessary to restrain than to urge on. The requisites of a natural method are evident from the preceding chapter and from the rules that follow.

​In the second place, if the scholars are to be interested, care must be taken to make the method palatable, so that everything, no matter how serious, may be placed before them in a familiar and attractive manner; in the form of a dialogue, for instance, by pitting the boys against one another to answer and explain riddling questions, comparisons, and fables. But of this more in the proper place.

20. The civil authorities and the managers of schools can kindle the zeal of the scholars by being present at public performances (such as declarations, disputations, examinations, and promotions), and by praising the industrious ones and giving them small presents (without respect of person).

Third Principle

21. Nature developes everything from beginnings which, though insignificant in appearance, possess great potential strength.

For instance, the matter out of which a bird is to be formed consists of a few drops, which are contained in a shell, that they may be easily warmed and hatched. But these few drops contain the whole bird potentially, since, later on, the body of the chicken is formed from the vital principle which is concentrated in them.

22. Imitation.—In the same way a tree, no matter how large it may be, is potentially contained in the kernel of its fruit or in the shoot at the end of one of its branches. If one or the other of these be placed in the earth, a whole tree will be produced by the inner force that it contains.

23. Terrible deviation.—In direct opposition to this principle a terrible mistake is generally made in schools. Most teachers are at pains to place in the earth plants instead of seeds, and trees instead of shoots, since, instead of starting with the fundamental principles, they place before their pupils a chaos of diverse conclusions or the complete texts of authors. And yet it is certain that instruction rests on a very small number of principles, just as the earth is composed of four elements (though in diverse forms); and that from these principles (in accord​ance with the evident limits of their powers of differentiation) an unlimited number of results can be deduced, just as, in the case of a tree, hundreds of branches, and thousands of leaves, blossoms, and fruits are produced from the original shoot. Oh! may God take pity on our age, and open some man’s eyes, that he may see aright the true relations in which things stand to one another, and may impart his knowledge to the rest of mankind. With God’s assistance I hope, in my Synopsis of Christian Wisdom, to give an earnest of my efforts to do so, in the modest hope that it may be of use to others whom God, in due season, may call to carry on the work.

24. Rectification.—In the meantime we may draw three conclusions:

(i) Every art must be contained in the shortest and most practical rules.

(ii) Each rule must be expressed in the shortest and clearest words.

(iii) Each rule must be accompanied by many examples, in order that the use of the rule may be quite clear when fresh cases arise.

Fourth Principle

25. Nature advances from what is easy to what is more difficult.

For example, the formation of an egg does not begin with the hardest part, the shell, but with the contents. These are at first covered by a membrane; it is not till later that the hard shell appears. The bird that learns to fly accustoms itself first to stand on its legs, then to move its wings gently, then to do so with more force until it can raise itself from the ground, and last of all gains sufficient confidence to fly through the air.

26. Imitation.—In the same way a carpenter’s apprentice learns, first to fell trees, then to saw them into planks and fasten them together, and finally to build complete houses of them.

​27. Various Deviations.—It is therefore wrong to teach the unknown through the medium of that which is equally unknown, as is the case: (i) If boys who are beginning Latin are taught the rules in Latin. This is just as if the attempt were made to explain Hebrew by Hebrew rules, or Arabic by Arabic rules.

(ii) If these same beginners are given as assistance a Latin-German instead of a German-Latin dictionary. For they do not want to learn their mother-tongue by the aid of Latin, but to learn Latin through the medium of the language that they already know. (On this error we will say more in chap. xxii.)

(iii) If boys are given a foreign teacher who does not understand their language. For if they have no common medium through which they can hold communication with him, and can only guess at what he is saying, can anything but a Tower of Babel be the result?

(iv) A deviation is made from the right method of teaching, if boys of all nations (i.e. French, German, Bohemian, Polish, or Hungarian boys) are taught in accordance with the same rules of grammar (those of Melanchthon or of Ramus,²⁶ for example), since each of these languages stands in its own particular relation to Latin, and this relation must be well understood if Latin is to be thoroughly taught to boys of these several nationalities.

28. Rectification.—These errors may be avoided

(i) If the teachers and their pupils talk the same language.

(ii) If all explanations are given in the language that the pupils understand.

(iii) If grammars and dictionaries are adapted to the language through the medium of which the new one is to be learned (that is to say, the Latin Grammar to the mother-tongue, and Greek Grammar to the Latin language).

(iv) If the study of a new language be allowed to proceed gradually and in such a way that the scholar learn first to understand (for this is the easiest), then to write ​(for here there is time for consideration), and lastly to speak (which is the hardest, because the process is so rapid).

(v) If, when Latin is combined with German, the German be placed first as the best known, and the Latin follow.

(vi) If the subject-matter be so arranged that the pupils get to know, first, that which lies nearest to their mental vision, then that which lies moderately near, then that which is more remote, and lastly, that which is farthest off. Therefore, if boys are being taught something for the first time (such as logic or rhetoric), the illustrations should not be taken from subjects that cannot be grasped by the scholars, such as theology, politics, or poetry, but should be derived from the events of everyday life. Otherwise the boys will understand neither the rules nor their application.

(vii) If boys be made to exercise, first their senses (for this is the easiest), then the memory, then the comprehension, and finally the judgment. In this way a graded sequence will take place; for all knowledge begins by sensuous perception; then through the medium of the imagination it enters the province of the memory; then, by dwelling on the particulars, comprehension of the universal arises; while finally comes judgment on the facts that have been grasped, and in this way our knowledge is firmly established.

Fifth Principle

29. Nature does not overburden herself, but is content with a little.

For instance, she does not demand two chickens from one egg, but is satisfied if one be produced. The gardener does not insert a number of grafts on one stock, but two at most, if he consider it very strong.

30. Deviation.—The mental energies of the scholar are therefore dissipated if he have to learn many things ​at once, such as grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, poetic, Greek, etc., in one year (cf. the previous chapter, Principle 4).

Sixth Principle

31. Nature does not hurry, but advances slowly.

For example, a bird does not place its eggs in the fire, in order to hatch them quickly, but lets them develope slowly under the influence of natural warmth. Neither, later on, does it cram its chickens with food that they may mature quickly (for this would only choke them), but it selects their food with care and gives it to them gradually in the quantities that their weak digestion can support.

32. Imitation.—The builder, too, does not erect the walls on the foundations with undue haste and then straightway put on the roof; since, unless the foundations were given time to dry and become firm, they would sink under the superincumbent weight, and the whole building would tumble down. Large stone buildings, therefore, cannot be finished within one year, but must have a suitable length of time allotted for their construction.

33. Nor does the gardener expect a plant to grow large in the first month, or to bear fruit at the end of the first year. He does not, therefore, tend and water it every day, nor does he warm it with fire or with quicklime, but is content with the moisture that comes from heaven and with the warmth that the sun provides.

34. Deviation.—For the young, therefore, it is torture

(i) If they are compelled to receive six, seven, or eight hours’ class instruction daily, and private lessons in addition.

(ii) If they are overburdened with dictations, with exercises, and with the lessons that they have to commit to memory, until nausea and, in some cases, insanity is produced.

If we take a jar with a narrow mouth (for to this we may compare a boy’s intellect) and attempt to pour a quantity of water into it violently, instead of allowing it to trickle in drop by drop, what will be the result? Without ​doubt the greater part of the liquid will flow over the side, and ultimately the jar will contain less than if the operation had taken place gradually. Quite as foolish is the action of those who try to teach their pupils, not as much as they can assimilate, but as much as they themselves wish; for the faculties need to be supported and not to be overburdened, and the teacher, like the physician, is the servant and not the master of nature.

35. Rectification.—The ease and the pleasantness of study will therefore be increased:

(i) If the class instruction be curtailed as much as possible, namely to four hours, and if the same length of time be left for private study.

(ii) If the pupils be forced to memorise as little as possible, that is to say, only the most important things; of the rest they need only grasp the general meaning.

(iii) If everything be arranged to suit the capacity of the pupil, which increases naturally with study and age.

Seventh Principle

36. Nature compels nothing to advance that is not driven forward by its own mature strength.

For instance, a chicken is not compelled to quit the egg before its limbs are properly formed and set; is not forced to fly before its feathers have grown; is not thrust from the nest before it is able to fly well, etc.

A tree, too, does not put forth shoots before it is forced to do so by the sap that rises from the roots, nor does it permit fruit to appear before the leaves and blossoms formed by the sap seek further development, nor does it permit the blossoms to fall before the fruit that they contain is protected by a skin, nor the fruit to drop before it is ripe.

37. Deviation.—Now the faculties of the young are forced:

(i) If boys are compelled to learn things for which their age and capacity are not yet suited.

​(ii) If they are made to learn by heart or do things that have not first been thoroughly explained and demonstrated to them.

38. Rectification.—From what has been said, it follows

(i) That nothing should be taught to the young, unless it is not only permitted but actually demanded by their age and mental strength.

(ii) That nothing should be learned by heart that has not been thoroughly grasped by the understanding. Nor should any feat of memory be demanded unless it is absolutely certain that the boy’s strength is equal to it.

(iii) That nothing should be set boys to do until its nature has been thoroughly explained to them, and rules for procedure have been given.

Eighth Principle

39. Nature assists its operations in every possible manner.

For example, an egg possesses its own natural warmth; but this is assisted by the warmth of the sun and by the feathers of the bird that hatches it. God, the father of nature, takes forethought for this. The newly-hatched chicken, also, is warmed by the mother as long as is necessary, and is trained by her in the various functions of life. This we can see in the case of storks, who assist their young by taking them on their backs and bearing them round the nest while they exercise their wings. In the same way nurses help little children. They teach them first to raise their heads and then to sit up; later on, to stand on their legs, and to move their legs preparatory to walking; then by degrees to walk and step out firmly. When they teach them to speak they repeat words to them and point to the objects that the words denote.

40. Deviation.—It is therefore cruelty on the part of a teacher if he set his pupils work to do without first explaining it to them thoroughly, or showing them how it should be done, and if he do not assist them in their first attempts; or if he allow them to toil hard, and ​then loses his temper if they do not succeed in their endeavours.

What is this but to torture the young? it is just as if a nurse were to force a child to walk, while it is still afraid to stand on its legs, and beat it when it failed to do so. Nature’s teaching is very different, and shows that we ought to have patience with the weak as long as their strength is insufficient.

41. Rectification.—From this it follows:

(i) That no blows should be given for lack of readiness to learn (for, if the pupil do not learn readily, this is the fault of no one but the teacher, who either does not know how to make his pupil receptive of knowledge or does not take the trouble to do so).

(ii) That the subjects that have to be learned by the pupils should be so thoroughly explained to them, that they can understand them as well as they understand their five fingers.

(iii) That, as far as is possible, instruction should be given through the senses, that it may be retained in the memory with less effort.

42. For example, the sense of hearing should always be conjoined with that of sight, and the tongue should be trained in combination with the hand. The subjects that are taught should not merely be taught orally, and thus appeal to the ear alone, but should be pictorially illustrated, and thus develope the imagination by the help of the eye. Again, the pupils should learn to speak with their mouths and at the same time to express what they say with their hands, that no study may be proceeded with before what has already been learned is thoroughly impressed on the eyes, the ears, the understanding, and the memory. With this object, it is desirable to represent pictorially, on the walls of the class-room, everything that is treated of in the class, by putting up either precepts and rules or pictures and diagrams illustrative of the subjects taught. If this be done, it is incredible how much it assists a teacher to impress his instruction on the ​pupils’ minds. It is also useful if the scholars learn to write down in their note-books or among their collections of idioms everything that they hear or read, since in this way the imagination is assisted and it is easier to remember them later on.

Ninth Principle

43. Nothing is produced by nature of which the practical application is not soon evident.

For example, when a bird is formed it is soon evident that the wings are intended for flying and the legs for running. In the same way every part of a tree has its use, down to the skin and the bloom that surround the fruit.

Therefore

44. Imitation.—The task of the pupil will be made easier, if the master, when he teaches him anything, show him at the same time its practical application in every-day life. This rule must be carefully observed in teaching languages, dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, physics, etc. If it be neglected, the things that you are explaining will seem to be monsters from the new world, and the attitude of the pupil, who is indifferent whether they exist or no, will be one of belief rather than of knowledge. When things are brought under his notice and their use is explained to him, they should be put into his hands that he may assure himself of his knowledge and may derive enjoyment from its application.

Therefore

45. Those things only should be taught whose application can be easily demonstrated.

Tenth Principle

46. Nature is uniform in all its operations.

For instance, the production of all birds, and, indeed, of all living creatures, resembles that of any single bird ​which you may choose. It is only in the minor details that there are differences. So too in the case of plants, the development of one plant from its seed, the planting and the growth of a single tree, serve as illustrations of the way in which all the others, without exception, develope. One leaf on a tree resembles all the others, and in this respect does not change from year to year.

47. Deviation.—Differences of method, therefore, confuse the young, and make their studies distasteful to them, since not only do different teachers use different systems, but even individual teachers vary their method. For example, languages are taught in one way, dialectic in another, though both might be brought under the same method, in accordance with the harmony of the universe, and the universal and intimate relations that exist between objects and words.

48. Rectification.—Henceforth, therefore

(i) The same method of instruction must be used for all the sciences, the same for all the arts, and the same for all languages.

(ii) In each school the same arrangement and treatment should be adopted for all studies.

(iii) The class-books for each subject should, as far as is possible, be of the same edition.

In this way difficulties will be avoided and progress will be made easy.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE UNIVERSAL REQUIREMENTS OF TEACHING AND OF LEARNING; THAT IS TO SAY, A METHOD OF TEACHING AND OF LEARNING WITH SUCH CERTAINTY THAT THE DESIRED RESULT MUST OF NECESSITY FOLLOW.

1. Exceptionally fine is that comparison made by our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel, “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come ”(Mark iv. 26).

2. The Saviour here shows that it is God who operates in everything, and that nothing remains for man but to receive the seeds of instruction with a devout heart; the processes of growth and of ripening will then continue of themselves, unperceived by him. The duty of the teachers of the young, therefore, is none other than to skilfully scatter the seeds of instruction in their minds, and to carefully water God’s plants. Increase and growth will come from above.

3. Is there any who denies that sowing and planting need skill and experience? If an unpractised gardener plant an orchard with young trees, the greater number of them die, and the few that prosper do so rather through chance than through skill. But the trained gardener goes to work ​carefully, since he is well instructed, where, when, and how to act and what to leave alone, that he may meet with no failure. It is true that even an experienced man meets with failure occasionally (indeed it is scarcely possible for a man to take such careful forethought that no error can arise); but we are now discussing, not the abstract question of circumspection and chance, but the art of doing away with chance by means of circumspection.

4. Hitherto the method of instruction has been so uncertain that scarcely any one would dare to say: “In so many years I will bring this youth to such and such a point; I will educate him in such and such a way.” We must therefore see if it be possible to place the art of intellectual discipline on such a firm basis that sure and certain progress may be made.

5. Since this basis can be properly laid only by assimilating the processes of art as much as possible to those of nature (as we have seen in the 15th chapter), we will follow the method of nature, taking as our example a bird hatching out its young; and, if we see with what good results gardeners, painters, and builders follow in the track of nature, we shall have to recognise that the educator of the young should follow in the same path.

6. If any think this course of action petty or commonplace, let him consider that from that which is of daily occurrence and universal notoriety and which takes place with good results in nature and in the arts (the teaching art excepted), we are seeking to deduce that which is less known and which is necessary for our present purpose. Indeed, if the facts from which we derive the principles that form the basis for our precepts are known, we can entertain hopes that our conclusions will be the more evident.

First Principle

7. Nature observes a suitable time.

For example: a bird that wishes to multiply its species, does not set about it in winter, when everything is stiff ​with cold, nor in summer, when everything is parched and withered by the heat; nor yet in autumn, when the vital force of all creatures declines with the sun’s declining rays, and a new winter with hostile mien is approaching; but in spring, when the sun brings back life and strength to all. Again, the process consists of several steps. While it is yet cold the bird conceives the eggs and warms them inside its body, where they are protected from the cold; when the air grows warmer it lays them in its nest, but does not hatch them out until the warm season comes, that the tender chicks may grow accustomed to light and warmth by degrees.

8. Imitation.—In the same way the gardener takes care to do nothing out of season. He does not, therefore, plant in the winter (because the sap is then in the roots, preparing to mount and nourish the plant later on); nor in summer (when the sap is already dispersed through the branches); nor in autumn (when the sap is retiring to the roots once more); but in spring, when the moisture is beginning to rise from the roots and the upper part of the plant begins to shoot. Later on, too, it is of great importance to the little tree that the right time be chosen for the various operations that are needful, such as manuring, pruning, and cutting. Even the tree itself has its proper time for putting forth shoots and blossoms, for growing, and for coming to maturity.

In the same manner the careful builder must choose the right time for cutting timber, burning bricks, laying foundations, building, and plastering walls, etc.

9. Deviation.—In direct opposition to this principle, a twofold error is committed in schools.

(i) The right time for mental exercise is not chosen.

(ii) The exercises are not properly divided, so that all advance may be made through the several stages needful, without any omission. As long as the boy is still a child he cannot be taught, because the roots of his understanding are still too deep below the surface. As soon as he becomes old, it is too late to teach him, because the intellect ​and the memory are then failing. In middle age it is difficult, because the forces of the intellect are dissipated over a variety of objects and are not easily concentrated. The season of youth, therefore, must be chosen. Then life and mind are fresh and gathering strength; then everything is vigorous and strikes root deeply.

10. Rectification.—We conclude, therefore, that

(i) The education of men should be commenced in the springtime of life, that is to say, in boyhood (for boyhood is the equivalent of spring, youth of summer, manhood of autumn, and old age of winter).

(ii) The morning hours are the most suitable for study (for here again the morning is the equivalent of spring, midday of summer, the evening of autumn, and the night of winter).

(iii) All the subjects that are to be learned should be arranged so as to suit the age of the students, that nothing which is beyond their comprehension be given them to learn.

Second Principle

11. Nature prepares the material, before she begins to give it form.

For example: the bird that wishes to produce a creature similar to itself first conceives the embryo from a drop of its blood; it then prepares the nest in which it is to lay the eggs, but does not begin to hatch them until the chick is formed and moves within the shell.

12. Imitation.—In the same way the prudent builder, before he begins to erect a building, collects a quantity of wood, lime, stones, iron, and the other things needful, in order that he may not have to stop the work later on from lack of materials, nor find that its solidity has been impaired. In the same way, the painter who wishes to produce a picture, prepares the canvas, stretches it on a frame, lays the ground on it, mixes his colours, places his brushes so that they may be ready to hand, and then at last commences to paint.

​In the same way the gardener, before he commences operations, tries to have the garden, the stocks, the grafts, and the tools in readiness, that he may not have to fetch the necessary appliances while at work, and so spoil the whole operation.

13. Deviation.—Against this principle schools are offenders firstly, because they take no care to prepare beforehand the mechanical aids such as books, maps, pictures, diagrams, etc., and to have them in readiness for general use, but at the moment that they need this or that, they make experiments, aw, dictate, copy, etc., and when this is done by an unskilled or careless teacher (and their number increases daily), the result is deplorable. It is just as if a physician, whenever he wishes to administer a medicine, had to wander through gardens and forests, and collect and distil herbs and roots, though medicaments to suit every case should be ready to his hand.

14. Secondly, because even in school-books the natural order, that the matter come first and the form follow, is not observed. Everywhere the exact opposite is to be found. The classification of objects is unnaturally made to precede a knowledge of the objects themselves, although it is impossible to classify, before the matter to be classified is there. I will demonstrate this by four examples.

15. (1) Languages are learned in schools before the sciences, since the intellect is detained for some years over the study of languages, and only then allowed to proceed to the sciences, mathematics, physics, etc. And yet things are essential, words only accidental; things are the body, words but the garment; things are the kernel, words the shells and husks. Both should therefore be presented to the intellect at the same time, but particularly the things, since they are as much objects of the understanding as are languages.

16. (2) Even in the study of languages the proper order is reversed, since the students commence, not with some author or with a skilfully-compiled phrase-book, but with the grammar; though the authors (and in their own way ​the phrase-books) present the material of speech, namely words, while the grammars, on the other hand, only give the form, that is to say, the laws of the formation, order, and combination of words.

17. (3) In the encyclopædic compilations of human knowledge, the arts are always placed first, while the sciences follow after; though the latter teach of the things themselves, the former how to manipulate the things.

18. (4) Finally: it the abstract rules that are first taught and then illustrated by dragging in a few examples; though it is plain that a light should precede him whom it lights.

19. Rectification.—It follows, therefore, that in order to effect a thorough improvement in schools it is necessary:

(i) That books and the materials necessary for teaching be held in readiness.

(ii) That the understanding be first instructed in things, and then taught to express them in language.

(iii) That no language be learned from a grammar, but from suitable authors.

(iv) That the knowledge of things precede the knowledge of their combinations.

(v) And that examples come before rules.

Third Principle

20. Nature chooses a fit subject to act upon, or first submits one to a suitable treatment in order to make it fit.

For example: a bird does not place any object in the nest in which it sits, but an object of such a kind that a chicken can be hatched from it, that is to say, an egg. If a small stone or anything else falls into the nest, it throws it out as useless. But when the process of hatching takes place, it warms the matter contained in the egg, and looks after it until the chicken makes its way out.

21. Imitation.—In the same way the builder cuts down timber, of as good quality as possible, dries it, squares it, ​and saws it into planks. Then he chooses a spot to build on, clears it, lays a new foundation, or repairs the old one so that he can make use of it.

22. In the same way, if the canvas or the surface do not suit his colours, the painter tries to make them more suitable, and, by rubbing them and polishing them, fits them for his use.

23. The gardener too (1) chooses from a fruit-bearing stock a shoot that possesses as much vitality as possible; (2) transplants it to a garden, and places it carefully in the earth; (3) does not burden it with a new graft unless he sees that it has taken root; (4) before he inserts the new graft, removes the former shoot, and even cuts a piece away round the stock in order that none of the sap may perform any function other than that of vivifying the graft.

24. Deviation.—Against this principle the schools are offenders: not because they include the weak of intellect (for in our opinion all the young should be admitted into the schools) but far more because:

(1) These tender plants are not transplanted into the garden, that is to say, are not entirely entrusted to the schools, so that none, who are to be trained as men, shall be allowed to leave the workshop before their training is complete.

(2) The attempt is generally made to engraft that noblest graft of knowledge, virtue and piety, too early, before the stock itself has taken root; that is to say, before the desire to learn has been excited in those who have no natural bent in that direction.

(3) The side-shoots or root-suckers are not removed before the grafting takes place; that is to say, the minds are not freed from all idle tendencies by being habituated to discipline and order.

25. Rectification.—It is therefore desirable:

(i) That all who enter schools persevere in their studies.

(ii) That, before any special study is introduced, the minds of the students be prepared and made receptive of it. (See the following chapter, Principle 2.)

​(iii) That all obstacles be removed out of the way of schools.

“For it is of no use to give precepts,” says Seneca, “unless the obstacles that stand in the way be removed.” But of this we will treat in the following chapter.

Fourth Principle

26. Nature is not confused in its operations, but in its forward progress advances distinctly from one point to another.

For example: if a bird is being produced, its bones, veins, and nerves are formed at separate and distinct periods; at one time its flesh becomes firm, at another it receives its covering of skin or feathers, and at another it learns how to fly, etc.

27. Imitation.—When a builder lays foundations he does not build the walls at the same time, much less does he put on the roof, but does each of these things at the proper time and in the proper place.

28. In the same way a painter does not work at twenty or thirty pictures at once, but occupies himself with one only. For, though he may from time to time put a few touches to some others or give his attention to something else, it is on one picture and one only that he concentrates his energies.

29. In the same way the gardener does not plant several shoots at once, but plants them one after the other, that he may neither confuse himself nor spoil the operation of nature.

30. Deviation.—Confusion has arisen in the schools through the endeavour to teach the scholars many things at one time. As, for example, Latin and Greek grammar, perhaps rhetoric and poetic as well, and a multitude of other subjects. For it is notorious that in the classical schools the subject-matter for reading and for composition is changed almost every hour throughout the day. If this be not confusion I should like to know what is. It is just as if a shoemaker wished to make six or seven new ​shoes at once, and took them up one by one in turn, only to lay them aside in a few minutes; or as if a baker, who wished to place various kinds of bread in his oven, were to take them out again immediately, removing one kind as he put in another. Who would commit such an act of folly? The shoemaker finishes one shoe before he begins another. The baker places no fresh bread in the oven until that already in it is thoroughly baked.

31. Rectification.—Let us imitate these people and take care not to confuse scholars who are learning grammar by teaching them dialectic, or oducing rhetoric into their studies. We should also put off the study of Greek until Latin is mastered, since it is impossible to concentrate the mind on any one thing, when it has to busy litself with several things at once.

That great man, Joseph Scaliger,²⁵ was well aware of this. It is related of him that (perhaps on the advice of his father) he never occupied himself with more than one branch of knowledge at once, and concentrated all his energies on that one. It was owing to this that he was able to master not only fourteen languages, but also all the arts and sciences that lie within the province of man. He devoted himself to these one after the other with such success that in each subject his learning excelled that of men who had given their whole lives to it. And those who have tried to follow in his footsteps and imitate his method, have done so with considerable success.

32. Schools, therefore, should be organised in such a manner that the scholar shall be occupied with only one object of study at any given time. {{dhr|0.5em{{

Fifth Principle

33. In all the operations of nature development is from within.

For example in the case of a bird it is not the claws, or the feathers, or the skin that are first formed, but the inner parts; the outer parts are formed later, at the proper season.

​34. Imitation.—In the same way the gardener does not insert his graft into the outer bark nor into the outside layer of wood, but making an incision right into the pith, places the graft as far in as it will go. In this way he makes the joint so firm that the sap cannot escape, but is forced right into the shoot, and uses all its strength in vivifying it.

35. So too, a tree, that is nourished by the rain of heaven and the moisture of the earth, assimilates its nutriment, not through its outer bark, but through the pores of its inmost parts. On this account the gardener waters, not the branches, but the roots. Animals also convey their food, not to their outer limbs, but to the stomach, which assimilates it and nourishes the whole body. If, therefore, the educator of the young give special attention to the roots of knowledge, the understanding, these will soon, impart their vitality to the stem, that is, to the memory, and finally blossoms and fruits, that is to say, a facile use of language and practical capacity will be produced.

36. Deviation.—It is on this point that those teachers fall into error who, instead of thoroughly explaining the subjects of study to the boys under their charge, give them endless dictations, and make them learn their lessons off by heart. Even those who wish to explain the subject-matter do not know how to do so, that is to say, do not know how to tend the roots or how to engraft the graft of knowledge. Thus they fatigue their pupils, and resemble a man who uses a club or a mallet, instead of a knife, when he wishes to make an incision in a plant.

37. Rectification.—It therefore follows

(i) That the scholar should be taught first to understand things, and then to remember them, and that no stress should be laid on the use of speech or pen, till after a training on the first two points.

(ii) That the teacher should know all the methods by which the understanding may be sharpened, and should put them into practice skilfully.​

Sixth Principle

38. Nature, in its formative processes, begins with the universal and ends with the particular.

For example: a bird is to be produced from an egg. It is not the head, an eye, a feather, or a claw that is first formed, but the following process takes place. The whole egg is warmed; the warmth produces movement, and this movement, brings into existence a system of veins, which mark in outline the shape of the whole bird (defining the parts that are to become the head, the wings, the feet, etc.) It is not until this outline is complete that the individual parts are brought to perfection.

39. Imitation.—The builder takes this as his model. He first makes a general plan of the building in his head, or on paper, or in wood. Then he lays the foundations, builds the walls, and lays on the roof. It is not until he has done this that he gives his attention to the small details that are necessary to complete a house, such as doors, windows, staircases, etc.; while last of all he adds ornamentation such as paintings, sculptures, and carpets.

40. An artist proceeds in the same way. He does not begin by drawing an ear, an eye, a nose, or a mouth, but first makes a charcoal sketch of the face or of the whole body. If he be satisfied that this sketch resembles the original, he paints it with light strokes of the brush, still omitting all detail. Then, finally, he puts in the light and shade, and, using a variety of colours, finishes the several parts in detail.

41. The procedure of the sculptor is the same. When he wishes to carve a statue, he takes a block of marble and shapes it roughly. Then he sets to work more carefully and outlines the most important features. Finally, he chisels the individual parts with the greatest accuracy and colours them artistically.

42. In the same way the gardener takes the most simple and universal part of a tree, namely, a shoot. ​Later on, this can put forth as many branches as it possesses buds.

43. Deviation.—From this it follows that it is a mistake to teach the several branches of science in detail before a general outline of the whole realm of knowledge has been placed before the student, and that no one should be instructed in such a way as to become proficient in any one branch of knowledge without thoroughly understanding its relation to all the rest.

44. It follows also that arts, sciences, and languages are badly taught unless a general notion of the elements be first given. I remember well that, when we began to learn dialectic, rhetoric, and metaphysics, we were, at the very beginning, overburdened with long-winded rules, with commentaries and notes on commentaries, with comparisons of authors and with knotty questions. Latin grammar was taught us with all the exceptions and irregularities; Greek grammar with all its dialects, and we, poor wretches, were so confused that we scarcely understood what it was all about.

45. Rectification.—The remedy for this want of system is as follows: at the very commencement of their studies, boys should receive instruction in the first principles of general culture, that is to say, the subjects learned should be arranged in such a manner that the studies that come later introduce nothing new, but only expand the elements of knowledge that the boy already mastered. Just as a tree, even if it live for a hundred years, puts forth no new branches, but only suffers those that already exist to develope and to spread.

(i) Each language, science, or art must be first taught in its most simple elements, that the student may obtain a general idea of it. (ii) His knowledge may next be developed further by placing rules and examples before him. (iii) Then he may be allowed to learn the subject systematically with the exceptions and irregularities; and (iv), last of all, may be given a commentary, though only where it is absolutely necessary. For he who has thoroughly mastered a subject ​from the beginning will have little need of a commentary, but will soon be in the position to write one himself.

Seventh Principle

46. Nature makes no leaps, but proceeds step by step.

The development of a chicken consists of certain gradual processes which cannot be omitted or deferred, until finally it breaks its shell and comes forth. When this takes place, the mother does not allow the young bird to fly and seek its food (indeed it is unable to so), but she feeds it herself, and by keeping it warm with her body promotes the growth of its feathers. When the chick’s feathers have grown she does not thrust it forth from the nest immediately and make it fly, but teaches it first to move its wings in the nest itself or perching on its edge, then to try to fly outside the nest, though quite near it, by fluttering from branch to branch, then to fly from tree to tree, and later on from hill to hill, till finally it gains sufficient confidence to fly right out in the open. It is easy to see how necessary it is that each of these processes should take place at the right time; that not only the time should be suitable but that the processes should be graduated; and that there should be not graduation merely, but an immutable graduation.

47. Imitation.—The builder proceeds in the same manner. He does not begin with the gables or with the walls, but with foundations. When the foundations are laid he does not go on with the roof, but builds the walls. In a word, the order in which the several stages are combined depends on the relation that they mutually bear to one another.

48. The gardener likewise has to adopt the principle of graduation. The wild-stock must be found, dug up, transplanted, pruned, and cut; the graft must be inserted and the joint made firm, etc., and none of these processes can be omitted or taken in a different order. But, if these processes are carried out properly and in the right order, ​it is scarcely possible, in fact it is impossible, for the result to be unsuccessful.

49. Deviation.—It is an evident absurdity, therefore, if teachers, for their own sake and that of their pupils, do not graduate the subjects which they teach in such a way that, not only one stage may lead on directly to the next, but also that each shall be completed in a given space of time. For unless goals are set up, means provided for reaching them, and a proper system devised for the use of those means, it is easy for something to be omitted or perverted, and failure is the result.

50. Rectification.—It follows therefore (i) That all studies should be carefully graduated throughout the various classes, in such a way that those that come first may prepare the way for and throw light on those that come after.

(ii) That the time should be carefully divided, so that each year, each month, each day, and each hour may have its appointed task.

(iii) That the division of the time and of the subjects of study should be rigidly adhered to, that nothing may be omitted or perverted.

Eighth Principle

51. If nature commence anything, it does not leave off until the operation is completed.

If a bird, urged by the impulse of nature, begin to sit on eggs, she does not leave off until she has hatched out the chickens. If she sat on them for a few hours only, the embryo in the egg would become cold and die. Even when the chickens are hatched she does not cease to keep them warm, but continues to do so until they have grown strong, are covered with feathers, and can endure the cold air.

52. Imitation.—The painter also, who has begun a picture, will produce his work best if he finish it without any interruption. For in this case the colours blend better and hold faster.

​53. For this reason it is best to finish the erection of a building without any interruption; otherwise the sun, the wind, and the rain spoil the work, the later additions will not be so firm, and on every side there will be cracks, weak spots, and loose joints.

54. The gardener too acts with wisdom, for when once he has begun to work at a graft he does not cease until the operation is completed. Since, if the sap dry in the stock or in the graft, owing to a delay in completing the process, the plant is ruined.

55. Deviation.—It is therefore injurious if boys are sent to school for months or years continuously, but are then withdrawn for considerable periods and employed otherwise; equally so if the teacher commence now one subject, now another, and finish nothing satisfactorily; and lastly, it is equally fatal if he do not fix a certain task for each hour, and complete it, so that in each period his pupil can make an unmistakable advance towards the desired goal. Where such a fire is wanting, everything grows cold. Not without reason does the proverb say “Strike while the iron is hot.”

For if it be allowed to cool it is useless to hammer it, but it must once more be placed in the fire, and thus much time and iron are wasted. Since every time that it is heated, it loses some of its mass.

56. Rectification.—It follows therefore

(i) That he who is sent to school must be kept there until he becomes well informed, virtuous, and pious.

(ii) That the school must be situated in a quiet spot, far from noise and distractions.

(iii) That whatever has to be done, in accordance with the scheme of study, must be done without any shirking.

(iv) That no boys, under any pretext whatever, should be allowed to stay away or to play truant.​

Ninth Principle

57. Nature carefully avoids obstacles and things likely to cause hurt.

For example, when a bird is hatching eggs it does not allow a cold wind, much less rain or hail, to reach them. It also drives away snakes, birds of prey, etc.

58. Imitation.—In the same way the builder, so far as is possible, keeps dry his wood, bricks, and lime, and does not allow what he has built to be destroyed or to fall down.

59. So, too, the painter protects a newly-painted picture from wind, from violent heat, and from dust, and allows no hand but his own to touch it.

60. The gardener also protects a young plant by a railing or by hurdles, that hares or goats may not gnaw it or root it up.

61. Deviation.—It is therefore folly to introduce a student to controversial points when he is just beginning a subject, that is to say, to allow a mind that is mastering something new to assume an attitude of doubt. What is this but to tear up a plant that is just beginning to strike root? (Rightly does Hugo say: “He who starts by investigating doubtful points will never enter into the temple of wisdom.”) But this is exactly what takes place if the young are not protected from incorrect, intricate, and badly written books as well as from evil companions.

62. Rectification.—Care should therefore be taken

(i) That the scholars receive no books but those suitable for their classes.

(ii) That these books be of such a kind that they can rightly be termed sources of wisdom, virtue, and piety.

(iii) That neither in the school nor in its vicinity the scholars be allowed to.mix with bad companions.

63. If all these recommendations are observed, it is scarcely possible that schools should fail to attain their object.

CHAPTER XV

THE BASIS OF THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE

1. Aristotle, as well as Hippocrates, has complained of the shortness of human life, and accuses nature of granting a long term of years to stags, ravens, and other animals, while she hems in by narrow boundaries the lives of men born to great responsibility. Seneca, however, opposes this view, and wisely says: “The life that we receive is not short, unless we make it so. We suffer from no lack of years, but carouse away those that are granted us. Life is long, if we do but know how to use it.” And again: “Our lives are sufficiently long, and, if we order them well, allow us to bring the greatest undertakings to completion” (De Brevitate Vita, cc. i. and ii.)

2. If this be correct, and indeed it is very true, it is grossly culpable on our parts if our lives do not prove sufficiently long to bring great undertakings to completion, since the reason is that we waste our lives, partly by taking no care of them, so that they do not reach the natural limit, and partly by frittering them away on worthless objects.

3. A trustworthy authority (Hippolytus Guarino)²³ asserts, and gives good reasons for his assertion, that a man of the most delicate constitution, if he come into the world without any deformity, possesses enough vitality to carry him on to his sixtieth year; while a very strong man should attain to his hundredth year. If any die before this ​age (it is, of course, well known that most men die as children, as youths, or in middle age), they are themselves to blame, since, by excesses, or by neglect of the natural demands of life, they have undermined their own health and that of their children, and have hastened their death.

4. The examples of men who, before middle age, have reached a point to which others could not attain in the course of a long life, prove that a short lifetime (i.e. one of fifty, forty, or thirty years) is sufficient to realise the highest aims, if only it be properly used. Alexander the Great died when he was thirty-three years old, and he was not only a master of all the sciences, but also conqueror of the world, which he had subdued less by sheer force than by the wisdom of his plans, and the rapidity with which he put them into execution. Giovanni Pico Mirandola,²⁴ who was even younger than Alexander when he died, attained by his philosophical studies such proficiency in all the departments of human knowledge, that he was considered the marvel of his age.

5. To take one more example, Jesus Christ, our Lord, remained only thirty-four years on earth, and in that time completed the task of Redemption. This He undoubtedly did to prove (for with Him every event has a mystic meaning) that whatever length of life a man may enjoy, it is sufficient to serve him as a preparation for eternity.

6. I cannot leave this question without quoting a golden saying of Seneca (out of his ninety-fourth letter): “I have,” he says, “found many men who are just in their dealings with men, but few who are just in their dealings with God. We daily lament our fate; but what does it matter how soon we quit this world, since we must certainly quit it one day or other? Life is long if it be full, and it becomes full if the spirit exert its power on itself; if it learn the secret of self-control.” And again: “I entreat of you, my Lucilius! let us strive that our lives, like earthly jewels, may be, not of great bulk, but of great weight”; and a little farther on: “Let us, therefore, deem that man one of the blest, who has used well the time allotted to him, no matter how ​short it may have been. For he has seen the true light. He has not been one of the common herd; but has lived a full life, and has come to maturity.” And again: “As a perfect man can exist in a small body, so can a perfect life be found in a short term of years. The duration of life is a purely accidental circumstance. Do you ask which is the path of life that reaches farthest? It is the path that leads to wisdom. He who attains wisdom, has reached not only the farthest, but also the highest goal.”

7. Against this shortness of life, which is complained of, there are two remedies for us and for our children (and therefore for schools also). We must take all possible precautions that—

(i) Our bodies may be protected from disease and from death.

(ii) Our minds may be placed in such an environment that they can attain all knowledge.

8. The body must be protected from disease and from accidents, firstly, because it is the dwelling-place of the soul, which must leave this world as soon as ever the body is destroyed. If it fall into bad repair, and suffer damage in any of its parts, the soul, its guest, will have an inhospitable abode. Therefore, if we wish to dwell as long as possible in the palace of this world, into which we have been brought by God’s grace, we must take wise forethought for the fabric of our bodies.

Secondly, this same body is not only intended to be the dwelling-place of the reasoning soul, but also to be its instrument, without which it could hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing, conduct no business, and could not even think. And since nothing exists in the mind that has not previously existed in the senses, the intellect takes the material of all its thoughts from the senses, and performs the operations of thought in a manner that may be termed “inner sensation,” that is to say, by acting on the images of things that are brought before it. It follows, therefore, that, if the brain receive an injury, the imagination will be impaired, and that if an impression be made ​on the body, an impression will be made on the soul also. We may therefore unhesitatingly say that all should pray that they may have a sound mind in a sound body.

9. Our bodies are preserved in health and strength by a regular and moderate life, and on this we will make a few remarks from the medical point of view, taking a tree as illustration. In order to maintain its freshness, a tree needs three things: (1) a continuous supply of moisture; (2) copious transpiration; (3) an alternating period of rest and activity.

Moisture is necessary, because the tree would wither and dry up without it, but it must not be supplied in too great a quantity, as, if it be, it causes the roots to rot away. In the same way the body needs nourishment, because it wastes away from hunger and thirst without it; but it should not obtain a supply so large that the stomach is unable to digest it. The greater the moderation with which men partake of food, the easier they find its digestion.

The generality of men pay but little attention to this law, and by taking too much food diminish their strength and shorten their lives. For death is caused by disease, disease by unwholesome juices, and these, in turn, by insufficient digestion. Insufficient digestion arises from over-nutrition, and takes place when the stomach is so full that it cannot digest, and is compelled to supply the various members of the body with semi-digested juices, and in this case it is impossible that diseases should not arise. As the son of Sirach says: “By surfeiting have many perished, but he that taketh heed prolongeth his life” (Ecclesiasticus xxxvii. 31).

10. In order that good health may be preserved, it is necessary that nourishment be not only moderate in quantity, but also simple in quality. When a tree is young and tender, the gardener does not water it with wine or with milk, but with the liquid that suits trees, namely water. Parents should therefore take care not to spoil their boys, particularly those who study, or ought to study, ​by giving them dainties. Are we not told that Daniel and his companions, the youths of noble birth who had to apply themselves to the pursuit of wisdom, lived on a diet of pulse and water, and that they were found to be more capable and more active, and, what is of greater value, more intelligent, than all the other youths who ate of the king’s meat? (Daniel i. 12 sqq.) But of these particulars we will speak in another place.

11. A tree must also transpire, and needs to be copiously refreshed by wind, rain, and frost; otherwise it easily falls into bad condition, and becomes barren. In the same way the human body needs movement, excitement, and exercise, and in daily life these must be supplied, either artificially or naturally.

12. Finally, a tree needs rest at stated periods, that it may not have to put forth branches, blossoms, and fruit perpetually, but may have some time to fulfil its inner functions, to develope sap, and in this way to strengthen itself. It was for this reason that God ordained that winter should follow summer, namely, to guarantee rest to all things that live on the earth, and even to the earth itself, since he commanded that the fields should lie fallow every seventh year (Lev. xxv.) In the same way He has ordained the night for man, and for other animals, in order that, by sleep and by resting their limbs, they may once more gather together the strength which the exertions of the day have dissipated. Even the smaller periods, such as the hours, are devised with a view to giving the body and the mind some relaxation; otherwise a strained and unnatural condition would set in. It is, therefore, useful to intersperse the labours of the day with recreation, amusements, games, merriment, music, and such-like diversions, and thus to refresh the inner and the outer senses.

13. He who observes these three principles (that is to say, eats moderately, exercises his body, and uses the relaxations supplied by nature) cannot fail to preserve his life and his health as long as possible. We naturally leave ​out of consideration accidents that depend on a dispensation higher than ours.

We see then that a large portion of the good organisation of schools consists of the proper division of work and of rest, and depends on the disposition of studies, intervals to relieve the strain, and recreation.

14. This can be attained by the skilful disposition of the time devoted to study. Thirty years seem insignificant, and are easily dismissed from the tongue. But these years include many months, more days, and countless hours.

In a single period of such duration much progress can be made, no matter how slow the process of advancement may be, provided it be continuous. We can see this in the growth of plants. It is impossible for the sharpest sight to perceive the process, since it takes place too gradually; but every month some increase is visible, and at the end of thirty years every one can see that the sapling has turned into a large and shady tree. The same holds good in the growth of our bodies. We do not see them growing, but only perceive that they have grown. So, too, with the acquisition of knowledge by the mind, as we learn from the well-known Latin couplet:

To a little add a little, and to that little yet a little more,
And in a short time you will pile up a large heap.

15. He who realises the natural strength of progress will easily understand this. From each bud a tree puts forth but one shoot yearly; but in thirty years the same tree will possess thousands of shoots, large and small, and leaves, blossoms, and fruit without number. Why then should it seem impossible to bring the activity of a man to any degree of intensity or fulness, and this in twenty or thirty years? Let us examine the matter more losely.

16. There are twenty-four hours in a day, and if, for the daily uses of life, we divide these into three parts, setting aside eight hours for sleep, and the same number for the external needs of the body (such as care of the health, meals, dressing and undressing, agreeable recrea​tion, friendly converse, etc.), we have eight hours left for the serious work of life. We shall therefore have forty-eight working hours a week (setting aside the seventh day for rest). In one year this will amount to 2945 hours, and in ten, twenty, or thirty years to an immense number.

17. If, in each hour, a man could learn a single fragment of some branch of knowledge, a single rule of some mechanical art, a single pleasing story or proverb (the acquisition of which would require no effort), what a vast stock of learning he might lay by?

18. Seneca is therefore right when he says: “Life is long, if we know how to use it; it suffices for the completion of the greatest undertakings, if it be properly employed.” It is consequently of importance that we understand the art of making the very best use of our lives, and to this point we will now direct our investigation.

CHAPTER XIV

THE EXACT ORDER OF INSTRUCTION MUST BE BORROWED FROM NATURE, AND MUST BE OF SUCH A KIND THAT NO OBSTACLE CAN HINDER IT.

1. Let us then commence to seek out, in God’s name, the principles on which, as on an immovable rock, the method of teaching and of learning can be grounded. If we wish to find a remedy for the defects of nature, it is in nature herself that we must look for it, since it is certain that art can do nothing unless it imitate nature.

2. A few examples will make this clear. We see a fish swimming in the water; it is its natural mode of progression. If a man wish to imitate it, it is necessary for him to use in a similar manner the limbs that are at his disposal; instead of fins he must employ his arms, and instead of a tail, his feet, moving them as a fish moves its fins. Even ships are constructed on this plan; in the place of fins they must employ oars or sails, and in the place of a tail, the rudder. We see a bird flying through the air; it is its natural mode of progression. When Daedalus wished to imitate it, he had to take wings (large enough to carry such a heavy body) and set them in motion.

3. The organ of sound production in animals is a pipe consisting of muscular rings, provided at the top with the thyroid cartilage, as with a lid, and at the bottom with the lungs, as with a wind-bag.

​On this model flutes, whistles, and other wind instruments are made.

4. It has been discovered that the substance that causes thunder in the clouds, and hurls down fire and stones, is saltpetre ignited in combination with sulphur. In imitation of this, gunpowder is now made out of sulphur and saltpetre. When this is ignited and fired from cannon, a mimic storm, with thunder and lightning, is produced.

5. It has been found that water always tends to preserve a level surface, even in vessels that communicate but are at some distance from one another. The experiment has been made of conducting water through pipes, and it has been found that it will rise from any depth to any height, provided that it originally fall from that height. This is an artificial arrangement, but it is also natural; for the exact mode in which the action takes place is artificial, but the law on which the action depends is natural.

6. The vault of heaven, on observation, has been found to revolve continuously, thus, by the various revolutions of the planets, producing the changes of the seasons which are so pleasant. In imitation of this an instrument has been devised, representing the daily revolution of the vault of heaven. It is composed of wheels arranged so that not only can one be driven by the other, but that all can be put into continuous motion. Now it was necessary to construct this instrument out of movable and immovable parts, as the universe itself is constructed, and consequently we find a solid pedestal, pillars, and circular rings, corresponding to the earth, the immovable element in the universe, while in place of the movable orbits in the heaven we have the various wheels. But because it was impossible to command any one wheel to turn round and to carry others with them (as the Creator gave the heavenly lights the power to move themselves, and others with them), the motive power has to be borrowed from nature, and a weight or a spring is used. ​Either a weight is hung from the axle of the principal wheel, and by its tension causes the axle, the wheel to which it belongs, and the other wheels to turn; or a long strip of steel is forcibly bound round the axle, and by its endeavours to get free and straighten itself, makes the axle and the wheel turn round. In order that the rotation may not be too fast, but slow like that of the vault of heaven, other wheels are added, of which the last, driven by two teeth only, makes a clicking noise and is analogous to the change between the coming and the going light, or to that between day and night. In addition to that part of the mechanism which gives the signal for the hours and the quarters, skilfully-devised triggers are added, which set it in motion at the right time, and then stop it again, just as nature, by the movement of the vault of heaven, allows winter, spring, summer, and autumn to come and to depart again at the right moment.

7. It is now quite clear that that order, which is the dominating principle in the art of teaching all things to all men, should be, and can be, borrowed from no other source but the operations of nature. As soon as this principle is thoroughly secured, the processes of art will proceed as easily and as spontaneously as those of nature. Very aptly does Cicero say: “If we take nature as our guide, she will never lead us astray,” and also: “Under the guidance of nature it is impossible to go astray.” This is our belief, and our advice is to watch the operations of nature carefully and to imitate them.

8. But some one may laugh at our expectations and may cast in our teeth the saying of Hippocrates: “Life is short, and art is long; opportunities are fleeting, experience is deceptive, and judgment is difficult.” Here are five obstacles, the reasons why so few scale the heights of wisdom:—

(i) The shortness of life; through which so many are snatched away in youth before their preparations for life are finished. (ii) The perplexing crowd of objects which ​the mind has to grasp, and which makes the endeavour to include all things within the limits of our knowledge, very weary work. (iii) The lack of opportunities to acquire the arts, or their rapid departure when they occur (for the years of youth, which are the most suitable for mental culture, are spent in playing, and the succeeding years, in the present condition of mankind, bring far more opportunities for worthless than for serious matters); or if a suitable opportunity present itself, it vanishes before we can grasp it. (iv) The weakness of our intellects and the lack of sound judgment. The result of this is that we get no farther than the outside shell, and never attain to the kernel. (v) Finally, the circumstance that, if any wish to grasp the true nature of things by patient observation and experiments repeated as often as possible, the process is too wearisome, and is at the same time deceptive and uncertain (for instance, in such accurate observations the most careful observer may make an error, and as soon as one error creeps in, the whole observation becomes worthless).

9. If all this be true, how can we dare hope for a universal, sure, easy, and thorough road to learning? I answer: Experience teaches us that this is true, but the same experience teaches us also that the proper remedies can be found. These things have been ordained thus by God, the all-wise arranger of the universe, and are for our good. He has given us a short spa of life because, in our present state of corruption, we should be unable to employ a longer one profitably. For if we, who are born and die, and with whom the end of life is but a few years distant from the beginning, give ourselves up to folly: what would we not do if we had hundreds or thousands of years before us? God, therefore, has only wished to grant as much time as He deemed sufficient preparation for a better life. For this purpose life is long enough, if only we know how to use it.

10. The diversity of objects has been equally ordained by God for our advantage, that there might be no ​lack of material to occupy, exercise, and educate our minds.

11. God permits opportunities to be fleeting, and only to be grasped by the fore-lock, that we may learn to seize them the very instant they present themselves.

12. Experience is deceptive in order that our attention may be excited, and that we may feel the necessity of penetrating to the essential nature of things.

13. Finally, judgment is difficult, in order that we may be urged on to eagerness and to continual effort, and that the hidden wisdom of God, which permeates all things, may, to our great satisfaction, become ever more apparent. “If everything could be easily understood,” says St. Augustine, “men would neither seek wisdom with keenness, nor find it with exultation.”

14. We must therefore see in what way those obstacles which God’s foresight has placed in our paths to make us keener and more energetic may, with God’s aid, be set aside. This can only be attained—

(i) By lengthening our lives, that they may be sufficiently long for the scheme proposed.

(ii) By curtailing the subjects taught, that they may be proportionate to the duration of life.

(iv) By seizing opportunities, and not letting them slip away unused.

(iv) By unlocking the intellect, that it may grasp things with ease.

(v) By laying a foundation that is not to be shaken, and that will not deceive us, in the place of a tottering fabric of superficial observation.

15. We will therefore proceed, taking nature as our guide, to seek out the principles:—

(i) Of prolonging life.

(ii) Of curtailing the subjects, that knowledge may be acquired faster.

(iii) Of seizing opportunities, that knowledge may be acquired without fail.

​(iv) Of unlocking the intellect, that knowledge may be easily acquired.

(v) Of sharpening the judgment, that knowledge may be thoroughly acquired.

To each of these points we shall devote a chapter. The question of curtailing the subjects of instruction will be treated of last.

CHAPTER XIII

THE BASIS OF SCHOOL REFORM MUST BE EXACT ORDER IN ALL THINGS

1. We find on investigation that the principle which really holds together the fabric of this world of ours, down to its smallest detail, is none other than order; that is to say, the proper division of what comes before and what comes after, of the superior and the subordinate, of the large and the small, of the similar and dissimilar, according to place, time, number, size, and weight, so that each may fulfil its function well. Order, therefore, has been called the soul of affairs. For everything that is well ordered preserves its position and its strength as long as it maintains its order; it is when it ceases to do so that it grows weak, totters, and falls. This may be seen clearly in instances taken from nature and from art.

2. Through what agency, I ask, does the world maintain its present condition ? what is it that gives it its great stability? It is this, that each creature, obeying the command of nature, restrains its action within the proper limits; and thus, by careful observation of order in small details, the order of the universe is maintained.

3. Through what agency is the flux of time divided so accurately and so continuously into years, months, and days? Through none but the inflexible order of the vault of heaven.

4. What enables bees, ants, and spiders to do work of ​such fineness that the mind of man finds it easier to marvel at than to imitate it? Nothing but their natural talent for harmoniously combining order, number, and mass in their constructions.

5. What is it that constitutes the human body such a marvellous instrument that it can perform almost countless functions, even though it have very few resources at its disposal? I mean, that with the few limbs it possesses, it can produce works whose complexity is so wondrous that nothing remains to be desired? It is without question the harmonious disposition of the limbs, and of their constituent parts, that brings this about.

6. What is it that makes it possible for a single mind to rule the whole body in which it dwells, and to direct so many operations at the same time? Nothing but the harmonious order in which the limbs are connected, and which enables them to obey the slightest hint given by the mind, and to set themselves in motion immediately.

7. How is it that a single man, a king or an emperor, can rule whole nations; that, although there are as many wills as there are individuals, all subordinate themselves to the service of that one man, and that, if his affairs go well, the affairs of each subject also must prosper? Again it is order that brings this about. Through its agency all are held together by the connecting bands of law and of obedience, so that some subjects are directly subordinate to and in immediate contact with the supreme ruler, while others in their turn are subordinate to these, and so on down to the meanest serf. The arrangement thus resembles a chain in which each link is intimately connected so that if the first be moved or remain at rest all the others will follow suit.

8. How was it that Hiero, unaided, could move a weight which hundreds of men had in vain tried to stir? Assuredly it was by means of a cleverly-devised machine, in which the cylinders, wheels, and other parts were arranged in such a way that when one worked on the other the force applied was much increased.

​9. The terrible operations of artillery, by which walls are broken down, towers are shattered, and armies are laid low, depend on nothing but the proper arrangement of materials, so that the active is placed in close connection with the passive element; that is to say, on the proper mixing of saltpetre with sulphur (the coldest substance with the hottest), on the proper construction of the cannon, on its being skilfully loaded with powder and missiles, and, lastly, on its being correctly pointed at the objects to be hit. If one of these conditions be not properly fulfilled, the whole apparatus is useless.

10. How is it that the processes of printing, by which books can be multiplied quickly, neatly, and correctly, are properly carried out? Assuredly by means of order. The type must be cut, moulded, and polished, placed suitably in the type-boxes, and then arranged in the right order, while the paper must be prepared, damped, stretched, and placed under the press.

11. To take another example of mechanism. How is it that a carriage, a construction of wood and iron, can be so easily drawn by the horses that are fastened to it, and can be of such use for the conveyance of men and burdens? This is brought about by nothing but the skilful arrangement of wood and of iron in the wheels, the axle-trees, and the shafts. If one of these parts give way, the whole construction is useless.

12. How is it that men can trust themselves to the stormy sea in a construction made of a few pieces of wood? How is it that they make their way to the antipodes and return safe and sound? It is nothing but the proper combination of keel, mast, rudder, compass, etc., in the ship that enables them to do so. If any one of these fail in its action, they are in great danger of shipwreck or of foundering.

13. Finally, how is it that the machine for measuring time, the clock, which is nothing but a well-arranged and well-devised disposition of iron parts, moves harmoniously and evenly, and marks off minutes, hours, days, months, ​and sometimes years? and this not only for the eyes but for the ears as well, that it may give some sign at night and to those at a distance? How is it that such an instrument can wake a man out of sleep at a given hour, and can strike a light to enable him to see? How is it that it can indicate the quarters of the moon, the positions of the planets, and the eclipses? Is it not a truly marvellous thing that a machine, a soulless thing, can move in such a life-like, continuous, and regular manner? Before clocks were invented would not the existence of such things have seemed as impossible as that trees could walk or stones speak? Yet every one can see that they exist now.

14. What is the hidden power that brings this to pass? Nothing but the all-ruling force of order; that is to say, the force derived from arranging all the parts concerned according to their number, size, and importance, and in such a manner that each one shall perform its own proper function as well as work harmoniously with and assist the other parts whose action is necessary to produce the desired result; that is to say, the size of each part must be carefully regulated to suit that of the rest; each part must fit properly into those which surround it; and the general laws that regulate the equal distribution of force to the several parts must be observed. In such a case all the processes are more exact than in a living body controlled by one mind. But if any part get out of position, crack, break, become loose or bent, though it be the smallest wheel, the most insignificant axle, or the tiniest screw, the whole machine stops still or at least goes wrong, and thus shows us plainly that everything depends on the harmonious working of the parts.

15. The art of teaching, therefore, demands nothing more than the skilful arrangement of time, of the subjects taught, and of the method. As soon as we have succeeded in finding the proper method it will be no harder to teach school-boys, in any number desired, than with the help of the printing-press to cover a thousand sheets daily with ​the neatest writing, or with Archimedes’ machine to move houses, towers, and immense weights, or to cross the ocean in a ship, and journey to the New World. The whole process, too, will be as free from friction as is the movement of a clock whose motive power is supplied by the weights. It will be as pleasant to see education carried out on my plan as to look at an automatic machine of this kind, and the process will be as free from failure as are these mechanical contrivances, when skilfully made.

16. Let us therefore endeavour, in the name of the Almighty, to organise schools in such a way that in these points they may bear the greatest resemblance to a clock which is put together with the greatest skill, and is cunningly chased with the most delicate tools.