480 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to the young. The university system, which involves an enormous 

 expense of time and money, is no longer in harmony with our civiliza- 

 tion. It disregards the diversity of talents, the specialty of individu- 

 als, and casts all minds in the same mould. It conforms neither to 

 the laws of Nature nor the needs of modern society ; it calls in play 

 neither spontaneity, nor curiosity, nor imitation ; it surcharges the 

 memory to the prejudice of the judgment, and aims at verbal acqui- 

 sition rather than mental culture. 



It does not embrace any of the great classics. It reverses the 

 order of reason in passing from words to phrases, from theory to prac- 

 tice, from the art of writing to the art of speaking. Finally, it sac- 

 rifices the great majority of students to a few privileged ones, and all 

 are too much occupied in things of the past to the exclusion of that 

 knowledge which the progress of civilization has made indispensable. 



It is to be wished that the Minister of Public Instruction may, in 

 the interest of our country and society at large, honor with his atten- 

 tion the preceding observations, and use his powerful influence in favor 

 of the substitution of reason for sterile routine in our schools ! To 

 appeal to the past, as is done at the university to justify its proceed- 

 ings, is to hold intelligence in tutelage, and to condemn France to im- 

 mobility. The world, in growing old, adds to the experience of man. 

 Enlightened as we are by what we have received from our fathers, we 

 commence life in the most favorable conditions. We ought to know 

 more than they, and be more able to distinguish truth from error. Let 

 us go forward with our century. It is time to leave the rut of tradition. 



Let the fathers of families unite in appealing to the minister not to 

 permit our lyceums to perpetuate a system of teaching that favors the 

 ignorance of the people as a means of government. But let him take 

 in hand the great work of the regeneration of linguistic study. We 

 must apply to mind, as to matter, new powers and new processes. 

 France will awake to intellectual life, and rise to a level with the most 

 enlightened nations, only when its university teaching is completely 

 conformed to the laws of Nature and the demands of reason. 



PARALLEL. 



BY THE RATIONAL METHOD. 



1. We follow step by step the indica- 

 tions of Nature. 



2. Curiosity and imitation are the source 

 of progress. 



3. We go straight to the object by ex- 

 ample and practice. 



4. Grammar becomes the consequence 

 of language. 



5. We understand the foreign text be- 

 fore we translate it. 



6. The art of writing is the last in the 

 order of study. 



BY THE METHOD OF ROUTINE. 



1. We follow in nothing the precepts 

 of Nature. 



2. We are not aided by these two pow- 

 erful instincts. 



3. We start from rules and preparatory 

 studies. 



4. Language is made the consequence 

 of grammar. 



5. We translate the foreign language 

 before we understand it. 



6. The art of writing is the first in which 

 the pupil is exercised. 



