324 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of progress in the arts of speaking and writing. The duty of the 

 professor is wisely to stimulate and direct these admirable instincts of 

 his pupils. 



In order, then, to conform to the rules of Nature, we should com- 

 mence the study of a foreign language by reading and listening, which 

 enriches the mind with ideas and knowledge, and at the same time 

 puts it in possession of the corresponding phraseology. At the Lyceum 

 this plan is reversed. Without regarding this innate desire to know, 

 to gather ideas, we occupy the young with words by prematurely di- 

 recting their attention to the arts of speaking and writing. The mind 

 is not nourished, it is hindered, and in its turn it refuses that which is 

 imposed upon it; or it is enfeebled under an irksome and unproductive 

 labor. If so many young people ai*e indolent and unwilling to study, 

 it is because they are weighed down with lessons and duties repug- 

 nant to them : we distort Nature, and do violence to their instincts. 



The art of reading a foreign language should be the first in the 

 order of study, as it is the basis on which acquisition of the other three 

 reposes. Besides being easier, more accessible, and attainable without 

 a master, it surpasses them all in the number and importance of the 

 advantages it presents. We derive the greatest benefit from it in the 

 ordinary circumstances of life. We can practise it in all times and 

 places, at home or abroad, whether for profit or pleasure, and so never 

 forget it. It furnishes the means of studying the phraseology and 

 deducing the laws of language, and only by means of it are we made 

 acquainted with the doings of other nations. 



The art of listening is the second in importance ; it is the best part 

 of conversation. Like reading, it satisfies the instinctive love of knowl- 

 edge. If we perfectly understand what is said to us, a few words, a 

 monosyllable, suffices to sustain conversation. This art demands a 

 special exercise all the more, as listening is the true and only means of 

 acquiring pronunciation. The vocal power is entirely under the gov- 

 ernment of the ear. At the Lyceum, not an hour is given to this ex- 

 ercise in all the course of study. How few persons, after four or five 

 years of English in class, can understand Englishmen when speaking 

 their language, and how few can pronounce English correctly ! 



In the vernacular, we pass from hearing to reading. It is spoken 

 language, the first manifestation of our thought, which gives us the 

 key to written language. In the same way, but in an inverse order, 

 those who learn a language in books should often hear the written 

 text, to familiarize themselves with the pronunciation and to recognize 

 the written words in the spoken words. Their progress in under- 

 standing the spoken language will be much more rapid, if they com- 

 prehend the written language without translating it. 



Reading is direct or indirect. In direct reading, the written ex- 

 pression recalls the thought, as in reading our mother-tongue. In 

 indirect reading we arrive at the idea by the aid of the mother-tongue, 



