EDUCATION, AS IT IS AND AS IT SHOULD BE. 67 



This leads us to the manner of the education, which we shall con- 

 sider before we enter on the matter. Pestalozzi has some judicious 

 remarks on this point. For instance : " If a mother is desirous of 

 taking an active part in the intellectual education of her children, I 

 would first direct her attention to the necessity of considering, not 

 only what sort of knowledge, but in what manner that knowledge 

 should be communicated to the mind. For her purpose the latter 

 consideration is even more essential than the former ; for however 

 excellent the information may be which she wishes to impart, it will 

 depend upon the mode of her doing it whether it will at all gain ac- 

 cess to the mind, or whether it will remain unprofitable, neither suit- 

 ing the faculties nor being apt to excite the interest of the child," — 

 This is sound doctrine ; more so than that of Mr. Owen, who exact- 

 ly reverses the relative importance of manner and matter. Yet here, 

 at the very outset, we find that the self-called PestaloZzians desert 

 their master ; for not a thought do they expend on the manner : 

 they only consider what language or science, and what grammar or 

 compendium the pupils shall use. 



The most interesting subject in the world may be rendered dull, 

 tedious, and tiresome, by the manner in which it is communicated. 

 " There is," says Pestalozzi, " a remarkable reciprocal action between 

 the interest which the teacher takes and that which he communicates 

 to his pupils. If he is not with his whole mind present at the sub- 

 ject, if he does not care whether it is understood or not, whether his 

 manner is liked or not, he tuill never fail of alienating the affec- 

 tions of his pupils, and of rendering them indifferent to what he 

 says. But real interest taken in the task of instruction, kind words 

 and kinder feelings, the very expression of the features, and the 

 glance of the eye, are never lost upon children." These passages 

 shew Pestalozzi to have been well-versed in the philosophy of human 

 nature. To what extent Pestalozzi was acquainted with Phrenology 

 I am not aware ; he was born only ten years before Gall, and proba- 

 bly knew something of the greatest discovery ever made ; but, how-- 

 ever that may have been, he must certainly have possessed an orga- 

 nization well-calculated to acquire name and fame in the path which 

 he had marked out for himself. 



When many pupils have been educated together, and one or two 

 do not keep pace with the rest, it is frequently said to be a most won- 

 derful circumstance that, although all the pupils have received exactly 

 the same treatment, two or three should be behind the others. Now 

 if all the pupils have, as is boasted, received the same treatment, this, 



