952 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



assumes, the period of emergence from childhood, and the right 

 place is not at the very beginning of the educational course. By- 

 giving them the false position which they at present occupy, we 

 seem to me to accomplish three evils at the same time. First, we 

 fail to secure anything like such a degree of attainment in the 

 classics themselves, as the labor bestowed upon them ought to 

 produce ; secondly, we prevent the learner from acquiring much 

 substantially useful knowledge, for which no opportunity so fitting 

 will ao'ain occur ; and thirdly— which is most important of all — 

 we display a singular disregard of the plain indications of nature, 

 who herself points out the order iu which the faculties should be 

 drawn out into action. 



Curiosity is the most marked mental characteristic of childhood. 

 This trait manifests itself in the thousand questions with which the 

 child assails and often annoys all those who surround him. It 

 manifests itself in the exuberant and enthusiastic delight with 

 which he overflows at the sight of everything new. It manifests 

 itself iu the eagerness with which he lays hold of and scrutinizes 

 every object within his reach which he does not understand. It 

 manifests itself in the interest with which he traces the simplest 

 effects to their immediate causes. It manifests itself in his lively 

 sensibility to all 'the impressions of sense. It manifests itself in 

 the activity of his observation of all the minute particulars of every 

 new scene. 



All these things serve to show how remarkably at this period of 

 life the perceptive faculties are in advance of the others in the 

 order of development. They furnish proof, if proof weie needed, 

 of Y/hat is nature's educational plan. And as it is sometimes per- 

 mitted us to discover the wisdom of the order which the Supreme 

 Creator has established to govern the works of his hands, so here 

 we perceive of how inappreciable importance to the welfare of the 

 race is the fact that the predominant characteristic of the infant 

 mind is the instinctive desire to know, and how favorable to the 

 rapid muKiplication of ideas is the restless activity of the percep- 

 tive powers which accompanies this desire. For the child comes 

 into the world totally ignorant. Even the simplest facts which it 

 concerns his immediate personal safety to know, are to be acquired 

 by him by observation and experience. That fire is hot and that 

 ice is cold, that the moon is more distant than the candle, and that 

 the candle is more agreeable to look at than to touch : these are 

 rudimentaiy truths which it is useless to tell him — he must learn 



