It begins with the training of the senses. Its 

 foundations are laid in the accumulated stores of 

 perceptions which are made through the higher 

 senses. It then combines these perceptions, in 

 order to obtain greater unities. And finally, 

 it surveys these groups, and tries to find bonds 

 of unity between them. These three stages 

 deserve particular notice. At the first, the child 

 simply observes. At the second, the boy is en- 

 gaged in uniting his various observations under 

 common terms, so that he can remember and 

 know them without remembering every one of the 

 instances. And finally, the young man takes a 

 survey of all that he has gained, at the same time 

 extending his knowledge. This is the stage of 

 system or of science. During these periods, the 

 mind itself is in different attitudes. In the first, 

 though it is not absolutely passive, yet we may 

 say that it is passive ; it receives the impressions. 

 In the second, it is reproductive ; it is constantly 

 comparing what it has already acquired with what 

 it is acquiring, and can reproduce it. In the third, 

 it is productive ; it seeks to create ; it has 

 already accumulated large materials ; it is taking 

 a survey of all ; and in this state it naturally 

 seeks to enlarge the domain of truth, or at least to 

 seek it for itself. These stages are unchangeable 

 in their order. There must be, first, the sensa- 

 tional ; then the period of the formation of ab- 

 stract notions ; and finally, the period of scientific 

 thought. 



From these principles arise the following rules, 

 which the instructor must always keep in mind in 

 imparting instruction, if it is to be educative. 



He must carefully note the stage at which his 

 pupil's mind is, and suit his instruction to this 

 stage. 



He must give the concrete before he gives the 

 abstract : he must give many instances before he 

 gives the rule : he must leave the pupil as far as 

 is possible to discover the rule. 



He must begin with the known, and from it pass 

 to the unknown. The instructor has no other 

 basis of operation than what is already in the 

 mind. And if he, therefore, wishes to give know- 

 ledge which will remain, that knowledge must be 

 attached to knowledge that is in the mind. 



The instructor has also carefully to consider the 

 nature of the child's mind in giving the instruc- 

 tion, and from this consideration arise the follow- 

 ing prescriptions. The instructor must make his 

 instruction so bear upon the mind as to bring its 

 powers into full activity. In other words, every 

 lesson must be interesting : for interest is simply 

 the pleasure which attends the full play of the 

 pupil's mind. Whenever the instructor ceases to 

 be interesting, he ceases to be educatively instruc- 

 tive. At the same time, interest must not be 

 confounded with mere pleasure. It is possible by 

 certain means to excite the pleasurable emotions 

 of young people in a high degree, and yet give 

 them very little instruction. The pleasure of 

 interest is an equable, widely diffused, and almost 

 unconscious feeling, with no reaction. The pleas- 

 ure of stimulus may be intense, with a strong 

 reaction. The one deepens and strengthens the 

 knowledge. The other helps to render the acquis- 

 ition of knowledge rapid : but the knowledge is 

 often slight and apt to be forgotten. Then again, 

 the child's mind is not strong, and therefore his 

 powers must not be greatly taxed. Every lesson 



EDUCATION. 



must be of short duration, and its duration is to 

 be determined by the power which the child has 

 to keep up interest in the lesson. 



We pass from these considerations in regard to 

 the nature of the person instructed to the materials 

 which the instructor is to use. Here, again, we 

 find that they are three Nature, Man, God ; but 

 these three do not stand apart Man is continually 

 acting on nature, and nature is acting on man. 

 And God is visible in all. Yet they can be separ- 

 ated in thought, and even in practice. We can 

 discuss one without meddling with the intellect- 

 ual aspects of the others. 



Nature we take first : The phenomena of nature 

 present themselves indefinitely combined. But 

 thought separates them, and we get the sciences 

 of Natural History, Natural Philosophy, and 

 Chemistry. These again, are subject to many 

 divisions. Natural History, for instance, contains 

 Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology ; and Geology is 

 really a part of the same science. So Natural Phil- 

 osophy contains within it Astronomy, the doctrine 

 of Heat, Electricity, and all that relates to the 

 movement of bodies. 



It is plain that the child is not to learn these 

 subjects. It is important here to notice an ambi- 

 guity that prevails in regard to the meaning of 

 science- teaching. A science arises when it is 

 perceived that certain events in a particular class 

 of things invariably follow certain other events 

 that, in one word, laws prevail in that particular 

 class of things. It has so happened that laws 

 most clearly established have been discovered in 

 regard to matter or the phenomena of nature. 

 No sane man really doubts that there is a regular 

 and uniform sequence of events in external nature. 

 Hence those departments of knowledge which 

 deal with nature are called sciences. It is now 

 more and more acknowledged that the same regu- 

 larity and certainty prevail in mind, in all that 

 relates to man ; but none of those departments of 

 knowledge which deal with human affairs has yet 

 had so many clearly ascertained laws discovered 

 in them as to impress the public mind strongly 

 that they are sciences. We have a science of the 

 mind of man Psychology. We have a science 

 of language, a science of history, a science of 

 society ; but none of these sciences has advanced 

 far. Accordingly, with a large class the word 

 science means a knowledge of nature, or external 

 nature. And science-teaching is taken to mean 

 the giving instruction in the phenomena of nature, 

 whether of inanimate nature, or of plants and 

 animals, or of motion or chemical change. In 

 this sense, science can be taught at an early stage. 

 The child ought to be accustomed to observe 

 nature. But the word science implies that laws 

 have been discovered ; and science-teaching might 

 mean the impartation of knowledge in regard to 

 the laws of nature. In this sense, science-teaching 

 cannot be given to children. A law is a wide 

 generalisation. Its comprehension implies a com- 

 paratively mature state of mind. And the word 

 science in this sense is applicable as much to the 

 phenomena of mind as of matter. This kind oi 

 instruction, therefore, in which the science of the 

 subject that is, the apprehension of its laws is 

 brought before the mind of the pupil, is, as we 

 have seen, the last stage of instruction. At the 

 earliest stage, and for a considerable time, natural 

 objects must be brought before the mind in the 



J fi69 



