30 The Concept of Method 



press himself on the problem of method rather than on the ques- 

 tion of materials. The whole world was the province of his 

 knowledge, and the " Novum Organum " contemplated the whole 

 sphere of man's experience, so that it mattered not so much what 

 one had as how one did it. The problem that Bacon first sug- 

 gests is the one that comes first genetically and psychologically 

 in education, and it is one which three centuries of experience 

 have not yet solved satisfactorily, though perhaps Froebel did 

 most to raise the method itself to consciousness. When is the 

 process of imparting knowledge to others to start? With what 

 is it to start, and which subjects should be withheld to a more 

 convenient season? It is to be noted here that Bacon contents 

 himself with settling the problem without oitering any solution, 

 leaving the working out to future generations and contenting 

 himself with the belief that " a faculty of wise interrogating is 

 half a knowledge." Further, it is to be decided whether it is 

 best to begin with the easiest and proceed to the hardest, or vice 

 versa, " for it is one method to practice swimming with bladders, 

 and another to practice dancing with heavy shoes." The whole 

 question of the function of the teacher in the educational process 

 is involved here, as well as the problem of learning to study. In 

 the next place, Bacon suggests the question as to the corrective 

 value of certain studies and the disciplinary intellectual function 

 of mathematics and the various branches of science. He raises 

 to consciousness here the whole problem of the curriculum : can 

 there be a similar course of study for children temperamentally 

 heterogeneous ? Ought a mediocre well-rounded personality to be 

 the aim of education, or ought specialism and individuality to be 

 encouraged? The questions suggested by Bacon are questions, 

 not of materials, so much as of aims and methods, and their solu- 

 tion is a development not yet complete. Finally, after the selec- 

 tion of studies has been made, there arises the problem of their 

 proper arrangement and of their mutual relation. For instance, 

 should studies be continued for long periods, or should there be 

 frequent variation? Bacon seems to have anticipated the inves- 

 tigations of modern psychology regarding habit, fatigue, and 

 variation of attention, and to have regarded the process of school 

 work as one of infinite significance in the development of the 

 individual, " for as the wronging or cherishing of seeds or young 



