INTRODUCTION 



In 1852 the author was a student in Harvard 

 College, and while working under the direction of 

 Professor Louis Agassiz he became interested in the 

 11 new" or scientific method of education. From that 

 time, during nearly forty years, he labored as student 

 and teacher to understand that method better, and to 

 put it into practice in the school room. 



The purpose of this book is to state in brief what 

 the author believes to be the principles of the new 

 method of education and to give some idea by exam- 

 ples as to how those principles were applied in his 

 own school. 



The last one hundred pages of the book consist of 

 school documents which have been reprinted in order 

 to show through what difficulties the new method 

 of education has been obliged to force its way to 

 the small measure of success it has achieved in our 

 public schools. 



People are satisfied with the old ways long after 

 better ways have been discovered and demonstrated, 

 not only in the domain of education, but in every field 

 where progress is possible. As an illustration, the 

 story of the locomotive may be told in a few words. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century several 

 men from European Universities and Scientific Soci- 



