4 THE NEW METHOD 



were such men as Newton, Morse and Watt, and they 

 worked mainly according to the method of the 

 Arabian schools of the seventh to the tenth centuries. 



The principles of this method, the scientific method, 

 are few and simple, and so in harmony with the laws of 

 human development, that the youngest child in our 

 schools is delighted in their daily use, and ascends 

 the hill of science and sound learning without weari- 

 ness, finding every lesson as interesting and health- 

 ful as play itself. In accord with these principles 

 the human race has made all its progress. 



In the following six or eight pages the attempt is 

 made to suggest in a few instances the application of 

 these principles to the mental development of the child 

 and to the development of the race from barbarism. 



The objects which are the most essential to our 

 well-being are those which are the most interesting : 

 the rising and setting sun, the revolving stars and 

 planets, a million species of living things, plant and 

 animal, gems innumerable "of purest ray serene." 

 These objects all remind us' that we inhabit a 

 world of cause and effect — a world in which eternal 

 and unchanging laws encircle us, and reign supreme. 

 Since we live in a realm of law, how shall we study 

 and comprehend it ? 



We must go down into principles — into nature, 

 and proceed at every step in accordance with the 



