34 THE NEW METHOD 



world, which every one, to whom life is more than 

 death must undergo. But blind humanity passes by 

 the law of nature, until a Newton shows its applica- 

 tion in mathematical science, a Lavoisier through the 

 maze of experimental philosophy, and a Pestalozzi 

 in the wider field of human development." 



In 1808 the Prussian government sent twelve well 

 educated and carefully selected young men to Yver- 

 don, to learn the details of Pestalozzi's principles and 

 methods. Nicholovius said to them : " The object of 

 sending you to Pestalozzi is not merely that you may 

 study the external or formal part of his system, but 

 that you may warm yourselves at the sacred fire 

 which is glowing in the bosom of that man, who is 

 full of power and love ; that you may walk with a 

 similar spirit in the path of truth, and in the observa- 

 tion of nature ; that you may become simple as children 

 in order to obtain the key with which to open the 

 sacred temple of childhood ; that you may learn to 

 simplify the elementary part of each science by leading 

 the child directly into the realities of the world through 

 the use of his own faculties, and thus strengthen his 

 mind, by vigorous nourishment, for the application 

 and popular use of knowledge.' These students 

 made rapid progress at Yverdon, and on their return 

 they established normal schools which in a few years 

 furnished a large number of earnest and competent 

 teachers. By these and other means the schools of 



