OF EDUCATION 7 



embryo germs which are susceptible of infinite ex- 

 pansion could never be developed. Give the child a 

 mixture, half milk and half alcohol, and let its mental 

 food also, be in part normal and in part abnormal 

 and the result is just that condition of the human race 

 that now exists about us and all over the world. It 

 can scarcely be said that one person in a score makes 

 a success of life. In directing the child's education 

 no one can determine in every particular just what 

 is the right course. But if we make use of the 

 knowledge of our predecessors and our contempo- 

 raries over the world, may we not make some approxi- 

 mations toward a perfect scheme ? The knowledge 

 possessed by those who have systematically studied 

 this subject for many years is sometimes called the 

 science of education, and those who apply the prin- 

 ciples of that science in teaching are said to teach 

 normally. It has no reference necessarily to making 

 teachers ; that is only one of the results. All teaching 

 is either normal or abnormal, that is, it is in harmony 



with the natural laws of mental evolution, or else it 

 violates those laws. 



The study of the objects, facts and phenomena of nature is 

 the normal, and therefore the most congenial employment 

 of the opening mind, and one of its purest sources of pleas- 

 ure. Without such study, the mind becomes vague and 

 abstracted in its tendencies and habits, life lacks reality, 

 character solidity, and faith a foundation. The misdirected 



