612 



SCIEJ^CE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 208 



from its special application the precise meaning 

 it may bear. 



Stripped of the mass of detail, a part of which, 

 except by the sole right of assumption, does not 

 specifically belong to it at all, the ' natural 

 method ' is, in ordinary phraseology, simply what 

 its first advocate in this country called it, — the 

 teaching of a language without grammar or dic- 

 tionary, using the language to be taught as the 

 medium of communication between teacher and 

 pupil. Whatever its most enthusiastic votaries 

 may claim for it, — and their claims are often 

 even startling, — it is this, and no more. Since 

 they were first formulated, the details of the sys- 

 tem have grown by a not unnatural accretion, 

 until they include a great mass of pedagogical 

 material, some of which is about as much the 

 especial property of the natural method as spec- 

 trum analysis is an individual prerogative of the 

 pupils of Helmholtz. From one point of view, 

 this is, perhaps, not to be deprecated ; for, through 

 the active proselytizing of its disciples, sound 

 pedagogical principles have obtained a currency 

 and found their way where otherwise they might 

 not so easily have penetrated. On the other hand, 

 it is, however, to be deplored as a categorical as- 

 sumption of fact, to give plausibility to a theory 

 which by no means finds universal acceptance. 

 The name and claim of the method was in the 

 first place, then, as it is given above. The sub- 

 stitution of the present name for the original 

 title was, for its advocates, an extremely happy 

 thought. In spite of some adverse testimony, 

 there is something in a name ; and a ' natiual 

 method ' has attracted attention where ' language- 

 teaching without grammar or dictionary ' would 

 have fallen unheeded. 



Joseph Jacotot wrote, at a time when such sen- 

 timents as he expressed were somewhat revolu- 

 tionary, what now might very properly be taken as 

 a motto for the natural method : " Become a child, 

 if you wish to make progress in studying a lan- 

 guage ; it is the quickest, the surest road to suc- 

 cess." Whether Jacotot meant it literally or not, 

 it is needless to question : certain it is that the 

 formulators of the natural method not only cite it, 

 but believe it, and incorporate it in their teaching. 

 There is no question as to the fact that a child 

 readily learns a language from imitating, con- 

 sciously or unconsciously, the speech of those 

 about him. Every child with unimpaired facul- 

 ties in this way acquires a vocabulary that steadily 

 keeps pace with its increasing consciousness, — 

 the vocabulary that can be used ; the spoken vo- 

 cabulary, of course, being always a little behind 

 and in abeyance. It is a slow process at best, a 

 matter of years, to learn a language in this way. 



Its slowness, however, is, no doubt, due to the 

 fact that simple cognition is of slow growth : cog- 

 nition and language are growing together, but the 

 former must necessarily precede. A similar pro- 

 cess may take place, to a limited extent, at any 

 time through life, if we add a new idea and an 

 accompanying expression to our knowledge ; if, 

 for instance, we study medicine, an applied sci- 

 ence, or law. Now, it is manifest that it is possi- 

 ble to be a child, in its purely literal meaning, but 

 once. No assumed childhood will serve to place 

 one, with regard to idea and its expression, in the 

 position here described. The natural method 

 cannot, of course, mean to do this at all. It ful- 

 fils, then, no particular purpose to write or to 

 speak in the first lessons such sentences as a little 

 child would naturally use in its first faltering 

 speech. It is only necessary to have simple, short 

 sentences, that are easy to understand and con- 

 venient to remember. If the natural method 

 does not mean to teach a language in the. manner 

 that a very young child learns it (and it manifest- 

 ly does not), it must base its terminology else- 

 where. 



It is a well-known fact that children easily ac- 

 quire a language in addition to the one they have 

 unconsciously learned. It is only necessary to 

 have a French or German nurse, and in a com- 

 paratively short time the child with whom she is 

 intimately associated is in possession of a French 

 or German vocabulary ; good or bad, according to 

 the time spent with the nurse, who is communi- 

 cative or uncommunicative, and speaks her own 

 language well or ill. Unfortunately for us of old- 

 er growth who have neglected its opportunities, 

 the period of childhood is one of peculiar facility 

 of imitation and receptivity. It never comes 

 again in like measure. Here, again, it is impossi- 

 ble to be a child, and no end of sentences embody- 

 ing ideas that do not rise above the first simple 

 formulations of a child can suflSce to put one in 

 the attitude of a child. 



It is possible, of course, by going to a foreign 

 land, to place ourselves somewhat, after all, in the 

 position of the child towards its nmse. If we are 

 utterly cut ofit from communication with those 

 who speak our own familiar language, the situa- 

 tion is even improved. We are then forced out of 

 our own speech and into another ; we are fairly 

 obliged to acquire the new vocabulaxy, the new 

 constructions, and the new idioms. But those of 

 us who have tried it know that under the most 

 favorable circumstances, and with the best and 

 most constant opportunities for communication, 

 even this is a slow method : it depends upon the 

 individual, and the time of life, as to how slow it 

 is. A German laborer, — Hauschildt, — a man of 



