1807. ] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On. M. PESTALOZZI’8 NEW METHOD Of IN- 
STRUCTION, by Cc. L. STROM, Of Co- 
PENHAGEN. 
HAT the first instruction of chil- 
dren is a matter of the greatest 1m- 
portance, is admitted by all; as on it de- 
pends, in a great measure, their progress 
at a more advanced age, not only in arts 
and sciences, but in wisdom, the guid- 
ance of which they will stand in need of 
during their whole life. In proportion 
as the education of the childis conducted 
according to reason, will the man be able 
to improve upon it, and learn to conduct 
himself in, or to extricate himself from, 
such affairs and difficulties, as require 
presence of mind and a sound judgment. 
Such has always been the opinion of the 
sages whe have turned their attention to 
this subject; and accordingly several of 
them have, from time to time, pointed 
out errors, and endeavoured to remove 
or rectify such errors as they observed. 
Their efforts have not been fruitless; but 
much still remains to be done, and it 
would seem that the completing of the 
reform was reserved for Pestalozzi. 
The principal object Pestalozzi had in 
view was to conduct the elementary in- 
struction in such a manner that the re- 
form he proposed might have an influence 
upon the whole life of the pupil, with re- 
spect to his manner of thinking, reason- 
ing, and acting. Finding that all our 
knowledge is derived from three ele- 
ments, language, numbers, and form, he 
has divided elementary instruction into 
three branches. 
The first, that which regards languages 
has for its ‘object to initiate the child in 
the physical world, and to regulate the 
empressions thereof. Beginning with the 
observation and the naming of visible 
objects, as, for instance, the human bo- 
vy, plants, &c. he by degrees leads to 
the noticing of the different parts of these 
objects, the relative situation of their 
parts, their connection, their qualities, 
their uses, &c. thus gradually multiply- 
ing the sensatiens, the perceptions, and 
the general ideas of the children, til 
they have acquired the elements not only 
of physics, of natural history, of anthro- 
pology, and of several sciences of which 
it forms the basis, but Iykewise, at the 
same time, a grammar, the rules of which 
the children have themselves found by 
practice. 
The second is a kind of arithmetic, but 
wholly intuitive, beginning with the num- 
bering of visible objects; for instance, 
~ Monruty Mac. No, 158, 
On M. Pestalozzi’s new Method of Instruction. 
5Qk 
apples, leaves, stones, &c. and continuing, 
the calculations by means of tables con- 
structed in a particular manner for that 
purpose; it teaches by degrees the chil- 
dren to understand with facility all possi- 
ble numerical relations, and to apply 
them by heart, or without the aid of ci- 
phers, to all the calculations usually re- 
quired in common life. 
The third is a species of geometry, but 
wholly adupted to the capacity of chiidren: 
—a preliminary geometry, the demonstia- 
tions of which are not founded on ma- 
thematical reasoning, but solely on the 
evidence derived from ocular inspection, 
It begins with making the children ob- 
serve, ona table constr rructed for that pur- 
pose, horizontal and vertical lines, and 
their different parts: then it shews the 
mode of constructing angles and squares, 
their sections, the relation of these sec- 
tions to each other, t the oblique and curve 
lines, the circle, &c. and all this in a man- 
ner which not only enables the pupils to 
judge, with the greatest precision, and 
without the assistance of instruments, of 
the true form, size, and just proportions 
of all visible objects, but leads him to ge- 
ometry properly so called. 
With these exercises of the eye and 
the mind, Pestalozzi combines those of the 
hand. ‘The child who, by the use of the 
geometrical tables, has acquired an idea 
of propor tion and symmetry, is excited 
‘to acquire it in a still greater degree by 
executing the same things on a slate. 
After having exercised himself in tracing 
reeular lines, in forming with them an- 
oles, squares, and other Hgures (always 
giving an account of what he does), he be- 
gins ‘the ard of writing by tracing the 
first lines of the letters and the letters 
themselves in a series of squares; an ex- 
ercise by which he lays the foundation ef 
a steady, free, and bold hand- writing, 
At the same time he begins the art of 
drawing, by tracing, in Satie series of 
squares, figures which he copies from ana-« 
ther design, traced in the same manner. 
These exercises give facility not only in 
drawing regular figures, the models of 
which the children accustom themselves 
to find in their own imaginations, but 
likewise the designing of maps or other 
works, the exact proportion of which 
astonishes all those who see that all this 
is done without liaving recourse to either 
rule or compass. 
The above are the elements of M. Pes- 
talozzi’s art of instruction, as far as it can 
be put in practice without the aid of the 
pupwu’s parents. The mode of communi- 
3 x : cag 
