1807.] 
of his system, Pestalozzi has merited the 
gratitude of all who are employed in the 
instruction of children. Hus elementary 
buoi:s do not, as is commonly the case, give 
separately the objects of instruction wn the 
method of teaching; but they gwwe the 
matter ttself in the proper words and forms, 
so that the master who follows them lite- 
rally, will attain his aim without any 
danger of goingastray. It is on this Pes- 
talozzi rests his assertion, that any person 
who is not altogether deprived of reason 
may teach according to his method; that 
every mother, even the most simple, may 
herself direct the lessons of her children ; 
and that even a child who is a few 
steps farther advanced than its brothers 
or sisters, will be enabled to instruct them 
with success. 
Thus the method of Pestalozzi wiil 
avoid all the inconveniencies to which the 
common mode of instruction is exposed ; 
and, on the contrary, there will result 
from it advantages incompatible with the 
other. 
In the common method of education, 
the child who, during its first years, was 
left to the pleasing impressions of the ob- 
jects around him, and to his own ideas, 
must at the end of that period change all 
at once hisaccustomed manner of instruct- 
ing himself, and adopt another, the contrast 
of which is sufficient to create disgust. 
Here, cn the contrary, the first glimpse 
of discernment which is noticed in the ' 
child gives occasion to its first lessons ; 
and the mode of instruction changes so 
little as it grows up, that the knowledge 
acquired at the age of maturity is only 
a continuation of the notions which the 
child had, as it were, imbibed with its mo- 
ther’s milk, The advantage of this must 
be obvious. As instruction from the 
very beginning has only the appearance 
of play, and as it preserves this charac- 
ter in all the gradations that are to be gone 
through, the child learns with the greatest 
ease, and at the same time with the 
greatest solidity, every thing which it is 
necessary to teach him; and gaily pro- 
ceeding on the road towards perfection, 
he almost imperceptibly reaches the 
goal. No new encouragements are re- 
quired to rouse the attention of the pu- 
pil; this has been sufficiently provided 
for by the objects which strike the senses, 
by the exact gradation with which 
they are presented to them, and by the 
exactness with which the lessons are 
adapted to the capacity of each scholar; 
for it does not happen here, as in the 
cotamon modes of instruction, that some 
On M. Pestalozzi’s new Method of Instruction. 
facts 
O23 
make astonishing progress, while others 
seem to be becoming from day to day 
more stupid. If his first elementary 
lessons be repeated with suthcient per- 
severance, no one will be left wholly be- 
hind. 
These are considerable advantages: 
but let us see what effects the mode of 
instruction will have on the cultivation of 
the mind. According tothe old method, 
the first notions were most imperfect and 
erroneous: that of Pestalozzi, on the 
contrary, does not admit of any incom- 
plete, vague, or false, notions; there is a 
certainty in every thing he teaches, be- 
cause it is drawn from mathematical 
science or visible nature; every thing is 
evident, because it is to the senses head- | 
dresses himself; nothing is barren, because 
each idea springs spontaneously from the 
exercise of the child’s understanding. The 
cannot be either effaced or 
changed; for they are presented quite 
naked to the eyes of the child; they are 
imprinted on the memory by practice, 
and are adopted only m consequence 
of the child’s own conviction, There 
is no room to fear lest the verbiage of 
an unskilful teacher should spoil these 
good effects; for this verbiage is pre- 
cluded by the precision of the prescribed 
method; and the custom of making seve- 
ral children recite their lessons at the 
same time, has a tendency to keep atten- 
tion alive. 
We now come to draw conclusions:— 
the child by this species of instruction 
acquires @ firm and solid foundation for 
almost ail the sciences and faculties which 
*he will stand in need of in the succeeding 
periods of life. For instance, on the first 
lessons are founded, on the one side, the 
practical grammar spoken of above, and 
on the other all the sciences which are 
intuitive; on the enumeration of sensi- 
ble objects arithmetic is founded, not 
only that which teaches to calculate by 
heart, but that the operations of which 
are performed by means of ciphers; and, 
lastly, on the simple exercises of mea- 
suring and delineation, geometry properly 
so called, and the ability to form a 
judgment of all measurabie objects, as 
likewise the arts of writing and design. 
But this is not all: this method of instruc- 
tion, although it does not admit of reas 
soning, nevertheless implants the dispo- 
sition to become a rational being. By 
providing that the child be not forced 
to adopt a single sentiment on the au- 
thority of another, but that all bis ideas, 
all his judgments, all his conclusions, be 
derived 
