mediately perceptible by our senses, with a view to bring the child as early as possible to a clear and precise expression, in language, of whatever may be the result of his observations. . .

"A few instances in each case are sufficient, and the teacher may immediately proceed to the question : 'What else do you know that is round, or light?' etc. The children generally find new examples within the sphere of their own experience, and very frequently such as the teacher would never have thought of; and being repeatedly called upon to give an account of their knowledge, they acquire a facility and a distinctness of expression which no Socratic conversations, unless conducted with a hundred-fold degree of skill and labour, can ever produce" (How Gertrude Teaches).

To get enlargement of ideas and enlargement of sentences, at the same time, Pestalozzi would elicit from the children definitions and descriptions of objects and actions; e.g., "A bell is a hollow round vessel of cast metal, open at the bottom, mostly with the brim bent outwards; towards the top it grows more and more narrow, approaching the oval shape; it is generally suspended free in the air, with an iron tongue hanging down perpendicularly from the centre of the top, which, when the bell is swung from one side to the other, strikes against the brim of the vessel, and thus produces the sound which is called the ringing of the bell; To walk is to move on, step by step; To stand is to rest the body on the legs, in a perpendicular position; To lie is to rest the body on the ground, on the bed, etc., in a horizontal, or nearly horizontal position," etc. Sentences were also formally extended, on the basis of real knowledge and through a particular word; e.g., "I

shall; I shall retain; I shall not retain my health otherwise; I shall not retain my health after all I have suffered during my illness otherwise; I shall not retain my health, after all I have suffered during my illness, otherwise than by practising the greatest temperance". Such exercises, he held, should be instructive in themselves: suitable to the circumstances of the pupils: and likely to arouse good feelings in the learner. They should be so ordered and arranged that they help to satisfy the child's natural longing for, and need of, knowledge, in the best and most complete way.

It must be remembered, Pestalozzi points out, that the above is a system for assisting Nature in her own work and way. In actual order of life the child learns. through complete phrases, which at first only give him a glimmer of meaning, but this becomes more and more clear as time goes on. Words in a sentence help to explain each other, when the general meaning of the whole is, more or less, grasped. It is for this reason that sentences are far more easily remembered than detached words, which, of themselves, have no necessary connection with others. We learn things as wholes, in the first instance, and then analyse them into parts so as to get greater clearness and fulnessclear perceptions and distinct ideas.

Spelling and Reading. Sooner or later we must begin to deal with the forms by which language is symbolised, and must therefore fix upon a method. Pestalozzi gives this account of the way in which he arrived at his methods: "When I had begun to teach reading, I found out, after a while, that my pupils wanted first to be taught speaking; and when I set about trying how I could accomplish this, I came at

last to the principle of following the progress of nature in the composition of single sounds into words, and words into speech. . . . When I attempted to teach spelling I felt the want of an appropriate book for the earliest childhood; and I conceived the plan of one by the aid of which I have no doubt that children, of three or four years of age, might be brought to a degree of real information far superior to that which is commonly acquired at school about the age of seven or eight

years.

"It is not to be left to chance at what time, and to what extent, the child shall become acquainted with each sound. An early and complete knowledge of them all is of great importance. This knowledge he should have before he is able to pronounce them; and in like manner he should be able to pronounce them, generally with ease, before he be introduced to the knowledge of written or printed characters, and taught to read.

"The spelling-book ought, therefore, to contain all the sounds of the language, and these ought to be taught in every family from the earliest infancy. The child who learns his spelling-book ought to repeat them to the infant in the cradle, before it is able to pronounce even one of them, so that they may be deeply impressed upon its mind by frequent repetition. It is incredible to those who have not seen it, how much the attention of babes is excited by the repetition of a few simple sounds, and their combinations, such as: ba, ba, ba; da, da, da; ma, ma, ma; la, la, la, and so on. But the charm which it has for them is not the only advantage, for it contributes to the development of their faculties, and prepares them for future greater exertions. .

Again: "Mothers are invited to repeat those succes

sions of sounds to their children several times a day, even before they are able to speak, and to vary the order in which they repeat them, so as to stimulate the attention, and, by the contrast of the different sounds with each other, to produce a distinct knowledge of the peculiar character of each. This repetition is to be renewed with double zeal when the children begin to speak, that by imitating those sounds they may the more readily develop their organs" (How Gertrude Teaches).

But all this must be based upon and preceded by exercises in intuition. If this be forgotten the method cannot be understood, and will appear to be the most mechanical of mechanical systems. In this, as in all else, Pestalozzi would have us go from experiences to ideas, and from ideas to words, even when learning spelling. To this end he says that “a firm conviction gradually developed in me: (1) of the necessity of picture books (intuitive books) for early childhood; (2) of the necessity of a fixed and precise exposition of these books; (3) of the necessity of a guide to the names and word-knowledge based upon these books and their expositions, with which the children should be made familiar, long before the time for beginning to spell" (How Gertrude Teaches). Talking must come before spelling, and the child is to have nothing to do with words, in the first instance, except in connection with things. This is very clearly shown in the following

extracts.

"You see what objects God presents to your child as soon as he opens his eyes; you see the effect of his involuntary and, so to say, inevitable intuitions; you see what pleases and amuses him. Let all your conduct

be guided by what you thus see; take your child near the object which catches his notice and attracts him most strongly; show him his favourite objects again and again; search everywhere within reach-in the garden, the house, the fields-for those things which, by their colour, shape, movement, or brilliance, are most like to those things he likes best. Surround his table with them and place them on the table where he takes his meals. Give him plenty of time in which to examine their qualities, at his ease; and let him observe that by putting fresh flowers into the vase where others have faded, by calling back the dog, or by picking up the fallen toy, you are often able to replace what often disappears."

Again: "I wish always to let sense-impressions come before the word, and definite knowledge before judgment. I desire to make the effect of words and talk on the mind of little account, and to secure that dominating influence proper to the actual impressions of physical objects, which forms such a notable protection against mere babble and empty talk. I wish to lead my child, from his earliest development, into the whole circle of nature which surrounds him; I would organise his learning to talk by a collection of nature's products. . .

"The next step to be taken is to make the child pronounce those sounds, as distinct exercises, to be gone through several times a day, but with the same. ease and playfulness with which children are generally made to imitate sounds; the only difference being that the mother follows the regular course traced for her in the spelling-book, instead of taking the sounds at random as they occur" (How Gertrude Teaches).

Pestalozzi's spelling-book was built up on the plan of