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was therefore called to Dessau, and under his direction was opened the famous Philanthropin. Then for the first, and probably for the last time, a school was started in which use and wont were entirely set aside, and everything done on 'improved principles.' Such a bold enterprise attracted the attention of all interested in education, far and near: but it would seem that few parents considered their own children vilia corpora on whom experiments might be made for the public good. When, in May 1776, a number of schoolmasters and others collected from different parts of Germany, and even from beyond Germany, to be present by Basedow's invitation at an examination of the children, they found only thirteen pupils in the Philanthropin, including Basedow's own son and daughter.

Before we investigate how Basedow's principles were embodied in the Philanthropin, let us see the form in which he had already announced them. The great work from which all children were to be taught was the 'Elementary.' As a companion to this was published the 'Book of Method' (Methodenbuch) for parents and teachers. The Elementary' is a work in which a great deal of information about things in general is given in the form of dialogue, interspersed with tales and easy poetry. Except in bulk, it does not seem to me to differ very materially from many of the reading books which, in late years, have been published in this country. It had the advantage, however, of being accompanied by a set of engravings to which the text referred, though they were too large to be bound up with it. The root

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ideas of Basedow put forth in his Book of Method,' and other writings, are those of Rousseau. For example, 'You should attend to nature in your children far more than to art. The elegant manners and usages of the world are for the most part unnatural (Unnatur). These come of themselves in later years. Treat children like children, that they may remain the longer uncorrupted. A boy whose acutest faculties are his senses, and who has no perception of anything abstract, must first of all be made acquainted with the world as it presents itself to the senses. Let this be shown him in nature itself, or where this is impossible, in faithful drawings or models. Thereby can he, even in play, learn how the various objects are to be named. Comenius alone has pointed out the right road in this matter. By all means reduce the wretched exercises of the memory.' Elsewhere he gives instances of the sort of things to which this method should be applied. 1st. Man. Here he would use pictures of foreigners and wildmen, also a skeleton, a hand in spirits, and other objects still more appropriate to a surgical museum. 2nd. Animals. Only such animals are to be depicted as it is useful to know about, because there is much that ought to be known, and a good method of instruction must shorten rather than increase the hours of study. Articles of commerce made from the animals may also be exhibited. 3rd. Trees and plants. Only the most important are to be selected. Of these the seeds also must be shown, and cubes formed of the different woods. Gardeners' and farmers' implements are to be ex

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plained. 4th. Minerals and chemical substances. 5th. Mathematical instruments for weighing and measuring; also the air-pump, siphon, and the like. The form and motion of the earth are to be explained with globes and maps. 6th. Trades. The use of various tools is to be taught. 7th. History. This is to be illustrated by engravings of historical events. 8th. Commerce. Samples of commodities may be produced. 9th. The younger children should be shown pictures of familiar objects about the house and its surroundings.

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We see from this list that Basedow contemplated giving his educational course the charm of variety. Indeed, with that candour in acknowledging mistakes which partly makes amends for the effrontery too common in the trumpetings of his own performances, past, present, and to come, he confesses that when he began the Elementary' he had exaggerated notions of the amount boys were capable of learning, and that he had subsequently very much contracted his proposed curriculum. And even the Revolution,' which was to introduce so much new learning into the schools, could not afford entirely to neglect the old. However pleased parents might be with the novel acquirements of their children, they were not likely to be satisfied without the usual knowledge of Latin, and still less would they tolerate the neglect of French, which in German polite society of the eighteenth century was the recognised substitute for the vulgar tongue. These, then, must be taught. But the old methods might be abandoned, if not the old subjects. Basedow proposed to teach both French

and Latin by conversation. Let a cabinet of models, or something of the kind, be shown the children; let them learn the names of the different objects in Latin or French; then let questions be asked in those languages, and the right answers at first put into the children's mouths. When they have in this way acquired some knowledge of the language, they may apply it to the translating of an easy book. Basedow does not claim originality for the conversational method. He appeals to the success with which it had been already used in teaching French. Are the French governesses,' he asks, 'who, without vocabularies and grammars, first by conversation, then by reading, teach their language very successfully and very rapidly in schools of from thirty to forty children, better teachers than most masters in our Latin schools ?'

On the subject of religion the instruction was to be quite as original as in matters of less importance. The teachers were to give an impartial account of all religions, and nothing but 'natural religion' was to be inculcated.

system was to beThe natural desires

The key-note of the whole everything according to nature. and inclinations of the children were to be educated and directed aright, but in no case to be suppressed.

These, then, were the principles and the methods which, as Basedow believed, were to revolutionise education through the success of the Philanthropin. Basedow himself, as we might infer from Göthe's description of him, was by no means a model director for the model Institution, but he was fortunate in

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his assistants. Of these he had three at the time of the public examination, of whom Wolke is said to have been the ablest.

A lively description of the examination was afterwards published by Herr Schummel of Magdeburg, under the title of Fred's Journey to Dessau.' It purports to be written by a boy of twelve years old, and to describe what took place without attempting criticism. A few extracts will give us a notion of the instruction carried on in the Philanthropin.

'I have just come from a visit with my father to the Philanthropin, where I saw Herr Basedow, Herr Wolke, Herr Simon, Herr Schweighäuser, and the little Philanthropinists. I am delighted with all that I have seen, and hardly know where to begin my description of it. There are two large white houses, and near them a field with trees. A pupil— not one of the regular scholars, but of those they call Famulants [a poorer class, who were servitors]received us at the door, and asked if we wished to see Herr Basedow. We said "Yes," and he took us into the other house, where we found Herr Basedow in a dressing-gown, writing at a desk. We came at an inconvenient time, and Herr Basedow said he was very busy. He was very friendly, however, and promised to visit us in the evening. We then went into the other house, and enquired for Herr Wolke.' By him they were taken to the scholars. They have,' says Fred, 'their hair cut very short, and no wig-maker is employed. Their throats are quite, open, and their shirt-collar falls back over their coats.' Further on he describes the examination.