physics, based their theories on arguments drawn from the Mosaic account of the Creation, and, while they were half awake to the value of experimentation, had but little dealing with it in the actual development of their hypotheses. (1: 126.)

No practical scientific results from his pansophic plans. Comenius was not satisfied with merely writing on physics and astronomy, but planned a complete encyclopedia. This he described in a short manuscript entitled "Outline of my Work on Universal Wisdom," which he sent to an English friend about 1637. This brief plan was published and gained for Comenius considerable notoriety. As a consequence he was invited to England (1641) where his friends hoped to place him in charge of a university of research which was to be endowed by Parliament. The endowment did not materialize, however, owing to political difficulties which occupied the attention of Parliament. Although no practical development of any consequence resulted from the encyclopedic or pansophic ambitions of Comenius, they had a very definite bearing on his educational works, which we will now take up.

Educational aims based on Scripture included encyclopedic knowledge of things. In the educational views of Comenius the two interests which have been described, namely, the religious and the encyclopedic, played important rôles. In harmony with the dominant practice of the day, education was conceived by Comenius largely in religious terms, but included as an important element the knowledge and mastery of natural forces. For the inclusion of this factor he found justification in the Bible. He said:

It is evident, then, that the ultimate end of man is eternal happiness with God. The subordinate ends also at which we aim in this transitory life are evident from the words of the divine soliloquy which the Creator uttered when about to make man. "Let us make man," he said, "in our image, after our likeness; and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. i, 26).

From this it follows that man is naturally required to be: (1) acquainted with all things; (2) endowed with power over all things and over himself; (3) to refer himself and all things to God, the source of all. (1: chap. iv.)

Aim included complete development of man as a rational creature.—Thus we have combined on a scriptural basis the religious aim and the aim of encyclopedic knowledge of things. To these aims he added another, that of making all men rational creatures because they are created in the image of God. In introducing his argument for this position he said :

The following reason will establish that not the children of the rich or the powerful only, but of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and poor, in all cities and towns, villages and hamlets, should be sent to school.

Thus he established the necessity for a universal compulsory elementary education. The basis was still religious, but not the narrow one of mere ability to read the Bible, which had prevailed. It was the broader basis of the control of natural forces, and the development of man as a rational creature in the image of God.

Planned to organize education into four stages. In his plan for the organization of schools Comenius divided education into four stages, each to consist of six years. These stages as he expressed them were:

A thorough vernacular education for everybody. — The school of infancy, or mother school, and the vernacular school were to be attended not only by rich and poor alike, but even the talented and wealthy were to complete the vernacular school before entering the Latin school at the age of twelve. This recognition of the importance of thorough vernacular training for everybody was a radical departure

from the dominant practice of putting children who could afford it into the Latin school as soon as they could read, usually at the age of eight or nine, often at six or seven. Thus Comenius and a few contemporary reformers gave the vernacular school a distinctive importance which it had not been granted in Europe since the days of the Greeks and Romans. Needless to say, this important conception was not represented in actual practice until the nineteenth century, the elementary vernacular school being generally considered but a makeshift for the poor down to that time.

Vernacular school to include economics, science, and history. Further illustration of the broader conception of these elementary stages of education is contained in the following quotation from Comenius.

These different schools are not to deal with different subjects, but should treat the same subjects in different ways, giving instruction in all that can produce true men, true Christians, and true scholars, throughout graduating the instruction to the age of the pupil and the knowledge he already possesses.

Thus all kinds of experiences were to furnish material for instruction at all ages. In addition to the ordinary three R's and religious instruction, Comenius included:

(1) As much economics and politics as is necessary to enable them [children] to understand what they see daily at home and in the State ; (2) the general history of the world; (3) the important facts of cosmography in particular, the cities, mountains, rivers, and other remarkable features of their own country; (4) the most important principles of the mechanical arts.

Examples of practical understanding of the principles of method. These ideas concerning a broader elementary vernacular education, selected from the great mass of principles which Comenius advocated, show how advanced his theories were. Further evidence of this is contained in the following partial list of his principles, which the student may examine with profit, but should make no special effort to remember in toto:

1. Education should begin at infancy and should be adapted at each stage to the age and capacities of the child.

2. Studies should be carefully graduated and students graded, according to a regularly organized course of study showing the work for each day in the year.

3. A graduated series of textbooks and illustrative material should be provided as an absolutely necessary means for improvement in instruction.

4. Regular attendance should be insisted upon.

5. The best parts of the day should be used for instruction, and care should be taken to avoid fatigue.

6. Class instruction should be substituted for the prevailing individual instruction. The instructor should always address the whole class, each member profiting by the work of all the others.

7. To save time printed copy books should be used instead of copy slips written by the teacher. All copies of a given text should be of the same edition.

8. Reading and writing should be taught together, and other correlations made whenever profitable.

9. At first subjects should be presented orally by the teacher, and pictorially illustrated where possible.

10. Actual objects and things should be studied first, and language in connection with such study.

11. Only things whose practical value to the pupil is evident should be taught.

12. Examples should be studied before rules.

13. The minds of the pupils should be prepared for new subject matter.

14. Material should be memorized only after it is thoroughly understood.

15. Gentleness, persuasion, pleasantness, and interest should replace force and drudgery.

16. Corporal punishment should not be used for failure in learning.

The "Great Didactic," one of the greatest systematic treatises on education. These theories were most completely presented by Comenius in a work entitled the "Great Didactic," which he wrote between 1628 and 1632 in Czech, his native language.

OF COMENIUS

Illustrates a lesson on a natural history topic

not pub

It was
lished, however, until

1649 (according to Keatinge), when it appeared in the vernacular in Prague. Later, in 1657, it was published in Latin in Amsterdam. The "Great Didactic" contained thirty-three chapters dealing thoroughly with all phases of education, from the most fundamental principles to the smallest details of class management. Some enthusiastic admirers of Come

nius claim that it is the greatest of educational classics.

"Great Didactic" unimportant in its

influence. This estimate of the work of the "Great Didactic" is probably exaggerated, but whether it is true or not, certainly the book was relatively insignificant in its influence. During the period of Comenius's greatest popularity it was either