unprinted or existed only in a relatively obscure vernacular. The Latin version, published later, is seldom mentioned by subsequent pedagogical writers and was practically unknown until 1843, when von Raumer, the German historian of education, called at

tention to it.

Latin textbooks of

different from the fate of the "Great Didactic" was the fame of the text

books which which Comenius wrote for the improvement of the study of Latin. European educators were more interested in this problem of educational method than in any other, and Comenius was

one among many writers of important texts. His "Janua Linguarum Reserata," published in 1633, achieved extraordinary success. It was translated in

OF COMENIUS

Illustrates a lesson on an industrial process

to all the important European languages and was widely used for generations as an introductory text for the study of Latin. In the history of secondary education it deserves a more extended discussion than we can give it in this connection.

The "Orbis Pictus" employed pictures to study language and things. More important in relation to elementary education, although originally it was only another Latin text, is the illustrated revised edition of the Janua, known as the "Orbis Pictus" (World in Pictures), published in 1658. The reproductions on pages 144 to 147 give a notion of its content. The "Orbis Pictus," like the Janua, provided not only a means of learning Latin but also an encyclopedic knowledge of things. The English title of the eleventh English-Latin edition (London, 1728) reads as follows:

Joh. Amos Comenius's

Visible World

or, a

Nomenclature, and Pictures

of all the

Chief Things that are in the World, and
of Men's Employments therein;

In above 150 Copper Cuts

Written

By the Author in Latin and High Dutch, being one of his last Essays; and the most suitable to Children's Capacity of any he hath hitherto made.

There were approximately one hundred fifty pictures, each one serving as a topic of a lesson. These pictures represented God, The Heaven, The Air, Earth, Tree, Birds that haunt the Fields and Woods, Ravenous Birds, Man, The Seven Ages of Man, The Channels and Bones, The Making of Gardens, Bread Making, Brewing, The Potter, A School, Geometry, The Eclipse, Temperance, Liberality, A City, The Kingdom and Region, Religion, Christianity, The Last Judgment, and other similar topics.

Orbis Pictus" also used as vernacular reading book.. Although intended as a text for learning Latin, the "Orbis Pictus" is important in relation to elementary education, because it was also usable as a means of learning to read the vernacular,

and was sometimes used for that purpose. Thus it set the model for later illustrated primers, etc. Moreover, the direc ⚫tions given by Comenius for the use of the "Orbis Pictus" apply in using it for vernacular reading. Thus he said:

I. Let it be given to children into their hands to delight themselves withal as they please, with the sight of the pictures, and making them as familiar to themselves as may be, and that even at home before they be put into school.

II. Then let them be examined ever and anon (especially now in school) what this thing or that thing is, and is called, so that they may see nothing which they know not how to name, and they can name nothing which they cannot shew.

III. And let the things named them be shewed, not only in the picture, but also in themselves; for example, the parts of the body, clothes, books, the house, utensils, etc.

IV. Let them be suffered also to imitate the Pictures by hand, if they will; nay rather, let them be encouraged that they may be willing: first, thus to quicken the attention also toward the things; and to observe the proportion of the parts one toward another, and lastly to practice the nimbleness of the hand, which is good for many things.

V. ... things rare and not easy to be met withal at home might be kept ready in every great school, that they may be shewed also, as often as any words are to be made of them, to the scholars.

Thus at last this school would indeed become a school of things obvious to the senses, and an entrance to the school intellectual. (2: Preface.)

The "Orbis Pictus was even more universally used than the Janua and was probably the most popular Latin textbook for many years, editions of it being issued even as late. as the nineteenth century.

Comenius had little immediate influence in reforming elementary education. The following statement of the influence of Comenius, coupled with the exaggerated opinion of his theoretical importance, may be taken as a fair estimate of his relation to subsequent educational development.

The man whom we unhesitatingly affirm to be the broadest minded, the most far-seeing, the most comprehensive and withal the most practical of all the writers who have put pen to paper on the subject of education, the man whose theories [though not derived from him] have been put into practice in every school that is conducted on rational principles.

Comenius, we say, the prince of schoolmasters, produced practically no effect on the school organization and educational development of the following century. His school books, frequently reprinted, were thumbed for years to come by boys in every corner of Europe; but the theoretic works, "The Great Didactic," "The Newest Method of Languages," "The Mother School," remained unknown and ineffective. For all the result that they produced, they might as well have perished in the flames of Lissa. (1: 198.)

Occasional instances of reforms of vernacular schools on Comenian principles. Although the principles of Comenius found little embodiment in actual practice, there were a few notable instances of practical reforms in elementary vernacular schools which provided for the broader curriculum and the compulsory attendance which he advocated. In these instances the impulse was probably not derived from Comenius, for one case (Weimar, 1619) antedated his publications by several years. In later instances there is evidence of some knowledge

of Comenius, but a more prominent influence was that of Ratke (1571-1635), a contemporary but older reformer of less general importance than Comenius.

Educational reform a simple matter in small German monarchies.—To understand the possibility of these practical reforms on a small scale, one must keep in mind the political condition of Germany in the seventeenth century. It consisted of more than one hundred independent states, including duchies, principalities, free cities, etc. Some of these were very minute, and most of them were quite small as compared with independent governmental units of to-day. It was a relatively simple matter for the ruler of one of these small states to order a complete reform of the schools, and to see that it was carried into effect. Practically the only limitation, although a very serious one, was the lack of trained teachers. It was in such situations as this that the first successful practical reforms in elementary vernacular education were achieved.

Notable reforms in the duchy of Gotha, 1642.- The most notable, successful, and influential of such cases were the reforms in the duchy of Gotha during the reign of Duke Ernest the Pious (r. 1640-1675). Gotha is located south of Prussia in Germany and is about five hundred square miles in area.

Education to relieve social distress from Thirty Years' War. Like many other German states, Gotha had suffered from the devastations of the Thirty Years' War, and the duke, a really beneficent ruler, strove in every way to repair matters and to improve the condition of the people. He considered education to be one of the most important factors. To reorganize the school system, he employed Andreas Reyher, who drew up a plan of organization which included many elements derived from Ratke and some from Comenius.

Included practical curriculum and compulsory attendance. - In addition to the ordinary instruction in the three R's, together with religion and singing, the following innovations were made in the work of the elementary vernacular school: