is to widen the domain of knowledge through original investigation; in consequence, its equipment must fit it for research work.

How fully these schemes have been realized, the reader may appreciate by comparing the types of educational institutions of the United States and Germany with those of the Great didactic, which were outlined by Comenius more than two centuries ago.

School Discipline

The Great didactic is an eloquent protest against the severe and inhuman discipline of Comenius' day. Schools which abound with shrieks and blows, he says, are not well disciplined. Discipline is quite another thing; it is an unfailing method by which we may make our pupils pupils in reality. This makes it necessary for the teacher to know the child, the being to be disciplined, the subjects of study which serve as mental stimulants, and the relations which should exist between the child and the subjects to be taught

Discipline must be free from personal elements, such as anger or dislike, and should be exercised with frankness and sincerity Teachers should administer punishments just as physicians prescribe medicineswith a view to improving the condition of the individual. Nor should severe forms of discipline be exercised in connection with studies or literary exercises. Studies, if they are properly taught, form in themselves a sufficient attraction. When this is not the case, the fault lies not with the pupil, but with the teacher; if his skill is unable to make an impression on the understanding, his blows will have no effect.

Indeed, he is more likely to produce a distaste for letters than a love for them by the application of force.

Whenever, therefore, we see a mind that is diseased or dislikes study, we should try to remove its disposition by gentle remedies; but on no account should we employ violent ones. The sun gives us an excellent lesson on this point. In the spring-time, when the plants are young and tender, it does not scorch them, but warms and invigorates them; it does not put forth its full heat until they are full grown. The gardener proceeds on the same principle, and does not apply the pruning knife to plants that are immature. In the same way the musician does not strike his instrument a blow with his fist or throw it against the wall because it produces a discordant sound; but setting to work on scientific principles, he tunes it and gets it into order. Just such a skilful and sympathetic treatment is necessary to instil a love of learning into the minds of pupils; and any other procedure will only convert their idleness into antipathy and their interest into downright stupidity.

Severe forms of discipline should be used only in cases of moral delinquencies, as (1) impiety of any kind, such as blasphemy, obscenity, and other offences against God's law; (2) stubbornness and premeditated misbehavior, such as disobeying orders and conscious neglect of duty; and (3) pride, disdain, envy, and idleness. Offences of the first kind are an insult against the majesty of God; those of the second kind undermine the foundations of virtue; and those of the third prevent any rapid progress in studies. An offence against God is a crime, and should be expiated by an extremely severe punishment; an offence against man

is iniquitous, and should be promptly corrected; but an offence against Priscian is a stain that may be wiped out by the sponge of blame. In a word, the object of discipline should be to stir the pupils to revere God, to assist their fellows, and to perform the labors and duties of life with alacrity.

CHAPTER VII

EARLIEST EDUCATION OF THE CHILD

School of infancy - Circumstances under which written - View of childhood - Conception of infant education. Physical training-Care of the body-The child's natural nurse - Foods Sleep-Play and exercise. Mental training-Studies which furnish the materials of thought, and studies which furnish the symbols of thought-Nature study-Geography - History Household economy-Stories and fables - Principle of activity - Drawing - Arithmetic Music Language Poetry. Moral and religious training-Examples - Instruction -Discipline-Some virtues to be taught -Character of formal religious instruction.

Geometry

The School of Infancy

PLATO, Quintilian, Plutarch, and other writers on education have discussed the earliest training of the child, but none of these early writers have comprehended the significance of infancy with any such pedagogic insight as Comenius; and his School of infancy has taken a permanent place among the classics which deal with the period of childhood. It was written during the years 1628 to 1630, when he was in charge of the Moravian school at Lissa. A German edition (it was originally written in the Sclavic tongue) appeared at Lissa in 1633, a second edition at Leipzig in 1634, and a third German edition at Nuremberg in 1636. Subsequently Polish, Bohemian, and Latin

translations appeared; and Joseph Müller,1 a most painstaking Comenius bibliographer, mentions an English translation in 1641. I have found no other reference to an English translation so early. As already noted, however, Comenius was well and favorably known to Milton, Hartlib, and others high in educational authority in England; and the fact that most of his other writings were translated there gives credence to Mr. Müller's statement. In the year 1858, Mr. Daniel Benham 2 published in London an English translation, to which he prefixed a well-written account of the life of Comenius. But his translation was soon

out of print; and this excellent treatise in consequence remained inaccessible to English readers until the appearance of my own translation. (Boston, 1896. Republished in London, 1897.)

The School of infancy was written as a guide for mothers during the first six years of the child's life, and was dedicated to "pious Christian parents, guardians, teachers, and all upon whom the charge of children is incumbent." Since the education of the child must begin at its birth, mothers must assume the teacher's rôle; and the mothers of the seventeenth century, according to Comenius, were altogether unfitted because of lack of training to undertake this high and holy mission. Accordingly, the School of infancy outlines definite instructions for mothers.

Comenius was too deeply grounded in the religious

1 Zur Bückerkunde des Comenius. Monatshefte der ComeniusGesellschaft. 1892. Vol. I., pp. 19–53.

2 School of infancy: an essay on the education of youth during the first six years, by John Amos Comenius. To which is prefixed a sketch of the life of the author. London, 1858. pp. 168 +75.