powers exercise themselves at a later period: studies, on the contrary, that appeal chiefly to the reasoning faculties, have no place in the primary school, but belong to the advanced course of study. At a period near maturity, or at middle age, the mind is usually more interested in reflective than in perceptive processes; and if the perceptive period has passed without its legitimate work, the mind is poorly supplied with the materials of thought, and the reflective powers, operating upon narrow and insufficient grounds, reach no just or valuable conclusions.

EXPRESSION AS RELATED TO MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. -The activities of the mind are so intimately associated with language that it is scarcely possible to consider the two as separate. All ideas and thoughts have their representatives in words and sentences, and some philosophers have contended that it is impossible to think without thinking in language.

Without adopting this extreme view, however, we see that in all mental operations language acts an important part. No sooner does a new idea present itself, than the mind at once seeks for a word to express it. Should no suitable word be found, the idea is expressed by a combination of words, or by a word coined for the occasion. The mental act of receiving ideas and preparing them for use is not complete until they are not only fully possessed by the mind but fitly expressed in words.

This Position Illustrated.-In his work on Logic, Sir William Hamilton says: "A country may be overrun by an armed host, but it is only conquered by the establish

ment of fortresses. Words are the fortresses of thought. They enable us to realize our dominion over what we have already overrun in thought; to make every intellectual conquest the basis of operations for others still beyond. Or another illustration: You have all heard of the process of tunneling through a sand-bank. In this operation it is impossible to succeed unless every foot-nay, almost every inch-in our progress be secured by an arch of masonry, before we attempt the excavation of another. Now language is to the mind precisely what the arch is to the tunnel. The power of thinking and the power of excavation are not dependent on the word in the one case or the mason-work in the other; but without these subsidiaries, neither process could be carried on beyond its rudimentary commencement. Though, therefore, we allow that every movement for ward in language must be determined by an antecedent movement forward in thought; still, unless thought be accompanied, at each point of its evolution, by a corresponding evolution of language, its further development is arrested."

The Twofold Office of Language. The advance of ideas and of language, then, must go on together. Language is used for the double purpose of expressing and of preserving knowledge. Should ideas fail of finding expression, they are imperfectly preserved or entirely lost. Should expression be sought in advance of ideas, the words uttered would be senseless as the chatterings of a parrot. In each step of progress the idea precedes the expression, but should be immediately followed by the word. The two henceforth become so blended that they cannot be separated in practice, and scarcely so in thought.

The importance of cultivating language along with thought, in teaching, even to the extent of carrying this twofold training into every branch of instruction, cannot be too strongly urged. At least half of the time of recitation should be given to expression, so that the pupil may have the advantage of language in both mastering and remembering the thought. When this method is habitually practised, language is usually acquired by secondary attention, while primary attention is fixed on the thought. Perspicuity of expression follows clearness of thinking, and mistakes in expression usually result from want of clearness in the thought. The most effectual method of correcting such mistakes is by discussing the thought until it is clearly understood, and then requiring it to be expressed again. By following this plan of criticism, in practical instruction, much onerous labor is saved the teacher, and many of the distinctive exercises in language of maturer years are rendered unnecessary.

It must also be borne in mind that words are not the only means of expression. Mathematical symbols are used as language to express certain forms of thought. Drawing and painting are both but a means of expression. Laboratory work and manual work of various kinds must be employed both in acquiring knowledge and in putting it to use. In all school-work the teacher must make sure that the "mental circuit" is complete. The pupil must be held to the subject in hand till he can give it adequate expression in some form.

CHAPTER III.

OBJECTIVE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.

GENERAL VIEW OF PRESENT PRACTICES.-Until within a comparatively recent period, little attention has been given to the principles which must govern every intelligent effort to impart instruction. Teachers have been content to follow the methods in which they themselves were taught, until the process of teaching has become a merely mechanical routine.

Preliminary to the examination of philosophical methods of teaching, we shall notice some of the practices-they can scarcely be called methods-which are always to be avoided.

Wrong Practices. - The great, conspicuous, evil practice in our schools, once almost universal, and still widely prevalent, is that of obliging pupils to commit to memory the words of the text-book. This practice seems to have its origin either in the ignorance or the indolence of the teacher, and is one calculated directly to stultify, rather than expand, the mind. It fixes the primary attention on words rather than on thoughts, which words are arranged to express. The words memorized to-day are forgotten to-morrow, and often the

thought is never obtained. This process, by substitut ing apparent for real knowledge, so far consumes the time of the pupil that the attainment of real knowledge is rendered nearly or quite impossible during the school period.

Examples of this Practice.-Pupils are frequently obliged to recite, verbatim, the outlines of history, and teachers often defend the practice of rote-teaching in this study after they have given it up in the other branches of instruction. Upon examining a class instructed in this manner, in one of the most noted schools in the country, a few years since, it was found that the pupils could glibly repeat the lesson of to-day; that they could recite about half of that of yesterday; but that they could not remember one word of the lesson of a week ago. While this was the fact in regard to the words of the lesson, it was found that the thoughts which the words were supposed to represent had been entirely neglected-no one in the class having any knowledge of the sequence or relations of events.

A little girl of eleven years came home late one day, and, on inquiry, said she was detained because she could. not recite her lesson in geography. As she had forgotten but one word, however, she soon learned it, completed the lesson, and was dismissed. When asked what the word was, she could not tell, although she came fresh from her recitation only across the street. Upon examination, the following was found to be the sentence which made the difficulty, and which she and the other members of the class were obliged to repeat: "The Danubian provinces of Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia are nominally independent of the Sublime Porte."