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OBJECT LESSONS: 
 
 A papp:r read at the convention of 
 
 PROTESTANT TEACHERS OF THE 
 PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 
 
 BY S. P. ROBINS, M.A., 
 
 Superintetuient of the Protestant Schools of Montreal. 
 
 OCTOBER, 1S79. 
 
OBJECT LESSONS. 
 
 BV S. P. KOBINS. M. A.. SUPERINTENDENT OF PROTESTANT 
 SCHOOLS. MONTREAL. 
 
 Object Lesson is one nf thl^ ? ^—^-'a' 's its purpose ? The 
 interest in ?opuar education Sf''"''°"l °^ '^'^' ^^^"X increased 
 century. What want inS-V^ " '°. ^characteristic of the present 
 it inte/ded to'^'e:t^"'' iTlTrZlTsTit:' T"^^ "PZ-sfcirS 
 schools fail to meet the demand for inn i f '"^^^^t'on furnished in 
 or to educate faculties of wSchthefurorff °^ ^" important kind, 
 •n life ? And how was thTobiect Leinn °' "I^. "*^"^^"' '"^^ s"<c"s.; 
 work of schools ? To answer ^hL^.^^'P^'^'^^ *° supplement the 
 character of the schodsrXchthlobiectT ^' '""st consider the 
 Its present form, and what instruct on PnH J ^''°" T' introduced in 
 
 So far as I am aware 0^^^! ^'^"'^^'l"" they really gave, 
 introduced, have beenTp'ed^Uy tel b Sds'nf"'''^ °"^''^^^ °^ 
 more especially in those of low sort .f. °^ P""^''^ ^''^^'e, and 
 popular instruction, to ifft to a hiS^rlil-"'^^- ^" '^^ ^"^'"Pt. by 
 of the Old World, tL 1 ?ed afd hnr'K°^u-/i"''"'^« ^""-'ken classes 
 the neglected offspring of the clwS f'^^'^l °^ '^' Peasantry, 
 manufacturing centres,^it was soon frnll ^""^ '"^T^'^ populations of 
 ing generally\nd tha Sdual etent]::!™"™^^'- '^^' ^ ''"' ^P^ak- 
 amid such unfavorable surrSdTngs X °ck nfV^ ""'"erous-that 
 the pupils was limited, the nuXr nf Iv ^ ".^'""l '"^°™^^ 
 famifiar k^, their knowledge ofihe moth^f "^''^ ""^''^ '^'y ^^^e 
 and, consequently, their menfal finlH.r^ '°T^ ^^""y '"adequate, 
 
 sluggish, even thougrirso^ dTreS^ 
 
 hardship. At first indeerJ Tf '^'''t "^^ precociously developed bv 
 disappeLasscht^i;s?mct'n^d"anc?d'' bufno'r ^'^^^'^-^ woi^d' 
 was necessary to show that some of them lav .^ 2"^ wide experience 
 learning, so that they had to be encouSJ Lf ^ ^^--y threshold of 
 could properly begin, and thaf n^h^ f ^""^ ^""^""^ instruction 
 
 school discipline c^ou d not meerthemTS f ^r^ ^ '^""'''''^ '^^^ 
 place, all school arrangementrsuniosr. S'?-^"^' ^°'"' '" ^^e first 
 cultivat on, considerable Sliarffw Uh the S'^Ih^'"?""' °^ P^'^'^^dent 
 facility m its use, a stock of commm idlL '""j'^e'-'ongue and some 
 use of the variou^ mental frcuE AH T' *"i^" ^^^it^ation to the 
 parentage has, and this to so St an el ent fh.Ml' '^'\^ °^ intdUsent 
 of such a child of six vearslfplrK^^'.'''^'t°^'^ of knowledge 
 which he will acquire in addi?ion^^ "^'l"" '"^'^^^ficant ratio to thS 
 
 a child appears^Tschool whose Zv'r ''^T" ^^'' ^^e" 
 
 degraded, whose only incentiJS to J." ^ companions have been the 
 
 blows, whose vocabKy £ Hmted to"^h<f^ '"''""^''■' '^'''' ^^^ 
 wants and gratifications, t U scarcelv LTr''°" °^ ^"^ ^"i"'al 
 experience, how inert and ^In^^T^h': t^! ^SS'^lt^X':^ 
 
4 
 
 meagre the mental furniture, and how disappointing in its results the 
 efforts at instruction. It was evident, further, that the ordinary school 
 instruction could not remedy such a state of ignorance and mental 
 torpor. Reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, became mere mechani- 
 cal exercises, learned, so far as they could be learned at all, by rote, and 
 affording little or no mental enlightment or discipline. The experience 
 of painstaking and conscientious teachers soon showed that nothing but 
 converse — oral converse— between the pupil and the teacher could 
 arouse the inactive mind to healthful and fruitful exertion. Such con- 
 versational lessons were the seed from which Object Lessons in their 
 highest development sprang. I'estalozzi used them chiefly as a means 
 of cultivating language, so that his pupils might become familiar with 
 the meaning and the use of words in regions of thought that lay a little 
 beyond their daily experiences. Disciples of that ingenious and 
 brilliant though erratic and visionary teacher enlarged his conception of 
 the Object Lesson by making it subserve the purpose of more or less 
 systematic instruction in useful knowledge, and with more or less defi- 
 niteness and consciousness of purpose used it as a means of developing 
 the powers of thought.* 
 
 To the empirical slowly succeeds the scientific stage of education. 
 In orderly array the varied activities, physical, mental an<l moral of a 
 child have passed in review before the increasing body of Scientific 
 educators. Attempts, more or less successful, but in any case still 
 imperfect, have been made to determine the sequence and mode of 
 development of the mental powers. The various branches of school 
 study and the prevalent modes of instruction have been examined with 
 a view to determine— not merely with what intellectual equipment the 
 school boy steps out into active life— but what faculties have been 
 exercised and strengthened in acquiring that intellectual e((uipment, and 
 what, if any, remain undeveloped or even by disuse have become 
 atrophied. The result of such enquiries has been to bring into view the 
 necessary imperfection of the ordinary school curriculum as an instru- 
 ment of mental culture— to demonstrate the value as an introduction to 
 successful life, not only of the moral qualities, but also of the mental 
 habitudes cultivated at home in intercourse with friends, and in the 
 play-ground in collision with playmates— and to evoke the question : 
 Can nothing be advantageously done to systematize and to pursue of set 
 design the cultivation of the intellect, where hitherto it has been left to 
 the desultory and undesigned influences of out-of-school life ? Let us, 
 for our present purpose, adopt as an enumeration of the faculties of the 
 intellect, consciousness, sense, reason, judgment, abstraction, imagina- 
 tion, understanding, memory ; and, to avoid confusion, define these to 
 be consciousness, the faculty that gives us subjective phenomena ; sense, 
 that which gives us objective phenomena ; reason, that which gives the 
 logical antecedents of phenomena ; judgment, the faculty which com- 
 pares phenomena and gives differences, resemblances and relations ; 
 abstraction, that which analysing phenomena gives abstract notions and 
 so classifies and generalizes ; imagination, the faculty which re-unites 
 abstractions and so creates, invents and plans ; understanding, the 
 faculty which uses and comprehends signs of ideas, and so, by language 
 in all its varied forms, receives and communicates thought ; and 
 memory as the faculty which recalls mental impressions of every kind. 
 
 •Consult KruHi'8 " Pestalozzi, his Lifo, Work ami Intluence," an Rxcelleut work 
 timl should be read by every teacher. 
 
With this enumeration hcfoie us it must be evirlent tn all who have the 
 necessary experience of school life and duty, that but few of these 
 faculties .no directly and designedly cultivated, that some only of those 
 '^hat icmain are incidentally trained, and that, even where the training 
 is most explicit and thorough, it is very far from developing the facul- 
 ties affected in all directions. In other words, the allegation is that 
 some faculties are not trained at all, some only by accident, and none 
 of them completely ami harmoniously. Of the intuitive faculties 
 neither consciousness nor reason is trained at all, and any training of 
 sense is accidental, indefinite, uncertain, and most imperfect. The 
 training of consciousness and reason are deferred, some think necessar- 
 ily, to a period subsequent to school-days ; that of sense which cannot 
 be postponed is relegated in the main to the playground, the street and 
 the fireside. The eye is indeed trained to the discrimination and 
 recoj^nition of forms in reading, writing, spelling, map-geography and 
 geometry ; the ear to observe musical sounds and the intonations ot 
 speech ; the rest of the senses receive no attention in school. Judgment 
 receives but little training. Imagination is somewhat developed through 
 the understanding in various school exercises, but is not trained to 
 independent action except in composition, and in inventing solutions of 
 arithmetical, algebraic, and geometric problems. The development of 
 memory is very disproportionate ; it is loaded with verbal statements 
 and with numerical combinations, some aptitude for remembering forms 
 s acquired, in other resp cts it is neglected. The school curriculum, 
 then, has left each sense to be trained in most or in all of its uses ; the 
 powers of consciousness and reason to be subjected to the control of the 
 will ; judgment, abstraction and imagination in most of their applica- 
 tions to be disciplined ; and the memory to be developed along with the 
 developing faculties. It may not be desirable during childhood to 
 attempt to arouse consciousness to voluntary action in the act of refec- 
 tion, and the sphere of activity of reason is but. limited in early life, but 
 the remaining faculties are more or less vigorous. How can they most 
 advantageously be drilled to orderly and effective service? I think, 
 that the full answer to this question has never been given ; that, indeed 
 the full answer could not now be received if any man were wise enough 
 to give it. Yet educators have furnished two answers, which, though 
 but partial, are practical. The first is that Object Lessons effectually 
 train some powers neglected in ordinary school work. The second is 
 that the methods of the Kindergarten do so. 
 
 The purpose then of the Object Lesson, as by the light of psychology 
 we now begin to regard it, is mainly the development of the in- 
 tellectual faculties of childhood, more especially of those which are 
 comparatively neglected in the ordinary school curriculum . It does 
 not indeed neglect the older purposes of training in the use o f language 
 and of imparting useful knowledge, but these purposes should be, and 
 in the best use of the Object Lesson are, made subsidiary to this main 
 purpose, the educational discipline and training of the ntellect. As 
 the secret of all educational discipline is the frequent repietition, under 
 direction, of mental acts, the successful conduct of an Object Lesson will 
 place the teacher in his true position of guide, critic and correcttor. 
 The mental exercises must be performed by the pupils themselves, not 
 by the teacher. The knowledge acquired must be discovered by the 
 learners, not revealed to them. But knowledge not received on tesi- 
 mony is either intuitive or derived by inference. Intuitive knowledge 
 can only be attained in the actual presence of the object of thought. 
 
and even the process of inferring knowledge is frequently much facili- 
 ated by its presence ; hence the need for submitting an object to the 
 earner s mvesfigation. An exhaustive view of any object can seldom 
 DC obfamed except by adding to the results of our own observation, 
 experiment and thought, the results of the observation, experiment and 
 tftought of others. Hence some information respecting the object 
 under examination may be collected from books or be received 
 from the teacher, but this should be as small in amount as possib/e. 
 In the course of an Object Lesson, to allow the knowledge of the 
 pupils to be imperfect is often preferable to supplementing that know- 
 ledge by testimony. Knowledge reached by the pupil is almost ne- 
 cessarily fragmentary, disjointed, ill-arranged. It becomes science 
 only when by subsequent effort it is reduced to an orderly system, in 
 which the parts are duly correlated. This systematizing of the results 
 ol investigation is one of the most important parts of an Object Lesson. 
 Tu- • ^u*^ ?T' P^'^'iaP''' •" a position to define the Object Lesson. 
 1 his IS the definition which I venture to submit. An Object Lesson 
 IS an exercise in which, under the guidance of a teacher, pupils, ex- 
 pressing themselves in appropriate language, 1st, review the knowledge 
 they already possess respecting an object or a topic ; 2nd, add to that 
 knowledge primarily bv the use of their own faculties, secondarily, by 
 receiving additional information from the teacher or from books; and 
 3rd, systematize the whole. 
 
 With this view of the Object Lesson, there will be no danger of 
 supposing It to be a mere word lesson, or a lecture by the teacher con- 
 veying more or less entertaining information. Such views are im- 
 pel feet, not erroneous. The definition proposed above implies the 
 value of the Object Lesson as an exercise in the use of language. All 
 true teachers feel it to be of the utmost importance to secure for 
 their pupils as much practice in oral composition as is possible. Hence 
 the endeavor to get pupils to give in their own words their im- 
 pressions of lessons. The great difficulties with this exercise are,' ist, 
 that pupils often only give as much as they can remember of the language 
 ofthe text-book or of the teacher; 2nd, that barrenness and confusion 
 ot statement result as often from the incompleteness and incongruit" of 
 their conceptions as from the poverty of their vocabulary and their 
 want of mastery of syntactical forms. It is therefore of great value to 
 secure an exercise in which children must endeavor to put into 
 language, that is not a mere imperfect echo of the utterances of their 
 teacher, their impressions of an object of which, being present, their con- 
 ceptions cannot be incongruous, and, being under examination, cannot 
 remain very remarkably incomplete. It adds also very much to the 
 clearness and vividness ofthe ideas which words suggest to have them 
 associated directly with the intuitions of sense by using them in the des- 
 cription of present objects. On this account it is that Object Lessons 
 are particularly valuable in teaching the conversational use of a lanc- 
 uage. Indeed, it is by a desultory sort of Object Lesson that a child 
 learns to use so soon and so skilfully its mother tongue. While then I 
 caution teachers against making the Object Lesson a mere word lesson, 
 and advise the observance of a wise reticence on their part, let me not 
 be understood to imply that the teacher must never give utterance to 
 the thought of children. It is often his duty and his opportunity to do 
 this, but his more matured, accurate and appropriate expression must 
 succeed not precede their attempted utterances. He must give no new 
 word, recall no forgotten word, until its want is felt, either for brevity, 
 or for exactness, or for force. The review of knowledge already pos- 
 
sessed is valuable as an exercise of the memory and of the underslanding 
 in recalling and expressing a conception. Hut it is also of service in 
 informing the teacher of the state of knowledge of the pupils, so that 
 he may not tediously dwell upon what is already clearly conceived, nor 
 fruitlessly aim at what is beyond present attainment, nor assume as 
 known what is not understood. It will be observed, and perhaps it 
 will he objected, that I have introduced into the definition the word 
 " topic " as alternative to the word "object." To those who on the 
 ground of the title, Object Lessons, demur to class under this title lessons 
 on topics, I plead in excuse that such an extension of the meaning of 
 terms as this classing implies is not unwarranted by example, as I am 
 l)y no means the first who has been compelled to employ the term 
 Object Lesson in a sense wider than is justified by its derivation, for 
 lack of a pre-existing term or phrase of sufficient comprehensiveness. 
 I woulfl fiirther plead that the boundary between Lessons on Objects 
 and Lessons on Topics will be found by no means well defined in 
 actual practice, and that many lessons on topics, except in regard to 
 sense intuitions, require the same treatment and cultivate the same 
 faculties as Object Lesions. Omitting for the moment remark on what 
 constitutes the very essence of the Object Lesson, viz., the acquisition 
 of knowledge by the use of children's own faculties, let us observe that 
 in the inripartation of knowledge by the teacher orally this advantage 
 over its impartation by books is secured, that the pupil is practised in 
 observing carefully and remembering accurately what is said— a pre- 
 paration for business and for public life which cannot be overvalued. 
 But as oral instruction should be, and is, given in other subjects, the 
 Object Lesson has in this particular no superiority to them ; and but 
 for the need of occasionally filling in gaps in the systematic scheme of 
 an Object Lesson that cannot be filled by the observation, experience 
 or experiment of children, and but for the quickening of interest that 
 results from the presentation of the novel and the strange to youthful 
 minds, it would, as a matter of mental discipline simply considered, be 
 better for the teacher to give no information at all. However, the 
 Object Lesson will never cease to be to some extent an information 
 lesson, and the sole caution to the teacher must be to avoid giving any 
 information that by their own powers of observation, conjoined with 
 inductive and deductive inference, pupils can of themselves attain. Of 
 course nothing here said will be considered adverse to such directive 
 suggestion as the teacher may make in reference to the subject of in- 
 vestigation. As the last of these brief comments on the definition, 1 
 must say that the systematizing of the whole mentioned in it refers 
 rather to the minor arrangement of the items of information than to the 
 general scheme of the Object Lesson, which must usually be provided 
 by the teacher before the lesson commences, and which may be com- 
 mon to many different Object Lessons, since the most natural, and to 
 beginners obvious arrangement, is one dependent on the use, in a de- 
 finite and systematic manner, of the several faculties employed in the 
 investigation of truth. 
 
 Permit me now to submit a scheme for the management of an Object 
 Lesson, which, though not at first set before children, may be present 
 in the teacher's mind as a type of method to which he may by sugges- 
 tion and restraint advantageously induce the discursive mind of 
 childhood to conform, and which may be afterwards formally introduced 
 section after section, as the acknowledged guide of investigation, until 
 the matured powers of the pupils and the peculiarity of the object 
 
8 
 
 some other scheme prcfiralilc. I 
 
 ax 
 be 
 
 investigated eomhiue to loiidei 
 propose five genera! heads : — 
 
 1. I'arts and materials- Separation, Analysis. 
 
 2. Qualities -Ascertained by observation. 
 
 3. Susceptibilities- Ascertained by experiment. 
 
 4. Relations - Ascertained l)y reason, judgment, abstraction. 
 
 5. A ssoci.it ions— .Suggested l)y imagination. 
 In conformity with this arrangement the preliminary review 
 
 well as the s\ibscfiuciU lesson should be conducted. It would i.u 
 advisable to have a d.tinite course of Object Lessons corresponding to 
 the mental capacity of chiklren of the several school grades. This 
 course slioukl rise from the lower to the higher grades along a line 
 dctirmmed not so much by the subjects chosen as by the mode of 
 Ircatnient. The same subject might recur again and aj.ain in the course, 
 bcmg treated with more minuteness, fulness and profundity as the 
 powers of pupils develop. Iron, for example, might be the subject of 
 a profitable Object Lesson with children five or six years of .-ige, or of 
 interesting and instructive discussion at a session of a scientific congress. 
 The mode of treatment in the two cases would certainly be different, 
 but not dissimilar. 
 
 The scheme given above is one that easily lends itself to the 
 difference of treatment rendered necessary by different stages of culture. 
 At first it would be well to direct attention to the second and third 
 heads of the scheme in connection with simple sid)stances, discovering 
 liy observation and experiment their qualities .and susceptibilities. A 
 useful subdivision of the head Qualities might be founded on the senses 
 by which qualities are discovered, still further subdivided into the 
 qualities given by each sense. The sub-scheme to Qualities would 
 then be something like this : — 
 
 2. Qualities, 
 n. .Sight -Color. \^.^ „ . 
 
 h. Touch-Temperature. ?f.'^"*=^; .^^^'lo"' 
 
 c. Muscular Sense-Weight. ) '^°''^''' l^'q^'os. <^'ases, .Shape, Size, 
 
 d. Hearing— Pitch, Intensity, Quality of sounds. 
 
 f. I aste— Sour, Sweet, Bitter, and their combinations. 
 / Smell— Odors (scarcely susceptible of classification). 
 
 The study of numerous objects, covertly conducted by the above 
 scheme, should familiarize the pupils with the several conceptions (and 
 their names) embraced under it. A series of lessons on most of the 
 qualities enumerated above should follow, and should issue in the 
 ability to recognize, to classify, and to name the several primary, 
 secondary and tertiary colors ; lineal, superficial, and solid forms ; the 
 inch, foot, yard, as measures of size; the furlong, quarter-mile, half- 
 mile, mile, as distances; uniform, accelerated, retarded, irregular, 
 rectilineal, circular, curvilinear motions of translation, and rotary 
 motion ; the ounce, the pound ; different temperatures by momentary 
 touch, and the different conducting powers of bodies by their apparent 
 temperatures when tried by prolonged touch. Afterward, many objects 
 should be examined carefully with the scheme and its sub-divisions 
 before the pupils, as a guide to systematic and minute observation. As 
 the next step in the discipline of the observing powers, let objects be 
 subjected to examination for brief periods only, and then withdrawnj 
 and let the endeavor be made to register as many facts as possible about 
 ihem. Pictures, in series of increasing complexity, are very suitable 
 
9 
 
 objects for this excrrisc, so i4r as the eye is concerned. The exercise 
 jubt suRgestcfl leads the way to the most difficult, yet in many respects 
 most valuahlo, exercise of the observing faculties ; that, viz., of remark- 
 mg the varying appearances of bodies undergoing change, and of com- 
 mitting to memory iu due order and comprehensiveness their successive 
 phenomena. While observing nature these n)ust often be rseized in 
 their flight. .Successive forms, swiftly evanesrei.t. make no .suflTiciently 
 deep and abiding impression on the undisciplined observer. As a 
 li'.icher of elementary science, I have hatl frequent opportunity to 
 remark and to wonderat the confusion of mind of tyros who attempt to 
 give minutely and in orderly series the processes and the results of a 
 simple chemical experiment, even when, under direction, it has been 
 performed by themselves. In the first steps of training to observe 
 change, it is desirable for the teacher to jiredict minutely the changes 
 that will occur. At a subse(|uent part of the course, it will be well to 
 ndicate generally the points to which attention should be directed. 
 Finally, pupils must be practised in observing unexpected changes. 
 
 The third head —Susceptibilities— will afforil many opportunities 
 for practice in the observation of change. .Susceptibilities include the 
 ways in which a substance is affected by various other substances and 
 agencies, and are determined by trial, by experiment. In a course of 
 Object I essons only the chief and most common of these substances 
 and agencies need be considered, viz., mechanical force, water, heat 
 and cold. By these the third head may be thus suUlivided : 
 
 3. SUSCEPTIBILITFES. 
 
 a. Mechanical Force.— Hard or soft— tough, flexible, ductile, malle- 
 able, brittle, fissile, friable— compressible, elastic. 
 
 />. Water. -Can it be wetted ? is it absorbent ? d' es it dissolve ? does 
 it color water ? will it float or sink ? is it acted on in 
 any other way ? 
 
 <•. Heat and Cold.— Will it expand? melt? boil? bum? explode? 
 congeal ? 
 
 Following the same general course of procedure as recommended 
 under the head Qualities, it will be well, having familiarized the pupils 
 with the several susceptibilities given above by a series of miscellaneous 
 lessons, to give a series of special lessons on each, and afterwards to 
 examine every new substance submitted according to the systematic 
 scheme above proposed. 
 
 In bringing the sensible qualities and properties of bodies under the 
 notice of pupils, it will be well to remember that attention to these is 
 aroused at first by difference of sensations, especially when these are 
 strongly contrafted, as sound renders succeeding silence more impres- 
 sive. By judicious appeal to this principle the teacher will arrest 
 attention powerfully, and so fix in the memory securely. 
 
 When, by the examination of simple objects, some familiarity with 
 the notions classified in the scheme so far set forth has been attained, 
 objects more or less complex may be examined, and the use of heads 2 
 and 3 must be preceded by the first— Parts and Materia'. Here will 
 the pow-ers of analysis be consciously exercised, and the powers of 
 description taxed. Children must be instructed and practised in proxi- 
 mate, intermediate and ultimate analysis. The more obvious canons 
 of subdivision must be stated and illustrated, and then practised by the 
 children themselves in the division of complex objects presented to 
 their examination. These they must be taught to divide comprehen- 
 sively, exhaustively, exclusively, and in due subordination ; that is, to 
 
10 
 
 lhlitre"en.t'in'''''\"T''''' "^ ^''1. ^°""^^^' "P^" ^eal differences, 
 
 he J^hcT^P^^^T^ '^'°'" "•""*' '''^''' ^"^1 that together make up 
 
 the whole, giving them prominence in the order of importance- 
 
 s;i"Son\Tm'"'-f,''^' •"'■^' '-^"^ ^° ^° -"'>-^ umS trther 
 miir;Z!wir''T ''%"■■ """«<^!^f fy- They must further learn to 
 o hat tri n '"f'''^}' '^mul details, the scheme of subdivision, 
 
 so that they can reproduce it complete and in order at will This 
 much neglected discipline conduces remarkably to acquiring the powe 
 
 ble v^l ,1' ' '"? ^""''""""^^nJ exhaustive thought, and isVf incTul- 
 able value mi subsetjuent study. 
 
 At this stage may commence attempts at description. After an 
 
 SeTrtrSr' P'"^?^-^ '^^^^•V A^'^' -^^ -'h part has L^n 
 before tenn^'ST 1'' ''"'^ '^"-^ceptibilities, an essay to set the whole 
 tietore t e understanding in words as it has been presented in the 
 examination should be made. The difficulty here h in ^-sent ne 
 nearly and concisely what the nr .las observed of si.i motion coff 
 
 unde'r:t\Xyr7"^"''"^"- ''l ''''' has learned to prS to the 
 
 tUe d ?f c 1 1? with ;Y ^°"^;PV^ °f ^'; intricate form, will find but 
 
 e expSlv in '""'^J '^^s '^TP^" conceptions that remain to 
 
 cr^Jr. ^ '^> g"^ge- Clear and complete desc.iption depends on 
 
 sk,7 o h" t'T,; T^'^^^^t'^^' '^^^^:^^' --^nd duly subordinated subdivi- 
 
 iXV the former may and \ould proceed /«n passr^ with the 
 
 pa n ;,.'s lS^b"K'°"' •'' r ^''^'' '^°^^' ''''''''''^ touches outline, as in a 
 
 o the less fill', •nt'"''"- ^'"■'',' '''•'"' P^^'^^ediuK from the greater 
 
 excenHon.1 .nlL f P"'"'^,' «'Vy g''''"g pre-Raphaelitish detail in 
 
 exceptional cases A most valuable test of the accuracy and fulness of 
 
 JZZ'T"' "'^ "•■^""^t^ly applicable only in a few instances."? the 
 nvmS Z'T°'^''"" -n '" ^ P y^'"^^- ^^'^t^'i^" '^^^I'^i^" >" drawing, 
 n c. ef ,1.17" ■'' T^\ ''''""S^T """""^^ ^ ^1^^^' ^"d deeply interest i 
 hand draw on hrhl ' ' k"*"'!? description. Let the teacher, chalk in 
 nand, drau on the blacKboard what his pupils say in th^ attempt to 
 : fThe nl'^'h' ""?^' f«™ as one of the koS.an Capitals.'or ev?n one 
 of the algebraic =,gns, and he will evoke an amount of enthusiastic 
 
 s k h.s"of^e;T"'°"^"'' of language that will surprise him as much 
 as It has often surprised me. A dictation exercire in drawinc is of 
 great value as a test of the comprehension of language, but theTJesion 
 ; lu;bT.r"''; the pupil dictates and the teacher tlr'aws, is still more 
 Valuable as a test of analytic power, and of the ability to use lanpuage 
 for purposes of description. The number of persons who can describe 
 
 tT arnSha/\'r'''- ^^^'^ ^ ^^'^ ^^^^-^'y °f teachers I v?nt" re 
 fi.=. If .1-^^^'^ " '"°''^ than one person who would fail in his 
 
 first attemp to dictate one of the Roman Capitals, say even H. The 
 te t just indicated is, of course, applicable only in simple cases. But 
 a somewhat similar test of accuracy and fulness of description il applic- 
 ab e even ,n complex instances. We may always mentally reproduce a 
 r escrip ion, and children should be encouraged to do so with fheir own 
 descriptions and with those met with in books. So they vvilf detrc" 
 
 He?a?dS,?e' 'IT'"''''' r ■'^^^'^"P^'"" by the obviouLmpossfb 1 N 
 ties and hiatuses of he mental pictures. With such a training it would 
 have been impossible for the immortal Irish orator to have said : " I 
 W^l = 't ' . '- " "' '^^ t ' ^^"t, niark me, I will nip it in the bud." 
 
 tJcommi?in hii"'"!;.' """'^^ ^^''^'''^ ■^m^o.sM. fofprofessor Bain 
 to commit in his Education as a Science, '^a hundred solecisms such 
 
 ''letnn ^^T' ^'"^ ""f ^^5- "A piece of information, a moral 
 
 •' iWms A th'^'P^'^ "P'",^ '^'''' t^'^' ^"d l^^«"ght home with 
 
 " tKo ;h. 1?'"^.," ""■ ^°««'derable expenditure of mind in propor- 
 
 tion to thr result, tlie information or moral should be well selected ■ 
 
11 
 
 ;;evei7little point in the vast area of useful knowledge cannot afford 
 the requisite machinery. " 
 When in the awakening mind reason, judgment and the synthetic 
 faculty are apparent, we may introduce the fourth, which is also in many 
 respects the most important head of our scheme— Relations. The most 
 important because of the importance of the faculties drilled, and 
 because the ordinary school course has so little bearing on them in 
 many of their modes of exercise. Everything has relations to things 
 antecedent, to things contemporaneous, and to things consequent. If 
 heobjec examined be artificial, the things antecedent to it, which have 
 Z.' ni"? '■^;^'io"%t° 't, will be the design from which it sprung, and 
 !,.f- %u '"'"."'^'^'"'•e ^y which the design was embodied in the 
 nnnW^ , "■^",'"'',S<nated in a feeling of want that should be 
 analyzed, and was doubtless progressively improved in a mode of 
 
 ofr^n h''H'"V''''!-'''""'1 ^' '?''''^- '^^^ P'-"'^'^^^ of manufacture is 
 often both mterestinrr and complex, one that under the guidance of the 
 teacher may often be deduced, and should, when possible, be so 
 
 be nn'hil'li''' ?? "^''f'^ ''^ '^' ^''''^''- " ^he object examined 
 bt natural the history of its genesis and development and their neces- 
 .aiy conditions, so for as these are within the observation of pupils, 
 should be traced. Thus will causes of things be revealed. The rela- 
 tions oi the object to things contemporaneous are manifold ; but those 
 of greatest importance will group themselves under the heads of Uses. 
 Classification and Substance-Uses, embracing a consideration of the 
 qualities and susceptibilities of the parts and of the whole, in relation to 
 the purpose and the requirements of the whole-Classification, embrac- 
 
 I7fl^^ "^ c IT""^ "^ \^ "'^J'"^ '" '^' P^^^^' ^^ ^ P^'-t of the totality 
 ot things— Substance, embracing a just conception of the relation of the 
 phenornenal to the real, of what is to what appears. The relations of 
 the object to things consequent will be in the main two— the first the 
 effects on other things, the second the effects of other things upon it, 
 in other words, its possible future modification and development 
 „ h- u- '"I'-^^^'^'o" of the heading Relations, beginning with the present, 
 which IS the nearest and most readily apprehended, may be : 
 
 Classification —Relation to similar things. 
 
 Uses— Parts, qualities, and susceptibilities in relation to each other, 
 c 1 . -,,,. ^"^ ^° ^^^ purpose and requirements of the whole, 
 
 bubstance— What is, inferred from what appears. 
 Causes— If artificial, development of the design and manufacture of 
 
 the article, if natural, history of its development. 
 t.ttects and future development. 
 
 These sub-headings are not all equally applicable to every Obiect 
 Lesson Those to which attention should first be directed, and which 
 are indeed .nil but universally applicable, are Classification and Uses. 
 In Classification the pupil is taught to ascend from particular to eeneral 
 conceptions, the mode of mental procedure being almost the converse 
 of that by which a complex object is divided into its parts. The first 
 .step in the classification must be as little comprehensive as possible, 
 must in other words, embrace the smallest number of individuals to 
 which vve can give a general name ; or, still in other words, the indivi- 
 uals of the class first formed must coincide in as many points as possible 
 their divergencies must he as few and as unimportant as possible 
 Before ascending another step in the classification, the points of agree'- 
 
 a. 
 
 h. 
 
 r. 
 d. 
 
 e. 
 
12 
 
 mcnl in the individuals of the class just formed should be carefully 
 enumyated. and actual or permissible differences also indicated. Let 
 the next superior class, be then similarly formed, and so upward until 
 the most comprehensive class is attained. The meaning of the term 
 Uses must not be unduly restricted. In many cases the object may 
 serve no purpose of man, yet its parts may have a subservience to the 
 whole, to trace which will prove a most valuable discipline of imagina- 
 tion and judgment. .So the most insignificant and worthless of living 
 thmgs has organs and functions subordinated to the whole, and having 
 intricate and interesting relations to it, and to each other. 
 ^ ^ Later in the course, relations of Cause and Effect may be introduced, 
 riiesc relations are, of course, most readily traced and understood with 
 . thmgs artiticial, and the study of artificial things from this point of view 
 IS a necessary preliminaiy to the study of causes and effects among 
 natural phenomena. As before indicated, the history of the production 
 of any artihcial thing is two-fold. The first jiart is the history of the 
 design, the second is the statement of the mode of manufacture. Neither 
 is of much value as a means of education when detailed by the teacher. 
 Both are of the highest educational importance when rightly presented. 
 The want or inconvenience that led to the first primitive device should 
 be carefully analyzed in its relation to the invention. The rude original 
 contrivance, commended to adoption by its simplicitv and accessibility, 
 should be re-invented by pupils. Its imperfections and Inconvenience 
 should be pointed out by themselves, or, in the last resort, by the 
 teacher. Improvements should he suggested, and adaptations to 
 various conditions of requirement should be indicated, until from its 
 primary rude condition, through its various stages of development, the 
 completed design with all the modifications that fit it for varying uses 
 has been traced by the exercise of the intellects cf pupils themselves, 
 aided only by occasional suggestion from the teacher. Then will 
 pupils be prepared to follow with lively interest any details of the actual 
 historical develoi^ment that the teacher may be prepared to give. So 
 too, the teacher's statement of how an article is made should be 
 preceded by an effort of invention by the pupils ; they should show how 
 they would proceed to make the article. The difficulties that they would 
 encounter in their mode of manufacture should be pointed out, one 
 jHipil criticizing the method of another. The young inventors should 
 devise means of surmounting the suggested difficulties, until the problem 
 being distinctly before them, partially solved by their own endeavor, 
 they could intelligently and with interest follow the solutions given in 
 the practice of men. 
 
 The remaining particular under the head Relation— Substance— is 
 one that vvill but seldom present itself in school work, though practice 
 in discriminating between apparition and reality, and in deducing from 
 phenomena the underlying substance that tiiey both cover and reveal, is 
 a most desirable preparation for life, in which men who occujiy impor- 
 tant positions are necessarily constantl,,^ employed in attempting to 
 discover hidden motives concealed by professions and laid bare only in 
 issues. Its use must always be preceded by an exhaustive examination 
 of the phenomena, so that all that appears shall be submitted. Then 
 reason, judgment, imagination must conjointly give an explanation or 
 explanations that shall account for all the phenomena. When these 
 powers give alternative explanations, the phenomena must lie re- 
 
13 
 
 examined, in the hope of discoverincj unobserved some phenomenon 
 that may afford means of discrimination. 
 
 The last general head proposed is Associations. Here the method 
 of treatment will vary so much with the subject and with the idiosyn- 
 crasies of temperament of teacher and pupils, that I shall not attempt 
 to furnish a category of sub-divisions. Let each teacher deal as he 
 pleases with any oI)ject in it;; aspects of grandeur or beauty, of pathos 
 or fun. To see in any object " the light that never was on sea or 
 land" is the heritage of those who possess, as I do not, "the poets' 
 eye in a fine frenzy rolling." 
 
 It is obvious that no one object will require treatment in all the 
 particulars enumerated in the foregoing scheme. To some subjects one, 
 to others another mode of treatment is most appropriate. Accordingly, 
 in illustrating by a few brief, imperfect, but 1 hope suggestive, notes 
 portions of the foregoing scheme, I shall not take one, but three objects, 
 choosing as illustrative of discipline in Observation, " The Weather," 
 of the examination of Uses, " A Pair of Scissors," and of training in 
 Invention, a lesson on an " Ink Bottle."* 
 
 * ******* * * {(( 
 
 I have found it an excellent exe'-cise to take an occasional lesson in 
 invention pure and simple, commencing under the head Parts, by an 
 analysis of the want and by a statement of the obviously requisite parts 
 of the invention ; proceeding next to the Materials to be used in the 
 several parts, after consideration of the Properties essential to the 
 materials in relation to the purposes to be subserved ; and, finally, 
 under the head of Qualities, determining the size and shape of the 
 several parts. The method of procedure is, after suggesting any 
 material, or proposing any form, to criticize it as severely as possible, 
 and to devise means of obviating the objections raised. 
 
 In illustration let us take a lesson on the invention of an ink-bottle, 
 as actually conducted in class by the writer. It should be remembered 
 that the many particulars given were suggested at random l^y members 
 of the class, taken down upon the black-board, and subsequently 
 arranged in order, the arrangement often suggesting other particulars 
 evidently required for the completion of the scheme. 
 
 NOTKS OK OhJBXT Lf.SSO.V on .\N lNK-P.()'l-|r.F.. 
 
 Practice in Invention. 
 
 I. Parts required — For simplicity these should be as few as possible. 
 
 a. Receptacle for ink, so shaped as to stand. 
 
 b. Opening to receptacle. 
 
 c. Cover. 
 
 d. Place for pen. 
 
 II. Material chosen. 
 
 Necessary and desirable properties of material. 
 
 a. Non-absorbent of ink. 
 
 b. Chemically indifferent to ink. 
 
 c. Rigid enough to maintain its shape. 
 
 d. Strong enough to resist hard usage. 
 
 e. Hard enough, not to be easily scratched. 
 
 f. It should be inexpensive. 
 
 * Lack of space compels us to omit the notes on the two former subjects as given 
 in the paper when read. We give those on the ink bottle only. 
 
14 
 
 g. And easily wrought. 
 h. And light. 
 
 i. The part which the pen-point strikes in dipping should be soft 
 k. 1 ransparency would be advantageous. 
 The following substances were proposed :— 
 1st. For the Receptacle. 
 
 a. Wood was rejected because it is absorbent. 
 
 b. Soapstone because it is too easily scratched. 
 
 'J ^ead iron, copper, because not chemically indifferent to ink 
 
 SsoTbed^"'^'"'^' ^"'"''"'^ """ ^'''''' "■'"'^'' ""''' ^^'""^ ^^^ ''"'^ 
 
 e. Gold and silver, because too expensive. 
 
 f. Porcelain and glass were accepted as fulfilling, when thick 
 
 enough, all necessary conditions, but glass was preferred 
 because of Its transparency. ^ ^icucu 
 
 g. A pad of vulcanized rubber was suggested for the pen-point tc. 
 
 strike on in dipping. 
 
 2nd. For the Cover, which should also be the place for the pen, am- 
 metal was deemed suitable. 
 III. Qualities. 
 
 In choosing the material all essential qualities except si^e and shape 
 were already determined. ' ^^ 
 
 1st. Size. — Essential : 
 
 a. That the pen should dip into the ink neither more nor less than 
 
 yi an inch ; 
 
 b. That the total dip into the bottle should not exceed one inch and 
 a nait ; and 
 
 That the bottle should hold from one to two ounces of ink. 
 Shape.— This must be such that 
 
 It shall not be readily upset ; hence the centre of gravity must 
 anyJhllig.' ^'^'^''^ '""^^ ^^^ "° projecting cornersto catch in 
 
 h. If overthrown the ink shall not spill ; this implies an inverted 
 tube as in a common form of pocket ink-bottle. 
 
 c. The pen shall dip into a constant depth of one-half inch of ink ■ 
 
 Sm 7m: MajrfoUlf ■ °' ''' ''"' '°""'''^'"' ^' '" ^ ^■"~' 
 
 '^' ^wifl'pr'dlide.''''"'^'" ' ^"' ''"' ' '^°'''' ''^^ ^'■■"■^'•y ^"^'g-'-'- 
 
 e. The ink shall not be exposed to evaporation ; this implies a 
 
 very small surface of ink exposed to the air 
 
 f. The pen shall not dip into sediment ; this implies a dome shape 
 
 to the pad on which the pen strikes, so tliat sediment shall 
 not rest on it. 
 
 g. It may be easily cleaned ; hence it must have a smooth contour 
 
 without angles both insid-i and out, and it must afford access 
 to the interior. 
 
 It would be interesting, but for lack of time, to follow in <ietail the 
 
 ^.= 2"K%f 7"^^' ''^'""'' '^.o'lt'-^dictory, inadequate, ingenious, sug- 
 
 fotin^n V-!1 m attempting to meet the various conditions, hafd 
 
 o reconcile, laid down in the foregoing scheme-a scheme proposed by 
 
 the class itself in considering what was desirable in an ink-bottle, and 
 
 c. 
 
 2nd. 
 
 a. 
 
15 
 
 lEeTeof'S "^The^'""' ""'I*'^^^ '^"' ''' "^^'"'''^- had experienced in 
 
 md u^ 'Two '^^'"'f h--^' «f '^^'"■•leBs glass, of two a^d a ha f fnc'he 
 Ss on. f , ^/T'* •P?".'8S communicated with the interior" the 
 
 three-qmrto, of »£, 5 L £?'"'=■ ?"t' ^'r'™"-' "ow to within 
 
 cap was on, JlTlL'mk ^fc^nta Ld^tattcureS h^t"; ^'^ ""^■ 
 ration and dust, that would not allow the pen to StfnnS T"" ^^''^'°' 
 sed ment, that saved the .ifn nniru r ^ ? '°° deeply nor mto 
 
 screw-ca;, could be filled and thJ'Tv '"J^'-^'.^hat by loosening the 
 
 easily and thoroughly cSed Alft'hk^nf'T"^'"^ ''^'•^P' "^""'^ "^^ 
 complication of pfrtl^ ^^'' °^ "''^^P '"^'^"^' ^"^ without 
 
 duce\?vSy"LncWnatl'r7°" '^"" ^'^^^ '^^ ^^J'^'^^ Wesson intro- 
 chemistry, LtTny.ooli?y it TiS ^Tr^^^' "'^'"'•^' philosophy, 
 to the beginnincs^of knowkdi ''^"^'^^^ the scientific method applied 
 
 teacher ffom Lt^'t^^^Tt tfthe Sltific ^'^rr^'^f;'"" 'f^'^^^ 
 common sense appHed to thracouki nn .?^^ , V'°^^'!^S else than 
 
 who is eminentl?Psu:i::fu\ i„"c2nr ti^^^^rJlt^^^ 
 
 must hav2 eminent gifts. But these aifi.., • , ^^^^ Lessons 
 
 sLS/^r^.=^tSEESi?-^ 
 
 In conclusion, permit me briefly to advert to nn !.K- ? 
 times thoughtlessly urged a-ainst OWerf T «c . objection some- 
 
 useless smatterings of sdence'aetaiShii;'?/" 9^ ^''^'' ^^^^ 
 the objector. Of course when . l^lTu , r "'"^^^ '"^ ^"^<it"m, says 
 
 ought io subside bitlVIt we oS and'^at''" '^•°^'^"" ^' ""^ ^^ 
 diverse from each other. In tl.fs case 1 .Ml . . "° '"'^f sometimes 
 the quotation. No fact clearlv aDn?ehi.w l'^i° ''^"^ "P ^'^S^'"^^ 
 philosophy, or chemis?;. :rJfot?r?ro p ych^^^^^^^^ "^^"^^^ 
 
 science; nor do twenty nor fifty such fEK-S-. =^'"^"^""6 of 
 They are the true beginnincs of scienro ^cts constitute a smattering, 
 out himself tracing. The inducUon ../...t r "" '^"^^"^rer who, with- 
 
 Fot ,.e ,ir? orttteT^r. ^L .::^j[S.S;^^:X. 
 
on trust much affects the folly -and shall I say superstition-of accent- 
 ing generalizations on authority. He who believes that the rac/u vectores 
 
 ^hnXP r '''^^''^ °"* ^'^''''^ '^'■^^^ '" ^1"^' t'nies, bccau<:e he has read 
 that Newton says so is much on a par with the man who believes that 
 
 Wn*? n '^^ '^"''' '''' '°'^" °" ^'- Laurence's day, because he has 
 been told so, and is as an astronomer incalculably below the intelligent 
 hind, who says the new moon returns every twenty-eitjht days, for I 
 have counted, and I know; even though the latter has discovered an 
 
 Tn ^hrsST" r^'^ r"'^' ''''^- V^" ^°'"'"^'" ""^^ ^''^'' 'e^'-"^^' his truth 
 in the shghtly modihed form which would make it exact. And as for 
 
 nJ^hV^'-l" S"otation appalling enough if met in a lonely lane on a dark 
 night, It will scarcely affright us here in broad daylight. In respect of 
 science, no man can know muUum who does not know mulin. There 
 IS no eminent scientist who is not conversant with many scicMices as well 
 rJninn '"" .'"''^lu- ^ man may be a Latinist, and nothing else, a 
 Grecian, and nothing e se, but he cannot be an astronomer, a biologist, 
 a psychologist and nothing else. Surely those who speak of /;/^.////;; 
 «^«w«/^a as the guiding principle of a boy's education forget what is 
 the obvious method of nature. She assails our ears at once with multi- 
 tudinous voices. She unrolls before our eyes her brilliant scroll, written 
 over with ch.aracters a thousand fold more diverse than the logographs 
 of Chinese literature, a thousand fold more mysterious than the hic'ro- 
 glyphics of Memphis and Thebes, a thousand fold more gorgeously il- 
 luminated than any mediaeval psalter. On all our senses, and on all 
 at once, niyriad-formed external nature pours her odors, her sights, her 
 sounds. Nor IS this all As when one rolls a rock 'into some dim 
 abyss we hear uprising the clash and rumble and roar of the far-<Iescen- 
 tlmg stone, so when nature drops a sensation into the depths of our 
 being, instantly uprise the murmuring voices of reason, of judgment 
 of imagination, sounding ever nearer and ever louder the mysterious 
 burden of the universe. Then, too, awakes all the strange inner world 
 of emotion and of will that never, never can be lulled to sleei, arain 
 Surely nature does not say non mulia. Again, the knowledge of many 
 things, not much of one thing, constitutes the true preparation for \\d 
 &" T'l .^'' ''°y on'^^hingonly, and turn him adrift in the world. 
 
 nltn^Sf fiT 'r^'^'y^^'^T^'^'^^' «"^ thing he will be found 
 altogether unfi to p lay any useful or successful part amid the activities 
 of this many-sKled he The maxim quoted is the result of an im- 
 perfect conception of life. While preparation for duty is general manv 
 thmgs must be taught. When the^neral preparatio^n isfom'kCanJ 
 a definite course of life is chosen, one line of study must be steadily and 
 ZFl^^T^/ P"^^"^^; ^^^'t me to amend the maxim, and say /J 
 multa multum. And permit me, as my last word, to sr,v, let him who 
 aims a an education that shall be eminently practical not neglect to 
 
 ^Kl^i '£ ""^ ""r" "1, °^ ^Y^^^^ L'^^^""^' ^' "f ^ ^ost valuable 
 and ethcient means of intellectual culture. 
 
 WiTNKss" Priming h 
 
 OIJSE, MoNTRKAI..