method in Science: there was a want of method when the philosophers of antiquity affirmed, that air and water were elementary bodies, that the celestial bodies moved in circles, of which the earth occupied the centre, and that water rose in the barrel of the common pump from nature's horror of a vacuum; and even in more recent times, the same want of method was shown when Descartes affirmed that the planetary bodies floated in a whirlpool of ether. Who can estimate the marvellous change that has been effected by the philosophy of method first proposed by Bacon? Nature, as if at the touch of the enchanter's wand, yielded up her treasures of knowledge; physical science, after the death-like slumber of ages, sprung into vigorous existence; and even in our own time, under the guidance of this method, mind has achieved the most despotic dominion over matter; new sciences have been born, far surpassing in utility, beauty, and grandeur all that had been accumulated throughout the past history of humanity. Poetry has its method. So remarkable is this method, that a great poet will by a single word an idea open -- to us a whole series of relations and conditions. In speaking of the style of Shakespeare, Coleridge observes:- "Who, like him, could so methodically suit the very flow and tone of discourse to characters lying so widely apart, in rank and habits and peculiarities, as Holofernes and Queen Katherine, Falstaff and Lear? When we compare the pure English style of Shakespeare with that of the very best writers of his day, we stand astonished at the method by which he was directed in the choice of those words and idioms, which are as fresh now as in their first bloom; nay, which are at the present moment at once more energetic, more expressive, more natural, and more elegant than those of the happiest and most admired living speakers or writers." There is method in Oratory. Who has not felt the power of Oratory? Whence does this power proceed? An eloquent public speaker must always possess method; he may be without technical learning, and even without those refinements of manner and diction which usually constitute a gentleman; he may be without the prestige of rank, or wealth, or party, and even without those conventional literary or scientific titles which are too often accepted as the badges of superior intellect, or as the passports to distinction and power; yet there is something in him which rises superior to all these disadvantages, there is method, based upon a knowledge of the tastes and ruling passions of his audience, which charms and captivates them by its beauty, convinces them by its exactness and transparency, amd overawes them by its depth and power. Beginning with a simple detail of facts, he generalises, abstracts, and draws conclusions; with a constant regard to the final impression which he wishes to produce, he sees from the first what will be the effect of each successive step; all nature is tasked to supply him with illustrations and analogies,— youthful Spring with his freshness and his song, or golden Autumn with her stores of fruit and her sheaves of corn,- lovely Summer with her flowers and her sunlight, or stern Winter with his storms and his shadows, the air, the earth, the ocean, the dread magnificence of heaven,— all may be invoked to lend power and enchantment to his discourse; from the world about him he rises to the world of thought from the visible to the invisible and there finds new materials for argument and persuasion; having connected argument with argument, and added illustration to illustration, he sums up the accumulated evidence, in order that it may fall with the greatest effect upon the minds of his audience, and that they may be convinced of the truth of the leading conception, the end and aim of his discourse. In all this there is unity with variety, but it is the variety which arises out of unity, - this all-pervading idea constitutes the method. The intellectual faculties which characterise the oratory are very nearly allied to those which are requisite for forming the distinguished teacher. Everything in nature has its peculiar method of development; and this development may, in almost every case, be aided and improved by the judicious application of the principles of this method. A grain of corn when thrown into the soil will germinate and grow, and bud, and ripen into seed, without the special care of man; but all these processes would be very much aided and improved by the application of the methods which agricultural chemistry has discovered. Just so it is with the germ of intelligence- the immaterial principle. It seeks to develop itself—it germinates, grows, and blossoms, and ripens and expands into developed intelligence, without the application of any artificial means; but the intelligence thus developed without the aid of culture, is that of the savage, not that of the perfect man, capable of acting and thinking in accordance with reason, and in conformity with the law of his Creator. It is true, that many men are born with a predilection for teaching, and seem to qualify themselves for the discharge of its duties with comparatively little study or reflection. Such teachers are exceptions to the rule; and there can be little doubt, that even they would have been vastly benefited by a study of method as applied to teaching. It is said that Pascal was born a Geometer, but it is very questionable whether we should ever have heard his name, had his genius not been cultivated and developed by a systematic course of instruction. So it is with education the most distinguished teachers are to be found amongst those who have shown a predilection for the work, and whose minds have been at the same time constantly directed to a study of methods of education. Before a man can become a distinguished teacher he must have method: all that he has seen, or experienced, or read, relative to the nature of the being to be educated, must have assumed the form of a substantial unity. an idea. an all-pervading law, which connects relations apparently the most dissimilar, and gives oneness and harmony to the most heterogeneous mass of facts and conditions, which constitutes his exponent of the past, aad the symbol of that calculus which is to enable him to solve every problem which may arise in the future, which involves all his past ex perience, and out of which he must evolve his conduct in the future, which sheds a light over the path that lies behind him, and becomes the polar star to guide him in his voyage on the dark and shoreless ocean that lies before him. No language can adequately transmit that idea that method to other minds; for it is in him merely the key-note with which is associated a long train of harmonious combinations and sequences: it exists in him alone, and for him alone, and before others can stand on the same vantage ground with him, they must give the same patient attention to the philosophy of method, and submit themselves to the same strict process of selfexamination and self-development. We repeat that no man ever yet became a great teacher until method had become to him a living and substantial reality. This method may, and no doubt does, assume forms suited to the intellectual and moral qualities of each individual, even accommodating itself to the idiosyncrasy of each, and the varying external conditions and circumstances of each; but the grand features of this method, like the elements of our physical and moral constitution, will be the same in all. A GLANCE AT THE HISTORY OF METHOD. Socrates was not a great geometer, but he gave a method of philosophy which determined the character of the schools of antiquity; and the catechetical form in which he gave his instruction has been distinguished by his name. Euclid probably never discovered a single proposition of geometry; but he gave us the idea and form of a synthetic method which has shed an effulgence of light on the path of philosophy, and which will endure as long as there is a human soul to think, a science to be cultivated, or a law of nature to be discovered. Bacon made no discovery in mathematics, nor did he add one fact to our stock of physical knowledge; but he effected a greater purpose he gave us the method of universal philosophy: what the one did for a single department of abstract science, the other achieved for universal knowledge. Newton was a great discoverer in every department of mathematical and physical science; but he also gave us, in his "Principia," the embodiment of a synthetic method of teaching mixed mathematics which will probably coexist with the law of gravitation itself. Archimedes was also a great discoverer, but, in a certain sense, his genius died with him; he did nothing to perpetuate himself, for he had no recognised method, and bequeathed to posterity no creative principle beyond the isolated facts and propositions which he discovered; his mind was essentially individual, and his contempt for concrete science, which his mind was eminently qualified to adorn, caused the secret of his power to die with him. But let us consider the history of method more strictly in relation to primary education. The ancient classical nations did nothing for primary education; they established splendid schools of philosophy for their young men, but left the instruction of their children to slaves, or neglected it altogether; and during the middle ages - the epoch of chivalry-the only schoolroom was the cell of the monk or the cave of the anchorite. And what was the state of education after the Reformation? From the undue reverence with which the works of antiquity were regarded, education began with the classics, and for the most part ended with them. Poetry was clothed in the garment of heathen mythology, and even our philosophy was more engaged with the history of what was false than with the investigation of what was true. Education became a series of tasks-the memory was enthroned over all the other powers of the mind-reason, invention, and the principle of self-development were disregarded; and under this unnatural and unphilosophical system, a great memory and a great mind became almost synonymous terms. This method was analytic and dogmatic, for its main element consisted in giving a knowledge of rules and words rather than things - of names rather than positive ideas. Although the leading principles of primary education are contained in the great work of the father of inductive philosophy, yet it would appear |