The different uses to which things are applied depending on the properties which they possess, one of these considerations will easily lead to the other. If, therefore, a child is acquainted with the use of an object, he may be requested to infer what must be its properties; or these being known to him, his inventive power may be exercised in finding how it can be rendered useful: thus is he led to the investigation of causes and effects. At a more advanced age, he will be aided in the search by visiting manufactories, or exercising his ingenuity, as has been recommended, in working various substances; for the properties of matter are best ascertained by the modification which it undergoes in the arts.

By frequently inquiring into the uses of things, a child forms the valuable habit of estimating every thing according to its utility, and of turning it to account. The inquiry into the mode of production and fabrication will tend to cultivate in him a spirit of investigation and invention, whilst the constant practice of ascertaining causes and effects will foster dispositions most favorable for afterwards making discoveries in the arts and investigating truths in the higher sciences. Mere chance has less to do with the work of invention than is generally supposed in most instances, the lucky accident which gave birth to the discovery has but set in motion a certain train of thought in an already prepared mind.

In speaking of the place where the manufactured article or the substances of which it is composed, are produced, the preceptor has an opportunity of conveying interesting information on the natural productions of various countries, especially on those of his pupils. Should he have within reach a general map, or, better still, a large terrestrial globe, he will add considerably to the benefit of the lesson by pointing out the situation of every country or town, as its name is mentioned.

In the first examination of objects children should be induced to discover what belongs to nature and what to art. Natural substances assume, by the effect of art, so many forms and appearances, that, in many cases, a great deal of ingenuity is required to find out the original materials. These investigations will bring within the range of conversation the three great subdivisions of natural substances, namely, the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, as well as the various arts of life.

These and the other topics which have now been enumerated as coming within the scope of these conversations, will considerably assist children in comprehending books when they begin to read, and will prepare the way for their future study of many interesting

branches of instruction. A variety of useful notions is elicited, which it would take many years to obtain by the ordinary routine of experience, and which never forms part of a college course.

3. Cautious Gradation to be observed in these Lessons.

One of the chief objects of early lessons ought to be to excite in a child such a love of knowledge as will induce him to be ardent in its pursuit. His natural desire of variety should be indulged, and the gratification of his curiosity should be combined with his improvement. To make him a more active agent in these lessons, he should, at first, be induced to point out objects, the names or properties of which he does not know, or which he may have forgotton. This simple act of reflection will prepare him for making other inquiries afterwards. In the first stages of these lessons, he should be frequently allowed to choose the objects about which he wishes to be informed; he should be particularly encouraged to ask questions and make observations. Whatever is interesting to him is an appropriate subject of investigation. He will learn with delight new facts and new terms connected with an object already familiar to him, or information given him in answer to his questions; and what he thus learns he easily remembers. The remarks of the child will, in many cases, show the instructor in what manner the subject may be treated. When the topics touched upon are not new to him, he may be questioned about them; when they are, he should receive whatever information is suited to his wants and age; the instructor, at the same time, keeping up his pupil's attention by kindness of manner, liveliness of delivery, and occasional anecdotes.

The benefit to be derived from the conversations on objects will greatly depend on the cautious gradation observed in introducing new considerations, and in not allowing the lessons to continue so long as to produce fatigue. They should cease before the child evinces symptoms of weariness; for it is desirable that the impression on his mind, at the conclusion of the lesson, be pleasurable, in order that he may feel a lively desire for its renewal.

These exercises in observation, which, in the commencement, ought not to exceed a few minutes, may be gradually lengthened, as children acquire with age greater command over their attention, and greater desire for information. Many objects should, at first, be offered to their notice, because the immaturity of infancy does not permit a minute investigation of each; and attention can then be kept up only by variety and novelty. As their powers of observation and reflection increase by exercise, the subjects of consideration

must be gradually diminished, until one may suffice at a sitting.. Thus, as they advance, being required to attend more closely to a single object for a greater length of time, more unity of design is preserved, and more depth of information is acquired. But let it never be forgotten that long confinement and protracted application to one subject should be seduously avoided. There must be no gloom, no misery, associated with the first intellectual exertions: happiness is the privilege of childhood.

SECT. 111.- EXERCISES IN REFLECTION.

1. Size, Weight, Durability, &c., of things.

When children have been for some time engaged in conversing on the subjects above alluded to, and when reading can be practiced concurrently with and subsidiarily to oral instruction, that is, toward the age of ten or eieven, the instructor will introduce considerations of a higher character. He must now exercise the reflective powers of his pupils; and, for this purpose, he must enlarge their sphere of observation, and explore with them the fields of science.

The properties of things, or the laws of nature respecting them, which are submitted to the attention of young persons, must now be considered as the elements of scientific knowledge. These proper ties, or, to speak more philosophically, the relations in which things stand to each other, may be classified under three heads: 1. Relations to our constitution, as their color, taste, temperature, form, &c.; 2. Relations to other particular substances, as their compressibility, fusibility, inflammability, fragility, &c.; 3. Relations to bodies in general, that is, which may be predicated of all bodies, whatever be their particular properties, as rest, motion, extension, quantity, &c. The first two kinds of properties are elicited by comparison, and are relative: those of the third kind are independent of relation to any particular substance, and are absolute. The properties which bodies. possess as belonging to some particular class of beings, form the data from which to reason in natural history and the physical sciences; the properties of the third kind form the subject of our reasoning in all mathematical investigations.

In addition to the consideration of the parts and substances of objects, to the notions of number, form, color, and other sensible properties, to which we have already alluded, the children will be made to estimate the size, weight, durability, and value of things, the relative proportions of different measures of the same kind, the relative positions of various objects, or of the different parts of one object, their distances from them, and from each other. For this new series 3

of exercises the learners should be furnished with the various measures in common use, a yard and foot, a quart, pint, and quartern; scales, steelyard, and weights; a dial with revolving hands; gold, silver, and copper coins; a plumb line, a square rule, and compasses. To these should be added the measures, weights, and coins of any foreign country whose language they are to learn.

During the lesson these measures should always be at hand, and referred to as a test in the examination of objects. By frequent application of them, children would form a just idea of measures of all kinds, of the subdivision of time and the value of money, and would soon be familiarized with the calculations required for the or<dinary purposes of life. A small sum, made up of the current coins of two countries, would enable them to practice various calculations in reduction and exchange. Different graduated measures of capacity and weight would offer similar exercises to discover their relative - value, and show how many measures of one kind are equivalent to one measure of the other. Many interesting arithmetical problems may be founded on the facts thus acquired.

We need scarcely advert to the superiority of this practical instruction over the senseless and irksome task of learning by heart tables of weights and measures, often imposed on children, when they have no idea of what is meant by the technical terms of which they are composed. The details so often found in books of the value and measures of things, the dimensions of buildings, the distances of places, the hights of mountains, the length of rivers, &c., can : convey but vague and erroneous ideas to those who do not possess clear notions of the current money, of ounces, pounds, and tons weight, of pints, gallons, and bushels, of feet, fathoms, and miles.

The parts and the substances of objects being now investigated more philosophically than heretofore, will call the attention of the young observers to the classification and nomenclature of organic and inorganic matter, and to the various departments of natural history and natural philosophy. The mention of colors may, henceforth, afford the instructor opportunity of giving to inquisitive learners an insight into the theory of light, of explaining, by means of the prism, the phenomenon of the rainbow, and of investigating many optical problems. Considerations of quantities, forms, dimensions, superficies, and magnitude, will gradually lead to practical arithmetic, to the elements of geometry, and to the measurement of plane and solid figures; those of weight to the principles of gravitation, and, from them, to the elements of mechanics and astronomy; those of distance to perspective and to the mention of the telescope and of astronom

ical discoveries; those of durability and time to chronology and history; those of value and cost to the elements of wealth and to the first principles of political economy; references to the countries from which objects come will furnish the opportunity of entering upon geographical inquiries. Thus, by the force of association, numberless chains of ideas, depending chiefly on the information and habits of study of the instructor, will exercise the reflective powers of the young, and enrich their memory with extensive and useful knowledge,

2. Physical Geography-Geographical box.

In all investigations the instructor should seize every opportunity to turn the conversation on useful subjects. But, among those which may engage the attention of the young, geography is one of the most suitable; for it is addressed to the senses and memory as much as to the reflective powers.

The child is taught the points of the compass relatively, first, to the position of the room in which he is, and, then, to the different parts of the house. He may, afterwards, when he is out of doors, ascertain the geographical direction of the streets, the course of the river, and the relative positions of different buildings. But, before the denominations of east, west, north, and south, are mentioned to him, he should be told of the rotundity of the earth as well as of its double rotary motion, and be made to observe the direction of the sun, its successive positions in the heavens-in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. These terms, arising out of the want which he has of them, will be clear, and easily retained. How many young people are there who, for want of this previous practical information, see in the cardinal points only the four sides of a map!

The geographical terms expressive of the various natural subdivisions and physical characteristics of land and water can never be defined so as to give children clear and accurate ideas of the things which they represent. They are best explained in the presence of the things themselves. But as many of these objects can not be seen in their natural state, their place might be supplied by a small model in relief of an imaginary portion of the earth exhibiting its principal features.

The construction of such a model presents no difficulty: the author, applying to the education of his own children most of the sugges tions thrown out in these pages, has made one himself for their use. A lake, a Mediterranean sea, bays, &c., are carved out of wood; and mountains, rocks, banks of rivers, and undulations of the ground are made with putty; the whole is painted in oil of the natural color of