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274 INFANT SCHOOLS INFLAMMATION sung at first by the teacher, and afterward by the children, accompanies each exercise or game. The first gift consists of six soft balls of different colors, and a string ; the colors are red, blue, and yellow green, violet, and orange. They are moved horizontally, verti- cally, and in circles before the infant, by the teacher or an older child, who sings the song explaining the motions. By these balls the child obtains ideas of form, color, size, and movement, as well as of his own individuality. The second gift 'is a cube, a cylinder, a wooden ball, a stick, and a string; these are rolled, whirled, dragged, and used in a great variety of ways, and from them the child acquires ideas of form, size, sound, movement, and of development according to a fixed law. The third gift is a cube cut into eight equal cubes ; these the child arranges into other forms, and receives new lessons in the law of develop- ment, gets a notion of angles, cubes, the laws of construction, and the division of units into halves, quarters, and eighths. He should al- ways be taught to construct from the centre. The fourth gift is a cube divided into eight equal planes. In the use of this the children unite around a table, and construct together their buildings and other objects. By means of this and the preceding gifts, the alphabet and the elementary principles of arithmetic and geome- try may be taught. The fifth gift is an exten- sion of the third ; the cube is divided into 27 small cubes, and three of these are divided di- agonally into halves and three into quarters. This introduces the triangle, and gives scope for the construction of the arch and other ar- chitectural objects, and for practical perspec- tive. The sixth gift is an extension of the fourth, the cube being divided into 27 planes, of which six are again divided, three in height and three in breadth ; in the use of these the children are taught to build from the teacher's dictation. A seventh gift is added, containing all the forms of the last four. To these gifts are subsequently joined movable lines or plait- ing sticks, which are also used for construc- tion, being united when necessary by softened peas, pasteboard, and tissue paper, to be com- bined into figures and objects, and soft clay for modelling, in which many of the children be- come very expert. Drawing in the net, that is, on a slate furrowed into squares, and sub- sequently on paper ruled with a pale ink in squares, and painting in the net, are also intro- duced. The gymnastic exercises are still plays, of which there are a great variety, intended to develop all the muscles; these, too, are all ac- companied by songs explanatory and instruc- tive. For older pupils Froebel established scholars' gardens, in which workshops took the place of the games. During Froebel's life (lie died in 1852) more than 50 kindergartens were established in Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. Prussia, Saxony, and several of the minor states in Germany prohibited in 1851 the establishment of infant schools accord- ing to Froebel's system, on the supposition that it inculcated socialism and atheism. But as it very soon became evident that kinder- gartens, according to Froebel's original princi- ples, though apt to be misused for party pur- poses, could not really injure the state, the prohibitions were recalled, and the system was rapidly introduced everywhere. Though stren- uous efforts were made in several states for the establishment of such institutions in connection with the public schools, no government has as yet acceded to the demand, and the benefits of the kindergartens continue to be restricted to those classes which are able to pay for them. There are in Germany several institutions for the education of teachers for these schools, and several periodicals are devoted to a further de- velopment of Froebel's ideas. The Kinder- garten und Elementarklasse, published in Wei- mar since 1861, and the Kindergarten, pub- lished in Berlin since 1866, enjoy great favor. The system has been introduced into the Uni- ted States, and there are several such schools in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and else- where, especially in the western cities with a large German population. See " Moral Cul- ture of Infancy, and Kindergarten Guide," by Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody (revised ed., New York, 1869), and "The Kindergarten in Public Schools," by Adolf Douai (New York, 1870). INFLAMMATION, a process which occurs in the progress of many diseases, and which is also produced by wounds and the presence of foreign bodies acting as irritants. There has always been considerable controversy as to the nature of inflammation, some regarding it strictly as a- morbid process, although often accompanying restoration or healing, while others contend that it is essentially a natural and healing effort, the morbid conditions which may accompany it not being a part of the true inflammation, but the cause of it; in other words, that it is an attendant on that vital force which has so long been known under the name of tit medicatrix natural, being a conservative process employed by the nervous force which has been excited to action by a hurtful pres- ence. Others again look upon the results of the process as determining whether it is mor- bid or healthful. Hippocrates regarded inflam- mation, like many of the symptoms of diseases, as a condition instituted by nature, or the (fAcis, the essence or productive power of nature, for the purpose of restoration, and his practice was based upon this theory. Stahl, the elaborator of the phlogiston theory in chemistry, imagined an agent analogous to Hippocrates's fbatf dwell- ing in the human body, which he called anima, possessing a species of intelligence -by which it could institute processes for the expulsion of hurtful intruders. Van Helmont had a similar theory, to which he added the necessity of two circumstances for the development of inflam- mation : the action of stimulants on parts hav- ing sensibility, and an increased activity of the arterial system, followed by redness, heat, swell-