fall from the table of philosophy, when they have no appetite that should impel them to take a place at the board. Elementary books, or, to speak more correctly, FIRST books, should consist entirely of dainty morsels, and of well-gathered flowers; but nothing should be seen in them that is comprehensive; there should be no synopses, no bird’s-eye views, no generalization.
The teacher must, unquestionably, himself be master, in a systematic manner, of what he talks about; or he soon becomes bewildered, and falls into positive errors; and by the means also of his own acquaintance with the abstruse principles of a science, he will be able so to select facts as that, while to the eye they are loose and incidental, they may really be the best for preparing the mind to admit what is to follow.
The incidental conveyance of general knowledge, during the early period of education, naturally takes its rise from two kinds of occasions; namely, in the first place, from the occurrence of words and phrases, in reading or conversation, of which a child asks explanation; and, secondly, from the occurrence of phenomenaordinary or rare, which may chance to excite his curiosity. And these two occasions of imparting knowledge easily run one into an-other; as when, for instance, the meaning of a word is askedEvaporation, and the thing is exhibited by the holding a damp newspaper before the fire. On the contrary, if the disappearance of the dew on the window has been observed, the technical term may opportunely be connected with it, in the way of elliptical interrogation:What you see going on is?Evaporation.
Or some advantage may result from allowing an interval of time to pass between the one sort of explanation, and the other; for the mind always holds more firmly that which it seizes by a rebound, as thusWhat does this word evaporation mean?The turning of water or of other
