CHAPTER XIV
1. Let us then commence to seek out, in God’s name, the principles on which, as on an immovable rock, the method of teaching and of learning can be grounded. If we wish to find a remedy for the defects of nature, it is in nature herself that we must look for it, since it is certain that art can do nothing unless it imitate nature.
2. A few examples will make this clear. We see a fish swimming in the water; it is its natural mode of progression. If a man wish to imitate it, it is necessary for him to use in a similar manner the limbs that are at his disposal; instead of fins he must employ his arms, and instead of a tail, his feet, moving them as a fish moves its fins. Even ships are constructed on this plan; in the place of fins they must employ oars or sails, and in the place of a tail, the rudder. We see a bird flying through the air; it is its natural mode of progression. When Daedalus wished to imitate it, he had to take wings (large enough to carry such a heavy body) and set them in motion.
3. The organ of sound production in animals is a pipe consisting of muscular rings, provided at the top with the thyroid cartilage, as with a lid, and at the bottom with the lungs, as with a wind-bag.
