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    s HEINEICH PESTALOZZI. 91

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    At Lastafter Many Years' Difficult Searc...

    man lias been very remarkable .-. His spirit lias been infused into whole generations of teachers in his native landand through _,

    , individual disciples has been communicated far and wide over the civilized world . His enthusiastic love for childrenhis zealous

    , devotion to the interests of his countrymen and of humanity ; his unswerving * faith in the efficacy of education for the regeneration of

    the lower classes of society ; his unflinching courage in urging upon _, rulers and all set in authority the sacred duty of providing for the

    poor a more Christian institution than either the workhouse or the gaol ; above all , the intense concentration of energy and purpose

    with which he pursued his object through a long and often unhappy life , —these features in his character demand our highest

    admiration and place Pestalozzi in the foremost rank of distinguished philanthrop ci ists .

    Pestalozzi belongs to the modern or realistic school of education , the general tendency of which is twofold . As regards the matter of instruction , to supersede the languages and literature of Greece

    and Home by the mother-tongue and practical knowledge ; and as regards the manner of instruction , to supersede the analytic and

    experimental method by a synthetic and demonstrative one . The most eminent men of this school before him were Rousseau , Locke ,

    _- and Comenius . Its origin is distinctly traceable to the influence of Bacon ' s method of philosophy .

    " Like Lord Bacon , Pestalozzi did little toward the practical application of his own principles . Some of his attempts to apply them .

    to individual branches of instruction , are singularly at variance with them .

    " But he has been the pioneer , and numerous followers in different countries have carried out his principles with reference to particular

    branches , ' The Pestalozzian arithmetic was introduced at a very early period into the Dublin model schools by the Irish

    _Commissioners ; a . modified manual of it was published in 1844 for the use of teachers in Great Britain . ' Lessons on Objects , which are

    gradually giving place to Lessons on the Science of Common Things , have been introduced in consequence of the impulse given by

    Pestalozzi . The class teaching in the government schools , many books published hy the Council of Education , breathe the spirit

    of this great master , and in the highest measure we reap the fruit of his labour in the numerous industrial and reformatory schools

    • established in this country . " Unfortunately , the truth of the Pestalozzian maxim , that the

    mind grasps the concrete more readily than the abstract , has received a curious confirmation in the extensive imitation which his

    methods , even when opposed to his principles , have met with at the hands of his admirers . It is but too true that teachers , in

    common with other mortals , are ever more ready to adopt plans than to adopt principles . _" May more and more of the numerous

    bands of teachers , be imbued with the loving and disinterested

    h 2

    S Heineich Pestalozzi. 91

    s HEINEICH PESTALOZZI . 91

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1862, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101862/page/19/