6. With respect to his own Education, the Teacher should never stand still. To every Teacher of a liberally constituted mind, the importance of the present rule will be sufficiently obvious; and if there are any who are wholly indifferent to the truth which it inculcates, it may well be doubted whether they are in the right path to professional excellence. In matters of intellectual culture, it ought never to be forgotten, that not to go forward is to go backward.* The Teacher, from his associating so much with immature minds, is very liable to fall into a state of self-deception with respect to his own intellectual status. Such a state of mind ought of course to be carefully guarded against. In reference to it, we would beg to submit to the Teacher's consideration the following lines by Wordsworth : "If thou be one whose heart the holy forms Stranger! henceforth be warn'd; and know that pride, Is littleness; that he who feels contempt For any living thing, hath faculties Which he has never used; that thought with him Is in its infancy. The man whose eye Is ever on himself, doth look on one, The least of Nature's works, one who might move Instructed that true knowledge leads to love; Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, In lowliness of heart." SECTION IV. METHOD. СНАР. І. THE SYNTHETICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS. 1. The word method means literally the pursuing or following of a path or way. (μera and odoo.) It (μετα is here employed to signify the form or manner in which the instruction is presented or imparted. All methods of either communicating or acquiring knowledge may be reduced to two-the synthetical method, and the analytical method. The synthetical method has been called by some, the constructive method the words-constructive and synthetical being of precisely the same import- the former derived from the Latin, and the latter from the Greek. The adjective synthetical may be simply defined—putting together or composing; and analytical, separating, or decomposing. They are formed from the nouns synthesis and analysis, which are both pure Greek words, but are now of so frequent occurrence in our own language, that they may justly be considered a part of it. 2. The learning to read in the usual way, that is, beginning with the letters and proceeding from them to syllables from syllables to words, and from words to sentences, &c., is an instance in practice of the synthetical method. 3. The separating of a sentence into its compo'nent parts, and the solving of a complex arithmetical question are obvious instances of the analytical method. 4. But other, and for the purposes of elementary teaching, perhaps more useful views may be taken of the subject of method — according to the sense in which the term is here employed. F CHAP. II. THE THE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE METHODS. Whatever method or variety of method of teaching may be adopted, it can only have reference to one or other of two elements- to the object or subjectmatter of instruction (the objective method) or to the subject or being to be taught (the subjective method). A very few words of illustration will suffice to render the meaning of these phrases obvious. 1. Objective Method. The several subjects of human knowledge differ in their nature materially from each other. For instance, one perceives at once that there is a characteristic difference between moral science and mathematical science between the principles of drawing and the art of drawing. In short, every branch of learning has a special or peculiar nature or character by which it is distinguished from other branches. If we wish, then, to become acquainted with the nature and character of any object, we must study that object. Would we, e. g. know arithmetic, we must study arithmetic. Would we know a language, we must study the grammar of that language. But of such knowledge there may, of course, be various degrees. It is not every one that knows a language in the or dinary sense, that is acquainted with the nature or philosophy of language in general, nor every one that knows arithmetic, that is conversant with the philosophy of numbers. Whoever, then, wishes to influence effectually the thoughts, feelings, and will of man must study the nature of man. When the nature of the subject-matter of instruction, and the nature of the being to be taught are compared together-are made to square and harmonise together-there arise new and definite relations or conditions, and it is according to these conditionswhether known to the Teacher or not that the instruction, to be effective, must be conveyed. When in these new relations that which has reference to the subject-matter of instruction is kept chiefly in view, it is then denominated the objective method. It is quite possible for a subject to be presented in a manner objectively or scientifically correct, and yet its mode of treatment may be faulty in a pedagogical point of view. Such a form of treatment may present to the young and immature mind greater difficulties than need be. 2. The Subjective Method Depends for its perfection upon the psychological attainments of the Teacher. Much that is usually called "tact" in teaching, if strictly analysed, may be traced to this source. The Teacher may possess, to a considerable extent, the attainments in question, and yet may be-if we may so speak-unconscious that he does so. This fact may be partly accounted for by considering the |