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grow, the mind be developed, and the moral nature trained. These powers, though at first existing in a germinal condition, contain within themselves large possibilities and a strong impulse toward development. The helpless infant may become a Newton. The germinal powers start spontaneously into activity; the limbs become restlessly active, the senses open to objects of the external world, and cognition has its beginning. This growth or development, which gradually transforms childhood into youth, and youth into manhood, goes on according to definite laws, and may be sadly thwarted by neglect, or greatly promoted by judicious care.

During a considerable period of his early life man is helpless and ignorant; he is without the strength and knowledge necessary to maintain an independent existence. It is this fact that renders education a necessity. The processes of physical and mental growth must be assisted and directed during the formative periods of childhood and youth. This is the function of education. Without its fostering care, no generation can be adequately fitted for the duties of life and the achievement of a worthy destiny.

The end of education is complete human development. This is attained by leading the several parts of man's nature to a harmonious realization of their highest possibilities. The finished result is a noble manhood, whose highest exemplification, the ideal of all culture, is Christ. The elements of this manhood are a healthy body, a clear and well-informed intellect, sensibilities quickly susceptible to every right feeling, and a steady will whose volitions are determined by reason and an enlightened conscience.

In support of this conception of education, Prof. Huxley has strikingly said: "That man, I think, has had a liberal education who has been so trained in his youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a clear, cold logic-engine, with all its parts of equal strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam-engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of Nature, and of the laws of her operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself."

Thus, in its essential nature, education aims at developing a noble type of manhood; but it has also an external relation. Man has various labors and duties to perform in the world, which require special training, and a wide range of knowledge. Childhood and youth are the periods of preparation. Hence, it is clear that education, both in its subjects and methods of instruction, should have some reference to the demands of practical life. Human development should be combined with practical wisdom; the school should be the natural introduction into active life. This is the view of Milton, who has said, "I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private

and public, of peace and war." Herbert Spencer also has presented the same view very forcibly. "How to live," he says, "that is the essential question for us. Not how to live in the mere material sense only, but in the widest sense. The general problem which comprehends every special problem is the right ruling of conduct in all directions under all circumstances. In what way to treat the body; in what way to treat the mind; in what way to manage our affairs; in what way to bring up a family; in what way to behave as a citizen; in what way to utilize all those sources of happiness which Nature supplies; how to use all our faculties to the greatest advantage of ourselves and others; how to live completely. And this being the great thing needful for us to learn, is, by consequence, the great thing which education has to teach. To prepare us for complete living is the function which education has to discharge; and the only rational mode of judging of any educational course is to judge in what degree it discharges such function."

There are two elements, logically distinguishable but practically inseparable, entering into education. These are development and the acquisition of knowledge. Without development, the individual lacks strength to grapple with the problems of life; and without knowledge, he remains a cipher in society. The great law underlying physical and mental development is selfactivity. Every truly educated man is self-made. The various functions of the mind, whether perceiving, feeling, judging, or willing, must for a long period be called into frequent exercise in connection with objects, facts, relations, and truths, in order to become active, obe

dient, and strong. The basis of this activity is knowledge, which is as necessary for the development of the mind as food is for the growth of the body. "As food is indispensable to physical growth," says Johonnot, "so without knowledge the mind can not grow. While the mind, from the first, possesses all the germs of mental power, it is the appropriation of knowledge alone that converts its latent and apparently passive capacities into active capabilities." Education is not creative; it can not give what Nature has withheld. It is limited by the pupil's individuality, which it can ennoble, but not radically change.

In some form or other, education is as old as our race. According to Holy Writ, the first human pair were the subjects of divine tuition. Among all peoples, barbarous as well as civilized, each generation has received a special training for its subsequent career. Where the form of civilization has been low, education has been narrow and defective. Uncivilized communities do scarcely more than strengthen the body and cultivate the senses. Among no two nations of antiquity have the theory and practice of education been the same. It has varied with the different social, political, and religious conditions of the people and the physical characteristics of the country. But, however varied or imperfect its form, education has existed among all nations.

It is a profound thought of German philosophy that God is leading the world, through a gradual though not • uninterrupted development, to greater intelligence, freedom, and goodness. Like the individual, our race as a whole has to pass through the successive periods of childhood, youth, and maturity. Each succeeding pe

riod inherits the accumulated wisdom of the preceding one, and adds new treasures of its own. After the lapse of many ages of striving and conflict, mankind has reached a stage of developinent among enlightened nations that seems to accord with the estate of manhood. Intelligence, freedom, morality, and religion, though far from being universal, prevail to a degree unprecedented in the past. Human progress is an evident fact.

With improvement in other human interests, there has been unmistakable progress in education. Indeed, the ancient world, as we shall soon see, never succeeded in producing a correct and complete theory of education. If a great thinker now and then approximated the truth, his voice was lost upon the heedless multitude. The practice could hardly be better than the theory. Hence we shall find that education was always defective, usually laying stress upon some particular phase of human culture, to the neglect of others. Sometimes the physical was emphasized, sometimes the intellectual, sometimes the moral, sometimes the religious; but never all together in perfect symmetry. It has been reserved for the nineteenth century, so distinguished for its many-sided advancement, to realize an education which leaves no part of man's nature neglected.

We are now prepared to understand the nature of the history of education. It is an exhibition of what has been thought and done in all ages and countries in reference to training the young. It sets forth the principles and methods which have prevailed at various periods and in different lands. It gives an account of the prominent educators whose theories and methods have exerted a noteworthy influence upon educational

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