(A. S., rasian) is to awaken in a sudden or startling manner, so as to bring into an energetic state by a strong impulse. To incite (Latin, incitare) is to excite to a specific act or end which the inciter has in view. To stimulate is to quicken into activity (stimulus, a spur) and to a certain end. Men are incited when their passions are roused; they are stimulated when they are induced to make greater exertions, as by a hope of reward or any other external impulse. They are awakened out of indifference, roused out of lethargy and torpor, incited by the designing influences of others, stimulated by new motives of action. Men are incited to what otherwise they would not have given their efforts. They are commonly stimulated to something which they are pursuing, or intending to pursue, but with want of energy." (Smith, Syn. Discr.)

104. As to the Form in which knowledge is left in the mind, when all the circumstances attending the presentation have been rigidly based upon the nature of the case, Methods of Teaching have no responsibility-that ends when the presentation is completed. The mind, as a cause unto itself, and its prior state of knowledge, are responsible for the form or impression, in which the matter, under these conditions, exists within itself. If this form lacks certitude, or material truth in the absolute sense, can only be corrected by presenting to the learning mind other subject-matter. But what this subject-matter shall be is no concern of Methods

66

it

of Teaching, as has been shown in a previous section of this investigation. If the subject-matter be not properly separated into parts, and those parts sharply freed from adventitious matter, so that it may be brought boldly and unequivocally into the conscious presence of the corresponding faculties-if there be a want here, it is the fault of the System of the teacher. Methods of Teaching demand only that the principles of adaptation be not violated. The Methods assume the subjects placed in the hands of the teacher. The teacher has two important things to do: (1) To consider if his System of subject-matter is so constructed that it is capable of being presented to this individual learner; (2) To reflect upon the principles which underlie the actual procedure of teaching. He must attend to System and then to Method.

105. In connection with Methods of Teaching one often hears the expressions, "Develop the idea in the mind of the learner, ""Lead the mind gradually up to the idea." To simple perception there can be no development work, for perception is intuitive, and is ultimate in its authority, upon the presence in consciousness of the object. Development exists within the Province of Thought.

Notions, or conceptions, or ideas, are aggregations of simpler elements, which constitute the group or Unit of notions. When the faculties of the mind are too feeble to comprehend the unit group, the elements of the unit are separated and set before the mind of the learner in suc

The process

cession until all are seen as one. (Mode), called " development," is that by which the teacher analyzes and presents the notion that is to be taught, and the synthetical process by which the learner apprehends, and combines or reconstructs, the elements into a notion that is similar to that possessed by the teacher.

106. The process by which a student is inducted into a prehension and a comprehension of an aggregation of ideas, which bear an intimate and necessary relation to each other, is called Thoroughness. A student who is thoroughly taught surveys from the centre, a group of ideas which constitute a structure created by Thought.

107. "To Develop is to open out what was contained in another thing, or the thing itself (Fr. développer). In develop these two ideas are inherent, the gradual opening of the whole containing, and the gradual exhibition of the particular contained. So we might say, 'Time developed his character,' or circumstances developed the cruelty which was latent in his character.' Unlike Unfold, develop is not used of purely physical processes. We speak of the development of plans, plots, ideas, the mind; and also of the development of the body in growth; but these are scientific terms involving other▾ ideas, as of the vital functions in growth. We should never speak of the development of a flag or a tablecloth. In other words, it is not used of manual or mechanical unfolding. On the other hand, in the sense of the mechanical pro

cess of gradually opening, unfold is used as well as in the other; but in this latter develop expresses far more than unfold, and relates to the laws of expansion by which a thing unfolds in definite sequence of expansion, and in conformity with principles which conserve the type developed. Hence we speak of a true and a vicious development. To Unravel (old German, reffen, to pluck) is purely a mechanical effort of separating what is complicated, whether naturally or accidentally, and expresses simple disentanglement, not growth or expansion. As the former indicate ordinary processes of nature or art, so the latter indicates extraordinary and counteractive processes, and commonly implies the abnormal state of that which needs to be unravelled.

"Then take him to develop if you can,

And hew the block off and get out the man.'

Pope.

"Several pieces of cloth, the largest we had seen being fifty yards long, which they unfolded and displayed so as to make the greatest show possible.-Cook's Voyages.

"What riddle's this? Unfold yourself, dear Robin.' -Ben Jonson.

"That great chain of causes which, linking one to another, even to the throne of God Himself, can never be unravelled by any industry of ours.'-Burke." (Smith, Syn. Discr., ed.

1878, Develop.)

108. Methods of Teaching must have reference to the ways according to which the learner's

faculties proceed when he is applying himself to study. Unless this be understood, the faculties of the pupil will be embarrassed in their normal activities. This will cause discouragement to both teacher and pupil.

66 109. There exist nevertheless certain general modes of treating any subject which can be clearly distinguished by the student. Logic cannot teach him exactly how and when to use each kind of method, but it can teach him the natures and powers of the methods, so that he will be more likely to use them rightly. We must distinguish:

"1. The method of discovery,

"2. The method of instruction.

"The method of discovery is employed in the acquisition of knowledge, and really consists in those processes of inference and induction, by which general truths are ascertained from the collection and examination of particular facts. The second method only applies when knowledge has already been acquired and expressed in the form of general laws, rules, principles or truths, so that we have only to make ourselves acquainted with these and observe the due mode of applying them to particular cases, in order to possess a complete acquaintance with the subject.

"A student, for example, in learning Latin, Greek, French, German, or any well-known language, receives a complete Grammar and Syntax setting forth the whole of the principles, rules and nature of the language. He receives these instructions, and takes them to be true on the