342. Preliminary Lessons. ВЂ” We shall quote, without

comment, the first subjects of instruction which, under the

title of Legons preliminaires, Condillac proposes to his

pupil: 1. the nature of ideas; 2. the operations of the

soul; 3. the habits; 4. the difference between the soul and

the body ; 5. the knowledge of God.

How are we to conceive that Condillac had the pretension

to place these high philosophical speculations within the

reach of a child of seven years who has not yet studied the

grammar of his native language ! How much better some

fables or historical narratives would answer his purpose !

But Condillac does not stop there. When his pupil has a

systematic knowledge of the operations of the soul, when

he has comprehended the genesis of ideas ; in a word, when,

towards the age of eight or ten, he is as proficient in philos-

ophy as his master, and almost as capable of writing the

Treatise on Sensations, what do you think he is invited to

study? Something which very much resembles the philoso-

phy of history : —

"After having made him reflect on his own infancy, I

thought that the infancy of the world would be the most

interesting subject for him, and the easiest to study."

343. The Art of Thinking. — It is only when he judges

that the mind of his pupil is sufficiently prepared by psycho-

logical analysis and by general reflections on the progress

of humanity, that Condillac decides to have him enter upon

the ordinary course of study. Here the spirit of system dis-

316 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

appears, and gives place to more judicious and more practi-

cal ideas. Thus Condillac thinks that "the stud}' of gram-

mar would be more wearisome than useful if it come too

early." Would that he had applied this principle to psychol-

ogy ! Before studying grammar, then, Condillac's pupil reads

the poets, — the French poets, of course, — and preferably

the dramatic authors, Raciue especially, whom he reads for

the twelfth time. The real knowledge of the language pre-

cedes the abstract study of the rules. Condillac himself

composed a grammar entitled the Art of Speaking. In this

he imitates the authors of Port Royal, " who," he says,

" were the first to write elementary books on an iutelligent

plan." After the Art of Speaking he calls the attention of

his pupil to three other treatises in succession, — the Art of

Writing, or rhetoric, the Art of Reasoning, or logic, and the

Art of Thinking. We shall not attempt an analysis of these

works, which have gone out of date, notwithstanding the

Value of certain portions of them. The general characteris-

tic of these treatises on intellectual education is that the

author is pre-occupied with the relations of ideas more than

with the exterior elegancies of style, with the development of

thought more than with the beauties of language : —

"Especially must the intelligence be nourished, even as

the bod}' is nourished. We must present to it knowledge,

which is the wholesome aliment of spirit, opinions and errors

being aliment that is poisonous. It is also necessary that

the intelligence be active, for the thought remains imbecile

as long as, passive rather than active, it moves at random."