than
_attempts to imitate her_ in her healing operations. So well is this now
understood, that every operation which does not at least recognise the
principle is denounced--and justly denounced--as quackery; and the
reason is, that uniform experience has convinced professional men, that
they can only expect success when they follow with docility in the path
which Nature has pointed out to them.

Precisely similar should be the plan of operation pursued by the
Educationist. He should, in the first place, take a comprehensive view
of the whole subject, and endeavour to map out to himself its great
natural divisions;--in other words, he should endeavour to ascertain
what are the things which Nature teaches, that he may, by means of this
great outline, form a general programme for the direction of the
teacher. His next object ought to be, to ascertain the mode, and the
means, adopted by Nature in forwarding these several departments of her
educational process; the powers of mind engrossed in each; the order in
which they are brought into exercise; and the combinations which she
employs in perfecting them. In ascertaining these principles which
regulate the operations of Nature in her educational processes, the same
adherence to the rules prescribed by the inductive philosophy, which has
crowned the other sciences with success, must be rigidly observed. There
must be the same disregard of mere antiquity; there must be the same
scrupulous sifting of evidence, and strict adherence to facts; there
must be a discarding of all hypotheses, and a simple dependence upon
ascertained truths alone. Adherence to these rules is as necessary in
cultivating the science of education, as it has been in the other
sciences; and the neglect of any one of them, may introduce an element
of error, which may injure the labours of a whole lifetime.

We have some reason to fear, that although all this will be readily
admitted in theory, it will be found somewhat difficult to adopt it in
practice. The reason of this will be obvious when we reflect on the deep
interest which the best and most philanthropic individuals in society
take in this science. The other sciences are in some measure removed
from the busy pursuits of life; they are the concern of certain persons,
who are allowed to investigate and to experiment, to judge and to decide
as they please, without the public in general caring much about the
matter.--But education is a science of a dif