cation in every community ought to be conducted in
such a manner, that the attainments of each individual in it, shall
either directly or indirectly benefit the whole.

In these several departments of our mental constitution, and in the
principles or laws by which they are carried on, we have the great
thoroughfare,--the highway of education,--marked out, inclosed, and
levelled by Nature herself. Hitherto, in our examination of the several
processes in which we find her engaged, we have endeavoured strictly to
confine ourselves to the great general principles which she exhibits in
forwarding and perfecting them. We have not touched as yet on the
methods by which, in our schools, they may be successfully imitated; nor
have we made any enquiry into the particular truths or subjects which
ought there to be taught. These matters belong to another part of this
Treatise, and will be considered by themselves. And it is only necessary
here to observe, that as it is the _use_ of knowledge chiefly which
Nature labours to attain, it is therefore _useful knowledge_ which she
requires to be taught. This is a principle so prominently held forth by
Nature, and so repeatedly indicated and enforced, that in the school it
ought never for an hour to be lost sight of. The whole business of the
seminary must be practical; and the knowledge communicated must be
useful, and such as can be put to use. If this rule be attended to, the
knowledge communicated will be valuable and permanent;--but if it be
neglected, the pretended communications will soon melt from the memory,
and the previous labours of both teacher and pupil will be in a great
measure lost.

The existence of these several principles in education has been
ascertained by long experience and slow degrees;--and the accuracy of
the views which we have taken of them, has been rigorously and
repeatedly tested. No pains has been spared in projecting and conducting
such experiments as appeared necessary for the purpose; and it has been
by experience and experiment alone that their efficiency has been
established. Many of these experiments were conducted in public,--some
of them have for years been in circulation,--and the decisiveness of
their results has never been questioned. The several principles in
education which it was the object of these experiments to ascertain, are
here for the first time, collected and exhibited in their natural order;
and they are now presented to the friends