hey had been made
thoroughly acquainted.

These facts of themselves, and they could be enlarged to almost any
extent, clearly prove the power and the value of this exercise in
communicating knowledge to the young. And, as we have seen that its
efficiency consists entirely in its close imitation of the process of
Nature in accomplishing the same object, we are the better warranted to
press upon the minds of all who are interested in education and the art
of teaching, the importance of keeping strictly to Nature, so far as we
can trace her operations; as it is by doing so alone that we are sure of
success. It may no doubt be said, that there are other ways of
communicating knowledge to the young, besides the catechetical exercise;
and therefore the necessity of adopting it is neither so necessary nor
so urgent. To this it may be answered, that there have been other plans
adopted, in urgent cases, for the nourishment of the body, besides the
common mode of eating and digesting food; but all such plans are
unnatural, and are of course but momentary and inadequate;--this,
therefore, would form no argument for depriving children of their food.
But even this argument is not parallel; for, although it has been found
that partial nourishment may be conveyed to the blood otherwise than by
the stomach, it has not yet been ascertained that any idea can enter the
mind, except by this act of "reiteration." Unless, therefore, something
definite can be brought forward, which will secure the performance of
this act, different from the catechetical exercise, or the several
modifications of it, that exercise ought to be considered as a necessary
agent in every attempt of the teacher to communicate knowledge.

But this admission in a philosophical question is much more than is at
all necessary for our present purpose. It is in every view of the case
sufficient to shew, that knowledge cannot be imparted without voluntary
active thought upon the ideas communicated, or what we have termed,
"reiteration;"--and if this be once admitted, and if it can be shewn
that the catechetical exercise produces this result _more certainly_,
and _more powerfully_, than any other mode of instruction yet known,
then nothing but prejudice will lead to the neglect of this, or will
give the preference to another. And it is a remarkable fact, that on
investigation it will be found, that almost every useful exercise
introduced into schools within the last thirty y