ncluded in these several divisions,
by which there would arise a third branch, all included in the second,
and even in the first.

We have here supposed, that the pupil has been engaged with the very
same chapters in each of these several courses;--and that he read the
same words in the first course that he read in those which followed. He
had to read the whole, although he could retain but little. He had to
labour the whole field for the sake of procuring plants, which could
have been more certainly and more healthfully raised upon a square yard.
His reading for hours has produced no more knowledge than is expressed
by the first branch of the supposed analysis; and therefore, if the
teacher would but analyse the subject for the child, whether it be a
science or a history,--suppose for example, the History of Joseph,--and
give his younger pupils no more at first than the simple _outline_ of
the story, some very important advantages would be the result. In the
first place, the very difficult task of keeping the volatile mind of a
child continuously fixed to the subject during the lengthened reading of
the whole narrative will be unnecessary;--the irritation and uneasiness
which such a lengthened exercise must produce in a child will be
avoided;--time will be economised, the labour of the teacher will be
spared, and the mind of the child at the close of the exercise, instead
of being fagged and prostrated, will be found vigorous and lively. And
yet, with all this, the positive result will be the same. The child's
knowledge of the subject in this latter case, will in reality be as
extensive, and much more distinct and permanent, than in the former.

Here is the first step gained; and to attain the second, a similar
course must be pursued. Nature, who formed this first branch of the
analytical table on the minds of the first class of the children, formed
another and more extended branch in the minds of the second class. The
teacher therefore has only to take each of the branches which form the
first step, and sub-divide them into their natural heads, so as to form
a second,--and to teach this to his children in the same manner that he
taught them the former. By this means, the first class will now possess
an equal degree of knowledge with those who occupied the second;--and by
a similar process, the others would advance to the third and the fourth
classes according to circumstances.

The plan here proposed for imitating N