in a whirlpool. The teacher was Kruesi. The teaching, in spite of the
brilliant results within its own circle, and in spite of the sharpness
of the quickened powers of perception and comprehension in the children
by which it attained those results, yet, to my personal taste, had
something too positive in its setting forth, too mechanical in its
reception. And Josias Schmid[45] had already, even at that time, felt
the imperfection of this branch of instruction. He imparted to me the
first ground-principles of his later work on the subject, and his ideas
at once commanded my approval, for I saw they possessed two important
properties, manysidedness and an exhaustive scientific basis.

The teaching of drawing was also very incomplete, especially in its
first commencement; but drawing from right-angled prisms with equal
sides, in various lengths, which was one of the exercises required at a
later stage, and drawing other mathematical figures by means of which
the comprehension of the forms of actual objects of every-day life might
be facilitated were much more to my mind. Schmid's method of drawing had
not yet appeared.

In physical geography, the usual school course, with its many-coloured
maps, had been left far behind. Tobler, an active young man, was the
principal teacher in this section. Still, even this branch had far too
much positive instruction[46] for me. Particularly unpleasant to me was
the commencement of the course, which began with an account of the
bottom of the sea, although the pupils could have no conception of
their own as to its nature or dimensions. Nevertheless the teaching
aroused astonishment, and carried one involuntarily along with it
through the impression made by the lightning-quickness of the answers of
the children.

In natural history I heard only the botany. The principal teacher, who
had also prepared the plan of instruction in this subject for all the
school, was Hopf, like the rest an active young man. The school course
arranged and carried out by him had much that was excellent. In each
separate instance--for example, the shape and position of leaves,
flowers, etc.--he would first obtain all the possible varieties of form
by question and answer between the class and himself, and then he would
select from the results the form which was before them in nature. These
lessons, which were in this way made so attractive, and whose merits
spoke for themselves, showed, however, when it came to