been fostered, old theories and superstitions have
been abandoned, and truth has been established upon their ruins. In this
direction more has been done by science during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries than during the whole previous history of the
world. Man has now become master of heretofore unknown forces which he
may utilize as a blessing for the human race. We shall see in later
pages that scientific investigation has become the greatest educational
principle of modern times.

4. _Religious freedom has been attained._--The sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries witnessed many struggles for religious liberty, which resulted
in no decided victory. It was not until the last two centuries that
complete religious freedom was gained. Men are no longer bound to accept
ecclesiastical decrees without question, but every one may weigh and
consider, and freely decide for himself. Civil law protects, civil
society sustains, and public opinion justifies men in the exercise of
personal liberty in religious matters.

By the realization of these great principles educational progress has
been encouraged. The greatest obstacles have been removed, and the
future opens with possibilities of universal brotherhood, universal
peace, and universal education.

It remains for us to study some of the men who have contributed to the
educational progress of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to
trace the chief movements in the intellectual development of the race,
and to examine the school systems of the representative nations of the
world at the present time.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] It must be freely admitted that such influences are powerful in
shaping the destiny of man, and that they have had much to do with
education, as we have often shown in the foregoing pages. We must,
however, leave the tracing of the movements to each individual student.

CHAPTER XXXVI

MODERN EDUCATORS

=Literature.=--_Davidson_, Rousseau; _Graham_, Rousseau; _Morley_, Life
of Rousseau; _Rousseau_, Emile; _Munroe_, Educational Ideal; _Vogel_,
Geschichte der Paedagogik; _Quick_, Educational Reformers; _Weir_, The
Key to Rousseau's Emile (article in _Educational Review_, Vol. XVI, p.
61); _Compayre_, History of Pedagogy.

ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father was a
watchmaker, and upon him devolved the education of the boy, as the
mother died in childbirth. Rousseau's father was a man of d