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16 now-a-days. "The Ratio Studiorum is antiquated and difficult to reform... For nearly three centuries they [the Jesuits] were the best schoolmasters of Europe; they revolutionized instruction as completely as Frederick the Great modern warfare, and have thus acted, whether they meant it or not, as pioneers of human progress... Whatever may have been the service of the Jesuits in past times, we have little to hope for them in the improvement of education at present. Governments have, on the whole, acted wisely by checking and suppressing their colleges." At any rate, the study of a system which for "centuries furnished the best schoolmasters of Europe and completely revolutionized instruction", must be interesting for the student of the history of education. For this reason we first present the history, or the development, of this system. In the second part we shall explain its principles, its theory and practice, with special reference to modern educational views.