Page:Preparation of the Child for Science.djvu/71

Rh have and to use ordinary faculties of observation on facts within every one's reach. Euclid was, in his day, a sort of Darwin of geometry. He wrote not a geometry for beginners, but a book about the logical concatenation of geometric facts for men already geometers; just as our Darwin wrote a book about the concatenation of biologic forms for people already biologists, to the extent at least of knowing that horses prance and dogs bark and wag tails; that worms creep and birds fly; that some flowers have scent; that some fruits are sweet and others are sour.

Euclid's book was a type and model of all that a good book on logical concatenation should be. The use which was made of it till lately is the type and model of how such a book should not be used. Teachers assumed that the excellence of the book gave them the right to use it in defiance of all the laws of psychology. The result of such misuse is always the same: loss of natural instinct. Textbooks are written expressly on purpose to inform the consciousness. A good textbook should explain everything step by step, and should assume nothing which it does not actually state. Euclid does this in perfection. He wrote, as I have said, for men for whom the words triangle, circle, parallelogram were

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