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 and committed to memory as well, can be called the property of the mind.

Truly does Quintilian say: “The acquisition of knowledge depends on the memory. Instruction is in vain if we forget what we hear or read.” Ludovicus Vives also says: “The memory should be exercised in early youth, since practice developes it, and we should therefore take care to practise it as much as possible. Now, in youth, the labour is not felt, and thus the memory developes without any trouble and becomes very retentive.” And in the Introduction to Philosophy he says: “The memory should not be permitted to rest, for there is no faculty that acts with greater readiness or developes more through action. Commit something to memory daily, for the more you commit to memory the more faithfully it will be retained, and the less, the less faithfully.” The example of nature shows us that this is true. The more sap a tree sucks up, the stronger it grows, and, conversely, the stronger it grows, the more sap it pours through its fibres. An animal also developes in proportion to the strength of its digestion, and, conversely, the larger it grows the more nourishment it requires and the more it digests. This is the characteristic of every natural body that developes. In this respect, therefore, children should not be spared (though of course no over-pressure should be applied), for the foundations of unfailing progress will thus be laid.

34. Nature knits everything together in continuous combination.

For instance, when a bird is formed, limb is joined to limb, bone to bone, and sinew to sinew. So too in the case of a tree, the trunk is joined to the roots, the branches to the trunk, the young shoots to the branches, the buds to the shoots, and to these again the leaves, flowers, and fruits; so that, though there may be thousands of each, the whole constitutes one tree. So with a house, if it is to be durable, the walls must rest on the foundations, the ceilings and the