Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/331

 pupils it is by far the most advantageous system. The larger the number of pupils that he sees before him the greater the interest the teacher will take in his work (just as the hands of a miner tremble with excitement when he discovers a rich vein of ore); and the keener the teacher himself, the greater the enthusiasm that his pupils will display. To the scholars, in the same way, the presence of a number of companions will be productive not only of utility but also of enjoyment (for it gives pleasure to all to have companions in their labours); since they will mutually stimulate and assist one another. Indeed for boys of this age emulation is by far the best stimulus. Again, if a teacher’s class be small, this point or that may escape the ears of all his pupils. But many hear him at once, each one grasps as much as he can, and then, when the lesson is repeated, all comes back into their minds again, since one mind has an invigorating effect on another and one memory on another. In short, as a baker makes a large quantity of bread by a single kneading of the dough and a single heating of the oven, as a brick-maker burns many bricks at one time, as a printer prints hundreds of thousands of books from the same set of type, so should a teacher be able to teach a very large number of pupils at once and without the slightest inconvenience. Do we not see that one trunk can support innumerable branches and supply them with sap, and that the sun is able to vivify the whole earth?

17. How is this to be done? Let us take our former examples, and watch the processes of nature. The trunk does not extend to the outermost branches, but remaining in its place supplies sap to the large ones that are in immediate connection with it, these pass it on to others, and these again in their turn to others, and so on until the smallest twigs have been reached. In the same way the sun does not illumine each individual tree, plant, or animal, but, sending forth its rays from on high, lights up half the world at once, and thus supplies each creature with light and warmth for its own use. We should here