c temperance to our children we announced
a principle. To apply this led to the use of the school. Teaching in
the school the subject of scientific temperance became a method. We
might have chosen the home, the church, or any other agency.

#56.# One's method is often the test of one's principle. If I say that
repetition makes for clear knowledge I announce a law or principle.
The test of the law is the way the soul acts under repetition. Does
the learner gain in clearness of knowledge by repetition? If so, the
law is true. If not, the law is not true.

#57. Kinds of Methods.#--Methods are of two kinds: _general_ and
_special_. A general method may be followed in teaching all the
different subjects that make up a course of study. A special method is
followed in teaching one particular subject or a part of a subject. A
device is merely a temporary resort to some special act to accomplish
an immediate result. Methods, general and special, may be used again
and again. A device rarely can be repeated, since the same conditions
may never again arise.

#58. Analytic and Synthetic Method.#--A lesson, like a jack-knife, is
made up of a number of parts. We may begin the recitation by
presenting first the object or lesson as a whole and follow with a
study of the parts; this is the _analytic method_. Or we may begin the
recitation by presenting first the parts, one at a time, and follow
with a study of the object as a whole. This is the _synthetic method_
in teaching. These two general methods are usually combined in a
complete lesson. That is to say, we usually consider first the whole
thought, then analyze it into its several parts, and when each part
is understood, we combine by synthesis the parts into the general
thought. If, for example, we begin by citing the golden text, and then
analyze the lesson to find the parts that illustrate the meaning in
the golden text, and finally combine these parts into a fuller
understanding of the golden text, the process is analytico-synthetic.
The purpose of this thought exercise is to enlarge the learner's
comprehension of the general truth in the lesson. In the earlier years
teaching should be largely synthetic; in later years, analytic. A
study of the growth of the powers of the soul will show why this is
so.

#59. Inductive and Deductive Method.#--When once the mind is trained
to analyze fairly well it is possible to use another set of general
methods. In reasoning we may begin w