h
shouts and clamor before his windows.

Now, these characteristics of the attention of genius could not be
evoked by an "interesting" teacher, however subtle his art; nor could
any accumulation of passive experiences become such an accumulator of
psychical energies.

If there be a spiritual force working within the child, by which he
may open the door of his attention, the problem which necessarily
presents itself is a problem of _liberty_, rather than a problem of
pedagogic art effecting the construction of his mind. The bestowal of
the nourishment suitable to psychical needs, by means of the external
objects, and readiness to respect liberty of development in the most
perfect manner possible, are the foundations which, from a logical
point of view, should be laid down for the construction of a new
pedagogy.

It is no longer a question of attempting to create the homunculus,
like the chemists of the nineteenth century; but rather of taking the
lantern of Diogenes and going in search of the man. A science should
establish _by means of experiments_ what is necessary to the
primordial psychical requirements of the child; and then we shall
witness the development of complex vital phenomena, in which the
intelligence, the will, and the character develop together, just as
the brain, the stomach, and the muscles of the rationally nourished
child develop together.

Together with the first psychical exercises, the first coordinated
cognitions will be fixed in the child's mind, and the _known_ will
begin to exist in him, providing the first germs of an intellectual
interest, supplementing his instinctive interest. When this takes
place, a state of things begins to establish itself which has some
analogy with that mechanism of attention which the pedagogists of
to-day take as the basis of the art of teaching. The transition from
the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex, from the
easy to the difficult, is reproduced, from a certain point of view;
but with special characteristics.

The progression _from the known to the unknown_ does not proceed from
object to object, as would be assumed by the master who does not bring
about the development of ideas from a center, but merely unites them
in a chain, without any definite object, allowing the mind to wander
aimlessly, though bound to himself. Here, on the other hand, the known
establishes itself in the child as a _complex system_ of ideas, which
system was ac