himself entirely to dogmatic
controversy, until the reading of "Emile" had the effect of enlarging
his mental horizon, and of revealing to him his true vocation. He
wrote important books to show how Rousseau's method could be applied in
different departments of instruction, and founded at Dessau, in 1774,
an institution to bring that method within the domain of experience.

This institution, to which he gave the name of "Philanthropinum," was
secular in the true sense of the word; and at that time this was in
itself a novelty. It was open to pupils of every belief and every
nationality, and proposed to render study easy, pleasant, and
expeditious to them, by following the directions of nature itself. In
the first rank of his disciples may be placed Campe, who succeeded him
in the management of the Philanthropinum.

Pestalozzi of Zuerich, one of the foremost educators of modern times,
also found his whole life transformed by the reading of "Emile," which
awoke in him the genius of a reformer. He himself also, in 1775,
founded a school, in order to put in practice there his progressive and
professional method of teaching, which was a fruitful development of
seeds sown by Rousseau in his book. Pestalozzi left numerous
writings,--romances, treatises, reviews,--all having for sole object
the popularization of his ideas and processes of education. The most
distinguished among his disciples and continuators is Froebel, the
founder of those primary schools or asylums known by the name of
"kindergartens," and the author of highly esteemed pedagogic works.

These various attempts, these new and ingenious processes which, step
by step, have made their way among us, and are beginning to make their
workings felt, even in institutions most stoutly opposed to progress,
are all traceable to Rousseau's "Emile."

It is therefore not too much for Frenchmen, for teachers, for parents,
for every one in our country who is interested in what concerns
teaching, to go back to the source of so great a movement.

It is true that "Emile" contains pages that have outlived their day,
many odd precepts, many false ideas, many disputable and destructive
theories; but at the same time we find in it so many sagacious
observations, such upright counsels, suitable even to modern times, so
lofty an ideal, that, in spite of everything, we cannot read and study
it without profit. There is no one who does not know the book by name
and by reputatio