subject. Still the practice of omnivorous reading is so general that the educationist can not ignore it; nor should he attempt to do so, especially since the school can assist in converting a bad practice into a source of useful knowledge.

Though concentrated study and systematic reading are superior to polymathic interest and varied reading, still the latter have a peculiar value and are entitled to a place beside and after formal education. The proverb says, "varietas delectat," and in intellectual matters variety pleases most men. Over and above the charm of variety is the charm of free movement, which the blunt-witted never enjoy in their studies. Moreover, by taking notes and making extracts the pupil may obtain further gains from his reading. The objects of this undisciplined interest may be called, in contrast with the higher educational values, the consumption goods of intellectual life.

2. But these objects are not necessarily of small value. They may belong to the school sciences, though they are not treated so systematically as they. What has been casually heard or read may prove a valuable addition to one's knowledge. It may throw new light upon a point learned in the schools; or it may prove the starting-point of a new interest; and this will be the case especially if the work of the schools and the spontaneous efforts of the pupils do not pursue different paths. But even such materials as do not belong to any of the recognized school subjects, are on that account not worthless. Brief notes and comments, which denote no more than the passing interest of the moment, may prove the beginnings of great things. Many a poem was occasioned by an item in a newspaper; and many things which an earlier age regarded as rarities and curiosities, were later made the subjects of special sciences. The files of the polyhistorian were the cradle of many a modern science, for instance, the history of civilization, the science of statistics, and geology. And we, too, may be treating as unclassifiable matter and as padding what will eventually be the subject of scientific research.

By consulting works of reference, especially encyclopedias, we may obtain material for conversation and social intercourse, which fact is expressed in the German term for encyclopedias, Konversationslexika. But the many-sided knowledge that may be thus obtained has also a formal value in that it makes for a better command of language. One must possess a certain amount of positive knowledge before one can expect to unearth the treasures contained in language, and only broad knowledge can do

justice to the universality of language. Goethe's and Rückert's power of language is conditioned partly upon their wide reading and varied knowledge. But in Jean Paul the wealth of diversified knowledge obtrudes itself at the expense of the form: his style is obscure and crude, though not without a certain charm. However, the opposite fault is more common; the style appears weak and flabby, because the writer lacks the conceptions of things; and a goodly part of language mistakes can be traced to simple ignorance of the things the authors venture to write about.

Language instruction, particularly Latin instruction, furnishes the foundation for the training in style. Favorite books, read and reread, awaken the individual power of language. Extensive reading furnishes a copious supply of words and phrases. Still, it is only a many-sided knowledge that can fit a writer to bring out the content of language.

Because polymathy can not be coördinated with the other branches, is no reason why the schools should ignore this subject. In this regard the old schools had admirable practices, which it were well to revive. Occasionally the teacher should give directions about making extracts and clippings. He should demonstrate good methods of filing. He should instruct his pupils how to use works of reference, how to use any information that they have found or heard, and how to reap the best fruits from their reading. Much useful knowledge may be imparted in this way, and thus the pupils may also be trained to acquire habits that will later serve them well in scientific research work.

V.

THE ARTS.

CHAPTER XXX.

Music.

1. Among the arts that constitute the formative (TOηTIKÓS) element of education, music occupies the first place, because it has most relations to the basic materials and can serve directly the higher ends of culture. Ancient pedagogy attended more than the modern to the ethical effects of music. Plato taught that education by music is most important, "because rhythm and harmony enter most deeply into the inner part of the soul and direct it strongly towards all that is noble. The senses are trained to distinguish between what is beautiful and what is not, and are so charmed with the beautiful as to receive it gladly and to assimilate themselves with it, while rejecting the ugly. And all this is accomplished at an age that is unaccessible to the words of the teacher, so that, when the child attains the years of formal schooling, he will be imbued with kindred sympathies, which will much assist him in understanding what is taught.

"1

One reason for this appreciation of the educational value of music lies in the fact that the ancients attached most importance to the song, for the latter is, on account of its connection with poetry, of greater pedagogical value than any other branch of music. The religious hymn, which is an important element of religious worship, strengthens and deepens the effects of religious instruction, and is an instrument for bringing home to the feelings and the understanding the meaning of religious poetry. The feelings that are aroused by the instruction in the mother-tongue as well as in home geography, are best expressed in songs: patriotic songs and melodies foster the ties that connect the pupil with his nationality, his fatherland, and his home. Sung in chorus, the song is the expression of the community spirit and the organ of school life, which it enriches with an ideal element. The song appeals, like language, to all men, and its 1 Plato, Rep., III. p. 401.

effects are, like those of language, universal. "There is no mood," says St. Augustine, "but the voice and the song can express it, and by a strange relationship they always strike a responsive chord in the human heart.

From this viewpoint vocal music is superior to instrumental, and the latter's primary function is to prelude and accompany the song. The specifically educational advantages of instrumental music lie in another direction. Its technique affords wholesome discipline, and there is probably no other subject of the curriculum that furnishes equal opportunities for exact and painstaking care. The least carelessness produces a false note, and so music punishes on the spot any negligence in execution. This feacure of self-control it has in common with mathematics, to which science it is also related internally.

2

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2. For an education in music, Riehl-whom we trust as the safest guide in this matter-recommends two instruments, "the thorough and soulful violin and the encyclopedic piano.' The chief factors that recommend the violin are "its severe discipline and the difficulties of its technique, for these turn away all except the gifted." But the real educational value of this noble instrument, which approaches nearest to the timbre of the human voice, lies therein that it allows the performer "to express the tone quality in its purest and most ethereal form." The violin is the instrument of the classical age in music; the lute, of the Rococo period; and the flute, of the Georgian era; while "the encyclopedic, characterless piano is the proper instrument of an age which, because attempting and reproducing everything, lacks creative originality." Yet the piano has this advantage that it can adapt itself to other instruments and can thus reproduce, to some extent, even their ensemble.

The mastering of musical technique is analogous to the mastering of technical grammar. Both have a value of their own in being a disciplina mentis. But they have a propædeutic value besides: they prepare the way for the cultivation of one's taste; and a refined taste can be learned in music as well as in philology of the masters only. Riehl says that the graduates in music "should be able to interpret good music and to read musical scores; they should understand the laws of composition and be able to judge their application; they should also be at

1 Confess., X, 33

2 Cf. supra, ch. XXIII, 3.

3 Über musikalische Erziehung in the Kulturstudien, pp. 333 ff.

J

home in the styles of different periods and schools, and ever have present before their minds the historical characters of the great masters.

This quotation expresses both the theoretical and the historical element of musical education. Among the ancients as well as in the Middle Ages the theory of music was regarded as one of the seven liberal arts. All that was worth knowing of the subject was thus treated compendiously, and music retained a certain connection with mathematics. Nowadays we have nothing similar. Our elementary teaching of music does not cover ground enough, the thorough-bass covers too much, acoustics treats only one phase of the matter, æsthetics likewise only one, and the two combined do not embrace the whole. What we want is a didactic unit which should be, though scientific, still generally accessible. The ancients rightly placed the theory of music beside astronomy, i. e., the science of sound-motions beside that of cosmic motions. These two sciences offer problems that are of deep interest to the speculative mind. Both show the effects of the spirit-inspired law. The fancy staggers at the wonders revealed by astronomy in the world of space, time, and masses. And neither the fancy nor the heart of man will ever exhaust the possibilities of music in its narrow sphere of the world of sound.

3. The history of music is a valuable supplement to the history of literature and an integral part of the history of civilization. Musical compositions are the creations of master spirits, and songs and music are important elements of the national life. What is beautiful in sound will neither tarnish nor rust with the passing years, and performed in after ages it will conjure up the buried past. The masters of music are the landmarks in the history of music, just as the masters of language are the landmarks in the history of literature; and the great composers are points of orientation and a vitalizing influence for the students of music. Riehl, who grows eloquent on this point, remarks that the history of music knows only a Renaissance but no antiquity, and that the former must, therefore, take the place of the latter. But just as we may call the art of the catacombs antique, so we may also recognize the Gregorian Church Music, which has been restored to the Church, as the antique in music. We are indebted to Guéranger for affording us an opportunity to study at first hand the music of the ancients, for in the churches of the Benedictine Congregation of Beuron we may observe the differences between the