Various devices might be made use of to teach the first
truths of
astronomy. So simple a device as an apple, with a wire run through
its centre, turned round before a candle, might serve to explain the
phenomena of day and night; whilst the orrery, with the accompaniment
of a simple and familiar lecture--(it should be much more so, indeed,
than any I have heard or read)--would make them acquainted with those
stupendous facts which strike us with as astonishment and awe. It has
been well observed by Dr. Young, with respect to the wonders of
astronomy--
"In little things we search out God--in great
He seizes us."
One thing I would here notice--that it should be a constant practice
to remind the children, that in the apple and the orrery, they see
only a resemblance to the earth and the heavenly bodies, that they
are vast in size and distance, beyond their comprehension; at the same
time leading them to an actual observation of the heavens by means
of a telescope. This would be a high treat to the children, and
productive of correct notions, which are but too apt to be lost where
we are under the necessity of teaching by signs so infinitely unlike,
in size and nature, as the candle and the apple, and the brass balls
and wires of the orrery, to the earth and the heavenly orbs.
For giving the children their first lessons in geography, I would
have a floor-cloth in every nursery, painted like a map, but of course
not filled up so perfectly as maps for adults necessarily are. It
should contain a correct delineation of the position of a certain
space of the globe, we will say, for instance, of England; let the
children then be told to proceed from a certain spot, to go through
certain counties, towns, &c., and to fetch a piece of cloth from
Yorkshire, or a knife from Sheffield, cheese from Cheshire, butter
from Dorset, or lace from Huntingdonshire, &c., &c. The lessons
thus
given would be at once amusing and instructive both to the governess
and children. If preferred, these maps might be painted of a less
size, to cover a table. No difficulty would be found to get a set of
such table-covers or floor-cloths painted, if the public would once
encourage the plan.
There are now large skeleton maps published, which have merely the
principal cities, towns, and rivers, &c., marked down, so as not
to
present too many objects to confuse the young eye. There are also
picture maps in which the chief productions of a country, both
vegetable and animal, are delineated in their proper places. These
would form a great aid in nursery instruction, and also for an infant
school. Let the great truth be ever borne in mind, that what is seen
by the eye is more quickly understood and more certainly remembered,
than what is merely described or made known in words.
I would also have an oblong tray made to hold water, large enough to
cover a table. In this I would fasten pieces of cork, cut out in the
shape of land, according to the best maps, while other small bits of
cork should represent the mountains and hills on the surface of the
respective islands. By application to the toy-makers, a sufficient
number of animals might be got to stock the respective islands, &c.,
with their appropriate inhabitants; whilst the manufactures, and many
of the natural products of the different places, might be readily
supplied by the ingenuity of the parent or governess. A little boat
should then be provided, and a voyage to a given part undertaken;
various islands might be touched at, and various commodities taken
on board or exchanged, according to the mercantile instructions the
children should receive; whilst brief accounts might at first be
read or given of the climate, productions, and inhabitants of the
respective places, till the little scholar should be able to conduct
the voyage, purchase or exchange commodities, and give an account of
the various countries and their inhabitants, &c., by himself. Certain
I am that more might be acquired, by this toothed, of geographical
knowledge, in one week, than by the old method in a twelvemonth: and
what the children did learn they would always remember. I might extend
these suggestions to the size of a small volume, had I space to do so;
but the limits of the present one forbid; at a future period, should
my active employments permit, I may resume the subject of nursery
hints in an extended and separate form.
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