General neglect of Comenius during the eighteenth century—Causes—Intrenchment of humanism—Summary of the permanent reforms of Comenius—Revived interest in his teachings—National Comenius pedagogical library at Leipzig—The Comenius Society—Reviews published for the dissemination of the educational doctrines of Comenius—Conquest of his ideas.

The permanent influence of Comenius remains to be noted. Famous in his own day; enjoying the friendship of great scholars and the confidence of royal personages; the founder of numerous school systems; the author of more than a hundred books and treatises, which were translated into most of the languages of Europe and Asia,—the name of the great Moravian reformer was quite if not entirely forgotten, and his writings practically unknown, for more than a century after his death. Professor Nicholas Murray Butler,54 in likening him unto the stream that loses itself in the arid desert and then reappears with gathered force and volume to lend its fertilizing power to the surrounding country, says: “Human history is rich in analogies to this natural phenomenon; but in Comenius the history of education furnishes its example. The great educational revival of our century, and particularly of our generation, has shed the bright light of scholarly investigation into all the dark places, and to-day, at the three hundredth anniversary of his birth, the fine old Moravian bishop is being honored wherever teachers gather together and wherever education is the theme.”

The world, which usually takes pause for a moment, when a great man dies, to seriously consider what there was in the dead that lifted him above the ordinary level, took no such inventory when the remains of Comenius were laid at rest in a quiet little town in Holland. “The man whom we unhesitatingly affirm,” says Mr. Keatinge, “to be the broadest-minded, the most far-seeing, the most comprehensive, and withal the most practical of all writers who have put pen to paper on the subject of education; the man whose theories have been put into practice in every school that is conducted on rational principles; who embodies the materialistic tendencies of our ‘modern side’ instructors, while avoiding the narrowness of their reforming zeal; who lays stress on the spiritual aspect of true education, while he realizes the necessity of equipping his pupils for the rude struggle with nature and with fellow-men—Comenius, we say, the prince of schoolmasters, produced, practically, no effect on the school organization and educational development of the following century.”

The causes of this universal neglect are not easily explained. That he lived most of his days in exile; that he belonged to a religious community which was numerically insignificant and which suffered all those bitter persecutions following in the train of the Thirty Years’ War; that indiscretion entangled him in certain alleged prophetic revelations, which subsequently turned out the baldest impostures; and, more important than all, as Professor Laurie points out, that schoolmasters did not wish to be disturbed by a man with new ideas,—these facts help to explain the universal neglect into which his name and writings fell. In a personal letter, Oscar Browning expresses the belief that if the teachings of Comenius had been dated a century earlier, that the realistic type of education might have been generally followed—at least in the countries that had broken with the Church of Rome. As it was, however, Melanchthon, the schoolmaster of the Reformation, adopted, with slight modifications, the humanistic type of education. For the time being, at least, the ideas held by Comenius were pushed into the background, and humanism, already deeply intrenched, dominated educational practices. Reformers were not wanting, however, to champion the reforms of Comenius, men like Francke, Rousseau, Basedow, Pestalozzi, Fröbel, and Herbart. But it remained for the nineteenth century to realize, in considerable measure, the aims and aspirations of the far-reaching reforms of the Moravian bishop.

“There is nothing startling about the educational reforms of Comenius to-day,” says Professor Earl Barnes. “They are the commonplace talk of all school conventions. But to see them when no one else has formulated them, to enunciate them before an audience often hostile, and to devote a life to teaching them and working them out—this requires a broad mind and something of the spirit of the martyr, and both these elements were strong in Comenius.”

In spite of the neglect into which the reforms of Comenius fell, his influence has been lasting because his work was constructive and his reforms were far reaching. Among the reforms which he advocated (and since incorporated in the modern educational movement), the following may be named:—

1. That the purpose of education is to fit for complete living, in consequence of which its benefits must be extended to all classes of society.

2. That education should follow the course and order of nature, and be adapted to the stages of mental development of the child.

3. That intellectual progress is conditioned at every step by bodily vigor, and that to attain the best results, physical exercises must accompany and condition mental training.

4. That children must first be trained in the mother-tongue, and that all the elementary knowledge should be acquired through that medium.

5. That nature study must be made the basis of all primary instruction, so that the child may exercise his senses and be trained to acquire knowledge at first hand.

6. That the child must be wisely trained during its earliest years, for which purpose mothers must be trained for the high and holy mission of instructing little children, and women generally be given more extended educational opportunities.

7. That the school course must be enriched by the addition of such useful studies as geography and history.

8. That the subjects of study must be so correlated and coördinated that they may form a common unit of thought.

9. That teachers must be specially trained.

10. That schools must be more rationally graded and better supervised.

11. That languages must be taught as “living organic wholes fitted for the purposes of life, and not as the lifeless tabulations of the grammarians.”

It was the opinion of Mr. Quick that the most hopeful sign of the improvement of education was the rapid advance in the last thirty years of the fame of Comenius, and the growth of a large literature about the man and his ideas. The revival of Comenian ideas really dates from the beginning of the present century, when Germany, crushed and dismembered, looked to her schools as the surest means of regaining fallen glory; so that the battle of Jena may be given as the date of this awakened interest in the reforms of the Moravian educator. This interest culminated in the foundation of the great national Comenius pedagogical library (Comenius-Stiftung) at Leipzig, in 1871. It was founded by a band of enthusiastic disciples of Comenius, of whom Julius Beeger was the foremost; and, although it numbered but 2642 volumes at the end of the first year, the interest in the movement has been so great that it now numbers over 70,000 volumes, and constitutes the largest single collection of pedagogical books in the world. The books are classified in 56 departments, the most important of which are: encyclopædias of pedagogy, complete collections of the writings of standard educational writers, sources of history of education, general works on the history of education, histories of special periods in education, histories of education in different countries, histories of individual educational institutions, educational biographies, works on systematic pedagogy, physical education, etc. The library covers every department of educational thought, and is especially strong in the literature relating to the elementary schools of Germany. The privileges of the library are freely open to all students of education. The library is under the control of the Leipzig teachers’ association, and is sustained in part by the association and in part by appropriations from the city of Leipzig and the kingdom of Saxony.55 What more appropriate memorial to the long and devoted life of Comenius to the cause of education could be desired, and what stronger evidence of the permanent influence of his work and worth.

A second recent manifestation of the permanency of the Moravian educator’s influence is the Comenius Society (Comenius-Gesellschaft), with headquarters in Germany, and numbering among its members most of the leaders in educational thought in the world. It was organized in 1891. The objects of the society are (1) to spread the living influence of the spirit of Comenius and the men who have represented cognate reforms; (2) to work toward an increased knowledge of the past and a healthy development of the future on the principle of mutual union and forbearance, by means of the cultivation of the literature which has grown out of that spirit; and (3) to prepare the way for a reform of education and instruction on the lines laid down by Comenius. In order to realize these objects, the society further proposes (1) the publication of the more important writings and letters of Comenius and his associates; (2) inquiry into the history and dogmas of the old evangelical congregations (Waldenses, Bohemian Brethren, Swiss Brethren, etc.), chiefly by publishing the original sources from their history; and (3) the collection of books, manuscripts, and documents which are important for the history of the above objects.

The membership of the society, while overwhelmingly German, includes a considerable number from Austria-Hungary, Holland, Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, France, Greece, Belgium, and Denmark. The society inspired the numerous celebrations in commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Comenius (March 28, 1892). These celebrations, held at most of the educational centres in the Old World, and at a number of places in the New, revived the memory of Comenius, and brought his teachings to thousands of teachers who had known him before only as a name.

The society began in 1892 the publication of a high-grade review,—Monatshefte der Comenius-Gesellschaft,—which is published bi-monthly at Berlin, and is edited by the distinguished Comenius scholar, Dr. Ludwig Keller. This review has most creditably carried out the purposes of the society in publishing a wealth of original material on Comenius and his contemporaries, that hitherto has been altogether inaccessible to the student of the history of education. The society also publishes a bi-monthly educational journal for the use of teachers in the elementary schools of Germany especially interested in the doctrines of Comenius. It is entitled Comenius-Blätter für Völkserziehung, and is also published at Berlin and edited by Dr. Keller. The propaganda of the Comenius Society has done much to restore this worthy to the place he so justly merits—the foremost educational reformer of modern times.

These are some of the agencies employed by the Comenius Society in opening up an appreciation of this great man, who, “born in Moravia, working amongst Czechs, Germans, English, Dutch, Swedes, and Hungarians, with friends in France and Italy, has won by his thought, as well as by his life, a universal significance. As philosopher and divine, in union with Andreæ, Dury, Milton, and others, he devoted his life to a work of peace. He placed the weal of man, as he termed it, above the respect for languages, persons, and sects; thus his energies were directed toward restraining the wrangling people, churches, and classes from the violent utterance of their differences, and leading them on the ground of early Christian views to mutual peace and forbearance. As educationalist, inspired by Bacon, he successfully asserted the claims of experimental science in the elementary schools of his time, placed the mother-tongue on the list of subjects of instruction, and included in the conception of the school the idea of physical culture. By his demand for education of all children, including girls, who till then had been neglected, he became one of the fathers of modern elementary education.”

APPENDICES

I. TABLE OF DATES

(a) Pertaining to the Life of Comenius

1592. Born at Nivnitz, Moravia, March 28th.

1604. Death of his father and mother.

——. Entered the elementary school at Strasnitz.

1608. Entered the gymnasium at Prerau.

1611. Matriculated in the college at Herborn.

1613. Matriculated in the university at Heidelberg.

1614. Appointed teacher in the Moravian school at Prerau.

1616. Ordained as a minister, April 29th.

1618. Called to the pastorate of the church at Fulneck; also superintendent of schools.

1624. Marriage to Elizabeth Cyrrill.

——. Driven into the Bohemian mountains by religious persecutions.

1627. Banished from his native country.

1628. Fled to Poland; given charge of the gymnasium at Lissa.

1632. Consecrated as a bishop, October 6th.

1641. Called to England, arriving there September 22d.

1642. Left London, June 10th, for Sweden.

——. Settled at Elbing, Prussia, in October.

1648. Returned to Lissa; death of his wife; chosen president of the council (senior bishop), of the Moravian Church.

1649. Re-married, to Elizabeth Gaiusowa.

1650. Took charge of the schools at Saros-Patak, Hungary, in May.

1654. Returned to Lissa.

1656. Lissa burned; flight to Silesia.

——. Settled in Amsterdam.

1670. Died at Amsterdam, November 15th; buried at Naärden (Holland), November 22d.

(b) Principal Writings of Comenius

1616. Grammaticæ facilioris præcepta (Simple grammatical rules). Prague.

1617. Listowé do nebe (Cries of the oppressed poor). Olmütz.

1622. De Christina perfectione (On Christian perfection). Prague.

1623. Labyrint svéta a ráj srdce, to jest (Labyrinth of the world and paradise of the heart). Lissa.

1631. Janua linguarum reserata (Gate of languages unlocked). Lissa.

1633. Informatorium der Mutter-Schul (School of infancy). Lissa.

——. Atrium linguæ Latinæ (On the study of Latin style). Lissa.

1634. Physicæ ad lumen divinum reformatæ synopsis (Physics remodelled in accordance with divine light). Leipzig.

1638. Prodromus pansophiæ (Fragment of the Great didactic. Published in London, 1639, by Hartlib). Lissa.

1641. Via lucis (The way of light). Amsterdam.

1643. Pansophiæ diatyphosis, inconographica, et orthographica (Published in England in 1650 with the title: A pattern of universal knowledge). Danzig.

1647. Vestibulum Latinæ linguæ rerum (Vestibule of the Latin language). Lissa.

1648. Linguarum methodus novissima (New method of language study). Lissa.

1650. Lux in tenebris (Light in darkness—on prophetic visions). Amsterdam.

——. Scholæ pansophicæ delinætio (Plan of a pansophic school). Saros-Patak.

1656. Schola ludus (School dramas). Saros-Patak.

1657. Orbis sensualium pictus (The world illustrated). Nuremberg.

——. Opera didactica omnia (Complete didactic works in four volumes). Amsterdam.

1660. Historia fratrum Bohemorum (History of the Bohemian brethren). Amsterdam.

——. Cartesius cum sua naturali philosophia a mechanicis eversus (Descartes and his natural philosophy overthrown by arguments derived from mechanical principles). Amsterdam.

——. De natura caloris et frigoris (On the nature of heat and cold). Amsterdam.

1608. Unum necessarium (The one thing needful). Amsterdam.

II. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

(a) Writings of Comenius

1. The great didactic. Translated with introductions, biographical and historical, by M. W. Keatinge. London: Adam and Charles Black. 1896. pp. 468.

This first complete translation of Comenius’ most philosophic work is admirably done. The biographical introduction is given ninety-eight pages, and the historical introduction fifty pages. These are both interesting and critical. The book unfortunately is not indexed.

2. The school of infancy: an essay on the education of youth during the first six years. Edited with an introduction and notes by Will S. Monroe. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. 1896. London: Isbister & Co. 1897. pp. xvi + 99.

There are numerous foot-notes, intended to show the origin of Comenius’ educational ideals and the influence of his writings on later educators. Collateral reading references are given at the end of each chapter, and in the appendix there is a reasonably complete bibliography of Comenius literature.

3. The orbis pictus. Translated into English by Charles Hoole. London: John and Benj. Sprint, 1728. Syracuse, N.Y.: C. W. Bardeen. 1887. pp. 100.

This is a very satisfactory reproduction of the famous Hoole translation by the photographic process. Some of the cuts are indistinct, but Mr. Bardeen wisely refrained from retouching them, preferring occasional indistinctness to modern tampering with the originals.

4. John Amos Comenius: his life and educational work. By S. S. Laurie. Boston: Willard Small. 1885. pp. 229.

The introduction (pp. 1–16) gives the effect of the Renaissance on education; a brief but appreciative sketch of the life of Comenius follows (pp. 17–64); and the remainder of the book is given to an exposition of his writings.

5. Grosse Unterrichtslehre. Aus dem Lateinischen übersetzt mit Einleitungen und Anmerkungen versehen von Julius Beeger und Franz Zoubek. Leipzig: Siegismund und Volkening. No date. pp. clxxvii + 280.

The sketch of the life of Comenius (176 pp.) is by Zoubek, and the translation of the Great didactic from the Latin into German by Beeger.

6. Ausgewählte Schriften. Aus dem Lateinischen übersetzt und mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen versehen von Julius Beeger und J. Leutbecher. Leipzig: Siegismund und Volkening. No date. pp. xvi + 359.

A collection of the miscellaneous educational writings of Comenius, including the School of infancy, Panegersia, and fragments of the Pansophy.

7. Grosse Unterrichtslehre. Mit einer Einleitung: J. Comenius, sein Leben und Wirken. Einleitung, Übersetzung und Commentar von Gustav Adolph Lindner. Wien und Leipzig: A. Pichler’s Witwe und Sohn. 1892. pp. lxxxix + 311.

Perhaps the best German edition of the Great didactic. The biographical sketch is less valuable than the one in the edition by Beeger and Zoubek; but the annotations on the Great didactic, covering about forty pages, give it special pedagogic value.

8. Ueber “Eins ist noth” (“Unum necessarium”). Von Joh. Amos Comenius. Znaim: Fournier und Haberler. 1892. pp. 22.

A convenient edition of Comenius’ pathetic swan song, “The one thing needful.”

(b) Biographical and Critical

1. Educational Review. Nicholas Murray Butler, editor. New York: Educational Review Publishing Co. March, 1892. Vol. III. pp. 209–236.

The issue for March, 1892, is a Comenius number. It contains a brief on Comenius by Professor Butler (pp. 209–211); “The place of Comenius in the history of education,” by Professor Laurie (pp. 211–223); “The text-books of Comenius,” by Mr. C. W. Bardeen (pp. 223–336); and “The permanent influence of Comenius,” by Professor Hanus (pp. 226–236).

2. Proceedings of the National Educational Association for 1892. pp. 703–728.

The department of superintendence of the National Educational Association, in connection with the meeting at Brooklyn, February 16–18, 1892, held exercises in commemoration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Comenius, with the following addresses: “Private life and personal characteristics,” Dr. John Max Hark (pp. 703–711); “Text-books of Comenius,” Superintendent William H. Maxwell (pp. 712–723); “Place of Comenius in the history of education,” Professor Nicholas Murray Butler (pp. 723–728).

3. Essays on educational reformers. By Robert Hebert Quick. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1893. pp. 119–171.

One of the best brief critical surveys of the writings of Comenius and written in the fascinating style of the genial Quick.

4. History of pedagogy. By Gabriel Compayré. Translated by W. H. Payne. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. 1886. pp. 122–136.

A brief summary of Comenius’ most important contributions to primary instruction.

5. The educational ideal: an outline of its growth in modern times. By James Phinney Munroe. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. 1895. pp. 68–94.

A concise and critical survey of the reforms of Comenius and the other realists. After Quick, the best brief survey of the modern movement; and at many points it supplements Quick.

6. Barnard’s American Journal of Education. Published at Hartford by the editor, Henry Barnard. June, 1858. Vol. V. pp. 257–298.

Dr. Barnard was one of the earliest to call attention to the pedagogic value of Comenius’ writings. This translation from Karl von Raumer’s Geschichte der Pädagogik was, up to the time Professor Laurie’s book appeared, the only comprehensive study of Comenius in English. Raumer, however, is not an impartial critic of the realists.

7. The history of the unitas fratrum. By Edmund de Schweinitz. Bethlehem, Penn.: Moravian Publication Office. 1885. pp. 693.

An authoritative account of the Moravian Brethren and of Comenius’ relation to the same.

8. Monatshefte der Comenius-Gesellschaft. Ludwig Kellar, editor. Berlin: Hermann Heyfelder. 1892–1900. 10 volumes.

A high grade bi-monthly review published by the Comenius Society in the interest of education generally, and in particular of the views held by the Moravian reformer. The review is a mine of rich material on Comenius and his contempories.

9. Leben und Schicksale des Johann Amos Comenius. Von Anton Vrbka. Znaim: Fournier und Haberler. 1892. pp. 160.

The best brief German life of Comenius. It is accurate and sympathetic, and contains 17 wood-cuts.

10. Über des Johann Amos Comenius Leben und Wirksamkeit. Von Anton Gindely. Znaim: Fournier und Haberler. 1893. pp. 109.

Another brief German work. Professor Gindely is a Roman Catholic, and while he writes of Comenius with less enthusiasm, he presents his life with critical fairness.

11. Johann Amos Comenius: sein Leben und seine Schriften. Von Johann Kvacsala. Berlin: Julius Klinkhardt. 1892. pp. 480 + 89.

This, so far as I know, is the most comprehensive life of Comenius to be found in any language; but at many points it is unnecessarily tedious and diffuse.

12. Rein’s Encyclopädisches Handbuch der Pädagogik. Langensalza: Hermann Beyer und Söhne. Vol. I. pp. 558–569.

An excellent brief article by A. Nebe. An article on the Comenius-Stiftung follows (pp. 569–573).

13. Der Anschauungsunterricht in der deutschen Schule von Amos Comenius bis zur Gegenwart. Von Gottlieb Gustav Deussing. Frankenberg: C. C. Rossberg. 1884. pp. 66.

A historical and critical dissertation on the growth of object teaching and nature study.

14. Die pädagogischen Grundgedanken des Amos Comenius. Von Hermann Gottsched. Magdeburg: A. und R. Faber. 1879. pp. 64.

A dissertation on Comenius’ philosophy of education.

15. Comenius: ein Systematiker in der Pädagogik. Von Walter Müller. Dresden: Bleyl und Kaemmer. 1887. pp. 50.

A dissertation on the contributions of Comenius to systematic pedagogy and school systems.

16. Die Pädagogik des Spaniers Johann Ludwig Vives und sein Einfluss auf Joh. Amos Comenius. Erlangen: Junge und Sohn. 1890. pp. 69.

Indicates traces of the educational theories of Comenius in the writings of Vives.

17. Die Didaktik Basedows im Vergleiche zur Didaktik des Comenius. Von Petru Garbovicianu. Bucharest: Carol Göbl. 1887. pp. 82.

The influence of the Great didactic of Comenius on Basedow and his institution is pointed out.

18. Schmidt’s Encyclopädie des gesammten Erziehungs und Unterrichtswesen. Gotha: Besser. 1876. Vol. I. pp. 941–951.

The article is by G. Baur. It is less comprehensive, although more sympathetic, than the article in Raumer’s Geschichte der Pädagogik.

19. Buisson’s Dictionnaire de pédagogie et d’instruction primaire. Paris: Hanchette et Cie. 1887. Vol I. Part I. pp. 421–427.

Three brief but discriminating articles. The first, on the life of Comenius, by C. Progler (pp. 421–423); the second, on the pedagogical writings of Comenius, by Ferdinand Buisson (pp. 423–426); the third, on the permanent influences of Comenius, by A. Daguet (pp. 426–427).

FOOTNOTES: