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through the eye & when over such an impression had been made much collateral information might be added thereunto through association of ideas  Even dull lazy boys might be interested & improved in this way  he also believed in drilling boys in the [[underline]]practical[[/underline]] rudiments of learning.  When he was in the Albany Academy the senior professors there were of the opinion that the principal object of instruction should be to make the child think.  He contended however that the [[underline]]"doing"[[/underline]] faculties of the child should first be developed precision of memory cultivated & afterward he should be taught to think.  A boy of twelve might find the rules of arithmetic easy to understand but of what use would his comprehension of them be if he had not be taught facility in the use of them by practice in multiplication subtraction addition & division  In his opinion there would be very many bankrupt merchants if boys were taught only to think &
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not to do.  He made an experiment while at the Academy in support of his theory mathematics was one department of his instruction, including arithmetic  When the boys came to him he kept them for the first two years in the simple rules of arithmetic drilling them day after day  The school room was surrounded by black boards & those boys who could not be accommodated at the boards were provided with slates.  They all became in time exceedingly expert & could add multiply subtract & divide with the utmost ease.  Taking five or six boys of about eight years of age who had been thus drilled he gave them a lecture [[strikethrough]]in the presence of Dr beck & the other Profs of an hour only[[/strikethrough]] upon a box of wooden cones & other mathematical instruments not exceeding three hours.  They were afterwards examined for two hours in presence of Dr. Beck & the other profs with such eclat that those gentlemen claimed in delight "yes yes this is the
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