ABSTRACT
The development of primary instruction was the logical consequence of the fundamental principles of the Protestant Reform. The German reformer Luther addressed a pressing appeal to the ruling classes in behalf of founding schools for the people, but, by his influence, methods of instruction were improved, and the educational spirit was renewed in accordance with the principles of Protestantism. With the fall of Protestantism, the cause of primary instruction in France was doomed to a long eclipse. The first grade of instruction is the maternal school, the school by the mother's knee, materni gremii, as Comenius calls it. The first result of the experimental method applied to instruction, is to simplify grammar and to relieve it from the abuse of abstract rules. In the Didactica Magna work, Comenius sets forth his principles, his general theories on education, and also his peculiar views on the practical organization of schools.
