The basis of the reform which he advocates is an application of the principle of order—order in the management of time, in the arrangement of subjects taught, and in the methods employed. Nature furnishes us a criterion for order in all matters pertaining to the improvement of human society. Certain universal principles, which are fundamental to his philosophy of education, are deduced from nature. These, stripped of their tedious examples and details, are:— 1. Nature observes a suitable time. 2. She prepares the material before she attempts to give it form. 3. She chooses a fit subject to act upon, or first submits her subject to a suitable treatment in order to make it fit. 4. She is not confused in her operations; but, in her onward march, advances with precision from one point to another. 5. In all the operations of nature, development is from within. 6. In her formative processes, she begins with the universal and ends with the particular. 7. Nature makes no leaps, but proceeds step by step. 8. When she begins a thing, she does not leave off until the operation is completed. 9. She avoids all obstacles that are likely to interfere with her operations. With nature as our guide, Comenius believes that the process of education will be easy, (1) if it is begun before the mind is corrupted; (2) if the mind is prepared to receive it; (3) if we proceed from the general to the particular, from what is easy to what is more complex; (4) if the pupils are not overburdened with too many different studies; (5) if the instruction is graded to the stages of the mental development of the learners; (6) if the interests of the children are consulted and their intellects are not forced along lines for which they have no natural bent; (7) if everything is taught through the medium of the senses; (8) if the utility of instruction is emphasized; and (9) if everything is taught by one and the same method. Nature begins by a careful selection of materials, therefore education should commence early; the pupils should not have more than one teacher in each subject, and before anything else is done, the morals should be rendered harmonious by the teacher’s influence. Nature always makes preparation for each advance step; therefore, the desire to know and to learn should be excited in children in every way possible, and the method of instruction should lighten the drudgery, that there may be nothing to hinder progress in school studies. Nature develops everything from beginnings which, though insignificant in appearance, possess great potential strength; whereas, the practice of most teachers is in direct opposition to this principle. Instead of starting with fundamental facts, they begin with a chaos of diverse conclusions.