The institution which carried Basedow’s educational theories into practice was the Philanthropinum at Dessau, which became both famous and notorious in the days of the founder, and exercised, withal, a powerful influence on the pedagogy of Germany and Switzerland during the last quarter of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century. Whatever may have been its faults, it had the merit of looking at education from a more modern standpoint. With the conviction that the final word had not been spoken on pedagogy, Basedow boldly determined to find new methods of approach to the child’s mind. As an experiment the Philanthropinum was both interesting and suggestive. Kant, who recognizes this aspect of its utility, says: “It was imagined that experiments in education were not necessary; but this was a great mistake. Experience shows very often that results are produced precisely the opposite to those which had been expected. We also see from experiments that one generation cannot work out a complete plan of education. The only experimental school which has made a beginning toward breaking the path is the institution at Dessau. Whatever its faults, this praise must be given it: It is the only school in which teachers have had the liberty to work out their own methods and plans, and where they stood in connection, not only with each other, but with men of learning throughout all Germany.” In subjects taught, as well as in methods of teaching, Basedow followed Comenius in the main. Words were taught in connection with things; object teaching occupied an important place; pictures were extensively used; children were first taught to speak and later to write in foreign languages; German and French held positions of honor; arithmetic, geometry, geography, and natural history were all taught; great attention was given to the physical development of the children, and play was considered as important as Latin; school hours were shortened; the discipline was much less severe; and the children were allowed and permitted to take degrees of freedom altogether unheard of before Basedow’s day. _Pestalozzi_[43]