of the thing, and which is always proportioned to the strength of the thing, produces true development. All other exercise is partially or wholly hurtful. And another condition, evident in every case, becomes still more evident when we apply these laws to the mind. To produce development most truly and effectively, the exercise must arise from and be sustained by the thing’s own activity—its own natural powers, and all of them (as far as these are in _any_ sense connected with the activity proposed) should be awakened and become naturally active. If, for instance, we desire to further the development of a plant, what we have to do is to induce the plant (and the whole of it) to become active in its own natural way, and to help it to sustain that activity. We may abridge the time; we may modify the result; but we must act through and by the plant’s own activity. This activity of a thing’s own self we call _self-activity_ (_E. of M._, § 9). We generally consider the mind in the light of its three activities of _knowing, feeling, and willing_. The exercise which aims at producing mental development must be in harmony with the nature of _knowing_, _feeling_, and _willing_, and continually in proportion to their strength. And, further, it is found that the more the activity is that of the _whole_ mind, the more it is the mind’s _own_ activity—self-produced, and self-maintained, and self-directed—the better is the result. In other words, knowing, feeling, and willing must _all_ take their rightful share in the exercise; and, in particular, feeling and willing—the mind’s powers of prompting and nourishing, of maintaining and directing its own activities—must never be neglected” (H. C. Bowen on _Ed. of M._). § 18. “A divine message or eternal regulation of the Universe there verily is, in regard to every conceivable procedure and affair of man; faithfully following this, said procedure or affair will prosper ... not following this ... destruction and wreck are certain for every affair.” These words of Carlyle’s express Froebel’s thought about education. Before attempting to educate we must do all we can to ascertain the divine message and must then direct our proceedings by it. The divine message must be learnt according to Froebel by studying the nature of the organism we have to assist in developing. Each human being must “develop from within, self-active and free, in accordance with the eternal law. This is the problem and the aim of all education in instruction and training; there can be and should be no other” (_Ed. of M._, 13). For “all has come forth from the Divine, from God, and is through God alone conditioned. To this it is that all things owe their existence—to the Divine working in them. The Divine element that works in each thing is the true idea (_das Wesen_) of the thing.” Therefore “the destiny and calling of all things is to develop their true idea, and in so doing to reveal God in outward and through passing forms.”