I wish the object of these remarks not to be
misunderstood. I do not recommend the attempt to teach on so extensive a
scale; I admit that it is impracticable; I only mean to show in what the
impracticability consists, namely, in the difficulty of making such
arrangements as to derive the full benefit from the instructions
rendered. The instructions of the teacher are, _in the nature of
things,_ available to the extent I have represented, but in actual
practice the full benefit can not be derived. Now, so far as we thus
fall short of this full benefit, so far there is, of course, waste; and
it is difficult or impossible to make such arrangements as will avoid
the waste, in this manner, of a large portion of every effort which the
teacher makes.
A very small class instructed by an able teacher is like a factory of a
hundred spindles, with a water-wheel of power sufficient for a thousand.
In such a case, even if the owner, from want of capital or any other
cause, can not add the other nine hundred, he ought to know how much of
his power is in fact unemployed, and make arrangements to bring it into
useful exercise as soon as he can. The teacher, in the same manner,
should understand what is the full beneficial effect which it is
possible, _in theory_, to derive from his instructions. He should
understand, too, that just so far as he falls short of this full effect
there is waste. It may be unavoidable; part of it unquestionably is,
like the friction of machinery, unavoidable.
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