It  was  practised  in  its  highest  perfection  by  the  Pagan  Greeks,  and
was,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  source  of  their  greatness.     We  have
only  to  read,  for  instance,  the  dialogues  of  Socrates,  to  perceive
how  strenuously  they  strove  to  create  not  only  skill  in  thinking,
but  also  that  open,  receptive  mind  which  is  its  necessary  accom-
paniment.    At  any  rate,  every  nation  on  earth  is,  and  has  been,
great  in  proportion  as  it  has  practised   it.     At  the  present  day,
owing  to  the  freedom  of  thought  permitted  by  modern  civilization,
we  all  tend  to  receive,  in  greater  or  lesser  measure,  this  kind  of
training  from  our  general  surroundings  ;  but  in  our  formal  education
it  is  used  comparatively  little  except,  as  we  have  already  noted,  in
teaching  young  children.
