THE
MONTESSORI METHOD
SCIENTIFIC PEDAGOGY AS APPLIED TO CHILD
EDUCATION IN "THE CHILDREN'S HOUSES"
WITH ADDITIONS AND REVISIONS
BY THE AUTHOR
BY
MARIA MONTESSORI
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY
ANNE E. GEORGE
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
PROFESSOR HENRY W. HOLMES
OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
MCMXII
Copyright, 1912, by
Frederick A. Stokes Company
All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian
I place at the beginning of this volume, now appearingin the United States, her fatherland, thedear name of
ALICE HALLGARTEN
of New York, who by her marriage to Baron LeopoldFranchetti became by choice our compatriot.
Ever a firm believer in the principles underlyingthe Case dei Bambini, she, with her husband, forwardedthe publication of this book in Italy, and,throughout the last years of her short life, greatlydesired the English translation which should introduceto the land of her birth the work so nearher heart.
To her memory I dedicate this book, whose pages,like an ever-living flower, perpetuate the recollectionof her beneficence.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mrs. GuyBaring, of London, for the loan of her manuscripttranslation of "Pedagogia Scientifica"; to Mrs.John R. Fisher (Dorothy Canfield) for translatinga large part of the new work written by Dr.Montessori for the American Edition; and to TheHouse of Childhood, Inc., New York, for use ofthe illustrations of the didactic apparatus. Dr.Montessori's patent rights in the apparatus are controlled,for the United States and Canada, by TheHouse of Childhood, Inc.
The Publishers.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
In February, 1911, Professor Henry W. Holmes, ofthe Division of Education of Harvard University, did methe honour to suggest that an English translation be madeof my Italian volume, "Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientificaapplicato all' educazione infantile nelle Case deiBambini." This suggestion represented one of the greatestevents in the history of my educational work. To-day,that to which I then looked forward as an unusual privilegehas become an accomplished fact.
The Italian edition of "Il Metodo della PedagogiaScientifica" had no preface, because the book itself I considernothing more than the preface to a more com