PESTALOZZI, JOHANN HEINRICH Swiss educational reformer, was born at Zurich on Jan. 12, 1746. His father died when he was young, and he was brought up by his mother. As a youth in ZUrich he was associated with Lavater and the party of reform. His earliest years were spent in schemes for improving the condition of the people. The death of his friend Bluntschli turned him however from politics, and induced him to devote himself to education. He married at twenty-three and bought a piece of waste land at Neuhof in Aargau, where he attempted the cultivation of madder. Pestalozzi knew nothing of business, and the plan failed. Before this he had opened his farm-house as a school; but in 178o he had to give this up also. His first book published at this time was The Evening Hours of a Hermit (178o), a series of aphor isms and reflections. This was followed by his masterpiece, Leonard and Gertrude (1781), an account of the gradual reforma tion, first of a household, and then of a whole village, by the efforts of a good and devoted woman. The French invasion of Switzerland in 1798 brought into relief his heroic character. A number of children were left in Canton Unterwalden on the shores of the Lake of Lucerne, without parents, home, food or shelter. Pestalozzi collected a number of them into a deserted convent, and spent his energies in reclaiming them. During the winter he cared for them personally, but in June 1799 the build ing was required by the French for a hospital, and his charges were dispersed. In 18or Pestalozzi gave an exposition of his ideas on education in the book How Gertrude teaches her Chil dren. His method is to begin with observation, to pass from
observation to consciousness, from consciousness to speech. Then come measuring, drawing, writing, numbers, and so reckoning. In 1799 he had been enabled to establish a school at Burgdorf, where he remained till 1804. In the year 18o5 he removed to Yverdon on the Lake of Neuchatel, and for twenty years worked steadily at his task. He was visited by all who took interest in education—Talleyrand, Capo d'Istria, and Mme. de Stael. He was praised by Wilhelm von Humboldt and by Fichte. His pupils included Ramsauer, Delbriick, Blochmann, Carl Ritter, Froebel and Zeller. About 1815 dissensions broke out among the teachers of the school, and Pestalozzi's last ten years were chequered by weariness and sorrow. In 1825 he retired to Neuhof, the home of his youth; and after writing the adventures of his life, and his last work, the Swan's Song, he died at Brugg on Feb. 17, 1827. For his far-reaching influence on educational methods see EDUCA TION.
Pestalozzi's complete works were published at Stuttgart in 1819-26, and an edition by Seyffarth appeared at Berlin in 1881. Volumes on his life and teaching have been written by De Guimps (1889), Barnard (1862) Kriisi (1875) and Pinloche (i9oi). See also J. A. Green, Life and Works of Pestalozzi (1913); P. Matorp, Der ldealismus Pestalozzis: eine Neuuntersuchung der philosophischen Grundlagen Seiner Erziehunglehre (Leipzig, 1919) ; W. 0. Nicolay, Pestalozzis Stellung zu Religion und Religionsunterricht (Langensalza, 192o).