Fundamentals of Nonlinear Optics,

Second Edition Peter E. Powers

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/fundamentals-of-nonlinear-optics-second-edition-pete
r-e-powers/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Nonlinear optics Boyd

https://textbookfull.com/product/nonlinear-optics-boyd/

Nonlinear Optics 4th Edition Robert W. Boyd

https://textbookfull.com/product/nonlinear-optics-4th-edition-
robert-w-boyd/

Nonlinear Fiber Optics 6th Edition Govind P. Agrawal

https://textbookfull.com/product/nonlinear-fiber-optics-6th-
edition-govind-p-agrawal/

Nonlinear Fiber Optics 5th Edition Govind P. Agrawal

https://textbookfull.com/product/nonlinear-fiber-optics-5th-
edition-govind-p-agrawal/
Biota Grow 2C gather 2C cook Loucas

https://textbookfull.com/product/biota-grow-2c-gather-2c-cook-
loucas/

Principles of Electron Optics Basic Geometrical Optics

2nd Edition Peter W. Hawkes

https://textbookfull.com/product/principles-of-electron-optics-
basic-geometrical-optics-2nd-edition-peter-w-hawkes/

Nonlinear Meta-Optics 1st Edition Costantino De Angelis

(Editor)

https://textbookfull.com/product/nonlinear-meta-optics-1st-
edition-costantino-de-angelis-editor/

Handbook of Visual Optics, Volume One: Fundamentals and

Eye Optics 1st Edition Artal

https://textbookfull.com/product/handbook-of-visual-optics-
volume-one-fundamentals-and-eye-optics-1st-edition-artal/

Lectures on light : nonlinear and quantum optics using

the density matrix 2nd Edition Rand

https://textbookfull.com/product/lectures-on-light-nonlinear-and-
quantum-optics-using-the-density-matrix-2nd-edition-rand/
Fundamentals of
Nonlinear Optics
se c o n d e d i t i o n

Pe te r E . Powe rs
Jos e p h W. Ha u s
Fundamentals of
Nonlinear Optics
Fundamentals of
Nonlinear Optics
Second Edition

Peter E. Powers
Joseph W. Haus
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2017 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works

Printed on acid-free paper

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4987-3683-1 (Hardback)

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made
to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all
materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of
all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has
not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify
in any future reprint.

Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized
in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying,
microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the
publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.com (http://
www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,
978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For
organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
i­ dentification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Powers, Peter E., author. | Haus, Joseph W., 1948- author.
Title: Fundamentals of nonlinear optics / Peter E. Powers, Joseph W. Haus.
Description: Second edition. | Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, Taylor & Francis
Group, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044943| ISBN 9781498736831 (hardback ; alk. paper) |
ISBN 1498736831 (hardback ; alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Nonlinear optics.
Classification: LCC QC446.2 .P69 2017 | DDC 535/.2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044943

Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
 To

My nonlinear family: Deborah, William, Gregory, Regina, and Eric

—PEP
… and to mine:

Jean, Alison, Michelle, Paul, Karin, Thomas, and Monica

—JWH
 CONTENTS
Preface to the First Edition xv
Preface to the Second Edition xvii
Authors xix

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Historical Background 1
1.2 Unifying Themes 5
1.3 Overview of Nonlinear Effects Covered in This Book 7
1.4 Labeling Conventions and Terminology 10
1.5 Units 11
Problems 11
References 12
Further Reading 14

2 Linear Optics 15
2.1 Introduction 15
2.1.1 Linearity 15
2.1.2 Maxwell’s Equations 16
2.1.3 Poynting’s Theorem 17
2.1.4 Intensity 19
2.1.5 Linear Polarization 20
2.1.6 Complex Representation of Polarization 21
2.1.7 Energy Exchange between a Field and Polarization 23
2.2 Tensor Properties of Materials 25
2.2.1 Tensors 26
2.3 Wave Equation 28
2.3.1 Constitutive Relationships for Complex Amplitudes 29
2.3.2 Wave Equation in Homogeneous Isotropic Materials 30
2.3.3 Dispersion 32
2.3.4 Wave Equation in Crystals 34
2.3.5 Fresnel’s Equation 37
2.3.6 o-Waves and e-Waves 37
2.3.7 Poynting Vector Walk-Off 39
2.4 Determining e-Waves and o-Waves in Crystals 41
2.4.1 Homogeneous Isotropic 41
2.4.2 Uniaxial Crystal 41
2.4.3 Biaxial Crystals 42
2.5 Index Ellipsoid 43

vii
2.6 Applications 45
2.6.1 Slowly Varying Envelope Approximation and Gaussian Beams 45
2.6.2 Gaussian Beam Propagation Using the q-Parameter 47
2.6.3 M2 Propagation Factor 51
2.6.4 Example of Formatting a Beam for SHG 52
Problems 55
References 63
Further Reading 63

3 Introduction to the Nonlinear Susceptibility 65

3.1 Introduction 65
3.1.1 Nonlinear Polarization 66
3.1.2 Parametric Processes 67
3.2 Classical Origin of the Nonlinearity 70
3.2.1 One-Dimensional Linear Harmonic Oscillator 70
3.2.2 One-Dimensional Anharmonic Oscillator 72
3.2.3 Third-Order Effects in Centrosymmetric Media 76
3.3 Details of the Nonlinear Susceptibility, χ(2) 78
3.3.1 Degeneracy and Subtleties of Squaring the Field 78
3.3.2 Tensor Properties of Susceptibility 79
3.3.3 Permuting the Electric Fields in the Nonlinear Polarization 80
3.3.4 Full Permutation Symmetry in Lossless Media 81
3.3.5 Kleinman’s Symmetry 81
3.3.6 Contracting the Indices in χ(2)
ijk 82
3.3.7 Effective Nonlinearity and deff 86
3.3.8 Example Calculation of deff 91
3.4 Connection between Crystal Symmetry and the d-Matrix 92
3.4.1 Centrosymmetric Crystals 94
3.4.2 Example Calculation of d-Matrix for 3m Crystals 95
3.5 Electro-Optic Effect 97
3.5.1 EO Effects and the r-Matrix 99
3.5.2 Example Calculation of EO Effect in KH2DPO4 101
3.5.3 EO Wave Plates 102
3.5.4 EO Sampling: Terahertz Detection 103
3.5.5 Connection between d and r 107
Problems 110
References 116
Further Reading 116

4 Three-Wave Processes in the Small-Signal Regime 119

4.1 Introduction to the Wave Equation for Three Fields 119
4.1.1 Wave Equation for a Three-Wave Process 120
4.1.2 Slowly Varying Envelope Approximation Extended 122

viii      Contents

 4.1.3 Introduction to Phase Matching 124
4.1.4 First Solution to the Coupled Amplitude Equations 125
4.1.5 k-Vector Picture 129
4.2 Birefringent Phase Matching 130
4.2.1 Birefringent Phase-Matching Types 130
4.2.2 Example: Phase-Matching Problem 133
4.2.3 Phase-Matching SHG 136
4.3 Tuning Curves and Phase-Matching Tolerances 137
4.3.1 Phase-Matching Bandwidth and Angular Acceptance 139
4.4 Taylor Series Expansion Techniques for Determining Bandwidth 141
4.4.1 Temperature Bandwidth 143
4.4.2 Phase-Matching Bandwidth and Acceptance Bandwidth 144
4.4.3 Angular Acceptance and Noncritical Phase Matching 146
4.5 Noncollinear Phase Matching 147
4.5.1 Off-Axis Propagation SVEA Equations 148
4.5.2 Noncollinear Application 150
Problems 152
Reference 160
Further Reading 160

5 Quasi-Phase Matching 161

5.1 Introduction to Quasi-Phase Matching 161
5.2 Linear and Nonlinear Material Considerations 161
5.3 QPM with Periodic Structures 164
5.4 QPM Calculation: An Example 167
5.5 Fourier Transform Treatment of QPM 168
5.6 Tolerances 172
5.7 Fabricating Quasi-Phase-Matched Structures 173
Problems 176
Reference 181
Further Reading 181

6 Three-Wave Mixing beyond the Small-Signal Limit 183

6.1 Introduction 183
6.2 DFG with a Single Strong Pump 183
6.2.1 Defining Equations for the Undepleted Pump Approximation 184
6.2.2 Solution for Difference-Frequency Output 185
6.2.3 Solution with Specific Boundary Conditions 186
6.3 DFG with Strong Pump and Loss 189
6.4 Solutions for All Three Coupled Amplitude Equations 193
6.4.1 Manley–Rowe Relations 193
6.4.2 Analytic Solution for Three Plane Waves 195

Contents      ix
6.5 Spontaneous Parametric Scattering (Optical Parametric Generation) 198
Problems 202
References 205
Further Reading 205

7 χ(2) Devices 207

7.1 Introduction 207
7.2 Optimizing Device Performance: Focusing 207
7.2.1 Overlap of Gaussian Beams with Nonlinear Polarization 208
7.2.2 Parametric Interactions with Focused Gaussian Beams 211
7.2.3 Optimizing Gaussian Beam Interactions 213
7.3 Resonator Devices 215
7.3.1 Resonant SHG 215
7.3.2 Optical Parametric Oscillator 216
7.3.3 OPO with Gaussian Beams 221
7.3.4 Doubly Resonant OPOs 223
7.3.5 Singly Resonant OPOs 226
7.3.6 Cavity Design 227
7.3.7 Pulsed OPOs 230
7.3.8 Backward OPOs 233
Problems 235
References 238
Further Reading 238

8 χ(3) Processes 239

8.1 Introduction 239
8.2 Nonlinear Polarization for χ(3) Processes 240
8.2.1 Defining Relationships 240
8.2.2 Permutation Symmetries for χ(3) 243
8.2.3 Symmetry Considerations for Centrosymmetric Media 244
8.3 Wave Equation for χ(3) Interactions 248
8.3.1 Four Distinct Frequencies 248
8.3.2 Manley–Rowe Relations 250
8.4 Self-Induced Effects 252
8.4.1 Nonlinear Index of Refraction 252
8.4.2 Nonlinear Absorption 254
8.4.3 Cross-Phase Shifts 255
8.4.4 Self-Focusing 256
8.4.5 Optical Bistability 259
8.5 Parametric Amplifiers 262
8.5.1 Introduction 262
8.5.2 Two Undepleted Inputs 264

x      Contents
 8.5.3 One Undepleted Input 266
8.5.4 Pump Depletion 267
8.6 Noncollinear Processes 268
8.7 Degenerate Four-Wave Mixing 270
8.7.1 Introduction 270
8.7.2 Pump Phase Shifts 271
8.7.3 Probe and Signal Fields 272
8.7.4 Optical-Phase Conjugation 275
8.8 z-SCAN 277
8.8.1 Introduction 277
8.8.2 Measuring the Nonlinear Index of Refraction 278
8.8.3 Nonlinear Absorption 283
Problems 285
Reference 290
Further Reading 290

9 Raman and Brillouin Scattering 291

9.1 Introduction 291
9.2 Spontaneous Raman Scattering 292
9.2.1 Classical Model of Spontaneous Raman Scattering 293
9.2.2 Raman Scattering Cross Section 295
9.2.3 Raman Microscope 298
9.3 Stimulated Raman Scattering 299
9.3.1 Introduction 299
9.3.2 Classical Calculation for Inducing a Molecular Vibration 299
9.3.3 Nonlinear Polarization for a Stimulated Raman Process 302
9.3.4 Wave Equation for the Stokes Field 304
9.3.5 Amplification of the Stokes Field Off Resonance 305
9.3.6 Stokes Amplification with a Depleted Pump 306
9.4 Anti-Stokes Generation 310
9.4.1 Classical Derivation of the Anti-Stokes Nonlinear Polarization 310
9.4.2 Wave Equation for Stokes and Anti-Stokes in the Undepleted
Pump Approximation 312
9.4.3 Stokes and Anti-Stokes Generation with Pump Depletion 314
9.5 Raman Amplifiers 316
9.6 Photoacoustic Effects: Raman-Nath Diffraction 317
9.7 Brillouin Scattering 321
9.7.1 Spontaneous Brillouin Scattering 321
9.7.2 Classical Model for the Stimulated Brillouin Scattering 323
9.7.3 Nonlinear Polarization for the Stimulated Brillouin Scattering 325
9.7.4 Coupled Intensity Equations and Solutions for the
Stimulated Brillouin Scattering 327

Contents      xi
 9.7.5 Brillouin with Linear Absorption 329
9.7.6 Mitigating Brillouin Effects 331
Problems 331
References 335

10 Nonlinear Optics Including Diffraction and Dispersion 337

10.1 Introduction 337
10.2 Spatial Effects 338
10.2.1 Diffraction and the Poynting Vector Walk-Off 338
10.2.2 Split-Step Technique 341
10.2.3 Linear Propagation: Beam Propagation Method 345
10.2.4 Nonlinear Propagation for Three-Wave Mixing 347
10.3 Temporal Effects 348
10.3.1 Time-Dependent Field Definitions 348
10.3.2 Time-Dependent Linear Polarization 350
10.3.3 Time-Dependent Nonlinear Polarization 352
10.3.4 Wave Equation for Fields with a Time-Dependent Envelope 353
10.4 Dynamical Solutions to the Nonlinear Envelope Equation 357
10.4.1 Self-Phase Modulation 358
10.4.2 Numerical Solutions with Pulses 360
10.4.2.1 Dispersion Step 361
10.4.2.2 Nonlinear Step 363
10.4.3 Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation 364
10.4.4 Modulation Instability 365
10.4.5 Fundamental Soliton Solution 367
10.4.6 Spatial Solitons 369
10.4.7 Dark and Gray Solitons 371
10.5 Dynamical Stimulated Raman Scattering 372
10.5.1 Dynamical SRS Equations Solution 374
Problems 376
References 379
Further Reading 379

11 Quantum Nonlinear Optics 381

11.1 Introduction 381
11.2 Quantizing Equations of Motion 384
11.2.1 Classical to Quantum Equations of Motion 384
11.2.2 Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations 389
11.3 Electromagnetic Field 391
11.3.1 Coherent State Representation 393
11.3.2 Electromagnetic Wave Function 395
11.3.3 Electromagnetic Signals 396

xii      Contents

11.4 Quantum Amplifiers and Attenuators 397
11.4.1 Quantum Attenuator Model 397
11.4.2 Quantum Amplifier Model 402
11.4.3 Quantum Initiation: Optical Parametric Generator 403
11.4.4 Schrödinger’s Cat States 405
11.5 Quantum Detection 405
11.5.1 Direct Detection 405
11.5.2 Coherent Detection 407
11.5.2.1 Beam Splitter 407
11.5.2.2 Coherent Detection Signal to Noise 409
11.5.2.3 Balanced Homodyne Detection 409
11.6 Quantum Squeezed Light 411
11.6.1 Single-Mode Squeezed States 411
11.6.2 Squeezed Light Experiments 414
11.7 Multimode Quantum States 416
11.7.1 Entangled Quantum States 416
11.7.2 Entanglement via SPDC 418
11.7.2.1 Type I Phase Matching 420
11.7.2.2 Type II Phase Matching 422
11.7.3 Two-Mode Parametric Squeezing 424
11.7.4 Quantum Optical Phase Conjugation 425
11.7.5 HOM Interferometer 427
Problems 431
References 436
Books 436
Selected Articles 436
Amplifiers and Attenuators 437
Squeezed Light 437
EPR and Tests of Quantum Mechanics 437
Appendix A: Complex Notation 439
Appendix B: Sellmeier Equations 443
Appendix C: Programming Techniques 451
Appendix D: Exact Solutions to the Coupled Amplitude Equations 457
Appendix E: Optical Fibers—Slowly Varying Envelope Equations 465
Index 469

Contents      xiii

 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
The purpose of this text is to introduce students and professionals to the funda-
mentals of nonlinear optics. The text is designed around a one-semester course. It is
­written at a level accessible to graduate students and senior undergraduates who have
taken a course in electro-magnetism including Maxwell’s equations and electromag-
netic waves. Outside of the student population, the text is also intended for scientists
and engineers who are new to nonlinear optics and seek an introductory resource.
The topics covered in the text encompass a broad spectrum of nonlinear phenomena
from second-harmonic generation to soliton formation. The topics covered prepare
students for further study in the subject matter as well as more advanced topics.
The wide use of nonlinear optical phenomena in laboratories and commer-
cial devices requires a familiarity with the underlying physics as well as practical
device considerations. The text introduces subject matter by giving the theoretical
­background and framework for a nonlinear effect, followed by details of how such
an effect is implemented in a real system. These two aspects of nonlinear optics are
complementary. The theory developed allows for a fundamental understanding of
a given effect while the practical device considerations help to guide the theoretical
directions.
A goal of the text is to look at different nonlinear phenomena using, where pos-
sible, the same theoretical structure. This approach helps students to master key con-
cepts that come up repeatedly throughout nonlinear optics. It also helps students
to think about how to apply what they learn to topics not covered in the text. The
text starts with a chapter focused on linear phenomena important to nonlinear
optics. Whether a course includes this chapter depends on the student’s background.
Even for students with a solid grounding in optics, however, the chapter serves as
a resource to important linear phenomena and its terminology. The first nonlinear
phenomena covered are the technologically important processes of ­second-harmonic
generation, sum- and difference-frequency generation, and the electro-optic effect.
These processes are covered in considerable detail at both a theoretical and practical
level. The formalisms developed for these effects carry over to subsequent topics cov-
ered in the text such as four-wave mixing, self-phase modulation, Raman scattering,
Brillouin s­ cattering, and soliton formation. The text has the same bias of connect-
ing these higher-order effects to applications as it does for the lower-order effects.
To help develop both a strong theoretical foundation and a practical understanding
of nonlinear optics, the text includes extensive problems at the end of each chapter.
Many of the problems require some degree of plotting and simple programming.
The text is not tied to a single mathematical package; instead, it gives general algo-
rithms, which are accessible to any scientific graphical and programming package.
Instructors can draw upon the problems at the end of chapters for in-class examples

xv
and for homework assignments. A solutions manual for the problems is available to
­instructors from the publisher.
I have many people to thank for helping with this text. My introduction to nonlin-
ear optics came as a graduate student, and many of my insights and understanding
were developed as a student of Professor Chung Tang. I am grateful for his guidance
and support in my career. This text grew out of a series of lecture notes developed over
several years teaching nonlinear optics. I am grateful to numerous students who gave
feedback and suggestions to improve the notes and the text. Many of the ­examples
given in the text draw upon experimental work in my laboratory and I would like
to thank my graduate students for the many stimulating conversations centered
on describing these effects. I would further like to thank Dr. Kenneth Schepler at
the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, and Professors Leno Pedrotti and Joseph
Haus at the University of Dayton for critiquing portions of the text. I am indebted
to Professors Mark Cronin-Golomb at Tufts University, Jeff F. Young at University of
British Columbia, and Marc Dignam at Queen’s University, who reviewed a rough
draft and provided invaluable feedback. I thank my editor, Luna Han, for her help,
encouragement, and patience throughout the writing of the text. Finally, I thank my
family, especially my wife Deborah, for their support while I wrote the text.

Peter E. Powers
Dayton, Ohio

xvi      Preface to the First Edition

 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
It was a tremendous loss for the nonlinear optics community when Peter Powers
passed away in June 2014. He was planning a second edition of this book to include
corrections and add new material where needed. Taking on the task of writing this
second edition was an awesome task, since in my view it was already the best book
on the market for introducing students and researchers to the practical aspects of
nonlinear optics. In this revision, it has been my intention to stay true to his vision of
this book.
Looking back, my first embrace of his teaching philosophy was when I used his
book to teach a course on nonlinear optics. For this second edition, I have followed
his approach with the exception of some reorganization or enhancing coverage of
certain topics. In particular, the treatment of Maxwell’s equations in Chapter 2 is
expanded to include dispersion at the outset, which is a solid foundation for the top-
ics that follow. The chapters on parametric processes were largely left as Peter wrote
them. This was his domain and he presented these topics clearly and with authority.
I added problems to the chapters and made small changes where I thought it would
improve the clarity of the presentation.
The main differences come in the treatment of third-order nonlinear processes,
where my own expertise is applied. Material on the modulation instability was added
to further motivate soliton formation. Also, the treatment of fiber optic systems was
expanded with an appendix on the derivation of the slowly varying envelop equations
for propagation in optical fibers. Chapter 11 on quantum nonlinear optics explores a
relationship of nonlinear optics to the fundamental limitations of nature, especially
where noise can be a dominant effect in the measurement process. A direct connec-
tion is made with nonlinear phenomena studied in earlier chapters, but now viewed
from a quantum perspective; the prior results are translated to a quantum context
and treated in a phenomenological way. The foundations of quantum mechanics,
especially Einstein’s objections, are examined with an emphasis on nonlinear optics
through the creation of entangled photon pair states.
I want to thank the students and colleagues who have given me feedback on this
book and especially Sean Kelley, who diligently read all chapters and made detailed
remarks that improved the presentation. I am also grateful to Professors Imad Agha
and Partha Banerjee for reading Chapter 11 and providing advice and comments.
Luna Han has been a supportive and patient editor during the writing of the new
edition; she gave me the opportunity to complete the task to my satisfaction. Finally, I
also thank my wife Jean who put up with my mess sprawled across our kitchen table
for many months.

Joseph W. Haus
Dayton, Ohio

xvii
 AUTHORS
Peter E. Powers was a professor of phys-
ics and electro-optics, and the Brother
Leonard A. Mann chair in the sciences at the
University of Dayton. He became a member of
the ­faculty since 1997. Before joining there, he
spent 3 years at Sandia National Laboratories
developing mid-IR nonlinear optical sources
for remote sensing and sensitive chemical
detection. Dr. Powers completed his PhD on
­femtosecond optical parametric oscillators at
Cornell University in 1994 under the direc-
tion of Professor Chung L. Tang. Dr. Powers’
research centers on nonlinear optical devices
with an emphasis on optical frequency con-
version. These devices have enabled appli-
cations including trace species detection, remote sensing, laser radar, and ­terahertz
generation. He published widely in the optics literature, is a regular p ­ articipant at
optics conferences, and has six patents in the area of nonlinear optics. Dr. Powers
was a respected member of the optics community. He chaired the SPIE symposium,
Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials, Devices, and Applications, and
was a ­frequent journal referee. He was also a fellow of the Optical Society of America
and the SPIE, and a member of the American Physical Society and Sigma Xi.

Joseph W. Haus is a professor in Departments

of Electro-Optics and Photonics, Electrical
and Computer Engineering, and Physics at
the University of Dayton, where he joined
in 1999. He served as the director of the
Electro-Optics Program for 13 years; he
is the director of the Ladar and Optical
Communications Institute. Before joining
the University of Dayton, he was a profes-
sor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute for 15 years. He also held positions
in Germany at the Universität Essen and the
Kernforschungsanlage in Jülich and in Japan
at the University of Tokyo, where he held the Hitachi Limited Quantum Materials
chair in 1991–1992. His research has covered topics in quantum and nonlinear optics
in composite materials and nonlinear fiber optics and he collaborated with Peter

xix
Powers on optical parametric ­processes, including terahertz generation. Dr. Haus
cofounded the International Conference on Nanophotonics, which held in China,
but also has been held in Taiwan, Japan, and Brazil. He has published a book called
Fundamentals and Applications of Nanophotonics (Woodhead Publishing, 2016) and he
holds two ­patents in nonlinear optics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society,
Optical Society of America, and SPIE. He is a member of the IEEE.

xx      Authors
 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
You are about to embark on a study of nonlinear optics. Before we delve into the
mathematical framework behind nonlinear optics, it is instructive to briefly ­present
an historical perspective. The field of nonlinear optics encompasses a rich diver-
sity of phenomena whose applications are growing at a seemingly exponential rate.
The modern rebirth of the field began with the proposal of a laser device in 1958 by
Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes and its first operational demonstration
in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. The laser was conceived as a highly monochromatic
and coherent light source with emission at “optical” wavelengths, that is, at wave-
lengths far shorter than maser wavelengths. Indeed, the laser was initially so closely
tied to the development of the maser, which generates coherent radiation at micro-
wave frequencies, that in early publications it was referred to as the optical maser.
In the nineteenth century, there were two noteworthy discoveries of field-induced
refractive birefringence effects. A quadratic field effect was described by the Scotsman
John Kerr in 1875 and a linear field effect was reported by the German Friedrich
C. A. Pockels in 1883. Today we recognize these effects as third- and second-order
nonlinear effects, respectively. In both cases, these phenomena affect the phase of
the wave, rather than the amplitude. In 1922, Leon N. Brillouin, a French physicist,
postulated a nonlinear coupling between acoustic and optical waves in a medium,
and in 1928, two Indian physicists Chandrasekhara V. Raman and Kariamanickam S.
Krishnan measured an inelastic spontaneous emission effect, now commonly called
the Raman effect, which was predicted in 1923 by the Austrian Adolf Smekel. Both of
these effects are third-order nonlinear phenomena. Interestingly, the Russian physi-
cist Leonid I. Mandelstam independently predicted both of these effects during that
period.

1
 Two publications of note in the history of nonlinear optics appeared in the follow-
ing decade. In 1931, the German Maria Goepport-Mayer published her PhD disserta-
tion work on two-photon absorption processes by extending concepts of quantum
theory. Two-photon absorption is also a third-order nonlinear effect that corresponds
to an imaginary contribution to the coefficient, whereas the Kerr effect corresponds
to a real third-order contribution. The effect was observed soon after the invention
of the laser as a nonlinear fluorescence phenomenon. Her work became honored by
coining a molecular cross section of a Goeppert-Mayer (GM), which has the unit
10−50 cm4 s/photon; it is a convenient unit in studies of nonlinear absorption in mate-
rials. The second publication is the paper by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and
Nathan Rosen in 1935 (at that time at Princeton University) that purported to call into
question the inadequacy of quantum mechanics. In their argument, they introduced
what is now called quantum entanglement of particle pairs that obey momentum
and energy conservation laws. This has been a fruitful field of research in nonlinear
optics by using parametric down-conversion to split a photon into a pair of photons.
This research is leading to the emergence of new fields in quantum information and
quantum communications.
Within a few years after the laser was invented, there was an explosion of laser-
related activities around the globe. Within a few years, nonlinear optical effects such
as second-harmonic generation (SHG), sum-frequency generation (SFG), difference-
frequency generation (DFG), optical rectification, two-photon absorption, and third-
harmonic generation were observed for the first time at optical frequencies (see
Figure 1.1 and references therein). The celebrated paper in 1961 by Peter Franken’s
group at the University of Michigan reported a first measurement of SHG using a
quartz crystal as the nonlinear material. The published paper is also interesting for
what it does not show, namely, the second-harmonic signal was interpreted by the
copy editor as a smudge on the photograph and the proof of SHG signal was removed.
The paper caused quite a stir because it provided new insights into optical frequency
conversion at a quantum mechanical level; the new conceptualization of nonlinear
optical processes was not widely appreciated at the time.
Additional studies quickly followed building a theoretical framework to describe
and predict the observed nonlinear behavior. Nikolaas Bloembergen’s group at
Harvard University was among the early contributors (Armstrong et al., 1962;
Bloembergen and Pershan, 1962; Kleinman, 1962a,b; Pershan, 1963; Ducuing and
Bloembergen, 1964; Harris, 1966; Minck et al., 1966; Tang, 1966; Boyd and Kleinman,
1968; Giallorenzi and Tang, 1968). The landmark 1962 paper by Armstrong et al. pre-
sented analytical solutions of nonlinear equations and proposed new experimental
strategies to achieve efficient nonlinear conversion. The invention of the laser ushered
in an era of publications reporting observations of new phenomena, exploring new
aspects of the field’s theoretical underpinnings, and improving upon earlier results.
Advances in laser and photodetection technologies have enabled studies of addi-
tional nonlinear phenomena in extended wavelength regimes and the creation of
ultrashort pulses.

2      Fundamentals of Nonlinear Optics

 Raman scattering
Maxwell’s equations Pockels effect Raman and Krishnan Quantum entanglement Maser demonstrated
Maxwell (1865) Pockels (1893, 1906) (1928) Einstein et al. (1935) Gordon et al. (1954)

1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1959

Kerr effect Brillouin scattering Two photon absorption, theory Optical maser (laser) proposed
Kerr (1875) Brillouin (1922) Goeppert-Mayer (1931) Schawlow and Townes (1958)

Optical parametric amplifier

Wang and Racette (1965)
Third-harmonic generation Optical parametric oscillator Supercontinuum
Terhune et al. (1962) Giordmaine and Miller (1965) Alfano and Shapiro Optical solitons in fiber theory
Stimulated Raman scattering (1970) Hasegawa and Tappert (1973)
Laser proven Woodbury and Ng (1962) and Difference-frequency generation
Maiman (1960) Eckhardt et al. (1962) Niebuhr (1963) and Smith and SBS optical phase conjugation
Self-focusing Askar’yan (1962) Braslou (1963) Zel’dovich et al. (1972)

1960 Sum frequency generation 1965 1970 1975 1980

Bass et al. (1962a)
Optical rectification Photorefractive effect Bell’s inequality tested Optical bistability
Bell’s inequality proposed
Bass et al. (1962b) Ashkin et al. (1966) Freedman and Clauser Gibbs et al. (1976)
Bell (1964)
(1972)
Second-harmonic generation
Franken et al. (1961) Optical solitons in fibers
Two-photon absorption Stimulated Brillouin Scattering Mollenauer et al. (1980)
Kaiser and Garrett (1961) Chiao et al. (1964)

FIGURE 1.1 Timeline pointing out selected milestones in the history of nonlinear optics. Top: Prehistory of nonlinear optics before the
laser’s invention. Bottom: A 20-year span of rapid nonlinear optics development after the laser was demonstrated.

Chapter 1 – Introduction      3

 Behind all these developments is the high field associated with lasers. Because of
their temporal and spatial coherence, lasers have a brightness, defined as W/m2/Sr,
which far exceeds other light sources. Early Q-switched lasers easily attained intensi-
ties of >1 MW/cm2 by focusing, and the interaction of these high fields with materials
led to observations of nonlinear behavior. The rate of discovery and development in
laser science and in nonlinear optics since the early 1960s continued at a rapid pace in
subsequent decades and was highly synergistic. The generation of ultrashort pulses
requires nonlinear elements to mode-locked pulses in the cavity. Laser operation
down to the femtosecond pulse width range is now a common tool in the lab and in
commercial machining applications. The development of super-intense femtosecond
lasers opened a new regime of strong-field nonlinear optics. Strong fields drive a
nonlinear response in gases that can generate harmonic waves with over 100 times
the energy of the pump photons; these phenomena are called high-order harmonic
waves and photon wavelengths can reach into the x-ray regime. Due to the coher-
ence of the pump laser source, the high-order harmonics also have some measure of
coherence; coherence combined with the shorter wavelengths has also lead the way
to breaking the femtosecond barrier and producing attosecond pulse widths.
From among the many different nonlinear phenomena reported, we mention here
several of those covered in this book: spontaneous parametric fluorescence in 1967
(Akhmanov et al., 1967; Byer and Harris, 1968), optical phase conjugation in 1972
(Zel’dovich et al., 1972; Yariv, 1976), optical bistability in 1976 (Gibbs et al., 1976), and
optical solitons in 1980 (Mollenauer et al., 1980).
Applications for nonlinear optical devices were readily apparent after the underly-
ing nonlinear effects were first demonstrated. For instance, the ability to convert laser
light to new frequencies adds significant flexibility to fixed frequency laser sources.
Moreover, the efficiency of nonlinear frequency conversion can be high, in some
cases depleting the input laser energy. It is common to find commercial lasers sold
with frequency extension units to double, triple, and quadruple the fundamental fre-
quency. Continuously tuned nonlinear sources are the result of parametric frequency
conversion processes. Frequency conversion is more than a convenience—nonlinear
optical techniques enable experiments that require specific frequencies unattainable
by available lasers, which have limited tuning ranges.
Another class of nonlinear optics applications called nonlinear spectroscopy has
established an understanding of molecular materials at the quantum level. Nonlinear
absorption and scattering methods provide a means to identify trace quantities of
unknown material constituents with high fidelity. Spontaneous Raman scattering
(Raman and Krishnan, 1928) imparts a “fingerprint” scattered frequency signature
that allows for the identification of different materials. The increased brightness of
laser beams has rendered stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) signals observable and
using a laser beam incident on a suitably prepared surface SRS spectroscopy has
improved molecular fingerprinting sensitivity by 10–12 orders of magnitude, even
enabling single-molecule detection (see Chapter 9). Nonlinear saturation spectroscopy
allows for high-resolution spectroscopy by eliminating Doppler shifts in absorption

4      Fundamentals of Nonlinear Optics

features, called Lamb-dip spectroscopy (Lamb, 1964). Many laser-based spectroscopy
topics are not treated in this book; the interested reader may wish to consult a survey
of spectroscopic techniques for further information (Demtroder, 1996).

1.2 UNIFYING THEMES

Nonlinear effects in this book involve energy exchange between independent optical
inputs, nonlinear phase shifts to optical fields, and energy exchange between optical
fields and a material. For each effect, we derive a nonlinear polarization expression
and insert it into a wave equation that describes the propagation of electromagnetic
(EM) waves through the medium. We connect the material polarization to electric
fields through the material’s linear susceptibility, χ(1). To simplify the discussion,
we treat the polarization and electric field as scalars and introduce the relationship
between the material polarization and an incident field as purely linear,

P = ε 0 χ(1)E, (1.1)

where P is the polarization, E is the electric field, and ε0 is the permittivity of free
space. In Chapter 2, we cover linear EM effects in greater detail and emphasize the
important role they play in nonlinear optics. In Chapter 2, we also derive Poynting’s
theorem, which shows a direct connection to energy exchange between a field and
the nonlinear polarization.
When the electric field is large, as can be the case with lasers, the material prop-
erties are modified by the incident field. The first nonlinear effects we study are
associated with distortions to the electron cloud surrounding atoms and molecules.
Classically, the electric field displaces electrons in the medium, and when the dis-
placement is large, nonlinear effects become apparent. This classical model is devel-
oped in Chapter 3. These electronic-based nonlinear effects are weak, and so we write
the dependence as a power-series expansion in the field,

P = ε 0 χ(1)E + ε 0 χ( 2)E2 + ε 0 χ( 3 )E3 +  (1.2)

The susceptibility is broken down into orders with χ(1) corresponding to linear
effects, χ(2) corresponding to quadratic terms in the field, and so on. The types of
processes associated with the different expansion orders are referred to as simply χ(2)
effects, χ(3) effects, and so on. In Chapter 3, we derive expressions for the nonlinear
susceptibilities based on classical models. Chapters 4 through 7 cover the detailed
tensor form of χ(2) and apply Maxwell’s equations to study SHG, SFG, and DFG.
The same formalisms used for the earlier chapters are extended to describe χ(3)
effects, such as four-wave mixing, optical bistability, and optical phase conjugation,
in Chapter 8. Another class of nonlinear problems involves interactions of an electric

Chapter 1 – Introduction      5

field with molecular vibrations, rotations, reorientation, and collective modes (pho-
nons and acoustic waves). Raman scattering and Brillouin scattering are two impor-
tant nonlinear optical phenomena we cover in Chapter 9, and we show that they
are described as χ(3) effects. Indeed, nonlinear effects are commonly used as mode-
locking elements in laser cavities to help form short pulses.
The equations used in many studies of nonlinear optics are extended to incorpo-
rate dispersion and diffraction in Chapter 10. The treatment of ultrashort pulses and
their linear and nonlinear effects has been widely discussed in the literature. For
instance, it is important for understanding the operation of ultrashort-pulse solid-
state and fiber lasers. A description of χ(2) nonlinear processes with ultrashort pulses
enables a deeper understanding of wavelength-tunable sources of coherent radia-
tion; they are useful tools for spectroscopic applications. Nonlinear optics for weak
fields can be used to understand the quantum nature of the EM field. Chapter 11 is
an introduction to the quantum properties of the EM field and the manifestation of
the quantum properties in experiments. The quantum nature has applications for
quantum communication and computing, which are emerging from this important
research field.
The derivation of the wave equation governing all the effects discussed in this
book follows the same procedure. We find that the wave equations for different χ(2)
and χ(3) processes have many similarities, which allow us to build up concepts that
carry over to all χ(2) and χ(3) processes. The derivations made early in this book include
many simplifying assumptions, but expose important general properties of nonlin-
ear phenomena. The simplifying assumptions are progressively lifted in later chap-
ters, revealing more detailed behavior of nonlinear optical systems.
In some cases, the perturbation expansion given in Equation 1.2 breaks down. For
example, consider a commercially available high-energy and ultrashort-pulse laser,
characterized by 10 mJ of energy in a 50-fs pulse. This laser produces pulses with peak
powers of approximately 2 × 1011 W. When the output of the laser is focusable to a dif-
fraction limited spot size, say 10 μm2, the local intensity can achieve extreme values
2 × 1022 W/m2. The electric field associated with the intensity are around 1 × 1012 V/m,
which is larger than the Coulomb field binding the electron to the proton, approxi-
mately 1 × 1011 V/m (Problem 1.2). For these extreme field values, χ(2)E2 becomes com-
parable to χ(1)E, and the expansion in Equation 1.2 breaks down. However, extreme
fields are not the only route where the expansion breaks down. In resonant nonlinear
phenomena, population transfer between a few quantum states is responsible for
phenomena such as saturable absorption and for quantum coherence in atomic sys-
tems such as two-level atoms, where the perturbation expansion breaks down even
for relatively low intensities.
The approach of this book is to treat phenomena where the series expansion given
in Equation 1.2 is valid. Such phenomena cover a great deal of basic nonlinear optics
and the mathematical concepts. The techniques contained in this book developed in
discussing them are a good starting point for studying other, perhaps more exotic,
nonlinear processes.

6      Fundamentals of Nonlinear Optics

1.3 OVERVIEW OF NONLINEAR EFFECTS
COVERED IN THIS BOOK
Although we derive classical expressions for the nonlinear susceptibilities, we also
make use of quantum mechanical pictures that are centered on energy conservation
to describe the phenomena. Energy-level diagrams along with schematic illustra-
tions of photons help to describe the underlying processes quickly and intuitively.
As an overview to the phenomena presented in this chapter, we present the effects
schematically using the quantum mechanical picture and defer specific details of
the processes to later chapters. Note that the quantum mechanical pictures given
here describe the nonlinear interaction when it occurs, but since nonlinear effects are
weak, the probability of a given interaction occurring is low. Figure 1.2 shows the
different permutations of χ(2) effects involving three frequencies, which correspond
to three photons at the most basic level. The energy conservation statement for these
interactions is given by

ω1 = ω 2 + ω 3 , (1.3)

where for three-wave interactions, we use the convention ω1 > ω2 ≥ ω3. SFG and SHG
at the most fundamental level involve two input photons that are annihilated while
one photon with higher energy is created (see Figure 1.2a). DFG is the reverse process
where a high-energy photon splits into two photons of lesser energy (see Figure 1.2b).
In DFG, note that when the high-energy photon at ω1 splits into a photon at ω2 and
another at the difference frequency, ω3, the input at ω2 is amplified by an additional
photon. Hence, DFG is also called optical parametric amplification (OPA).
The same three-wave processes are described using energy-level diagrams
depicted in Figure 1.3. The system starts with an electron in its ground state and is
then excited to an intermediate “virtual” state. The virtual level indicates a transient
state for the system, whereas real electronic levels are those where the electron can
reside indefinitely.

(a) (b)
ω1 (2 photons)
ω3

ω1 ω2

χ(2) χ(2)

ω2 ω3
ω2

FIGURE 1.2 (a) Sum-frequency process and (b) difference-frequency process and OPA. The
sinusoidal-shaped lines represent photons.

Chapter 1 – Introduction      7

 (a) (b)
Virtual state Virtual state

ω3 ω3

ω1 ω1

ω2 ω2

Ground state Ground state

FIGURE 1.3 Energy-level diagrams for (a) a sum-frequency process and (b) a difference-fre-
quency process and OPA.

In the case of DFG and OPA, we have two photons present at the input, one at ħω1
and another at ħω2 However, the energy diagram shows only the input photon at ω1
since it is annihilated, whereas the input photon at ħω2 is unaffected.
Four-wave mixing applications involve four photons at the most basic level and
have photon pictures and energy-level diagrams similar to the three-wave case. For
example, Figure 1.4 shows a sum-frequency process between three input lasers at ω2,
ω3, and ω4 defined by

ω1 = ω 2 + ω 3 + ω 4 . (1.4)

(a) (b)
Virtual state

ω2 ω4

ω1
ω3 χ(3)
ω3
ω1

ω4

ω2

Ground state

FIGURE 1.4 Illustration of a four-photon sum-frequency process: (a) photon annihilation and
creation and (b) energy-level diagram.

8      Fundamentals of Nonlinear Optics

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
possession, and, at the same time, a gift from above. A little simple
reasonable teaching may help. But let us beware of much talk. “Have
you quite finished, mother?” said a bright little girl of five in the most
polite way in the world. She had listened long to her mother’s
sermonising, and had many things on hand. A wise word here and
there may be of use, but much more may be done by carefully
hindering each “defect of its quality” from coming into play. Give the
ill weeds no room to grow. Then, again, the defect may often be
reclaimed and turned back to feed the quality itself. The ambitious
boy’s love of power may be worked into a desire to win by love his
restive little brother. The passion of the loving girl may be made to
include all whom her mother loves.
There is another aspect of the subject of heredity and the duties it
entails. As the child of long lineage may well inherit much of what
was best in his ancestors—fine physique, clear intellect, high moral
worth—so also he has his risks. As some one puts it, not all the
women have been brave, nor all the men chaste. We know how the
tendency to certain forms of disease runs in families. Temper and
temperament, moral and physical nature alike, may come down with
a taint. An unhappy child may, by some odd freak of nature, appear
to have left out the good and taken into him only the unworthy. What
can the parents do in such a case? They may not reform him—
perhaps that is beyond human skill and care, once he has become
all that is possible to his nature—but transform him, so that the being
he was calculated to become never develops at all; but another
being comes to light blest with every grace of which he had only the
defect. This brings us to a beneficent law of nature, which underlies
the whole subject of early training, and especially so this case of the
child whose mother must bring him forth a second time into a life of
beauty and harmony. To put it in an old form of words—the words of
Thomas à Kempis—what seems to me the fundamental law of
education is no more than this: “Habit is driven out by habit.” People
have always known that “Use is second nature,” but the reason why,
and the scope of the saying, these are discoveries of recent days.
A child has an odious custom, so constant, that it is his quality, will
be his character if you let him alone; he is spiteful, he is sly, he is
sullen. No one is to blame for it; it was born in him. What are you to
do with such inveterate habit of nature? Just this; treat it as a bad
habit, and set up the opposite good habit. Henry is more than
mischievous; he is a malicious little boy. There are always tears in
the nursery, because, with “pinches, nips, and bobs,” he is making
some child wretched. Even his pets are not safe; he has done his
canary to death by poking at it with a stick through the bars of its
cage; howls from his dog, screeches from his cat, betray him in
some vicious trick. He makes fearful faces at his timid little sister;
sets traps with string for the housemaid with her water-cans to fall
over; there is no end to the malicious tricks, beyond the mere
savagery of untrained boyhood, which come to his mother’s ear.
What is to be done? “Oh, he will grow out of it!” say the more hopeful
who pin their faith to time. But many an experienced mother will say,
“You can’t cure him; what is in will out, and he will be a pest to
society all his life.” Yet the child may be cured in a month if the
mother will set herself to the task with both hands and set purpose;
at any rate, the cure may be well begun, and that is half done.
Let the month of treatment be a deliciously happy month to him,
he living all the time in the sunshine of his mother’s smile. Let him
not be left to himself to meditate or carry out ugly pranks. Let him
feel himself always under a watchful, loving, and approving eye.
Keep him happily occupied, well amused. All this, to break the old
custom which is assuredly broken when a certain length of time goes
by without its repetition. But one habit drives out another. Lay new
lines in the old place. Open avenues of kindness for him. Let him
enjoy, daily, hourly, the pleasure of pleasing. Get him into the way of
making little plots for the pleasure of the rest—a plaything of his
contriving, a dish of strawberries of his gathering, shadow rabbits to
amuse the baby; take him on kind errands to poor neighbours,
carrying and giving of his own. For a whole month the child’s whole
heart is flowing out in deeds and schemes and thoughts of loving-
kindness, and the ingenuity which spent itself in malicious tricks
becomes an acquisition to his family when his devices are
benevolent. Yes; but where is his mother to get time in these
encroaching days to put Henry under special treatment? She has
other children and other duties, and simply cannot give herself up for
a month or a week to one child. If the boy were ill, in danger, would
she find time for him then? Would not other duties go to the wall, and
leave her little son, for the time, her chief object in life? Now here is a
point all parents are not enough awake to—that mental and moral
ailments require prompt, purposeful, curative treatment, to which the
parents must devote themselves for a short time, just as they would
to a sick child. Neither punishing him nor letting him alone—the two
lines of treatment most in favour—ever cured a child of any moral
evil. If parents recognised the efficacy and the immediate effect of
treatment, they would never allow the spread of ill weeds. For let this
be borne in mind, whatever ugly quality disfigures the child, he is but
as a garden overgrown with weeds, the more prolific the weeds, the
more fertile the soil; he has within him every possibility of beauty of
life and character. Get rid of the weeds and foster the flowers. It is
hardly too much to say that most of the failures in life or character
made by man or woman are due to the happy-go-lucky philosophy of
the parents. They say, “The child is so young; he does not know any
better; but all that will come right as he grows up.” Now, a fault of
character left to itself can do no other than strengthen.
An objection may be raised to this counsel of short and
determined curative treatment. The good results do not last, it is
said; a week or two of neglect, and you lose the ground gained:
Henry is as likely as ever to grow up of the “tiger” order, a Steerforth
or a Grandcourt. Here science comes to help us to cheerful certainty.
There is no more interesting subject of inquiry open just now than
that of the interaction between the thoughts of the mind and the
configuration of the brain. The fair conclusion appears to be that
each is greatly the cause of the other; that the character of the
persistent thoughts actually shapes the cerebrum, while on the
configuration of this organ depends in turn the manner of thoughts
we think. Now, thought is, for the most part, automatic. We think,
without intention or effort, as we have been accustomed to think, just
as we walk or write without any conscious arrangement of muscles.
Mozart could write an overture, laughing all the time at the little jokes
his wife made to keep him awake; to be sure he had thought it out
before, and there it was, ready to be written; but he did not
consciously try for these musical thoughts, they simply came to him
in proper succession. Coleridge thought “Kubla Khan” in his sleep,
and wrote it when he awoke; and, indeed, he might as well have
been asleep all the time for all he had to do with the production of
most of his thoughts.
“Over the buttons she falls asleep,
And stitches them on in a dream,”—

is very possible and likely. For one thing which we consciously set
ourselves to think about, a thousand words and acts come from us
every day of their own accord; we don’t think of them at all. But all
the same, only a poet or a musician could thus give forth poetry or
music, and it is the words and acts which come from us without
conscious thought which afford the true measure of what we are.
Perhaps this is why such serious weight is attached to our every “idle
word”—words spoken without intention or volition.
We are getting, by degrees, to Henry and his bad habits.
Somehow or other, the nervous tissue of the cerebrum “grows to” the
thoughts that are allowed free course in the mind. How, Science
hardly ventures to guess as yet; but, for the sake of illustration, let us
imagine that certain thoughts of the mind run to and fro in the
nervous substance of the cerebrum until they have made a way
there: busy traffic in the same order of thoughts will always be kept
up, for there is the easy way for them to run in. Now, take the child
with an inherited tendency to a resentful temper: he has begun to
think resentful thoughts: finds them easy and gratifying; he goes on;
evermore the ugly traffic becomes more easy and natural, and
resentfulness is rapidly becoming himself, that trait in his character
which people couple with his name.
But one custom overcomes another. The watchful mother sets up
new tracks in other directions; and she sees to it, that while she is
leading new thoughts through the new way, the old, deeply worn
“way of thinking” is quite disused. Now, the cerebrum is in a state of
rapid waste and rapid growth. The new growth takes shape from the
new thoughts: the old is lost in the steady waste, and the child is
reformed, physically as well as morally and mentally. That the
nervous tissue of the cerebrum should be thus the instrument of the
mind need not surprise us when we think how the muscles and joints
of the tumbler, the vocal organs of the singer, the finger-ends of the
watchmaker, the palate of the tea-taster, grow to the uses they are
steadily put to; and, much more, both in the case of brain and of
bodily organs, grow to the uses they are earliest put to.
This meets in a wonderful way the case of the parent who sets
himself to cure a moral failing. He sets up the course of new
thoughts, and hinders those of the past, until the new thoughts shall
have become automatic and run of their own accord. All the time a
sort of disintegration is going on in the place that held the disused
thoughts; and here is the parent’s advantage. If the boy return (as,
from inherited tendency, he still may do) to his old habits of thought,
behold there is no more place for them in his physical being; to make
a new place is a work of time, and in this work the parent can
overtake and hinder him without much effort.
Here, indeed, more than anywhere, “Except the Lord build the
house, they labour but in vain that build it;” but surely intelligent co-
operation in this divine work is our bounden duty and service. The
training of the will, the instruction of the conscience, and, so far as it
lies with us, the development of the divine life in the child, are carried
on simultaneously with this training in the habits of a good life; and
these last will carry the child safely over the season of infirm will,
immature conscience, until he is able to take, under direction from
above, the conduct of his life, the moulding of his character into his
own hands. It is a comfort to believe that there is even a material
register of our educational labours being made in the very substance
of the child’s brain; and, certainly, here we have a note of warning as
to the danger of letting ill ways alone in the hope that all will come
right by-and-by.
Some parents may consider all this as heavy hearing; that even to
“think on these things” is enough to take the joy and
spontaneousness out of their sweet relationship; and that, after all,
parents’ love and the grace of God should be sufficient for the
bringing up of children. No one can feel on this subject more sincere
humility than those who have not the honour to be parents; the
insight and love with which parents—mothers most so—are blest, is
a divine gift which fills lookers-on with reverence, even in many a
cottage home; but we have only to observe how many fond parents
make foolish children to be assured that something more is wanted.
There are appointed ways, not always the old paths, but new ones,
opened up step by step as we go. The labour of the mother who sets
herself to understand her work is not increased, but infinitely
lightened; and as for life being made heavy with the thought of these
things, once make them our own, and we act upon them as naturally
as upon such knowledge—scientific also—as, loose your hold of a
cup—and it falls. A little painstaking thought and effort in the first
place, and all comes easy.
 CHAPTER X

BIBLE LESSONS
“The history of England is now reduced to a game at cards,—the problems of
mathematics to puzzles and riddles.... There wants but one step further, and the
Creed and Ten Commandments may be taught in the same manner, without the
necessity of the grave face, deliberate tone of recital, and devout attention hitherto
exacted from the well-governed childhood of this realm.”—Waverley.

That parents should make over the religious education of their

children to a Sunday-school is, no doubt, as indefensible as if they
sent them for their meals to a table maintained by the public bounty.
We “at home” plead “not guilty” to this particular count. Our Sunday-
schools are used by those toil-worn and little-learned parents who
are willing to accept at the hands of the more leisured classes this
service of the religious teaching of their children. That is, the
Sunday-school is, at present, a necessary evil, an acknowledgment
that there are parents so hard pressed that they are unable for their
first duty. Here we have the theory of the Sunday-school—the
parents who can, teach their children at home on Sunday, and
substitutes step in to act for those who can not. It is upon this
delightful theory of the Sunday-school that a clergyman[7] at the
Antipodes has taken action. Never does it appear to occur to him
that the members of the upper and middle classes do not need to be
definitely and regularly instructed in religion—“from a child.” His
contention is, only, that such children should not be taught at
Sunday-school, but at home, and by their parents; and the main
object of his parochial “Parents’ Union” is to help parents in this
work. These are some of the rules:—
1. The object of the Union shall be to unite, strengthen, and assist
fathers and mothers in the discharge of their parental duties.
 2. Members shall be pledged, by the fact of their joining, to
supervise the education of their own children, and to urge the
responsibility of the parental relationship upon other parents.
3. Lesson sketches shall be furnished monthly to each family in
connection with the Union.
4. Members shall bring their children to the monthly catechising,
and sit with them, &c., &c.
Probably the “lesson-sketches” are to secure that the children do
just such Bible-lessons at home with their parents on Sunday as they
have hitherto done at the Sunday-school with teachers.
It seems to be contemplated that parents of every class will
undertake their proper duties in this matter, and that the Sunday-
school may be allowed to drop, the clergyman undertaking instead to
ascertain, by means of catechising, that certain work is done month
by month.
The scheme seems full of promise. Nothing should do more to
strengthen the bonds of family life than that the children should learn
religion at the lips of their parents; and, to grow up in a church which
takes constant heed of you from baptism or infancy, until, we will not
say confirmation, but through manhood and womanhood, until the
end, should give the right tone to corporate life.
No doubt we have parishes, and even whole denominations, in
which the young people are taken hold of from first to last; but then it
is by clergy, teachers, class leaders, and so on; and all parents do
not regard it as an unmixed blessing that the most serious part of
their children’s training should be undertaken by outsiders. The thing
that seems most worthy of imitation in this Australian movement is,
that parents themselves are recognised as the fit instructors of their
children in the best things, and that they are led to acknowledge
some responsibility to the Church with regard to the instruction they
give.
But do we manage these things so well “at home” that we have no
occasion to look about us for hints? It may be in the memories of
some of us, that in May 1889, a Committee of the House of Laymen
for the Province of Canterbury was appointed to examine into the
religious education of the upper and middle classes.[8] The
committee considered that they might obtain a good basis for their
investigations by examining into the religious knowledge of boys
entering school. They sent a paper of inquiries to sixty-two head-
masters, most of whom sent replies; and from these replies the
committee were led to conclude that, “for the most part, the standard
of religious education attained by boys before going to school is far
below what might be hoped or expected; and that even this
standard, thus ascertained to be far too low, is deteriorating; and
further, that the chief cause of deterioration is considered to be the
want of home-teaching and religion.”
Here is matter of grave consideration for us all—for, though the
investigation was conducted by Churchmen, it naturally covered
boys of various denominations attending public and middle-class
schools; the distinctive character of the religious education was the
subject of separate inquiry. No doubt there are many beautiful
exceptions—families brought up in quiet homes in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord; but if it is, as some of us fear, a fact that
there is a tendency among parents of the middle and upper classes
to let the religious education of their children take care of itself, it is
worth while to ask, What is the reason? and, What is the remedy?
Many reasons are assigned for this alleged failure in parental duty—
social claims, the restive temper of the young people and their
impatience of religious teaching, and much else. But these reasons
are inadequate. Parents are, on the whole, very much alive to their
responsibilities; perhaps there has never been a generation more
earnest and conscientious than the young parents of these days. All
the same, these thoughtful young parents do not lay themselves out
to teach their children religion, before all things.
The fact is, our religious life has suffered, and by-and-by our
national character will suffer, for the discredit thrown upon the Bible
by adverse critics. We rightly regard the Bible as the entire collection
of our Sacred Books. We have absolutely nothing to teach but what
we find written therein. But we no longer go to the Bible with the old
confidence: our religion is fading into a sentiment, not easy to impart;
we wait until the young people shall conceive it for themselves.
Meantime, we give them such æsthetic culture as should tend to
develop those needs of the soul that find their satisfaction in worship.
The whole superstructure of “liberal” religious thought is miserably
shaky, and no wonder there is some shrinking from exposing it to the
Ithuriel’s spear of the definite and searching young mind. For we love
this flimsy habitation we have builded. It bears a shadowy
resemblance to the old home of our souls, and we cling to it with a
tender sentiment which the younger generation might not
understand.
Are we then unhoused? Undoubtedly we are upon one
assumption—that assumption which it takes a brilliant novelist to put
forth in its naked asperity—“Miracles do not happen.” The educated
mind is more essentially logical than we are apt to suppose. Remove
the keystone of miracle and the arch tumbles about our ears. The
ostentatious veneration for the Person of Christ, as separated from
the “mythical” miraculous element, is, alas! no more than a spurious
sentiment toward a self-evolved conception. Eliminate the
“miraculous” and the whole fabric of Christianity disappears; and not
only so, what have we to do with that older revelation of “the Lord,
the Lord, a God full of compassion and gracious”? Do we say, Nay,
we keep this; here is no miracle; and, of Christ, have we not the
inimitable Sermon on the Mount—sufficient claim on our allegiance?
No, we have not; therein are we taught to pray, to consider the lilies
of the field and the fowls of the air, and to remember that the very
hairs of our head are all numbered. Here we have the doctrine of the
personal dealing, the particular providence of God, which is of the
very essence of miracle. If “miracles do not happen,” it is folly and
presumption to expect in providence and invite in prayer the faintest
disturbance of that course of events which is fixed by inevitable law.
The educated mind is severely logical, though an effort of the will
may keep us from following out our conclusions to the bitter end.
What have we left? A God who, of necessity, can have no personal
dealings with you or me, for such dealings would be of the nature of
a miracle: a God, prayer to whom, in the face of such certainty,
becomes blasphemous. How dare we approach the Highest with
requests which, in the nature of things (as we conceive), it is
impossible He should grant?
We cannot pray, and we cannot trust, may be; yet we are not
utterly godless; we can admire, adore, worship, in uttermost humility.
But how? What shall we adore? The Divine Being can be known to
us only through His attributes; He is a God of love and a God of
justice; full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and
plenteous in mercy. But these are attributes which can only be
conceived of as in action, from Person to person. How be gracious
and merciful unless to a being in need of grace and mercy? Grant
that grace and mercy may modify the slightest circumstance in a
man’s existence, spiritual or temporal, and you grant the whole
question of “miracles”—that is, that it is possible to God to act
otherwise than through such inevitable laws as we are able to
recognise. Refuse to concede “the miraculous element,” and the
Shepherd of Israel has departed from our midst; we are left
orphaned in a world undone.
Such and so great are the issues of that question of “miracle” with
which we are fond of dallying, with a smile here and a shrug there,
and a special sneer for that story of the swine that ran violently down
a steep place, because we know so much about the dim thoughts of
the brute creation—living under our eyes, indeed, but curiously out of
our ken. Grant the possibility of miracles, that is, of the voluntary
action of a Personal God, and who will venture to assign limits of
less or more?
How long halt we betwixt two opinions?—to the law and to the
testimony. Let us boldly accept the alternative which Hume
proposes, however superciliously. Let it be, that, “no testimony is
sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such a
kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which
it endeavours to establish.” Even so. We believe that Christ rose
again the third day and ascended into heaven; or we credit the far
more miraculous hypothesis that “there is no God”; or, anyway, the
God of revelation, in His adorable Personality, has ceased to be for
us. There is no middle way. Natural law, as we understand it, has
nothing to do with these issues; not that the Supreme abrogates His
laws, but that our knowledge of “natural law” is so agonisingly limited
and superficial, that we are incompetent to decide whether a break in
the narrow circle, within which our knowledge is hemmed, is or is not
an opening into a wider circle, where what appears to us as an
extraordinary exception does but exemplify the general rule.
We would not undervalue the solid fruits of Biblical criticism, even
the most adverse. This should be a great gain in the spiritual life—
that, henceforth, a miracle is accredited, not merely by the fact that it
is recorded in the sacred history, but by its essential fitness with the
Divine Character; just as, if we may reverently compare human
things with divine, we say of a friend, “Oh, he would never do that!”
or, “That is just like him.” Tried by this test, how unostentatious,
simple, meekly serviceable are the miracles of Christ; how utterly
divine it is
“To have all power, and be as having none!”
The mind which is saturated with the Gospel story in all its sweet
reasonableness, which has absorbed the more confused and broken
rays wherein the Light of the World is manifested in Old Testament
story, will perhaps be the least tempted to the disloyalty of “honest
doubt;”—for disloyalty to the most close and sacred of all
relationships it is, though we must freely concede that such doubt is
the infirmity of noble minds. Believing that faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God, that the man is established in the
Christian faith according as the child has been instructed, the
question of questions for us is, how to secure that the children shall
be well grounded in the Scriptures by their parents, and shall pursue
the study with intelligence, reverence, and delight.

FOOTNOTES:
[7] The Rev. E. Jackson, sometime of Sydney.
[8] See “Report of the Committee of the House of Laymen for the
Province of Canterbury on the Duty of the Church with regard to
the Religious Education of the Upper and Middle Classes.”—Nat.
Soc. Depository, Westminster.
 CHAPTER XI

FAITH AND DUTY

Reviews

I
Education, properly understood, is the science of life, and every
attempt to formulate this science is to be hailed with interest, and
with a measure of gratitude in proportion to its success. Thinking
minds everywhere are engaged in furnishing their quota towards this
great work, in one or another of its aspects, physical, social,
religious. We see at once the importance of every attempt to solve
social problems or problems of faith, as helping us to understand
those “laws of nature” and “ways of men,” the love, and dutiful
attitude of the will towards which Mr. Huxley considers to be the sole
practical outcome of education. We have before us three important
works[9] on these lines. One deals with the problems of “secular”
morality from an American point of view; the second with the whole
problem of national education from a French and “scientific”
standpoint. The third is not professedly an educational work. It deals
with “the ways of men,” but with the ways of men as they are
concerned with the ways and will of God. That is, it deals with the
deep-seated springs out of which are the issues of life. As the true
educationalist works from within outwards, he will probably find much
aid in a work whose outlook on life is from the standpoint of “faith.”
Mr. Felix Adler, in “The Moral Instruction of Children,” undertakes
a by no means easy task in setting himself to solve the problem of
unsectarian moral instruction. He brings unusual qualifications to the
work—a wide outlook, philosophic training, and that catholic love of
literature and knowledge of books which is essential to the teacher of
morals. The work before us is one which should find a place on
every educated parent’s bookshelves, not perhaps to be swallowed
whole as a “complete guide,” but to be studied with careful attention
and some freedom of choice as to which counsel of perfection is
worthy to be acted upon, and which other counsel may be rejected
as not fitting in with that scheme of educational thought which the
parent has already made for himself. Mr. Adler is most seriously
handicapped at the outset. He writes for American schools, in which
the first condition of moral instruction is that it must be unsectarian.
This he, rightly or wrongly, interprets, to exclude all theistic teaching
whatever; that is to say, the child he writes for has no sanctions
beyond those he finds in his own breast. For example: “It is the
business of the moral instructor in the school to deliver to his pupils
the subject-matter of morality, but not to deal with the sanctions of it.
He says to the pupil, ‘Thou shalt not lie.’ He takes it for granted that
the pupil feels the force of this commandment, and acknowledges
that he ought to yield obedience to it. For my part, I should suspect
of quibbling and dishonest intention any boy or girl who would ask
me, Why ought I not to lie? I should hold up before such a child the
ought in all its awful majesty. The right to reason about these matters
cannot be conceded until after the mind has attained a certain
maturity.”
Where does the ought get its awful majesty? That there is in the
human breast an infallible sense of “ought” is an error prolific of
much evil. It is a popular idea to-day that it is right to do that which
the doer holds to be right; or, as it is popularly expressed, a man
does all that can be expected of him when he acts according to his
“lights.” Now, a very slight acquaintance with history demonstrates
that every persecution and most outrages, from the Inquisition to
Thuggee, are the outcome of that same majesty of “ought,” as it
makes its voice heard in the breast of an individual or of a
community. To attempt to treat of morals without dealing with the
sanctions of morality is to work from the circumference instead of
from the centre.
 Moses, Moses und immer Moses! says a German pedagogue of
the modern school, who writes in hot disdain of the old school
system, in which ten or twelve, and, in some of the German States,
fifteen or sixteen hours a week were devoted to Bible-teaching. We
in England, and they in America, also rebel against the Bible as a
class-book. Educationalists say there is so much else to be learned,
that this prolonged study of sacred literature is a grievous waste of
time; and many religious persons, on the other hand, object on the
ground that it is not good to make the Bible common as a class-
book. But it is singular that so few educationalists recognise that the
Bible is not a single book, but a classic literature of wonderful beauty
and interest; that, apart from its Divine sanctions and religious
teaching, from all that we understand by “Revelation,” the Bible, as a
mere instrument of education, is, at the very least as valuable as the
classics of Greece or Rome. Here is poetry, the rhythm of which
soothes even the jaded brain past taking pleasure in any other. Here
is history, based on such broad, clear lines, such dealing of slow and
sure and even-handed justice to the nations, such stories of national
sins and national repentances, that the student realises, as from no
other history, the solidarity of the race, the brotherhood—and, if we
may call it so—the individuality of the nations. Here is philosophy
which, of all the philosophies which have been propounded, is alone
adequate to the interpretation of human life. We say not a word here
of that which is the raison d’être of the Bible—its teaching of religion,
its revelation of God to man; but, to say only one word more, all the
literatures of the world put together utterly fail to give us a system of
ethics, in precept and example, motive and sanction, complete as
that to which we have been born as our common inheritance in the
Bible.
For 1700 years, roughly speaking, the Bible has been the school-
book of modern Europe; its teaching, conveyed directly or indirectly,
more or less pure, has been the basis upon which the whole
superstructure of not only religious but ethical and, to some extent,
literary training rested. Now, the Bible as a lesson-book is tabooed;
and educationalists are called upon to produce what shall take its
place in the origination of ideas and the formation of character. This
is the task to which Mr. Adler sets himself; and that he is at all
successful is obviously due to the fact that his own mind is
impregnated with the Bible-lore and the sacred law which he does
not feel himself at liberty to propound to his students. But this
prepossession of the author’s makes his work very helpful and
suggestive to parents who desire to take the Bible as the
groundwork and the sanction of that moral teaching which they are
glad to supplement from other sources.
May we recommend the following suggestion to parents:—
“Parents and teachers should endeavour to answer such
questions as these: When do the first stirrings of the moral sense
appear in the child? How do they manifest themselves? What are the
emotional and the intellectual equipments of the child at different
periods, and how do these correspond with its moral outfit? At what
time does conscience enter on the scene? To what acts or omissions
does the child apply the terms right or wrong? If observations of this
kind were made with care and duly recorded, the science of
education would have at its disposal a considerable quantity of
material, from which, no doubt, valuable generalisations might be
deduced. Every mother, especially, should keep a diary in which to
note the successive phases of her child’s physical, mental, and
moral growth, with particular attention to the moral; so that parents
may be enabled to make a timely forecast of their children’s
character, to foster in them every germ of good, and by prompt
precautions to suppress, or at least restrain, what is bad.”
We are glad to find that Mr. Adler reinstates fairy tales. He says,
justly, that much of the selfishness of the world is due, not to actual
hard-heartedness, but to a lack of imaginative power; and adds, “I
hold that something, nay, much, has been gained if a child has
learned to take the wishes out of its heart, as it were, and to project
them on the screen of fancy.” The German Märchen hold the first
place in his regards. He says: “They represent the childhood of
mankind, and it is for this reason that they never cease to appeal to
children.”
“But how shall we handle these Märchen? and what method shall
we employ in putting them to account for our special purpose? My
first counsel is, Tell the story. Do not give it to the child to read. The
child, as it listens to the Märchen, looks up with wide-opened eyes to
the face of the person who tells the story, and thrills responsive to
the touch of the earlier life of the race, which thus falls upon its own.”
That is, our author feels, and rightly so, that traditions should be
orally delivered. This is well worth noting. His second counsel is
equally important. “Do not,” he says, “take the moral plum out of the
fairy tale pudding, but let the child enjoy it as a whole.... Treat the
moral element as an incident, emphasise it indeed, but incidentally.
Pluck it as a wayside flower.”
Mr. Felix Adler’s third counsel is, to eliminate from the stories
whatever is merely superstitious, merely a relic of ancient animism,
and, again, whatever is objectionable on moral grounds. In this
connection he discusses the vexed question of how far we should
acquaint children with the existence of evil in the world. His
conclusion is one with which we shall probably be inclined to agree.
“My own view,” he says, “is that we should speak in the child’s
hearing only of those lesser forms of evil, physical or moral, with
which it is already acquainted.” On this ground he would rule out all
the cruel step-mother stories, the unnatural father stories, and so on;
though, probably, most of us would make an exception in favour of
Cinderella, and its charming German rendering Aschenbrödel.
Fables, according to our author, should form the basis of moral
instruction at the second stage; probably when children emerge from
the nursery. We have all grown up on “Æsop’s Fables,” and “The
Dog in the Manger,” “King Log,” “The Frog and the Stork,” have
passed into the current coinage of our thought. But it is interesting to
be reminded that the so-called Æsop’s fables are infinitely older than
the famous Greek story-teller, and are, for the most part, of Asiatic
origin. We are reminded that it is important to keep the origin of this
fable before us, and exercise discrimination in our choice of those
which we use to convey moral ideas to our children. Such fables as
“The Oak and the Reed,” “The Brazen and the Earthen Pot,” “The
Kite and the Wolf,” Mr. Adler would reject, as breathing of Eastern
subserviency and fear. But possibly for the very reason that the
British backbone is little disposed to bow before man or
circumstances, the lessons of life culled by peoples of other habits
and other thoughts may be quite specially useful to the English child.
Anyway, we should lose some of the most charming fables if we cut
out all that savours of the wisdom of the East. The fables Mr. Felix
Adler specially commends are those which hold up virtue for our
praise or evil for our censure; such as Cowardice, the fable of the
“Stag and the Fawn;” Vanity, “The Peacock and the Crane;”
Greediness, “The Dog and the Shadow.”
“In the third part of our primary course, we shall use selected
stories from the classical literature of the Hebrews, and later on from
that of Greece, particularly the ‘Odyssey’ and the ‘Iliad.’”
Here we begin to be at issue with our author. We should not
present Bible stories as carrying only the same moral sanction as the
myths of ancient Greece; neither should we defer their introduction
until the child has gone through a moral course of fairy tales and a
moral course of fables. He should not be able to recall a time before
the sweet stories of old filled his imagination; he should have heard
the voice of the Lord God in the garden in the cool of the evening;
should have been an awed spectator where the angels ascended
and descended upon Jacob’s stony pillow; should have followed
Christ through the cornfield on the Sabbath-day, and sat in the rows
of the hungry multitudes—so long ago that the sacred scenes form
the unconscious background of his thoughts. All things are possible
to the little child, and the touch of the spiritual upon our material
world, the difficult problems, the hard sayings, which are an offence
—in the Bible sense of the word—to his elders, present no difficulties
to the child’s all-embracing faith. We would not say—far otherwise—
that every Bible story is fit for children, because it is a Bible story;
neither would we analyse too carefully, nor draw hard and fast lines
to distinguish what we would call history from that of which it may be
said, “Without a parable spake He not unto them.”
The child is not an exegetical student. The moral teaching, the
spiritual revelations, the lovely imagery of the Bible, are the things
with which he is concerned, and of these he cannot have too much.
As Mr. Adler says, “The narrative of the Bible is saturated with the
moral spirit, the moral issues are everywhere to the forefront. Duty,
guilt and its punishment, the conflict of conscience with inclination,
are the leading themes. The Hebrew people seem to have been
endowed with what may be called a moral genius, and especially did
they emphasise the filial and fraternal duties. Now, it is precisely
these duties that must be impressed on young children.”
Let us see how Mr. Adler would use the Bible narratives. We have
only space for a fragmentary sentence here and there: “Once upon a
time there were two children, Adam and Eve. Adam was a fine and
noble-looking lad.”... “It was so warm that the children never needed
to go indoors.”... “And the snake kept on whispering, ‘Just take one
bite of it; nobody sees you.’”... “You, Adam, must learn to labour, and
you, Eve, to be patient and self-denying for others,” &c.
We leave it to our readers to decide whether “treatment” improves
the Bible narrative, or whether this is the sort of thing to lay hold of a
child’s imagination.
Mr. Ruskin tells us that his incomparable style is due entirely to
his early familiarity with the Bible classics. It is a mistake to translate
Bible stories into slipshod English, even when the narrator keeps
close to the facts of the narrative. The rhythm and cadence of
Biblical phraseology is as charming to a child as to his elders, if not
more so. Read your Bible story to the child, bit by bit; get him to tell
you in his own words (keeping as close as he can to the Bible words)
what you have read, and then, if you like, talk about it; but not much.
Above all, do not let us attempt a “practical commentary on every
verse in Genesis,” to quote the title of a work lately published.
Two points it seems worth while to dwell upon here. Is it advisable
to tell the children the stories of the Bible miracles in an age when
the possibility of miracles is so hotly discussed? In the first place, all
that the most advanced scientists have to urge against “miracles” is
that precisely such phenomena have not come under their personal
notice; but they, before all people, are open to admit that nothing is
impossible and that no experience is final. In the second place, as
for the moral and spiritual instruction which the story of the miracle
affords, it is immaterial whether, in the particular case in question, a
historical fact is recorded, or whether, in this case also, it is true that