CHAPTER XII.

ON THE MEANS OF CULTIVATING THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES.

ALTHOUGH We have, during the preceding portions of this volume, given an occasional glance at the means of improving the intellectual condition of mankind; yet, the importance of the subject is such as to deserve some more particular notice. For, it will not be denied that the education of the reflective and perceptive powers on correct principles is decidedly essential to the moral dignity of man, and to his elevation to his proper and exalted state of an intelligent being. For this purpose, we should sedulously cultivate the perceptive faculties, commencing at the early age of infancy, and then we might calculate on the best possible results. Nature dictates to us the plan to be pursued, and we shall do well to choose those natural periods of tuition which observation proves to be instituted for the best and wisest ends.

We need scarcely remind our philosophical reader of the importance of the perceptive faculties, inasmuch as they are the seat of the powers of thought, and furnish true data for ratiocination. They take in the vast and the grand in the external world, as well as the most minute portions of matter; and, assisted by the various senses, they are the only sources of man's knowledge: hence their laws should be comprehended, as also the exact function of each perceptive power; and whether the order of their developement be fixed or adventitious. It will be anticipated, that we reject the absurd hypothesis of chance in any of God's works; and in reference to these invaluable faculties, we

have the testimony of daily experience that they do not form any exception to the rule; in proof of which we venture to cite an interesting fact in the natural history of thought, a fact which is corroborative of our views, and of the phrenological metaphysics. We allude to the deaf and dumb, who, in their mental operations, obey, according to our views, the laws of the human mind. They give the substantive invariably before the adjective; that is to say, they perceive and describe the object first, before they notice any particular quality it may possess ; * and this seems to be consonant to the order of nature, because we must invariably think of the existence of an entity, before entering into the consideration of any qualities which distinguish it from any other. If, for example, we write with chalk on a black board these sentences, "good man,' ""slender horse," "high tree," and intimate to children that they must represent to us in pantomimic signs their ideas of these sentences; it will be seen that, in every instance, they first describe the object, and afterwards the quality by which it is particularized.

We shall endeavour to show the advantage of knowing the order of thought, (after having obtained a knowledge of the fundamental powers themselves,) particularly in cultivating the various arts of civilized life, and the different sciences which tend to enlarge our means of rational gratification.

The objects to be had in view, in training the perceptive faculties, are two-fold: to give positive knowledge, and to make all information a means of rendering the individual good, useful, and happy. The first may be easily realized, by inculcating comprehensive truths in reference to man's organization and economy; his relations to his God, his fellow-creatures, and to the external world. This may appear to some persons a mere speculative view, but we shall shortly point out how all this may be communicat

* Let the reader refer to remarks on the perceptive faculties.

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ed by properly apportioning the kinds of instruction suitable to the various perceptive faculties, and to the progressive periods of their developement. It should be remembered, that we are not attempting to produce a finished system of either moral or intellectual education: all that our most ardent desire aims at is, that the hints thus collected together may induce some master-mind to grapple with the subject, and systematize a plan which, like the light of heaven, may warm and gladden the intellectual horizon of every clime where man may be found. Yet, as we deem ignorance the most fertile source of all the evils which afflict individuals or communities, we offer an abridged catalogue* of the subjects essential to be taught in every plan of mental cultivation, particularly as they belong to the peculiar province of the perceptive powers of the mind. The following, then, are those subjects :-the nature and uses of mineral substances: the laws of vegetation, diet, temperance, and cleanliness: the effects of moisture on the body, and its consequences on the organs of digestion; and all atmospheric influences, either as causes of health or sickness: the laws of animal life, comprehending circulation of the blood, and digestion and assimulation of food: the action of imperfect functions of digestion in disturbing the mental health, and the re-action of the latter in aggravating the primary source of derangement: the principles of natural and experimental philosophy: and, lastly, a general knowledge of the laws of mind, with all their various phenomena. We are not so visionary as to expect that these comprehensive truths can be inculcated in the present state of society, or by private tuition on an enlarged scale. A system of instruction so large and comprehensive must be begun by the governments of countries, the natural patrons of education as well as of legislation,

* Particulars will be entered into when we treat of the Fourth Stage of Education.

and the responsible agents for the happiness or misery of the great mass of the people. It is no argument to say in opposition to these views that they have never been recognised. How long have mankind ventured to think at all? And now, as the national mind has received a leaven of knowledge, we trust in God that the whole may ferment, and produce the greatest possible good to the greatest number: then we may hope to see lecture-rooms in every town, thrown open to an enlightened public; and then we may anticipate that patriot professors will be paid by governments for the purpose of enlightening the people, and of teaching them that the way to be good and prosperous is to acquire knowledge, and abide by its injunctions.

If the mind of a student were well stored with facts relating to the three kingdoms of the naturalists,-the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal,-and their almost infinitely diversified phenomena; and if he were aware of the advantage, even in a selfish point of view, of knowing the laws of those grand divisions of nature, we should have the very best guarantee for the respectability of his moral character. For in proportion as a man comprehends the laws of God as manifested in the beautiful order of creation, his moral sentiments are most likely to become the exciting motives of all his actions; and in a mind well regulated from infancy, there is always uppermost an irresistible desire for the attainment of true principles and sound deductions every thing tending or likely to mislead the judgment is regarded with dislike, or with involuntary suspicion; and a determination is formed to resist all the allurements by which the delusive phantom of fashion, or of what the world calls pleasure, might otherwise tempt the individual to stray out of the high road of common sense.

Nor should we omit to repeat, that, in order to acquire such a condition of mental superiority, we must endeavour to allow to the bodily and cerebral organs such due exercise as may insure the health of both. This blessing may

be secured to the one by a due proportion of activity, and by attending to the general laws of physical improvement; and, to realize it to the other, we must exercise the mental faculties so as to preserve a due harmony between them. For, if occupation and exercise produce such salutary influence on the corporeal organs, how much more must these conditions be necessary to give man his proud preeminence over all other organized beings! These being admitted as well-known truisms, we shall conclude by urging the parent to take care that the mind of the child is devoted to subjects which must perforce engage the moral and intellectual faculties; for, if these be not brought into play, the individual becomes the prey of animal excitements, alike destructive to his mind and body.

Remarks on the Necessity of modifying the principles of Tuition.

It must have been already recognised as a principal feature of our plan of tuition, that we think it necessary to modify the kind of instruction to suit individual cases, and therefore that much must be left to the discretionary judgment of the teacher. We need not, then, insist on the necessity of giving lessons adapted to the capacity of the child, since experience informs us how very injudicious it is to force the powers of the pupil by arbitrary rules.

Nevertheless, the plans still acted upon are so inconsistent as to retain the old mode of teaching in classes, and thus giving uniform lessons to every child indiscriminately. That the pupils do not realize what had been anticipated from them, is but a natural consequence; for, the dull and stupid boys act like clogs to the more vivacious and intelligent, whilst the latter are liable to excite the enmity of the former, from the injudicious comparison which is thus unwittingly made between them. We have often witnessed the chagrin of the master, and the disappointment of the parents, in such cases: but these evils would be avoided