IN MEMORIAL J. Henry Senger U r m a I C r a i u i 11 THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OP HUMAN CULTURE: A SERIES OF LECTURES ADDRESSED TO YOUNG TEACHERS. BY WILLIAM RUSSE'LL,' EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN (BOSTON) JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 1826 TO 1829, AND PRIN- CIPAL OF THE NEW ENGLAND NORMAL INSTITUTE, LANCASTER, MASS., ETC., ETC. PART I. INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. PART II. MORAL EDUCATION. SECOND EDITION. HARTFORD : THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. 1873. IN MEMOR1AM PREFATORY REMARKS THE series of lectures, of which the following are a part, was addressed, origin- ally, to students pursuing a course of professional study, under the author's direction, in the Merrimack (N. H.) Normal Institute, and in the New England Normal Institute, Lancaster, Massachusetts. The course, as delivered, extended to the subjects of physical, moral, and ffisthetic culture ; including, under the lat- ter heads, remarks on principle as the foundation of character, and suggestions on the cultivation of taste. In the delivery of the lectures, it was deemed important to avoid the unfavor- able influence of formal didactic exposition, in a course of professional lectures to a youthful audience. Equal importance, however, was attached to a strict observ- ance of the systematic connection of topics, and the theoretic unity of the whole subject. The method adopted, therefore, in the routine of the lecture-room, was to treat a given point daily, in a brief oral address on one prominent topic, selected from the notes embodying the plan of the whole course. At the suggestion of Dr. Henry Barnard, the notes, in their connected form, were transcribed for insertion in his Journal; and the lectures on Intellectual Education were selected for this purpose, rather as an experiment, on the part of the author, in his uncertainty how far it might be advisable to present the whole series. But the unexpectedly favorable reception which the course on intellectual education has met from teachers, both at home and abroad, would have induced the writer to transcribe the other portions of the series, had health and time per- mitted. The subjects here referred to, however, will be introduced, from time to time, as may be practicable, in future numbers of Dr. Barnard's Journal. The thoughts presented in the following pages, the author hopes, may serve to attract the attention of teachers who are so situated as to occupy the ground not merely of instructors but of educators, who have it in their power to control, to some extent, the plan and progress of education ; and all teachers of the requisite zeal and thoughtfulness, even in the most limited sphere of responsibility, can do much in this way, by their personal endeavors in instruction. It is not in one de- partment only, or in one stage, that the field of education needs resurveying, PREFATORY REMARKS. The whole subject, notwithstanding our many valuable recent improvements in processes and methods, physical and moral, as well as intellectual, needs'a careful reconsideration as to its true requirements, and a thorough revision of our plan of procedure and modes of culture. It is true that, in seminaries of education of every grade, we are ceasing from a blind following of prescription imposed by the past. Mental discipline, rather than intellectual acquisition, is now more generally recognized as the .true aim of education ; and liberal changes and generous allowances, as regards the adapta- tion of text- books and plans of instruction, have accordingly been made. But, as yet, the point of view selected by most even of our most considerate and genial counselors on the great theme of education, has been far from a commanding one. It has been that of subjects and sciences and departments of knowledge, with their respective demands upon the mind, instead of that of the mind itself, and its divine laws of action and progress, as prescribed by its own constitution and wants, its appetites and instinctive preferences. To attract attention to these, as the true principles of education, is the chief aim of the suggestions embodied in the fol- lowing pages. PART I. INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. CONTENTS'. PAGE. INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION 9 The teacher's aim in instruction, 9 Necessity of plan' and method, 10 Preliminary analysis, 11 Outline of intellectual instruction, 12 I. THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES, 12 1. Classification by modes of action, 12 2. Curiosity, 14 3. Observation, 17 4. Knowledge 21 5. Appropriate processes for their cultivation, 26 II. THK EXPRESSIVE FACULTIES, 57 Introductory observations 57 1. Enumeration, 58 2. The actuating principle 70 3. Tendency or habit of action 75 4. Result of the action communication, 7*8 5. Educational processes for their cultivation, 80 6. Means of correcting prevalent errors, 93 III. THE REFLECTIVE FACULTIES, 101 Introductory observations, 101 1. Enumeration 102 2. The actuating principle: inquiry, 121 3. Tendency of action 122 4. Result of the action: truth, 125 5. Educational processes for their development, 127 Concluding explanations, 152 INDEX to the principal topics considered, 155 CULTIVATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. The circumstances in which the fol- lowing lectures were delivered, will, it is thought, account for the prom- inence given in them to many things merely elementary, as regards the science of mind and the philosophy of education. An audi- ence favored with the advantages of high intellectual culture, or of long experience in instruction, would, doubtless, have required a dif- 'erent treatment of many topics discussed in such a course of lectures as the present. But a long series of years occupied in the training of teachers, has proved to the author of the present communication, that the greater number of candidates for the office of instruction, and of those to whom its duties are comparatively new, need nothing so much as an elementary knowledge of intellectual philosophy, and of logic, in their connection with education, as the science which teaches the appropriate development and discipline of the mind. The Teacher's Aim in Instruction. Few teachers, at the present day, regard knowledge as the great end even of intellectual educa- tion. Few are now unwilling to admit that the chief aim of their daily endeavors, as instructors and educators, should be to train, develop, and discipline the powers by which knowtjectgg'ig acquired, raYHerthan tc attempt the immediate accumulation^ knowledge itself. In prac- tice, however, and, more particularly^ jn, \thfe duje of yb^r^g>.ieii<;l>iers, and of those who follow the occupation as a transient one, and not as the vocation of a life-time, the eagerness for definite and apparent results, or even showy acquirements, too often induces the instructor to confine his attention to the mere mechanism of specific processes, to the committing to memory, and, the repetition of a set task, with or without the aid of explanation. This course he knows will nomi- nally secure a single poinLin practice or effect. He thinks, perhaps, that, although not fully understood or appreciated now, it will cer- tainly benefit the mind of his pupil at some future day, when bis *The series of leclures of which the present forms a part, extended to the departments of physical and moral training. But those on the progress of intellectual culture, are selected as more easily presented in the form of a series of articles for an educational Journal. 10 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. mind is more mature. Hence*, we still have, in our school routine, too much of mere rule and repetition, detached fact and specific direc- tion, the lesson of the hour and the business of the day, and too little of the searching interrogation, close observation, reflective thought, and penetrating investigation, by which alone the mind can be trained to the acquisition of useful knowledge, or the attainment of valuable truth. Necessity of Plan and Method. The master builder, when he goes to oversee his workmen, and watch their progress in the work of raising the edifice, for the construction of which he has entered into contract, never fails to carry with him his plan of erection, and with that in his hand, for constant reference, gives directions for even the minutest details in working. He does nothing but in execution of his plan, and in strict accordance with it. The master builder thus reads a lesson to the master instructor, (inward builder,) who, although he needs not plan in hand, for his peculiar work, needs it no less, ever present to his mind, if he wishes to become " a work- man that needeth not to be ashamed ; " if, in a word, he would enjoy the conscious pleasure of referring every day's labor to its destined end of building up the mental fabric in strength, and symmetry, and enduring beauty. The young teacher, as he reviews the business of the day with his pupils, and would that this were a daily practice in every school ! should ever refer, in his own mind, at least, to the general effect of every exercise, as tending to the great results of education, to the expansion of the mind, to the formation of habits of observation and inquiry, to control over attention, to the clearing and sharpening of the percipient fa$uit.ve$, "to the strengthening of the mind's retentive power,' to" securing, in a worcl v intellectual tendency and character, as th^.'; basis of -to-oral "development and habit. The teacher, not less than the builder, should ever have, in his mind's eye, the plan of his edifice ; aud while, during the whole process of erection, he wastes no time on fanciful theory or fantastic ornament, every operation which he conducts should be, to his own consciousness, part of a great whole, tending to a grand consummation. Text-books, pro- cesses, exercises, apparatus of every description, are properly, but the pliant tools, or the subject material, in the hands of the skillful teacher, by means of which he does his great work of " building up the being that We are ; " and all these aids he arranges, selects, modifies, and applies, according to the system suggested by his plan and purpose. As the overseer and artificer of the mental fabric of character, the EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. l\ teacher who is worthy of the name, must necessarily possess a knowl- edge of the material on which he works. It would be well, uere this knowledge always profound and philosophical; and, among tue happy anticipations suggested by the establishment of normal schools, none is more cheering than the hope that, ere long, society will be furnished with a numerous class of teachers, competent to understand and guide the young mind through all its stages of growth and de- velopment, and furnished with all the requisite means of secur- ing the noblest results of human culture. Meanwhile, the laborers who are already in the field, and who have not enjoyed, perhaps, extensive opportunities of acquiring a scientific knowledge of the chemistry of mental culture, must be content with such aids as their own observation, reading, reflection, or experience, may furnish. As a slight contribution to the common stock of professional facili- ties, the author of the present article would submit the following outline to the consideration <5f his fellow teachers, as an intended aid to the systematizing of their efforts for the mental advancement of their pupils. The analysis which follows, extends, it will be perceived, no farther than to the limits of intellectual education. The physical and the moral departments of culture, may be discussed at another opportu- nity, and must be dismissed for the present, with the single remark, that the natural unity of the human being, demands a ceaseless atten- tion to these, in strict conjunction with that more immediately under consideration. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS. Contemplating man's intellectual con- stitution as subjected to the processes of education, we may conven- iently group his mental powers and faculties under the following denominations: perceptive, reflective, and expressive. In expression, as a function of man at the period of his maturity, the order, in the preceding classification, may be termed the normal or usual one. Man perceives, reflects, speaks. But in education, whether regarded as a natural process or an artificial one, the order of classification sug- gested by the experience and the history of the human being, in his early and comparatively immature condition, would present the expressive powers as in exercise long before the reflective, and, subse- quently, as the appointed means of developing these, through the medium of language. OUTLINE OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. An outline map, or plan of intellectual culture, as aided by the processes of education, may be carried into practical detail, as suggested by the following prominent points of analysis. 12 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. > 1. Classification of the intellectual faculties, by the different modes, or forms of mental action. 2. Statement of the actuating principle, or impelling power of each class or group of faculties. 3. The tendency, or habit of action in each class. 4. The result, or issue of such action. 5. The educational processes adapted to each class of faculties with a view to aid its natural tendency, and secure its results. From the imperfection of our language, in relation to topics strictly mental, or purely philosophical, the word faculties is unavoidably em- ployed to represent the diversities in modes of action of the mind, which, in itself, is, properly speaking, one and indivisible. But if we keep fully before us the etymological signification of the term facul- ties, (resources, means, powers,) we shall regard it but as a figurative expression, suggestive of the indefinitely* diversified states, acts, opera- tions, processes, powers, or modes of action, attributable to the mind, itself a unit. Adopting the general classification before referred to, we may com- mence the partial filling up of our outline with 1. THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. ^' 1. Their modes or forms of action : a, sensation ; 6, perception ; c, attention : d, observation. 2. Actuating principle, or impelling force, curiosity, or the desire of knowledge. 3. Tendency, or habit of action, observation. 4. Result, or issue of action, knowledge. 5. Educational process, forms of exercise, or modes of culture, de- velopment, and discipline suggested by the" four preceding considera- tions, examination, analysis, inspection, interrogation, direction, in- formation, comparison, classification, induction. In other words, the appropriate presentation of objects to the senses, accompanied by mu- tual question and answer by teacher and pupil ; with a view to quicken sensation, awaken perception, give power of prompt and sus- tained attention, confirm the habit of careful observation, stimulate curiosity, and insure the extensive acquisition of knowledge. (1.) CLASSIFICATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES, BY THEIR MODES OF ACTION. is- (a,) Sensation,-^ the organic action by which objects, facts, and rela- tions are presented to the mind, through the media of the senses, and which form the conditions of perception. ,0 6,) Perception, or cognition, the intellectual action by which the EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 13 mind perceives, (takes notice, or cognizance of,) data presented by the senses. (c,) Attention, the mental action by which, under the incitation of desire or volition, the percipient intellect tends, for the purposes of distinct cognizance, towards the object, fact, or relation presented to it. ^. (d,) Observation, the voluntary, sustained, or continuous exercise of attention, with which the mind directs itself toward the object of its contemplation, for the purpose of complete intuition and perfect rec- ognition. All the terms now defined, are but different designations for the various forms in which the intuitive action of the intellectual princi- ple is solicited by objects external to itself. The English language, as the product of mind working chiefly in practical directions, posses- ses little of the clearness and distinctness in nomenclature which the topics of intellectual analysis so peculiarly require. But the four terms used above are sufficient to comprise the prominent forms of perceptive action, in the various processes of intellection. They all refer significantly enough, to the first efforts of intelligence, when, previous to any introversive or reflective act, of comparatively sub- tile or intricate character, it obeys the instinct of its appetite, and finds its sustentation by feeding on the aliment tendered to it by its Author, in the objects which environ it. To watch and guide, and cooperate with this instructive principle, is the true office of educa- tion, as a process of nurture and development, working not in arbi- trary or artificial, but in salutary and successful forms, forms not devised by the fallible ingenuity of man, but by the unerring wisdom of Supreme intelligence. Prevalent error in. the order of cultivation. Contrary, however, to the obvious suggestions of fact, education is still too generally regard- ed as consisting, during its earlier stages, in arbitrary exercises of memory on combinations of printed characters, abstract numbers, or even the metaphysical relations involved in the science of grammar. The excuse offered for a blind following of precedent in this direction, usually is the peculiar susceptibility of memory, during the period of childhood, and the comparative difficulty experienced in attempts to cultivate it at a later stage. Were the educational cultivation of memory directed to the retaining and treasuring up of those stores of knowledge which are naturally accessible to the fnind of childhood, within the range of its daily observation, the plea would be justifia- ble ; man's endeavors would be in harmony with the obvious instincts and endowments of the mind, and would tend to its natural ex'jan- 14 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. sion and development. But directed to the mechanical and arbi- trary results at which these endeavors so generally aim, their influ- ence is detrimental. Their immediate effect is to quench the natural thirst for knowledge, to create a distaste for intellectual activity, and thus to defeat the best purposes of education. jj<, The law of true culture lies in the primary craving of the young mind for material on which the understanding may operate ; digest- ing it, in due season, into the regular form of knowledge which mem- ory loves to retain, and which judgment ultimately builds up into the systematic arrangements of science. (2.') CURIOSITY", THE ACTUATING PRINCIPLE OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. $. The Teachers proper place. The teacher who enters intelligently upon his work of cultivating the minds entrusted to his care, knows that his chief duty is to cherish the spontaneous action of their pow- ers, and to make them intelligent and voluntary co-workers in their own development.) He observes, therefore, with careful attention, the natural tendencies and action of the intellectual system, as the physiologist does those of the corporeal, so as to become competent to trace the law of development, and adapt his measures to its re- quirements. He thus becomes qualified to take his proper place, as an humble but efficient co-worker with the Author of the mind, rec- ognizing and following His plan, in modes suggested by a wisdom higher than human. The attentive study and observation of the natural workings of the mind, in the successive stages of its progress, from incipient intelligence to maturity of reason, imply, however, not merely a care- ful analysis of the facts and modes of mental action, but a watchful observation, with a view to detect, in all cases, the moving power or impelling principle of action, to aid and regulate which is the educator's chief work. The ceaseless intellectual activity of child- hood, maintained through the various media of perception, furnished by the organs of sense, is obviously stimulated by the constitutional principle of curiosity, an eager desire to know and una*rxtand, and therefore, to observe and examine. Hence the irrepressible and search- ing questions with which children, in the instinct of faith, appeal to whomsoever they think can satisfy their craving for information. To feed this mental appetite, to select and prepare its proper nutri- ment, to keep it in healthy and healthful activity, to quicken and strengthen it, to direct and guide it, as a divine instinct, leading to the noblest ends, should be the teacher's constant endeavor. To awaken curiosity is to secure a penetrating and fixed attention, the EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 1 5 prime condition of human knowledge ; and even when it leads no further than to wonder, it is preparing the advancing mind for the awe and the reverence with which, in later stages of its progress, it looks up to the knowledge which is " too high for it." M. The emotion of wonder analogous to the instinct of curiosity. Cu- riosity, like the kindred element of wonder, finds its sustenance ip whatever is new to sensation or perception ; wonder, in turn, leads the mind to dwell on whatever is strange, intricate, or remote ; aston- ishment, arrests it by whatever is sudden and powerful; aiue+com- mands it by whatever is vast ; and amazement overwhelms it by whatever is incomprehensible or inscrutable.) Yet all of these effects, even those which, for the moment, act on the perceptive intellect with a repulsive force that makes it recoil in conscious weakness from the object of contemplation, are but >-various forms of stimulating, im- pelling, or attracting force, acting on the irrepressible vitality of the mind ; and no incitements are ultimately more powerful in maintain- ing the most resolute and persevering activity of its powers. Mental effects of novelty and variety. In the great primary school of nature, as established and furnished by the Author of all, we ob- serve, accordingly, that in the multiform variety of objects with which the young human being is surrounded, at the first dawning of intelligence within him, the novelty of the whole scene around him, and of every class of objects which it presents, is forever tempting his susceptible spirit to observe and examine, and explore, by the con- scious delight which every new step affords him. Evils of monotony, and advantages of variety. Nor is the obvious design of the great Instructor less conspicuous in the feeling of satiety and weariness which is always superinduced by continued sameness of mental action, whether prolonged in the same mode of exercise, or on the same class of objects. The observant teacher thus learns his own lesson of duty, to avoid undue limitation in the objects and forms of intellectual action, to shun sameness and monotony of rou- tine, and protracted exertions of attention, as all tending to exhaust and enfeeble the mental powers. His endeavors, on the contrary, are all directed to a due diversity in the presentation of objects, and in the mode of mental activity which they call forth ; and, in whatever instances frequent repetition is indispensable to exact 'percept ion, he is particularly careful to exert his ingenuity to the utmost, in devising new modes of presentation, so as to secure fresh and earnest atten- tion to the same objects or facts, by the renovating effect of the new lights and new aspects in which he causes them to be viewed, I (J . EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. Faults in former modes of education. It is unnecessary, in our day, to dwell on the obvious faults of the obsolete practice of con- fining young children within doors at all seasons, compelling them to remain long in one attitude or posture without relief, condemning them to long periods of silence and constraint, and forcing them to con unmeaning and irksome tasks. These injurious practices are now, for the most part renounced ; and more genial and rational modes *f early education are beginning to prevail. As yet, however, we have only made a beginning. We have reformed, our modes of school architecture, and have avowed children the unspeakable benefits of space and air, and more frequent change of place, and posture, and exercise. Objects and pictures are now employed, to some extent, as instruments of mental culture ; and the wisdom of all these changes is proved in the greater happiness and better health of our little pu- pils, and, more particularly, in their greater docility, and their supe- rior intellectual progress, as contrasted with the state of things under the former regime of irksome monotony, restraint, weariness, and stu- pidity. We. are very far, yet, however, from approaching the boun- tiful variety and delightful novelty furnished in the great model school of infancy and childhood, as established by the Divine founder. Intellectual furniture of school-rooms. Our primary school-rooms should be so many cabinets of nature and art. Every inch of wall not indispensably required for blackboard exercises, should be se- cured for educational purposes, by specimens of plants, minerals, shells, birds, and whatever else can be appropriately placed before the eye. The arranging, classifying, and describing of these, should pre- cede any analysis or study of letters or syllables. Pictures repre- senting such objects, should form a second stage of exercises in atten- tion, observation, and description, before any alphabetic drilling what- ever. J The examination of objects and of pictures, should, in a word, form the natural preparatory training of the perceptive faculties for the more arbitrary and more difficult exercise of studying and recog- nizing the unmeaning, uninteresting forms of alphabetic characters with their phonetic combinations. Injurious effects of mere alphabetic drilling. Curiosity, the nat- ural incitement of intellect, is easily awakened when we obey the law of the Creator, and direct it to His works, the natural and appro- priate stimulants of the perceptive powers of infancy ; but when, leaving our proper sphere, and restricting our educational efforts to the mechanical training of eye and ear, we use these organs, and the informing mind, for the limited purpose of recognizing the complica- ted and irregular geometrical combinations of line and angle, pre- EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. j^ seated in alphabetic characters, and repeating the sounds so arbi- trarily associated with these, \ve take the mind out of its native ele- ment ; we consequently force and distort its growth, dwarf its stat- ure, and enfeeble its powers. Effects of the salutary excitement of the feeling of wonder. But it is not in the first stages only of mental culture, that the influence of novelty and variety is required as an incitement to observation, by the frequent presentation of new and fresh objects of attention, by the agreeable surprises occasioned by new forms and new stages of animal and vegetable life, all tending to excite a lively curiosity, which leads, in turn, to careful attention, close examination, and suc- cessful study. Curiosity should often be awakened by the yet more powerful influence of wonder. Objects rare and strange, combina- tions intricate and even puzzling, should sometimes be called in, to excite a yet more energetic action" of the perceptive intellect, in its endeavors to grasp the objects of its contemplation. Whatever in nature is wonderful, whether we employ the micro- scope, in revealing the intricate structure of plant or insect, in the minuter and closer examination of the works of the Creator ; or the telescope, in the contemplation of the starry heavens, and the study of the magnitudes and motions of the bodies which people the depths of space, all should be brought to bear on the young mind, to call forth that sense of wonder which so delights and inspires it, and pre- pares it, at the same time, for the influence of those sentiments of awe and reverence with which the advancing intellect learns /to trace the signatures of Deity. -fa . J / (3.) OBSERVATION, AS THE TENDENCY OF MENTAL HABIT, UNDER THE INCITING INFLUENCE OF CURIOSITY. The natural effect of intellectual instinct. The motive power, or impelling force, by which, in the ordinations of the mind's oinnis- cient Author, its perceptive faculties are incited to activity, and induced to render their tribute to the resources of intelligence, con- sists in that restless desire to observe, to examine, and to know, which constitutes man a progressively intelligent being. Impelled by this insatiable mental thirst, he is led instinctively to those streams of knowledge which constitute the waters of intellectual life. His per- ceptive powers thus stimulated, acquire a tendency to ceaseless activ- ity, a trait which forms the peculiar characteristic of the early stages of his mental progress, and which is greatly quickened by the vividness of sensation in the constitution of childhood. Hence the promptness and versatility of attention at that period, and its remark- able susceptibility to the influences of cultivation and discipline. 1 B 18 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. These aids, it is true, are, as yet, too scantily furnished in the pro- cesses of education ; and, even without them, the human being, as he advances under the promptings of instinct, and the guidance of self-intelligence, attains, as in the case, even of the savage,, to a high degree of perceptive power. The keen, quick, and penetrating glance of his eye, the acuteness and certainty of his ear, the readi- ness and exactness of his observation of every object within the range of his vision, the searching closeness of inspection with which he ex- amines everything new or uncertain, often furnish an impressive lesson on the value of training, to those whose means and opportuni- ties of intellectual culture are so superior to his own. Effects of cherishing the habit of observation. The habit of obser- vation, duly cherished in early years, by the judicious care of the parent and teacher, becomes the security for ample acquisitions in the field of knowledge, and for the daily accumulation of mental resources and of intellectual power. The observant mind, like the close-knit net of the skillful fisherman, encloses and retains the living treasures within its sweep, and deposits them, for use, in their appropriate place. The undisciplined, inattentive, unobservant spectator seizes and re- tains nothing in his slack and ineffectual grasp. Suggestive significance of terms in intellectual and educational re- lations. The etymology of the word apprehension, (seizing, grasping, laying hold of,) suggests an important lesson regarding the value of intellectual training, as dependent on the habit of attentive and close observation. The word attention, (tending, reaching, or stretching toward,) is not less instructive in its signification, implying the ten- dency, or the gravitating of the mind's perceptive power toward the object of notice, for the purpose of cognizance, as the first stage of intelligence. The term observation, (watching, ^ith a view to obey or follow,) is yet more monitory to the teacher ; as it intimates that the true study of external nature demands vigilance, docility, and fidelity ; in one word, the devotion of the whole mind to the busi ness of intellectual acquisition. Perception, (taking, through a me- dium,) refers us back to the humble office of sensation, as indispensa- ble to the process of taking into the mind the treasures of knowl- edge offered to the grasp of sense, for the purpose of transmission to the percipient power, the inner principle of intelligence. All of these terms, in the nomenclature of mental science, tend to the same important end, in the uses of practical education : they all point to the appropriate discipline of the perceptive faculties, by means of objects addressed to the senses, as the primary stage of intellectual Culture. ,. EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. jg Educational errors. Former modes of education rendered tbe use of terms such as the preceding, a nullity, or an absurdity. The child shut up within the naked walls of a school-room, seated on his un- comfortable bench, and mechanically conning by rote, the ill-fitting names of alphabetic elements, or trying to piece them into syllables, had little use of the precious gift of sense, but a few lines and angles to perceive, unless a friendly fly should happen to alight upon the page of his primer, no inducement to attention but the fear of Sol- omon's prescription for " minds diseased," nothing half so interesting to observe as the little winged being accidentally crawling on the page before him, displaying the curiously constructed mechanism of its form, its gauzy wings, and many-feathered little limbs, or stopping now and then, to dry-rub instead of washing them, and its tiny head, and flexible bit of neck, almost too Diminutive to be seen. But woe to the little student of nature, in the genuine act of observation, if he should lift his eye from his book, and follow his brisk little visitant flying off to perform the visible miracle of walking up the perpendic- ular plane of the window pane, or the yet more puzzling feat of walk- ing the ceiling with bis head downward. Rational method. The child, in the case supposed, indicates the real want of his nature, and mutely, but most eloquently, pleads for a lesson on insect life, (entomology,) before one on the alphabet. Furnished with the data which the lesson on inject life and form, character and motion, would present to his eye, he would be receiving a rational preparatory discipline of attention and observation, in the close and careful examination of all the details of shape and connVu- i O ration, exhibited in the living and attractive object before him. His recognition of figure and outline, thus secured, he would, in due sea- son, transfer, easily and willingly, to the artificial display of them in the forms of printed characters. Benefits resulting from the early formation of habits of attentive observation. The early training of the perceptive faculties, by a va- ried and genial discipline of the power of attention, so as to render s the habit of observation an unfailing characteristic of the man, be- comes doubly valuable, as a result of education, when we regard its effects on the intellectual tastes and pursuits of individuals. A taste for the study of nature, early formed, leads to the practice of col- lecting specimens, and thus furnishing the means of successful study to the person himself, who collects them, and at the same time to all whom he is disposed to aid in such pursuits. Were even the ele- ments of botany, geology, mineralogy, and zoology, generally adop- ted, as they ought to be, as subjects of attention in primary education, 20 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. a knowledge of natural science, would, ere long, be diffused through- out our community ; a taste for the study of nature would become an intellectual trait of our people ; the pursuit of agriculture,' al^ori- culture, and horticulture, would be more intelligently and more ad- vantageously followed ; the citizen would doubly relish his season of respite in the country ; taste and intelligence would extend their influence over all modes of life ; and science would be unspeakably a gainer, in its noble purposes and offices, by the multitude of active minds and busy hands called in to collect, arid contribute materials for its various forms of investigation. The field of human knowl- edge might thus be indefinitely enlarged, and its advantages and enjoyments be more extensively diffused.^/ But it is not merely as a matter of scientific progress, or of taste and enjoyment, that the proper training of the perceptive faculties, by means of objects and observation, rather than by the materials furnished in books, becomes an important consideration in the plan- ning of modes of education, and methods of instruction. Practical utility, also, has its claim to urge in this relation. The larger num- ber of persons, even in the most advanced communities, as regards civilization and refinement, are occupied in some foim of active exer- tion, as the daily vocation of individuals ; and while no generous mind can ever look on education as a benefit or a blessing, if it is to be used as a mean^of training for the occupation of a given caste, it is not less true, that every individual, in whatever class of society, would be vastly benefited by an early course of cultivation on all subjects akin to those which are to form the staple of his mode of life. Botany, geology, chemistry, entomology, for instance, all have their relations to agriculture ; and a few hours devoted weekly to the elements of these sciences, will, by their inspiring influence on the young mind, expedite rather than retard the ordinary processes of school education. Importance of commencing early the study of Nature. But while no formal or extensive study of these branches can be rationally attempted in primary education, it is most emphatically true, that, in the study of nature, more than in other forms of intellectual action, nothing can be advantageously done but on condition of an early be- ginning, and the judicious improvement of the opportunity afforded during the period of leisure and susceptibility which occurs to all human beings but once in life. Childhood and youth are, by the Creator's appointment, the period for forming taste and acquiring habits. The most resolute struggles in after years, seldom succeed in effecting a change of mental occupation, or in lending attractive inter- EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 21 estto new pursuits. The "pliant hour" must be taken for all pro- cesses of mental budding, grafting, or pruning, as well as in those of the orchard. An early dip into the study of nature, will serve to saturate the whole soul with a love for it so strong as to insure the prosecution of such subjects for life. ^The season is auspicious ; the senses are fresh and susceptible ; the mind is awake ; the heart is alive ; the memory is retentive ; nature is yet a scene of novelty and delight ; and application is a pleasure^ The twig may now be bent in the direction in which the tree is to be inclined. Universal susceptibility to instruction, drawn from Nature. Tn . diversified experience of nearly forty years in the h'eld of education, one teacher, at least, can testify that he has not yet found the mind so dull, or the heart so callous, as to resist the attractive intellectual influence of the analysis of even one plant or one mineral. The mysteries of beauty and awe which hang over such objects, as an investing celestial glory, entrancing the imagination and the heart, and all but translating the intellect itself, have a power of attraction which the dullest, coarsest, and most brutalized boy in a ragged school, cannot resist. But of the moral influence of early education, when directed to the aspects of nature, it will be more appropriate to speak in that special connection. Effects produced on mental character, by the study of Nature. The solidity and the Jirmness of mental character, which are acquired by the study of things, preceding and accompanying that of words and books, are a natural effect of the early and seasonable cultivation of the habit of observing, analyzing, comparing, and classifying, which even the slight examination of any natural object induces. A clear, decisive, and discriminating judgment, and a retentive memory, are among the other fruits of that mental training which commences with definite objects, capable of being analyzed and reconstructed by the natural and appropriate action of the young mind, in virtue of its own powers and native tendencies. But these considerations, also be- long properly to another and more advanced stage of intellectual dis- cipline, at which the reflective faculties, and maturing reason, are beginning to put forth their claims for culture and development, in addition to the preparatory training which they may have received in the blended exercises of sense and intellect, in the action of the perceptive faculties. (4.) KNOWLEDGE, THE INTELLECTUAL RESULT OF THE ACTION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. Impelled by the instinct of curiosity, and guided by the habit of observation, the young mind, whether more or less assisted by 22 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. education, advances to the goal designated by creative Wisdom, the acquisition of knowledge, the appointed means for erecting the fabric of character on the scale outlined by the Great Architect, but left to man's industry and intelligence, for the filling up and the sym- metry of detail. The part of education which lies more immediately before us, as the object of our attention, being the cultivation of the intellect, the acquisition of knowledge becomes, in this view, a consideration of primary importance, as, at once, a source of intellectual wealth and power, and a most effective means of mental development. Knowledge, as a result of culture, is undoubtedly of inferior value to discipline. But the efforts put forth in the acquisition of genuine knowledge, are, in themselves, a disciplinary process, and the indis- pensable instruments of further cultivation. Yet more, intellectual acquirements are true and durable riches, valuable for their own sake, not merely from the resources which the accumulation of them places at the mind's command, but from their own intrinsic value, as imperishable because intellectual things, and as the successive steps of mental elevation in the scale of being. In reference to intellect, knowledge is, in one most important sense, an end, not less than a means and a measure of progress. Profound, extensive, and varied knowledge, is one of the crowning glories of man, as an intellectual and progressive being, capable of ceaseless development and acquisi- tion. Most emphatically is this true of him, the soundness, and ex- actness, and completeness, of whose knowledge, are the assurance that he shall be a safe and competent guide along the path of edu- cation. Actual knowledge. But what is knowledge ? How is it acquired ? not by the repetition of the words or the processes of others, not by the transfer from one mind to another of the verbal statements of fact or of abstract principles, not by the formation of vague and partial notions, formed on superficial data, and floating loosely in the mind, not by a half perception or half consciousness of something indefinite or supposititious, not by an assent to rash assumptions or confident assertions, not by the recollections of extensive reading, or perhaps, of attentive listening, retailed in fluent expression, not by accumulating the amplest furniture of second-hand theories and sys- tems, whether plausible or absurd, or even logically consistent. ! r \Knowledge is what we have experienced in our own intellect, by means of our own observation or reflection, the fruit of personal perception, or of conscious reason, acting on the positive data of sensation^ So narrowly must the term be limited, when we refer to the action EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 23 of the perceptive faculties, or to their appropriate training and disci- pline. Knowledge, in these relations, is (the accurate interpretation of the facts of sense) in matters, usually, of color, form, number, weight, or sound, and the relations which these bear to one another in the processes of induction and classification. With the other sense of the term, in which it refers whether to truth or to theory, and im- plies the deductions of reflective reason, we have not, at present, to do. It belongs to a subsequent stage of the analysis of the modes of mental action, as subjected to the processes of intellectual cultiva- tion, and occurs in connection with the discipline of the " reflective " faculties. Literal accuracy of verbal statement, a false test of knowledge. The acquisition of knowledge, however, is, notwithstanding all our advances, of late years, in the philosophy of education, too generally confounded with the repetition of the verbal statements of definitions* rules, and systems, as contained in books, even in relations so palpa- ble as those of form and numbers. The test of knowledge, accord- ingly, with some teachers, to this day, is, even in the exact sciences, the fluency with which a definition or a rule is orally repeated, ver- batim, from a text-book, and the mechanical accuracy or despatch with which a correspondent problem is solved, or a proposition demonstrated. True knowledge experimental and personal. True perceptive knowledge, on the other hand, or that which is actual and personal, implies, in all relations of form and number, that the individual who possesses it, has seen the object in question, or its representative, in palpable shape, in surface or in outline, that he has subjected it to actual measurement and comparison, or has an exact image of its form and configuration before h's mind, that he has .actually counted or grouped objects in numbers presented to the eye or to the mind, or that he has compared these with one another, and traced their re- lations, by strict and exact observation ; and the proper office of the text- book is but to confirm and embody the result, and classify it in the exact language and systematic arrangement of formal science, as the specimens are labelled and shelved in a collector's cabinet. The use of scientific method, in the statements of text-books, is but to give logical arrangement to mental acquisitions, not to induce mere assent, whether silent or oral, and not to facilitate the mere repetition or verbal enunciation of propositions. The proper business of the teacher, as a superintendent of mind. The true office of the teacher is to see that the pupil is led by his own conscious experience and observation, through the process of 24 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. perception prescribed in every exercise which he attempts ; that the operation is intelligently performed at every step, and the result ren- dered certain, as far as the limitations of human faculties permit. By frequently repeated performance of the requisite process, the prin- ciple in question thus becomes an integral part of personal knowledge with the individual ; and his faculties receive, at the same time, a discipline which gives them facility and force in all analogous pro- cedure in -which expertness and skill are desirable attainments. In due season, also, he is able to sum up his acquirements in knowl- edge, in the clear and definite and precise language which science demands, and of which his text-book furnishes a perfect specimen on which he can rely. At first, however, the young operator may need even the palpable aid of actual objects ; and the judicious teacher knows well when to give, and when to withhold such help, when to appeal to the black- board, and when to have his pupil rely on the mind's eye, during the successive stages of intellectual training. He is careful, however, not to slight or hurry over the business of the rudimental course, in which the reference to actual objects is the main reliance for a sure personal knowledge of the facts of form and number. The collateral discipline, also, arising from the attentive observation and careful study of plants, minerals, leaves, insects, and other natural objects, the intelligent teacher values highly, from the power of attention, and the habit of exact observation, which it tends to secure, by the dcfi- niteness which it gives to the action of the mind, and the certainty which k stamps on knowledge. Contrasted examples of neglect and culture. True education has no more striking proof of its good effect than may be observed, when the apathy and ignorance of young persons who have been allowed to neglect the observation and study of nature in childhood, and afterwards to go through a class-drill on a given branch, by means of a text-book, are contrasted with the intelligent personal interest and intimate knowledge of those who have been wisely induced to turn an early attention on the productions of nature, and thus to acquire an early love for such studies, and a life-long enjoyment of the pleasures which they afford. Adults of the former class take little interest in the f' floral apostles" of the poet, who are ceaselessly preaching the perfection of their Source, or in the pebble at their feet, which, to the intelligent eye, is the medallion struck by the Creator's hand, in commemoration of one of the epochs in His reign. These eloquent monitions of a perpetual Divine presence, are, to such minds, the dead letter of a handwriting which they have not been accustom- EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 25 ed to trace, and on which their listless eye falls, as does that of the sceptic, on the page of written revelation. The mirui, on trie other hand, which has been early trained to an intelligent personal interest in the productions of Creative wisdom and power, enjoys a personal property, and a personal reference, in every object in nature, finds, in ^the meanest flower that blows, thoughts that do often lie too deep for tearsV* and ultimately to it, " The delicate forest flower. With fragrant breath, and look BO like a smile, Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould, An emanation of the indwelling Life, A visible token of the upholding Love, "Which are the soul of this wide universe." The definiten ess and the certainty, however, which give conscious life and power to all such knowledge, depend, to a great extent, on the faithful training which the perceptive power has undergone in the nurturing stage of education. The poet whose words of truth and love convince us that he has attained to the rank of an inspired seer, set out on his career from the common starting place of infancy, in blank ignorance of .every object and of every fact around him ; and his brother bard whose office it is to announce, in the language of astronomy, the harmony of the spheres, and read to mankind the legislation of the heavens, had no vantage ground at his outset on those excursions which ultimately extend beyond Orion and the Pleiades. Nor was there any special dispensation antecedent to the slow but sure processes of culture, in favor of the electrician who, in the maturity of his acquirements, became competent to transmit and diffuse intel- ligence with the literal rapidity of lightning ; and wnat shall we say of the barefooted mason's boy, who commences his career of " glory and of joy," plodding over the stone which he has broken with his unpracticed apprentice hammer, and, at length, reads, from that same fragment, to the delight and astonishment of mankind, the facts of an antediluvian world ? All the treasures which such minds have brought from their various explorations, as tributes to the treasury of science, and to man's dominion in the sphere of knowledge, are but the varied fruits of unwearied, progressive observation, accumulating fact upon fact by the patient process of attentive examination of objects, and by the skillful exercise of well disciplined perceptive fac- ulties. Such noble efforts of mental power we contemplate with a delight mingled with reverence and gratitude to their authors, as benefactors of the race. The worship which human ignorance, in its wondering admiration, extended, of old, to the mythic demi-god and hero, might, we think, have been pardoned had it been offered to 26 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. our venerated contemporary Humboldt, who, at an age rarely attained by modern man, withdraws, at intervals, from the onerous duties of a councilor of state, to record the acquisitions of a mind which, from early years, has been exploring the wonders of nature, and now, year after year, pours forth another and another book of the great epic of creation, to which he has so appropriately given the sublime title, " Cosmos." The written life of this truly great man, however, only enables us to trace the progress of another watchful observer of nature, as, step by step, he observes, examines, compares, classifies, aggregates, and accumulates, till he stands before us an intellectual Atlas, upholding the sphere of human knowledge. Liberal education, favorable oppor- tunities faithfully improved, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and devoted application to the acquisition of it, explain the wonder. Let us inquire then, for a moment, into the processes by which human culture achieves the miracle of such results* -^ . ff (5.) THE APPROPRIATE EDUCATIONAL PROCESSES FOR THE EXERCISE, DEVELOPMENT, AND DISCIPLINE, OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. The law of progressive intellection. Watching the successive steps of man's intellectual development, as he advances, consciously or un- consciously, in pliancy and power of mind, we see him first incited by an irrepressible principle of curiosity, stimulating him to watchful attention, close observation, and minute inspection, for the purpose of acquiring a satisfactory knowledge of things around him ; that he may, in due season, be prepared to enter upon a new and higher cycle of his ceaseless progress, and from the materials of perception, feed the reflective faculties of judgment and reason, which lead to the higher goal of truth, where alone the cravings of intellect can find rest and satisfaction. Provision of educational apparatus. The first care of the watch- ful and intelligent teacher, as the guide and director of the intellect, is obviously, in compliance with the law of intellectual progress, as traced above, to make liberal provision of the palpable material of perception, by which the instinctive appetite of curiosity is at once fed and stimulated, attention awakened, observation secured, and knowledge attained. Objects abundant in number, and varied in character, form and aspect, but chiefly those furnished by nature, and, more particularly, those which occur most frequently within the range of the child's actual observation, are the true and appropriate apparatus of his education. To the examination and inspection of these his mind naturally tends ; to the process of extracting knowl- edge from these, his perceptive powers are expressly adapted ; in such EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 27 occupation he takes delight ; working on such material, he is inspired by the consciousness of progress and of perpetually augmenting vigor ; and thus he becomes a willing and efficient, because an intelligent agent in his own development. DISCIPLINE OF THE SENSES. Sight ; color. Sensation, though the humblest form of mental action, being the first in the natural order of intellectual development, suggests to the parent and teacher the great importance of a due attention to the early cultivation of the senses, especially of those whose action is so distinctly intellectual in character and result as is that of sight and hearing. The proper or- ganic training of the eye implies, what is too often overlooked, an attentive regard to color , as well as form; the former of these being very early developed, and evidently, in all normal cases, a source of peculiar delight in infancy, not less, than of high aesthetic gratification in subsequent appreciation of beauty, both in nature and art. Long before the infant shows any distinctive recognition or appreciation of form, it manifests a keen perception and intense pleasure in the obser- vation of all objects of brilliant color. Under the management of the judicious mother, balls of the three grand primary colors of the painter, blue, red, and yellow, form an inexhaustible source of pleasure to the infant eye ; while they give an unconscious exercise and discipline to the perceptive faculty, and prepare the way for the subsequent, definite, and intelligent recogni- tion of the great lines of distinction drawn on the field of vision by the Hand which has blended color with light. Field or garden flow- ers, or even wayside weeds, placed within the range of the eye, serve a similar purpose. Subsequently, the principal intermediate grada- tions of color, as they occur in objects of nature or of art, in varied tints and hues, may be presented to the sight, in due succession, as a pleasing exercise for the faculties of childhood, in its progress. For this purpose, flowers, the prism, the tints and half tints of the clouds, the glow, or the hue of evening and morning skies, throughout the year; the ever-varying colors of autumn, from their fullest flush to their gradual waning and decay ; all are admirable materials for the intel- lectual and esthetic cultivation of the human being, along the suc- cessive stages of his development. The mind early trained to a sense of the beauty of color, can hardly be withheld, in after years, from the profoundest application to the study of light, as " a feast of nee- tared sweets, where no crude surfeit reigns." Purity and perfection of taste in art, are another sure result of early cultivation, in this res- pect. How much intelligence, and how much intensity of pure and even sacred gratification, may thus be superadded to the sentiment 28 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. of reverential delight .in the works of the Creator, it would be diffi- cult for even the most skillful master of expression to say. Form. The early cultivation of a discriminating perception of the distinctive characters of form, through a carefully conducted, pro- gressive discipline on objects submitted to the eye, is one of the most purely intellectual processes to which the mind of childhood can be subjected. The cube, the sphere, the cylinder, the cone, the pyra- mid, when judiciously introduced among the playthings of early childhood, as was strikingly exemplified in the schools of Pestalozzi, become unconsciously, but most surely, a basis and standard in all the relations of form ; and, under the guiding suggestions of the teacher, they tend to give the mind definiteness and certainty in its action, on whatever relates to geometrical details of figure in nature, art, or mechanism. The primary truths of solid, superficial, and lin- ear geometry, are thus imbedded in the mind, identified with its ac- tion on all visible objects, and help to constitute the observer an intelligent spectator, through life, of the grand elemental forms of the universe. Measure. Convenience and utility, too, have their claims to urge in favor of an early discipline of the eye on all details of measure- ment. An exact appreciation of measure, for in-door purposes, should be laid in permanent inch, and half and quarter inch marks, on the school-room wall ; and to these should be added those of the foot and the yard. A mile, with its subdivision into halves, and quarters, should be measured off, as a permanent standard for the young eye, as it approaches or leaves the threshold of the school-room. The acVe and the rod, and all other details of land measure, should be made familiar to the eye of boyhood, by express measurement, in the nearest accessible field or square. Number. Veritable ideas of number belong, also, to the early dis- cipline of the eye, and are greatly dependent on the actual presentation of objects, for this special purpose. We read, in the accounts of one English exploring voyage, that the inhabitants of one group of islands in the Pacific, had do definite ideas of any number over five ; and ex- perienced teachers are well aware that, in the case of pupils accus- tomed to depend on the mere verbal memory of the words which represent numbers, and unprovided with a firm basis of actual obser- vation of palpable objects, and the personal knowledge which such experience gives, there is an obstinate difficulty in forming definite and distinct conceptions of numbers, which resembles, too nearly, the confusion and helplessness of mind felt by those unfortunate island- EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 29 ers, in their attempts to transcend the limits of their terminal num- ber, five. Most of the early arithmetical operations of very young pupils, should consist in handling and counting visible objects, in enumera- ting marks, in grouping objects and marks, in numbers gradually pro- gressive, from the smallest to the largest in amount ; so as to secure expertness and promptness in the process of addition, in varied forms. Successive exercises should follow in multiplication, in subtraction, and division, all performed, day after day, on visible objects handled, and on marks expressly made for such purposes of training, before the purely mental processes of arithmetic are attempted on abstract numbers, even of the smallest groups. A prevalent error with teach- ers still continues to be that of merely exemplifying true teaching in such forms as have been mentioned, for a limited period, too limited to tell upon the habits of the mind. Long continued training alone, is adequate to the proper purposes of discipline, certainty and skill, namely, in forming combinations which must sometimes be both ex- tensive and complicated. It is unreasonable to expect rapidity and expertness in the processes of mental arithmetic, without the prepar- atory discipline which results from the actual observation of the facts of number and combination, in objects presented to the senses. Such discipline alone, can yield that personal knowledge, and that con- scious grasp of mind, which give clearness and certainty to the action of the intellect in arithmetical operations. Natural objects : animated forms. But it is not merely the con- templation of inanimate objects which the mind, in childhood, requires as a foundation for true perception and exact observation, or as a means of securing prompt and sustained attention. The liberal training of the senses, as a primary step in intellectual cultivation, extends the study of color, form, number, and sound, to the rich do- main, of animated nature, in the animal as well as the vegetable king- dom, and thus brings the vivid sympathy of the young heart with kindred life and motion to the aid of the opening intellect. From the pebble, the shell, the flower, and the leaf, the judicious mother and teacher will pass to the insect, the bird, the quadruped, and the fish ; and as their individualities and diversities are successively enu- merated and dwelt upon, the details of color, form, and number, arrest and fix the volatile attention of the child, and win him to habits of close, minute, and exact observation. ^/.Analysis and classification, the two great master powers for the acquisition of knowledge, in whatever direction, are also thus called in to aid the progress of the young observer in his study of nature. SO EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. The tendency of the mind to observe, compare, examine, and classify whatever is submitted to its action, thus early encouraged and stimu- lated, becomes an habitual trait of the mental character, and tells, with powerful effect, on the intellectual progress of the individual, in the more abstract relations of language and of mathematics. It is a great error to suppose that, because of the intense pleasure which attends the study of natural objects, there is not a profound and rig- orous discipline of mind attending the equally intense intellectual action which accompanies the pleasure. Analytic examination is one and the same process, whether it is directed to the component parts of a plant or of a word. Keen and penetrating attention, close, minute, and thoughtful observation, exhaustive analysis, systematic arrangement, and methodical classification, are equally indispensable in the one case as in the other. But in giving precedence to the study of the object, and postponing that of the word, we are obeying the ordination of the Creator, who has furnished the apparatus of the first stages of human development, in the natural objects which first solicit the attention of the child, by the attractions of beauty and pleasure. Pictorial art. Nor is it only by means of natural objects that the sense of sight contributes to the exercise and discipline of the per- ceptive intellect. Art, too, renders here a rich tribute to the re- sources of education. Models and pictures, and the humblest attempts to produce these, as repetitions of the mental impressions received from nature, give inexpressible delight to the susceptible and imitative spirit of childhood. Their effect is invaluable, in training the perceptive faculties to the keenest, closest, long-sustained action, without the sense of weariness or fatigue; and their inspiring and refreshing influence gives vivacity and force to the whole mind. The clear per- ception, fixed attention, watchful observation, and active exertion, which they both require and cherish, particularly when the child is permitted to attempt to produce imitative efforts of his own, in draw- ing or modelling, meet so successfully the craving of the young spirit for action and endeavor, that they become powerful aids to mental development. The working hand is thus brought to the aid of the active eye, as a test, at the same time, of its correctness of vision, which is proved by the degree of truthfulness in the delinea- tion. ' This productive method of exercising the perceptive and exec- utive faculties, yields to the child the peculiar delight of having achieved something palpable, as a proof of power, and is, meanwhile, working in his mind the silent effect which is to appear, in due season, in the symmetry and gracefulness of his handwriting^ and the neat- ness of whatever he attempts, whether in plan or execution. EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. gj The ear : music. The varied world of sound, comprising music and speech, is another wide field of culture to the intelligent mother and the elementary teacher. The extent to which the sense of sight may be cultivated, as regards precision and certainty and truth of action, is indicated in the perfection which is attained by the sculptor and the painter, whose copies of nature are, in some instances, so faithful, and so beautifully perfect, as to confer an immortality of fame upon their authors. But little notice, comparatively, is taken of the delicate susceptibility of the ear, in relation to the offices of cul- ture. Yet no sense, not even that of sight itself, is capable of attain- ing to so high perfection by the aids of training and discipline. The innumerable minute distinctions of sound, which the performance of even a single piece of music, by a single performer, often requires ; but, still more, the multitude which the composer of one of the mas- ter-pieces of harmony must be capable of recognizing, discriminating, and combining, with a measured v exactness transcending all other efforts of perceptive intellect: these remind us, most impressively, of the extent and value of cultivation, when we recall the fact, that the performer and the composer commenced their artistic training on the common footing of all human beings, a percipient mind, and an organ capable of telegraphing to it the notes of the singing bird, the song of the mother or the nurse, or the artless strains of some juve- nile performer on pipe or flute. Speech. We have yet another proof of the susceptibility of the ear to the influences of cultivation, when " the well trod stage," in the exhibition of a play of the ' myriad-minded' Shakspeare, displays in the voice of the skillful actor, th'e whole world of human passion, with its ever-varying tones, uttered in the language of poetic inspira- tion, now moulded by the serene influence of heavenly contempla- tion, as when Lorenzo speaks to Jessica, while they sit on the moon- lit bank, of the " smallest orb which she beholds, still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim ; " now breathing the deep tones of Hamlet, solemnly musing on the mysteries of life, and death, and destiny ; now the hollow mutterings of conscious guilt from Macbeth, while meditating the murder from which he yet recoils ; now the hoarse accents of remorse wrung from the bosom of him whose " offence is rank" with the blood of "a brother's murder;" now the scarce articu- late horror of " false, fleeting, purjured Clarence ; " the maddened scream of mingling grief and rage from the injured mother, Con- stance ; the love raptures of the empassioned Romeo ; the ringing laughter of Mercutio ; or the torture of Othello, as he fluctuates from 32 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. the ecstacies of overflowing love and joy, to the curses of hatred, the outbursts of grief, and the agonies of despair. In all these forms the well trained actor, by the mastery of his artistic skill, exerts a power over the sympathies of his audience which far transcends the highest achievements of representative art in any other form. The arduous training to which the histrionic artist subjects his voice, in order to produce such effects, shows to what extent the cultivation of the ear may be carried. It is by the indications of this faithful, prompting monitor, that he guides every step of his vocal efforts, till he attains to those consummate effects of genius which, in some instances, have conferred on the individual a fame coextensive with the civilized world. Yet he who is, perhaps, thus renowned, commenced his early efforts, with the usual stumb- ling utterance of a school-boy. Enunciation. Passing from the higher sphere of music and poe- try, in their influence on the cultivation of the intellect, through the medium of sense, we come to one of the most important stages of education, in the discipline of the voice for the useful purposes of speech, as dependent on accuracy of ear, the only reliable guide to correct results. The unconscious freedom with which we utter thoughts in our native tongue, leaves all persons who are not advan- tageously trained by precept or example, exposed to the evils of incor- rect habit, in utterance. The extensive prevalence, also, of corrupted usage, in the negligent practice of general society, increases the liabil- ity to error in the style of the individual. There was wisdom in the Roman maxim, that the nurses of children ought to be persons of correct habit, in enunciation. The influence of early example, is the most binding rule of speech, as the baffled and disappointed teacher, after all his endeavors, is often made to feel. One early begun and long continued daily practice, in primary training, should consist in the careful, correct, and distinct articula- tion of the component elements of speech, as accomplished in our own language. These should, at first, be practiced with reference to the exact sound of every letter of the alphabet, singly and separately ; afterwards they should be enunciated in the groups which constitute syllables, on a graduated progressive scale of difficulty, till every vari- ety of combination can be uttered with perfect distinctness and per- fect fluency ; finally, the pronunciation of words should be practiced in a similar manner, till the style of the young learner is freed from all corrupt and local mannerism, and he is prepared to take his place among the cultivated in speech as well as thought, and, by his per- sonal manner of expression, to evince the style of educated habit as preferable to that of vulgar negligence. EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES 33 Elocution, In the secondary and in the more advanced stages of education, the discipline of* the ear should be extended, so as to em- brace all the refining and highly intellectual influences of music and poetry, as combined in elocution. Intellect, feeling, and imagination, are all inseparably united in the appropriate expression of sentiment, as embodied in the language of oratory and poetry and their finest effects in utterance depend on a nice susceptibility of ear, which culture only can secure to full extent. Music and elocution, the most humanizing of all arts, prescribe the apparatus and the forms of training to which the ear should be sub- jected, through the whole course of education. In the analysis and the discrimination which vocal discipline demands, in the recognition which it secures of the almost infinitely diversified and ever varying character of tones, in their expression of intelligence or of emotion, there is an admirable discipline of intellect implied, which, though less for- mally displayed than in other modes of exercise, is not, on that account, the less effectual. Of the high moral value of the suscepti- bility which such training tends to cherish, it is not now the appro- priate time to speak. We may advert to it under a subsequent head. The subject of healthful physical training is not now under con- sideration ; yet sensation, and consequent perception, are dependent on the condition of the organs of sense, and therefore of the whole corporeal frame, which must be in a healthy condition to secure the natural and true action of nerve and brain, the apparatus of percep- tive action in the intellect. The attentive and efficient cultivation of health should be regarded, not merely as a condition of intellectual life, but as the first step in the formation of intellectual character. The clear eye and the quick ear of health are highly intellectual in their tendencies, and are for ever detecting and offering material for the intellect to examine or explore. The dull organs of a morbid frame, on the contrary, are too torpid to respond to the awakening touch or beckoning invitation of nature, and leave the clouded intel- lect to sleep or to dream. PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF THE PROPER DISCIPLINE OF THE PER- CEPTIVE FACULTIES. The varied exercises of eye and ear, as organs of sentient mind, should always, under the guiding management of the teacher, advance in intellectual character from stage to stage, so as to secure the benefits of a progressive discipline, commencing, indeed, at the threshold of sense, but ever tending more and more inward, till they become nearly inseparable from the action and character of pure intellect. They thus render the keen eye and the quick ear prompters to 1 C 34 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. clear perception, fixed attention, penetrating observation, careful com- parison, and discriminating judgment, and so conduct to consummate intelligence. The teacher who works in intelligent cooperation with the consti- tution of the beings whose character it is his office to mould, is con- tent to labor patiently in the field of sensation, as, at first, forming the sole ground on which he can rationally meet the dawning mind, with the hope to exert a genial and effectual influence on its development. He dwells long, accordingly, on the prominent outward characteris- tics of objects, as most accessible to the unpracticed faculties of infancy, as best adapted to elicit their activity, and tempt them forth to more and more energetic effort. He furnishes, with no sparing hand, the opportunities of intuition, in the abundance and variety of the objects which he presents to the senses. He selects these, however, with such judgment and skill that the young mind shall be incapable of regarding them with a mere vacant aspection or listless intuition, but, on the contrary, shall be made to feel that there is within them a soliciting power, a magnetic attraction, to which its own nature responds, and by which it is led on, from stage to stage, till it finds itself in possession of the mental treasures of clear perception and definite knowledge. VOLUNTARY EXERCISE OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES, A CONDITION OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. Attention as a voluntary act. The teacher who recognizes the law of intellectual growth, is aware that, in adopting measures to aid the progressive unfolding of the perceptive faculties, he may trust largely to the mind's own instinctive and spontaneous tendencies to action, if only due provision is made for mental activity, by supplying the objects of sense which naturally invite and stimulate perception. But regarding the mind as a voluntary and self-directing agent, ho, knows that unless its own efficient cooperation is secured in the pro- cesses on which its energies are exerted, its activity will be ever tending to subside, or to degenerate into mechanical and unmeaning routine. The result, he is aware, must, in such circumstances, be a morbid intellectual inertness of habit, or a deceptive show of forced organic action, instead of the movements of mental life. His great endeavor, therefore, will be to succeed in evoking ATTENTION, that power of the mind which brings into vigorous and efficient activity the percipi- ent intellect, that power which, by its own innate force, impels and sustains perception, in whatever direction it is called to act, or in what- ever process it is employed. The customary definition of this power, or faculty, as voluntary per- EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. 35 eeption, suggests to the educator his true office in cultivating and developing it. It implies that he no longer restricts his efforts to presenting such objects as solicit and secure the mind's notice, by the law of natural instinct, but that, addressing himself to the principle of volition, he calls it forth, as a moving force, impelling the mental machinery from within, and enabling it to arrive at knowledge, by its own action. The true teacher never commits the error of resorting to the exercise of his own will, instead of that of his pupil, as the pro- pelling power. He is aware that his success, as an educator, is to be measured, not by the force with which he can bring his own power of compulsion to bear on the faculties of his pupils, but by the intens- ity with which he can bring their mental energies into voluntary play, in processes which leave a residuum of living force, as a result on mental character. He knows well that no degree of exertion can command attention, by a mere act of will, at the moment ; that, by the law of the mental constitution, a train of circumstances must be laid before the desired result can be ensured ; that an exercise of will is not, in the natural analogies of mental action, a merely arbitrary act of self-determination ; but that, on the contrary, will is solicited by desire ; a feeling or affection of the mind being the natural and necessary preliminary to volition ; and that the intelligent guide of the intellectual powers must, therefore, appeal to feeling, as the natu- ral and reliable prompter of the will. In other words, the educa- tional process, rightly conducted, is so contrived as to create a desire to arrive at the given result, and proceeds upon that security for the action of will in determining the direction of the mind, and sustain- ing the exertion of its powers. Trained under such influences, a disciplined attention is the sure fruit of culture ; and power of attention is not unjustly termed the key which unlocks all the gates of knowledge, and secures an entrance to its innermost secrets of intelligence. Attention, as a power or mode of intellectual action, regarded in connection with the cultivation of the perceptive faculties, requires the application of the various expedients by which it may be rendered prompt, earnest, close, and continuous, as the exigencies of subjects and of the mind may demand. Promptness of attention. Such results imply that the educator, as a skillful gymnasiarch in the arena of mind, trains it through every variety of evolution by which it may be rendered quick in move- ment, ever ready for instantaneous action, so as to secure that pliancy and versatility by which it can at once direct itself to its object, or relinquish one object or train of thought for another, when 36 EDUCATION OF THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES. the moment for change has arrived, and pursue the object of its aim with whatever velocity of motion may be requisite to reach it, in due season. Speed and despatch, however, not haste and hurry, should be the ends at which the teacher aims in all drilling processes. A wakeful and lively attention, ever on the alert for action, implies sound and healthful and invigorating training. A harassed and exhausted mind, dragged or driven along the path of exercise too arduous, or too long continued, can never yield the results of genuine discipline. With very young pupils, especially, the obvious indication of nature is, make free use of striking and attractive objects, illustrations, and remarks. One object at a time ; words few and well chosen ; no lag- ging or drawling on the part of either pupil or teacher, yet no hurry, no impatience, no impetuosity ; proceeding smoothly and swiftly, but quietly and gently in all movements ; yet sometimes, for the purpose of arresting attention, adopting the grateful surprise of a sudden change, briskly executed : these are the characteristics of skillful and genial training, such as quickens the life power of intellect. Earnestness of attention. The power of earnest attention is an- other trait of mental habit to which the successful teacher directs his endeavors, as an invaluable attainment to be secured, through his agency, by his pupils. To this end, he avoids carefully all exercises not interesting or inviting to the young mind. Objects, pictures, pen- etrating questions, vigorous exertion, in varied forms, for mind and body, strenuous endeavor called forth, at intervals, to cope with difficulties, interesting facts stated, or stories told, the wonders of nature and of art exhibited, interesting conversation maintained, in which the pupils interchange thoughts with the teacher, ivord-pic- t^ires of peculiar power and beauty, selected from the poets, early attempts at drawing, exercises in planning and building, tangible illus- trations in architecture, masonry,- carpentry, or joiner- work, in juve- nile style, for hours of recreation, the analysis of plants, the tracing of the anatomy of animal forms, in specimens of insect organization, in the osseous construction of birds, fishes, reptiles,