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ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERip.S 
 
 THE 
 
 SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 
 
 DESIGNED AS A TEXT-BOOK FOR TEACHERS 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCIS B. PALMER, Ph.D. 
 Principal of State Normal School, Fredonia, N. Y, 
 
 VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO. 
 
 CINCINNATI AND NEW YORK 
 
*•* • • •• • • 
 
 / 
 
 vV 
 
 Copyright, 1887, by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co, 
 
 £DUCAT»Oli tMH^o 
 
 ftcUctit $rt80 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 The general idea and purpose of this work are presented in the 
 Introduction. But while it was designed in the first place to lay 
 a foundation for the development of Methods of Teaching for 
 those who are preparing themselves for the work of the school- 
 room, the principles and laws developed are no less applicable 
 to public speaking, family training, and every other influence by 
 which thought, feeling, or voluntary action is developed or 
 molded. 
 
 The main lines of thought, and the form of the work as a Science 
 of Education are new. This has not been sought for the sake of 
 novelty, nor to make it appear that there is need of the work ; but, 
 because it has been so universally felt that there was need of a 
 work radically different from any thing that existed, this method 
 of treating the subject was adopted, although it was new. But, 
 because the field was new, it is not expected that it is free from 
 errors that will expose it to just criticism, and because the end in 
 view is truth, criticism is not deprecated. If it shall lead some one 
 to correct its errors, and carry its truths to more important con- 
 clusions, it will have accomplished its greatest good. 
 
 It only remains for me to express my sense of obligation to the 
 Publishers for many acts of courtesy and real kindness in preparing 
 to present the work in an appropriate form; and to Dr. Lemuel 
 Moss, a college classmate and esteemed friend, for important criti- 
 cisms and suggestions. 
 
 Fredonia, N. Y., September, 1887. 
 
 54. i 248 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Introduction, 7 
 
 PART I. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Law, Principle, and Rule ; and Science, Art, and Philosophy 
 
 Distinguished, . . . . . . . .17 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Explanation of Terms, 26 
 
 Chapter III. 
 What is Education, . 35 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Reflective Consciousness, 40 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Unconscious Beginnings, 44 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 The Mental Faculties, 57 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 General Law of Mental Development, ..... 62 
 
 PART II. 
 
 special laws of mental development. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Laws of Physiological Relations, ...... 69 
 
 (5) 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Laws of Reflective Consciousness, g^ 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Native Activity, -^ 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Discrimination, 122 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Unification, j.g 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Correlation and Degradation, ,rg 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Sequence, • j-q 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 Attention, jgj 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Exercise 100 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Limitations, 205 
 
 PART III. 
 development of the several faculties. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Cognitions, 215 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Feelings, 247 
 
 Chapter III. 
 ^Vill 284 
 
 Concluding Chapter, 316 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Not to be studied critically, but to be read carefully. 
 
 HE purpose of this Introduction is to 
 
 bring the reader to the point of view from 
 which the following treatise was conceived. 
 This will most readily and naturally be 
 effected by setting forth the way in which 
 the author was himself led to this point of view; hence 
 an allusion to personal experience seems necessary, which 
 would otherwise have no significance. 
 
 2. It has been common to base methods of teaching on the 
 science of Psychology. The end which these methods have 
 in view is the development of the mind to what Psychology 
 declares it ought to be. The one universal law of meth- 
 ods is growth by exercise. According to this the study 
 of methods becomes an inquiry into the best means and 
 manner of exercising the various mental faculties. Grant 
 that this fairly well marks out the province of methods, 
 what help can Psychology give in such an inquiry? It 
 names the faculties to be exercised, but it does not tell 
 how to exercise them, which is what methods seek to 
 know. In the first place, the science of Psychology is 
 the science of an accomplished result, the mind in a de- 
 veloped state; methods of teaching apply to the process 
 by which that result is reached. Psychology is a test of 
 
 (7) 
 
•B . '/ : '/link SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 viiefhods ;put dit'tb practice, but furnishes no principle to 
 determine what they shall be. To make the science of 
 Psychology the basis of the art of methods is like making 
 the science of Botany the basis of the art of farming. 
 There must be a science of agriculture apart from the 
 science of vegetable growths, or systematic farming is 
 impossible. In the second place, the same subjects and 
 methods of study apply equally well to the exercise of 
 different faculties, so that the classifications of Psychology 
 do not furnish fundamental distinctions for methods. 
 Methods must be subject to the test of developing all the 
 faculties, but do not necessarily vary to correspond with 
 them. 
 
 3. When the author of this work was compelled by his 
 position as teacher of Didactics about twenty years ago 
 to give critical attention to the foundation principles of 
 the teacher's profession, the above difficulties presented 
 themselves to him, and he asked if there was not a 
 science of the process of mental development, apart 
 from the science of Psychology; a science of mental 
 growth, on which the art of methods might be founded. 
 Much had been done by educational writers in the dis- 
 cussion of the important principles of their profession, but 
 there was no systematic treatise that was recognized as 
 setting forth the processes of mental growth in scientific 
 form. The greatest want seemed to be a starting-point, 
 a general law that would unify and harmonize all the 
 principles that had been developed into a consistent 
 whole. To find such a law was the first effort. In his 
 search the author first began to study the steps of his 
 own mental advancement. He had always considered it 
 the most helpful thing ever done for his own education 
 that as soon as he had learned to read he was set to 
 learn the classification of letters and the analysis of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 words, as laid down in the first part of his spelling- 
 book. A habit of analytic thinking was thus established, 
 which from that time made analysis as easy and natural 
 as reading a story. Two years later, a winter's work in 
 trying to master Arithmetic to the Rule of Three made 
 exercise in combining numbers equally easy and natural. 
 Habits of analytic and of synthetic reasoning seemed i 
 firmly established, and on these two processes depend) 
 all thought. But whatever might be involved in these 
 processes, as yet there seemed to be no unifying principle 
 between them to use as the foundation of a science, and 
 they had not been made to cover the ground of percep- 
 tion and the other lower faculties of the mind. 
 
 4. Beginning next with perception, the lowest act of 
 consciousness, it was not far to the conclusion that the 
 consciousness of difference, or discrimination, is the first 
 distinct mental act. This act seemed to correspond to 
 analysis in the higher faculties. But discrimination is 
 net merely the perception of different things, — it is the 
 perception of things as different. This implies com- 
 parison,, and comparison implies a class to which the 
 things compared belong. To make a discrimination, the 
 mind must develop a sense of unity. The possibility of 
 discrimination implies a capacity for unification. Objects 
 that differ are what they are without reference to each 
 other. They are put together only in thought, and this 
 can come only from a natural tendency in the mind itself 
 to unify. But unification is essentially synthesis, and we 
 are thus brought to a view of all mental development as 
 a discrimination of objects under such unities as the mind 
 is capable of developing from the tendencies involved in 
 its own constitution. This thought was somewhat elab- 
 orated in a short paper read at a teachers' association, 
 and the essay is presented here, with a few omissions for 
 
lO THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 brevity, because the work which follows takes its start 
 from this point. 
 
 Analysis and Synthesis in the Exercise of the 
 Understanding. 
 
 5. It is the natural effort of the mind to seek to unify 
 thought. This is its bent, so to speak. As a young 
 shoot, bent from its upright position, ever seeks to bend 
 back to its normal direction, upward towards the sun, so 
 the mind, when drawn to distinguish between this and 
 that, ever struggles to build up this and that into a unity 
 together and into a unity with itself. Whether we are 
 able to explain this tendency or not, it manifests itself 
 as a fact in all the operations of the mind. 
 
 6. In perception, we classify objects into larger and 
 larger groups, always seeking for a common thought that 
 is bound up in each individual, by which we may think 
 them all together as one. In memory, all conscious ex- 
 periences are associated together into such a consolidated 
 unit that when one of these experiences is brought back 
 into conscious remembrance, that will bring another, and 
 another will follow in the train, and the mind will go on 
 and on, seeking, as it were, to complete in conscious 
 memory a unity of all past experiences. All the laws of 
 memory have for their basis the common principle of an 
 underlying unity in the association of thoughts. In 
 imagination the mind makes pictures, more or less har- 
 monious, always as units. In the act of comparison, — 
 which is the basis of judgment and reasoning, — things 
 are unified; while in judgment and reasoning, the con- 
 clusion is nothing but an identification. In the first 
 place, then, we must say that synthesis is a natural 
 impulse of the mind, spontaneously following the appre- 
 hension of things that are different. 
 
INTRODUCTION. II 
 
 7. The unification spoken of is a unification of thought 
 and not of things. The sun and his attendant planets 
 are held in mind as one, and we call them the solar 
 system. But they are not seen as one in the same way 
 by the shepherd lad who looks upon them only as he 
 looks upon the other specks in space. To him they are 
 only stars. The planets do not of themselves form a 
 unit, but the relations between them, which the mind 
 alone sees, is the bond by which they are unit-ed; or, 
 as we say, united. In these relations they exist as in a 
 medium every-where identical, which belongs neither to 
 one nor to another, and which comprehends all in a 
 common unit of thought. 
 
 8. These relations can only be thought, — they can not 
 be represented by objects. But if they can not be rep- 
 resented by objects, there can be no association of 
 words with objects to make it possible for them to be 
 represented in language to a mind that has not first 
 thought them for itself. The parts or elements that go to 
 make up a unit may be arranged in ways to make the 
 proper unification easier, but each person must go 
 through the process of uniting them himself. No one 
 can unify for another. To pronounce words, and think 
 they will help the process, is folly, for they only distract. 
 No vicarious thinking done by one will build up in- 
 tellectual structures in the mind of another. We must 
 give as our second conclusion, then, that all construc- 
 tion, or synthesis of thought, must be sought in the self- 
 energy of the mind. 
 
 9. But, although the mind has a natural tendency to 
 build, the process requires pre-eminently time and atten- 
 tion. In the first place, it requires time, The units and 
 parts or elements that constitute it are simply to be held 
 in mind until, by the spontaneity of thought, the parts or 
 
12 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 elements are built into the unit. If the mind does not 
 build as fast as the material is presented, we can only 
 wait. 
 
 ID. The second thing named as required for synthesis 
 is attention. The result obtained in unifying must be 
 definite and distinct from every thing else, or as a unit it 
 is valueless. When an object or thought is presented for 
 analysis, it is presumably obscurely understood in some 
 of its aspects or it would not require analysis. It is 
 analyzed to make it clearer. But the unit of synthesis is 
 nothing if obscure, — the elements are not fully unified. 
 
 II. The elements which we build into wholes are of 
 two kinds, — fixed and variable. The elements of Math- 
 ematics have the same value alone and in combination. 
 The mind is capable of building them together, and it 
 may know the exact value of its product. But the ele- 
 ments of speech are of a different' nature. The letters 
 of a word have their power determined largely by their 
 combination with each other. An elemental sound has 
 no meaning for us, and it becomes expressive only in 
 connection with other sounds. Any word is ambiguous 
 in sense unless united with other words. The mind pos- 
 sesses the subtle power of building wholes from these 
 elements, but the process is different from that in the 
 case before spoken of. In this case, the whole is no 
 more what the elements make it than the elements are 
 what the whole determines they must be. We must seek 
 such values for the elements as will make the whole con- 
 sistent. This requires that we have the whole in mind, 
 though it may be obscurely, and examine at the same 
 time the elements in relation to it and to each other. 
 <This is analysis. The complete process requires, it is 
 true, both analysis and synthesis, but the main energy is 
 spent on separating and discriminating. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 • 
 
 12. When analysis and synthesis are compared to- 
 gether, it may be said that the mind has no such natural 
 tendency to analyze as to combine. It is forced to it only 
 by the impression of differences which require analysis 
 in order to find identities by means of which to unify. 
 An illustration of the natural tendency to build up rather 
 than analyze may be seen in the growth of the sciences. 
 First, out of a multitude of facts the mind is able to put 
 a few together, and the result is called an hypothesis. 
 In this it is likely to rest for a time, but it gradually 
 analyzes this hypothesis and other facts which it is able 
 to unify, and it forms what is called a theory. When the 
 analysis is so complete that all the facts that belong to- 
 gether are united by a recognized principle, the mind 
 settles in an established law. Take for example the 
 Nebular Hypothesis. It supposed that all the heavenly 
 bodies were evolved from one mass of matter. This was 
 a unification of the stellar system with very little knowl- 
 edge of the parts related together. The authors of the 
 Hypothesis did not even inquire if the matter composing 
 the different stars was all of the same kind. And the 
 minds of men in general grasped much more eagerly 
 after the hypothesis that satisfied them with so vast a 
 unification, than they sought to understand the nature of 
 the elements united. They clung to the Hypothesis, but 
 made little effort to establish it as a theory, or to build 
 up a science upon it. In the course of generations, a 
 few have succeeded in analyzing the rays of light in such 
 a way as to show that the matter is identical, and the 
 Hypothesis takes a long step forward in the direction of 
 theory or perhaps law. 
 
 13. In the first place, then, analysis must be forced 
 upon the mind by experience. In the second place, the 
 value of analytic effort in strengthening the mind lies in 
 
14 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the fact that it is a drawing of the mind away from its 
 natural rest in unification, and thus calls its powers into 
 greater exercise. In the third place, the mind must be 
 allowed time to unify what it has analyzed, or, like an 
 overstrained bow, it will be weakened, and become con- 
 tent to drivel and haggle about unimportant differences. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be said : 
 
 First, That synthesis is spontaneous, while the mind 
 must be stimulated to analyze. 
 
 Secondly, That analysis and synthesis must go together. 
 
 Thirdly, That time is required for synthesis, and the 
 mind must be held to do the work for itself. The step 
 is short but difficult, and no necessary expense of time 
 should be counted too great to secure this end. 
 
PART I. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF EDUCATION AS 
 A SCIENCE. 
 
 (15) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 LAW, PRINCIPLE, AND RULE; AND SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, 
 AND ART DISTINGUISHED. 
 
 HERE is much confusion in the use 
 
 of the terms science, philosophy, and art. 
 The terms science and philosophy are not 
 carefully distinguished even by the best 
 writers, although the growing necessity is 
 generally recognized for a clearer distinction than is 
 usually made. Philosophy is variously defined as the 
 Science of Sciences, the Science of the Absolute, the 
 Quintessence of Science, and so forth. We use the term 
 Natural Philosophy to designate the physical sciences, 
 and excite the ridicule of German writers by speaking of 
 the instruments of scientific experiment as philosophical 
 apparatus. 
 
 Again, the distinction between science and art must be 
 much obscured, when the same subject is called both an 
 art and a science, and this is done in many' text-books, 
 and no effort is made to set forth any part as belonging 
 to the one or the other. A science may be tested and 
 illustrated by its application to art, or an art may be 
 based on the laws of science; but if a subject is treated 
 both as a science and an art, a portion of the treatment 
 should be devoted to the one end, and another distinct 
 portion to the other. 
 
 2. In order to gain, at the outset, some conception 
 of the scope of what is meant by the Science of Educa- 
 tion, it is evident that the term science needs definition. 
 
 S. E.-2. (17) 
 
1 8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 To distinguish it from philosophy and art requires an un- 
 derstanding of the terms law, principle, and rule; and 
 these words involve as much confusion as the others. It 
 will, therefore, be necessary to distinguish these first. 
 
 3. Rule. — This word means, first, a guide, a material 
 edge or face, by resting against which a moving object 
 will take the shortest distance between two points. It 
 marks the limit of our ability to make a straight line, or to 
 •find the shortest distance spoken of. In the second place, 
 the word is applied to action. When two persons have 
 the same thing to do, and one does it more easily and 
 more quickly than the other, the shorter method is 
 adopted as a guide or rule for doing that thing. A rule 
 of action, then, like the material rule, is a guide or direc- 
 tion, by following which a given thing can be best per- 
 formed. A perfect rule marks the limit of facility or 
 economy in work. 
 
 4. Principle. — The term principle is from a Latin 
 word which means leader, head, chief, and is used in an 
 absolute and in d relative sense. 
 
 a. It is a conception, or that in nature which is sup- 
 posed to correspond with a conception, that has a lead- 
 ing or controlling influence in a particular thought or 
 line of reasoning. In its absolute sense it is an ultimate 
 element of analysis, or an ultimate form of conscious- 
 ness, a conception which can not be analyzed by us. 
 It may be something thought of as existing, such as 
 a quality of matter, a faculty, life, physical force, or 
 the conception of such an element, and it is then called 
 a principle of being; or it may be the conception of a 
 relation, such as cause and effect, justice, law, and it is 
 then called a principle of the understanding. On the 
 development of these fundamental principles all our 
 knowledge rests, perception depending upon principles 
 
RULE, PRINCIPLE, AND LAW. 1 9 
 
 of being, and reasoning on principles of the understand- 
 ing. They are the limit of thought in every direction, 
 and though they may not be ultimate in themselves, they 
 are ultimate for us in thinking. 
 
 b. But we do not always go back to ultimate principles 
 in considering a subject. The value and construction of 
 a steam-engine depend upon the power of steam and the 
 action of levers, and we say the principles of the steam- 
 engine are the expansiveness of steam and the lever. 
 We do not need to analyze these in order to understand 
 the engine. Any force, mode of action, or material form 
 that enters as a unit into that which we are studying, is a 
 principle in relation to that thing, and is particularly 
 called such if it has a leading influence in determining its 
 character. This is the more frequent use of the term. 
 In this sense, a principle is one of the results obtained in 
 the last analysis of a subject required for a complete 
 understanding of it. Pure mathematics must go back to 
 first principles, or the ultimate conceptions of the mind; 
 but applied mathematics, like Surveying and Astronomy, 
 may rest upon principles derived by mathematical reason- 
 
 ipg. 
 
 ^ 5. Law. — a. When a principle is to be used as a fixed 
 standard of judgment, it is Hmited to such a series or 
 class of objects as show uniform relations to each other, 
 and stated in terms of the objects related; and the prin- 
 ciple thus limited and apphed is called a law. For in- 
 stance, when the principle of justice is applied to con- 
 tracts we have the law of contracts, setting forth the 
 obligations of two parties under given conditions, and 
 laying a penalty on either who may fail to carry out his 
 part of the contract. The principle of causation is 
 applied to the production of heat, and we have the law 
 that a given amount of coal, when consumed, will pro- 
 
20 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 duce a given amount of heat. We are not always able to 
 reduce a principle to satisfactory laws, but a law must 
 always involve a principle. The value of a law depends 
 upon the extent and accuracy of its embodiment of a 
 principle or principles. 
 
 b. The ancient Greeks developed more of what may be 
 called the ultimate principles of nature and of human 
 action than all other peoples of antiquity, if the history 
 that has come down to us is a reliable test, and they set 
 them forth most sharply defined. From these principles 
 the Romans developed laws, and were, above all other 
 nations, a nation of law. Even their language was 
 marked by this characteristic. If we accept the etymol- 
 ogy of the Latin word for law given by Mommsen, we 
 shall find in that the fundamental idea here presented. 
 He supposes the word lex, law, to be derived from a word 
 meaning to depute. A king required his subjects to obey 
 his will. But the circumstances in which men were liable 
 to be placed varied so greatly that, however well they 
 might understand the king's disposition, they could not 
 always tell in his absence what his will was. To make 
 provision for this uncertainty, — out of deference, as it 
 were, to the ignorance and inability of his subjects, — the 
 king set forth a statement of what he would always re- 
 quire, exact, or inflict, under given circumstances. This 
 statement was to represent his will to his subjects, and 
 was to be so regarded, both by him and by them. In a 
 similar way, the absolute nature of matter and force is 
 unknown to man ; he can not trace objects, actions, and 
 motives to their ultimate elements; but there are recorded 
 in the constitution of his reason laws which represent to 
 him, within definite limits, when developed into con- 
 sciousness, the mode in which matter and force act under 
 certain circumstances. A law does not attempt to repre- 
 
RULE, PRINCIPLE, AND LAW. 21 
 
 sent a principle in more than one aspect, and, in our im- 
 perfect apprehension, does not generally represent this 
 aspect exactly, or there would be no exceptions. A law 
 can not be more true than the principle on which it rests, 
 but it is more definite in the understanding, and it is held 
 more clearly in consciousness. Could we stand at the 
 source of all physical and spiritual changes, with the 
 ability to trace each active power from event to event 
 through the entire series, we would need no law to help 
 our understanding. The necessity of law implies the 
 impossibility of exact knowledge of the reality itself. 
 But inexactness does not imply unreality. The concep- 
 tions which we call principles must be supposed to have 
 reality for their cause. The study of principles is a 
 struggle after a knowledge of reality. In the impossibility 
 of exactness in this knowledge we seek to read the laws 
 established for us, but we are warned to be ever on our 
 guard against supposing them to represent things for 
 which they do not stand. 
 
 c. A law is sometimes called a rule of conduct. Strictly 
 speaking, the rule is derived from the law. On the other 
 
 /"fiand, a rule of conduct is called a moral law. Thus, 
 **Thou shalt not kill" is called a law. But it is in the 
 form of a rule, and becomes a law only when the penalty 
 is added: ''Whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of 
 the judgment." As the material rule does not tell where 
 the pencil will go if it strays from the line, so a moral rule 
 does not include the penalty of disobedience. It only 
 directs conduct. But a moral law, fully expressed, sets 
 forth the relations between conduct and its consequences. 
 
 d. A law is also distinguished from a principle in that a 
 principle is a simple conception derived by analysis, while 
 a law is the synthesis of many objects through uniform 
 relations. 
 
22 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 e. Principle and rule are clearly distinguished in that 
 the principle on which a rule is based represents a rela- 
 tion; the rule regulates conduct in view of that rela- 
 tion. 
 
 /. As a rule is the limit of facility in action, and a 
 principle the limit of discovery in perception and thought, 
 so a law is the Hmit of exactness in reasoning. 
 
 6. Art, Philosophy, and Science. — These differ from 
 each other alike in respect to their origin, their aim, their 
 method, and their form of statement. 
 
 a. Origin, — An art begins in the discovery of different 
 methods of producing a given effect; philosophy, in the 
 discovery of differences in that which has only been 
 known previously as one; science, in the discovery of 
 uniform relations that give a common aspect to things 
 known before only as individual. 
 
 b. Aim. — An art seeks economy of production; philos- 
 ophy seeks the causes that make a thing to exist, or to be 
 what it is ; science seeks an orderly arrangement of things 
 based on a uniformity of relations which they exhibit. 
 
 c. Method. — An art is empirical; philosophy is ana- 
 lytical; science is synthetic. 
 
 d. Form. — An art is formulated in rules; philosophy, 
 in principles; science, in laws. 
 
 7. General Characteristics of Philosophy and 
 Science. — Some things that belong only to Philosophy 
 are frequently demanded of Science, and some things 
 that belong only to Science are demanded of Philosophy. 
 The peculiar characteristics of each should be considered 
 in criticising the merits of any individual work, that more 
 may not be demanded of it than properly belongs to it to 
 do. 
 
 a. The word Philosophy, meaning the love of wisdom^ is 
 the product of Greek intelligence and enterprise, and it 
 
ART, PHILOSOPHY, AND SCIENCE. 23 
 
 breathes the loftier aspirations; the word Science, discrhti- 
 inating knowledge, is a development of law-prescribing 
 Rome, and it brings more of an air of assurance and 
 authority. 
 
 b. A Science proper is confined within narrow and defi- 
 nite limits, and should not be held to go outside the facts 
 that constitute those limits to find either their cause or 
 purpose; on the other hand, if Philosophy says that the 
 whole plan which Science has discovered must have had 
 an origin in a personal intelligence. Science is not compe- 
 tent to deny the claim. 
 
 c. Philosophy is ever in search of higher truths, and is 
 the more stimulating ; Science seeks greater exactness, and 
 finds out more of the serviceable elements of knowledge. 
 
 d. Philosophy seeks the truth for the love of it, yields 
 its opinions reluctantly, makes a difference in the value of 
 different truths, and is conservative; Science is icono- 
 clastic. It guards with equal jealousy every fact within 
 its realm, and is willing to tear down its entire structure 
 for a newly-discovered fact, and build anew to make a 
 fitting place for the foundling. 
 
 8. Order of Development. — The necessities of life 
 must have developed an inquiry after economy of produc- 
 tion before the thoughts of men were given to any other 
 consideration. The discovery of principles must have 
 preceded their embodiment in law, and science must 
 always wait on art and philosophy for the elements with 
 which it builds. 
 
 9. Stages of Science. — a. Every science must have its 
 philosophical stage in which its laws are discovered; its 
 experimental stage, in which its laws are tested and estab- 
 lished; and its constructive stage, in which laws are 
 applied, and the elements of the science are arranged in 
 order. The first stage is strictly philosophy, and should 
 
24 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 not be named here but that every treatise on any science 
 is compelled to enter extensively into philosophical 
 analysis, to develop the principles on which its laws are 
 founded. It may also suggest that the method of what is 
 called scientific discovery is philosophical or analytical, 
 while the method of scientific proof is synthetic; and 
 thus, in order to complete a scientific thought, analysis 
 and synthesis must be united, as was suggested concerning 
 every complete thought in sections 4 and 11, Introduc- 
 tion. 
 
 b. There is, also, what may be called the practical stage 
 of science ; that is, a stage in which the science is applied 
 to an art. This is all that can be meant when it is said 
 of any subject that it is both a science and an art. The 
 statement should be enlarged somewhat, and it should be 
 said that every subject worthy the attention of man is 
 alike philosophical, scientific, and practical. What we 
 want to know of a particular treatise is, which of these 
 ends it aims at, for its method must vary with its aim. If 
 it is the aim to apply the laws of a science to the develop- 
 ment of the rules of an art, the subject is no longer 
 treated as a science, strictly speaking, but as an art, con- 
 sidered from a scientific point of view. Art, which we 
 found beginning before philosophy, we now find in its 
 complete development, following science; but the test of 
 its rules will still be their actual use. 
 
 10. The Science of Education. — Education has been 
 largely but an empirical art. Its philosophical aspects, 
 however, have sometimes engaged the brief attention of 
 profound thinkers. During the past few years it has been 
 seeking to emerge from the stage of philosophical inquiry 
 and take the form of scientific laws, that it may furnish a 
 surer basis for the art of methods. One of the greatest 
 reasons for the slow progress of the science is the failure 
 
SCIENCE DEFINED. 
 
 25 
 
 to find a fundamental principle that could be made the 
 basis of a general law. This failure has not been because 
 the principle was so far to seek, after the philosophy of 
 Kant, but because those who have treated of this subject 
 have mainly had the practical end of education in view, 
 and it has seemed easier to build up a system of methods 
 on the foundation of an established Psychology, than to 
 create a new science, embodying the principles of mental 
 development, and make this a basis for methods. But 
 the lack of unity and completeness in every system pro- 
 posed has led to an urgent demand for a science adapted 
 to meet the wants of the art, and a study of the processes 
 of mental growth should be abundantly able to satisfy 
 this demand. 
 
 
 
 "-- — - 
 
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 S. E.— 3. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 
 
 N seeking for a general principle for 
 
 the science of education, the discussion 
 will involve the use of some terms which 
 ought first to be defined. 
 
 I. Quality, Faculty, and Attri- 
 bute. — These words are applied to the form or mode in 
 which things that are manifest their existence. They are 
 sometimes used interchangeably, but Quahty is especially 
 applied to matter. Faculty to mind, and Attribute to 
 Deity. Hardness is a Quality of matter, memory a 
 Faculty of mind, and wisdom an Attribute of Deity. 
 
 2. Intuition. — a. This word is derived from a word 
 meaning to look upon. It is the act of the mind when 
 brought into the most immediate presence of an object of 
 knowledge. Acts of perception and self-consciousness 
 are Intuitions, and the knowledge immediately gained by 
 these acts is called Intuitive. The word is also sometimes 
 applied to the power of the mind by which such knowl- 
 edge is gained. 
 
 b. This word, and many other words of the same end- 
 ing, have three classes of application, designating first, an 
 act, secondly, the product of the act, and thirdly, the 
 cause of the act. 
 
 c. Two conditions are necessary to constitute an Intu- 
 ition. First, the object of knowledge must be individual; 
 and secondly, it must be immediately presented to con- 
 
 (26) 
 
EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 27 
 
 scioiisness. Whatever knowledge answers these two con- 
 ditions is Intuitive, however it may be gained. Some 
 hold that there are higher Intuitions than those included 
 in perception and self-consciousness; others give a 
 broader meaning to the word Intuition, while they hold 
 that the mind has conscious relations only to itself in 
 different states. There are other uses of the word which 
 need not be discussed here. 
 
 3. Abstraction. — To Abstract is to take away. As a 
 philosophical term, Abstraction denotes, first, the act of 
 withdrawing the mind from one feature and another of 
 an object presented to it, until all the energy is centered 
 upon a single characteristic. In the second place, it 
 designates a notion of the feature on which the mind is 
 fixed. Elementary principles are the purest Abstractions, 
 for such a notion can not be divided. 
 
 4. Notion, Idea, Image, Conception, and Concept. — 
 a. These words are used for the representations the mind 
 makes to itself of objects of thought. These representa- 
 tions come from intuitions, immediate or recalled, with 
 the addition of such conditions as reason may affirm to be 
 fitting or necessary. 
 
 b. Image is the most definite of these words. It 
 designates the mental picture of a concrete object, and is 
 either the reproduction of an intuition held vividly before 
 the mind, or a reproduction with such changes or combi- 
 nations as reason or fancy may suggest. 
 
 c. The other terms are used interchangeably, but differ- 
 ent writers make specific distinctions to give clearness to 
 particular views. The terms Notion and Idea are the 
 terms of common language. Notion is the more general, 
 and is used of inexact or general representations. Idea 
 is used when a more clearly defined or specific representa- 
 tion is in mind. It has the most important history, per- 
 
28 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 haps, of any word in the vocabulary of philosophy. At 
 present it has no technical use in our language, though 
 some of its former force remains in the derivatives ideal 
 and idealism. 
 
 d. Conception is from a word that means to take to- 
 gether. It implies, generally, a combination of elements, 
 qualities, or attributes, bound together by some mental 
 process. It denotes the act, the product, or the power 
 of conception. In order to avoid ambiguity in the 
 use of a term so important and so hard to gain a clear 
 meaning of at best, the word Concept is often used in 
 philosophical writings instead of Conception in its second 
 sense. 
 
 5. Truth. — This word signifies the exact agreement 
 between a representation, such as a statement, a concept, 
 or a figure, and the thing represented. Thus, we say 
 there is no truth in a statement when it does not conform 
 to facts. 
 
 6. Real and Rational. — The term Real designates, 
 philosophically, that which is conceived of as having 
 actual existence, as opposed to relations and logical con- 
 clusions. Real knowledge, philosophically, is knowledge 
 of that which exists, and can come, in the first instance, 
 only from intuition. Rational knowledge is that which is 
 gained by the exercise of the reason. What we know 
 about the qualities of matter and individual objects is 
 Real knowledge. Knowledge of cause and effect, of 
 mathematical truths, and of other things that furnish no 
 other basis of belief than the necessary laws of thought, 
 is Rational knowledge. The notion of a circle or of cau- 
 sation is a Rational concept. 
 
 7. Analysis and Synthesis. — a. Analysis and Synthe- 
 sis are either actual or representative. They are actual 
 when applied directly either to things that exist or to 
 
EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 29 
 
 rational concepts. They are representative when applied 
 to concepts that represent things that exist, or to real 
 things that represent rational concepts. A tree and the 
 concept of a circle are subject to actual Analysis, the one 
 being real and the other rational. The idea of a tree, 
 and a drawing made to represent a circle, are subject to 
 representative Analysis. 
 
 b. Real Analysis, that is the analysis of things, is the 
 separation of complex objects into elements or constituent 
 parts that have an individuality. Real Synthesis is the 
 union of individual parts or elements in such a manner as 
 to form a whole. Rational Analysis, that is the Analysis 
 of a rational concept, is the separation of a concept into 
 its constituent elements, and rational Synthesis is the 
 union of elements into a rational whole. A cup of water 
 is not Analyzed by pouring out a part of it, for no indi- 
 viduality is gained or lost. A plant is not Analyzed by 
 simply cutting it into pieces that may be put together 
 again. But if the roots are detached, the bark removed, 
 the leaves stripped off, and so forth, the parts have a 
 character of individuality, and the process is properly a 
 real Analysis. In the burning of a candle oxygen and 
 carbon unite and produce carbonic acid. This is a real 
 Synthesis. 
 
 c. If we take the rational concept of a triangle, and 
 bring it into distinct consciousness, we find that it con- 
 tains three lines as individual elements, and these meet in 
 such a manner as to form three angles. In finding these 
 individual elements in our concept we perform a rational 
 Analysis. If we take the rational concepts of three 
 straight Hnes and put them together in thought so as to 
 form a triangle, we perform a rational Synthesis. 
 
 d. If, instead of actually making a real Analysis and 
 Synthesis, we make them intellectually, they will be repre- 
 
30 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 sentative. For instance, if, instead of actually separating 
 a tree into its constituent parts, we think of a tree, and 
 by means of representative language separate the image 
 of it in our minds, we perform a representative Analysis 
 of that which is real. Again, if a child sees a burning 
 candle and forms a notion of it only as a bright object of 
 a certain form, and afterward touches the flame, it will 
 add to its previous concept of the flame the element of 
 heat. This intellectual Synthesis is representative of that 
 which is real. In the same manner the real may be used 
 to represent rational Analysis and Synthesis. The idea 
 of the circle or triangle, and the idea of their elements, 
 are represented by real lines and figures. The Analysis 
 and Synthesis of these are made to represent the Analysis 
 and Synthesis of the concepts themselves. 
 
 8. Empirical, Inductive, and Deductive. — a. These 
 words apply both to knowledge and to methods of obtaining 
 it. Empirical knowledge comes direcdy from experience. 
 Our knowledge of the taste or color of this or that thing 
 which we have tasted or seen is Empirical. Our knowl- 
 edge of events which we have witnessed is Empirical. It 
 is the beginning of all knowledge, and the only source of 
 a direct knowledge of facts. But the possibility of this 
 kind of knowledge is limited. No one person could gain 
 much knowledge if he depended on experience alone. 
 Experience is said to be a good teacher, but a dear one. 
 It is dear in this respect, that the cost in time and energy 
 required to learn a few facts individually, in which way 
 alone they are learned by experience, is much greater than 
 the cost of learning the same number of things with the 
 aid of reason. In consequence of the laboriousness of 
 the Empirical process, the mind follows rational processes 
 when possible. 
 
 b. There are two methods of arriving at results by the 
 
EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 3 1 
 
 exercise of reason, called Induction and Deduction. By 
 the first we infer a general truth from a particular fact; 
 and by the second we infer a particular fact from a general 
 truth. When a child first touches a candle-flame and 
 finds it hot, he learns a fact by experience. This is Em- 
 pirical. When he draws the inference from this that all 
 candle-flames are hot, he makes an Induction. That it is 
 natural to make such an Induction is evident, because all 
 children avoid candle-flames when once they have been 
 burned by one. If one experience is not sufficient, a 
 second and a third will make the inference more certain. 
 Sometimes many examples are necessary to justify a 
 general conclusion; and it should be said that an Induc- 
 tion requires a sufficient number of known examples, 
 however many this may be. It is held by some that 
 to make an Induction strictly logical the general con- 
 clusion must have for its basis an actual knowledge that 
 each of the particular examples agrees with the conclu- 
 sion. But in this case the knowledge is Empirical. If, 
 for instance, it has been observed that each known planet 
 moves around the sun from west to east, and in conse- 
 quence of these observations the proposition be laid down 
 that all known planets move in this direction, it would be 
 called a logical Induction. But it is difficult to see how 
 this differs from the knowledge of experience, and why it 
 is not strictly Empirical. But if it be concluded from 
 what has been observed that all planets, including those 
 not discovered, move from west to east, the inference is 
 something more than Empirical. It may be distinctively 
 called Inductive. 
 
 c. In the second method of arriving at conclusions by 
 the reason, we infer a particular fact from a general truth. 
 If a child has learned the general truth that all candle- 
 flames are hot, and perceives one dangerously near, he 
 
32 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 infers that this is hot. This is a logical Deduction. It 
 is knowledge not contained in the general knowledge, 
 for a part of it is Empirical, being derived from the sight 
 of the flame. The Deduction consists in adding to the 
 Empirical knowledge of this candle the notion of heat 
 drawn from the general knowledge. 
 
 d. Induction and Deduction are called, the one syn- 
 thetic, the other analytic. But the concluding act of each 
 is synthetic. This should be so if it is true, as generally 
 held, that analysis and synthesis always go together ; and 
 if what was said of analysis and synthesis in the Introduc- 
 tion is true. It was there held that all mental develop- 
 ment depends upon the discrimination of differences in a 
 unity which the mind builds up by synthesis in conse- 
 quence of the discrimination, and in the very act of seek- 
 ing to make the discrimination clear. The finishing 
 stroke of every complete mental act is synthetic. In In- 
 duction a particular notion that has been obtained by the 
 analysis of one thing, is added to the general notion of 
 the class to which the thing analyzed belongs. In De- 
 duction, a particular notion that has been found to be- 
 long to a class of things, in general, is added to a 
 particular thing that belongs to the class. In Induction 
 the idea of the class, in Deduction the idea of the indi- 
 vidual is built up by synthesis. 
 
 9. A Priori and A Posteriori. — These terms have a 
 long and varied history. It will only be necessary here 
 to state their present commonly accepted philosophical 
 use. They are applied to reasoning and concepts. 
 
 a. A Priori reasoning is reasoning from antecedent to 
 consequent, or from cause to effect. A Posteriori 
 reasoning is the opposite. A Priori concepts are said to 
 be developed by experience, but not from it. The notion 
 of a circle is an example. Their characteristic is that 
 
EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 33 
 
 from the constitution of the mind we can not think them 
 to be different from what they are, under any circum- 
 stances. We can not think two and two into five, nor 
 think of any intelHgence as able to do it. The concepts 
 are held to be necessary and universal. A Posteriori 
 concepts are such as are made to conform to the facts of 
 experience, like the concept of a horse or a tree. 
 
 b. The question of the validity of this distinction be- 
 tween the two classes of knowledge is called the battle- 
 ground of philosophers. Whether all that is claimed as 
 to the distinction is true or not, a brief reference to the 
 discussion of analysis and synthesis will show that there 
 is at least a difference broad enough to require the use 
 of different specific terms, if we are to speak of the 
 things themselves with precision. 
 
 - c. An A Posteriori concept, if it represents something 
 that exists, as it must do if it conforms to objects of ex- 
 perience, is a more or less perfect representative con- 
 cept. It may represent the object of a simple intuition, 
 like a tree that has been seen ; or an element that has 
 been obtained by analysis, as a germ; or a unit of syn- 
 thesis, as the flame of a candle. In any case it is rep- 
 resentative. If there is inaccuracy in the agreement 
 between the concept and the object known, the error 
 must be in the concept, for we can not think of the 
 object as not being what it is. An A Priori concept, if 
 it be the product of reason, as has been supposed, is not 
 representative of any thing known to exist; but that 
 which exists, the figure of a circle, for instance, is rep- 
 resentative of the concept. If there is a lack of agree- 
 ment here, the inaccuracy is in the real figure and not in 
 the concept. The concept, if distinct, can not be inac- 
 curate, or if it could, no more accurate standard can be 
 conceived with which to compare it. 
 
34 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 lo. Ego, Non Ego, Subject, Subjective, Object, and 
 Objective. — The term Ego is used as a noun in the third 
 person, to represent I or self, and Non-Ego designates 
 any thing that is not self. Subject represents the mind as 
 exercising some power of knowing, feeling, or willing, 
 and the power or activity is said to be subjective with re- 
 spect to the mind. Object represents that on which the 
 mind acts, and whatever belongs to the object is called 
 Objective. Heavy, sweet, and so forth, are used Sub- 
 jectively when they designate an effect in us, and Object- 
 ively when they designate the qualities of the objects 
 that produce these effects. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHAT IS EDUCATION? 
 
 HE term Education sometimes denotes a 
 process and sometimes a product. In 
 discussing the principles of Education, it 
 is mostly confined to its use to represent 
 the act or process by which a person is 
 Educated. In common language it often applies to the 
 knowledge, power, or skill which a person has gained. 
 2. If we will duly consider the different views which 
 different persons take of the same subject, we must con- 
 clude that men see only those things to which the forms 
 of thought which their own minds furnish are adjusted. 
 When Don Quixote, on his mission of knight-errantry, 
 saw gleaming swords of mighty giants in the swinging 
 arms of a windmill, heard the tread of soldiers in the 
 steady beating of a fuller's beam, and saw an army's 
 camp in a flock of sheep that lay in a field at midnight, 
 his infatuation differed from the common errors of men 
 only in the degree of its absurdity. The sights and the 
 sounds were no mere appearances. The gleaming, like 
 the flashing of a sword, was real. The beating which he 
 heard in the darkness was like the steady tread of veteran 
 soldiers. The white-fleeced sheep dotted the plain like 
 the tents and banners of an army. His error came from 
 the fact that things by which he ought to have cor- 
 rected the vagaries of his imagination awakened no rec- 
 ognition, and he saw and heard only what he had gone 
 
 (35) 
 
fpl( 
 
 >» [of 
 
 36 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 forth to see and hear. His mind had been filled with 
 stories of daring deeds which others had done in the same 
 field of enterprise, his imagination was inflamed with 
 pictures of wrongs which the weak were suffering, and to' 
 him the world presented but two phases, — red-handed 
 wrong and innocent suffering. Every thing had to be in- 
 terpreted as belonging to the one or the other of these 
 two sides of existence. Men in real life, men at their? 
 best, see and hear only what their minds are prepared tqj 
 see and hear. Mental activities are from within, and 
 they will be in harmony with nature only as the mind is 
 prepared to respond to the appeals of nature in their 
 perfection of order and beauty. 
 
 -^3. A great difference is seen in the same individual if 
 we compare the activities of the child with those of the 
 man. The change through which the mind passes is an 
 evolution, and the process by which this change is brought 
 about, and which we call Education , is a development. 
 That which Don Quixote lacked was not different sur- 
 roundings but a different development of his own powers. 
 We speak of building up the brain and building up char- 
 acter. But the agent that builds is within the brain and 
 within the character. Brain food and principles of con- 
 duct are only the material and form which the agent uses 
 in building. Indeed, it is a doubtful use of the word 
 build to apply it either to the growth of the body or the 
 development of the mind. It is one of the oldest princi- 
 es of philosophy that Education is not an accumulation 
 experiences and facts of observation. The mind is 
 not like a honey-comb, with cells formed waiting to be 
 filled. Education, as its etymology impHes, when the 
 word is traced to its ultimate Latin stem, is a drawing 
 out, a calling into exercise, of an energy already exist- 
 ing. This will be made more clear by comparison. 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER FORMS. 37 
 
 a. An atom of matter manifests a form of activity »l^^^ 
 called attraction when another atom acts upon it. The ^e 
 energy of attraction must be thought of as belonging to 
 
 the atom, and developed from it, for it does not exist in 
 the second atom if not in the first, and if it existed in 
 neither it would not exist at all as an atomic force. 
 
 b. There is another form of activity in plants. It is ^ 
 true that there are no changes of matter in the growth *<^ 
 of a plant, so far as we know, but such as we may con- 
 ceive to be produced by the attraction existing in the 
 material elements out of which the plant is produced. 
 
 We see the attraction of gravitation, and capillary and 
 chemical attraction every-where manifest in a growing 
 tree, and perhaps these are sufficient to account for its 
 growth if we could conceive how they are called into 
 action. An atom requires only the presence of another 
 atom like itself to manifest the activity of attraction, but 
 the earth, out of which a plant grows, requires the pres- 
 ence of something different from itself, or it will not take 
 on the form of root, trunk, flower, and fruit. There 
 must be present plant-life to condition or determine the 
 forms of a plant's activities. Wherever the life-germ is 
 planted, there, and there alone, do the activities of 
 matter take on the forms of living plants. The growing 
 of the plant comes from the development of the power 
 within the seed. 
 
 c. There is a higher activity than that of plants seen in 
 animals. The science of Zoology is distinct from Botany, "^^ 
 because the laws of the development of animal organisms **. 
 are different from those seen in the development of 
 plants, and we must conceive of a different principle to 
 condition this different manifestation, for animals as well 
 
 as plants are made from common dust. 
 
 d. There is a still higher form of activity than that of 
 
38 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 • a/' sense and motion. It is the activity of thought, feehng, 
 1/ and will. It is due to the presence of rational life. 
 
 Whatever the origin of this life may be, it is subject to 
 laws peculiar to itself, and it is a power not to be ac- 
 counted for, the same as is gravitation, and we must 
 consider that when it is made to manifest itself it is de- 
 veloped, not created. Education, then, as applied to 
 Lthis power of the mind, is development. 
 xj^ 4. The difference between a development of the forms 
 y» t^ of a force in any thing and the transmission of a force 
 to it may clearly be seen in physics. When one ivory 
 all strikes against another, the first ball stops and the 
 motion is taken up by the second. The force of the 
 first ball is said to be transmitted to the second. When 
 a hammer is brought down upon an anvil, the force is 
 transmitted to the anvil and transformed into heat. But 
 when the gate in a mill-race is lifted, and the water pours 
 down upon a wheel and sets the machinery of the mill 
 in motion, the force that raises the gate is not transferred 
 to the water, but the gravity which was before in the 
 water and held in a state of inactivity is set free, and 
 manifests itself in the work performed. The explosive 
 force of gunpowder does not manifest itself until the 
 powder is raised to a temperature required to develop it. 
 In the same way we say the powers of the mind are de- 
 veloped when from an inactive state they are brought 
 •i^ito activity. 
 C|r 5. The term Education is sometimes restricted to the 
 ^/ development of the mental powers ; sometimes it is used 
 to include both mental and bodily powers, and some- 
 times it embraces, in addition to these, a consideration 
 of the fitness of man for his place in creation, and the 
 selection and use of the means required for this purpose. 
 All these ends are legitimate, but the propriety of in- 
 
7 
 
 WHAT IS EDUCATION? 39 
 
 eluding them all under the term Education has been 
 questioned. r^ 
 
 6/ If the subject is to be treated as a science, its (ijf 
 scope must be limited to things connected together in 'c^ 
 accordance with laws applying to them in common. ^ ^ 
 The limits of a science are, in one direction, a cause, 
 and in the other direction an effect. If we attempt to*^ 
 connect the development of the body and «the develop- 
 
 /feent of the mind together as one science, we ought to 
 be able both to trace the specific forms of mental devel- 
 ^ opment to specific physical forms, and then to trace the 
 development of these by a common law of causation. 
 But we can not trace the connection of body and mind, 
 except in a general way, and not knowing whether any 
 specific physical forms are required for particular mental 
 development or not, we can not say any thing about the 
 development of these forms. We can only say, in 
 general, that the body should be sound to secure tli£ 
 highest development of the mind. On the other handTl 
 if we connect with the development of mind the use of ^J^ 
 the powers to be developed, the end of existence must I 
 be considered as the effect to be explained, and the 
 mental powers the cause. This would make the science / 
 of Education the science of duty or correct conduct./ 
 But if we are seeking to explain the developed forms of* 
 the mental faculties, we must consider them as an effect, 
 and, as was said in the first chapter, this effect will con- 
 stitute the limit of the science in this direction, and the 
 purpose of this effect will have nothing to do with the 
 science. We may fairly limit the science of Education^ then,] 
 to the causes of the development of the mental powers. 
 
 ^ 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 REFLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ISCUSSIONS designed to show what 
 consciousness is have been numerous, and 
 conclusions diverse. It is not strange that 
 this is so. The thing which is represented 
 by the word has not an existence by 
 itself, and it is manifested in infinitely varied degrees of 
 obscurity and clearness. All knowledge comes into dis- 
 tinct consciousness slowly. A child's first consciousness 
 comes only after many impressions have been made upon 
 the senses; and in the same manner we shall see, if we 
 consider the various grades of animal life, that what may 
 be called types of consciousness change gradually as we 
 rise in the scale from the lowest to the highest. Natural- 
 ists have denied consciousness proper to the lower ani- 
 mals. 
 
 2. As consciousness develops slowly in the individual, 
 so also it has developed slowly in the race. Even the 
 senses are able to give a greater variety of conscious dis- 
 tinctions as men advance in civilization. There are dis- 
 tinctions of sound and color which apparently were not 
 recognized by the ancients, and which are not recognized 
 by barbarous tribes in any age, but which are now com- 
 mon in civilized communities. Only the more dazzling 
 colors and the shriller sounds excite the attention of 
 savages. 
 
 3. In accord with this slow growth of consciousness 
 has been the recognition of the thing itself. It is said 
 
 (40) 
 
REFLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. 4 1 , 
 
 that it had no recognition in classical Greek philosophy, \\y 
 and there is no classical Greek word for it; and the! ci 
 Romans, who gave us the word consciousness, did not j V 
 distinguish between it and conscience. But, however I /a 
 obscure our notion may be, the fact that this notion has, ^^ / 
 been growing in positiveness and clearness in the past, 
 and the fact of the important place which consciousness 
 occupies in the philosophy of mind, warrant the behef 
 that the conception will finally be classified in a manner 
 more satisfactory than in the past. It will be the effort 
 here to give it a fixed place, and assign to it a clear and 
 consistent office, in order that uncertainty and obscurity 
 may be avoided in its use. 
 
 4. Consciousness is sometimes spoken of as the mind _ ^\ 
 knowing, feeling, or willing. This assumes the existence \ . 
 of the mind in two states, the one conscious and the 
 other unconscious. According to the definition, con- 
 sciousness is the same thing as the mind in a conscious 
 state. This is clear and definite, but no philosophical 
 writer ever uses the term in a manner consistent with this 
 description. This fact is sufficient to show that our com- 
 mon conception of the thing designated is not adequately 
 described by the definition. For evidence, one has only 
 to look anywhere at Sir William Hamilton's use of the 
 term. Instead of using the word to designate the min(f 
 in one of the two states spoken of, it seems more natural 
 to use it to designate that which distinguishes between the^ 
 two states. It can not be separated from mind except in 
 thought, as motion can not be separated from a moving 
 object, but we can think of it separately. J/ 
 
 a. In the first place, it should be distinguished from JU y 
 mind. Consciousness is not essential to our conception 
 of mind, for mind may exist as a potential energy without h^ 
 consciousness. >__/ 
 
 s. E.-4. 
 
/ 
 
 42 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 b. In the second place, it should be distinguished from 
 
 J/ the faculties for the same reason that mind is distin- 
 
 S^ guished from the faculties, for it, like the mind, is com- 
 
 j^ mon to the exercise of them all. It is a characteristic of 
 
 \ the mind when acting, and it is a characteristic of each 
 
 of the faculties when acting. By this is meant that the 
 
 mind, when acting, manifests itself in some form, which 
 
 we call the activity of a faculty, and consciousness is an 
 
 element in every such activity, and we try to separate it 
 
 in thought both from the mind and from the faculty. 
 
 5. To discover what this characteristic is, let us take 
 any sentence, as, The rod is^ iron, and analyze the mental 
 activities expressed. The word rod, in the sentence, 
 designates an object, and the word iron, material. The 
 conception of the one comes from an immediate percep- 
 tion, and the conception of the other from memory. 
 Leaving out of account, for the present, the conscious- 
 ness involved in the formation of these conceptions, let 
 us seek for the element of consciousness involved in the 
 sentence as a whole, — that is, as a unit of mental 
 activity. The word rod designates the object as it 
 exists apart from the mind, and the word iron the material 
 in the same way. But the word is represents a separate 
 activity by which we connect together the conceptions of 
 the rod and iron. If asked how we know the affirmation 
 to be true, we should say we are conscious of the fact 
 stated. The perception of the rod and the memory of 
 iron have no connection with each other except in con- 
 sciousness. We assert identity because of this conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 6. But in the conceptions of the rod and iron there 
 was a consciousness of the existence of the rod and of 
 the memory of the material. The entire office of con- 
 sciousness in this assertion, then, is to affirm existence of 
 
/ 
 
 REFLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. 43 
 
 the rod, and identify it with the conception of iron called 
 up in memory. We may define consciousness, then, as \v 
 follows : c^A 
 
 (i.) Consciousness is the predication of being and identity % / 
 in the activity of the mind. Or, 
 
 (2.) Consciousness is the copulative of thought. Or, 
 (3.) Consciousness is the unifying element in mental 
 growth. 
 
 7. In language^! co nsciousness Hs represented by the/ij 
 neuter verb orj ^pul a. J The only explanation we can^ ^ 
 make of the copula is that we are conscious of the S^ 
 identity of subject and predicate. This use of the neuter ^ 
 verb is still further seen when we consider the use of the 
 modal adverbs not^ perhaps^ probably^ and so forth. These 
 
 all indicate degrees of certainty in our conscious appre- 
 hension of the agreement of subject and predicate. 
 
 8. Metaphysicians differ from each other in their views 
 of the relations of mind to matter, some holding to an 
 immediate knowledge of the external world, while others 
 say the mind has immediate knowledge only of its own 
 acts and states. But, whichever of these views is held, 
 consciousness, if it is a characteristic of every activity of 
 the mental faculties, must be equally relied upon to pred- 
 icate existence and identity of the objects of knowledge. 
 
 9. The term reflective is applied to consciousness here 
 to represent it as growing by comparing one thing with 
 another. This is the character of the human conscious- 
 ness, and to develop this consciousness is the object of 
 education. <;g^7 ^^^^iZ L (S^ 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 UNCONSCIOUS BEGINNINGS. 
 
 
 HE sphere of the Science of Education 
 lies between the unconscious conditions 
 of mental activity, on the one hand, and 
 the fixed forms of developed conscious- 
 ness on the other. It is not for us to in- 
 quire here into the origin of the mind, but we need to 
 know what is put into it at the beginning, that we may- 
 know what education has to deal with. This limit of 
 the science will be considered under the heads of Native 
 Energy, Heredity, Unconscious Tuition, and Uncon- 
 scious Physiological Relations. 
 
 I. NATIVE ENERGY. 
 
 I. In order to account for the development of heat in 
 a piece of burning coal, it is necessary to suppose that the 
 coal, before burning, possesses a certain amount of 
 energy held in equilibrium capable of becoming heat. 
 In the same way, in order to account for the manifesta- 
 tion of thought, feeling, and volition, it is necessary to 
 suppose that the mind is originally endowed with an 
 energy capable of revealing itself in these forms. As the 
 energy held in equilibrium in the piece of coal remains 
 inactive until it is developed into activity by raising it to 
 the proper temperature, so we may conceive of the 
 Native Energy of the mind as latent until stimulated by 
 proper means into forms of activity. 
 
 (44) 
 
NATIVE ENERGY. 45 
 
 2. The notion attributed to some early philosophers 
 that the mind possesses ideas as an inheritance or by- 
 virtue of its constitution must be regarded as satisfactorily 
 disproved by Locke ; but the notion which he substituted 
 for it, that the untrained mind is like a piece of blank 
 paper must as certainly be rejected. There are no more 
 ideas in the undeveloped mind than expressions of 
 thought on a piece of white paper; but the ideas that 
 may be developed in the mind are not subject so abso- 
 lutely to the will of a teacher as the writing on paper is 
 subject to the will of the writer. The teacher should first 
 of all rise to the conception of the mind he seeks to 
 develop as possessing an energy capable of developing 
 only into certain fixed and definite forms of action, and 
 in accordance with fixed laws, and should learn that to 
 attempt to put other things there, or to develop the 
 energy regardless of mental laws is futile. Native Energy 
 exists under certain well-defined Laws. 
 
 Law L — Native Energy is Limited in Amount. 
 
 First Proof. — While we never more than approximate 
 the' limit to which energy may be developed in any case, 
 the highest point ever reached by one is not so far above 
 the attainment of others as to justify the belief that the 
 energy is limitless. We do not reach the limit of the 
 possible exhaustion of air in the use of the air-pump, yet 
 the air in a receiver is finite in quantity. 
 
 Second Proof . — Mental Energy shows signs of exhaustion 
 by mental or bodily exercise. There is a limit to the 
 exercise of memory, thought, and attention. 
 
 Third Proof. — Mental Energy does not develop steadily 
 in proportion to opportunities throughout the period of 
 mental vigor. There is a period of growth, and this is 
 
46 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 followed by a period for the use of the intellectual 
 powers. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 It would seem to follow, from this Law, that it is better 
 to postpone the development of a mental faculty than to 
 exhaust the possibilities of development by erroneous 
 education. There is probably a limit of age before 
 which it is of Httle use to try to develop the set forms 
 of mental action, and another limit after which develop- 
 ment is more difficult, but the period between these 
 limits is long enough to allow a considerable choice as 
 to the time when the most important educational work 
 shall be done, and yet secure the development of Native 
 Energy to its practical limits. We need neither despair 
 of a child because he can not go to a Kindergarten at 
 three, nor conclude with Rousseau that the time spent in 
 systematic discipline before twelve is worse than wasted. 
 
 Law II. — Native Energy is Limited in the Vari- 
 ety OF Forms of which it is Capable. 
 
 Proof. — To prove this, we need only point to the fact 
 that the blind and the dumb are limited in the forms of 
 knowledge of which they are capable as compared with 
 others having their five senses. We can easily conceive 
 that a sixth sense would add as great a variety to the 
 forms of knowledge furnished by five as the sense of 
 sight adds to the knowledge acquired by the other four 
 senses. 
 
 Law III. — Native Energy Differs in Amount and 
 Variety in Different Persons. 
 
 Proof. — If the first two Laws are true, and it is also 
 true that the Creator has been bountiful in making pro- 
 vision for the loss of time and opportunities to a certain 
 
NATIVE ENERGY. 47 
 
 degree, as he has been bountiful in supplying seed for 
 the reproduction of vegetation a hundred-fold, we can 
 only account for the great differences we see in the same 
 family, the differences between races living side by side, 
 and the degeneracy of children whose parents have given 
 them better training than they themselves enjoyed, by 
 supposing there are differences in Native Energy. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 If we are to make the most of a child, it is necessary 
 to confine our attempts at educating him to those things 
 that are within his reach, and direct his energy to that of 
 which he is capable. If we seek to accomplish a given 
 result, as to establish a character of truthfulness, we must 
 adapt our efforts in kind and quantity to a child's natural 
 disposition. So it is of all instruction. Individuals are 
 to be developed, not classes. 
 
 Law IV. — The Development of Native Energy 
 Reveals a Relation between Intellectual and Vital 
 Action. 
 
 First Proof, — Children, when growing most rapidly 
 and developing the physical powers that require the 
 largest amount of vital energy, find it hardest to do 
 intellectual work. 
 
 Second Proof. — The intellect is caused to degenerate by 
 indulgence of the lower nature in intemperance, gluttony, 
 and other physical vices. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 While this Law is undoubtedly true, and should lead 
 to an economy of vital force for the sake of increased in- 
 tellectual energy, yet some of the brightest intellects have 
 been occupants of weak bodies. Virgil had a weak con- 
 
48 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 stitution, and Caesar was subject to the worst of constitu- 
 tional maladies. 
 
 Law V. — Native Energy is Dependent upon the 
 Physical Organs for Development and Expression. 
 
 Proof. — The proof of this Law is seen in the fact that 
 all our knowledge comes primarily through the senses, 
 and we do not think of trying to express our thoughts 
 and feelings in any other way than by some physical 
 action. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 To insure the most complete development of the mind, 
 not only the organs of sense, but every organic structure 
 must be cared for and kept in the best condition. Not 
 the senses and the brain alone are involved in thought and 
 action. Wherever there is a thrill of life, in every part 
 of the body to which a nerve of feeling is supplied, there 
 is placed the possibility of a stimulus to mental action that 
 may be the source of good. Take, for instance, the 
 delicate arrangement of nerves that enables one to judge 
 correctly the direction and distance of sounds. To the 
 general on the field of battle this ability is often of the 
 greatest value. It is said that Napoleon's quick ear 
 enabled him to take advantage of many an opportunity 
 which would otherwise have been lost, and thereby to 
 gain an easier victory. Symmetrical vital action is neces- 
 sary to symmetrical mental development, and the subor- 
 dination of the whole body to the mind is necessary to 
 the highest achievements. 
 
 II. HEREDITY. 
 
 This is too subtle and too intimately associated with the 
 unconscious and dimly-seen influences of infancy to be 
 
HEREDITY. 49 
 
 estimated with accuracy, but it must be regarded as a 
 factor of no small importance. Many profound ques- 
 tions are raised with regard to the extent of this princi- 
 ple, but the following well-established Laws are all that 
 need to be discussed here. 
 
 Law I. — There is a Resemblance between Children 
 AND Parents in the forms of Mental Activity. 
 
 First Proof. — The truth of the Law is shown by race- 
 types. In almost every race may be found men of the 
 highest order of intelligence, but each race has peculiari- 
 ties of development that appear in successive generations. 
 The Spartan is a hero, the Athenian a philosopher, the 
 Roman a sovereign, the Caucasian intellectual, the 
 African emotional. 
 
 Second Proof. — It is shown by the progress of races in 
 the development of their characteristics. This develop- 
 ment has been along certain lines that show common 
 tendencies in all the members of a race. 
 
 Third Proof. — It is shown by the peculiarities prevalent 
 in families. The likeness between parent and child is 
 more likely to be in some peculiarity than in general 
 intellectual power. The records of crime and insanity 
 reveal the hereditary tendency in families beyond all dis- 
 pute. A few years ago an examination of the statistics 
 concerning one family brought to light the fact that within 
 four generations nearly one hundred of the descendants 
 of one criminal had been incarcerated for crime. In 
 1884 there was published a report of the death in Penn- 
 sylvania of the last of a race of mad people, whose 
 ancestor, four generations back, had been driven insane 
 by a murder committed in her presence. The malady 
 was transmitted in unbroken succession till the race be- 
 came extinct. 
 
 S. E.-5. 
 
5© THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Law II. — Heredity is seen in General rather 
 THAN IN Specific Characteristics. 
 
 Proof. — The son of a criminal has no special tendency 
 to follow the same line of criminal conduct as the parent, 
 though there may be tendencies to develop into crime of 
 some kind. In the same way a character of virtue may 
 be transmitted without determining the specific form in 
 which it will manifest itself. 
 
 Law hi. — Inherited Traits are more Persistent 
 than the influence of education. 
 
 First Proof. — It is always found to be harder to eradi- 
 cate a habit that rests upon inherited tendencies than a 
 habit formed without such antecedents. 
 
 Second Proof. — The truth of the Law may be seen es- 
 pecially marked in the lower animals. The dog that has 
 learned to swim seldom swims for mere sport. But when 
 the Dipper falls into the water the first time it will imme- 
 diately begin to dip and dive, and continue this till ex- 
 hausted or hunted from the stream that has half been the 
 home of its ancestors. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The ways that children get from their associates 
 are often bad enough, but those that come from Heredity 
 are much harder to deal with. When we see conduct 
 that leads us to say, '* I do not see where the child got 
 that habit," we may suspect it depends on Heredity, and 
 that it will require the greatest care and effort to eradi- 
 cate it. 
 
 (II.) Inherited tendencies are more likely to find us 
 off our guard than acquired habits. Even after we have 
 schooled ourselves for years, we may be betrayed into a 
 
HEREDITY. 5 1 
 
 bad habit unconsciously, and if we consider the cause 
 we will be likely to find it an inherited tendency. 
 
 (III.) An inherited tendency is often capable of being 
 developed into either good or bad conduct. Whichever 
 way it shows itself it is a strong power. If it manifests 
 itself in a useful form it is to be encouraged; if in an 
 evil way, the evil should be checked by turning the 
 energy, if possible, in the direction of that which is use- 
 ful. Means are too often employed to eradicate an evil 
 tendency whereby the possibilities of good are destroyed, 
 when a little skill would have developed the good to such 
 an extent as to utilize all the energy and leave none to be 
 expended on evil ways. There are few words more 
 abused in theory and practice than the word thorough. 
 That every thing should be well done when finished is 
 true, but as much of the material used in building passes 
 through stages when it seems rough work, so the energy 
 out of which character is built often displays itself in ugly 
 forms. To crush out this energy is thought to be a 
 thorough method of dealing with the evil, but by so doing 
 much good is destroyed. No doubt Charles I. desired 
 to rule the English people well, and rebellion against con- 
 stituted authority is a great evil. But, if the king had 
 appreciated the fact that the love of liberty which had 
 been ingrained into the very constitutions of his subjects 
 was not inconsistent with loyalty, he might have turned 
 to good account that spirit which he roused by his radical 
 methods to his own destruction. The Earl of Strafford 
 saw no way of enforcing loyalty except by crushing out 
 the love of liberty, and this he sought to do by means 
 that won for him the title of ''Thorough," though it 
 failed to bring any good, either to the people or his 
 prince. Many of the faults of children are manifesta- 
 tions of a strength of character that may become the 
 
52 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 foundation of great success, if wisely guided. If chil- 
 dren are indolent from a love of indolence there is little 
 to hope for; but if they are idle because restrained from 
 the kind of exercise they like, or because no motive is 
 brought before them adapted to rouse their energy, the 
 case is one that calls for ingenuity in seeking to find out 
 their natural inclinations. Regular methods of study and 
 discipline should be adhered to, but they should be broad 
 enough and flexible enough to make the best possible use 
 of the infinitely varied tendencies of different pupils. 
 The teacher should be broad-minded and large-hearted. 
 (IV.) Education should be directed to secure individ- 
 uality. The law of the persistence of inherited tenden- 
 cies implies likeness, and if the teacher adds his effort to' 
 develop the mind of every child in the same way, only 
 those forms of power which are common to all will be 
 brought to perfection. This may secure a high develop- 
 ment of some particular characteristic, but it will not 
 develop a variety of powers, one of which may be great 
 in one, and another in another. So long as a people is 
 advancing in civilization, there will be strong marks of 
 individuality among the members of any community. A 
 growing civilization develops personality in the very 
 features of a people. There is greater difference in ap- 
 ^^pearance among the members of a civilized community 
 |\ than among savages. The variety of forms of intellectual 
 j development is still more marked. The civilized nation 
 is greatly superior to an uncivilized race in diversity of 
 kknowledge, occupation, and capability. In an educated 
 community one person can do one thing well, and 
 another another thing. In a savage tribe but few things 
 can be done well at all. The teacher should seek to 
 foster this individuality, and bring into activity the best 
 thing in each one of his pupils. 
 
UNCONSCIOUS TUITION. 53 
 
 (V.) The law of inheritance runs through a long time 
 without being always manifest. The right to inherit 
 property does not lapse by time, but the actual possession 
 is often missed by many generations. The same is true 
 of mental characteristics. Plutarch has handed down thcx 
 story of a Caucasian pair whose child developed Ethiopian \ 
 features. When the cause was investigated, it was found / 
 that one of the mother's ancestors four generations before / 
 was an Ethiopian. While the temporary disappearance 
 of inherited characteristics makes the subject of heredity- 
 more obscure, it does not diminish the importance of giv- 
 ing the greatest heed to those traits of character that cling 
 more persistently to a child than other traits. This im- 
 portance has reference both to those traits that should be 
 checked and those which should be fostered as the foun- 
 dation of the child's greatest possibilities. 
 
 III. UNCONSCIOUS TUITION. 
 
 The influences that do not rise to the grade of securing 
 conscious activity, and which yet affect the character, are 
 often scarcely to be distinguished from hereditary tenden- 
 cies. They are as important, perhaps, as Heredity or 
 even directly formal instruction. They include the 
 influence of events and objects of which the mind is not 
 conscious, though in their presence, and the incidental 
 influences that escape consciousness in the case of objects 
 to which particular attention is given. We think of an 
 object for one purpose, but incidentally its influence on 
 us is much wider than our thoughts. 
 
 Law I. — Unconscious Tuition lays a Foundation 
 FOR Conscious Development. 
 
 J^t'rsf Pi'oof. — We are able to trace conscious states of 
 the mind back through grades of less and less distinct 
 
54 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 consciousness to a point where consciousness disappears, 
 although the same stimulus is active as when there is the 
 most complete activity of mind. We must suppose that 
 this stimulus is making unconscious impressions, which, 
 when often enough repeated, develop into consciousness. 
 Second Proof. — We can not account for the develop- 
 ment of the first conscious activity without supposing it a 
 product of combined unconscious impressions. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 The Unconscious Tuition of children before they are 
 old enough to have many distinct thoughts, added to the 
 influence of Heredity, lays a foundation for most of the 
 character that develops later in life. It has been seen 
 that hereditary tendencies are permanent. We must 
 also suppose unconscious influences to be permanent in 
 their eff'ects in order to make them the foundation of any 
 growth. We sometimes wonder what a child's thoughts 
 are. It probably has no thoughts, but is getting ready to 
 think. The mind is being prepared by unconscious im- 
 pressions that will determine what its thoughts shall be 
 when it does think, and volumes have been written to 
 show the importance of this period of a child's life. 
 When the teacher receives a pupil, he has, in the main, 
 passed through the period of this tuition, and the teacher 
 must take the character of the tuition into account as a 
 part of the foundation on which he is to build. 
 
 Law II. — The Unconscious Tuition of any Period 
 OF Youth has its Value and Direction determined 
 BY THE Character already Formed. 
 
 Proof. — A teacher's character and habits exert an un- 
 conscious influence on pupils, but this influence is yery 
 different on different pupils. A habit of carelessness will 
 
UNCONSCIOUS PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 55 
 
 make a careless boy more careless still, but a neat and 
 careful boy is not likely to be affected. A bad habit will 
 encourage a boy that has the same bad habit, or a ten- 
 dency to it, while it will repel a boy with a character of 
 an opposite tendency already established. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 Our words and actions bear in many directions. We 
 do not know what preparation there may be in the un- 
 conscious life of the children of a school-room to stir at 
 suggestions of which we ourselves have taken little 
 thought. Refinement of character and gentility of man- 
 ner come from a sensitiveness formed by unconscious 
 influences. 
 
 IV. UNCONSCIOUS PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 
 
 We are conscious of the activity of our senses and of 
 the exercise of our wills in muscular action. But the 
 body possesses much power over the mind of which we 
 are not directly conscious. 
 
 Law I. — Physical TeiMPerament Exercises an Un- 
 conscious Influence in producing Happiness or 
 Misery. 
 
 Proof. — Children whose physical organization is so per- 
 fect and well-balanced that they enjoy eating, exercise, 
 and other pleasures with uniformity, but never to excess, 
 and who are not oversensitive in any physical organs, 
 will be happy under circumstances that would make other 
 children peevish and fretful. On the other hand, chil- 
 dren who are so constituted as to have keen enjoyment of 
 particular pleasures are apt to have corresponding irrita- 
 bility. Mature reflection is unable to bring an unhappy 
 
56 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 temperament under the control of reason, so as to save 
 its possessor from fits of causeless despondency, while 
 buoyancy of spirits will sustain a Mark Tapley under the 
 most discouraging and distressing circumstances. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 A settled feeling of despondency is liable to grow out 
 of indulgence in the extremes of happiness and misery, 
 and to avoid this it is desirable to temper the joys and 
 sorrows of childhood. Allowance should also be made 
 for children of an unhappy temperament, and children of 
 a more equable temperament will bear more crowding in 
 their work. 
 
 Law II. — Physical Derangement often Insensibly 
 Affects the Mind. 
 
 Proof. — Disease, bad air, indigestion, weariness, and 
 the lack of physical exercise have their influence on the 
 mind and spirits long before we are conscious of it. The 
 chilled sleeper is not conscious of his chiUiness, and 
 never wakes to throw off his stupor. Bodily infirmities 
 and inconveniences extend even to an influence upon 
 moral conduct, and the importance of taking them into 
 account in the discipline of the family, the school, and 
 prison is very great. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 The teacher's judgment must be relied upon to detect 
 and remove causes of uneasiness and inattention which 
 act upon the mind in an unconscious manner. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MENTAL FACULTIES. 
 
 HE limit of the Science of Education in 
 the direction of effect is the developed 
 forms of reflective consciousness. These 
 forms of consciousness are classified under 
 what are called Mental Faculties. 
 
 2. A general classification of the Faculties may be 
 drawn from a simple illustration. A child sees an orange, 
 and this brings up to his mind the recollection of having 
 seen and tasted of oranges before. The sight of the 
 orange, and the recollection of the pleasure of eating 
 oranges previously, excite pleasure anew, and the pleasure 
 leads him to desire this orange and to reach after it. 
 Here are manifested three kinds of mental activities. 
 The sight of the orange and the recollection are kinds of 
 knowledge; the pleasure is a feeling, and the desire and 
 effort to obtain the orange are exercises of volition. In 
 accordance with the facts of this illustration, Psychologists 
 generally agree in making three classes of Mental Facul- 
 ties, which they call Cognition, Feeling, and Will. 
 
 a. The activities which end in knowledge of any kind 
 are called Cognitions. 
 
 b. The activities which end in a consciousness of 
 pleasure or pain are called Feelings. 
 
 c. The activities which end in desire, resolution, or 
 endeavor are called Volitions. 
 
 3. Cognitions. — The Cognitions are of various classes, 
 and their arrangement under different intellectual facul- 
 ties may be seen from the following illustration. 
 
 (57) 
 
58 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 a. We know that all points in the circumference of a 
 circle are equally distant from the center. The idea of 
 the circle spoken of is not of a particular circle but any 
 circle that may be supposed. The idea of the circumfer- 
 ence is not of a material line, and the idea of the center 
 is not of a material point. These ideas are all distinct 
 from the ideas of circles, curves, and points that have 
 been actually seen. In order to form such ideas, the 
 mind must have a power adapted to these activities. 
 This power is called the Faculty of Reason. 
 
 b. In order to know that the distances are equal, we 
 must be able to compare one distance with another, and 
 the ideas of different circles with each other, and draw 
 conclusions from our comparisons. The power by which 
 such activities are caused is called the Elaborative 
 Faculty, the Faculty of Comparison or Reasoning. 
 
 c. But not having material circles to handle, the mind 
 must have the power to hold before itself the ideas of 
 circles, circumferences, and so forth, and place them side 
 by side, or one upon another, with as much distinctness 
 as the consciousness of the forms of material things 
 would possess. This power is called the Faculty of 
 Imagination. By it we may form an idea or image that 
 represents an object of experience, and then the Faculty 
 is called Reproductive Imagination ; or we may put 
 images together in any order we please, when we call it 
 Constructive Imagination. 
 
 d. But the mind would not be able to produce these 
 images of circles and circumferences unless ideas had 
 been produced in the mind in some other way which 
 these images resemble. In order to form the images, the 
 ideas previously in the mind must be more or less clearly 
 recalled. The power by which ideas are recalled and 
 associated with the past is called the Reproductive 
 
THE MENTAL FACULTIES. 59 
 
 Faculty. It differs from the Reproductive Imagination 
 in associating the present with the past, while the Imagi- 
 nation is confined to the formation of vivid outHnes or 
 pictures. 
 
 e. In order to recall ideas, they must be held in the 
 mind as some form of mental modification, though out 
 of consciousness, and this is secured by the Faculty of 
 Retention. 
 
 /. Finally, since the mind possesses no ideas in the 
 beginning, it must acquire them before there can be any 
 to retain. The power by which knowledge is originally 
 obtained is called the Acquisitive Faculty. This Faculty 
 involves the activity of the mind through the senses, 
 called Perception, and the knowledge of one's own 
 mental states, or Self-Consciousness. The Cognitive 
 Faculties, named in the order of their development, are 
 as follows : 
 
 ... f I. Perception. 
 
 1. Acquisitive \ c, ^rr- 
 
 ^ (2. Self-Consciousness. 
 
 2. Retentive, or Memory. 
 
 3. Reproductive, or Recollection. 
 
 4. Representative, or Imagination. 
 
 5. Elaborative, or Comparison. ^ 
 
 6. Regulative, or Reason. 
 
 Of these forms of knowledge. Acquisition must be first 
 in conscious activity, for the activity of the other Facul- 
 ties presupposes this. 
 
 4. Feelings. — The Feelings of pleasure and pain are 
 of two kinds: those that attend physical activity, and 
 those that attend intellectual activity. Of these activities, 
 two things are to be observed in this place; first, that it is 
 not necessary that the sense of pleasure or pain should 
 be strong enough to draw the attention upon itself as 
 pleasurable or painful, to justify us in calling the sensa- 
 
6o THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 tion a Feeling. Mental activity has an element of con- 
 scious excitement that is not knowledge, and this element 
 may be a decided pleasure or a decided pain, it may 
 combine the two, or it may be so weak as to possess no 
 decided character of either in consciousness. In the 
 second place, conscious Feelings must follow cognition. 
 The intellectual Feelings, being such as depend upon the 
 action of the faculties of knowing, are of necessity sub- 
 sequent to the beginning of this activity. But the con- 
 scious physical Feelings are as dependent upon intellect- 
 ual Feelings. We must at least be conscious of self in 
 order to be conscious of any pleasure or pain, and self- 
 consciousness is a kind of knowledge. The pains that 
 we can not locate in sickness and nervous irritability do 
 not manifest themselves in consciousness unless there is 
 first a consciousness of self. The pleasures of taste and 
 smell, and of the other senses, come into consciousness 
 as sensations only as we are conscious of an action of 
 these senses that gives us knowledge. Whatever modifi- 
 cation there may be of the senses previous to conscious 
 perception, is below consciousness, and does not need 
 consideration here. Up to this point, then, the begin- 
 ning of all conscious activity is in the acquisitive faculty. 
 5. Volitions. — a. It has been said above that the 
 Volitions end either in the consciousness of desire, reso- 
 lution, or endeavor. That activities of the will are con- 
 nected together, and follow each other in the order in 
 which they are here named, is evident from the following 
 illustration : an invalid, seeing the sun shine in through 
 the window of his room, desires to enjoy the fresh morn- 
 ing air. This desire is cherished until he resolves to 
 make the effort to go out where the enjoyment may be 
 had. The resolution is followed by the effort and the end 
 is gained. 
 
THE MENTAL FACULTIES. 6 1 
 
 b. That a Volition may end in desire, in resolution, 
 or endeavor, is clear from the following illustration : 
 the farmer desires rain or the sailor a fair wind. Neither 
 can do any thing to obtain the object desired; and, 
 although they would do much to obtain the end if they 
 could, their wills must stop with desire. But each deter- 
 mines to take advantage of the event desired if it should 
 happen, — the farmer to plant his field if it should rain, 
 and the sailor to put to sea if the wind should be fair. 
 Each may be compelled to stop with the resolution. The 
 rain comes and the farmer puts in his seed, the wind blows 
 fair and the sailor unfurls his sails, and the Volition has 
 reached its culmination. 
 
 c. That desire is separate from feeling and follows it, 
 is manifest from the following considerations. The feel- 
 ings culminate as feelings in a sense of pleasure or pain, 
 while the Volition culminates in active endeavor. The 
 end of desire is the attainment of the purposes of the 
 Will, not the pleasure of a contemplation of it. From this 
 consideration, desire must be classified as the beginning 
 of a Volition. But one can not desire any thing that is 
 not represented to the mind in such a way that the repre- 
 sentation excites a feeling of pleasure to be prolonged or 
 pain to be avoided. Hence, feeling must precede 
 Volitions. 
 
 6. As the feelings follow cognitions, so the volitions are 
 seen to follow the feelings. These different mental activi- 
 ties depend one upon another, and can follow each other 
 only in the order named; and as the cognitions are first, 
 and the acquisitive faculty gives the first cognitions, it 
 follows that the first conscious activity must be one of 
 perception or self-consciousness. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL LAW OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 MONG the things that lay doubtful 
 claims to the rank of a science is Educa- 
 tion. The doubt is not raised with regard 
 to the character of the thing itself, but 
 with regard to our understanding and treat- 
 ment of it. As before stated, a science is formulated in 
 laws bound together in one system by some general 
 organic law. But our understanding of the laws of 
 mental development is so wanting in unity and consistency, 
 that however certain we may be of many of the laws of 
 mental growth, we have not related these laws together in 
 an organic whole. The first step to be taken is the devel- 
 opment of a General Law. 
 
 2. Before we can formulate a law we must find a prin- 
 ciple, and before we can formulate a General Law of 
 mental development we must find a principle that runs 
 through all the changes by which development is secured. 
 If we can find such a principle, we may be able to trace 
 a General Law, and arrange the facts and known laws of 
 education under it in some systematic or scientific 
 manner. 
 
 3. Education has been defined as the process of devel- 
 oping the forms of reflective consciousness, and conscious- 
 ness has been defined as the predication of being and 
 identity. The growth of consciousness, then, is growth 
 in the predication of these two elements. The predica- 
 tion of identity is impossible without the predication of 
 
 (62) 
 
ORIGIN OF CONCEPTS. 6^ 
 
 being, but the predication of being could never constitute 
 growth. Were it possible for us to be conscious of any 
 number of existences, there could be no development of 
 consciousness without an act binding these states of con- 
 sciousness together. Successive predications of the same 
 thing, existence, would pass through the mind as waters 
 flow down a river, and leave no product of growth. It is 
 only when two different states of consciousness are com- 
 pared with each other, and a likeness is found by which 
 they are linked together in a kind of larger unity of 
 thought that the mind grows. The identification implies 
 a consciousness of the existence of things that are 
 different from each other, but the essential principle in the 
 process of development is the identification, the unifica- 
 tion, or the synthesis of the different. This, then, is the 
 general principle in mental development. By what law 
 does the principle manifest itself? 
 
 4. The great work of Kant began in an attempt to 
 show how synthesis of a priori concepts is possible. He 
 took it for granted that if we have seen any thing as a 
 whole, and the parts are presented to us, it is possible to 
 put the parts together again and make the whole. The 
 mind may build up a unit if it has first an idea of the 
 unit; hence it may perform a synthesis of all objects of 
 experience. But how is it possible, it was asked, to build 
 up the idea of a circle as a surface with necessary charac- 
 teristics when we have never seen a true circle? His 
 answer to the question was that while there is no innate 
 idea of the circle in the mind, yet there is a native 
 capacity of the mind, depending on its constitution, in 
 consequence of which the observation of that which re- 
 sembles a circle may develop the idea of the perfect 
 figure. But granting that this supposition of a native fit- 
 ness in the constitution of the mind is a sufficient expla- 
 
64 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 nation of the possibility of building up such notions, 
 there is still another question back of it. What explana- 
 tion can be made of the fact that the mind does build up 
 such notions? It is possible, but what power makes the 
 possible actual ? This question should be asked, not only 
 of a priori synthesis, but of all synthesis. Why does the 
 mind connect any two sensations together? Why does it 
 take a single step in the process of development ? Objects 
 can not of themselves give us the consciousness of like- 
 ness to each other. At best they can only give a 
 consciousness of being, and of being what they are indi- 
 vidually. By what power does the mind pass beyond this 
 to the consciousness of identity, by which it is caused to 
 grow ? It is evident that a correct answer to this question 
 is the key to the science of mental development. 
 
 5. If the eye rests upon a chair, we are able to distin- 
 guish color, form, and so forth through the sense of 
 sight, and the perception of such qualities is the end of what 
 the organ of vision can do for us. But we do not stop 
 with the contemplation of these separate qualities. 
 Without any further external stimulus, the mind goes on 
 to identify the color and form with other colors and 
 forms which we have seen, to associate these qualities 
 together as belonging to one object, and to identify this 
 object with other objects we have seen ; and we call such 
 an object a chair. The idea thus gained remains a per- 
 manent form of thought. All this identification the mind 
 makes of its own accord. Vision only stimulates by the 
 presentation of differences. The mind is awakened by 
 these and brought into a state of unrest until it unifies 
 them, when it is satisfied, and rests in the unity. 
 
 6. In a similar manner, different representations of a 
 circle set the mind to work to discover what is the true 
 idea with which all circles may be identified. When the 
 
GENERAL LAW. 65 
 
 idea of the true circle is developed, the mind rests satis- 
 fied with this, and has no inclination to push its inquiry 
 further. The attempt to unify circular figures, like the 
 effort to identify the chair, is a spontaneous act of the 
 mind, of which we can give no other account than to say 
 it is the natural tendency of mental energy, when stimu- 
 lated to action by differences, to take this direction. The 
 discriminations are excited by objects, but the unification 
 is spontaneous in the mind. From such facts we infer 
 the following 
 
 General Law. — When Latent Mental Energy is 
 Stimulated to Activity by the Influence of Differ- 
 ences in Objects, it is the Natural Tendency of 
 this Energy to Unify the Differences, and for the 
 Unities to become Fixed Forms of the Mind, and the 
 Unification Restores the Equilibrium of the Energy 
 Excited. 
 
 7. If the mind in unifying loses consciousness of differ- 
 ences, and retains only the one point of identity, no 
 growth is made. For instance, if we pass by many men 
 on the street, and we do not distinguish them one from 
 another, but only think of each one as a man, we gain 
 no distinct knowledge beyond what would have been im- 
 parted by seeing the same person many times. But if the 
 mind holds its discriminations clear in consciousness while 
 it unifies, it develops the consciousness of variety in unity, 
 and adds to its power. Unification must contain con- 
 scious discriminations to be development. 
 
 8. The unities of thought which we seek to develop are 
 always higher than conscious experience. In our concep- 
 tions of an object perceived by the senses, we bind the 
 qualities of matter together by a power in the mind itself. 
 
 In comparing objects with one another, and classifying 
 s. E.— 6. 
 
66 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 them we seek to develop a notion more comprehensive 
 than that of the individual objects themselves. When we 
 seek to understand an object or event, we develop notions 
 of cause, form, or purpose from the understanding. The 
 mind adds something from its own awakened power to the 
 products of sensation. 
 
 9. We have seen before that education is an evolution ; 
 we are now prepared to see somewhat more distinctly the 
 character of this evolution. While the process is not, on 
 the one hand, like building with timbers or blocks of 
 stone prepared to hand, neither is it, on the other hand, 
 an unveiling of truths that lie hidden in the mind. We 
 do not lay a foundation of truth in the understanding that 
 rises into a clear atmosphere on which we may stand and 
 gaze at higher truth with unobstructed vision, and thus 
 build and climb; nor is truth brought down to a level 
 with the understanding by unfolding it to its simplest 
 elements. The native energy of the mind is aroused to 
 action, and there begins a struggle to rise to the under- 
 standing of the new and the unknown by assimilating or 
 identifying it with the old and the known. There must 
 be this struggle of the power within, or there will be no 
 development. We climb the ladder on which we rise by 
 reaching to the rounds above us. 
 
PART II 
 
 SPECIAL LAWS OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 (67) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 LAWS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 
 
 E see from the General Law of mental 
 growth that mental activity is two-fold. 
 First, new forms of activity are excited 
 through the senses; secondly, these are 
 unified by the mind in consequence of its 
 own constitutional tendency to unification. Physiologists 
 find a corresponding two-fold growth in the nervous sys- 
 tem. This system, in outline, consists of nerve cells and 
 nerve filaments. A nerve filament may connect an organ 
 of sensation to a nerve cell, one nerve cell to another, or 
 a nerve cell to a muscular fiber. By comparing nerve 
 systems in different stages of development, it has been 
 found that as mental growth progresses, the cells increase 
 in number and develop in strength of walls ; and the fila- 
 ments are multiplied, connecting a larger number of cells 
 into close relationship, and affording shorter lines of com- 
 munication between different parts of the organism. The 
 most important collection of nerve cells is the brain, and 
 the most important of the filaments are those that cover 
 the organs of sensation and lead to the brain. 
 
 2. The correspondence between the development of 
 the mind and the nervous system leads us to infer some 
 relation of dependence between them, but it does not 
 destroy their separate unity. The Science of Physiology 
 and the Science of Mind remain distinct from each other 
 because the chain of cause and effect in either, however 
 similar to that in the other, is distinct from it. The 
 
 (69) 
 
7© THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 activity of one may be a condition of the activity of the 
 other, but even if we could have a conception of the two, 
 such that we might think a transference of energy possible, 
 there would still remain a separate system of laws for 
 each. 
 
 3. The arrangement of cells and filaments in the 
 nervous system allows of three distinct courses of nervous 
 activity. First, nervous energy may pass by the shortest 
 way from a nerve of sensation or from a nerve cell to the 
 muscles; secondly, it may pass from the organs of sensa- 
 tion to the nerve cells, and there stop ; or, thirdly, it may 
 have its beginning and end in the nerve cells. 
 
 4. There is a form of nerve activity that produces mus- 
 cular action without consciousness. This is seen in the 
 action of the heart and lungs and other movements of the 
 body that we can not trace by direct consciousness. The 
 energy producing these movements passes directly from 
 the exciting cause to the muscles without arousing the 
 general activity of the nervous system so as to produce 
 consciousness. If consciousness is produced, it is not the 
 cause of the muscular activity, for, as in the case of an 
 injury to the eye, it is found that the muscular activity, 
 like the closing of the lid, precedes the consciousness. 
 Physiologists call this reflex action. Such activities as 
 walking, habitual and skillful exercise, and all those 
 actions to which we have become so accustomed that we 
 perform them almost without consciousness, seem to be 
 similar in nature, although they originate in an exercise 
 of the will. If we were to suppose that the degree of 
 consciousness depends upon the extent to which the 
 activity of the nervous system is involved, and that 
 habitual action produces shorter and shorter lines of 
 nervous communication, the low degree of consciousness 
 would be explained. 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 7 1 
 
 5. Nervous energy tends to disseminate itself through- 
 out the system, and without arousing conscious discrimi- 
 nations produces a general feeling of happiness or 
 unrest. 
 
 6. In reflex action all consciousness is wanting; in 
 the general diffusion of nervous energy, discrimination is 
 wanting. But there are localized centers of nervous ac- 
 tivity where the ends of nerve filaments are multiplied 
 and spread over a limited surface, through which the 
 mind is excited to discriminating conscious activity. 
 These centers are the organs of sense. We classify them 
 physiologically, and arrange them in the order of their 
 importance as sources of knowledge. This order is also 
 the order of their location, and may be the order of their 
 development in the animal kingdom. We begin with the 
 lowest, and name them touchy taste ^ smell, hearing, sight. 
 The sense of touch is spread more or less over the entire 
 surface of the body, but as a discriminating sense it is 
 mainly located at the ends of the fingers. 
 
 7. There are some well-established Laws setting forth 
 the relations between the physiological organism and 
 mental development which deserve careful attention. 
 
 Law I. — All Distinct Forms of Conscious Activity 
 ARE TO BE Traced to the Senses for their First Im- 
 pulse. 
 
 First Proof. — The first distinct manifestation of con- 
 sciousness in a child is given in response to the influence 
 of some object, as a lighted candle, upon the senses. 
 
 Second Proof. — In the process of abstract thinking, we 
 are obliged continually to bring concrete illustrations 
 taken from the perceptions of our senses to the aid of 
 reason, and we have no conceptions that can not be 
 traced in more or less perfect forms to experience. 
 
72 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Third Proof. — The terms we use in speaking even of 
 the most abstract conceptions, in their primary use, repre- 
 sent impressions of the senses. 
 
 Fourth Proof. — We may see how abstract ideas have 
 grown from the very process which we call abstraction. 
 We first consider the concrete, which is complex in 
 thought, and then withdraw the attention from one part or 
 quality and another until there is left only the conception 
 which we wish to consider. The abstract conception is 
 the final result of the process, — not a conception previ- 
 ously formed, which we determine to hold apart from 
 every thing else. 
 
 Fifth Proof. — To develop abstract notions in children, 
 we must begin with the concrete. A child can not attain 
 to the abstract conception of number till it has first 
 learned to count things. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 The inferences from this law are manifold: 
 (I.) Each of the senses should be developed to make 
 discriminations as exact as possible. The extent and ac- 
 curacy of practical knowledge, and the reliability of 
 memory, imagination, and reasoning, depend upon the 
 extent and exactness with which we are accustomed to 
 use the senses. Merchants must be able to judge by the 
 sense of feeling of the grades of flour, cloth, leather, and 
 other goods in which they deal. The senses of taste and 
 smell are generally so dull that the ordinary grocer must 
 depend upon a specialist to determine the quality of tea 
 and other articles that please the taste or smell, but the 
 fact that specialists exist is evidence of the cultivation that 
 is possible. The ear and eye are continually exercised, 
 and experience corrects many of their errors, but grave 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SENSES. 73 
 
 results often follow from a want of habitual exactness in 
 their use. The unnecessary exposure in battle that cost 
 the great Gustavus Adolphus his life, is believed to have 
 been the consequence of his misjudging the distance of 
 the enemy, whom he saw but dimly with an imperfect eye 
 through the dust and smoke. If Grouchy had been 
 favored with the same quick ear as Napoleon at the be- 
 ginning of the battle of Waterloo, he might have been 
 assured of the fateful struggle going on within his hearing 
 in time to render his chief some assistance, and possibly 
 change the current of destiny for empires. 
 
 (II.) Facts, concrete illustrations, examples, and modes 
 of doing things appeal to the senses; principles, abstract 
 conceptions, precepts, and the reasons why follow as 
 more purely intellectual activities. The activity of the 
 mind in gaining the former class of ideas is discriminating ; 
 the activity of the latter class is one of unification. In 
 every line of thought, the mind should be so furnished 
 with the ideas that come immediately from the senses that 
 memory and imagination may use these stores of knowl- 
 edge easily before we attempt to develop ideas that can 
 be obtained only by being drawn from them. In most 
 instances, the common experiences of life have furnished 
 the mind with a basis for the higher development, but we 
 should make sure of it that such is the case, for if this 
 first step of mental growth has not been reached, any 
 effort at advanced development will be absolutely unavail- 
 ing. The mind must possess: 
 
 (i.) Facts before principles and abstractions, 
 
 (2.) Examples before precepts. 
 
 (3.) Methods before reasons. 
 
 But the mind may possess the knowledge of facts, and 
 so forth, and still not develop the higher truths from them. 
 To assure this action, illustrations should be given and 
 
 S. E.— 7. 
 
74 'I'HE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 required after the statement of principles. If common 
 experience can be relied upon to supply the facts for reason- 
 ing, then only the illustrations that follow the statement 
 and show the development of the higher truth are re- 
 quired. 
 
 In teaching a child to write numbers for addition, he 
 should be taught how to write them before the reason is 
 given. Much practice will be required before he will be 
 able to gain a clear conception of the reason. In defin- 
 ing or explaining a new term, the thing represented 
 should be brought before the mind through the senses if 
 possible; and if this be not possible, then it should be 
 made as clear as may be by comparison before an exact 
 definition is attempted. The definition should be given 
 as soon as exact and definite ideas will accompany it, and 
 its elaboration may follow. In illustrating and defining 
 grammatical terms, application should first be made to 
 those uses that refer to the action of the senses. In ex- 
 plaining words in common use, a definition may first be 
 given and then illustrations. 
 
 (III.) The senses should be developed in connection 
 with language. If language goes back to the senses for 
 its original force, it follows that a word can have no 
 meaning to one who has never associated it with the 
 product of sense activity. It could probably be said 
 truthfully that the most universal and serious mistake 
 made by all classes of instructors, whether teachers, 
 preachers, orators, or writers, is that they choose lan- 
 guage not adapted to those they try to instruct. This 
 mistake is due to the fact that the language used is such 
 as the speaker has found to be expressive of his thoughts 
 after long study of the subject, while those who hear have 
 not been trained to the familiar application of the words 
 to the same ideas. The teacher should develop the 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SENSES. 75 
 
 senses In connection with language in such a manner and 
 to such an extent that pupils may readily see the exact 
 thought expressed by the language they are likely to hear 
 and read. The popular classics of any language, like 
 Pilgrim's Progress, The Vicar of Wakefield, and Gray's 
 Elegy, not only express thoughts that are easily appreci- 
 ated, but they express them in words that appeal to all. 
 (IV.) Habits of exact observation should be cultivated 
 early in life, and maintained persistently. Gazing around 
 at every thing and listening to every sound are not meant 
 by this, but a careful attention to details, plans, and pur- 
 poses. Curiosity, or the desire to see the new, the 
 strange, the different, leads to the first step of discrimi- 
 nation. The mind should be directed to ask further the 
 use of what it perceives, and to learn its relative value 
 by the exercise of a higher unifying power. It should 
 be taught to ask what can be done with that of which it 
 has gained a discriminating knowledge, and thus be led to 
 look for things which stand in important relations to other 
 things. All the lights of a city may be equally attractive 
 to the passengers in a railway car as it passes along the 
 streets, but the engineer values only those he has worked 
 into a system of significant signs. The power of obser- 
 vation is developed when one has learned what to 
 observe. 
 
 Law IL — Mental Activity becomes more Difficult 
 AS IT Departs from the Activity of the Senses. 
 
 First Proof. — We are conscious of less effort in dis- 
 criminating by the eye and ear than in the exercise of 
 memory, less effort in representing by imagination what 
 we have seen than what we have been told about, less 
 effort in recalling what we have learned than in reason- 
 
76 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ing upon it, and less effort in reasoning upon concrete 
 facts than upon abstract truths. 
 
 Second Proof. — The senses will give accurate informa- 
 tion when there is too little mental energy to think con- 
 secutively, as when one is falling asleep or is exhausted 
 by mental exertion. In dreams the imagination mainly 
 is exercised; the reasoning power is scarcely called into 
 activity, even in a half conscious condition of the mind. 
 
 Law III. — The Further Mental Activity Departs 
 FROM THE Activity of the Senses the Higher and 
 More Comprehensive is the Unification. 
 
 First Proof. — When we see numerous objects, as the 
 stars in the sky, we at first see them only as contained in 
 a certain space, one having one appearance, and another 
 another. If we try to fix them in memory we must 
 compare them together, and mark their relative positions 
 and their likenesses and differences. If we reason upon 
 them, we unify our conception of them under all the laws 
 of causation which we can apply to them. The percep- 
 tion involves little more than the most primitive notions 
 of space and color. The memory involves a more exact 
 comparison of the objects perceived. The reason unifies 
 them under principles that are universal, and associates 
 them with all other possible objects of perception. 
 
 Second Proof — If we attempt to set forth the knowledge 
 necessarily involved in different mental acts, we find more 
 involved the further we get from the senses. We might 
 comprehensively describe what we see in the heavens on 
 a clear night by saying we see a host of stars, from three 
 to five thousand, scattered over the sky. If particular 
 stars are to be described so as to call them up in memory, 
 their size and distance from each other must be measured 
 
HIGHER AND LOWER ACTIVITIES. 77 
 
 by the eye, their brilliancy must be determined with com- 
 parative accuracy, their color must be distinguished, and 
 comparisons of every possible kind must be made to 
 satisfy the memory of their identity. If we attempt to 
 tell what we have learned about the stars to satisfy the 
 demands of reason, our story would fill a volume. 
 
 Third Proof. — The terms we use in speaking of the ab- 
 stract are more indefinite because they comprehend a 
 greater variety of possible conceptions than terms repre- 
 senting the concrete objects of perception. 
 
 Observations on the Two Preceding Laws. 
 
 (I.) From Laws II and III we see that the force of 
 truth presented in terms too far removed from the senses 
 is lost on the untrained on account of the difficulty of 
 comprehending it, while truth presented to a trained mind 
 must condense or unify a greater variety of experiences 
 to maintain interest and keep the attention. Of the two 
 dangers, the danger of too great abstraction is the greater, 
 because the single example will suggest a whole class of 
 objects with their differences to the trained mind, and it 
 is significant to the untrained. It is simple enough for 
 the untrained to understand; it is suggestive enough to 
 hold the attention of the trained thinker. Under the 
 conditions of these laws the teacher must acquire skill 
 both in adapting himself to the capacities of the dullest 
 and least advanced pupils, and in making sufficient prog- 
 ress for the quickest and most advanced. 
 
 (II.) From these Laws we can see how an audience 
 becomes wearied while listening to abstract rc;asoning, 
 and is required to put forth voluntary energy to follow 
 the thought, although the mind is not exhausted, and 
 will brighten up and think without effort at the introduc- 
 
78 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 tion of an illustration, even though it does not mean 
 much. The same is true of a class. It should be the 
 aim of a teacher both to maintain activity and make 
 progress. 
 
 (III.) We see from these Laws that the difference in 
 capacity between individuals is not so much in their 
 ability to understand any one thing as to grasp and unify 
 properly a large number of things. Every truth may be 
 so simplified that the dullest may see it, but it requires a 
 longer time for some to learn to pass from the simple ele- 
 ments to a comprehensive view of the whole than others. 
 This may be seen in taking up a new subject with a 
 class. The class must all begin with the elements of a 
 subject, and it will be difficult for a few days to tell 
 which members are likely to succeed best. All will learn 
 a few lessons, if diligent, about equally well. But in a 
 week's time a unification of the truths learned will be re- 
 quired for progress, and then the pupils begin to show 
 their difference of natural endowment. Slower progress 
 and more frequent reviews are necessary for the duller 
 ones. It may be a useful hint to some to suggest that 
 classes be so arranged that they may often be separated, 
 the poorer members being required to review the work 
 a second or third time, while the better ones advance. 
 Where several grades are in the same room it is not diffi- 
 cult so to break up the classes that reviews may be required 
 of any one pupil in such studies only as he is poorest in. 
 
 (IV.) A person of ordinary capacity may become by 
 habit extremely skillful in some one line of mental opera- 
 tions. Men of great celebrity because of high attainments 
 in some particular sphere have often proved very ordinary 
 when placed in other relations in life. We need not be 
 discouraged because we find so many departments of 
 knowledge in which one and another greatly surpass us. 
 
iflFFERENCES OF CAPACITY. 79 
 
 It is said that twenty years after he had gained a world- 
 wide fame for his explorations in Archaeology, the great 
 investigator of Greek antiquities of our day did not 
 remember to have even heard the name of one of his most 
 famous countrymen and contemporaries, who was engaged 
 in a different line of studies. Caesar should not have wept 
 at forty-five because Alexander had conquered the world 
 and died at thirty-three. Skill in special lines generally de- 
 pends more on training and habit than a difference in na- 
 tive endowments. While all the powers of the mind 
 should be trained, few can become skillful m many things. 
 Every one should become skillful in something. This is 
 what is meant by learning a trade or a profession. Ability 
 to combine and achieve results quickly and easily belongs 
 even to the practice of the mechanical arts. It is as 
 though the nervous and mental energy were trained to take 
 the shortest hnes of communication between the beginning 
 of thought and the end of action, and to save time and 
 force. 
 
 (V.) Characteristic differences are shown early in child- 
 hood by this power of combination. Some children will 
 associate things together easily in memory. The gift of 
 language depends upon the power to unify a thought both 
 in idea and in form of expression. Few are ever able to 
 hold in one distinct conscious unity all the variety of sug- 
 gestion expressed in one of the periods of Daniel Webster 
 or Demosthenes; still fewer have the power to originate 
 their like. Taking such a period as a whole we only as- 
 sociate the leading heads of thought. Some children put 
 things together in the form of pictures of the imagination, 
 some combine musical sounds in a wonderful manner, some 
 develop early the higher powers of reason. Mozart would 
 strike chords on a musical instrument with deUght before he 
 was three years old, would compose melodies with perfect 
 
8o THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 harmonies before he was five, and at six, without practice or 
 training, he played the organ in a convent with such won- 
 derful skill as to draw the monks from their dining to listen. 
 While yet a boy, by himself and without instruction, 
 Pascal drew geometrical figures, and demonstrated the 
 principles of Geometry up to the thirty-second proposition 
 of Euclid. Oddities of combination should generally be 
 avoided. The power to see unnatural resemblances diverts 
 from the truth. A habit of punning and the exercise of 
 what is called a sense of the ridiculous may be indulged 
 for recreation, and they are certainly effective in this re- 
 gard, but they may put obstructions in the way of correct 
 and useful combinations. 
 
 (VI.) For the attainment of success in carrying on the 
 world's affairs, unification should pass as rapidly as possi- 
 ble from perception to complete and final combination. 
 The mind of the successful business man does not go con- 
 sciously through all the steps that lead to the acquisition 
 of wealth, nor can he generally name them. By a process 
 not distinctly perceived, he sees money in every thing 
 around him, and the way in which his touch turns every 
 thing to gold is as much of a mystery as was the power of 
 Midas. But accurate combinations of elements must be 
 made in the mind on a money basis of unification unless 
 success is purely accidental. A skillful fruit-buyer will go 
 into an orchard and give a very close estimate of the 
 value of a crop of apples at a glance. If he is pressed 
 for the basis of his judgment, he will point to the number 
 of barren trees and to those comparatively bare, and then 
 he will draw down a limb and point to the shriveled, de- 
 fective, and knotty apples, and you will see that your 
 casual glance meant one thing and his quite another. 
 Without being conscious of the distinct processes, he had 
 been assorting out first, the valueless trees, and then the 
 
SKILL IN PERCEPTION, 8 1 
 
 worthless fruit, and combining only the good fruit into 
 one sum for an estimate of value. The successful general 
 must be able to direct his forces in the field. However 
 skillfully a campaign may be planned, accidents will 
 occur to give the advantage to a vigilant enemy, and 
 involve defeat in almost any engagement unless there is 
 skill to meet emergencies. The genius of Napoleon and 
 of General Grant was not greater than that of other men 
 in planning campaigns, but they were superior to others 
 in this, that they may almost be said never to have made 
 a mistake in the presence of the enemy. When Csesar re- 
 ported his campaign in Asia in the words '' I came, I saw, 
 I conquered," he told the whole story of the conquest as 
 the important heads of his movements stood out clearly 
 in his consciousness. From sight of the situation to 
 victory was but a single step, as it were, to him. 
 
 (VII.) To pass from the perception of the senses to 
 final conclusions requires definite steps of the understand- 
 ing, and it is to secure these in logical order that drill is 
 necessary. This gives skill and celerity. But it will be 
 seen from the last consideration that intermediate steps 
 should be abbreviated as much and as fast as possible, 
 and the end connected as closely as possible with the be- 
 ginning. Drill is the warp and woof of training, but 
 skill and not mere repetition is essential to a skillfully 
 trained intellect. 
 
 Law IV. — The Vigor of Mental Activity is Sus- 
 tained IN Proportion to the Diversity of Forms 
 Assumed. 
 
 First Proof. — When the mind has become exhausted in 
 the study of one subject, it may take up a new one with 
 fresh interest. When we become wearied with attempts 
 
82 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 to understand a problem from one point of view, we will 
 start on another line of examination with fresh vigor. 
 
 Second Proof. — The greater the change in the line of 
 thought the greater the relief. When we become wearied 
 with the higher intellectual activities, we are rested by- 
 recreations that employ the emotions, and we return in- 
 vigorated to our intellectual task. 
 
 Third Proof. — Up to the point where vital force grows 
 sensibly weaker, change of activity is better than entire 
 rest. This may be pardy explained on the ground that the 
 blood is thus kept in more perfect circulation, and the 
 nerves find a supply of needed nourishment ready for 
 their use. On waking from sleep, it requires time to 
 arouse mental activity. The mind may be clear and 
 susceptible, but it does not work out plans requiring a 
 great variety of resources until continued activity has 
 given it a kind of impetus. Great plans, whether of 
 battles, of literary work, or of business enterprise, are 
 often the ripened products of study prolonged into the 
 night. The battle of Austerlitz was thus planned, and so 
 clearly did Napoleon see the details of the day on the 
 night preceding the engagement, that he felt sure of the 
 result, and composed himself in almost perfect sleep. 
 Thus Webster marshalled his stray thoughts into line the 
 night before his great contest with Hayne. If the vital 
 action be low, but the vital energy not exhausted, brisk 
 physical exercise often restores vigor to the standard re- 
 quired for the best thinking most speedily. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) All the senses should be so developed that the 
 greatest variety of perceptions may be brought into con- 
 sciousness. This is required to secure variety of mental 
 activity. 
 
MENTAL AND VITAL FORCE. 83 
 
 (II.) The faculties of the mind should all be cultivated 
 in due proportion, that the greatest variety of thought 
 may be easily reached. 
 
 (III.) Variety of reading and observation should be 
 persistently maintained, that mental activity may be the 
 more fruitful. 
 
 Law V. — Mental Activity is Exhausting in Pro- 
 portion AS it involves New Forms; i. e., New Con- 
 ceptions, New Reasoning, and so Forth. 
 
 First Proof. — In traveling, if we try to observe all the 
 objects we pass, we become more wearied than if we 
 give our attention to a few objects. As variety maintains 
 activity most easily, and the new intensifies the activity 
 on account of its being new, the exhaustion is the more' 
 complete. 
 
 Second Proof. — In reading a book or listening to a 
 speaker, if we are taken rapidly over new lines of 
 thought we soon become too wearied to follow the argu- 
 ment closely, while we can follow lines of thought familiar 
 to us without exhaustion a much longer time. 
 
 Law VI. — Mental Activity and Vital Activity 
 Exhaust Each Other. 
 
 First Proof. — When the physical powers are exhausted 
 by labor the mind does not act easily. 
 
 Second Proof. — After a day of hard study the body 
 does not recuperate easily. 
 
 Third Proof. — In cases of sickness, the mind must rest 
 or the body will not quickly recover its vigor. Anxiety 
 and brooding over difficulties stand in the way of recovery 
 from disease. 
 
84 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Fourth Proof, — The troubles of life seem harder to 
 bear, and tasks harder to achieve, if the physical powers 
 are exhausted. 
 
 Observations on Laws V and VI. 
 
 (I.) The relation between vital and mental energy is 
 not conceived as the relation between an efficient cause 
 and an effect, but as a condition and consequent. The 
 relation can not be stated more definitely than this with 
 any assurance. We might conceive of the mind as an 
 active energy, and the physical organs as instruments, in 
 which case the efficiency of the mind would depend upon 
 the condition of the instrument used; but such a relation 
 should not be positively affirmed. 
 
 * (II.) The motto for the developed thinker, *'Not 
 many things, but much," should be modified or reversed 
 for childhood. Then vitality is greatest, and this is espe- 
 cially the time for new formations of thought. A child 
 can not carry one line of thought far, but when he is tired 
 of one thing he has vitality still left for something else. 
 
 (III.) Vitality is stronger than the power of consecu- 
 tive thought in most persons engaged in the manual occu- 
 pations of life ; hence several arguments, though not so 
 demonstrative, will generally have more weight with them 
 than a single proof more elaborately developed and ap- 
 plied. 
 
 (IV.) If we would develop the largest intellectual 
 power, we must give the mind time to grow when the 
 body is comparatively rested. 
 
 (V.) If children do hard mental work in school, their 
 vitality out of school will be less. When they show an 
 exuberance of vitality on going out of the school-room, 
 it may be inferred there has been little real work 
 
MENTAL AND VITAL FORCE. 
 
 85 
 
 inside. It is noticed that when children are sent home 
 from a properly conducted Kindergarten there is no dis- 
 position to show that overflow of spirits which a healthy 
 child is so apt to display on leaving what is to him the 
 confinement of an ordinary school-room. 
 
 (VI.) In case hard intellectual work is to be required, 
 only so much vitality should be given to physical exercise 
 as is needed to secure healthy action of the vital organs. 
 In case of feebleness of the body, the mind should rest 
 and give all the vitality to the body. Derangement of 
 some vital organ is to be distinguished from feebleness. 
 Sometimes mental exercise, especially of an emotional 
 character, is the best stimulus that can be given to dis- 
 ordered physical energy. 
 
 (VII.) Problems which we can not face at night with 
 exhausted physical powers may often be easily met and 
 overcome after sleep and rest. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LAWS OF REFLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. 
 
 we compare the third definition of^ 
 consciousness with the General Law for 
 mental development, we shall see how im- 
 portant a place in the science of education 
 is occupied by consciousness. It will be 
 seen, as we proceed, that it is important at every step. 
 It is not only important in organizing new notions and 
 new thought, but it is equally important in considering 
 distinctness of thought. A large part of the attention of 
 the teacher must be given to developing the indistinct, 
 and this is only done by developing consciousness. It is 
 for this reason that so much space was given to the con- 
 sideration of the character of this element in thought, and 
 that an effort was made to carry the analysis of mental 
 operations further in this direction than is usual in search 
 of a definite conception of it. 
 
 We may now consider some of the laws under which 
 consciousness is developed. 
 
 Law I. — Consciousness begins with the Activity of 
 THE Senses. 
 
 7^fW/ Proof. — By observation it is found that the first 
 manifestation of reflective consciousness in infancy is in 
 connection with impressions upon the senses. 
 
 Second Proof. — The earliest notions of childhood are of 
 objects of sense. 
 
 (86) 
 
 ^ 
 
BEGINNING OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 87 
 
 Third Proof. — The most intellectual conceptions are 
 developed by abstraction from the conception of objects 
 of sense-perception. 
 
 Fourth Proof. — What are called a priori conceptions are 
 developed through perception. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) A foundation for all the forms of mental growth 
 must be laid in sense-activity. Consciousness can not 
 build unless it finds material in the products of sense- 
 activity, and the character of the mind will depend upon 
 what consciousness finds to build with. The fullness of 
 conscious life depends upon the variety and character of 
 the experience of the senses, as well as upon the tendency 
 of consciousness to organize from these the higher forms 
 of intellectual being. 
 
 (II.) There is strong evidence to favor the conclusion 
 that continued sense-activity is essential to continued con- 
 sciousness. The eyes are closed, the light shut out, and 
 quiet sought when a person desires to sleep. Anaesthetics 
 quiet the nerves of sensation so that light will not arouse 
 the sight, sound the ear, nor injury the touch, so long as 
 unconsciousness lasts. It is said that a 'German boy who 
 had lost the sense of touch, and the use of one eye and 
 one ear by disease, could be put to sleep immediately by 
 closing the sensitive eye and stopping the sensitive ear. 
 But the ability to form conceptions that have been ac- 
 quired through the eye and ear continues when these 
 senses are lost. 
 
 (III.) Every experience will be built into the Hfe and 
 character somehow. Consciousness will make some use 
 of all the material the senses furnish. Unmixed good 
 and unmixed evil are very uncommon, so that there are 
 
88 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 but few things which we say should never be done, and 
 few that we may always allow. But this does not make it 
 a matter of indifference what is forbidden and what is 
 allowed. On the contrary, the greatest care should be 
 taken to determine what is beneficial and what injurious, 
 and use the one and refuse the other. Some boys asso- 
 ciate the conversation and the manners of low company 
 with a character which they despise, and they avoid them 
 in every way possible. There is little need of guarding 
 them against these vices. The imaginations of other boys 
 run riot in scenes of vice, and when once the mind has 
 been tainted through such experiences it is almost impos- 
 sible to build up noble thoughts. Every thing has some- 
 thing in it that a depraved consciousness may turn to evil 
 account. 
 
 The reading of bad books, together with observation 
 of the conduct of vicious and criminal associates that 
 have an attraction for boys is, perhaps, the cause of more 
 wickedness and lower vices than any other one thing 
 unless we must except intemperance. 
 
 (IV.) Not only can control be exercised in regard to 
 what experiences shall be had, but the use of them may 
 also be directed through the attention. The character of 
 a lie, of passion, of hatred, of selfishness may be so 
 pointed out as to cause an aversion to them, and great 
 patience should be exercised in the endeavor to do this. 
 We should especially point out the wrong motives that 
 actuate the selfish and the unworthy character of unjust, 
 oppressive, and criminal men who sometimes appear in 
 the light of attractive heroes. 
 
 (V.) The structure of character is largely determined 
 in early childhood. Some have estimated that character 
 is more than half determined at the age of two and one 
 half years, others at five or six. These estimates are not 
 
GROWTH OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 89 
 
 based upon the extent of the growth, but upon the nature 
 of it, and its power in determining the direction of future 
 growths. Consciousness builds the new always into the 
 old, and the new experience is most easily identified and 
 unified with that which is most prominent in the character 
 estabHshed. From this point of view, the estimates given 
 above are not so unreasonable. 
 
 Law II. — Consciousness is Developed by Degrees : 
 A. From the Indefinite to the Definite. B. From 
 THE Obscure to the Clear. C. From Doubt to 
 Certainty. 
 
 Proof. — The slow development of consciousness in 
 animate beings in general has been alluded to, also its 
 growth in the improvement of races and in the progress 
 of the individual. It needs only to be added to these 
 facts that development of consciousness is gradual in 
 each separate mental activity. 
 
 A. Consciousness Develops from the Ltdefinite to the 
 Definite. 
 
 The form, the parts, and the qualities of objects are not 
 determined with exactness by the first impulse of percep- 
 tion. Consciousness meets with these differences in the 
 senses, and gradually recognizes them. This law points 
 out the natural order for description and definition. The 
 object should be set forth by something from which it can 
 be recognized in its general relations, and the attention 
 should then be called to the features that are more pe- 
 culiar, and finally an exact description given. In describ- 
 ing a piece of property, a deed runs somewhat as follows : 
 
 * ' All that tract of land situated in the village of , 
 
 township No. — ," and so forth, ''and bounded as 
 follows." Those things which can be represented most 
 
 S. E.-8. 
 
90 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 easily, and which will aid most in forming an exact con- 
 ception to which other parts of the description may be 
 added so as to form a consistent whole should be given 
 first, and the details should follow. 
 
 B. — Consciousness Develops from the Obscure to the Dis- 
 tinct. 
 
 (i.) The activity of the senses in perception is more 
 instantaneously distinct than conceptions brought back in 
 memory and the thoughts conveyed by language. The 
 eye will reveal in a moment what it would require a long 
 time to tell, though our language were as rapid as it is 
 possible for one to follow with distinct thought. Yet 
 even the activity of the senses begins in obscurity. The 
 first conscious impressions require days or even weeks to 
 develop into distinctness. Memory, in its first efforts to 
 recall the past, only brings back a dim remembrance 
 which must be developed into clearness. Comparison 
 brings out a sense of likeness and difference but slowly, 
 and" argument requires time to make itself distinctly 
 felt. 
 
 (2.) When a truth is properly presented, time should be 
 given for consciousness to make it clear. The mind is 
 distracted by multiplying words. In an argument, a few 
 things made clear will have more weight than many well- 
 made points left indistinctly in the mind. All that can be 
 done, at best, is to direct the attention, and this is most 
 satisfactorily accomplished by the mind itself in the effort 
 of consciousness to identify and unite, if the elements 
 have been adequately set forth. If an experiment is to 
 be performed let the steps be orderly and slow, and leave 
 it for the observer to read. If an abstract thought is to 
 be developed from an illustration, be sure to give ample 
 time, and do not suppose words will help when the 
 
GROWTH OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 91 
 
 thought itself is embodied before the mind. Oftentimes 
 a teacher has an itching desire to display his own appreci- 
 ation of a truth, or the beauty of an experiment, and 
 takes the thought out of a pupil's mind by setting forth 
 his own notions, and almost inevitably misleads by some 
 word or emphasis that is not so suggestive of the truth as 
 the fact itself. It is like the commentary on Pilgrim's 
 Progress which Dr. Thomas Scott presented to a friend 
 whom he thought too iUiterate to understand the noble 
 thoughts of Bunyan without explanation. When the 
 author asked his friend how he enjoyed the book, he was 
 told it was all very clear except the notes. 
 
 (3.) Some conceptions require much time under the 
 most favorable circumstances to develop into distinctness. 
 We have seen how slowly the idea of consciousness itself 
 has made its way in the thoughts of men. The term a 
 priori suggests a conception which has floated in obscurity 
 down the ages, and does not now find an explanation 
 satisfactory to all, because it is so indistinct in its abstract- 
 ness that all can not see it alike. But there are some 
 truths which the development of the race has made it 
 possible so to present as to arouse with certainty a clear 
 consciousness of what they are and of their vaUdity. 
 The fundamentals of these truths are mainly embodied 
 in those things that are taught in schools. It is the chief 
 business of the school to develop these fundamental truths 
 that have been worked out into clear consciousness in the 
 race in such a way that the young may go out into the 
 world with their minds furnished with these clear concep- 
 tions abreast of the age in which they live. 
 
 (4.) Clearness of conception should be the constant 
 aim. In preparing a reading lesson, for example, the 
 sentence should be so studied that a glance will bring its 
 thought into consciousness as a unit. The reader should 
 
92 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 no more advance in the sentence word by word, in con- 
 ceiving it, than he does letter by letter in conceiving the 
 word. In studying Arithmetic, the pupil gets nothing of 
 practical value that he does not master by a clear concep- 
 tion. Abstract as the subject is in its essence, there is not 
 a principle nor a process that can not be illustrated, and 
 this makes the subject well adapted to children. Not less 
 should every principle of Grammar be made so clear that 
 a rule or statement will mean something real. To carry 
 out this Law in practical teaching, a teacher must learn to 
 wait. By experience he will learn where to wait. 
 
 C. — Consciousness Develops from Doubt to Certainty. 
 
 ( I.) When two things compared together are brought 
 into consciousness as being what they are individually by 
 an act of perception or of memory, it requires a still 
 further act identifying them. This act is not instanta- 
 neous, but it progresses from doubt to certainty. The 
 unification is at first hypothetical, then probable, then 
 certain. The degree of conscious assurance is shown by 
 the manner of asserting identity between subject and 
 predicate, and is expressed sometimes by the mood of the 
 verb, and sometimes by such modal adverbs as perhaps^ 
 possibly, probably, certainly, which modify, not the predi- 
 cate, but the copula ; and such expressions as / suppose, I 
 think, I am sure, used parenthetically. Thus, in the lines 
 of Milton, 
 
 " Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep 
 Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep," 
 
 perhaps implies no obscurity of the conception, but the 
 uncertainty is ifn the connection expressed by was. The 
 writer could not make his assertion positively. As we 
 
LIMIT OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 93 
 
 regard the two members of a comparison attentively, the 
 mind becomes gradually fixed in its positive assertion of 
 identity. 
 
 (2.) The assertion of non-identity, or the denial of a 
 thing, is a logical deduction from a failure to find identity, 
 or it is based on such a law as the law of contradiction, 
 that a thing can not both be and not be at the same 
 time. This assertion of non-identity, then, depends in 
 the first place upon the power of the mind to identify, 
 and is gradual in its development. 
 
 i 
 Law III. — Definite, Clear, and Positive Conscious- 
 ness IS the Limit of Mental Development. 
 
 J^t'rsl Proof. — This Law may be drawn from the General 
 Law of development and the preceding Law. If devel- 
 opment depends on identification, and identification 
 progresses toward a definite, clear, and positive con- 
 sciousness, then these are the limit of development. 
 
 Second Proof. — When the mind becomes satisfied that 
 it has reached the boundaries of a field of thought, and 
 all its features are clearly brought out, and consciousness 
 has classified its truths with certainty, we cease to specu- 
 late in regard to it, and look for other fields to develop. 
 One who catches at unimportant and fancied resem- 
 blances, and wastes his time in testing the fictitious, is 
 like a man who threshes over the same old straw from 
 which the wheat has already been separated, or like the 
 miner who hoards fool's gold. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) On the truth of this Law depends the progress of 
 civilization. The rule is generally laid down in Methods 
 
94 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 of Teaching that the teacher should follow the order of 
 nature. But the objection arises at once that nature 
 treats all alike, and if each generation learns as the gen- 
 eration preceding it learned there could be no progress. 
 The Law here laid down meets the objection. The 
 order of nature does not require the child to wander in 
 all the by-ways of life, and stumble against all the ob- 
 stacles that lie in the devious paths his father trod. 
 When the direct road to a given end has been made 
 plain and sure by the experience of one generation, the 
 next may follow it without exploring all the winding 
 paths which led pioneers astray. 
 
 (II.) In this law we find a basis for the trust which is 
 naturally placed in authority. When a clear and definite 
 statement is made, if we put confidence in the intelli- 
 gence and honesty of its author, consciousness asks no 
 more for the sake of certainty, and the mind rests in this 
 authority. Mistakes from credulity render us cautious, 
 but trust in authority is a necessary principle of mental 
 activity. 
 
 Law IV. — Mental Energy is Lost in Proportion 
 AS it Falls Short of Developing into Definite, 
 Clear, and Positive Consciousness. 
 
 First Proof. — In seeking to gain an understanding of 
 any truth, our knowledge must be clear, definite, and 
 positive, to be of use. If it fails in these respects it is 
 not relied upon nor cherished in the memory, and the 
 energy spent in gaining a dim and uncertain understand- 
 ing is more or less wasted. 
 
 Second Proof. — If the feelings are excited, they will be 
 developed in proportion to the completeness with which 
 the activity comes into consciousness. Harmony of 
 
LIMIT OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 95 
 
 sound and color must strike the ear and eye with a clear 
 and positive sense of beauty or it will fail to develop the 
 taste. Moral truth must strike the conscience as clearly 
 and positively moral truth or it will be no guide for life. 
 Third Proof. — In the case of voHtions, the law is still 
 more plainly applicable. A voUtion is completed only 
 when a conscious effort is put forth to attain an object 
 desired. Any thing short of this effort is a failure of 
 volition. But when a desire becomes definite, clear, and 
 positive, it results in an effort of the will, while it falls 
 short of a voluntary effort if it fails of these characteris- 
 tics. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) As undertakings should, in general, be carried 
 through to completion in order to make them profitable, 
 so in order to succeed in d'eveloping intellectual power, 
 mental activity must be continued till permanent forms 
 are gained. It has been a criticism of the early battles 
 fought in Virginia for the preservation of the Union that 
 they were not fought through. Many a lesson is lost, 
 many an intellectual struggle is rendered fruitless by be- 
 ing cut short before the end is reached. There should 
 be a distinct end in some unification, and it should be 
 held that until this is gained nothing is gained. Take, 
 for instance, the inventor. However perfectly he may 
 conceive of some parts of his machine, it is of no value 
 until he gains a clear conception of all the parts in com- 
 bination as one working machine. 
 
 (II.) To avoid waste of energy from a failure to carry 
 out an intellectual undertaking, a teacher should exercise 
 care not to make lessons too difficult. A short and sim- 
 ple task, well mastered, is worth more than a long and 
 difficult one half done. The habit of sitting and poring 
 
g6 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 over books from which not an idea is gained, and of 
 moping over a recitation or a task in composition, when 
 there is no clear thought to express, is ahke a waste of 
 time, a waste of energy, and an injurious habit. 
 
 (III.) It should be remarked that, according to this 
 Law, we are not justified in laying down the rule that 
 pupils should never be required to commit to memory 
 what they do not understand, unless we limit the mean- 
 ing of "understand." If a pupil is studying a lesson for 
 the purpose of gaining an understanding of its contents, 
 it should be within his ability to understand; but if he 
 is studying it to commit to memory, it may possibly be 
 that no attention should be paid to the question of his 
 understanding it first. Other things being equal, the 
 laws of memory would require an understanding first, 
 but we come to understand nothing perfectly, and some 
 truths may be profitably stored in the memory for future 
 use before the understanding is developed to do more 
 than grasp the outlines. 
 
 (IV.) The truths that should be taught without refer- 
 ence to an understanding of all that is involved in them 
 at first are those fundamental truths which have grown 
 with the slow growth of civilization, and are the basis of 
 thought and action. Too much time may be spent in 
 trying to develop the principles of the decimal system of 
 notation before practice in writing and reading numbers 
 is required. All the principles of number are involved 
 in addition and subtraction, or perhaps even in addition, 
 but it would . not be profitable to detain a child on these 
 fundamental operations till these principles were devel- 
 oped. What is simple about them, and what can be 
 readily understood, should be made clear, and then the 
 processes may be employed in advanced work. In the 
 same way, fundamental moral principles should be laid 
 
BENT OF MENTAL ENERGY. 97 
 
 down for practical guidance without reference to doubt- 
 ful and puzzling questions that may arise in connection 
 with them. 
 
 Law V. — Degradation into the More Uncertain, 
 Obscure, and Indefinite is the Direction of Least 
 Resistance in Mental Energy when Excited to Ac- 
 tivity. 
 
 First Proof. — To hold even one of the most famiHar 
 truths before the mind so that it stands out in conscious- 
 ness in all its outlines and details as a certainty, requires 
 more energy than to hold it in dim outline, and accept its 
 validity because we see no reason to deny it. 
 
 Second Proof. — The faculties of the mind generally tend 
 in the direction of the uncertain, obscure, and indefinite, 
 unless the energy of the mind is continually stimulated to 
 renewed activity. 
 
 Third Proof. — In passing from an easier to a more diffi- 
 cult form of activity, as from perception to reasoning, the 
 consciousness is at first more vague and less certain, and 
 requires an additional impulse to make the reasoning dis- 
 tinct. Generalizations and abstractions require a strong 
 effort to bring them into perfect consciousness. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 The waste of mental energy from failing to develop a 
 perfect consciousness, and from the consequent degrada- 
 tion and dissipation of force, is the most serious loss to 
 which the mind is subject in its struggle to gain power. 
 When we consider the time spent in studying truths which 
 are not incorporated with the mind, when we consider the 
 feeble response awakened by the myriad forms of beauty 
 that continually appeal to the eye and ear, and the feeble 
 
 S. E.-9. 
 
98 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 response of conscience to the beauty of moral truths and 
 deeds of righteousness, when we think ^f the drudgeries 
 of work that in our conception are only related to exist- 
 ence instead of being built into a noble, exalted, and hal- 
 lowed life, we can see something of the fearful waste of 
 energy that comes from making the aim, the unifying 
 principle of Hfe, so narrow that eflfort is dwarfed, and 
 actual achievement loses its value. The loss comes from 
 ceasing to fight before the battle is finished. The energy 
 excited to activity will be conserved only as we make the 
 end of life true and large enough to afford a distinct and 
 sure place for every deed worthily done, and every 
 thought truly gained, an end that will harmonize them 
 all in conscious unity. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 NATIVE ACTIVITY. 
 
 Y Native Activity is meant the activity 
 of native energy. This is what is usually 
 called self-activity. Attraction may be 
 said to be a native activity of matter, be- 
 cause it is a power dependent upon the 
 nature of the attracting body, which other bodies only 
 make manifest by calling it into action. Resistance in 
 matter is a native activity when it is manifested in repul- 
 sion. When a child sees an object which it desires, and 
 reaches out its hand for it, we trace the action to the 
 native activity of the will, a power called into exercise by 
 the presence of the object desired. 
 
 2. That the powers of the mind are not to be traced to 
 any force belonging to matter has been shown in the 
 chapter on Physiological Relations. But it is of so great 
 importance for the teacher to recognize the fact that all 
 activity of the mind is native activity, that the subject is 
 taken up here in detail, and the special laws of the mind 
 in relation to it given more at large. 
 
 Law L— All Mental Activities Spring from a 
 Latent Power of Activity Native to the Mind. 
 
 First Proof. — Perception is a native activity. That 
 there is a relation between an object seen and the organic 
 sense of sight, such that the vibratory motion coming 
 
 (99) 
 
rOO ' ' " " JHE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 <"' ' frOm-an objefct'is transferred to the optic nerve in a man- 
 ner similar to the transmission of force from one object to 
 another when motions of other kinds are produced, seems 
 a reasonable explanation of the conditions for vision. 
 But this is not sight. Light from an object makes an im- 
 pression on the sensitized plate of a camera. But we do 
 not say the camera sees the object. The question may 
 be asked how we know the camera does not see the 
 object. Such a question is sometimes put as if to throw 
 doubt on the distinction made between mental energy and 
 physical force. But it is rather an evidence of the 
 necessity for the distinction. The very asking of the 
 question shows that no one is so bold as to say that the 
 physical impression is sight. The question assumes that 
 for sight lo be possible there must be some power of con- 
 sciousness in the camera to perceive, and the thing asked 
 for is how we know there is not this consciousness there. 
 In order to produce any perception there must be not 
 only an impression, such as that of light on the sensitized 
 plate, but an activity comparing this with other impres- 
 sions of the past, and such a comparison always implies 
 mind as its source. The activity of perception, then, can 
 be traced to mind and no further. The moment we leave 
 conscious mind we get no activity of perception. 
 
 If perception is a native activity, then all the higher 
 exercises of consciousness are native activities. In the 
 first place, they all depend on the perceptions, and with- 
 out the native activity of perception they could not exist. 
 In the second place, whatever is peculiar to these activi- 
 ties, that is, whatever belongs to them apart from percep- 
 tion, can only be traced to inherent powers of the mind. 
 After perception, there is no element of power introduced 
 from abroad. In the third place, the same element of 
 comparison which is found in perception is found as an 
 
ACTIVITY AND NATIVE ENERGY: ' - ■ loi 
 
 essential element in all cognitions, and the ' feelings Irid' 
 volitions depend on the cognitions. 
 
 Second Proof. — In what we call the interchange of 
 thought, or the imparting of instruction or information, 
 the ideas must be formed in the mind of the learner by 
 his own mental activity. All the instructor can do is to 
 represent ideas by symbols that have no resemblance 
 to the form of the ideas in his mind, whether they be 
 vocal sounds or written characters, and the learner must 
 have the power to form the same ideas in his mind, or he 
 will fail to follow the thought expressed by the symbols. 
 There is no transfer of mental power from one mind to 
 another, either directly or indirectly. However plainly 
 an idea may be represented, it will have no effect on a 
 mind that is not in a condition to form it for itself. The 
 principles of science are not more clearly manifest in 
 nature to-day than formerly, and the ancients had minds 
 to formulate the laws of science as we have, but the 
 minds of men have only been prepared by degrees to see 
 these principles and infer the laws. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The teacher should reaHze the limited range of 
 duties to which his responsibilities are confined. He can 
 not think for his pupils, he can not feel for them, he can 
 not form resolutions for them. For him to set his 
 thoughts, feelings, and resolutions before them, and think 
 he has imparted these exercises of his mind, and that his 
 pupils have them because he has set them forth clearly, is 
 a piece of self-deception, and the most common of all a 
 teacher's mistakes; and it is, if possible, more harmful 
 than common. Examination day reveals startling mis- 
 takes of pupils that a teacher would not imagine possible 
 
' ' 102' ' ' ' •' THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 </',', <•',', ! i' 1 ' 
 
 '' • ''' 'when'lte is tryiifg to give instruction, but which, from the 
 
 pupil's point of view, are more natural inferences than 
 
 the truth would be. 
 
 ( II.) The teacher should not expect a pupil to take his 
 place in looking at a subject, but he should himself seek 
 the position of the pupil, and try to bring truth within 
 the range of clear vision from that point of view. Legis- 
 lators who mingle with the people, lawyers who know the 
 men likely to sit in the jury box, ministers who make 
 themselves acquainted with the daily lives of the members 
 of their congregations, and teachers who become familiar 
 with the grade of intelligence of their pupils, with the 
 thoughts that are accustomed to occupy their minds, and 
 with their habitual conduct under various influences, have 
 a great advantage in doing effective work. A whole 
 battery of artillery fired at random may fail to drive a 
 squad of the enemy from the woods, when a few well- 
 directed rifle-shots would scatter them at once. The 
 teacher should economize time and energy by adapting 
 himself to the thing that needs to be done. 
 
 (III.) In teaching, one should aim at individuals 
 rather than at a class as a whole. The method of teach- 
 ing pupils by classes instead of separately is liable to lead 
 to the neglect of individuals. Especially is there danger 
 if a teacher depends much upon answers given in concert. 
 If one pupil gains the thought desired, another is likely 
 to do the same, and the portion of the class that needs 
 the development of that thought, and is prepared for it, 
 will receive precise and certain instruction. Other por- 
 tions of the class will be taken in the same way for what 
 they most need in their turn. 
 
 (IV.) Teachers should guard against being too severe 
 in their judgments. They should bear in mind that pupils 
 are not educated up to their standard, or they would not 
 
ADAPTATION TO INDIVIDUALS. I03 
 
 need instruction from them. Children should be judged 
 in the light of their attainments and capacities. By taking 
 pains to find out the mental and moral ground on which a 
 pupil stands, the teacher will not only increase his ability to 
 give the aid required, but he will awaken expectation and 
 hope in the mind of the child. The consciousness of the 
 power to do a child good will also strengthen the desire to 
 do what is already the teacher's duty, and often the better 
 understanding will modify the judgment as to the child's 
 character. Teachers often complain that parents do not 
 know what their children do at school. If the teachers 
 realized what forces secure better conduct from the same 
 children at home, they would make better use of the op- 
 portunities and advantages that come to them. 
 
 (V.) A pupil gains a conception of a subject which is 
 not in the form of the teacher's conception of it. It is 
 perhaps not the best form, but it is the way in which the 
 subject presents itself to the pupil, and the conception has 
 truth in it. But the study of the subject all goes for 
 naught because the teacher sets up a standard by which 
 the pupil's thoughts can not fairly be judged. If the 
 pupil has really studied, and if his thoughts are capable 
 of being made clear and consistent, it is better to lead 
 him to continue his notions to their legitimate conclusion, 
 and then point out a better way, if there be one, than to 
 stop his thinking entirely by attempting to substitute 
 foreign thoughts for his own. Any honest effort to express 
 thoughts that come from honest study is worthy of con- 
 sideration. 
 
 (VI.) A teacher should show the same fairness in esti- 
 mating the value of answers to questions in examination. 
 Some answers may be called perfect, and some failures, 
 and many will lie between the two extremes. In some 
 cases there is no middle ground, but generally a pupil 
 
I04 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 may show a commendable knowledge of a subject without 
 being perfect. 
 
 (VII.) The individuality of pupils should be studied 
 and their best powers developed. Differences in native 
 endowment, and differences in training lead individuals 
 to form different views of the same subject presented in 
 the same light. Each should be allowed his own view, 
 because it is his as much as his hands or his eyes, and he 
 should be encouraged to hold it, so far as it conforms to 
 the truth, and an effort should be made to supplement 
 each view with that which is necessary to harmony. Two 
 persons visit Niagara Falls. One looks upon the scene 
 with wonder and admiration, and sits down to express his 
 ideas and his emotions on canvas. The other sets him- 
 self to work to devise some plan by which the power he 
 sees displayed may be saved for the use of man. The 
 two may not have a thought in common, and yet each 
 displays the highest skill in his own way. If the artist 
 were to be judged by a commercial standard, he would 
 be rated very low. The same would be the judgment if 
 the inventor were tried simply by the rules of art. If the 
 artist had been educated only in mechanical pursuits, and 
 the inventor only in art, no standard of judgment would 
 place either of them very high. Neither could be fairly 
 Judged till his best powers had been developed. 
 
 (VIII.) Sometimes the best powers of a man escape 
 observation till late in life, when they are suddenly 
 brought to light by the force of circumstances, of which 
 no artificial system of training can take the place. Such 
 in an eminent degree were Oliver Cromwell and General 
 Grant, and such in a lower measure are many others, 
 whom nothing but the actual struggles of life seem able to 
 arouse to the display of their greatest powers. But while 
 no school can be made a complete substitute for experi- 
 
NATIVE ACTIVITY DEVELOPED. I05 
 
 ence, it nevertheless remains true that nature has appointed 
 the time of life when large experience of the world is im- 
 possible as the time of the greatest plastic possibilities of 
 the mind. It is clear from this order of nature that the 
 mental faculties should be largely developed before the 
 responsibilities of life are felt in their fullness, and that 
 the teacher should not leave the most fruitful powers of 
 one to lie dormant because they differ from the powers 
 of another. 
 
 (IX.) The teacher should not be satisfied till the pupils 
 have clothed their thoughts in some form of clear and 
 correct expression. Only in this way can he make him- 
 self sure what these thoughts are. It is not enough that 
 a class appears interested. This is only an indication of 
 the degree of activity, — not of the kind or value. The 
 ideas may be numerous and entirely erroneous or of little 
 use. 
 
 Law II. — Native Activity is Developed by a Suc- 
 cession OF Different Impressions. 
 
 First Proof. — This law is but a direct application of 
 the general law of mental activity. The natural tendency 
 of mental energy to unification is native activity, and as 
 unification is equilibrium, it requires differences to excite 
 action. 
 
 Second Proof. — Every scientific discovery brings to light 
 many new discriminations, and serves as a new impulse 
 to mental activity. The discoveries and inventions of 
 Harvey and Jenner, of Copernicus and Newton, and of 
 Watt and Morse, have marked epochs in the world's 
 progress, and increased the sum of its activities. 
 
 Third Proof. — The development of new industries 
 opens a wider range and creates greater diversity in the 
 
Io6 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 objects that engage thought, and thereby gives a new- 
 impetus to mental activity. 
 
 Fourth Proof. — The division of labor narrows the range 
 of necessary thought for any one individual, and dimin- 
 ishes mental activity. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The most important means of stimulating thought 
 is experience. All else depends upon this. When we are 
 told how small a proportion of the city children have 
 ever seen a cow, a reaper, or a plow, and how small a 
 proportion of country children know any thing of city 
 life and habits, we should reahze the necessity of training 
 the senses, and furnishing them with the knowledge of 
 experience before attempting to draw inferences for them' 
 by the use of words that have to them no meaning. 
 When it is said that one half of the world does not know 
 of what the other half is thinking, it might be added that 
 it would not know if it were told, for it has had no such 
 experience. 
 
 (II.) Pictures, language, and other signs, when under- 
 stood, represent a wide range of objects of thought almost 
 instantaneously, and should be substituted for objects as 
 soon as they are clearly comprehended. Language is es- 
 pecially the means of stimulating thought, because of its 
 ability to condense truths and make clear distinctions, and 
 because of the readiness with which it may be used. If 
 we are sometimes astonished that people have seen so 
 little of life, we should be more astonished at their in- 
 ability to name, or in any way represent to themselves a 
 large proportion of the things they see. Language should 
 be cultivated side by side with experience as a means of 
 stimulating mental activity. 
 
AIM OF A QUESTION. I07 
 
 (III.) One of the most important means of stimulating 
 thought is questioning. This art should be studied alike 
 with respect to its aim, its logical order, the subject about 
 which something is asked, the predicate, and the form. 
 By the aim of a question is meant the thought it is de- 
 signed to stimulate. By the form of a question is meant, 
 in this connection, the force of the copula as determined 
 by its form, position, and modifiers. From this law, 
 three rules for questioning may be drawn in regard to 
 the. aim of a question. 
 
 Rule i. — Let a^ery question he based on a clear discrimi- 
 nation, possible to the mind of the pupil. This is a neces- 
 sity, to stimulate activity. If a teacher asks for the sub- 
 ject of the lesson, when the lesson is miscellaneous, the 
 question is not discriminating. Any question that applies 
 to one subject as well as to another is not discriminating. 
 The question should set the mind to thinking on some 
 point essential to the lesson. It is not enough that a 
 point is marked off by differences ; it should be marked 
 off by such differences as lead the mind to connect it 
 with the general thought, or it will lead to confusion, not 
 to clear discrimination. To ask who is the author of a 
 certain historical statement, and who is the author of a 
 mathematical demonstration, are questions equally distinct 
 in themselves, but they do not equally lead the mind to 
 proper discrimination. In the first case, the authorship 
 largely fixes the value of a statement. In the latter case, 
 to associate authority and reasoning is misleading. 
 
 Rule 2. — Let the questions of a lesson present diversity. 
 The teacher should be prepared to call up in succession a 
 variety of distinct topics, to maintain activity in the minds 
 of pupils. The remark should be repeated here, which 
 has been made elsewhere, that to be tired of a thing does 
 not of necessity imply exhaustion. To dwell on a single 
 
Io8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 topic with distinctions too slight to impress the mind of a 
 pupil makes the mind dull, and develops no power. No 
 set time should be allotted a point, nor should a teacher 
 dwell upon each part of a lesson with the same degree of 
 particularity, without regard to what the pupil knows 
 before he begins; but a point should be held up until 
 clearly perceived, and then a different point should be 
 immediately entered upon. To be able to pass from 
 point to point rapidly, and make the points distinct and 
 various, requires careful preparation. 
 
 Rule 3. — Let the questions on a lesson be complete as a 
 whole, so as to lead to the completion of the unification in 
 the end. However rapidly some of the points are passed 
 over, all should be brought up to the mind, that each 
 part of the unification may be distinct. 
 
 (IV.) Unification requires that however diverse the 
 topics discussed under a general subject, there should be 
 some clearly discerned element by which they may be 
 bound together, and which shall aid the mind in deter- 
 mining the character of the discriminations to be held in 
 view. 
 
 Law III. — Native Activity is Directed by the 
 Choice and Arrangement of Stimulants. 
 
 As already stated, there is a line of least resistance in 
 the case of mental energy, as of physical, but the mind 
 also seeks the direction of the exciting cause. The proofs 
 of this are conclusive. 
 
 First Proof. — The form of activity in perception, — 
 that is, the perception of color, sound, taste, and so forth, 
 is determined by the stimulus presented to the senses. 
 Memory is determined by the direction given to thought 
 by the will or by some accidental circumstance. The 
 
ACTIVITY MAY BE DIRECTED. I09 
 
 conclusions of reason are determined by the arguments 
 held before the mind. In the same way all the faculties 
 act in the direction of the stimulating cause. 
 
 Second Proof. — When different stimulants act at the 
 same time, one may be so strong as to attract the entire 
 attention, or the energy may be divided and leave the 
 activity indistinct. For instance, the mind may be so 
 active in thinking as to be unconscious of physical pain, 
 or the pain may be so great as to render consecutive 
 thinking impossible, or a slight weariness may render 
 thinking languid, while there is a continual feeling of 
 uneasiness. In any case we see activity following the 
 direction of some stimulus. 
 
 Third Proof. — In the case of the will, opposing motives 
 produce indecision, and the weakest motive prevails and 
 produces activity in its direction if the stronger motives 
 are obscured or cut oif from view. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 ' (I.) The elements of a subject, as they are taken up 
 successively, should be arranged in such order as to lead 
 the mind to form its conception of the whole most natu- 
 rally. What rules may be laid down to determine this 
 order, it will belong to the laws of unification to suggest ; 
 but without these rules it may easily be seen whether a 
 point bears on the end aimed at or not, and a teacher 
 should so present each point he makes that the pupils will 
 see the bearing on the general conception. 
 
 (II.) A question must lead the mind if it stimulates 
 thought. But it should do this by presenting discrimina- 
 tions for comparison. Its form should not suggest the 
 unification sought, or the pupil will accept this and return 
 it for an answer, instead of making the required com- 
 
no THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 parison for himself. It should compel the mind to make 
 the comparison of things and arrange the answer from its 
 unifying of these. This general rule covers the ground 
 of many of the special rules for questioning. Such are 
 the cautions against asking leading questions, giving in 
 a question the information for which it asks, asking ques- 
 tions that can be answered by yes or no or other easy 
 guessing, intimating by voice or by a significant word what 
 answer is expected, and so forth. 
 
 (III.) The following additional rules for questioning 
 may be deduced from this law. 
 
 Rule i. — Let the aim in a question possess a logical order. 
 A series of questions should be progressive, with the pur- 
 pose of drawing out thought in the answers that will fairly 
 represent the entire subject in its completeness, and with 
 a due relation and proportion of parts. 
 
 Rule 2. — Let the subject in a question that is to be com- 
 pared with the predicate for unification be such as can be held 
 in the mind of the pupil as a single unit. 
 
 Rule 3. — Let the subject be definite^ that it may be held 
 without confusion. This requires that it should not only 
 be definite in itself, but also in the mind of the pupil. 
 
 Rule 4. — Let every question be clear in all its parts, that 
 a comparison may reveal identity and non-identity with 
 certainty. 
 
 ( I.) It must be borne in mind that the word simple is 
 relative in its application. What would be simple to one 
 would be complex to another. In Arithmetic, that about 
 which something is asked is often too complex for an un- 
 trained mind, and it should be simplified by dividing the 
 question. The question, What is the cost of a lot 100 
 rods long and 60 rods wide, at $75 per acre? may be 
 easily divided into three parts : how many square rods ? 
 how many acres ? what is the cost ? To make a question 
 
RULES FOR QUESTIONING. Ill 
 
 simple in this way is much better than teaching to imitate 
 the method of its solution. 
 
 (2.) If to the above question it were added that ten 
 acres were swampy and worthless, the subject would be 
 made indefinite ; that is, it does not indicate itself what 
 conditions^are to be put together and identified in the 
 result. The swampy land would be looked upon natu- 
 rally as affecting the result, but when the question is exam- 
 ined carefully, it is found it has nothing to do with 
 ''what is the cost?" It leads only to confusion, and is 
 opposed to activity. 
 
 (3.) The subject should be clear in itself. In the last 
 case the subject was clear when standing alone, but was 
 indefinite when compared with the predicate. A subject 
 may be definite and not clearly put. The terms used 
 should be such as to be clearly understood, and they 
 should stand in a natural order. 
 
 (4.) A question may be asked either to lead to activity 
 of the faculty of judgment or to determine certainty of 
 judgment. In the first case, the question should present 
 variety for comparison; in the second place, definiteness 
 of the objects to be compared. 
 
 To develop activity. Rules five, six, and seven are 
 given, as follows: 
 
 Rule 5. — Let the predicate in a question be general ; that 
 is, let it designate a class of things to which the subject 
 belongs, and with which comparison may be made for 
 identification. It should indicate a sufficient number of 
 things to develop judgment. 
 
 Rule 6. — Let the predicate be definite, in order that when 
 the comparison is made the identification may be certain. 
 Sometimes a definite predicate is not clear to a child, in 
 which case clearness must be developed before certainty 
 is possible. 
 
112 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Rule 7. — Let the predicate be unambiguous. The mind 
 should not be leftXin doubt by holding up two sets of 
 ideas with which tcy^compare the subject. 
 
 Rule 8. — To develop certainty of judgment^ let the 
 predicate be simple^ definite^ a?id clear like the subject and 
 for similar reasons. ^ 
 
 Rule 9. — Let the mode of asking a question be without 
 prejudice. Nothing in the tone, inflection, or modifica- 
 tion of the copula should indicate what answer ought to 
 be given. Having the two terms of the comparison, the 
 identification ought to be left to consciousness. Yet, if 
 there is reason to fear that an answer has been made or 
 will be made without thought, a misleading tone or form 
 of question may be a good method of detecting it. 
 
 The rules for questioning derived from this law may be 
 summed up and tabulated as follows : 
 
 A. General Rule. — A question should develop com- 
 parison and unification in consciousness. 
 
 B. Special Rules. 
 
 (i.) The aim in a question should be adapted to a 
 logical order. 
 
 (2.) The subject should be 
 
 1. A simple unit. 
 
 2. Definite. 
 -?. Clear. 
 
 (3.) The Predicate 
 
 To lead to ac- 
 tivity should be 
 
 I 
 To determine 
 certainty 
 should be 
 
 1. General. 
 
 2. Definite. 
 
 3. Unambiguous. 
 
 1. Simple. 
 
 2. Definite. 
 
 3. Clear. 
 
RULES FOR QUESTIONING. II3 
 
 (4.) The form or mode of the question should be 
 without prejudice. 
 
 C. Illustrations. — Skillful questioning so well illus- 
 trates the laws of development, and the art is so important, 
 that some examples are here given to make the above 
 Rules more clear and to enforce their importance. 
 
 (i.) Suppose a teacher to be giving a lesson to children 
 on plants. He may tell them that if they will examine, 
 they will generally find that the flowers have an outer 
 cup of a green color, called a calyx, which is separated 
 into leaves called sepals; that inside the calyx is another 
 cup, blue, white, or some other color, called a corolla, 
 the leaves of which are called petals ; that around inside 
 the corolla is a row of thread-like stems called stamens; 
 and in the center, a slender stem different from the 
 stamens called a pistil. He may describe the shapes 
 and uses of the different parts, tell how the plant is 
 nourished, what chemical changes are produced, and so 
 forth, till he has given a complete description of plants in 
 general, and explained clearly the processes of growth 
 and fruitage. 
 
 The lesson may be very plain to the teacher, and 
 it may seem to him so simple, accurate, and orderly 
 that no one can miss the different points. But if we 
 ask what is the value of the lesson to the class, we 
 must not be satisfied with their expressions of wonder, 
 nor with what the lesson contains; we must ask how 
 much unified thought it has developed. Taking this as 
 a basis of judgment, we shall find that the children have 
 been able to form very few notions corresponding to the 
 notions of their teacher, because they have never observed 
 plants in a way to gain concepts of the things described, 
 and that the lesson, which seems so perfect in itself, is 
 almost valueless to them. 
 
 s. E.-IO. 
 
114 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (2.) Let US now suppose a method of questioning adopt- 
 ed for the same lesson, with sp>ecimens before the class. 
 
 If different kinds of flowers are taken, and the fact is 
 first developed that some have the calyx and others do 
 not, Rule I will be violated, because an attempt is made 
 to classify flowers before developing the idea of a flower. 
 
 If flowers of a single kind are given and the children 
 are asked what they see about them, they will give differ- 
 ent answers. This shows that the subject asked about is 
 not a simple unit. One unifies one part of it, and another 
 another part. 
 
 If the question is asked how many parts are found in 
 the flower, the subject, ''parts," will be indefinite, for the 
 children have not yet learned where to make the divisions. 
 
 If the seed is small and it be asked what is its shape, 
 the subject will lack clearness. It may require a glass 
 and some experience to see distinctly the form of a small 
 seed. 
 
 On what part of the stamen is the anther found ? con- 
 tains a predicate that calls for little discrimination, and 
 may be used to develop certainty, but not activity of 
 judgment. 
 
 Where do the stamens stand? is ambiguous, for the 
 answer might refer to their being inside the corolla, or 
 their position on some other part of the flower. 
 
 (3.) But if the teacher puts flowers, all of one kind, 
 into the hands of the children, and says he wishes them 
 to take them to pieces, for he is going to tell them about 
 the parts, and then has them begin by taking off" the 
 calyx and laying the sepals by themselves, and so on with 
 the other parts, he may call attention by questions to the 
 differences between the parts, their color, form, number, 
 and so forth, in a manner easily leading to the identifica- 
 tions he desires them to make. 
 
QUESTIONING ILLUSTRATED, II5 
 
 (4.) Let us take an example of questioning bor- 
 rowed from Socrates. 
 
 The following is abridged, but not otherwise changed, 
 from a section of Gorgias, Jowett's translation. Socrates 
 is seeking to show CaUicles that pleasure and pain 
 are not the same thing as good and evil, and that 
 good is not to be sought by wise men for the sake of the 
 pleasant, but the pleasant for the sake of the good. 
 
 After several attempts of Socrates to secure from CaUi- 
 cles a definite answer to the question. Whom do you mean 
 by the better ? the dialogue proceeds : 
 
 Socrates. — I wish, my friend, you would tell me, once 
 for all, whom you affirm to be the better and superior, 
 and in what particular ? 
 
 CaUicles. — I have already told you that I mean those 
 who are wise and courageous in the administration of a 
 State; who ought to be rulers over their States, and 
 ought to have an advantage over their subjects. 
 
 Soc. — What! my friend, are they to have more than 
 themselves ? 
 
 Cal. — How do you mean? 
 
 Soc. — I mean that every man is his own ruler. 
 
 Cal. — What do you mean by his ''ruling over him- 
 self" ? 
 
 Soc. — A simple thing enough; just what is commonly 
 said, that a man should be temperate and master of him- 
 self, and ruler of his own pleasures and passions. 
 
 Cal. — How charming! you mean those fools — the tem- 
 perate ? 
 
 Soc. — Certainly : any one may see that to be my meaning. 
 
 Cal. — Quite so, Socrates; and they are really fools, for 
 how can a man be happy who is the servant of any thing? 
 The truth is this, that luxury and intemperance and 
 license, if they are duly supported, are happiness and 
 
Il6 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 virtue : all the rest is a mere bauble, custom contrary to 
 nature, fond inventions of men nothing worth. 
 
 Soc. — Then those who want nothing are not said to be 
 truly happy? 
 
 Cal. — No, indeed, for then stones and the dead would 
 be happiest of all. 
 
 Soc. — The life, then, of which you are now speaking, 
 is not that of a dead man, or of a stone, but of a cor- 
 morant ; you mean that he is to be hungering and eating ? 
 
 Cal.—Yts. 
 
 Soc. — And he is to be thirsting and drinking? 
 
 Cal. — Yes, he is to have all his desires about him, and 
 to be able to Hve happily in the gratification of them. 
 
 Soc. — Go back to our former admissions. Did you say 
 that to hunger was pleasant or painful? 
 
 Cal. — I said painful, but that to eat when you are 
 hungry is pleasant. 
 
 Soc. — And thirst, too, is painful? 
 
 G?/.— Yes. 
 
 Soc. — And you would admit that to drink when you are 
 thirsty is pleasant ? 
 
 Cal.— Yes. 
 
 Soc. — And in the sentence which you have just uttered, 
 the word * * thirsty " implies pain ? 
 
 G7/.— Yes. 
 
 Soc. — And the phrase '*to drink" is expressive of 
 pleasure ? 
 
 Cal— Yes. 
 
 Soc. — There is pleasure in that you drink? 
 
 Cal. — Certainly. 
 
 Soc. — When you are thirsty? 
 
 Cal.— Yes. 
 
 Soc. — When in pain? 
 
 Cal.— Yes. 
 
QUESTIONING ILLUSTRATED. II7 
 
 Soc. — Do you see the inference that pleasure and pain 
 are simultaneous ? 
 
 Cal. — True. 
 
 Soc. — You said, also, that no man could have good and 
 evil fortune at the same time? 
 
 Cal. — Yes, I say that. 
 
 Soc. — But you admitted that when in pain a man might 
 also have pleasure? 
 
 Cal. — That is evident. 
 
 Soc. — Then pleasure is not the same as good fortune, or 
 pain the same as evil fortune, and therefore the good is 
 not the same as the pleasant? 
 
 Cal. — Do you suppose that I or any other human being 
 denies that some pleasures are good and others bad? 
 
 Soc. — Then I may assume that some pleasures are good 
 and others evil, as I understand your present meaning? 
 
 Cal. — Yes. 
 
 Soc. — And in the same way there are good pains and 
 there are evil pains? 
 
 Cal. — To be sure. 
 
 Soc. — And ought we not to choose and use the good 
 pleasures and pains? 
 
 Cal. — Certainly. 
 
 Soc. — Then pleasure as well as all else is for the sake 
 of good, and not good for the sake of pleasure. 
 
 The method here adopted, which is the method of all 
 the Socratic dialogues, presents the following points: 
 
 First. — Though several persons are present, Socrates 
 does not enter into a general conversation with them, 
 but addresses one, and selects the individual most difficult 
 to be convinced. 
 
 Secondly. — He asks about a definite subject, as about 
 the better or superior, about pleasure and pain. 
 
Il8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Thirdly. — He sets the learner to talking about the 
 general predicate with which the subject is to be com- 
 pared, and thus leads him to form as clear a notion of it 
 as possible. In this dialogue, Callicles makes a long talk 
 (the most of which is omitted above) about the pleasure 
 which the better class ought to enjoy, before Socrates asks 
 many questions. It is in describing this pleasure that he 
 shows he has not carefully considered what the word in- 
 volves. When the true conception of pleasure is clearly 
 defined, it is easy to see it is not the same thing as the good. 
 
 Fourthly. — The learner shows he has not a clear con- 
 ception of all that his predicate contains, and he makes a 
 mistake in identifying his subject with it. It is the great 
 work of Socrates so to analyze this predicate as to bring a 
 clear and positive judgment into consciousness. This will 
 be as near the truth as it is possible to attain. Most of 
 the questions above have this purpose, and as clearness 
 and positiveness are all they seek, they simply call for 
 affirmation or denial. 
 
 Fifthly. — The dialogue passes rapidly and distinctly 
 from point to point, and gives activity to thought and 
 variety to conception. 
 
 Sixthly. — There is steady progress, each question being 
 in its place. 
 
 Seventhly. — Intellectual weariness is relieved by frequent 
 sallies of wit, or other appeals to the feelings. In parts 
 omitted from this extract, one appeal is made to the sense 
 of the ridiculous, one to Callicles's personal sense of 
 honor, and when Callicles is convicted of error, and tries 
 to escape admission by protesting against the question as 
 *' narrow and little," Socrates answers, "I envy you, 
 Callicles, for having been initiated in the great mysteries 
 before you were initiated into the little. I thought that 
 was not allowable." 
 
ACTIVITY DIRECTED BY THE WILL. II9 
 
 Law IV. — The Natural Tendency to Activity may 
 BE Re-enforced and Directed by the Will. 
 
 First Proof. — The will may hold up motives as a stim- 
 ulus. The fear of pain, the hope of reward, a sense of 
 duty, and so forth, are general stimulants to activity, and 
 increase the effect of specific stimulants that are adapted 
 to the particular faculty brought into activity. Percep- 
 tion is made keener, memory quicker, and resolution 
 stronger, if there is an important end to be gained 
 beyond the immediate activity. 
 
 Second Proof. — By the exercise of the will the attention 
 may be directed and the mental energy concentrated on 
 one object. A feeling of pain may be reduced below 
 consciousness, sometimes, by concentrating the mental 
 energy on objects of thought. The indecisive activity of 
 a languid state may be made clear and vigorous by force 
 of will. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Love of knowledge is the natural stimulus to 
 voluntary activity. But it can not be enforced as a duty, 
 nor created by reasoning upon it. It can only be felt 
 when the knowledge is acquired. As heat ignites fuel, 
 and fuel ignited produces heat, so the activity of con- 
 scious knowledge gives pleasure, and the pleasure stimu- 
 lates activity. The manifestion of this reciprocal action is 
 so constant that it is usually safe to infer that if a pupil 
 does not like a subject he does not know much about it. 
 The way to produce a liking for a subject is to give some 
 true knowledge of it. A person can not tell whether he 
 will like a strange fruit or not by looking upon it and 
 handling it, but by tasting it. Let a child have a taste of 
 the subjects he tries to handle. A pupil will be pretty 
 
I20 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 sure to dislike a subject on which he is required to spend 
 time, unless he is made to get some knowledge out of it. 
 Pres't M. B. Anderson once said to a class, ' ' Young gen- 
 tlemen, you complain of not having a taste for mathe- 
 matics. Get a taste of it and you will like it better." 
 
 (11.) Rewards and punishments have always been used 
 by teachers as a stimulus. They act mainly through the 
 will. They may come as a necessary result of activity, or 
 depend upon the will of another. In either case they 
 lead to activity through the will. In the first case the 
 result is natural, certain, and invariably proportioned to 
 the activity. This is a most wholesome stimulus. But 
 children must be saved from the natural consequences of 
 their acts. They can not feel the force of results removed 
 but a litde way from conduct, and there is no natural 
 result following from obedience to the will of another as 
 obedience except what is determined by that will. Arbi- 
 trary rewards and punishments are therefore a necessity, 
 and in case of developing the sense of simple obedience, 
 and enforcing obedient conduct, they are the only stimu- 
 lus beyond the conscious feeling that attends the act. 
 But, as the mind is developed, less use should first be 
 made of arbitrary promises and threats, then of natural 
 rewards and punishments, and in the end love for the 
 thing to be done, or love of doing, should be a sufficient 
 motive. 
 
 (III.) In the preceding Observation, stimulants are 
 divided into three classes: ist. The immediate influence 
 of that which is presented to the mind ; 2d, Natural and 
 necessary results; 3d, Arbitrary consequences. These 
 are also graded, the order of superiority being that in 
 which they stand. In the second and third grades there 
 is much opportunity for choice, and care should be exer- 
 cised to use always the highest motives that will be 
 
ARBITRARY REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 121 
 
 effectual. Corporal punishment is the most general of all 
 arbitrary punishments ; that is, it points to nothing partic- 
 ular in conduct except its general character, and is there- 
 fore best adapted to develop the consciousness of a wrong 
 act as wrong. Punishments that are adapted to the 
 wrong done lead to a consideration of the differences be- 
 tween acts when the ability to exercise a sense of wrong 
 has been developed. The more prominent the features 
 of natural effect which arbitrary rewards and punishments 
 have, the higher the motive they involve. Arbitrary pun- 
 ishment for any failure leads to an association of that 
 which is unpleasant with what ought to be done, and is 
 therefore a stimulus of a bad character, and should be 
 avoided if possible. 
 
 [cS^^S^^ii/^^- 
 
 S. E.-ll. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DISCRIMINATION. 
 
 
 ISCRIMINATION and unification are 
 activities in opposite directions. They are 
 represented under such terms as dissimi- 
 larity and similarity, unlikeness and like- 
 ness, analysis and synthesis, and both are 
 included in comparison. They are recognized as funda- 
 mental in mental science and in teaching. Sir William 
 Hamilton says: ** Comparison is supposed in every, the 
 simplest act of knowledge." Prof. Bain says of likeness, 
 *'It is not an inapt or strained comparison to call it the 
 Law of Gravitation in the intellectual world." The prov- 
 erb, ^'Bene qui distinguit, bene docei^'^ He teaches well who 
 discriminates well, is quoted by Rosenkranz in treating of 
 Attention, with hearty approval. 
 
 2. If we look from the earth to the sky and observe 
 that grass is green and the sky is blue, we compare two 
 objects in respect to color. In the comparison we find 
 a difference which we ^e^^esent by calling the one green 
 and the other blue. When we say the sky is blue, we 
 distinguish it from all objects of a different color. If we 
 say the sea is deep and the sky is blue, we do not distin- 
 guish the sky from the sea either in respect to depth or 
 color, for we make no comparison between them. It will 
 be seen from this and similar illustrations that discrimina- 
 tion involves (i) comparison proper, or a putting together, 
 and (2) the recognition of difference. Thus, in our per- 
 
 (122) 
 
DISCRIMINATION. 1 23 
 
 ception of the grass and the sky, our acts of consciousness 
 belong to one class, which we call the perception of color, 
 and we distinguish green and blue. Discrimination itself 
 is the consciousness of difference, and involves compar- 
 ison or unification as an accompanying state of the mind. 
 
 Law I. — The Senses and Self-consciousness give 
 Discrimination, and this is their Special Function. 
 
 First Proof. — Differences in external objects are per- 
 ceived by the senses, and differences of mental state by 
 self-consciousness. The affirmation of difference does not 
 involve consciousness beyond the acts of perception, but 
 a conscious act of comparison involves memory and other 
 mental faculties. 
 
 Second Proof. — Without the activity of the senses the 
 first discriminations would not be made. The distinctions 
 made by reflection are referred either to the senses or to 
 self-consciousness as the ground for their validity. Even 
 when we distinguish between a priori truths, like the con- 
 cepts of two circles, we imagine them as presented to the 
 senses. 
 
 Observations, 
 
 (I.) The senses are to be cared for and trained with 
 reference to their use by the intellect rather than with 
 reference to their physical relations to objects of percep- 
 tion. The eye is something more than a camera used to 
 photograph images. It is said to exhibit poor workman- 
 ship if viewed only as to its mechanical conformation, and 
 it gets its images the wrong side up; but as an organ of 
 the mind it is surpassingly efficient. Its use should be 
 directed to the end of securing clear and quick discrimina- 
 tions. When the end is taken into account, no criticism 
 can be made upon it. 
 
124 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (II.) It is a Law of Consciousness that the further a 
 mental activity is removed from the senses, the more diffi- 
 cult it becomes. This is especially true of discrimination. 
 The mind should first be accurately and vividly impressed 
 through the senses. Therefore, words that represent origi- 
 nal impressions should be firmly fixed in the mind, and 
 inferences and generalizations will follow more easily. If 
 a general term is obscure, an appeal may be made to a 
 specific term, or the senses may be appealed to directly 
 through the fact itself. An example is better than a pict- 
 ure or a comparison. For instance, if the word web- 
 footed be used and found obscure, a reference to duck's 
 feet may make it clear; if not, then the web-foot itself 
 should be presented for observation. 
 
 (III.) Facts should be observed in situ^ that is, in their 
 natural situation or with their natural surroundings. Most 
 persons will remember the struggles they have had in try- 
 ing to put together the pieces of a puzzle. They have 
 been given a clear idea of the form of the whole, and they 
 can see the forms of the pieces; but they have not been 
 allowed to observe the relations of the pieces to each 
 other. Different from each other as the bones of a skele- 
 ton are, they may be studied and named with the greatest 
 care separately, and yet not all of them be recognized 
 when seen in their natural positions. 
 
 (IV.) Things should be seen in extenso, that is, in their 
 full magnitude. Comparing great things with small gives 
 but an imperfect conception. Virgil's Tityrus says: *'The 
 city which they call Rome, I foolishly imagined to be 
 like this our Mantua. So I had known whelps like dogs, 
 so kids like their dams." But when he saw Rome, it 
 seemed to him to differ from other cities as the cypress 
 differs from the limber shrub. Conceptions of the rela- 
 tions of space are amongst the most important and funda- 
 
DISCRIMINATION. 1 25 
 
 mental conceptions of the mind. Of all conceptions of 
 space, the conception of extent is the most sublime, and 
 it especially enlarges the sphere of the imagination. But 
 this conception can only come from seeing things extended. 
 Travel gives an education, not so much because it enables 
 one to see things new and strange, as because it gives 
 larger conceptions of nature. The sight of a lofty mount- 
 ain, a great cataract, the ocean, enlarges the power of 
 the imagination beyond any other experience. When 
 Dickens wants to intensify the sense of dreariness, he 
 pictures a vast expanse of London's dreary streets. He 
 takes little Nell out by a way that leads past furnaces 
 glaring through a murky atmosphere with the glow of 
 intense heat, and casting up clouds of smoke and cinders 
 against a dark sky from tall chimneys that stand in rows 
 along the streets they go, furnace after furnace, miles and 
 miles, till it seems to the way-worn travelers that the 
 glare and the smoke and the dust and the day will 
 never end. The view being prolonged, gloom settles 
 down and fills the entire horizon of the imagination, as 
 blackness and spectral forms fill the horizon of vision. 
 
 (V.) Besides the intensity and sublimity of thoughts 
 impressed by the vast, there is such an enlargement of 
 the bounds of thought that the imagination finds fitter 
 places for the multitude of things it would distinguish. 
 There is a limit of littleness beyond which the senses can 
 not go. Unless the bounds of vision are enlarged to 
 correspond with the extent of things which we seek to 
 represent to ourselves, the ability to discriminate them 
 and give them proper places and proportions will be 
 limited. The sky shuts down very near us even in our 
 imaginations, unless we have gone beyond where it seems 
 to the eye to meet the earth ; and our conception of the 
 things we see, about which we read, and which we im- 
 
126 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION.' 
 
 agine, must be seriously distorted if crowded into a world 
 so small. Children have a natural desire to go some- 
 where. This should be indulged to a reasonable degree. 
 
 Law II. — Discrimination is the Starting-point in 
 Conscious Mental Development. 
 
 First Proof. — If it be true that the first conscious activ- 
 ity depends upon the senses for its stimulus, and that 
 discrimination is the special function of the senses, it 
 follows that the first stage of activity is discrimination. 
 
 Second Proof . — The first conscious activity must be a 
 perception. This perception must be either (i) an abso- 
 lute unit, that is, without relations or differences, (2) a 
 discrimination of differences in unity, or (3) a unification 
 of differences. It has already been shown that the per- 
 ception of an absolute unit, if possible, however many 
 times repeated, would not constitute development. The 
 other two possible starting-points involve each other. 
 Whichever of them is first, it presupposes the other. 
 This can only be conceived as possible by supposing one 
 to be developed from the things aff"ecting the senses, and 
 the other from the original constitution of the mind. 
 Conscious unification requires a previous conscious dis- 
 crimination ; but conscious discrimination only implies a 
 native power to distinguish objects as belonging to the 
 same class, and the idea of the class may be undeveloped. 
 We see that there is a bond of unity between the things 
 distinguished only after the discrimination has been made. 
 Thus, an incipient conscious activity would distinguish 
 blue from green without having the idea of colors, as a 
 class, developed. The power to distinguish colors is 
 native to the mind, but the conception of them as a unity 
 is developed in consciousness by discrimination. 
 
DISCRIMINATION. 1 27 
 
 Law III. — Discrimination is the Starting-point in 
 EVERY Mental Growth. 
 
 First Proof. — All the different forms of conscious activ- 
 ity originate in the stimulus of the senses, and are referred 
 to them and self-consciousness. It follows that all these 
 forms, perceptions of blue, loud, sweet, conceptions of 
 truth, justice, virtue, and the different forms of feeling 
 and desire, must begin with discrimination, the same as 
 the first activity of mind. 
 
 Second Proof. — We shall find the Law sustained if we 
 consider any individual case of development. To per- 
 ceive a horse as an object, it must be distinguished from 
 other objects; to perceive it as an animal, its parts must 
 be distinguished; to distinguish it as a horse, its size, 
 shape, and proportions must be distinguished. The same 
 kind of discrimination is necessary in other things. 
 
 Third Proof. — The historical development of thought 
 shows this to be the true order. Take the following illus- 
 trations as examples, (i) The true nature of government 
 has been slowly developed in the intelligence of men as 
 different acts have been compared together. (2) Laws 
 have grown up and taken fixed forms only after the most 
 painstaking discrimination of all the similar cases that 
 can arise having a common principle. (3) The natural 
 order of thought has been from the analysis of philosophy 
 to the synthesis of science. (4) Abstract and general 
 notions are made clear only when different concrete and 
 particular examples are distinguished. For instance, the 
 abstract idea of justice could not be formed without first 
 having in mind different just acts, and seeking by dis- 
 crimination the common element that makes them just. 
 (5) The subjects treated of in a rudimentary book of in- 
 struction must be such as can be most easily distinguished 
 
128 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 from each other. More advanced works carry the division 
 of topics discussed into fields of discrimination that are 
 more difficult. 
 
 Observations on the Last Two Laws. 
 
 (L) Plato says, ''The beginning is half." No part of 
 an undertaking is ever more important than its beginning. 
 The principle involved in the last two Laws is fundamental 
 to the question of a right beginning in mental develop- 
 ment. Its importance has long been recognized in philos- 
 ophy, and its connection with education has been more or 
 less clearly seen, though the full consequence of recogniz- 
 ing its fundamental character has not received the atten- 
 tion it deserves. In philosophy the question has been 
 long discussed whether general or particular notions come 
 first into the mind, whether synthesis or analysis is first in 
 mental activity. The logical necessity for a class, in order 
 to identify an individual or distinguish it by comparison, 
 was seen by the earliest philosophers, and many suppo- 
 sitions have been made to account for the origin of class 
 ideas. In its educational bearings the principle is involved 
 in such questions as the following: Shall we teach by 
 definition and rule, proceeding from them to an explana- 
 tion of examples, or shall we begin with examples and go 
 from them to the rules? Shall we begin with the unity 
 and proceed to the elements by analysis, or shall we begin 
 with the elements and build up the unity by synthesis? 
 Shall we follow the order of induction wholly, or of de- 
 duction wholly, or shall we begin with one and change to 
 the other? John Stuart Mill holds that all sciences tend 
 to change from the inductive method to the deductive, 
 and some educators think this order should be followed in 
 teaching the sciences. The proper place for taking up 
 
BEGINNINGS IN DISCRIMINATION. I29 
 
 these questions fully is under the Laws of Unification, and 
 they will be considered there ; but the principle under dis- 
 cussion here has an important bearing on them, and 
 should be considered with them fully in view. 
 
 (II.) The principle is stated by Prof. Bain in this form : 
 ''Mind starts from discrimination." It has been shown 
 here that this principle is true, not only of mind in the 
 beginning of its career of activity, but equally of every 
 class of activities. The principle is easily apprehended, 
 and points with unerring finger to the proper beginning of 
 every effort of the teacher. He should hold up objects, 
 ideas, thoughts, for discrimination. This is first. But, 
 secondly, it directs him to the class of things to be pre- 
 sented. They must be such as the mind is prepared to 
 discriminate from its native constitution or by develop- 
 ment. If there is no basis of unity in the mind, there 
 can be no discrimination. 
 
 (III.) The mind is prepared to discriminate some no- 
 tions from its native constitution, when they are properly 
 presented. Such are the notions of qualities immediately 
 perceived by the senses. Other notions require that a 
 basis of unification should be laid before the proper dis- 
 crimination can begin. The truth of a statement is often 
 lost because the mind is not prepared to make a proper 
 comparison of the subject and predicate. A teacher 
 should know his pupils, a lawyer his jury, a pubHc 
 speaker his audience, in order that they may know both 
 what may be left- unsaid and what will be understood 
 when it is said. When a teacher has furnished himself 
 with a sufficient variety of things to be discriminated, and 
 has studied his pupils till he is prepared to select such 
 things as are adapted to the unifying powers of individ- 
 uals, he will doubtless be ready to believe the beginning 
 more than half. 
 
130 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 From these Laws we may infer the two following rules : 
 
 Rule i. — Present differences for discrimination. 
 
 Rule 2. — Select differences adapted to the unifying powers 
 of those who are to be instructed. 
 
 (IV.) It is clear from these Laws that whatever the 
 faculty exercised, there is but one method of developing 
 activity, and that is to stimulate discrimination. In the 
 case of perceptions, the illustrations given are sufficient 
 proof. If we reflect a moment on the memory, we shall 
 see that only those facts are recalled which are discrim- 
 inated from each other, and from the mass of facts treas- 
 ured unconsciously in the mind. The same principle is 
 carried through the entire range of faculties, and illustra- 
 tions may easily be multiplied. 
 
 (V.) The distinctions whose value has not been recog- 
 nized is the mine of undeveloped intellectual wealth from, 
 which future stores of useful knowledge must be gathered. 
 By working this mine, and by this means alone, have the 
 discoveries, the inventions, and the sciences of civiliza- 
 tion been promoted. The colors of the rainbow were set 
 in the sky with the beginning of terrestrial phenomena, 
 but the full meaning of the distinctions of color was not 
 seen till Newton began to inquire into the meaning of the 
 same distinctions in the colors of thin plates, soap-bubbles, 
 and so forth. That the distinctions meant the same in the 
 several cases where found seemed probable, and the search 
 for a common cause led to the prism and the science of 
 Optics ; and it has finally led to a theoretical basis for the 
 unification of light, heat, electricity, and so forth, as modes 
 of motion. The value of the expansive force of steam 
 was long unrecognized, although this expansiveness was 
 daily forced upon men's observation. The early inquiries 
 into the causes of electricity revealed the fact that it is of 
 different kinds, but how different, and with what possible 
 
PROGRESS BY DISCRIMINATION. I3I 
 
 differences of application to useful purposes, no one sus- 
 pected. Ocean telegraphy greatly enlarged the field of 
 its usefulness, but a more careful observation of the differ- 
 ences implied in induced currents is opening an entirely 
 new field in which this usefulness may be multiplied. It 
 may seem strange that no one had cared accurately to test 
 the power of steam till Watt gave attention to it, but it is a 
 wonder repeated with every new discovery and invention. 
 The so-called secrets of nature have too long been sup- 
 posed to be like the fabled fire hidden away in the seams 
 of flint, only to be revealed by some superhuman intelli- 
 gence. They are not hidden. They are open to all who 
 have the high purpose, the patience, and the wisdom to 
 study out their meaning. When Aristotle was upbraided 
 by Alexander for publishing the secrets of his philosophy 
 to the whole world instead of keeping them for the exclu- 
 sive advantage of a favored few, his answer was, "They 
 are published, but not published." He had done what he 
 could to publish them, but the world could not under- 
 stand. If any one supposes the secrets of electricity were 
 hidden away till Franklin explored its dark recesses, the 
 next gleam of lightning or crash of thunder should dispel 
 the delusion. It did not behave differently from its nature 
 to arouse the attention of men because they failed to un- 
 derstand it. It made no difference to it that men for so 
 long a time only saw, wondered, and trembled. As elec- 
 tricity is indifferent to the discovery of its characteristics, so 
 are all the secrets of nature. They are plain enough for 
 those who will observe them, and are not far to seek. 
 
 (VI.) The knowledge of differences is not useful if it 
 stops with distinctions. It is necessary to combine, but 
 construction requires discrimination first. This founda- 
 tion for combination should be well laid. It has been 
 found that nothing else contributes to good results in the 
 
132 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 sciences so much as accuracy of discrimination. Mathe- 
 matical computations, made from observations of the 
 stars, laid the foundations of Astronomy. The use of the 
 balance and the yard-stick have built up Chemistry and 
 Physics into sciences. To the value of this principle of 
 accurate distinctions is due whatever of good has come 
 from teaching by definition and rule. This method re- 
 quires accurate discriminations, and any method that 
 does this is better than any other method that fails of it. 
 A third rule for discrimination follows : 
 
 Rule 3. — Require accuracy of discrimination. 
 
 Law IV. — Active Mental Energy is Proportioned 
 TO Variety and Clearness of Discriminations. 
 
 First Proof. — It is easier to maintain interest in a topic 
 by presenting variety and contrast than in a subject that 
 admits of no such relief; but there is greater exhaustion in 
 proportion to the greater interest. This shows a greater 
 expenditure of mental energy and greater activity. What- 
 ever facts appear inconsistent with this statement may be 
 easily explained on other principles. 
 
 Second Proof. — The resistance which the mind naturally 
 offers to the consideration of a new head, as we listen to a 
 discourse or read a book, when several have already been 
 considered, is an indication that it is more difficult to 
 enter upon a new line of thought than to follow the old 
 one, and therefore greater activity is stimulated. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I). Children are endowed with abundant energy, and 
 require a greater variety of topics than older persons. If 
 the teacher does not furnish this variety to keep them 
 
ACTIVITY AND DISCRIMINATION. 133 
 
 busy, they will be likely to hunt up a variety of exercises 
 for themselves, regardless of the trouble they may cause 
 others. Skill in adapting a subject to the disposition and 
 capacity of a child, and in presenting variety, will generally 
 find ways to keep him busy at some useful work. 
 
 (II.) The power of clear discrimination comes with 
 experience, and as the activity depends upon clearness as 
 well as upon variety, the character of the distinctions 
 made should be adapted to the child's capacity. It is use- 
 less to present a distinction unless it is felt. Sometimes it 
 will require a moment's attention, and this is hard to keep 
 with children except by moving forward. They are averse 
 to any requirement to stop and think. But if a distinc- 
 tion is necessary to be made, it should be sought by one 
 means or another till obtained. 
 
 (III.) In seeking variety for children it should not 
 be forgotten that the senses are their chief means of dis- 
 crimination. Objects that appeal to the senses, and 
 language that recalls experience, should be studiously 
 employed. 
 
 (IV.) It must not be supposed that much good is done 
 by furnishing variety for discrimination if that is the end 
 of the activity. It is of but little worth unless good use is 
 made of it intellectually. But discrimination is activity, 
 and it is the first step from dullness toward mental life and 
 growth. 
 
 Law V. — When Discrimination Ceases, Activity 
 Ceases. 
 
 First Proof. — This Law follows as the converse of the 
 preceding Law. The greater the discriminations, the 
 greater the activity; the fewer the discriminations, the less 
 the activity; no discrimination, no activity. 
 
134 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Second Proof. — When consciousness is so low that dis- 
 tinctions of sense and thought are dim, the mind rests ; 
 when no distinctions are made, there is sleep or uncon- 
 sciousness. 
 
 Third Proof. — Any monotonous sound, not unpleasant 
 or so peculiar as to force its distinctions on the mind, the 
 pattering of rain, the rippling of a brook, the swashing of 
 waves upon the beach, draws the attention gently from 
 other objects, and when its monotonous distinctions wear 
 themselves out, the listener falls asleep. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Provision for rest and recreation is as necessary, 
 sometimes, as provision for stimulating activity, and it is 
 quite as difficult to devise. The Law gives light in one 
 direction. In cases of sickness, when the body needs all 
 the energy it can have, the particulars of the day, the de- 
 tails of daily routine, rambling talk, the constant sight of 
 visitors coming and going, or other movements in the 
 room are alike troublesome and an obstruction to speedy 
 recovery. To hold up to the imagination a vast, unvaried 
 plain, to look upon the illimitable sea, the expanse of the 
 sky with only its repetition of star after star, and then to 
 follow the picture with unvarying mood on and on toward 
 the infinite, is to lose the mind in boundless space, to be 
 followed by forgetfulness of self. In this way the sea and 
 the mountain unite the influence of their care-dispelling 
 uniformity and vastness to their invigorating breezes, and 
 bring rest and strength to the wearied and exhausted. 
 
 (II.) The imagination often discovers distinctions where 
 none exist in reality. This is a fruitful source of errone- 
 ous judgments and harmful actions. Reports and infer- 
 ences should be brought to the test of facts more fre- 
 
FEEBLE DISCRIMINATIONS. 
 
 135 
 
 quently than is the wont of injured feelings, for there is 
 nothing Hke reality to dispel excitement that is without 
 justification from the truth. 
 
 (III.) The actions of children are often too severely 
 censured by the teacher, because the actions seem to 
 imply distinctions which the children have not really 
 made. The teacher may develop these distinctions in the 
 mind of a child, but should not presume the existence of 
 an evil motive unless there is the best evidence that it has 
 been called into action. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 UNIFICATION. 
 
 T has already been shown that, to be 
 possible and permanent, discrimination re- 
 quires a pre-existent preparation and subse- 
 quent growth. The mind must possess a 
 basis of unity before it can discriminate, 
 and discrimination must develop a consciousness of this 
 unity as containing the differences noted, or the result will 
 be but a passing sensation. 
 
 2. We speak of knowledge as being assimilated, as 
 being incorporated into the mind, and we use other 
 figures which represent some of the relations of knowl- 
 edge to the mind, but they do not set forth the facts com- 
 pletely, and they are liable to be so applied as to mislead. 
 We do not know the ultimate nature of an act of knowl- 
 edge, and all speculations in regard to it seem idle. If 
 we limit it to the formation and differentiation of nerve- 
 cells, what, then, is consciousness? If we conceive of 
 the mind as stamped with the images of objects, what 
 interprets the relations of these images to each other? 
 The objects are only seen to exist by themselves, and 
 their likeness or unlikeness to each other is an interpreta- 
 tion of the mind, not a part of either the objects or their 
 images. If we adopt the Platonic theory that the mind 
 is originally possessed of real knowledge which is called 
 up in memory by experience, what is it but a guess in de- 
 fault of other explanation, and a guess that would only 
 (1:36) 
 
UNIFICATION DEFINED. I37 
 
 remove the difficulty back to a previous existence? All 
 we can do is to press our investigation to a rational un- 
 derstanding of the facts we may discover. 
 
 3. In two directions, we seem already to have come to 
 the limit of inquiry. 
 
 First. — There must be an underlying basis of unity in 
 the mind for comparison to make discrimination possible. 
 
 Secondly. — There must be an active consciousness dis- 
 tinguishing differences. 
 
 It remains to discuss here the activity that follows dis- 
 crimination; the activity that is necessary to permanency 
 of impressions and growth. This may be set forth as an 
 ultimate principle limiting investigation in a third direc- 
 tion, and stated as follows : 
 
 Thirdly. — There must be developed a consciousness of 
 the unity on which comparison depends as embracing the 
 distinctions made. This is Unification. 
 
 4. Knowledge is not gained by accretion, as stones are 
 
 laid together in a pile. It is a growth. The elements are 
 
 held together by an organizing power of the mind that 
 
 will not let them be removed one by one, but by a power 
 
 which allows disintegration only by a process of building 
 
 newer forms to take the place of the old. The world has 
 
 long known the rainbow as a beautiful arch of seven 
 
 colors. Now we conceive of it as pure Hght, separated 
 
 into seven dissimilar elements by the prismatic power of 
 
 rain-drops. The ancients only gazed with wonder on its 
 
 penciled beauty ; now we can scarcely look upon the bow 
 
 in the cloud without mingling with admiration of its 
 
 beauty a sense of awe at the wisdom that is able to weave 
 
 those seven rays together into the soft light that lights the 
 
 world; that can spread them out again upon the cloud, 
 
 upon the sea, upon the sky, upon the grass, and upon the 
 
 rose at will. The first notion of the bow is a unification 
 s. E.-12. 
 
138 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 of it under the notion of color, the second a unification 
 of it as the activity of molecular forces. 
 
 5. The forms developed in the mind by unification, and 
 here called unities, may be distinguished from the cate- 
 gories of the metaphysician and from the unit of the 
 mathematician. 
 
 6. A unit is a whole, conceived of in its relations to 
 other things; a unity is a whole, conceived of as made 
 up of parts or elements. An individual object is con- 
 ceived of as a unit or as a unity, according as we contem- 
 plate its use or its parts and plan. Thus, a locomotive 
 furnishes the motive power and is a unit when considered 
 as a part of a train, but it is a unity when considered in 
 itself. Things are units when entering into our under- 
 standing of other things, unities when understood by 
 themselves. 
 
 7. Categories are the classes that would result if all 
 notions were so arranged that no notion could be affirmed 
 of any possible object of thought that would not fall 
 under one of the classes named, and be excluded from 
 all the rest. The characteristic of categories is, that to- 
 gether they comprehend all predicates, and separately 
 exclude each other. Thus, if quality and quantity are 
 two categories, any notion that could be classed as a 
 quality could not be classed as a quantity ; any notion 
 that could be classed as a quantity could not be classed as 
 a quality ; and any notion that could not be classed as 
 either, must belong to some other category. The idea of 
 the category is definite and distinct, but no classification 
 has ever been made that is generally acceptable, as at the 
 same time exhaustive and exclusive of each other. 
 
 8. The unity differs from the category in two respects. 
 First, under the category a notion is predicated as belong- 
 ing to a particular subject; in the unity, a notion is predi- 
 
UNIT, UNITY, AND CATEGORY. 1 39 
 
 cated as containing the subject. In the one case, not 
 only the notion predicated, but other notions under the 
 same category, may belong to the same subject; but in 
 the other case, the notions that belong to a unity are con- 
 tradictory of each other, and when a particular subject is 
 identified under a particular unity, the affirmation ex- 
 cludes the subject from all other notions belonging to the 
 same unity. Thus, if we say the sky is blue, we may 
 think of blue as belonging to the sky, or of the sky as 
 belonging to the class of blue things. To think of the 
 quahty, blue, as belonging to the sky, determines nothing 
 with respect to other qualities, but to comprehend the sky 
 under the notion blue is to exclude it from all other 
 notions of color. 
 
 9. In the second place, the categories are exclusive of 
 each other, while different unities may embrace the same 
 elements. Thus, blue belongs both to the unity color 
 and to molecular motion. In speaking of the rainbow 
 above, reference was made to the fact that its colors are 
 classified, not only with reference to each other as colors, 
 but also with reference to molecular action. This new 
 classification unifies color with other forms of molecular 
 activity, as heat and electricity. Although blue, heat, 
 and electricity do not admit of comparison with each 
 other under the unity of color, they may be compared 
 under the unity of molecular activity, and their differ- 
 ences may be told with mathematical exactness. 
 
 10. That conscious activity naturally develops in the 
 direction of unity, rather than the category, will be mani- 
 fest by a little consideration. The proposition. The sky 
 is blue, may seem to predicate blue as belonging to the 
 sky, but it is only because the sense of sight has been so 
 accustomed to distinguishing colors that the work of 
 selecting blue and identifying the sky with that concep- 
 
140 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 tion is unconsciously done. The term sky is not co- 
 extensive with the term blue, but the term blue includes 
 all that is included in the term sky with respect to color. 
 That is, blue is the general term in the proposition. 
 Take the proposition, Caesar was an orator, a soldier, and 
 a statesman. It may seem at first that all the mental 
 activity expressed here is confined to calHng up the his- 
 torical character of Caesar, and applying a name to each 
 prominent element as it comes into mind. But before we 
 could know that Caesar was an orator, we must have elab- 
 orated the term orator in our minds, so as to identify the 
 particular character of Caesar with this general notion. 
 Perhaps we compared him with Cicero, or Antony, and 
 other orators or soldiers, before we decided whether his 
 ability in public speaking was worthy to rank him with 
 the orators. It is easy to repeat the proposition, Caesar 
 was an orator, while losing sight of such comparisons, but 
 they are implied as belonging to the original development 
 of the conception. Thus, the elaboration of predicates as 
 including the subject with respect to some unity is natural, 
 but the classification of predicates under categories is 
 formal and artificial. 
 
 II. The unities or bases of unification may be divided 
 into two general classes, sensuous and rational. The dis- 
 crimination of sense-percepts is based upon unities trace- 
 able to sensation, while the discrimination of other facul- 
 ties, even of memory, is based upon unities developed 
 after the senses have completed their work. The unifica- 
 tion of memory, which we call association, is very general, 
 and yet it is held that some tie of relationship must bind 
 things together, or they could not be held together in 
 memory. Of the two classes named, the sensuous are 
 much the more simple, yet it would be difficult to give a 
 complete list even of these unities. Let us begin with the 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF UNITIES. I41 
 
 lowest sense, the sense of touch. Take an orange in the 
 hand, and consider how many things may be learned 
 about it from this sense alone. It is round, large, rough, 
 cold, heavy, hard, elastic, and so forth. The first affirma- 
 tion distinguishes it from all other forms, the second from 
 all other sizes, the third from all other surfaces. Thus, 
 we may go through with all the predicates. To say it is 
 round involves the perception of it as a solid; but this 
 involves the notions of space, extension, direction, surface. 
 All of these are involved in the perception of the orange 
 as round. These notions again are made the basis of 
 other distinctions, and thus each gives us a new unity for 
 discrimination. Thus, we might go on, and find unity 
 within unity without limit in the one class of perceptions 
 by the sense of touch. By the other senses unities are 
 elaborated in the same way. 
 
 12. If now we proceed to the unities of the oth^r facul- 
 ties, we shall find them increasing more rapidly. In 
 memory the orange is associated with a thousand friendly 
 gatherings, with ten thousand faces, with countless experi- 
 ences of life. Fancy has played with it, and imagination 
 has built a cottage by the orange grove, has plucked the 
 delicious fruit, and lived pleasurable years with friends in 
 the soft climate and amidst the verdant scenes of a per- 
 petual spring within the orange belt. The orange has 
 given its name to one of the colors of the rainbow. As a 
 unit it has figured in the mathematics of children, and to 
 its culture and sale men have devoted the thoughts and 
 energies of a life-time. In each of these various ways the 
 orange makes a part of a, unity of thought, and it is likely 
 to be unified in other ways that could not now be im- 
 agined. Other notions form parts of other unities in a 
 similar way, and to trace them all would be impossible. 
 The mind may go on in the natural development of itself 
 
142 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 by the development of notions of unities into clear acts of 
 consciousness without limit. There is no end to this 
 growth. 
 
 13. That which here concerns us is to see from the 
 illustration above that conceptions of unities are developed 
 gradually. For a child to discriminate an object with 
 reference to a particular unity, he must have that unity de- 
 veloped to some extent in its parts. It is not at all prob- 
 able that even the first discrimination of infancy is made 
 until the senses have been repeatedly affected by things 
 similar to each other, and yet different, so as to involve 
 both variety and unity. The very nature of consciousness 
 requires this order of development. 
 
 14. Unities grow in complexity as the mind develops. 
 The sensuous unities are grounded in the nature of the 
 senses, and they come into consciousness without effort 
 when the attention is attracted by differences. In develop- 
 ing ideas of these unities, little more is necessary than to 
 direct attention to differences through the senses. But in 
 the development of rational unities the direction of a 
 child's thoughts should be watched with the greatest care, 
 and the mind should be kept active by proper stimulation 
 until the unification is made. The same subject is capable 
 of comparison in so many ways, and some unities are so 
 much more difficult than others, that it will require great 
 and protracted effort, sometimes, to maintain activity of 
 mental energy and prevent an easier unification than the 
 one desired. We are conscious of this in the working of 
 our own minds. We are continually falling below our 
 ideal standard of achievement. ^We see an end worthy 
 of the concentration of all our energies, but content our- 
 selves with some easier and lower aim. 
 
 15. Not all unities are of equal value. Most of them 
 are of little worth ; some, like criminal thoughts, it is bet- 
 
UNITIES DIFFER IN VALUE. I43 
 
 ter never to elaborate in mmd. It would not be worth 
 while to paint all the landscapes of earth were it possible. 
 It would not be profitable for one to read the biographies 
 of every man and woman, were they written, and were 
 life lengthened out for the purpose. There are some com- 
 mon-place thoughts and acts, filling up the allotment of 
 life of even the wisest of men, insomuch that it has be- 
 come a proverb that no man is a hero to his valet. Many 
 nations of the earth flourish and pass away without 
 making an impression on civilization important enough to 
 detain the student a moment with profit. Much of the 
 history even of central nations is of no value save to fill up 
 the picture. But there are some central nations, some 
 central characters, some central events in history, the 
 knowledge of which will repay all the cost of its acquisition. 
 16. What is true in history is true in science, Hterature, 
 art, and business. No expenditure of labor or time 
 should be counted too great in seeking this masterful 
 knowledge. The history of civilization is the history of 
 these important results that are mile-stones, marking the 
 progress of the race. They are unified results in material, 
 intellectual, and moral improvement. The elements that 
 enter into them to make them what they are, can be un- 
 derstood only as they are studied in relation to the unities 
 as wholes; that is, as completed results. It is the one 
 great object of the school to develop these unities in the 
 consciousness of each successive generation. The race is 
 moving forward along certain lines of progress, and a 
 right education will place men at a point of observation 
 from which they will see these movements in their true 
 light. These points of observation are the central points 
 toward which intelligence has grown in the development 
 of thought, and from which the mind must take a new de- 
 parture in the struggle after further progress. 
 
144 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 17. The construction and use of the farmer's tools, the 
 weaver's loom, the manufacturer's engine, the mechanic's 
 lathe, the methods of using electricity, the principles of 
 law, of banking and government, have all attained a cer- 
 tain degree of completeness, each in itself, which gives 
 them the first claim upon the attention of every individual 
 that is to follow any one of these various pursuits. 
 
 18. But there are broader, deeper unities than these, 
 unities that include them. In the midst of the heated dis- 
 cussions that arise concerning the comparative value of 
 different courses of study, it ought to give us confidence 
 in the substantia] value of scholastic instruction to con- 
 sider that certain forms of intellectual development, such 
 as a knowledge of number, geometrical forms, the con- 
 struction of the sentence, and rhetorical expression, the 
 relations of physical cause and effect, the fundamental 
 moral principles, and rules of conduct have uniformly 
 been made the elementary basis of teaching in all ages 
 and countries. The study of the principles of number, 
 the study of language, the study of harmony in music and 
 verse, and the study of conduct will continue as long as 
 children shall be born uneducated. When one is tempted 
 to break off from a prescribed course of culture, let him 
 beware what he omits, for there are standards of intellect- 
 ual power as fixed as the standards of money, of measure, 
 or of physical force. 
 
 19. The differences between pupils lie deeper than we 
 think. The parent or teacher is humiliated and put to 
 confusion because he so often fails to bring a child to see 
 a truth, or look upon a course of conduct in the same 
 light with himself. A child does not learn to spell. Why 
 can not one child associate the letters of a word together 
 the same as another? A child does not comprehend the 
 principles of number. What is the reason he can not see 
 
FUNDAMENTAL UNITIES. 1 45 
 
 the relations of number as clearly as his teacher? Why 
 is it that some children can not be made to see the bear- 
 ing which truthfulness, honesty, and fidelity have upon 
 the character and course of life ? Why is it that the crim- 
 inal, during all the years of his incarceration, seldom 
 turns his thoughts from the study of a life of dishonesty to 
 that conduct that tends to usefulness and honor ? The 
 end to be gained in all these cases is a unity of attainment 
 for which there has been no foundation laid in the mind. 
 Sometimes the defect is constitutional, sometimes it is a 
 defect of training. Whatever the difficulty, a beginning 
 must be made at the lowest round of the ladder where as- 
 pirations have their first stimulus, and nothing can be 
 more important than to know the laws in accordance with 
 which a basis of unification is laid. 
 
 Law I. — The Power of Unification is Presup- 
 posed BY Discrimination as its Psychical Basis, 
 BUT Unification in Consciousness Follows Discrim- 
 ination in the Order of Development. 
 
 Proof. — It has been shown under Discrimination that 
 this is the relation of the two activities in the beginning of 
 mental development; it remains to show that the law is 
 general. 
 
 (i.) What is the conception of the unit one, and how is 
 it developed ? It may be thought that this is a unified 
 conception, if any thing can be properly called such. But 
 the mind must apprehend this before it can reason at all 
 on the relations of number. A moment's reflection will 
 show that there are no differences in the unit one to unify. 
 It is itself a discrimination under the general conception 
 of number. It is the limit of numerical analysis. Of 
 these two conceptions, the unit and number, the idea of 
 
 s. E.-i;3. 
 
 V 
 
146 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the unit precedes all other definite conceptions of number 
 by a comparatively long time. The child will respond to 
 the request for a marble or a toy with promptness, and 
 time after time without variation, long before it can be 
 taught to pick out two or three marbles. 
 
 (2.) From the constitution of the mind, blue is a dis- 
 crimination of color, and all such discriminations have 
 been shown to precede the development of the idea of the 
 unity color; such unities need no further consideration. 
 But many unities depend upon a choice of elements, and 
 are artificial or factitious, and the lav/ should also apply to 
 them, if it is general. That in such cases the develop- 
 ment of a unity as containing differences must follow dis- 
 crimination is apparent from the very statement, for it is 
 built up in the mind out of the elements already there. 
 But can there not be a conception of a unity without any 
 consciousness of its differences? or, when the unification 
 follows discrimination, is it necessary to suppose the unity 
 to exist in the mind in any sense before the discrimina- 
 tions are made that develop it in consciousness? For an 
 answer to the first question take the conception of a circle 
 as an illustration. This conception may be said to exist 
 in a manner without the distinctions of circumference, di- 
 ameter, and radius; but, so long as this is so, it exists as a 
 discrimination only, as one of the forms of perception in 
 space, amongst which it is distinguished the same as blue 
 is distinguished as a quality. It is not distinct in its true 
 mathematical character until it is conceived of through the 
 discriminations by which the whole is made up out of its 
 parts. Then only does it become a unity. Such concep- 
 tions are first discriminated from other things, and then 
 distinctly brought out into consciousness by themselves by 
 a discrimination of their own parts. 
 
 In answer to the second question, whether a factitious 
 
UNIFICATION AND DISCRIMINATION. 147 
 
 unity must be thought to exist in any sense before it is 
 developed by discrimination of the elements that consti- 
 tute it, take as an illustration the conception of a machine. 
 A machine is, of all things, most factitious or artificial. 
 The development of a conception of it can be clearly 
 traced in the process of invention. Let us attempt to fol- 
 low this process. The first step is to discover something 
 to be done. The second step is to entertain the sugges- 
 tion that this may be done by a machine. The next step 
 is to develop this indefinite suggestion into definite form, 
 parts, and proportions. The inventor begins with an in- 
 definite notion of the machine he wants, but he selects 
 material, and forms the parts of his machine under the 
 control of a definite purpose as a unifying thought, until 
 his plan is fully developed, and the machine perfected 
 according to the original purpose. Every step is in ac- 
 cordance with a developing plan, and the beginning of the 
 plan, however crude it may be, must have been in the 
 mind before the development could begin. The work of 
 the inventor stops with his plan, and a large proportion of 
 inventors fail to reap the reward due to their inventions 
 because they do not add to their inventive power the 
 skill of the workman. For instance, the inventor of a 
 well-known knitting-machine slowly worked out his plan, 
 but exhausted all his means in trying to produce a work- 
 ing model without securing results that came up to his 
 expectations. After he had given up the enterprise, a 
 skillful mechanic happened to see the machine, and, after 
 examining it, offered to put in capital enough to make 
 another test on condition of having a controlling interest 
 in the invention. The confidence that induced the offer 
 was based on the fact that he found no defect in the plan, 
 while there was great defectiveness in the workmanship. 
 The inventor's plan is his unity and it grows out of itself. 
 
148 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and is not put together in a mechanical way, and thus it 
 happens that the inventor himself may be a good judge of 
 the perfection of his plan, and a poor judge of mechanical 
 execution. A child studying inventive drawing may hap- 
 pen to put lines together that will make a beautiful "de- 
 sign," but this result is not likely to occur, and even when 
 it does, skill in drawing lines is cultivated rather than 
 invention. Children should always be urged to have a 
 purpose in whatever they do. 
 
 The process of the inventor's mind is the process of 
 thought in the development of all factitious unities, as well 
 as the process by which natural or organic unities are de- 
 veloped in consciousness. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) In the preceding chapter the importance of dis- 
 crimination was dwelt upon as the beginning of mental 
 development. Now we have come to a Law that shows 
 it to be equally important to direct discrimination to those 
 unities for which the mind is prepared. Thought moves 
 along a continuous path, like the electric fluid, and when 
 the mind is required to skip a step, or to attempt a step 
 it can not take, the connection is broken. One step at a 
 time, quicker or more slowly, according to its difficulty, 
 and each step in its own order, is an inexorable rule. 
 
 (II.) Of natural unities some, as color, sound, body, 
 form, depend upon unification through the senses. These 
 are called sense-perceptions. Other natural unities de- 
 pend upon internal perception or self-consciousness. Con- 
 ceptions of the powers and activities of the mind, of the 
 feelings and of the will, are of the latter class. Concep- 
 tions of the first class are developed by the exercise of the 
 senses; of the second class by reflection. Some of these 
 
NATURAL UNITIES. I49 
 
 perceptions are immediate, that is, there is no known ac- 
 tivity between the intellectual apprehension and the sen- 
 sation; mental perception and sensation seem to be two 
 sides of one activity. But other perceptions are vicarious, 
 or substituted. A solid is directly perceived by the sense 
 of touch, and indirectly by the eye. But the rapidity and 
 versatility of the eye make it easier, and apparently more 
 natural, to use sight than touch in perceiving solidity. 
 Most of the perceptions of the eye are of this class, and 
 it is mainly in consequence of its power to take the place 
 of the other senses that it is superior to them. The ear is 
 next to the eye in the same power. The conception is 
 doubtless first developed by an immediate perception, but 
 the vicarious use of the eye and ear become most com- 
 mon in practice and are often most exact. But it must be 
 observed they are never free from possible error in such 
 exercises, as may be seen in the spectroscope, in ventril- 
 oquism, and so forth. 
 
 (III.) The natural unities developed by reflection are 
 developed later than those developed by the senses, and 
 they are difficult in proportion as they are removed from 
 sensation, and in proportion to their complexity. Chil- 
 dren differ from each other in ability to form clear notions 
 of these unities, and some seem never to become able to 
 grasp common forms. An idea is taken as a unit, not as 
 a unity; that is, it is discriminated from other things, but 
 its own constituent parts are not discriminated. This 
 seems to be the case with those who are correct in the use 
 of language, and yet find the science of it difficult; or 
 those who can do any kind of business better than they 
 can explain the method of doing it. An illustration in 
 point is the well-remembered case of a student who learned 
 the definitions and the demonstrations of the first book of 
 Geometry by heart, without being able to see the appli- 
 
150 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 cation of a single statement to the truth of the conclusions 
 drawn. It was the same after several careful reviews, and 
 she never became able to make an independent Geomet- 
 rical statement of the simplest kind, although she was not 
 regarded as deficient in mental power generally. It must 
 be seen that for a person to study Geometry without the 
 power of unifying the facts is a waste of time. But how 
 much better is it for pupils to be taught Arithmetic by rule, 
 and only required to believe that given processes will 
 produce given results, while they are not taught to see 
 that the result is a unity composed of elements whose re- 
 lations to each other are represented by the processes of 
 the work ? From the beginning the teacher should regard 
 the result as a unity, undeveloped in the pupil's mind, and 
 his aim should be to secure the development of the unity 
 by discrimination. One source of error and confusion is 
 the neglect to distinguish the kinds of elements related: 
 a number of men, days, or acres of land is only a num- 
 ber ; the value is numerical and no more. 
 
 (IV.) What has been said about natural unities is ap- 
 plicable, in the main, to factitious unities. These consti- 
 tute the main features of a business man's thoughts and 
 the conventionalities of society. In addition to what has 
 been said of other unities, the following should be said of 
 these: 
 
 (i.) They depend upon a clear development of the 
 natural unities. They are based on natural unities such as 
 should be taught in the schools, and are but an application 
 of these unities and the discriminations made under them 
 to the concerns of life. These natural unities are the ma- 
 terial out of which is built the structure of a business 
 character. No repentance is brought to the teacher's at- 
 tention more frequently than such a one as this. A boy 
 has learned enough of a few things to see some value in a 
 
FACTITIOUS UNITIES. 151 
 
 certain line of business. He leaves school to grow up 
 into a business man. At the end of two or three years he 
 finds he has not advanced in his business prospects. When 
 he looks for the reason he finds he has exhausted all the 
 intellectual capital he began with in securing a little skill 
 in a small tread-mill of petty business activity, the circle 
 of which he can not enlarge. He returns to his teacher, 
 only to confess his regrets at the mistake, and his greatest 
 sorrow is that it is too late to correct it. 
 
 (2.) The factitious unity in its inception is a generaliza- 
 tion, as we saw it in the invention of a machine. It is 
 derived by previous discriminations made under some 
 larger unity, as the machine was one of many kinds of 
 machines. The preparation required for the study of such 
 a unity is two-fold. First, it must be distinguished from 
 the elements associated with it in the larger unity, and 
 secondly, the mind must be prepared to discriminate the 
 component elements of the unity to be understood. For 
 instance, if one is to take up the study of Mechanics, he 
 should first distinguish it from the other sciences to which 
 it stands related, and then he should have the mathemat- 
 ical training required to understand the facts found in the 
 subject itself. 
 
 (3.) Factitious unities of value, measure, weight, and 
 the like, are beyond the comprehension of the young, and 
 their minds must have time to develop before any success- 
 ful appeal can be made to their understandings by figures 
 representing such unities. We read that a child cried be- 
 cause he could not have the sun to hold in his hands, but 
 he was satisfied when an orange was given him. The one 
 represented to him no more than the other. Children's 
 toys and presents should be estimated for their adaptation 
 to secure rudimentary development, not for their money 
 value. 
 
152 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (4.) When instruction is over the heads of children, as 
 we say, the fault may be either of two things : the in- 
 structor may not make some of the intermediate steps 
 clear, and thus the connection of thought will be broken ; 
 or he may leave a topic completely unified but without any 
 purpose in it to lead the mind forward, and thus interest 
 will be sacrificed and attention lost. 
 
 (V.) It is generally better, at least during the period of 
 school life, to arrange the unities for development with 
 reference to regular stages of progress. There is first an 
 elementary treatment, and then one more exhaustive. If 
 the present law is correct the method should be the same 
 for both classes of treatment. It is only by developing a 
 unity that distinctions can be made. The difference in 
 the classes of treatment should be in the discriminations. 
 Suppose the subject be Astronomy. This may be descrip- 
 tive, as it is for aiding the navigator, or it may be the 
 science of Astronomy. These two forms of the subject 
 have different ends, and therefore constitute different uni- 
 ties rather than different stages of the same unity. If 
 it is to be studied as a science, an elementary treatise 
 should take the science as its unity, the same as an ad- 
 vanced work, but confine its discriminations to those 
 differences that are most prominent and most easily seen. 
 After this the outline may be elaborated in detail by a 
 complete treatise. Below the elementary grade of the 
 science may be given descriptive Astronomy, which takes 
 up the phenomena of the stars from a different point of 
 view. The end should be considered from the beginning 
 and the means adapted to that, but the method should be 
 the same in all cases. In the same way history may be 
 studied as biography, as a description of events, or as an 
 account of the development of nations and the principles 
 of national policy and civilization. 
 
GRADES OF UNITIES. 1 53 
 
 We may see the Law illustrated in teaching reading. A 
 graded series of Readers does not change the method of 
 teaching the subject, from the first number to the last. 
 The first is only more simple than the last, and as one element 
 after another is mastered, it is passed over more lightly. 
 Two breaks are sometimes made before reading proper 
 begins; one in passing from letters to words, the other in 
 passing from words to sentences. It may be a question 
 whether we should take the sentence before teaching the 
 alphabet, and develop the word out of the sentence and 
 the letter out of the word; or take the word first, and de- 
 velop the letter out of the word, and then pass to the 
 sentence; or take the letter as the first unity, then the 
 word, and then the sentence. Any one of these three 
 systems may be adopted and followed consistently. The 
 choice must depend largely upon the result of experience. 
 In any case the method is that of developing a unity, and 
 it is only a question of the best one with which to begin. 
 
 (VI.) The preparation and grading of text-books in 
 most subjects has gone on with little reference to the re- 
 lation which ought to exist between an elementary treatise 
 and an advanced work. To select such points of a sub- 
 ject as will give a complete view in outline, and present 
 these points in a manner to be clearly understood, is a 
 task of the greatest difficulty. A few works in history 
 have attained pre-eminence in this regard. Xenophon's 
 Anabasis, Caesar's Commentaries, and the first chapter of 
 Macaulay's History of England may be named as exam- 
 ples. As a person approaching a mountain first sees it 
 as a mass, then notes its general outlines, and then ob- 
 serves its rocks, trees, and ravines, having a clear vision 
 at each stage of approach, so the child should be brought 
 into the presence of the subjects of human thought. There 
 need be no fear of presenting too great thoughts. It is 
 
154 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 not their greatness, but the multitude of indistinguishable 
 details that staggers a child. Children take hold of the 
 greatest problems early in life; it is only a mastery of 
 such subjects by extensive acquaintance with subsidiary 
 elements that waits for growth. 
 
 (VII.) Amongst the factitious unities mention ought 
 to be made of language. Whether language is called 
 artificial or natural, it is only vicarious, and expresses 
 truth; it is not truth itself. The word represents an idea, 
 the sentence a thought. Like other vicarious unities 
 coming through the eye and ear, in consequence of its 
 convenience it is more used and more useful than the 
 immediate presentation of facts to the senses. But it is 
 second and depends upon previous use of the senses for 
 its development. There must first be something real in 
 consciousness for which language may stand or it will 
 mean nothing. The experience of the senses gives us no 
 discrimination and no unification. These must come 
 through the activity of mind, and the instrument the mind 
 uses in thinking is language. AVithout the production of 
 this convenient instrumentality no intellect, so far as is 
 known, has ever made any considerable progress. The 
 education of Laura Bridgman, with only the sense of 
 touch left her for use, is conclusive proof on this point. 
 As the account is given in Dickens's American Notes, she 
 is represented as able to be taught only to imitate, much 
 as a dog would learn to perform tricks, until eight years 
 of age. Mental development began to reveal itself only at 
 this time, when she learned to put together raised letters 
 that spell the words book, key, and so forth. "But now 
 the truth began to flash upon her: her intellect began to 
 work: she perceived that here was a way by which she 
 could herself make up a sign of any thing that was in her 
 own mind, and show it to another mind: and at once her 
 
LANGUAGE A UNITY. 1 55 
 
 countenance lighted up with a human expression; it was 
 no longer a dog, or a parrot. I could almost fix upon 
 the moment," says her benefactor, "when this truth dawned 
 upon her mind, and spread its light to her countenance." 
 Language fixes the unities of thought and enables ^is to 
 hold them easily, while the attention is rapidly turned 
 from point to point, and a variety of discriminations are 
 brought into distinct consciousness in quick succession, 
 based upon the unity suggested by the language used. 
 No application of labor-saving machinery can compare 
 with the advantage which language gives to mental en- 
 ergy. And no other monument of a nation's genius or 
 achievement can compare with the language it originates, 
 develops, and constructs. It follows from this that ideas 
 and thoughts should be clothed in their proper forms of 
 expression as early as possible in the development of 
 mental activity. 
 
 Law II. — The Natural Tendency of Mental En- 
 ergy When Excited to Activity is Toward Unifi- 
 cation. 
 
 First Proof. — Every time a child asks What is this? 
 Why is it so ? What is it for ? he attempts to identify a new 
 difference with a past experience ; and until such questions 
 are asked, stupidity reigns. 
 
 Second Proof. — The different faculties of the mind mani- 
 fest themselves only in unifying. Were there no unifying 
 tendency, there would be no proof of any thing beyond 
 reflex action. Memory links together all the experiences 
 of life in such perfect unity that no event can be recalled 
 that does not suggest others associated with it, and thus 
 life is made a unit. The imagination builds unities out of 
 the products of perception, memory, and reason; and 
 
156 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 without the manifestation of unification there is no mani- 
 festation of imagination. Reason is developed only in 
 the unities of thought, the subject and predicate being 
 identified with each other. 
 
 Third Proof. — The senses can only furnish the mind 
 with activities corresponding to separate states of being. 
 The mind itself must relate these as materials of thought, 
 and unless it seeks relations by its native energy, there is 
 no way of explaining its constructive power. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The stimulus to mental activity is difference for 
 discrimination, but the mind must be left to unify of itself. 
 An object presented to the senses excites discrimination, 
 but it does not excite unification. If the mind is possessed 
 of something with which it can identify a new discrimina- 
 tion, it does it naturally if given time ; if the proper basis 
 of unification does not exist, no identification can be 
 forced upon it. The activity will go into some worthless 
 generalization. Food may be selected for the nourishment 
 of the body, but the condition of the body will determine 
 what and how much shall be assimilated. In the same 
 way the condition of the mind determines what and how 
 much mental food shall be used. 
 
 (II.) Time must be given for unifying thought. The 
 body requires hours to digest and assimilate food; iden- 
 tification in mental activity is assimilation of mental nour- 
 ishment, and it is a slower process than discrimination. 
 Solitary study, where a pupil knows he must depend upon 
 himself, is a most wholesome occupation for a large pro- 
 portion of a pupil's time. Indeed, it is a great part of a 
 teacher's duty to lead the pupil to study. In an autobi- 
 ography of Daniel Webster, the opinion is expressed that 
 
CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. 1 57 
 
 riding the circuits over the New England hills was condu- 
 cive to a habit of reflection that more than made up for the 
 time taken by slow modes -of travel. It was while fishing 
 in the Mashpee river, he tells us, that he constructed his 
 Bunker Hill Monument speech. If two boys study to- 
 gether, the brighter one will get more help than he gives. 
 A wise man will learn more in a conversation with an 
 ignorant one than the ignorant one from him. These are 
 matters of common observation, and their truth depends 
 upon the fact that it requires more time and better prepa- 
 ration for the duller and the more ignorant to assimilate 
 truth than they can command. 
 
 Law III. — Unification Conserves Mental Energy. 
 
 First Proof. — Under discrimination it was shown that 
 mind does not develop, or grow without unification. All 
 the activity that stops with observing differences is lost so 
 far as permanent growth of mind is concerned. 
 
 Second Proof.— In the exercise of memory only those 
 perceptions help to furnish the mind that are so associated 
 together as to be recalled by each other. In the same 
 way imagination and reason must make consistent unities 
 to develop imagining and reasoning power. The faculties 
 of the mind grow in proportion as their activity is organic. 
 
 Third Proof — The growth of thought through time has 
 been by the development of unities. Civilization, govern- 
 ment, the arts and sciences, are all permanent through the 
 development of a conscious unification of differences dis- 
 covered by experience. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The unity should be held before the mind as the 
 leading thought when discriminations are made, that iden- 
 tifications may be more easy, and the differences conserved 
 
 t 
 
iS8 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 by a higher unity instead of leaving them to burden the 
 memory by the laws of association alone. The names of 
 objects and classes of objects should be made thoroughly 
 familiar as early as possible, as representatives of unities ; 
 and general statements that need to be proved, such as the 
 propositions of Geometry, if they can be understood by 
 themselves, should be learned before the demonstration is 
 studied, that discrimination may be brought under the 
 proper unity from the first. 
 
 (II.) Criticism that ends with the destruction of that 
 which is criticised is without value. A critic may compel 
 a better construction by destructive criticism; but the 
 good is indirectly done, unless criticism leads to compari- 
 sons of a more correct character, and thus directs the 
 unifying powers. The critic who indulges in destructive 
 criticism mainly, fails to develop in himself a broad and 
 strong intellect. Construction should succeed destruction, 
 and supply the antecedent reason for it. We take down 
 and remove that we may have a place for a new and bet- 
 ter structure. 
 
 ic3)^PQ^?o>J 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CORRELATION AND DEGRADATION. 
 
 ^^^WM 
 
 HE term correlation as used here is 
 borrowed from its use in physics. When 
 the blacksmith's hammer comes down 
 upon a piece of iron, the motion of the 
 hammer is arrested and heat is produced. 
 The muscular force of the arm imparts motion to the 
 hammer, and the hammer produces heat. Heat is not 
 produced till the motion of the hammer ceases, and the 
 motion is not produced till the muscular energy is ex- 
 pended. So long as the energy is inactive, it is called 
 latent; when active, it is called kinetic. It is held that 
 the same amount of kinetic muscular energy will produce 
 the same amount of motion, and the same amount of 
 motion will produce the same amount of heat. That is, 
 muscular energy, motion, and heat are considered to be 
 equivalents. In the same way other forms of physical 
 force have their equivalents in each other. It is held in 
 physics that whenever one form of physical force ceases 
 to exist, its equivalent is produced in some other form, 
 and that the physical forces generally succeed each other 
 in conformity to this law of force-equivalents. The same 
 principle may be found in mental energy, with laws anal- 
 ogous to the laws of physical forces. 
 
 2. But the absolute correlation is only theoretical. The 
 muscular energy can not all be changed to motion. 
 Some of it will be lost in heat. The part which is thus 
 lost, is said, to be degraded in form. 
 
 ( 159 ) 
 
l6o THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Law I. — One Form of Kinetic Mental Energy has 
 ITS Equivalent in Other Forms. 
 
 First Proof. — This must follow from the third Law of 
 Native Activity. If mental energy may be so directed 
 as to cease acting in one form and made to act in some 
 other form, correlation must be inferred. 
 
 Second Proof. — The illustrations of the Law are as 
 clearly demonstrative in mental energy as in physical 
 force. Take perception and memory. So long as energy 
 is concentrated upon perception, memory is inactive. In 
 observing facts or listening to an address, some of the en- 
 ergy must be directed to storing away our thoughts in 
 memory or they will soon slip from us. The effort of 
 retention being the same, memory will be strong in pro- 
 portion to the vividness of perception, the activity of 
 perception contributing to the retentive power. If we 
 compare any intellectual act, as perception or reasoning, 
 with emotion, we shall find that so long as the attention 
 is confined to the intellectual act emotion remains latent. 
 But when perception or reasoning becomes easy, the en- 
 ergy of intellectual activity diminishes and the conscious- 
 ness of beauty or other feeling is excited. Those who 
 criticise art intellectually are in danger of losing the 
 pleasurable sense of beauty; those who do not lay the 
 foundations of their enjoyment of art in an intellectual 
 discrimination can not appreciate it in a high sense. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) As a rider arouses activity in his steed to be used 
 in leaping a hedge by running him on level ground, so the 
 mind is carried over difficult trains of thought by an ac- 
 cumulation of force excited by easier exercises. Thought 
 
CHANGE OF ENERGY. l6l 
 
 Stimulates thought. Reading a book that is vigorously 
 written, talking with a person of mental force, reviewing 
 one's own work that has aroused activity before, are ways 
 of preparing the mind to undertake a difficult task. One 
 story suggests another as much by exciting thought as 
 from any resemblance between the stories. 
 
 (II.) When the mind works successfully in a certain 
 direction there is much economy in carrying forward the 
 work to its conclusion. The adage, ''Strike while the 
 iron is hot," is applicable here. Fire in the furnace that 
 must use a large amount of heat before the ore begins to 
 melt is never allowed to go out. A person may expend 
 fifty pounds of force a hundred times in vain in trying to 
 raise a weight of sixty pounds. A few more pounds of 
 force added to the fifty would have given success the first 
 time. The mind is like Virgil's Rumor, — it gains strength 
 by moving. When the mind begins to flag, a little di- 
 version, an illustration, even something entirely foreign to 
 the subject under consideration may be a spur to thought. 
 
 (III.) It is possible to explain the increase of power in 
 the above cases partly by the increased circulation of 
 blood in the brain caused by thinking. But there is still 
 another cause independent of this. According to the 
 fourth Law of Discrimination, when the mind is active 
 there is much material at hand, many discriminations 
 fresh in the mind, some of which may be used to help 
 forward the effort to build up thought. 
 
 ( Law II. — Mental Activity is Along the Line of 
 Least Resistance. 
 
 Proof. — Could we arrange the mental activities in the 
 order of difficulty, we should find that an energy excited 
 in the direction of a more difficult activity tends to the 
 
 S. E.— 14. 
 
1 62 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 less difficult form. Two illustrations will, perhaps, be 
 sufficient to show this. First, let us take the act of mem- 
 ory, or the ingraining of thought into the very constitu- 
 tion of the mind. This is supposed to be more exhaustive 
 of mental energy than any other activity. But there is 
 no other mental process to which we apply the will so 
 directly. It requires a direct effort in addition to the 
 stimulus of perception, reasoning, reflection, and so forth 
 to commit things to memory. In the second place, con- 
 sider the acts of induction and deduction. There must 
 be induction before deduction is possible. Of the two, 
 induction requires a higher tension of mental energy than 
 deduction, because a larger number of discriminations 
 must be held in mind. But the universal tendency is for 
 the mind to satisfy itself with the smallest amount of in- 
 ductive evidence possible, and apply the deductive activity 
 to the drawing of immediate conclusions. The truth of 
 this statement may be seen fully proved in the fact that 
 the deductive sciences, like Mathematics, were brought to 
 comparative perfection early in the history of systematic 
 thought; while the inductive sciences, like Chemistry, are 
 of recent appearance. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 It has been shown that discrimination is required to 
 stimulate and direct mental activity. But there must be a 
 disposition to give attention to discriminations, or the uni- 
 fication that is required to give them developing effect will 
 not follow. The legitimate regulator of the attention is 
 what we call the exercise of the will. By this, and by this 
 alone is the mind held to do its highest work. The thmgs 
 that can only be accomplished by sheer force of will give 
 the mind the highest development of which it is capable. 
 
THE WILL CONSERVES ENERGY. 1 63 
 
 When we accomplish something by a determined effort we 
 derive most satisfaction from it, and feel it gives us our 
 highest power. The direction of the will is point-blank 
 toward its object, and as activities not under its control 
 may be diverted to some other end, they will be so di- 
 verted when the more difficult processes of thought are 
 reached. At this crisis the mind should be held by a set 
 purpose and compelled to move forward, or it will fall 
 below its highest possibilities. 
 
 Law III. — TiiE Line of Least Resistance tends to- 
 ward Degradation and Dissipation. 
 
 First Proof. — It was seen, in discussing the General Law 
 of mental development, that mental activity which ends 
 with differences without unification, and mental activity 
 which unifies without preserving differences, alike fail to 
 secure mental growth. Activities that tend in these direc- 
 tions, therefore, waste the energy excited and tend toward 
 dissipation. That there is a range of activities below con- 
 sciousness, out of which consciousness grows and into 
 which it fades away, is evident from many considerations. 
 As Sir William Hamilton has made it appear by his illus- 
 tration of the division of the smallest visible object, each 
 part being invisible alone, but the two parts visible when 
 taken together, the senses give perception only by a com- 
 bination of a multitude of impressions which are individ- 
 ually below consciousness. A single leaf on a distant 
 tree, the sound of a single drop of water on the beach, 
 are imperceptible, but the sound of the waves and the 
 sight of the trees are composed of such imperceptible 
 elements. The Law that consciousness develops from the 
 indistinct to the distinct needs only to be carried back 
 far enough, to find a beginning of consciousness in un- 
 
164 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 conscious activity. That it requires an effort to develop 
 indistinct activities into clearness, and that unless they are 
 thus developed they will be lost, is proof of the tendency 
 to dissipation. 
 
 Second Proof. — It has been shown that consciousness 
 ends in indistinctness or undiscriminating activity. That 
 this is the natural tendency of conscious activity we may 
 infer from the fact that this tendency is manifested 
 wherever we trace its development. 
 
 (i.) The discriminations of perception pass rapidly 
 from the memory, and require repeated renewals to keep 
 them in control of the will. 
 
 (2.) The tendency of thought is to lose sight of dis- 
 tinctions, and content the mind with generalizations. 
 These generalizations become less and less distinct until 
 the mind contains no clear picture. It is the natural 
 progress of the sentence — and the progress of the sentence 
 is the progress of thought — to wrap up the distinct, the 
 particular, subject in the more general predicate. The 
 mind is so apt to lose sight of all the distinctions included 
 in the predicate that it comes to fix the attention only 
 upon that part of it with which it identifies the subject, 
 and is sometimes left in doubt, as we saw when treating 
 of unification, whether the subject is classified under the 
 predicate or the predicate is made to be a part of the 
 subject. 
 
 (3.) It is the tendency of resolution to degenerate into 
 desire, of rational emotion to degenerate into passion, and 
 of the intellectual powers generally to degenerate into in- 
 distinct consciousness. Even pain is dissipated if allowed 
 to find vent in the natural expression of tears, but if the 
 natural activity is restrained by the will, the pain is in- 
 tensified until, perhaps, it breaks over all bounds and 
 finds expression in sobs. The voluntary effort required 
 
NATURAL TENDENCY TO DISSIPATION. 1 65 
 
 to Store thought in memory, to carry an argument to a 
 conclusion, and to execute a desire or purpose, is put 
 forth to counteract the natural tendency to dissipation. 
 A state of mind with conscious distinctions not unified is 
 an unstable state, and can not continue. It must identify 
 either by unifying the variety, or by losing the conscious- 
 ness of variety in a generalization that does not contain 
 the differences. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) That the force locked up in a piece of coal will be 
 dissipated if burned under the open sky, that the force 
 brought into activity when water falls over a precipice will 
 be changed into heat and dissipated in space when the 
 motion is arrested, that force applied to machinery is 
 partly turned into heat and dissipated by friction, are fa- 
 miliar facts in physical science. In the use of force to 
 accomplish physical changes the greatest ingenuity is ex- 
 ercised to prevent this waste by degeneration. In the 
 development of mental energy there is the same tendency 
 to degradation and dissipation, but there is little effort 
 made to discover the avenues that lead to this loss. No 
 rule ought to be applied with more critical care than the 
 rule to follow the order of nature. The order of nature 
 in the sun is to dissipate its heat, the order of nature on 
 the earth is to bring all things to a dead level, to exhaust 
 the stores of heat laid away, and to dissipate the heat pro- 
 duced, so that it requires the immeasurable reservoir of 
 the sun's light and heat to maintain the conditions re- 
 quired for life for the briefest time. The rule named is 
 just in the sense in which it was intended, but it can not 
 be applied indiscriminately without error. Only in the 
 exercise of a single faculty is there any considerable 
 
l66 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 effort made to guard against loss by degeneration and dis- 
 sipation. It is found necessary to make a direct effort to 
 store the memory and make it retentive. But even this 
 effort is subject to much criticism, and every device is 
 sought to avoid making a direct effort to memorize. Ef- 
 forts to develop the more complex faculties rest satisfied 
 with being directed toward the stimulation of activity, 
 and little or no thought is given to the question of what 
 becomes of it when produced. 
 
 (II.) To discover the methods by which dissipation 
 may be prevented, we must know what forms of activity 
 are most subject to it, and what direction of activity is 
 toward degradation. These points will be taken up under 
 the treatment of the various mental powers. Only the gen- 
 eral Law of conservation will be treated of in this chapter. 
 
 Law IV. — Unification of Differences is Conser- 
 vation OF Mental Energy. 
 
 First Proof. — Unification has been shown to be neces- 
 sary to development, but it must be a unification that 
 preserves differences. The tendency to dissipation by 
 unifying without preserving distinctions, is checked when 
 the differences are held in the mind, and when the energy 
 excited is used in fixing variety of forms of thotight. The 
 mind possesses power in proportion as it is able to bring a 
 large number of activities to the understanding of truth. 
 
 Second Proof. — In making and holding discriminations 
 clearly in mind under the forms of unities, the various 
 powers of mind are exercised and developed, and the 
 energy thus" called into action results in the development 
 of permanent strength. 
 
variety in unity a conservation. 1 67 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The importance of carrying through a purpose or 
 an undertaking will be seen from this Law. The more 
 perfectly discriminations are cemented together, the 
 stronger the hold which the mind has on them. 
 
 (II.) Thorough classification is important for the con- 
 servation of energy. In this way differences are most 
 firmly held together in the unities of thought, and the very 
 fact of classification gives prominence to characteristic 
 differences. 
 
 (III.) In this Law is seen the importance of clear analy- 
 sis. It has been noted as a fact that the strong men of 
 broad intellects prominent in history have been educated 
 by methods that lead to the clearest and most careful 
 analysis of thought. The development of a new thought 
 into the clear apprehension of men has led to many a 
 revolution in government, in warfare, in business, or in 
 individual character. The United States government was 
 founded upon a new idea. New ideas have determined 
 the result of many of the decisive battles of the world. 
 In the clear analysis of thought that brings out new views 
 of truth lies the teacher's source of power. As has been 
 said, he that discriminates well, teaches well. This is 
 true both in respect to the development and to the conserva- 
 tion of power. 
 
 (IV.) The complete assimilation of discriminations in a 
 unity is the culminating process of development. Analy- 
 sis that is not followed by synthesis does not increase 
 mental power. The two processes must go together. 
 The habit of turning the attention from differences to 
 unity, and from unity to differences until the whole is seen 
 in all its parts, perfects the work of development. The 
 practical difficulty to be overcome is that of holding com- 
 
l68 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 plex unities with sufficient clearness to comprehend the 
 relations of all the parts to the whole. In Arithmetic, for 
 example, the elements that enter in to make up the an- 
 swer required are set forth in the question; but if the con- 
 ditions are complex, it is difficult for an untrained mind to 
 hold them in consciousness so as to see their relation to 
 the unity required. A repetition of processes till each 
 step becomes almost automatic, is needed for completely 
 comprehending such lines of reasoning. As a rule, the 
 briefer and more distinct the representations of the ele- 
 ments and their relations, the easier the process of reasoning 
 becomes. A fitting word, a technical term, or a sign is a 
 great aid. A diagram that sets forth the essential unity 
 of a sentence and the relations of all the parts at the same 
 time, is a device of great value in Grammar when rightly 
 used. If the real thought is first put into the diagram, the 
 analyzed form will be more easily comprehended in this 
 than in any other way. 
 
 As an illustration of the advantage of brevity, take the 
 rule for dividing a fraction by a fraction. It may be stated 
 in any one of three forms: i. Multiply the numerator of 
 the dividend by the denominator of the divisor for a new 
 numerator, and the denominator of the dividend by the 
 numerator of the divisor for a new denominator. 2. In- 
 vert the divisor and multiply. 3. Multiply the reciprocal 
 of the divisor by the numerical dividend. In the first 
 form the rule is perfectly plain, and yet it is difficult to 
 keep every element distinctly in mind so as to comprehend 
 the rule in one unity of thought. The second form of the 
 rule presents every relation presented by the first form, 
 and so briefly that it can easily be held in mind as a 
 whole. But in the second form there is nothing to point 
 out the course of thought. In the third form the reason- 
 ing process is clearly indicated in the briefest way, and if 
 
HABITS OF DISSIPATION. 
 
 169 
 
 we distin£,uish between a numerical dividend and a con- 
 crete fraction, the reasoning will apply equally well to 
 a concrete and to an abstract number. 
 
 Law V. — The Tendency to Degradation and Dis- 
 sipation IS Increased by Indulgence. 
 
 Proof. — To prove this Law, it is only necessary to refer 
 to the growth of habits. If one acquires a habit of care- 
 lessness about keeping his promises or carrying out his 
 resolutions, the energy of his thought, distinctly manifest 
 in the promise or resolution, is dissipated; and the more 
 frequently this occurs the harder it is to keep a promise 
 or a resolution. The same weakening effect of habitual 
 dissipation is manifest in every form of mental energy. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 It should not be necessary to urge any thing to enforce the 
 importance of this Law. The basis on which the young 
 are cautioned against the inidulgence of evil habits, and 
 most of them belong to one form of dissipation or another, 
 is as strong as any physical law. The need is to realize 
 the certainty of the Law and the innumerable ways in 
 which it finds application. 
 
 5. E.— 15. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SEQUENCE. 
 
 HE forms of mental activity succeed one 
 another in a fixed order. We saw this 
 illustrated in studying the different mental 
 faculties. There must be perception before 
 there can be memory, and there must be 
 memory before there can be comparison. When a teacher 
 observes the order in which a child's mind naturally de- 
 velops in understanding, and presents truth in accordance 
 with this order, he is said to follow the order of nature, 
 not because nature presents truth in this order, but be- 
 cause the mind can develop only in this order. The dif- 
 ferent forms of truth are presented in an order correspond- 
 ing to the order in which difj^rent forms of mental activity 
 develop. From the infinite diversity of forms in which 
 creative wisdom is manifested in nature, the mind selects 
 only those that are adapted to its condition and stage of 
 development. The teacher follows nature when he adapts 
 himself to this necessity. To know the order in which 
 truth must be presented, the mind must be studied and the 
 laws of the succession of its activities observed. 
 
 Law I. — The Faculties of the Mind are Devel- 
 oped AND Come to Maturity in the Order of their 
 Dependence One Upon Another. 
 
 First Proof. — So constant and regular is the order of 
 development, that the educational period may easily be 
 
 (170) 
 
ORDER OF DEPENDENCE. 171 
 
 divided into distinct stages. Rosenkranz has divided it 
 into the intuitive, the imaginative, and the logical period. 
 Other divisions will easily suggest themselves to the mind, 
 but all of them will follow the order in which we have 
 seen the faculties to be dependent one upon another. 
 
 Second Proof. — In order to arrive at clear reasoning, or 
 the exercise of the higher faculties, the mind must pass 
 through the forms of perception, memory, and so forth, 
 but the lower faculties may be used without carrying out 
 the process of reasoning. In fact, but few of the activi- 
 ties begun in the mind of a child are carried through to 
 their final stage, from which it happens that the lower 
 faculties are most used and are first developed to the full 
 extent of their power. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This Law is important in helping to determine the 
 order in which subjects should be taught, and the method 
 of their presentation. Subjects requiring observation and 
 the use of the senses should come first, and the study of 
 all subjects in every period of growth should begin with 
 these. Memory should be both developed and stored in 
 childhood. The ability to hold things accurately before 
 the mind is essential to clear reasoning and should early 
 be cultivated. Amongst the feeHngs the moral sense is 
 early developed, and the will may be trained by encour- 
 aging the habit of doing things. 
 
 (II.) All the faculties begin early, and it requires but a 
 slight development of perception and memory to provide 
 material for a large use of the higher faculties. The reason 
 may begin to work with a few things, and the number of 
 possible combinations increases so rapidly that the mind 
 might stop very early in the exercise of the acquisitive fac- 
 
172 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ulty, and spend all its strength in making different com- 
 binations of the same few facts. With two facts two com- 
 binations can be made if we discriminate the order in 
 which the facts stand related to each other. Three facts 
 will give six combinations, four facts twenty-four, and ten 
 facts nearly four million. This is only the simplest method 
 of comparison, and we may easily see that it is not for the 
 want of material that reasoning is developed so late. 
 Sometimes there is a precocious tendency to develop the 
 higher faculties before the lower have been much exer- 
 cised, and it always ends in raising hopes of greatness only 
 to be disappointed. The law requiring diversity for gen- 
 eral strength of mind is inexorable. 
 
 Law II.— If Several Faculties Must be Used to 
 Complete the Unification of a Given Thought, they 
 ARE Called into Exercise in the Order of Their 
 Dependence. 
 
 First Proof. — That this is true in cases where the facul- 
 ties are exercised on new material for thought follows from 
 the fact of dependence. If one of the faculties to be used 
 is perception, no activity that depends upon this can be 
 excited without it. The same may be said of memory 
 and of the other faculties in order 
 
 Second Proof. — The same order must also be followed in 
 making new combinations of old material. Any course of 
 reasoning is obscure that does not call up to the mind 
 with clearness all the processes of thought involved in the 
 argument; and because listeners will not take the trouble 
 to trace statements to their foundations, their thoughts are 
 obscure or erroneous. Take a demonstration in Geometry, 
 for instance. It is useless to talk about the relations of 
 lines and angles to one another unless the mind first holds 
 them clearly before itself. 
 
ORDER OF EXERCISE. 1 73 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This Law may be applied in the use of every subject 
 of instruction. First^ take the subject of Reading. If a 
 reader simply tries to present the words on the printed 
 page in clear tones, it will be unpleasant and difficult to 
 follow him. He must use the printed words to gain the 
 thought of the author and then give this thought as though 
 it were his own. Inflection, emphasis, and so forth are 
 elements in the expression of thought which can not be 
 left for the listener to supply. 
 
 Secondly. — The study of Geography develops ideas of 
 space by concrete forms. But the tendency is to stop 
 with what is on the map, and not bring into real conscious- 
 ness the very things that are represented. Direction is an 
 elementary idea, and the four cardinal points ought to be 
 so impressed that one will always be conscious of them in 
 traveling, and able to refer every thing to them whenever 
 a map is studied. But school and dwelling-houses are 
 often placed without reference to the points of the com- 
 pass, and children grow up without the habit of referring 
 to standard directions. By fixing the points of the compass 
 of a small and familiar piece of ground, and having it 
 drawn on paper with objects accurately located, and drill- 
 ing pupils with these before them till the whole plot is in- 
 delibly stamped on the mind, much may be done to lay a 
 foundation for accurate thinking in the location of places. 
 
 Thirdly. — The study of Arithmetic is easy for the com- 
 paratively young. The relations of number all represent 
 the relations of things as they may be conceived ; hence, 
 the subject may be studied from concrete illustrations. 
 The abstract concept, to be clear, must always be devel- 
 oped by the particular example. But if the child does 
 
174 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 nothing but put numbers together and divide them, very- 
 little clear knowledge of the principles of number is gained. 
 The thought should go back easily to the examples from 
 which the notions of the principles were first evolved. 
 If figures represent not only a definite number, but definite 
 objects, it is as important to keep the objects definitely in 
 mind as the number of them. If a figure represents a 
 ratio, as rate per centy it is as important to know what ob- 
 jects have this ratio to each other as to know the ratio. 
 The first thing to be made clear is the group of objects 
 that are to be compared together. It is so easy for the 
 teacher to connect object and number in the same con- 
 cept that he takes it for granted the child will make the 
 connection, and he allows the child to talk about the 
 numbers without reference to the objects they ought to 
 represent, when they actually stand in the mind only for 
 the figures in the book or on the board. This neglect to 
 require clear conceptions of the things that are related to- 
 gether is the occasion of more uncertainty and stumbling 
 than any other fault in teaching this subject. Perception, 
 recollection, and imagination should be called into exer- 
 cise quite as much as the reasoning faculty. 
 
 Fourthly. — This Law of Sequence should be observed 
 in the study of language. The use of language is learned 
 by imitation, but, to have it mean any thing, it must be 
 associated with objects and actions. The natural order is 
 the conception of a thing first, and then its representative 
 word. But we should also remember the Law that con- 
 sciousness develops from the obscure to the clear by de- 
 grees, and need not always wait for the complete concept 
 of an object before giving its name. It is most natural for 
 the mind to unify its discriminations in connection with a 
 representative term, and the important thing to be insisted 
 on is, that the term and object should be associated to- 
 
LAW OF SEQUENCE APPLIED. 1 75 
 
 gether in the concept. One rule for the study of Gram- 
 mar must suffice for this point. Let the faets of language 
 underlie every definition and 7'ule, and every step in parsing 
 and analysis. 
 
 Fifthly. — In the study of History, personal character, 
 personal adventures, and action in general appeal to the 
 imagination and excite the mind to activity more easily 
 than a description of countries, laws, and customs. Bio- 
 graphical sketches and historical anecdotes should prepare 
 the way for a more connected history of any people. In 
 order to make the philosophical study of history profitable 
 to any considerable extent, a student should first have the 
 mind well stored with facts as data for the exercise of the 
 reason. A philosophical theory is an excellent guide, but 
 is worth nothing without a knowledge of facts to be ex- 
 plained. 
 
 Sixthly. — In the study of nature, things should precede 
 theory and science. It is of little use to take up the 
 science of Botany or of Zoology if there has not been pre- 
 vious observation of plants and animals. 
 
 (II.) If a statement or demonstration is not understood, 
 it is not sufficient to explain the elements that are found to 
 be obscure. These must be made clear and then unified 
 in the statement of demonstration. It is one of the most 
 common mistakes for a teacher to suppose the look of in- 
 telligence that comes over a pupil's face when some inci- 
 dental explanation is made, is an indication that the whole 
 object of the explanation is understood. The elements 
 should be made clear, and then the whole by means of 
 them. It is not the easiest way to learn the road from A 
 to B to pass back from B to A, although all the objects 
 between may be observed, for they are seen from the 
 wrong point of view. Much less can the mind be in- 
 structed to follow a course of thought or argument by 
 
176 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 being led back from the end to the beginning, for the way 
 is all darkness till the beginning is reached. 
 
 Law hi. — The Mind Develops from the Simple 
 TO the Complex. 
 
 First Proof. — A complex thought requires several activ- 
 ities in connection, and the mind may have power to hold 
 a few discriminations together in unity when it can not 
 hold a large number of them in consciousness at the same 
 time. 
 
 Second Proof. — When we have repeatedly unified the 
 elements of a complex thought it becomes easier, and 
 finally takes its place in the mind as a fixed unity. 
 
 Third Proof. — By cultivating the power of attention, 
 the mind gains strength to hold together a greater variety 
 of differences for unification. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) In considering this subject it must not be supposed 
 that the absolutely simple is to be made the basis of unifi- 
 cation. By the simple is meant that whicK is simple to 
 the understanding, — that which is easily grasped as a whole. 
 The elements of an ideal analysis are not the elements to 
 begin with. A child never learns to talk by first learning 
 to make what we call the elementary sounds. It tries to 
 pronounce words as a whole. 
 
 (II.) There is great difference in the power of different 
 men to hold clearly the elements of a complex thought. 
 Some persons are able to seize the conclusion of an argu- 
 ment without being able to go over it step by step, while 
 others not only see the conclusion, but the process by 
 which it is reached. The ability of the first class of per- 
 
SIMPLE AND COMPLEX. 177 
 
 sons must be recognized. The value of their practical 
 judgment in the world's affairs is great, especially in times 
 of great emergency. But it is an endowment not to be 
 cultivated directly. It is a power to discover true unities 
 without spending energy in the effort to make exhaustive 
 discriminations. Most persons are able to give the rea- 
 sons for their conclusions if they are worth any thing, and 
 the Law of growth by discrimination and unification re- 
 quires that the judgment should be based on an apprecia- 
 tion of the elements of thought. 
 
 (III.) The difference in the ability of children is more 
 marked in reference to the power of advancing in complex 
 thought than in their understanding of simple truths. Dull 
 pupils should be taken over the complex slowly and with 
 much repetition. 
 
 Law IV. — The Order of Development is the Same 
 IN Individuals, in Nations, and in the Race. 
 
 First Proof. — The progressive use of the mental facul- 
 ties made by nations and the race indicates an advance- 
 ment corresponding to the order of dependence in the 
 individual. The organs of sense seem capable of little 
 progressive development, but it is probable that finer 
 distinctions of sound and color are made now than in the 
 childhood of the race, as a child's powers of perception 
 may be cultivated. Music and painting were cultivated 
 by the ancients, but it is almost certain that they were 
 coarser than in modern times, as the war-songs and the 
 war-paint of the savage are more rude than Italian art. 
 The imagination is given freer play in early than in later 
 development. Song and story belong to childhood and 
 early history. There is also a correspondence in the de- 
 velopment of complex reasoning. Take, for instance, the 
 
178 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 growth of civilization in Greece. The Greeks as a people 
 passed through an intuitive, an imaginative, and a philo- 
 sophical stage, and came to the very confines of a scien- 
 tific era. They did all that could be done with science 
 treated deductively. What is further to be noted is that 
 they went through these stages in the order named, which 
 is the order of dependence, the observed order in the de- 
 velopment of childhood, and the order of progress in the 
 race. When Greece declined, the genius of the race 
 made one more effort under Roman civilization, and added 
 to its acquisitions the triumph of law, the basis of science 
 as well as order, and then slept, awaiting patiently a gen- 
 eral awakening, till the night of the Dark Ages passed 
 away. The tastes of childhood are the tastes of infant 
 nations, and the morals of childhood are the morals of 
 antiquity. The child's submission to authority corresponds 
 to imperial government in the beginnings of national life, 
 and the self-control of manhood, with the domination of a 
 rational will, finds its counterpart in the civilized govern- 
 ments of modern times. 
 
 Second Proof. — There are some reasons in the nature of 
 things for the Law given. In the case of a child there is 
 the dependence of one form of activity upon another which 
 determines the order of development. In the develop- 
 ment of the race and of national life we may see some- 
 thing of the same dependence. When America was first 
 discovered by Europeans, the world was not prepared to 
 take advantage of the discovery, and soon lost all knowl- 
 edge of the discoverers and their achievement. But when 
 Columbus came to this country, men were sufficiently en- 
 lightened to appreciate the value of the discovery, and the 
 skill of men was sufficiently developed to enable them to 
 make the attempts at colonization {iuccessful. If Colum- 
 bus had not succeeded, the world was ripe for the enter- 
 
SEQUENCE IN HISTORY. 1 79 
 
 prise, and the Western continent would not have remained 
 long unknown. This is shown by the fact that shortly 
 after the discovery a vessel engaged in trade on a differ- 
 ent course was driven by the winds to South America, and 
 the officers had the intelHgence, skill, and equipment to 
 return to their home where a report of their adventures 
 would soon have brought others to the newly-discovered 
 continent. The Copernican Theory of the Solar System 
 did not originate with Copernicus, but it was suggested by 
 Pythagoras nearly two thousand years before Copernicus 
 was born. But there was not sufficient advancement in 
 knowledge to prove the theory, and it was disregarded. 
 We may see a substantial reason for the development of 
 the deductive method of argument before the inductive. 
 Induction is more difficult than deduction, because it re- 
 quires us to hold in mind a larger number of particulars 
 at the same time for comparison, and men took the easier 
 course by deduction until they were compelled to seek for 
 a more satisfactory method of discovery. These illustra- 
 tions are sufficient to show a dependence in the order of 
 development in nations and in the race as a whole, and 
 the comparisons of the First Proof show that the order is 
 the same as in the individual. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) In the study of history we ought to remember that 
 it is as unjust to apply to the earliest races of men and to 
 nations in their infancy the same standards as are now ap- 
 plied to civilized nations, as it is to apply the standard of a 
 man's conduct to that of a boy. 
 
 (II.) We may find much in the history of civilization to 
 aid in the discovery of the order and methods of individ- 
 ual development. This principle applies to the develop- 
 
i8o 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ment of the feelings and the will, the same as to the cog- 
 nitions ; and in the education of children it is highly use- 
 ful to study the early forms of civilization, and follow 
 this order of nature both in the sequence of truths im- 
 parted, and in methods of instruction. 
 
 (III.) While the order and successive stages of progress 
 are fixed in nature, it is not necessary for each individual 
 and each generation to make the same experiments and 
 failures. If it were so, there could be no progress. Each 
 generation gives to its successor the results of its experi- 
 ence, the grounds of its beliefs, and the methods of its 
 successes. These results can be made useful in lighten- 
 ing the work of one generation after another, and will 
 make shorter paths to the same ends without changing the 
 order of thought and activity. It is not necessary for any 
 generation to make the mistakes of its predecessor. 
 
 • ltl<««.^^<.V/4■'«»- 
 
 rif®c<Si5^7§s;s^©©, 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ATTENTION. 
 
 HE first command in every military drill 
 is, Company, attention. It is given first, 
 and it emphasizes every subsequent com- 
 mand. The same command, sometimes 
 an imperative duty, sometimes a silent 
 persuasion, sometimes a fear or hope, precedes every 
 evolution of thought. Rosenkranz says in his Pedagog- 
 ics, "The conception of attention is the most important 
 to Pedagogics of all those derived from Psychology." 
 Dr. Carpenter in his Mental Physiology says, ''The ac- 
 quirement of this power, which is within the reach of 
 every one, should be the primary object of all mental dis- 
 cipHne." Tate says in his Philosophy of Education, '' So 
 much depends upon the faculty of attention that its out- 
 lines should form a leading subject of practical educa- 
 tion." Sir Isaac Newton attributes his success in scien- 
 tific discovery to the power of prolonged attention. 
 Others call attention the essential element in genius. 
 Such expressions show the importance attached to the 
 power of attention. In this respect there is no difference 
 of opinion. But when we ask what attention is, the an- 
 swers are various. Without attempting, however, to 
 discuss the different answers given, let us examine the act 
 itself, and try to gain a view of it that may be made the 
 foundation for a truthful and consistent treatment of its 
 place in the process of mental development. All are 
 
 (181) 
 
1 82 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 agreed that it involves the concentration of active mental 
 energy. We say of one whose mind is divided amongst 
 several subjects that he does not give attention to any 
 one of them. But we also say of a listless child that he 
 does not give attention. It is not necessary to know 
 whether his mind is on something besides the subject 
 presented or not; if he does not actively consider this 
 subject he is not attending to it. To be attentive the 
 mind must be active. But is activity attention, or only a 
 condition of attention? We can not turn activities upon 
 a subject unless there are activities. These must be stim- 
 ulated first, to secure attention, whether the word is used 
 to designate the activities, or only to denote a concen- 
 tration of them upon one object. 
 
 2. A speaker has the attention of his audience when he 
 has aroused their interest, and they think only of what 
 he is saying. Is this called attention solely because a 
 good degree of activity is aroused, or is it because we 
 know that, in addition to this, every hearer must have 
 many distracting suggestions come into the mind, which 
 are all put aside to listen to the speaker ? One activity 
 may be so great as to absorb all the energy we possess 
 and leave other activities without support. This is called 
 involuntary or non-voluntary attention. But in this sense 
 the word can scarc.ely be distinguished from discrimi- 
 nation and unification, and it has been treated of suffi- 
 ciently, though not by name, under the Laws of these two 
 subjects and of native energy. 
 
 3. But there is another form of attention, distinct from 
 this. According to the principle of correlation activities 
 stimulated in different directions may be turned in 
 other directions and thus concentrated upon one object. 
 It is this power of directing or concentrating stimulated 
 energy that needs separate treatment. It is the concen- 
 
NATURE OF ATTENTION. 1 83 
 
 tration of the activities of the mind by the power of the 
 will. 
 
 4. The first Law of sequence places the development 
 of voluntary attention after cognition and feeling. There 
 must first be a cognition, this must excite a feeling, and 
 the feeling produce a desire, which leads to a voluntary 
 turning of the energies of the mind upon the object first 
 exciting the activity of cognition. This increases the 
 activities as they are again excited in their order, and 
 they are again and again excited until the mind is clear 
 in its understanding, and has done all it desires to do 
 with the thought conceived. The teacher will see from 
 this that, to gain attention, the intellectual powers must 
 be appealed to by something that will excite thought. 
 The emotions may be appealed to, and all the mental 
 energy may be spent on them as non-voluntary attention 
 without exciting the cognitions to any considerable extent; 
 but if the self-directing energy of the mind is to be stirred, 
 some form of interesting thought must be presented. 
 
 5. The teacher will further see, that, if he would econo- 
 mize his resources, he must avail himself of opportunities to 
 gain the attention when he will have least to oppose in 
 the form of other distracting things. The time when a 
 class is most ready to give its attention is at the begin- 
 ning of a recitation. The teacher should be prepared to 
 seize upon this most favorable moment, and fix the atten- 
 tion at once upon some thought worthy to occupy the 
 time, and then follow this by another and another, and 
 not let the attention wander till the recitation is finished. 
 When the attention flags from weariness, more of the 
 emotional element in the way of something pleasing may 
 be resorted to, care being always exercised not to lead 
 the mind too far away from the subject. Sometimes it 
 may be necessary to call back the attention from wander- 
 
184 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ing by something very striking, even if it is not con- 
 nected with the lesson, until the minds of all are brought 
 into a condition subject to the teacher's will. 
 
 6. Sir William Hamilton illustrates his conception of 
 attention by comparing it to a telescope, the parts of 
 which are drawn to focusing distance from each other, 
 and the telescope is turned to any particular point to be 
 observed. First, one point in a field is thus examined, 
 then another, and so on, until the whole field has been 
 thoroughly explored. Recalling this illustration of the 
 telescope, attention may be defined as the act of focusing 
 the mind on a limited field of vision until every part is 
 distinctly seen in its true relations to the whole field. 
 Psychologically distinguished from abstraction, attention 
 is its complement. By abstraction the mental energy is 
 checked in its flow in a given direction, and by attention 
 the energies are continued in activity and turned unitedly 
 in the direction determined upon by the mind. 
 
 Law I. — Attention Accompanies the Activity of 
 Emotion. 
 
 First Proof. — The experiences of life in proof of this 
 Law are too common to need more than a reference. A 
 painful sensation at once unites all the energies of the 
 mind upon the task of finding out the cause of pain or 
 the means of relieving it. The effect begins in a reflex 
 action, but there springs up immediately an intense and 
 prolonged voluntary effort to distinguish the cause and 
 find relief. Pleasurable sensations act in a similar man- 
 ner to prolong the cause of pleasure. 
 
 Second Proof. — Sensations of pleasure and pain, by being 
 prolonged in consciousness, have the double effect of 
 holding the attention on one object and of accumulating 
 
ATTENTION FOLLOWS EMOTION. 1 85 
 
 energy by the re-enforcement of new impulses. The atten- 
 tion is not only more constant but it is more intense ; the 
 mind is more energetic when we take pleasure in listen- 
 ing to an address than when the feelings are indifferent. 
 The reader or speaker who has a pleasant voice, a com- 
 manding presence, and graceful manners, keeps the atten- 
 tion much more easily than one who has not these ad- 
 vantages, and an ordinary listener will receive greater 
 benefit from such a speaker because it is easier to follow 
 him with attention. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Prof. Bain says, ''All the great teachers from Soc- 
 rates downwards, seem to recognize the necessity of 
 putting the learner into a state of pain to begin with; a 
 fact that we are by no means to exult over, although we 
 may have to admit the stern truth that is in it." This 
 places pain as the first and lowest means used to arouse 
 and fix the attention. The growth of infant conscious- 
 ness teaches the same truth. The first breath is drawn 
 with an infant cry, and many are the evidences of pain 
 before the first manifestation of pleasure. The first ap- 
 pearance of distinct recognition a child shows is a man- 
 ifestation of wonder, a feeling allied to pain rather than 
 pleasure in its origin. As pain is the lowest stimulus to 
 be used, other stimuli take its place as the mind de- 
 velops; but so also, as the will degenerates and becomes 
 degraded by indulging the passions, pain again is the last 
 resort. It is the resort when all other stimuli have lost 
 their effect. Let it be accepted, then, that pain is a legit- 
 imate stimulus of attention to compel the energies of the 
 mind to turn toward a particular truth; but it is not to 
 be used when other means are equally effective to secure 
 the result. 
 
 S. E.— 16. 
 
1 86 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (II.) The stimulus of pleasure accompanies every 
 healthy activity of mind or body. It is a stimulus that is 
 always present with successful effort. The following is a 
 common experience. A boy has been studying Algebra 
 for a year but says he does not like it, and never did. 
 An examination shows he does not understand the sub- 
 ject. Under more favorable circumstances he is induced 
 to try the study again, and as he begins to master some 
 of its principles he becomes interested, and redoubles his 
 energy. Liking for the subject and an understanding of 
 it advance with equal pace. 
 
 (III.) The pleasure and pain which nature has coupled 
 with exercise and conduct are the most wholesome stimuli 
 to be found. The natural consequences of failure are the 
 sense of disgrace and the loss of the advantages hoped 
 for from success. The teacher should make failure ap- 
 parent without discouraging the pupil. The natural effects 
 consequent upon learning, are, ist, the pleasure of exer- 
 cising the mind in the contemplation of truth, and zd, the 
 use made of the knowledge acquired. The first, or the 
 pleasure of knowing, is developed in the highest degree 
 when the consciousness of knowledge is most intense, and 
 this is when a pupil puts his knowledge in a form for 
 others. A recitation so made that a person ignorant of 
 the truth presented should be caused to understand it, is 
 an exercise of the mind affording this pleasure. The 
 teacher should in this way make success as well as failure 
 apparent. But the pleasure that comes from the use of 
 knowledge, either in acquiring other knowledge or in 
 bringing something to pass, should also be sought. '1 he 
 mind is stimulated in a given direction by a consciousness 
 of its power to act in that direction more perhaps than by 
 any other one thing. The power to use knowledge gives 
 this consciousness. 
 
STIMULUS OF PLEASURE AND PAIN. 1 87 
 
 If pleasure and pain, other than those which naturally 
 follow conduct, are to be employed, they should be con- 
 formed to the order of nature as far as possible, but 
 adapted to the intelligence of the child rather than the 
 absolute character of the conduct. Sometimes the imme- 
 diate consequence of conduct is pleasurable and the re- 
 mote consequences painful, or the reverse. Before the 
 child can appreciate remote consequences it may be neces- 
 sary to employ other motives than natural consequences to 
 regulate conduct. Sometimes an extra motive of pleas- 
 ure, like sweet-meats, may be judiciously set before a 
 child, and sometimes a teacher should interfere between 
 conduct and its natural consequences to prevent painful 
 effects. If a child has disobeyed and played in the water 
 he should not be allowed to remain in damp clothing and 
 take cold because this is the natural consequence of his 
 conduct. Sometimes authority, or even physical force 
 should be used to prevent conduct that would in the end 
 bring pain too late to be effective in preventing evils that 
 are permanent. A child five years old once begged his 
 mother for something to eat which she assured him 
 would be harmful. After a good deal of resistance the 
 child was indulged, and allowed to learn the lesson of 
 experience. When suffering from the effects of the indul- 
 gence he was reminded of the previous warning, but he 
 completely turned the moral of the lesson by teUing his 
 mother that she was older than he, and knew what the 
 consequences of the indulgence would be, and ought not 
 to have indulged him. By this he showed that the firm 
 exercise of authority in such a case would have met the 
 approval of his highest nature, however much it might 
 have crossed his immediate will. 
 
 (IV.) Curiosity, or the desire to know, is so important 
 as to deserve a separate consideration. 
 
1 88 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (i.) It is in its origin and nature quite distinct from the 
 element of pleasure connected with the activity of knowl- 
 edge. It precedes the activity, and is entirely out of 
 proportion to any sensation of pleasure that may be ex- 
 pected. The progress of knowledge is from the lower 
 faculties to the higher, and curiosity is a feeling of dissat- 
 isfaction with the exercise of the lower faculties, and a 
 struggling of the mind to organize the lower activities 
 under the higher. The mind is not content with the uni- 
 ties of perception, and seeks the higher unities of reason. 
 Curiosity is formulated in such questions as why ? what ? 
 how? which ask for a cause. It is strong in children, 
 though volatile, and has always been a chief reliance in 
 seeking to secure the concentration of their attention and 
 the effort to learn. A rule universally given is, "First, 
 rouse the curiosity of children." Prof Bain says, "Every 
 teacher knows, or should know, the little arts of giving a 
 touch of wonder and mystery to a fact before giving the 
 explanation." 
 
 (2.) Curiosity may become too great, it may be idle, it 
 may be misdirected. It is too great when it leads to the 
 expenditure of prolonged effort on inquiries that can not 
 be answered. It is idle when it degenerates into a mere 
 love of excitement. The mind is too indolent to respond 
 to the stimulus presented for the exercise of the higher 
 faculties, and satisfies itself with repeated exercises of the 
 lower faculties, and makes no progress in development. 
 It is misguided and marks an ill-balanced mind, when it 
 is expended on trivial or corrupting thoughts that do not 
 return valuable knowledge in proportion to the energy 
 put forth. 
 
 (3.) Curiosity is naturally a lazy habit of mind, as is 
 shown by a disposition to ask information from others 
 rather than to study it out, by being often satisfied with 
 
CURIOSITY. 189 
 
 the semblance of knowledge rather than to search for the 
 truth, and by manifestations of indifference to the things 
 learned when information has been given. 
 
 (4.) The methods of treating inquisitiveness are vari- 
 ous, even opposed to each other, but if the above state- 
 ments are true we have a basis on which to build. We 
 should settle it first of all that curiosity is an important 
 element in a child's character that may be used for good 
 purposes. To refuse to recognize it, to manifest impa- 
 tience toward it, to seek to eliminate it, is unjust, injuri- 
 ous, and cruel. On the other hand the natural tendency 
 to indolence and degeneracy may be increased by answer- 
 ing all the questions asked in the easiest and m.ost direct 
 way. This saves the necessity for activity on the part of 
 the questioner. It should be the rule to use the curiosity 
 of children to lead them on to find out things for them- 
 selves. A little girl of a sweet temper had excited the 
 interest of her little friends in some of her profound ob- 
 servations, and when told one day that one of her play- 
 mates wanted her to tell her about the things she knew, 
 she said, "I can not talk to her; why does she not think 
 them out for herself? this is the way I had to do." 
 Children should be led in every way to think out things 
 for themselves. By means of curiosity we may arouse 
 and direct the attention, and the truth should then be 
 presented in such a way as to maintain interest till the 
 higher faculties have been fully called into activity. 
 
 (5.) There are other means of exciting the attention 
 through the feelings besides those dwelt upon above, 
 chief amongst which are hope and fear. Fear may direct 
 attention, and by the exercise of the will excite activity; 
 but it is paralyzing in its general effects, as will be seen 
 when this emotion is considered in itself, and should not 
 be used except to prevent action or stimulate the will 
 
190 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 directly. But hope is a vitalizing stimulus and may al- 
 ways be safely employed. When every other human bless- 
 ing had escaped, one by one, from Epimetheus's casket. 
 Pandora closed the lid and held hope for mortal comfort 
 still. When no other motive for exertion can be found 
 we may stimulate the most indifferent by hope. 
 
 (V.) It is evident that pleasure is designed to be the 
 most universal incentive to attention. But the pleasure 
 that comes from knowledge is sometimes late in coming, 
 and other stimuli must be resorted to in order to induce 
 the first efforts of learning. Tate divides inattentive boys 
 into five classes. For the intellectually feeble he would 
 use patience in adapting work to their capacity. To the 
 sluggish temperament he would apply powerful stimulants, 
 and vary them until he should hit upon one that proved 
 effective. The volatile boy he would study until he found 
 some one thing more pleasing than other things, and culti- 
 vate the attention by the use of this stimulus until a habit 
 of attention should be formed. The timid boy he would 
 seek to encourage and persuade. To the quick boy, who 
 grasps a point with ease and then turns his thoughts away 
 from the lesson in hand, he would give the difficult ques- 
 tions and all the work he could do. He would thus stim- 
 ulate differently different classes of minds. 
 
 Law II. — Attention is Stimulated by Rational 
 Motives. 
 
 First Proof. — A rational motive excites a desire to gain 
 a certain end, and this desire directs the energies of the 
 mind to the means of obtaining the desired purpose. 
 
 Second Proof. — The legitimate tendency of a rational 
 motive is to maintain a concentration of mental energy 
 until the purpose is obtained. 
 
attention directed by reason. i9i 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The feelings act upon the attention in two ways. 
 They are activities that may be easily turned in the direc- 
 tion of a desired object of thought, and they act upon the 
 will to concentrate the energy aroused. But rational mo- 
 tives act only on the will. The pleasure a child takes in 
 listening to a story arouses that kind of activity that may 
 be used in understanding the story, and the will has little 
 difficulty in directing the energy excited even if it comes 
 into play at all. But such a desire as that to know the 
 multiplication table must create the activity by voluntary 
 effort. The rational desire of learning a language does 
 not develop any of those activities by which a language is 
 learned. To talk about the advantages of knowledge may 
 act as a stimulus to the will, but it does not excite the 
 discriminations and unifications required to know. To the 
 desire for knowledge must be added the means appropriate 
 for exciting those activities that constitute knowledge. To 
 appeal continually to motives for study and right conduct 
 without directing the study or enforcing the conduct, is 
 what is called preaching in school, and is to be avoided. 
 Almost all pupils like good order, but to secure it requires 
 a method and the enforcement of a system. If good order 
 is maintained, the desire for order may be relied upon to 
 secure individual co-operation; but if it is not maintained, 
 however much the necessity for it may be urged, no one 
 will heed the admonitions given. It requires less energy 
 to keep good order, if a teacher has a fairly good method 
 and maintains it with decision, than is wasted on the dis- 
 order of a poorly governed school. 
 
 (II.) Rational motives are permanent in their influence, 
 and increase in effectiveness by use and time. Themis- 
 
192 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 tocles, almost first among the ancient Greeks, was an idle 
 and dissipated boy. After the battle of Marathon he was 
 so changed as to excite the wonder of all who knew him, 
 and when asked for the cause of this strangely-sudden 
 reformation he replied, ''The trophy of Miltiades does 
 not suffer me to sleep or be quiet." 
 
 Law hi. — The Development of the Power of 
 Attention is Directly as the Strength of Rational 
 Motive, and Inversely as the Degree of Feeling 
 Habitually Exercised. 
 
 First Proof. — Since attention is an exercise of the will 
 on which motives act directly, the power of attention 
 grows as motives increase in their power over the will. 
 But the feelings require less voluntary effort in directing 
 the attention, and as we become accustomed to follow 
 these without the exercise of the rational will, we lose 
 power to control attention. 
 
 Second Proof. — Experience shows that a person who has 
 the habit of setting himself to do certain things in view of 
 rational motives, strengthens his power of concentration 
 of energy in that direction, while the person who acts from 
 feeling loses his power of self-control. 
 
 Third Proof. — Extreme pain, joy, or excitement prevents 
 distinct thought even to the extent of exhausting the mind 
 of all the energy of which it is capable. Sir William Hamil- 
 ton lays it down as a law that perception (the intellectual 
 side) and sensation are in the inverse ratio of each other. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The antagonism between a rational control of the 
 activities and feeling is seen in the insensibility to pain 
 
RATIONAL MOTIVES AND FEELING. 1 93 
 
 which is often manifested when one is intensely interested 
 in the pursuit of some object. General Grant says in his 
 Memoirs that after suffering all night with severe head- 
 ache, and trying in vain to get relief by the use of such 
 remedies as he considered most efficacious,, the informa- 
 tion that General Lee desired to see him to consider terms 
 of surrender removed immediately every trace of pain. 
 There is no doubt but the exercise of a strong will con- 
 serves the forces of nature for intellectual work and 
 healthy bodily activity, which would degenerate into un- 
 productive feeling or physical disability, unless controlled 
 by the will. Physicians have learned to make use of the 
 will-power of their patients ; children should cultivate the 
 habit of using it for themselves. 
 
 (II.) Excitement is unassimilated mental activity. That 
 degree of it which is recognized as excitement is the re- 
 sult of many various activities that can not be assimi- 
 lated with established mental growths. No one act of 
 tyranny ever led to mob violence. A person may brood 
 over one thought till he becomes deranged, but he does 
 not thus become excited. This happens only when many 
 things disturb the mind, one thought succeeding another 
 rapidly without that restoration of equilibrium that comes 
 from satisfactory unification. The activities may result in 
 mere nervous irritation and be dissipated, or they may be 
 combined under some violent determination of the will, 
 and spend themselves in an outburst of passion. When 
 excitement is produced by some impending calamity or 
 great fear, it will be found that the calamity or fear is 
 made to assume many forms through uncertainty, and 
 the mind is at first bewildered, and then, either all the en- 
 ergies excited are turned in the direction of one form of 
 action by a sudden impulse ; or else, if there is no control- 
 ling motive, the energies are lost and the mind is left 
 
 S. E.-17. 
 
194 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 powerless. Excitement should be avoided both for the 
 sake of conserving energy and of avoiding irrational action. 
 (III.) Great crises are apt to be times of great excite- 
 ment, and it is important to know how it can be con- 
 trolled. If the view stated above concerning the nature 
 of this activity be correct, its control must be by one of 
 two methods. First, we may obstruct activity and pre- 
 vent the combination of the forces on any one end until 
 they are dissipated; or secondly, we may determine the 
 will in favor of some desirable end. The one method 
 dissipates, the other conserves energy. The first method 
 is followed when some counteracting hope or fear is pre- 
 sented that has a greater influence in controlling the mind 
 than any of the forces in action; and the second, when 
 some line of conduct is skillfully presented that will har- 
 monize enough of the controlling motives to determine 
 the will. The awakening of trust or fear by the presence 
 of one whom men have been accustomed to obey is one 
 of the most powerful of restraints. Virgil says Neptune 
 so silenced the tumult of the sea by his presence. 
 
 "As when sedition oft has stirred 
 In some great town the vulgar herd; 
 And brands and stones already fly — 
 For rage has weapons always nigh — 
 Then should some man of worth appear 
 Whose stainless virtues all revere, 
 They hush, they list: his clear voice rules 
 Their rebel wills, their anger cools." 
 
 — ConingtofCs Trans. 
 
 By appealing to a sentiment even more deeply rooted, 
 General Garfield staid the madness of a surging throng 
 in New York city after the assassination of President 
 Lincoln. When their rage was at its highest pitch, and 
 
CONTROL OF EXCITEMENT. 1 95 
 
 manifestly beyond all other control, he rose and simply 
 repeated some passages from the book of Psalms, and 
 added, *' Fellow-citizens! God reigns, and the government 
 at Washington still lives." At these words ten thousand 
 infuriated men, already breaking away from the larger 
 crowd and moving off with purposes of vengeance, stopped 
 and listened, and their wild tumult settled down into an 
 all-pervading calm. 
 
 An illustration of the second method is found in the 
 skill with which Mark Antony swayed the Roman popu- 
 lace at Caesar's funeral by seeming partly to yield to one, 
 and then to another, of the many conflicting sentiments 
 that possessed the throng, until he found an appeal by 
 which he could gain them all and make them do his bid- 
 ding. Like Hiawatha, 
 
 "Though they bend him, they obey him; 
 Though they lead him, yet they follow." 
 
 (IV.) This study of the character of excitement and the 
 methods of its control is especially worthy the teacher's 
 consideration. In the first place, little excitements in the 
 school-room distract attention and dissipate energy, and 
 should be subdued or turned to good account. In the 
 second place, excitement is the same in its nature with all 
 discriminations, which are the beginnings of every activity, 
 and the method of directing the one is the method of 
 growth from the other. In the one case those master-sen- 
 timents of human nature, which are able to bring all activi- 
 ties under the control of a rational will, should be developed 
 and appealed to; in the other case, the leading truths, with 
 which other truths may be naturally and rightly identified 
 as parts, should be first and thoroughly established. Most 
 judgments are formed in view of conflicting opinions, 
 whereas facts, seen in their true light, should never lead 
 
196 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 to conflicting thoughts. The problem of advanced edu- 
 cation is the problem of eliminating this conflict of thoughts. 
 The man whose mind naturally grasps the important with 
 a consciousness of its true importance, and at once rele- 
 gates the obtrusive unimportant to its proper place, is a 
 master in his sphere. The teacher who has this ability 
 in his profession has the elements of success; and he who 
 so develops the minds of his pupils that their thoughts 
 are marshalled in this order, displays a skill which is 
 nothing short of genius. 
 
 (V.) While a certain degree of excitement is necessary 
 for progress, the great problems of life have been brought 
 into the clearest intellectual light in quiet retirement. 
 Brilliant gleams of truth may shoot across the mind when 
 it is roused to a high pitch of varied activity, but the 
 steady attention required for consecutive thinking can be 
 maintained only when the feelings are comparatively 
 quiescent, and all the forces of the mind are under con- 
 trol of the rational will. 
 
 (VI.) Rational will implies a class of motives that are 
 permanent in their influence. Amongst such may be 
 named the love of approbation, ambition, emulation, and 
 prizes of whatever sort. A motive of this class, later in 
 coming to maturity, but nobler and more constant and 
 enduring than those mentioned, is a sense of responsibility. 
 Lord Erskine, when a young barrister, objected to the 
 ruling of a judge of high repute upon the bench, and set 
 forth his views with such eloquent earnestness and force as 
 both to command the admiration of his hearers and secure 
 a reversal of the decision. When his friends expressed 
 their astonishment at his audacity in attacking the opinion 
 of such a judge he replied, *' I felt my children pull at my 
 coat-tails, crying, 'Now, father, now is the time to get us 
 bread.'" 
 
THE MOTIVE OF RESPONSIBILITY. 1 97 
 
 A sense of responsibility is sometimes forced prema- 
 turely, but a more frequent mistake is to allow youth to 
 pass away as if life were only a holiday. If injury or 
 wrong results from waywardness, parent or other mistaken 
 friend will assume all the responsibility, repay the damage, 
 and shield the wrong-doer from harm. It is a most fruit- 
 ful cause of breaches of trust, that great interests are 
 placed in the hands of inexperienced young men, — too 
 young to have a matured sense of responsibility, and 
 who, besides, have not had this feeling developed even 
 as it might have been, — and when temptation comes, 
 they are not prepared to meet it. They are not fully 
 aware of the criminality of their conduct till they see its 
 disastrous results, and instead of learning the lesson in a 
 school designed for instruction, they are taught it by a law 
 that demands only punishment. The beginnings of a 
 sense of responsibility may be found in the very young, 
 and it may be appealed to as the surest way to secure 
 good order and fidelity. 
 
 (VII.) The object a teacher should have in view in 
 preparing a lesson is to direct the attention of his class to 
 the points that ought to be made clear. A hint as to the 
 best order may be of use. The first discrimination to 
 attract attention is contrast, since the attention is most 
 easily aroused by truth presented in this form. The an- 
 tithesis of Macaulay, and the unlooked-for turns of thought 
 of Emerson are the most striking and attractive features 
 of their style. First, then, let a subject be isolated by 
 contrast. Next to contrast is variety. The thought should 
 be developed by repeated discriminations that belong to 
 the unity, and made to take more distinct form in the 
 mind. Illustrations differing from each other in minor 
 points, different characteristics, and different applications 
 of truth, come under this head. Finally, there should be 
 
198 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 such a classification of the points as to bring all into one 
 view in their proper relations. If one will examine the 
 parables of the New Testament he will find these three 
 features more or less prominent in nearly all of them; 
 and they particularly abound in strong contrasts, as was 
 most necessary in the beginnings of Christian instruction. 
 By universal consent, these parables deserve study as 
 models of the best form of instruction. The parable of the 
 sower, for instance, contrasts productive with unproductive 
 labor. Of the unproductive sowing, some seed fell by the 
 way-side, some on stony ground, and some among thorns. 
 Of the productive labor, some seed yielded thirty, some 
 sixty, and some an hundred. Thus, the main thought is 
 presented by way of contrast, and each of the two mem- 
 bers has a three-fold variety. The points here made nat- 
 urally fall in their proper places from the order of narra- 
 tion. 
 
 r^@:C'G»^^^S)^Xg5, 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EXERCISE. 
 
 T may be seen in a general way in each 
 of the preceding Laws that the powers of 
 the mind are developed by exercise. In 
 no other way can they be known; and it 
 is a fact of such common observation that 
 the use of the faculties strengthens them, that formal 
 proof does not seem necessary. The proof is incidentally 
 found in the proof of each one of the Laws given, for it 
 is the exercise of mental power in some particular way in 
 each case that the development treated of is secured. 
 
 2. Whether mental energy is increased, or the brain 
 modified, or both these results are produced are questions 
 that may be asked, but they are not easily answered; and 
 they are not important in discussing the influence of ex- 
 ercise in developing the mental powers. A power is 
 judged by what it can do, and we are never able to trace 
 the cause of efficiency through every phase and moment 
 of activity. We know that care of the body and exercise 
 of mental power are both necessary to healthy mental 
 growth, but, however interesting it might be to know 
 whence comes the mental power, and what is the exact 
 nature of the physical changes corresponding to activity 
 of mind, the laws showing the relation of exercise to growth 
 may be clearly seen without this knowledge. 
 
 3. The development of the body by exercise and nour- 
 ishment manifests itself in three classes of changes. There 
 
 (199) 
 
200 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 is an increase or enlargement of tissues; a strengthening, 
 hardening, or toughening of tissues; and an increase of 
 dexterity or faciUty of action. The development of the 
 mind shows a similar three-fold change. Growth of the 
 mind by an increase in the number of different forms of 
 activity of which it is capable is called breadth of mind. 
 Strength of mind is the power to hold a thought before 
 the mind in complete consciousness, — that is, clearly, dis- 
 tinctly, and with positive affirmation — in all its variety of 
 contents and relations. Mental dexterity or skill is man- 
 ifest in the production of activities with a small amount 
 of stimulus and a small expenditure of energy. These 
 forms of development take place in accordance with 
 different laws of exercise. 
 
 Law I. — Mental Breadth is Produced by Exercise 
 ON as Great a Variety of Forms, and by Expending 
 AS Little Energy on Each, as is Consistent with Ac- 
 curacy OF Knowledge. 
 
 First Proof. — In so far as mental growth depends upon 
 the body, the Law is easily proven. In the growth of 
 physical organisms nature has provided that the tissues 
 shall be worn away by exercise, and, so long as vitality 
 is not exhausted, a supply of nourishment shall not only 
 renew the tissue thus worn away, but increase it. It is 
 probable that brain cells are thus multiplied by the exer- 
 cise that comes with thinking. If there is too little 
 exercise growths will be imperfect; if too much, vitality 
 will be exhausted and the tissues worn away will not be 
 fully replaced; if it is too limited in variety, the mind 
 will be narrow. 
 
 Second Proof. — The mind must be exercised on a dis- 
 crimination till it is clearly unified with other activities, 
 
MENTAL BREADTH. 20I 
 
 when it becomes a permanent form; but the energy ex- 
 pended on a form beyond what is required to make it 
 permanent is so much exhausted from what might be 
 used by estabhshing other forms and giving greater 
 breadth. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This Law is important in itself, as we would avoid 
 narrowness of intelligence and capability. The greater 
 the variety of forms of activity the greater will be the 
 susceptibiHty to different forms of stimulus, and the mind 
 will be the better prepared to seize upon chance oppor- 
 tunities for information or gaining other advantage. Many 
 things are taught which seem to the young to have no 
 bearing on life's work, and it is quite the custom to sneer 
 at such things as only good for mental discipline. But 
 we can never know beforehand what use may be made 
 of a piece of knowledge. The application of the truths 
 we learn is much broader than the facts from which we 
 learn them, and how much broader we shall never know. 
 We are continually finding unexpected uses for our 
 knowledge, and sometimes the most important help comes 
 from sources least considered. A boy that has grown up 
 the terror of the community may, by his very temerity, be 
 the salvation of the community in an emergency of fire 
 or flood, in riot or in war. As few men can be spared to 
 a community without some loss, so there are few truths 
 which we may know that do not have practical value 
 sometimes. 
 
 (II.) The Law is seen to be still further important when 
 taken in connection with the Laws of correlation. The 
 greater the variety of activities the greater will be the 
 energy that may be concentrated upon a single object. 
 
 (III.) When we take the Law in connection with the 
 
202 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Laws of sequence we shall see its importance in securing 
 a variety of fundamental truths, from which one is taken 
 here and another there for the development of more ad- 
 vanced thoughts. When the child has advanced to that 
 period of life at which he takes up a science, he can not 
 afford .to go back and learn by experience every fact he 
 needs to use. These should be mostly learned at an earlier 
 age, and with those needed for the science many more will 
 be learned of necessity. 
 
 Law IL — Strength is Gained by the Greatest 
 Amount of Exercise Consistent with Perfect Recu- 
 peration. 
 
 First Proof. — As in the case of the preceding Law the 
 application to the increase of physical strength is easy. 
 Tissues that are worn away are replaced by other material 
 of finer and firmer character with every change that 
 comes from healthy action, and the brain cells are con- 
 nected together by new filaments making it possible to 
 bring a larger amount of nerve force for the exercise of 
 any one thought, and to sustain a single thought longer 
 without fatigue. 
 
 Second Proof. — In the unification of several thoughts 
 exercise gives the mind power to grasp and hold under 
 control of the will unities containing more and more dif- 
 ferences, and thus take a more comprehensive view of 
 truth. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (L ) In order to strengthen a muscle it must be severely 
 exercised in every fiber. This requires the adaptation of 
 exercise to the muscle. By such exercise the arm of the 
 blacksmith, the limbs of the athlete, and the fingers of the 
 
MENTAL STRENGTH AND SKILL. 203 
 
 pianist, develop a strength hardly supposed possible by 
 one who has never witnessed such changes. By adapta- 
 tion of exercises the weak little finger may be made to 
 give as firm a touch as any finger of the hand. The fac- 
 ulties of the mind may be improved in a similar way. 
 Memory, judgment, and the will are at least as suscepti- 
 ble to improvement as the little finger. Fitting exercises 
 should be given to each faculty. 
 
 (II.) The exercise required to develop strength is se- 
 vere exercise. It should involve the largest number of 
 discriminations which the mind can hold under unity with 
 distinctness. Exercises which require little effort do not 
 strengthen the mind. They may increase activity, but 
 severe exercise alone calls out strength and builds up 
 character. 
 
 Law III. — Skill is Gained by a Repetition of the 
 Same Exercise or set of Exercises with the Least 
 Variation. 
 
 First Proof. — When a physical action is repeated a 
 habit is formed, and the action can be performed each time 
 with less eftbrt than before. This is not only physical skill, 
 it is also mental. It may be that the nerve connections 
 are shortened or made to conduct the nervous energy with 
 less waste. But, whatever the cause, the mind gains an 
 easier control of muscular activity by a repetition of the 
 same act. If the act were repeated each time with differ- 
 ences the energy would be divided and the attention dis- 
 turbed, and development of skill would be slow. 
 
 Second Proof. — Skill or facility, in purely mental oper- 
 ations, as in adding figures, is produced in the same way, 
 by a repetition of the same processes. The same is true 
 of each of the mental faculties. 
 
204 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) If one desires skill in a particular thing the limits 
 of variety should be determined, and the activities should 
 include this variety, and one order should be maintained 
 in every repetition of the exercise. 
 
 (II.) Division of labor is favorable to the cultivation 
 of skill in workmanship, and the confining of the atten- 
 tion to a limited range of thought is conducive to skill 
 in mental operations. 
 
 (III.) Breadth, strength, and skill are, in some degree, 
 inconsistent with each other. To secure the highest 
 degree of one is inconsistent with the highest perfection 
 of the others. We may see this in the results of a great 
 division of labor. Skill is acquired for one thing, but 
 devotion to this exhausts the energy that might otherwise 
 have developed broad views and a strong character. A 
 versatile man is not likely to be a ])rofound thinker, nor 
 skillful in any one thing. There should be an effort to 
 keep a fair balance in respect to these three results of ex- 
 ercise. Circumstances may determine that one of them 
 should be sought more than the others, but in any case 
 strength should not be sacrificed. This is a medium be- 
 tween the other two, and it is never wanting in the best 
 class of minds. 
 
 r/gf@:C'^5r^^vS)^>®, 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 LIMITATIONS. 
 
 jT is common to speak of the mind as 
 unlimited in its power. It may be that it 
 is capable of endless progress ; but this does 
 not imply that its attainments will not al- 
 ways be finite. If the steps of a journey 
 were infinitesimal, and the time for each one finite, it 
 would require infinite time to complete the journey, limited 
 though it might be. The steps the mind makes in the 
 comprehension of truth are infinitesimal when compared 
 with the whole of truth, and a comparatively long time is 
 required for each step. But life is short, and the oppor- 
 tunities of any one individual to learn the truth are few, 
 so that we are shut in within a very narrow limit of possi- 
 bilities. The Hmitations resulting from the dependence of 
 the mind upon the body have been sufficiently treated of 
 under Physiological Relations, and those discussions do 
 not need to be repeated here. 
 
 Law I. — The Mind is Limited by a Limitation in 
 THE Number of its Faculties. 
 
 Fi7'st Proof. — The sense of sight is adapted to distin- 
 guish vibrations of a certain character and degree of 
 rapidity. The ear discovers other kinds of vibrations. 
 Other kinds, still, manifest themselves as electricity. But 
 we know there are other kinds of vibrations, as the chem- 
 
 (205) 
 
206 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ical rays of light, that do not manifest themselves directly 
 to any of the senses. If we had a sense to perceive chem- 
 ical vibrations, it would, perhaps, add to our powers of 
 knowledge as much as the sense of sight adds to the knowl- 
 edge gained by the four other senses. 
 
 Second Proof. — All our knowledge depends, primarily, 
 upon the senses and self-consciousness. As knowledge is 
 seen to be limited in respect to sense-perceptions, so also 
 it is limited as to self-consciousness. The consciousness 
 of pleasure and pain is limited, and the power of will is 
 limited by the limitations of the cognitions and feelings. 
 We can not analyze our thoughts and perceptions so as to 
 know ultimate elements and intermediate forms of causa- 
 ation. A fire burns and heat is felt, but what the force 
 is that we call heat is a mystery. However far the mind 
 may go in classifying the knowledge of one thing with 
 other forms of knowledge, the ultimate nature of things 
 eludes our grasp. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) It is not a reasonable ground for distrusting the 
 validity of knowledge because we do not know things in 
 their ultimate nature. If we saw an image and supposed 
 we saw an object instead, it would not be rational to say 
 we did not see any thing when we found out our mistake. 
 We may be mistaken in inferring that what we have seen 
 may also be touched, but to be convinced of this mistake 
 should not bring discredit on our consciousness of sight. 
 If we had never seen a painting and were placed in a gal- 
 lery whose sides were covered with mirrors, each one 
 facing us and reflecting for us a hidden painting, we might 
 walk through the gallery and study those images as though 
 they were the real paintings. We might develop a love 
 
RELIABILITY OF KNOWLEDGE. 207 
 
 for the beautiful, a sense of the harmony of colors, of fit- 
 ness and proportion of parts, and a capacity for the enjoy- 
 ment of art, the same as though we saw the canvas itself 
 and the artist before it, with pallet and brush, actually at 
 work at his task. It makes no difference with the reality 
 of the images that their cause is out of sight. When the 
 mind awakens to a consciousness of objects external to 
 itself, it affirms their existence with a certainty that never 
 falters, although the mode of manifestation is changeable. 
 The affirmation of existence is clear, positive, and con- 
 stant, though the conception of the form and character of 
 that which exists may be obscure, uncertain, and variable. 
 There are, moreover, five witnesses for us to the same 
 thing. We become conscious of existence through each 
 of the five senses in ways entirely independent of each 
 other. While distrusting the finality of our knowledge we 
 should hold fast to its reality. Like the supposed images 
 in the picture gallery, nature, even as we see it, is able to 
 develop in us forms of thought, feeling, and character, 
 worth all the labor and pains we may bestow upon it. 
 
 (II.) As the faculties of the mind are but limited at 
 best, all should be developed to the fullest extent. The 
 senses, memory, imagination, reasoning, feeling, and voli- 
 tion should, each in its proper sphere, be exercised and 
 made to contribute its part towards a varied and sym- 
 metrical whole. 
 
 (III.) In consideration of a possible or probable failure 
 to secure the full development of each of the faculties, the 
 law of compensation may afford a partial remedy. If the 
 imagination is weak, the reasoning power may be strong ; 
 if the reasoning power is weak, the perceptive powers may 
 be strong; if the power to acquire knowledge is limited, 
 the power to do, to execute, may be greater; if sight is 
 lost, hearing grows keener. 
 
2o8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Law II. — The Mind is Limited by a Limitation in 
 THE Range of Each One of its Faculties. 
 
 First Proof. — From red to violet there are seven colors, 
 and the variety of shades and tints is unlimited ; but our 
 ability to distinguish these differences is limited to a small 
 number. In some instances even the greater differences 
 between the seven colors can not all be distinguished. 
 There is a similar limitation of each of the senses. To 
 gain a slight conception of the feebleness of our natural 
 powers, take again the sense of sight. We look out upon 
 the heavens and see, perhaps, three or four thousand stars. 
 But the telescope reveals many thousand times this num- 
 ber from which the light comes to the eye, and the natural 
 sight is too feeble to distinguish them. Beyond the reach 
 of the telescope there are, we know not how many thou- 
 sand times as many more. 
 
 Second Proof. — We are even more limited in our power 
 to hold clearly in consciousness combinations of differ- 
 ences. When differences are simplest and we are only 
 trying to see or conceive of objects as units, we grasp at 
 once not more than three, four, or five units as distinct 
 from each other. If we try to comprehend more, we 
 group them together, and conceive of the groups. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This limitation of the range of our faculties should 
 ever make us careful in making distinctions and identifica- 
 tions, and lead us to moderation in the declaration of our 
 judgments. 
 
 (II.) We may see in the limitation of our faculties a 
 reason for classification and for formulating laws. The 
 man who manages a large business must have it organized 
 
FACULTIES AND OPPORTUNITIES LIMITED. 209 
 
 SO that each department shall be managed with minute 
 accuracy ; and because he can not give his personal atten- 
 tion to every item of detail, he must have a head for each 
 department whom he may hold responsible. In the same 
 way, if we master complex results in any department of 
 thought, the details of knowledge must be classified, and 
 our knowledge of classes as wholes must be held respon- 
 sible to consciousness for the accuracy of particulars. 
 Each class must be studied in detail that combined results 
 may be relied upon with safety. The sailor and the sur- 
 veyor may rely on the conclusions of Geometry, for the 
 details have all been investigated with care. Other sciences 
 should do the same thing for other enterprises. 
 
 Law III. — The Mind is Limited in its Power by 
 THE Limitation of Opportunities to Develop. 
 
 First Proof. — An appeal to the shortness of life is a suf- 
 ficient proof of this Law when we consider that every stage 
 of progress requires time. But the limitation of time 
 means more than this. The Law of the dependence of the 
 faculties, one upon another, reduces the time for the de- 
 velopment of any one faculty in its order to a fraction of 
 an ordinary Hfe-time. There are but a few years in which 
 either memory or imagination may be successfully devel- 
 oped. If this period, in either case, passes unimproved, 
 nothing can ever compensate for the loss. 
 
 Second Proof. — The means for improvement are limited. 
 Many persons can not give the time required on account 
 of the demands upon them to work for their own or for 
 others' support. Some have not the means to place them- 
 selves where opportunities of study may be had. Other 
 hindrances obstruct others in their attempts at mental im- 
 provement. 
 
 S. E.-I8. 
 
2IO THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Now and then one, like Hugh Miller, may find in 
 the rocks he breaks in pieces for the corner-stones of a 
 palace, or for paving the streets, the very stimulus he re- 
 quires, so that the work of productive industry and mental 
 development may not stand in each other's way; but in 
 the case of most persons a business must be made of culti- 
 vating the mental powers, or they will remain undeveloped. 
 The case alluded to is an encouragement to all who thirst 
 for knowledge, and have limited opportunities for getting 
 it, but most persons must fill a different sphere from that 
 which he filled. It is well it is so, for there is need of 
 many men of a different type for every one like him. The 
 steady progress of civilization requires many a trained 
 scholar to fill the gaps that are left between Hugh Millers. 
 
 (H.) If one has lost early opportunities, he should en- 
 deavor to use later advantages in a manner adapted to his 
 possibilities of development. One may learn the science 
 of a language late in life, but the formative period of mind 
 has passed, and it is then much more difficult to learn the 
 vocabulary, the idioms, and the more scholarly distinc- 
 tions. It is almost impossible to develop a taste for read- 
 ing late in life. 
 
 (III.) The question is asked how far the cultivation of 
 the faculties ought to be limited or modified by the pur- 
 poses of practical life. In the first place, it has been 
 shown that a development of all the powers is a means of 
 strengthening the mind for any one purpose that may be 
 had in view. In the second place, what are called the 
 practical ends of life bear the same relation to mental de- 
 velopment, including knowledge, feehng, and will, as soil 
 bears to fruit. The fruit can not be had without the soil; 
 
PRACTICAL AND HIGHER AIMS. 211 
 
 the soil is worthless except to raise fruit. As it would be 
 folly for a man to invest every thing in land and nothing 
 in raising crops, so it is folly to give all the attention of 
 life to the means of living, and none to the development 
 of life. The period best adapted to this higher end, the 
 development of life's nobler forces, is the time when phys- 
 ical strength is not equal to the burden of gaining a liveli- 
 hood, and this should be given to mental development; 
 and as much more should be devoted to the same end as 
 is consistent with other obligations. In the third place, a 
 true education will never raise one above his proper sta- 
 tion in life. The proper station for every intelligent be- 
 ing is the highest plane of intellectual and moral life which 
 he is capable of reaching. The moral obligations of soci- 
 ety should be trusted to hold men in their proper relations 
 toward one another, rather than ignorance. An individ- 
 ual's intellectual and moral powers are so much higher 
 than the ends subserved by the ordinary employments of 
 life, that the Creator has made it possible for one to enjoy 
 happiness under almost any conditions of physical dis- 
 comfort if the mind be trained and the moral purpose 
 noble. 
 
PART III. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEVERAL FACULTIES. 
 
 (213) 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 COGNITIONS. 
 
 classification of the mental faculties 
 
 has already been given, and the order of 
 their dependence and development shown. 
 Laws have also been given for their devel- 
 opment in general. It is the design of 
 
 this part of the work to treat of the development of each 
 
 separately. 
 
 I. THE ACQUISITIVE FACULTY. 
 
 1. All our primary, or immediate knowledge, is gained by 
 the use of the senses and self-consciousness, and all other 
 knowledge is based on this. The importance of the right 
 development and use of this faculty is thus seen to be 
 fundamental. 
 
 2. First, let us consider the development of sense- 
 perception. Such a perception is the result of two differ- 
 ent activities, the activity of the senses, called a sensation, 
 and the activity of the mind by which the cause of the 
 sensation is identified with other percepts. We affirm the 
 existence of a sensation by an act of self-consciousness, 
 and we affirm the existence of that which excites the per- 
 ception through the senses, and this latter is perception 
 proper. The most important Laws to be applied to the 
 development of perception are: 
 
 (i.) The first Law of Sequence. The perceptive powers 
 are the first mental powers to be cultivated, and the first 
 
 (215) 
 
2l6 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 to come to maturity. Pestalozzi and Froebel developed 
 a large part of all that is characteristic of their sys- 
 tems from the truth contained in this Law in its appli- 
 cation to perception, and it seems to be the common 
 judgment of educators that they did not exaggerate its 
 importance. 
 
 (2.) The Laws of Exercise. To develop the senses 
 they must be called into exercise. It does not develop 
 perception to read and hear about things. Children must 
 see, hear, and feel them for themselves. Perception 
 should be immediately appealed to through the senses 
 until conception is easy and accurate without it. It 
 should be developed in breadth, strength, and skill. 
 While one's natural inclination shown in curiosity must be 
 indulged to some extent, the third Law of Exercise shows 
 there is danger of producing narrowness. On the other 
 hand the fourth Law of Discrimination, taken in connec- 
 tion with the large amount of vitality natural to childhood, 
 should lead us to consider the period of early training as 
 the time especially fitted for laying the foundation for 
 breadth of development by giving great variety. 
 
 (3.) The Law of the Progressive Development of Con- 
 sciousness applies to the perceptions. To the mature 
 mind perception seems almost instantaneous, but the per- 
 ceptions of the infant are very slow, probably as slow as 
 the most difificult processes of reasoning later in life ; and 
 the teacher does not always realize how long it takes a 
 child in his first years of school to gain a clear perception 
 of an object, a picture, or a figure. There must be time 
 for a permanent unification, or the perception will not be 
 complete, and the activity begun will degenerate into un- 
 consciousness. 
 
 (4.) The Laws of Discrimination and Unification apply 
 immediately to perception. It was said to be the special 
 
LAWS APPLIED TO PERCEPTION. 217 
 
 function of the senses to give discrimination. Objects so 
 presented to the senses as to stimulate a consciousness of 
 differences are the proper external causes of perception, 
 and the differences in the objects presented should at first 
 be strongly marked and always clearly distinguishable. 
 But the mental perception is a unification. This is an act 
 of the mind itself which a teacher can not help the pupil 
 perform. The teacher often says, you see this or that, 
 and the child says yes, when he sees nothing, or perhaps 
 something entirely different from the thing intended. 
 Such wrong methods should be carefully avoided. Differ- 
 ences can be presented in an order that will suggest 
 proper comparison and unification, but some test of the 
 actual completion of the unification should be sought 
 besides a question that can be answered by yes or no. 
 Tests should be continued until it is known with cer- 
 tainty that the unification of perception is real, true, and 
 clear. 
 
 3. The metaphysical question is raised, what is the 
 basis of unification in perception ? The senses only give 
 us qualities distinct from each other, as round, hard, and 
 cold. In what way does the mind hold these together in 
 any thing, as an ivory ball? Some have supposed an a 
 priori notion of substance to which the qualities belong 
 as the basis of unification. Others hold that we have no 
 valid ground for supposing an underlying substance, and 
 consider it a suflficient explanation to say that we see the 
 qualities together in time and space. But we conceive of 
 no power in time and space to hold such qualities as hard- 
 ness and coldness together,. and the demand for a cause 
 of unity, or a basis of unification,^ is not satisfied by such 
 an explanation. The General Law of mental develop- 
 ment, however, is all the account we can give of the at- 
 tempt to unify the differences discriminated by the senses, 
 
 S. E.— 19. 
 
2l8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 and if this is accepted as a fact it is sufficient to explain 
 the attempt. Perhaps the best thing that can be said 
 about the basis of unity in matter itself is that it is a cause 
 unknown. Perception unifies the qualities of matter in a 
 bo^y, but discrimination does not bring into conscious- 
 ness a cause of unity. To call it substance does not re- 
 veal it. It is as well, perhaps, to rest with the assertion 
 that the mind does unify in accordance with its natural 
 tendency. 
 
 4. Secondly, let us consider self-consciousness. It is the 
 source of our knowledge of our feelings and all the activ- 
 ities of our own minds. The power does not come to 
 maturity so early as perception, for its use involves the 
 exercise of the higher and more difficult faculties. Its 
 discriminations and unifications are, in the main, the more 
 abstract forms of analysis and synthesis. But a child may 
 examine the image or conception he has of an object, and 
 compare it with the object itself, and thus develop his 
 notion into accuracy and clearness by the joint exercise 
 of self-consciousness and perception. This is one of the 
 first methods of exercising self-consciousness. It is easiest 
 because it is most easily referred to the senses. The 
 classification of objects is made in accordance with prin- 
 ciples conceived in the mind, and accuracy in this will 
 develop self-con'sciousness. From the classification of ob- 
 jects we can pass to the more difficult examination of the 
 complex relations of thought, which are made clear later 
 in life. 
 
 II. RETENTION AND REPRODUCTION. 
 
 I. When physical forces are degraded into heat and 
 dissipated in space it is not supposed the forces are anni- 
 hilated. We must conceive of them as existing in some 
 form and somewhere in space. They have simply passed 
 
RETENTION AND REPRODUCTION. 219 
 
 beyond the reach of useful work so far as the earth is 
 concerned. In the same way when mental activity is de- 
 graded, and force is dissipated, it is not to be supposed 
 that the force is absolutely destroyed. There is reason to 
 suppose that somewhere in the mind, and in some form, 
 every activity still Hngers, though most of the mind's past 
 activities are not only out of consciousness, but entirely 
 beyond the reach of the present reproductive faculty. That 
 they have a place in the mind and may have an influence 
 which we do not recognize is made conceivable, if not 
 probable, by the Laws of the development of conscious- 
 ness from unconscious impressions, and the Laws of Un- 
 conscious Tuition. We may also conceive it possible, and 
 perhaps probable, that every activity is so unified with 
 other activities that no one of them is past recall if the 
 right train of thought were started to lead to it. Two facts 
 are strong arguments in favor of such a supposition. In 
 the first place, peculiar combinations of circumstances will 
 sometimes bring back to recollection things that have not 
 been in the mind for many years, and that seem as en- 
 tirely beyond recall as any experience can be. In the 
 second place, the experience of drowning persons in re- 
 calling the events of their past lives, is evidence of a 
 power of reproduction when all the energy of the mind 
 is called into activity, which is entirely beyond ordinary 
 experience. 
 
 2. But retention out of consciousness is only known by 
 reproduction, and we must look for the manifestations of 
 memory in this latter faculty, and draw our inferences 
 from its activities. 
 
 3. The Laws most appHcable to the development of re- 
 production are the General Law, the second and third 
 Laws_Qf^.Exerci§e, the founb Law of Correlation and the 
 first Law of Sequence. I \ 
 
220 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 4. All reproduction is an effort of the mind to com- 
 plete in consciousness the unification of a series of 
 thoughts deposited in retention as a unity of experience, 
 when one part of the series has been revived. This is in 
 accord with the General Law of Development. This uni- 
 fication of thought in memory is called association of 
 ideas. As no thought is deposited in retention except as 
 it is identified with some other thought, all the thoughts 
 and experiences of life must be associated together, and 
 if the bond of association were strong enough, and men- 
 tal and vital energy did not become exhausted, one thought 
 might suggest another, that a third, and so on till one's 
 entire experiences are brought in review before him. But 
 the force of association is dissipated by time, and actual 
 reproduction is thus made to depend upon the strength of 
 the original unification, the causes for a diminution of this 
 strength, and the impulse given for the renewal of the train. 
 
 Under the head of strength of original unification we 
 may have several Laws. 
 
 Law I. — Vigor of Mind, Strength of Stimulus, 
 AND Attention Give Strength to Association. 
 
 First Proof. — Each of the three causes named contrib- 
 utes to make a more perfect unification in consciousness, 
 and the Law follows from the relation of unification to 
 permanent forms of thought as stated in the General Law. 
 
 Second Proof. — Whatever importance attaches to the re- 
 lation of mind and brain applies in favor of this Law. The 
 mind is rendered more active in particular directions under 
 the influence of these causes, and there should be a corre- 
 sponding development of the brain, particularly those con- 
 nections between the cells which, perhaps, constitute the 
 physiological basis of association. 
 
retention and reproduction. 221 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) As memorizing taxes the mental and vital forces to 
 the utmost, the morning hours and other times of the 
 greatest freshness and vigor should be devoted to this *eK- 
 ercise. 
 
 (II.) Those points should be presented by means of the 
 strongest stimulus which are most important in themselves, 
 and are likely to suggest other points most naturally. If 
 an illustration is given or a story told, it should be made 
 to bear upon an important truth. It is not the illustration 
 or story which is best in itself that a teacher should seek as 
 a good illustration, but one that best illustrates the thing 
 which he is anxious to impress. 
 
 (III.) In order to commit to memory, the attention 
 should be undivided. This faculty, more perhaps than 
 any other, requires freedom from disturbing influences. 
 If a variety of distracting thoughts occupies the mind at 
 the same time, not only will the connections made be 
 weaker, but there will be such diversity of associations as 
 to lead to uncertainty in attempting to recall a particular 
 thing. 
 
 Law II. — Repetition Adds Strength to Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 Proof. — Repetition deepens impression, and makes the 
 activity of reproduction easier, as it does other activities, 
 according to the third Law of Exercise. The tendency 
 of mental energy to take accustomed directions with in- 
 creasing distinctness is seen in the Law of progressive de- 
 velopment of consciousness, and this tendency is but a 
 manifestation of the power of association. 
 
222 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 In seeking to memorize things that have no natural or 
 necessary relations to each other, such as the names of 
 persons or places, and those things the relations of which 
 require too much effort to trace them out whenever re- 
 called, as the multiplication table, repetition should be 
 mainly relied upon. In repeating we should follow the 
 requirements of the third Law of Exercise until that which 
 is to be learned is well committed, and then vary the 
 order to give greater strength to the memory. Interest 
 will be added if some natural relation can be shown be- 
 tween the thoughts connected, and the mind will gain a 
 firmer hold upon them. If a name is significant of the 
 object designated, it gives interest to point this out. In 
 the case of the multiplication table the product should be 
 so associated in the mind with the numbers that produce 
 it that the factors will at once suggest it ; but the relations 
 of factors and product will be studied with more interest 
 if the child makes up the product himself by actual cal- 
 culation. 
 
 Law III. — A Rational Order Strengthens Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 First Proof. — This is shown inductively by such well- 
 known facts as that things more naturally suggest one an- 
 other if connected by relations of contiguity in time or 
 space, of cause and effect, of similarity or contrast, and 
 so forth. 
 
 Second Proof. — The Law may also be proved deductively 
 by the fact of an increased number of connections estab- 
 lished when the mind identifies things with each other 
 
RETENTION AND REPRODUCTION. 223 
 
 under the necessary laws of thought in addition to the 
 unification of a general association. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This is one of the most important laws of memory. 
 All thought should be organized to give mental strength, 
 and truths committed to memory in the order of logical 
 dependence have a double value ; they are material to be 
 used, and they strengthen the mind in acquiring them. 
 The parts of a lesson should be taken up minutely in the 
 order of their dependence, and when the outlines are set 
 forth to be fixed in memory, the points should be so classi- 
 fied and arranged as to call attention to the natural rela- 
 tions between the elements. The mind naturally asks 
 what? and why? of things, and when two thoughts are 
 so related to each other that the expression of one of them 
 answers these questions asked of the other, association be- 
 tween them is easy. 
 
 (II.) From the last remark it will be seen that the basis 
 of the best order will often depend upon the characteristics 
 of individuals. Some more naturally ask one kind of 
 questions, and hold things up in one light; others view 
 them under entirely different aspects. One person will 
 easily commit verbatim, another is inclined only to con- 
 nect ideas by the principles they involve. In seeking to 
 cultivate the memory each should take into consideration 
 the characteristics of his own mind. 
 
 (III.) To secure a logical arrangement of facts to be 
 learned, careful and complete analysis is necessary. In 
 this form of activity as well as others the strength and 
 value of unification depend upon discrimination. 
 
 Under the head of Causes of Diminution of Strength 
 the Law of Degradation, or fourth Law of Correlation, 
 
224 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 applies. The special application of this Law to the mem- 
 ory may be stated as follows : 
 
 Law IV. — The Strength of Association is Weak- 
 ened BY Lapse of Time. 
 
 Proof. — This follows directly from the fourth Law of 
 Correlation. While the thoughts are out of consciousness 
 there is no impulse toward strengthening the association, 
 and the natural tendency to degradation in this case must 
 be to weaken the connection, and render it more and 
 more difficult to restore the original activity. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) When any thing is first committed to memory we 
 do not realize at what points the connections are weakest. 
 The lapse of a comparatively short time, however, will 
 reveal these weak places if we try to recall what we have 
 learned. It is a saving of time to commit to memory and 
 allow a subject to pass from the mind a few hours and 
 then try to recall it. If any portions can not be recalled, 
 special energy may then be fixed on those till they are 
 learned with certainty. It is a good habit to learn lessons 
 one day, and recall them and (if necessary) review them 
 the next day. 
 
 (II.) This Law points to the necessity for frequent re- 
 views. If too long a time passes between one review or 
 repetition of a subject and another, the connections will 
 be so far weakened that it becomes like learning the sub- 
 ject anew. This same remark will also apply to com- 
 mitting to memory at first. Often a task is difficult, and 
 it requires several efforts to fasten it in memory. One 
 effort should follow another closely enough to build one 
 
RETENTION AND REPRODUCTION. 225 
 
 product upon another, and not lose the results of the first 
 efforts. 
 
 Under the third head, namely, the stimulus to repro- 
 duction, besides the mental relations existing between the 
 thought that excites activity and the associated thought 
 recalled, relations just treated of, there are conditions be- 
 longing to the time and act of reproduction that aid it. 
 
 Law V. — Reproduction is in Proportion to Activ- 
 ity IN THE Direction of That Which is Recalled. 
 
 Proof. — This Law follows from the second Law of Cor- 
 relation. If an intense energy or several activities act in 
 the direction of an association of something to be recalled, 
 the reproduction will more probably be made than if there 
 be but a single activity, and the energy be feeble in that 
 direction. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (L) If the mind itself be in a vigorous condition when 
 we try to remember a thing, the probability of reproduc- 
 tion is increased. If the mental powers are active, thought 
 will take many directions, and we are more likely to have 
 a thought taking the direction of the desired association 
 than if the mind is languid and susceptible of but few 
 trains of thought ; and more force is given to the different 
 thoughts entertained. 
 
 (II.) Reproduction is more probable if the exciting 
 thought is clearly pictured forth in the mind. The exact 
 point of the association may be missed unless we hold up 
 the suggesting thought with the same distinctness as when 
 the association was made. 
 
 (III.) Reproduction is aided when several thoughts 
 associated with the same thing are together brought before 
 
226 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the mind. It is a help to place ourselves as nearly as 
 possible in the same circumstances as when the first asso- 
 ciation was made. 
 
 (IV.) The feelings aid in reproduction. Thoughts will 
 suggest each other when we are in a mood to have the 
 same feelings that were originally excited. But memories 
 thus aroused are not seldom the cause of a waste of 
 power, because the indulgence of feelings that do not 
 ripen into action tend so easily to degradation, and it is 
 in itself a degradation to yield simply to pleasurable rem- 
 iniscence instead of building up and strengthening thought 
 by force of will. 
 
 (V.) Reproduction is aided by the will. The will di- 
 rects the attention and holds all the mental energy ready 
 for unification at the right suggestion, if we have properly 
 trained the mind; and it is only a memory which is sub- 
 ject to the will that is in the highest degree valuable. 
 This power of compelling attention in the act of reproduc- 
 tion is of the greatest importance. The teacher need not 
 be reminded of the frequency with which pupils called up 
 to recite or give a demonstration stop and sit down at the 
 first failure of memory. They do not exert a tithe of 
 their mental power. While chiding does not help mem- 
 ory, but is more likely to distract thought, still pupils 
 ought to be held to do their best at recitation and in every 
 exercise of memory. 
 
 (VI.) The first Law of Sequence has an important bear- 
 ing on the development of memory. Retention and re- 
 production follow immediately after Acquisition, and in 
 accordance with the Law of Sequence should be devel- 
 oped early in childhood. So clearly is the Law applicable 
 to memory that we not only find the power developed 
 amongst the first of the mental powers, but it is noticeable 
 that it is amongst the first to decline. And it is not only 
 
RETENTION AND REPRODUCTION. 227 
 
 important that memory be much exercised in childhood 
 for the sake of developing the power itself, but it is im- 
 portant for the sake of the faculties that depend upon it 
 for their development. All the higher powers of the 
 mind depend upon the products of memory, mainly, for 
 their growth. We should not content ourselves with 
 simply storing the memory; this is stopping on a low 
 plane of intellectual life; but neither should we try to get 
 along without the exercise of memory, for this is like try- 
 ing to build without material. 
 
 III. REPRESENTATION. 
 
 I. The faculty of representation is the power by which 
 the mind forms and holds before itself distinct notions of 
 individual objects. The notion formed is a unity that 
 may be resolved into elements drawn from experience, 
 but the form of the unity is determined by the purpose in 
 view in the exercise of this faculty. It may be the purpose 
 to form an image that shall exactly represent a particular 
 object of experience, as a house we have seen ; an image 
 that shall represent a class of objects, as an ideal image of 
 a tree ; an image that shall represent a rational notion, as 
 a circle; an image of some new combination that shall 
 subserve some practical end, as a machine; or an image 
 that shall be pleasing or repulsive, as the image of a land- 
 scape. In the first case the faculty of memory is called 
 to the aid of imagination, and recollection determines the 
 form of the unity ; in the second case the faculty of com- 
 parison determines the form of the unity ; in the third case 
 it is determined by the concepts of reason ; in the fourth 
 case it is determined by the final purpose ; and in the last 
 case it is determined by the feelings. In the first three 
 cases the image is made to correspond to facts or truth as 
 
228 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 we conceive these to exist, and the imagination has much 
 of the reproductive or imitative element in it; in the last 
 two cases imagination is constructive or inventive, and the 
 image varies with the determination of the will. 
 
 2. By some, the reproductive imagination is limited in 
 its applications and considered as the same with the fac- 
 ulty of reproduction. If, however, we examine the process 
 by which the imagination works, we shall find it to be the 
 same thing in all the above uses, whatever the determining 
 purpose may be, and different from the process of simple 
 reproduction. In the case of reproduction the unity is a 
 series of experiences recalling one another by reason of 
 the bond of association. The elements are not brought 
 together by reason of their forming a unity in themselves; 
 it is only necessary to associate them as having been iden- 
 tified in conscious experience. But the imagination always 
 works from the dim outline of something conceived of as 
 a unity in itself to a clear picture of it as a whole and irf 
 all its parts. The unity of simple reproduction is the 
 unity of conscious experiences ; the unity of the imagina- 
 tion is the conceived unity of things. Again, an object 
 remembered, in order to be a conscious reproduction, 
 must be associated in present consciousness with past ex- 
 perience; but an image, whether it be a reproduction or 
 an invention, is as truly an image without as with the 
 consciousness of its previous presence in the mind. 
 
 3. The several uses of the representative faculty men- 
 tioned above may be described with a good degree of 
 accuracy as historical, comparative, rational, inventive, 
 and lesthetic. The reproductive imagination has two im- 
 portant uses. In the first place, it is an aid to memory. 
 It takes the elements restored by reproduction and forms 
 a unity of them which can be distinctly and easily held 
 before the mind, costing little expenditure of mental en- 
 
REPRESENTATION. 229 
 
 ergy, while the faculty of reproduction adds one after 
 another of the associated thoughts for the use of the com- 
 parative faculty or any other use desired. In the second 
 place, it helps the understanding. In reading or listening 
 to instruction, the more vividly we can picture to our- 
 selves the scenes, the persons, the places, and the objects 
 presented, the easier it is to follow the thought and the 
 clearer our understanding will be. The process of reason- 
 ing, as in Geometrical demonstrations, is largely dependent 
 on facility in representing by the imagination the objects 
 and forms upon which we reason. 
 
 4. We might make a more minute classification of the 
 uses of the representative faculty than the one given above. 
 Images of sight differ from those of sound and the other 
 senses. Images of space or outline differ from images of 
 objects. It is important to note that the imagination must 
 be cultivated for facility in each one of the uses to which 
 it is applied. A person may be able to represent to him- 
 self objects of sight with the greatest vividness, without 
 being able to represent a strain of music at all; and the 
 same is true of other uses of this faculty. 
 
 Law I. — The Imagination is Cultivated by Individ- 
 ualizing THE Forms of Mental Activity. 
 
 Proof. — It is the work of the representative faculty to 
 hold forth individual forms, and this Law follows from the 
 Laws of Exercise. Memory is satisfied with recalling 
 objects and scenes as members of a series, but the imagin- 
 ation seeks to picture individual objects and events as they 
 stand by themselves. Reasoning may proceed from ab- 
 stract concepts and general terms to its conclusions, but 
 imagination asks for a particular instance to which the 
 concept or general term may apply. 
 
230 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) While the different forms of imagination do not 
 imply each other, they have so much in common that 
 they easily interchange. If historical and aesthetic imagi- 
 nation are both strong they are liable to lead to confusion 
 in distinguishing truth from fiction. They become a 
 source of real danger to the story-teller and the historian. 
 Macaulay's pen was equally facile in sketching fact and 
 fancy, and his weak point as an historian was his liability 
 to be influenced by his ideals to underrate many real 
 events and characters. He was too much of an artist to 
 be the truest historian. 
 
 (II.) When the imagination is used to hold up before 
 the mind a particular character, conduct, or transaction 
 for exact analysis, or when employed in abstract reason- 
 ing, it is called philosophical imagination. This is one of 
 the most difficult uses of the faculty, and the person who 
 possesses the power in a high degree has great capacity 
 for intellectual work. It is one of the chief character- 
 istics of great dramatists. 
 
 Law II. — The Imagination Economizes Mental En- 
 ergy. 
 
 First Proof. — This may be shown inductively. Chil- 
 dren who are soon wearied if their attention is kept 
 confined to one thing, will remain attentive longer in con- 
 sidering things that appeal to the imagination than in the 
 exercise of any other faculty. A writer or speaker will 
 maintain attention for a longer time by frequent appeals to 
 the imagination, in such a manner as to arouse it directly, 
 than if instruction or argument is so given that the imag- 
 
REPRODUCTION. 23 1 
 
 ination is slightly exercised. Appeals to the imagination 
 are most required by the ignorant and untrained. 
 
 Second Proof. — The Law may be shown deductively 
 from the nature of the act. It is the most direct form of 
 unification, and the mind easily holds its unities according 
 to the Law of permanency, and adds new discriminations 
 with the least expenditure of energy. 
 
 Third Proof. — The imagination is a form of activity 
 nearly involving the senses, and should be slightly ex- 
 haustive of energy according to the second Law of Physi- 
 ological Relations. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The value of imagination as an economical form 
 of activity can scarcely be overestimated. It enables the 
 child to hold a point in mind till understood, it fixes a 
 point in memory by virtue of the completeness of the 
 unification, it gives pleasurable relaxation from exhaustive 
 abstract thinking without straying from the right direction 
 of thought, it collects scattered energies that are tending 
 to dissipation, and it becomes the suggestive beginning of 
 new trains of thought. 
 
 (II.) The imagination of children will be cultivated by 
 requiring them to give concrete illustrations of their 
 thoughts. They should be taught to abstract and to gen- 
 eralize, but should not be allowed to omit individual 
 examples. It is not enough for the teacher or the book to 
 illustrate. This does not much cultivate the active imag- 
 ination. Original illustrations should be required of the 
 pupil. The neglect of this in the teaching of grammar is 
 one of the most serious errors commonly met with in 
 teaching this subject. A rule can not mean much to a 
 pupil who can not apply it to specific cases. 
 
232 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Law III. — Imagination Leads in the Direction of 
 Definite, Clear, and Positive Consciousness. 
 
 Proof. — Imagination holds the object of its activity in 
 such complete unity, and with such ease, that the mind is 
 free to consider any of its parts or relations, and thus make 
 the consciousness of variety and unity complete. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Next to the use of the senses the imagination should 
 be employed to secure reliability in trains of thought. 
 Even the most logical minds will draw absurd conclusions 
 from abstract reasoning, but when a particular application 
 is made the error is likely to appear. In the use of poetic 
 and figurative language mixed metaphors would never oc- 
 cur if the images were complete in the mind. One who 
 really pictured himself as in the midst of a stormy sea 
 could never think of a deliverer as a rock of safety. 
 
 (II.) In the interpretation of language we should be 
 careful to distinguish between the figurative use of a word 
 and its literal use in a derived sense. What appears to us 
 as the highly figurative language of antiquity may often be 
 softened in its tone by observing this distinction, and we 
 shall sometimes be saved from the conception of most ab- 
 surd images. Let us take as an illustration the description of 
 the apostle's vision of the Redeemer in the third chapter 
 of the Revelation. The Savior is there represented with 
 a sword proceeding out of his mouth. Taken literally the 
 image is absurd, but when we consider how much the au- 
 thor dwelt upon the term * 'sword, " and that from its effects 
 the term is spoken of as "the sword of the Spirit," we may 
 easily suppose that John only had the image of this word 
 coming from the mouth of the Lord, and that he called it 
 
REPRODUCTION. 233 
 
 a sword not from any thought of the form of a sword but 
 from the similarity of effectiveness. The term sword 
 meant word in form and sword in force. 
 
 (III.) Imagination is most active in childhood, as it is 
 in the early history of any people, and as it was in the in- 
 fancy of the race. It is an easy activity for children and 
 should be employed to keep attention, to stimulate activ- 
 ity, and to make thought definite, distinct, and positive. 
 All will not be agreed as to the kind of stimulus a child's 
 imagination should have, but all must say it should be 
 developed. Whether fairy tales and legends of impossible 
 beings and transactions should be employed or not must 
 be left to individual judgment. One caution should at 
 least be given; that is, the imagination should not be ex- 
 cited by objects which excite terror. This is an obstruc- 
 tion to activity and is a habit of mind not to be cultivated 
 unnecessarily. 
 
 IV. REASONING. 
 
 I. We have already seen that comparison enters into 
 the very first acts of consciousness. Without it even per- 
 ception would be impossible, for perception requires identi- 
 fication and identification requires comparison. We may 
 compare objects and qualities through the senses and self- 
 consciousness, or we may identify them under the princi- 
 ples or forms of reason which are native to the mind. 
 When we say gold is yellow we make comparison by the 
 sense of sight. When we say an orange is round, or that 
 certain conduct is wrong, we compare the form of the 
 orange or the character of the conduct with the native 
 notion of roundness or that of right and wrong. The uni- 
 fication in the sentence "gold is yellow," is a perception, 
 the unification in the sentence " the orange is round," is 
 
 a judgment, 
 s. E.-20. 
 
234 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 2. The power to compare and unify under the principles 
 of the reason is called the elaborative or reasoning faculty. 
 This is not the faculty of reason, and its activity depends 
 on the latter faculty only as discrimination depends upon 
 the power of unification. The ability to develop the ideas 
 of reason must be present, but these ideas are only devel- 
 oped by the exercise of the elaborative faculty or reason- 
 ing. This places the activity of reasoning before that of 
 reason in the order of development. 
 
 3. The formation of a simple judgment, like that of the 
 roundness of the orange, is an act of the elaborative fac- 
 ulty, because by it we develop thought in the mind which 
 is higher than any act of perception. But it is only a 
 simple act. The elaborative faculty is not only capable 
 of identifying perceptions under the simple principles of 
 reason, it may identify judgments with one another under 
 higher principles of reason. When we say **an orange 
 will roll down an inclined plane," we identify the round 
 object with rolling bodies under the principle of cause and 
 effect. First there is the judgment that the orange is 
 round, then there is the judgment that round bodies will 
 roll down an inclined plane, and then there is the com- 
 parison and identification of these judgments. We see 
 that the first two judgments involve the conclusion. What 
 causes all round bodies thus to roll will cause the orange 
 to roll. Such a comparison and unification of judgments 
 is called a process of reasoning. 
 
 4. An act of reasoning, even an act of simple judg- 
 ment, involves several processes. In the above stated 
 judgment, **the orange is round," there is, besides per- 
 ception, first an act of abstraction by which the attention 
 is withdrawn from the color, hardness, and other qualities 
 of the orange, and fixed on its form. In the second 
 place, the idea of roundness is developed in the mind. 
 
REASONING. 235 
 
 In the third place, the orange is identified by means of 
 this common quaHty as belonging to a class of round 
 objects. The act of judgment is an act of classification. 
 When we compare judgments together, and unify them 
 under a higher principle, we repeat these same processes, 
 and our final judgment is but a classification. Thus if 
 we compare the round orange with objects that will roll 
 down an inclined plane, we classify them together under 
 the notion of causation. Other objects will do this if 
 they are round, and we say the orange will do it because 
 it conforms to the required conditions. 
 
 5. In classifying things we are not always able to find 
 so exact an idea as that of roundness by means of which 
 to make a comparison. When we speak of a given object 
 as a table, we classify it, but if asked why we call it a 
 table, or classify it as we do, we might be puzzled to give 
 an exact answer. We could not say it is because of its 
 form, for a table and a bench might have the same form, 
 and indeed what would answer very well for a bench for a 
 man would do equally well for a table for a child. Besides, 
 tables have many forms, and the primitive idea seems to 
 involve nothing more than a solid with a smooth, flat sur- 
 face. We could not call the material essential, for it is 
 made of many materials. Neither can we say its use is 
 what makes it a table, for tables have many uses, and 
 many things not tables have the same uses to which tables 
 are put. Nevertheless, we have a notion sufficiently exact 
 to enable us to classify objects as tables without hesitation. 
 This notion is called a general notion, and the act by which 
 it is formed is called generalization. A term that is ap- 
 plicable at pleasure to any individual object that belongs 
 to a given class is called a general term. 
 
 6. Several questions are asked concerning generaliza- 
 tion, the answers to which have important bearings on 
 
236 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 educational problems. First, what is the character of the 
 general notion, and how is it developed? Secondly, in 
 what order is it developed ? Thirdly, what is the relation 
 of the general term to particular or proper names? 
 
 (i.) In answering the first question, the attention may 
 be called to definitions. A generally accepted definition 
 is the best description that can be put into language of the 
 notion described. But definitions of such words as horse, 
 corn, and so forth, if they are designed to set forth the 
 ideas expressed in the terms, do not stop with a single 
 characteristic, but they name several characteristics, no 
 one of which, perhaps, belongs only to the thing described, 
 and some of them, as color, may be quite variable. The 
 general notion, then, is a combination of variable ele- 
 ments, but of elements that vary only within fixed limits. 
 These limits must be determined by a study of individuals 
 belonging to the class described, and the notion must be 
 developed from the indefinite to the definite, according to 
 the first division of the second Law of Consciousness. 
 
 (2.) The second question must be answered in accord- 
 ance with the facts implied in the answer to the first. If 
 the general notion is developed from individuals, a knowl- 
 edge of individuals should be given before the general 
 notion is sought. The Laws of Sequence apply to this 
 development, and the order is also in accord with several 
 of the Laws of Physiological Relations. 
 
 (3.) In answering the third question it does not concern 
 us to know whether all general terms are derived from 
 individual names or not. The only part of the question 
 of consequence to us here, is, whether we should attempt 
 to develop the idea around the general term, bringing it 
 from obscurity by showing how it may be applied to indi- 
 viduals; or, after calling attention to several individuals, 
 to point out the several things that are common, and give 
 
ORDER OF EXERCISE. 237 
 
 the general term to designate the general idea thus devel- 
 oped. The Laws of Sequence make the answer to this 
 question depend upon the historical order in which the 
 general term is developed. In answer to this question it 
 may be said, first, that it has already been shown that the 
 general notion follows the particular, and we might expect 
 the general term to follow the individual designation. But 
 in the second place, new names are growing up amongst 
 us continually, and it is easy to analyze the process and 
 determine the question experimentally. When a child, a 
 domestic animal, or a place is named, the individual name 
 has no reference to a classification of the object, but gen- 
 eral designations are naturally derived from individual 
 names, like the name of a town or country. Thus Roman 
 is derived from Rome. From these considerations we 
 ought to conclude that a general term or a general state- 
 ment is not sought by the mind and ought not to be given 
 until particular instances have been clearly set forth to 
 develop general notions. At the same time we must bear 
 in mind that the general notion will begin in obscurity, the 
 same as all other notions, and as soon as it begins to 
 develop a term may be required to facilitate the process of 
 unification. 
 
 7. The two forms of reasoning known as induction and 
 deduction have already been set forth as to their form in 
 defining these terms. But we ought further to ask what 
 gives validity to their conclusions. 
 
 8. In the first place, let us consider induction. It has 
 been defined as drawing a general conclusion from one or 
 more particular examples. If a child burns his hand in 
 the fire he perceives that the fire burns him. This is not 
 an inference. But if he concludes from this that all fires 
 will burn he makes an induction. What is the process by 
 which the conclusion is reached, and what ground of con- 
 
238 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 fidence is there for the induction ? If we will consider 
 the growth of thought in ourselves, we shall see that the 
 general conclusion does not come into consciousness at the 
 same time with the first perception. Probably there is no 
 thought of other fire than that which is felt. What the 
 mind does is to identify this fire as the cause of the sensa- 
 tion. When the child sees another fire he identifies that 
 with the first fire and says that too will burn. This he 
 does in accordance with the axiom which begins to come 
 into consciousness, that like causes will produce like 
 effects. When his mind has successively identified several 
 fires with the one that was first felt, he drops the thought 
 of individual fires from his consciousness, in accordance 
 with the natural tendency to degradation by unifying with- 
 out maintaining a consciousness of variety, and he makes 
 the general affirmation, fire, all fires, will burn. In this 
 reasoning the notion of causation, and that of the uni- 
 formity of the relation between cause and effect, are 
 necessary notions which the mind accepts and which it 
 can never doubt after they have once been brought clearly 
 into consciousness. But there are two liabilities to error. 
 There may be error in identifying the fire with the cause 
 of the burning, or there may be error in identifying all 
 fires with the fire that burned the hand. Thus when a 
 child first sees his face in a glass he identifies his vision 
 with a child beyond the glass as its cause. > This error is a 
 failure properly to identify a perception with its cause. 
 If the hand had been burned by a stove instead of a fire, 
 the child would have been led into the error of supposing 
 all stoves would burn. He would have identified all 
 stoves, the same as all fires, with the one that burned. 
 The mistake in either case is in identifying causes, it is 
 not due to the untrustworthincss of the notion of causation. 
 9. But there are other kinds of causes which the mind 
 
KINDS OF CAUSATION. 239 
 
 as naturally identifies as the one given in the illustration, 
 and which are as Ukely to be the occasion of error. The 
 fire is the active cause of the burning, and is hence called 
 an efficient, or producing cause. If one knows that a 
 certain piece of yellow metal is gold and very valuable, 
 and wants to know if another yellow piece he has found 
 is also gold, he first examines the known metal and finds 
 it heavy, malleable, ductile, and so forth, and he tests it 
 till he has found all its qualities. He then examines the 
 unknown piece, and if it possesses all these qualities, and 
 no others, he identifies it as gold. If he finds a quality 
 which the gold does not possess he immediately says it is 
 not gold. The qualities that are found in gold are all we 
 know of what constitutes this metal, and they are called 
 the material cause of gold. We identify material the 
 same as efficient cause, and with the same liabilities to 
 error. The durability of a steel rail is due to its tough- 
 ness, and the material is mostly iron. If we identify the 
 toughness with the iron alone, and substitute iron for steel, 
 supposing it the cause of the durability, we commit an 
 error in identifying material cause and effect. If we find 
 a piece of steel that will bend and infer that all steel is 
 thus flexible we commit an error in identifying material 
 causes. 
 
 TO. Again, the chemist tells us that starch and wood 
 have the same chemical elements and in the same pro- 
 portions. We correctly identify the material causes of the 
 two substances, but if we use the starch for fuel or the 
 wood for the purposes of starch, we fail of the results 
 looked for. What is the cause of this difference ? There 
 must be some difference in the arrangement of the ele- 
 ments. They are put into one form for starch, and an- 
 other form for wood. This formal element is called a 
 formal cause. It is the plan in accordance with which 
 
240 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 elements or parts are put together to make a whole. We 
 are liable to the same error in identifying formal causes as 
 those named above. Thus heat changes the condition or 
 form of union between particles of iron, and it is because 
 the child does not know of this formal cause that he thinks 
 all stoves will burn because one stove has done this. 
 
 11. If one man is seen to strike another dead in a quar- 
 rel, we say he is a murderer. But when the case is exam- 
 ined more carefully, if it is found that the slayer had been 
 first attacked, and was only acting in self-defense, we no 
 longer identify the act as murder. The purpose of the 
 act is a determining element in our judgment of it, was a 
 controlling cause of the act itself, and this we call a final 
 cause. In judging of the actions of men we must identify 
 this, and if we fail to make a correct identification we err 
 in judgment. In the development of law in a community, 
 at first an act is condemned as worthy of punishment, 
 then other similar acts are punished, then it is declared 
 that all similar acts should be punished, and the necessity 
 arises of identifying acts with the act first punished or 
 with the general class that has been developed in thought 
 by it. 
 
 12. Thus we find four classes of causes under which we 
 may identify objects and actions, and we may err in our 
 inductive conclusion if we fail in identifying the real cause 
 of the specific result from which we are led to make the 
 induction; or if we incorrectly identify the causes included 
 in the general conclusion with the specific cause, under 
 any one of the four kinds of causation. The basis of 
 induction is, therefore, the principle of causation, and 
 the liability to error lies in the difficulty of identifying real 
 causes. It is confessed that the connection between 
 cause and effect can not be discovered, and things which 
 we call causes are complex. There is the possibility of 
 
INDUCTIVE REASONING. 24I 
 
 intermediate steps between what we suppose a cause and 
 its effect, and we know not how many of the elements of 
 our cause may drop out before the effect is reached, or 
 what other changes may be made. Thus in many ways 
 the process of inductive argument is beset with difficulty. 
 13. It will be seen from the above considerations that 
 the trust we put in an inductive conclusion does not rest 
 so much on its conformity with a large number of known 
 facts, as upon our conviction that we have identified true 
 causes. One of the most patient and successful investi- 
 gators of modern times is the French savant, M. Pasteur. 
 His processes were all of an inductive character, and 
 while he multiplied experiments to some extent, to justify 
 his conclusions, his main effort was always to isolate 
 causes. For instance, he set himself to discover the 
 cause of splenic fever. The disease can be produced by 
 inoculating with a virus, or poisonous matter, which is 
 always present where the fever is developed. This virus 
 was found to contain living germs, and the question was 
 whether to identify these germs or the fluid portion of the 
 virus as the cause. Pasteur isolated the germs by suc- 
 cessively propagating them in a medium that did not allow 
 of the reproduction of the fluid portion, and the last prod- 
 uct of the germs produced bacteria, and these splenic 
 fever. He again isolated the fluid portion by allowing 
 the germs to settle to the bottom in a tube. The upper 
 portion containing no germs gave no effect, the lower 
 portion produced splenic fever and death. This identified 
 the germs or bacteria with the cause of the fever and ex- 
 cluded the fluid virus. But it was claimed that inocula- 
 tions had produced death without the production of 
 bacteria in the virus. Pasteur proved that these cases 
 had been erroneously identified with splenic fever, in the 
 development of which bacteria are multiplied. Again it 
 
 S. E.-2i. 
 
242 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 was claimed that a virus containing bacteria had been 
 taken, and the bacteria killed with oxygen, and yet the 
 virus had proved fatal. Pasteur proved that the virus 
 used contained other living germs that could not be 
 killed with oxygen, and these might be the cause of death. 
 In all these cases he isolated causes in order to identify 
 them with each other and with their effects. The value 
 of his work depended upon his ingenuity and success in 
 this, rather than in the number of his experiments. It 
 has been said that his success depended upon his adopt- 
 ing the experimental method. But he might have 
 adopted a different experimental method, and followed it 
 out with all diligence without success. Rational experi- 
 ment gave him success. As induction depends so much 
 upon the isolation of causes for the purpose of comparison 
 and identification, we may see in this method of mental 
 activity, as well as in other forms of development, the 
 importance of analysis. 
 
 14. But however particular and persevering we may 
 be, it is never possible to say we have made an ultimate 
 analysis, and we are continually forced to modify our 
 general conclusions and our identification of causes. 
 Even with all his efforts and all the positive results 
 claimed for Pasteur, there are those who still doubt the 
 reliability of his conclusions. An illustration of the dan- 
 ger of error in conclusions formed after the most exhaustive 
 study of facts may be seen in the Newtonian theory of 
 light. Perhaps no other person was ever so thorough in 
 experimenting on a single cause as was Newton in exper- 
 imenting on the nature of light. Yet the conclusion to 
 which he came has now been universally abandoned. 
 
 15. There is a class of general truths which depend 
 upon a prion ideas, and their validity for us especially 
 depends upon the clearness of our reasoning rather than 
 
INDUCTIVE REASONING. 243 
 
 upon examples. Such are mathematical truths. But these 
 truths may be seen illustrated in examples, and the gen- 
 eral truth may be inferred from the particular without the 
 assurance of its absolute certainty. Thus by taking sev- 
 eral examples we may infer inductively that if we multiply 
 the numerator of a fraction by a given number we shall 
 increase the value of the fraction by that ratio. It may 
 be asked whether we should proceed by the inductive 
 method in developing these truths, or try from the first to 
 base our reasoning entirely on the necessary laws of 
 thought. In answer to this it may be said first, that we 
 must develop the idea of the general truth as well as its 
 necessity. In accordance with the Law of development 
 of all ideas by the senses, these ideas, before they are 
 generalized as necessary, must be gained from examples. 
 So, too, in accordance with the second Law of Physiolog- 
 ical Relations, it is easier to form the general idea by in- 
 duction than by pure reasoning. But after the notion of 
 the general truth is formed its necessity can only be 
 proved from the necessary laws of thought, and the mind 
 should not be satisfied with any thing less than this. 
 
 1 6. The importance of induction is two-fold. In the 
 first place, it lays a foundation for unification. When a 
 general statement is made, it offers a notion with which 
 particular notions may be compared. Even though it be 
 a false generalization, it enables the mind to make com- 
 parisons, and a denial of agreement will lead to other 
 inductions, and at last a true general statement will be 
 reached. There can be no considerable advance in 
 thought without it. In the second place, the attempt to 
 establish general propositions by continued inductions is 
 called for in the study of all the natural sciences, and in 
 all the guiding principles of practical fife. It was a favor- 
 ite principle of Pasteur that it was necessary to have some 
 
244 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 theory to lead one in experiment and investigation. A 
 friend of his once said to him: "If you have established 
 what I was unable to discover you must have been guided 
 to your result by a preconceived idea." This was the way 
 in which Pasteur proceeded, and it is the true way, but 
 one must carefully avoid the error of allowing any impor- 
 tance to the theory with which he begins beyond what 
 the results of experience and facts give to it. 
 
 17. The second method of reasoning is called deductive. 
 It begins with a general proposition which it assumes as true. 
 In this proposition one term is identified with another as 
 contained in it, as a part of it, or as belonging to it; that 
 is, the second term expresses that which is a kind of cause 
 of that which is expressed by the first. In another propo- 
 sition the second term is identified with a third term in 
 the same way. When these two propositions are com- 
 pared, the conclusion is drawn in which the first term is 
 identified with the third. Thus, if A is a part of B, and B 
 a part of C, A will be a part of C. This reasoning may 
 be traced to our belief in the persistency of causes. If A 
 is a part of B, or is in any way the effect of the cause B, 
 this effect will not cease when B is regarded as the effect 
 of C. We trace C as a cause through B to A. 
 
 The whole of this reasoning is abstract, if we assume 
 the truth of the first two propositions. And the truth of 
 these must be evident from considerations entirely dis- 
 tinct from the reasoning of which they form the basis. 
 Deduction, therefore, should succeed induction, which is 
 more closely connected with the activity of the senses. 
 That induction does precede deduction is seen in the fact 
 that induction is required to develop or establish the gen- 
 eral proposition with which deduction begins. Whewell 
 has recognized the truth of this in his History of the In- 
 ductive Sciences. He says, **To give real significance 
 
DEDUCTIVE REASONING. 245 
 
 to our propositions, Induction must provide what Deduc- 
 tion can not supply. From a pictured hook we can hang 
 only a pictured chain." When it is said that the deductive 
 sciences were developed earlier than inductive sciences, 
 we limit deduction to those sciences that are founded on 
 a priori principles. As we have seen, these principles 
 are first brought into consciousness by the inductive proc- 
 ess, and then established as necessary by the higher 
 faculty of reason. What are called the inductive sciences 
 require more patient experiment and investigation, and the 
 difficulty of establishing truth by induction has been the 
 cause of the late appearance of these sciences. 
 
 V. REASON. 
 
 The faculty of Reason is to be distinguished from 
 the Elaborative faculty. It furnishes the principles that 
 form the basis of the elaborative process of reasoning. 
 Its products are the latest and most difficult notions 
 brought into clear consciousness. The Laws of Con- 
 sciousness, Sequence, and Physiological Relations should 
 be especially remembered in developing this faculty. As 
 a relief to the abstract character of this class of notions it 
 is of great importance to cultivate the rational or phil- 
 osophical imagination. 
 
 Observation. 
 
 It has been already remarked of the higher faculties 
 that they begin their development at the same time with 
 the lowest, and that children, when very young, may 
 study on the profoundest principles of philosophy. It is 
 not intended, by dwelling on the order of dependence, to 
 discourage attempts to develop the reasoning faculty in the 
 
246 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 earliest stages of a child's education, or justify its neglect. 
 It is only designed to call attention to the fact that this 
 faculty is slower than the lower faculties in arriving at its 
 greatest power, when it can comprehend the greatest 
 variety in a rational unity. This faculty should receive 
 its due share of attention by simple exercises at the same 
 time that the lower faculties are growing most rapidly. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 FEELINGS. 
 
 
 HE feelings constitute the second general 
 class of mental activities. Their forms are 
 the varieties of pleasure and pain which we 
 experience. In distinguishing them from 
 cognitions and the will we are not to seek 
 for successive acts of consciousness, the first forms belong- 
 ing to one class, and succeeding forms belonging to an- 
 other. Pleasure and pain are continuous in the very act 
 of acquiring knowledge. But the fact that these acts are 
 simultaneous does not show identity of faculty; for mem- 
 ory and imagination, cognition and volition, may be si- 
 multaneous. The following are the reasons for considering 
 the feelings a separate class of faculties. 
 
 (i.) No analysis of acts of knowledge reveals feeling. 
 The pleasure derived from the smell of a rose is not a part 
 of the perception by which we distinguish the rose. The 
 perception is an act relating the mind to objective exis- 
 tence; the pleasure is purely subjective. 
 
 (2.) The degree of pleasure and pain has no necessary 
 dependence upon the activity of perception. In different 
 persons they vary in relative strength, and in the same 
 person they vary greatly in relative intensity at different 
 times. The relative degrees of intensity in these different 
 activities depends upon the native energy and its develop- 
 ment as two correlative modes of manifestation, either 
 being developed without necessarily developing the other, 
 and either being exhaustive of energy that might manifest 
 itself in the other. 
 
 (247) 
 
248 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 2. The distinction of the feelings as a separate class of 
 mental powers is modern, and while it is now generally 
 made, there is still some diversity in the order of treating 
 them. Some treat them as following, and others as pre- 
 ceding the cognitions. The first conscious feeling as well 
 as the first conscious perception must originate from the 
 action of the nervous system. If we use the term to in- 
 clude the first impulse of the mind to activity when it is 
 excited by the senses, and consider it as representing the 
 state of the mind itself without reference to the cause of 
 the change produced, then feeling must clearly be considered 
 as preceding perception. The physical feelings may pos- 
 sibly originate as physical activities along with reflex nerve- 
 activity below consciousness, and consequently before 
 perception. But if we regard this initial impulse as coming 
 into consciousness under two separate forms, one being an 
 affirmation of objective existence which we call perception, 
 and the other a consciousness of some kind of pleasurable 
 or painful activity, and if we mean this activity by feeling, 
 it is not necessary to suppose that even the most primitive 
 conscious feelings precede cognitions in their genesis. 
 When, still further, we consider feelings as a mode of re- 
 flective consciousness, and find the most important of 
 them, as the pleasures of the imagination and the moral 
 feelings, originating in activities of purely intellectual cog- 
 nition, we are compelled to treat them as following the 
 cognitive faculty. 
 
 3. If we compare feelings with volitions, we shall see 
 that the activities of one class become motives of the 
 other. Even the moral feeling, which is not developed 
 without volition, is the necessary motive of moral action. 
 As an illustration we may take a case of obedience. A 
 child is repuired by his father to perform some act. There 
 must first be an understanding of the act required, then a 
 
SEQUENCE OF THE FEELINGS. 249 
 
 consciousness of the obligation to obey, then the act of 
 obedience. If the feeUng of obligation does not precede 
 the act, it is not true obedience. The first feeling of 
 obligation does not arise from the command, but only as 
 the child struggles with the act ; yet the feeling must mature 
 before the act, or obedience is not perfect. Hence we 
 are led to place the feelings intermediate between cog- 
 nition and volition. 
 
 I. CLASSIFICATION OF THE FEELINGS. 
 
 ( I.) It is beyond dispute that no very satisfactory classi- 
 fication of the feelings has ever been made. This is mani- 
 fest, not so much in a failure to make the classification con- 
 sistent and complete, as in the lack of an end to make it 
 important. It would seem the more admissible, therefore, 
 to depart somewhat from ordinary classifications and terms 
 in places where the purpose in view requires it. 
 
 (2.) The object of a classification of the feelings here, 
 is to present them in the order of their development, and 
 show their relations to each other and to the other men- 
 tal activities. The very term employed to designate this 
 class of activities, naming them not only from the senses, 
 but from the lowest sense, points to their origin in sense, 
 like the cognitions, and to a beginning with the earliest 
 sense-activity. It has been said above that the sense of 
 feeling, while most fully elaborated at the ends of the fin- 
 gers, manifests itself throughout the whole surface of the 
 body, and wherever there are nerve termini. A con- 
 sciousness of pleasure and pain attends this general sense 
 of feehng quite distinct from the feelings that attend the 
 activities of the specific sense of touch. They are discrim- 
 inating, and we say we feel cold or weary or restless with 
 as great exactness of meaning as we would affirm an ocular 
 
250 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 perception. But these feelings are not connected with 
 special nerve centers, but they depend upon the organic 
 unity of the entire physical system for their manifestation 
 in consciousness. This characteristic quality makes the 
 term organic feelings a fitting designation for them. 
 
 (3.) In the second place, there are distinct feelings 
 connected with the activities of the senses. The pleasures 
 connected with the exercise of the senses are of a higher 
 order than the organic feelings, and when compared with 
 each other rise in point of delicacy and complexity as we 
 ascend from the sense of feeling to the sense of sight. 
 These feelings originate in activities in which sense-percep- 
 tion also originates, but they are confined to the pleasure 
 and pain that arise from the sense-impression, and must 
 be distinguished from the pleasure of thought which follows 
 the sense-impression. Belonging to the organs of sense, 
 they may be called sense-feelings. Thus, we find two 
 classes of feelings, springing directly from the physical 
 system, and together they may be classed as physical feel- 
 ings. 
 
 (4.) Higher than the physical feelings is the pleasure 
 that originates in the activities of the faculties above sense- 
 perception ; that is, in memory, imagination, and so forth. 
 These may be called the intellectual feelings or emotions 
 proper. They may be confined to the activities of the 
 cognitive powers, or they may depend partly upon such a 
 consideration of an end in view as to involve an activity 
 of the volitions. The former, inasmuch as they involve 
 nothing beyond the observation of things about us, or the 
 consideration of purely intellectual truth, may be called 
 contemplative feelings ; the latter, involving the idea of 
 doing something, may be called practical. 
 
 (5.) The contemplative feelings mainly come under what 
 are called aesthetic emotions, and are usually treated of 
 
FEELINGS CLASSIFIED. 251 
 
 under the heads of sublimity, beauty, picturesqueness, 
 wit, and humor. This classification may not satisfy every 
 one as being exhaustive, and it would be hazardous to 
 attempt rigid definitions of these in few words. They are 
 not, however, separately treated in schemes of education, 
 and it is not necessary to do more here than simply to 
 refer to works that treat especially upon these distinctions. 
 
 (6.) The practical feelings are, in the main, more 
 easily distinguished from each other than the contem- 
 plative, and may be more clearly described ; and they are 
 individually of great moment in the development of char- 
 acter, although a logical and exhaustive classification 
 would be difficult or impossible. There is first a pleasure 
 in the consciousness of power to do. It includes the 
 pleasure of knowing, for in an intellectual sense, knowl- 
 edge is literally power, and to ken is to can or to be able. 
 It is the motive element in ambition ; and the love of 
 money and of preferment largely depends upon it. 
 
 (7.) Besides the pleasure taken in the general conscious- 
 ness of power, pleasure and pain accompany all the exer- 
 cises of the mind that lead to voluntary action. They 
 may be classified as feelings that originate 'in thoughts 
 of self, or feehngs of self-concern, and feelings that origi- 
 nate in thoughts of othe;f s. These last are again divided 
 into feelings that spring from a sense of duty, the moral 
 feeling, and those that arise immediately from thoughts of 
 beings in whom we have pleasure, and for whom it is 
 possible to do some service, or feehngs of love. The 
 religious emotions would be mixed according to this classi- 
 fication, most of them belonging to the last two classes, 
 but others, like awe and reverence, belonging to the con- 
 templative feelings, and other emotions belonging to other 
 classes. 
 
 This classification may be tabulated as follows : 
 
252 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 I. Physical Feelings. 
 
 1. Organic. 
 
 2. Sense-feeling. 
 
 II. Intellectual Feelings. 
 
 1. Contemplative. 
 
 Wonder, Sublimity, Beauty, etc. 
 
 2. Practical. 
 
 a. Egoistic. 
 
 (i.) Sense of Power. 
 (2.) Self-concern. 
 
 b. Altruistic. 
 
 (i.) Ethical feelings. 
 (2.) Love and Hatred. 
 
 (8.) The lowest feelings of the lowest class are feelings 
 of physical well-being, or a general sense of happiness or 
 misery, and depend upon what is called temperament. 
 Some persons have such a happy temperament that no 
 accumulation of misfortunes can make them long misera- 
 ble, or ever make them despair; while others seem almost 
 to live on the verge of hopelessness, although surrounded 
 by the most bountiful supply of earthly comforts, and able 
 to enjoy the highest delights of taste and moral pleasures. 
 As an example of the former class Dr. Priestly, the dis- 
 coverer of oxygen, has been named. He lived a happy 
 life and died in peace, according to the testimony of all 
 his friends, under an accumulation of misfortunes which 
 has been summed up as follows: "He lost his mother 
 when a child, was brought up under a most depressing 
 system of training, passed through the severest changes of 
 religious thought, made an utter failure in his profession 
 as preacher, which he left penniless, was flattered and 
 favored by a noble benefactor and then unceremoni- 
 ously cast off, saw his great discovery credited to another, 
 
TEMPERAMENT. 253 
 
 was attacked by a mob, from which he barely escaped, 
 with the loss of home, library, and papers, was disowned 
 by the learned society he had done much to immortalize, 
 and in old age was driven from his native country to die 
 in a foreign land where he recounted with grateful remem- 
 brance for the encouragement of men the great felicity he 
 had been permitted to enjoy throughout a long life." 
 His own all-sufficient explanation was, ''I was born of a 
 happy disposition." Dickens has represented the same 
 disposition in the character of Mark Tapley, whose fortune 
 was never of the brightest, but whose good nature always 
 blossomed into jollity when his affairs were in their worst 
 condition. An illustration of the other character may be 
 seen in the poet Cowper, whose worldly affairs were always 
 prosperous, and who enjoyed the keenest intellectual and 
 religious delights, but who, notwithstanding, seemed ever 
 depressed to the very verge of suicide. It is evident from 
 such illustrations that these feelings are almost completely 
 dependent on physical organization, and that the higher 
 faculties are powerless to control them directly. It is not 
 the purpose here to treat of the method of dealing with 
 these feelings, but to point them out and show how low 
 down they are in the scale of development notwithstand- 
 ing their great influence in controlling conduct. The 
 work of the teacher in relation to them will be spoken of 
 in another place. 
 
 (9.) The sense-feelings have been spoken of as begin- 
 ning with the sense of feeling. Even if a child's first 
 conscious perception comes through the eye this may be 
 explained on other grounds than those of the pleasure of 
 seeing. The natural sensitiveness of the organ of vision 
 and the obtrusiveness of the objects of sight are enough 
 to account for this. But observation shows that a child's 
 first experiments are in trying to get things into its mouth. 
 
2 54 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 which may come from the pleasure of gratifying hunger, 
 an organic feeling, and its next experiments are with its 
 hands, in pulling, striking, and handling things. These 
 acts must be held to indicate a development of pleasure 
 in the sense of feeling. That the pleasures of the other 
 senses are developed in the order in which they are gen- 
 erally named, beginning with feeling, must be a matter 
 of common observation. 
 
 (lo.) The beginning of the contemplative feelings, the 
 lowest of the emotions, is wonder or surprise. There is 
 such an unexpected combination of discoveries, or form 
 of discriminating activity, that at first all attempts at uni- 
 fication are checked by a sense of mental impotency. 
 That this feeling is contemplative is evident from its 
 being intellectual and not dependent upon any activity of 
 will for its development. When one sees what he calls a 
 wonderful sight, or hears a wonderful tale, the feeling 
 has nothing in it of a struggling attempt to decide or do 
 something. The wonder comes suddenly, before any 
 action can be thought of. That the feeling is the first of 
 the emotions may be seen in the fact of its early develop- 
 ment in childhood, and from the fact that a trace of it 
 may be found in the first shock of each of the other feel- 
 ings of this lowest class of emotions. It is quite strong in 
 the feelings arising from sublimity, and does not die out 
 till the sense of the sublime itself passes away. It can be 
 easily traced in the sense of the beautiful, if the object ex- 
 cites decided emotion, and the sense of wit and humor 
 largely depend upon the play of the feelings between won- 
 der and the satisfaction of seeing an easy solution of a 
 perplexing difficulty. Without making the same classes 
 of the intellectual feelings as here, Sully, Hamilton, and 
 philosophers generally, consider wonder as the lowest of 
 the emotions proper. 
 
CLASSES OF FEELINGS DESCRIBED. 255 
 
 (11.) The lowest of the practical feelings are the egoistic, 
 and it is doubtful if these are ever entirely absent from 
 even the highest altruistic feeling of love. The lowest of 
 the egoistic feelings is the sense of power. This conscious- 
 ness is developed at a very early age, and is probably 
 connected with the origin of the notion of causality, per- 
 haps its cause. If so, it must begin near the beginning of 
 consciousness. The sense of muscular power, the pleas- 
 ure of knowledge, the pleasure of moulding, directing, and 
 controlling others, courage, and the feeling that we can 
 work our will and have our way, are but varieties of these 
 emotions. These feelings are called egoistic because they 
 do not necessarily involve any thing outside of ourselves, 
 as in the sense of muscular power and self-consciousness ; 
 and they are not classed with the feelings of self-concern 
 because the activities to which they tend may have our- 
 selves or other objects equally well for their end. 
 
 (12.) The lowest of the feelings of self-concern is that 
 of personal identity. The consciousness of self depends 
 upon a previous development of perception and memory, 
 and is later than the consciousness of power, but yet it 
 begins in infancy. The act of cognition in this conscious- 
 ness is recognized and fully treated in works on Psychol- 
 ogy. It gave rise to singular disputes in the early history 
 of philosophy, but it may be doubted whether any one 
 ever seriously doubted the justice of the affirmation 
 of personal identity unless he doubted at the same time 
 the grounds of all knowledge. Nearly five hundred years 
 before Christ, Herodotus said that all things continually 
 change, like a river whose waters are ever flowing away 
 and giving place to other waters coming down from above. 
 It was said that all things lose their identity as soon as 
 they come to be, and other things become to take their 
 places. Plutarch says it was argued in his time as a log- 
 
256 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ical deduction from this principle that the man who has 
 formerly received a loan does not now owe, because he 
 has become a different person; and the man who was yes- 
 terday invited to a feast comes to-day uninvited, because 
 he has become another. But these arguments he deems 
 absurd, and says without fear of dispute that a man re- 
 mains one or identical from the beginning to the end of 
 his life. But while this principle of identity is thus thor- 
 oughly established as a cognition, the feeling that accom- 
 panies the knowing consciousness has received little or no 
 recognition. Yet it is clearly manifest amongst the other 
 early pleasures of infancy. When a child becomes inter- 
 ested in its fist and its foot, striking or kicking a hard 
 object with them, and pulling and handling them, and 
 eagerly seeking to learn if they belong to itself, it must 
 be prompted by this feeling; and when the fact is estab- 
 lished, and it realizes that its fist and foot are its own, 
 the satisfaction is shown by look and gesture, and the 
 feeling is more permanent and more frequently recalled 
 than any other feeling developed at this age. The same 
 characteristics of persistency and agreeable interest are 
 found in the acquisition of any new knowledge. The 
 fact of its being a part of ourselves is a delight that con- 
 tinues, and the pleasure keeps one recurring to it until it 
 has become familiar. The feeling is practical in that it 
 is developed only in connection with the activity of doing, 
 while it differs from the feeling of power in that it is asso- 
 ciated with what has been done rather than what we are 
 able to do, and it comes from a consciousness of what we 
 are, rather than what we can do. It grows with accom- 
 plished results, and may become even disagreeably strong 
 and obtrusive in advanced age when the sense of power 
 is weak. It clearly marks the difference between the 
 actual assimilation of truth as a part of the mental fiber, 
 
FEELING OF IDENTITY. 257 
 
 and the act of committing to memory what is said about 
 the truth. It is distinctly manifest in all our activities for 
 self-preservation and self-defense, and in the longing after 
 immortality. It leads us to desire to keep all our powers 
 and possessions, and develop them to the utmost. It 
 makes us shudder at the thought of annihilation, or the 
 dissolution of the elements that unite to make up our 
 identity, so that no one probably would be willing to 
 exchange his identity for that of any other created thing. 
 Such a choice would go deeper than the choice of the 
 suicide. It is no objection to the claims here put forth 
 for this feeling, that we can not tell precisely what con- 
 stitutes identity in the abstract, for in the same way no 
 one can tell what constitutes sublimity or beauty, and yet 
 both are recognized as facts. The feeling is specialized 
 as anger, envy, pride, revenge, hope, fear, self-compla- 
 cency, vanity, diffidence, shame, remorse, and despair. 
 The sense of power is also manifest in connection with 
 these feelings sometimes in excess and sometimes as a sense 
 of weakness. When the sense of power predominates as 
 often in anger, revenge, and remorse, the feeling bursts 
 forth into violent passion. 
 
 (13.) The lowest of the ethical feelings is the sense of / 
 responsibility. It is the feeling which one has that it will 
 make a difference whether he does a certain thing or not, 
 and that the results will not be altogether altruistic, or 
 foreign to himself, but that they will react upon the doer. 
 Responsibility in general may be distinguished as com- 
 mercial and ethical. The former is judged without regard 
 to motive, and its measure is the measure of the effects 
 actually produced ; the latter is judged from the motive 
 that impels the act, whatever the result may be, and even 
 when the intended result is thwarted. But distinct as 
 
 these kinds of responsibility are in one view, commercial 
 
 s. E.— 22. 
 
258 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 responsibility becomes moral also as soon as an effect is 
 produced, and moral responsibility is commercial also to 
 the extent of the effect actually reached. The sense of 
 responsibility is specialized as forms dependent upon 
 special relations, such as duties to a benefactor, duties 
 to a dependent, duties to an equal, and as forms depend- 
 ent on general relations, such as honesty, truthfulness, 
 justice. In training the moral faculty it is important to 
 know where to begin. It has been sought to trace the 
 growth of moral conduct to a growing necessity for pa- 
 rental care in the evolution of animal life, in order to per- 
 petuate the species. This supposes the race to be contin- 
 uous from the lower orders of animals, and if we apply 
 the Law that development in the individual follows the 
 same order as development in the race, it would make 
 duties toward dependents the first duties of which the 
 child should be conscious. It is difficult to see how such 
 a result can be reconciled with the facts observed in the 
 growth of moral character, or with what we would expect 
 from the beginning of a child's life in entire dependence. 
 Again, the feeling of commercial responsibility seems more 
 simple than that of moral responsibility, and therefore more 
 likely to be developed first. And again it is to this sense 
 we resort in appealing to a child when its moral sense is 
 dull. It is hoped the moral sense will follow. But this 
 feeling of commercial responsibility could scarcely spring 
 from one's relations to a dependent as a dependent, such 
 as a parent's relations to his offspring. From these con- 
 siderations we may consider that the moral feelings grow- 
 ing out of dependent relations are the lowest, and that 
 these spring first from a sense of commercial responsibility. 
 (14.) Of the last class of feelings, the emotions of love, 
 the lowest is sympathy. This feeling alone is almost with- 
 out discrimination, and is closely allied to the physical 
 
ALTRUISTIC FEELINGS. 259 
 
 organic feelings. Yet, from being a feeling merely induced 
 by the consciousness of another's suffering, it may grow 
 into friendship, affection, love. 
 
 II. DEVELOPMENT OF THE FEELINGS. 
 
 Law I, — The Feelings are Developed from a Be- 
 ginning IN Pain. 
 
 First Proof. — The lowest development of feeling in each 
 of the classes is painful rather than pleasurable. This 
 may be seen by recalling them one by one. 
 
 (i.) The organic physical feehngs manifest themselves 
 in the first days of infancy entirely on the painful side. 
 Hunger and other painful disturbances of the nervous 
 system arouse the sensibilities, but the absence of painful 
 sensations is like the absence of all sensations, and the 
 child soon falls asleep. 
 
 (2.) The sense-feelings begin with the sense of feeling, 
 and this sensation evidently comes first into consciousness 
 as pain. 
 
 (3.) The sense of wonder with which the contemplative 
 feelings begin comes with a shock of pain. 
 
 (4.) The sense of power comes with a painful effort to 
 avoid or overcome something troublesome. 
 
 (5.) The consciousness of personal identity is developed 
 through a series of perplexing operations of striking, rub- 
 bing, pulling, and pinching hands and feet, by which a 
 child painfully pursues a course of self-discovery. 
 
 (6.) The moral feelings are first aroused in a sense of 
 wrong suffered. The last rational appeal that can be 
 made is to ask, ''How would you like to be treated so 
 yourself?" 
 
 (7.) Sympathy is a suffering with another. Pleasure is 
 
2 6o THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 communicated by the sight of happiness, yet only sHghtly 
 unless we know the cause, but it gives great pain to wit- 
 ness pain without reference to the cause. 
 
 Second Proof. — The first consciousness of a new sensa- 
 tion or emotion is manifest in a shudder, or some aversion 
 or involuntary shrinking from an object. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Prof. Bain says, as quoted above, we are by no 
 means to exult in the fact that all activities begin with a 
 painful feeling. We must, however, accept it as a fact 
 and accommodate our methods to the truth involved. It is 
 not a proof in itself that a method of training is wrong, or 
 a subject of instruction out of place, because the method 
 involves pain, or the subject is hard. On the contrary, 
 we must expect a certain amount of painful stimulus to 
 arouse voluntary effort and to compel the putting forth of 
 the last degree of voluntary strength. The pleasure of 
 friendship or love will lead to many acts of self-sacrifice 
 and strong devotion, but the fear of losing a friend will 
 compel to the exercise of ingenuity and energy that would 
 be utterly impossible under the influence of pleasure alone. 
 The most complete power of self-command and the high- 
 est attainments of experience have come through the deep- 
 est sufferings. 
 
 (II.) Notwithstanding this fact, pain is in its nature an 
 obstruction to activity, and changes its direction. Phys- 
 ical pain exhausts vitality, and brings a rapid destruction 
 of the bodily organism. Fear stops the natural flow of 
 blood, and brings paralysis of both mental and physical 
 powers. There are cases where fear has been the imme- 
 diate cause of death. It is said the advantage a lion has 
 from its roar is that it unnerves its prey and renders it 
 
BEGINNINGS OF FEELING IN PAIN. 26 1 
 
 incapable of escape or defense. It may be that this sudden 
 check given to the natural activity of vital forces is what 
 arouses the unconscious attention, and that the increased 
 flow of energy when the effect of pain is overcome, 
 heightens the incipient wave of possible pleasure, and that 
 consciousness comes in the play between pain and pleas- 
 ure, and is fixed upon the pain because of its greater 
 suddenness. Whatever the explanation, however, two 
 conclusions may be rigidly maintained ; first, that pain is 
 a means of exciting conscious activity; secondly, that it 
 is not to be sought for its own sake. 
 
 (III.) Two conclusions follow from the relation of pain 
 to activity : First, it should be limited in degree to the 
 amount required to excite the activity; and secondly, it 
 should be adapted to the activity desired. In reference 
 to the first conclusion it should be remembered that an 
 excess of pain of any kind, as fear, shame, bodily suffer- 
 ing, is a preventive of the very activity to be excited. 
 Perhaps an exercise is demanded that will require think- 
 ing, and because the mind does not work as rapidly or as 
 clearly as desired, it is put by fear into a state where it 
 will not work at all. The following occurence will illus- 
 trate the point, and while it is only one instance, we may 
 reasonably fear it represents a larger number of cases than 
 is generally supposed. A student, a young man, reported 
 an apparent fault to his teacher, and was so disturbed that 
 he could not make his explanation clear. The teacher, 
 seeing the indirect way of putting the circumstances, 
 charged the pupil direcdy with falsehood, and this so 
 terrified him that he confessed he had not told the truth ; 
 and he readily assented to whatever else was charged 
 against him. It was afterwards found that the pupil had 
 been entirely honest and truthful, and he was again called 
 to have the mistake corrected, and when asked why he 
 
262 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 confessed to a falsehood, he said he was so frightened that 
 he could not think, and did not realize any thing he said. 
 The difference in sensitiveness between children is very 
 great, and when many are brought together to be treated 
 as a school, it requires the greatest care and judgment 
 to regulate the incentives of pain, and adapt them to 
 these differences of individual character. While the mind 
 is actively engaged, the embarrassment of recitation, the 
 fear of possible failure, and other causes of anxiety should, 
 in general, perhaps not always, be made as small as pos- 
 sible. In regard to the second point, a distinction should 
 be made between pain that is meant to direct the atten- 
 tion, and pain that is designed to awaken interest. When 
 instruction is required, that is, in cases where a child 
 fails in grasping or doing what is desired through igno- 
 rance, stimulants of whatever kind should be adapted to 
 give experience of the truth. If a child fails to under- 
 stand a statement, a rule, or a definition, put him to the 
 trouble of finding an example and applying the statement, 
 or whatever may have been obscure. In all ordinary 
 school instruction adaptation like this, where experience 
 not only stimulates activity, but illustrates the truth sought, 
 is the most important means of education in the hands of 
 the teacher. But when the truth is known, and the mind 
 fails to respond to it because of insensibility, something 
 more than simple illustration is required. It may be that 
 the mind is naturally sluggish. In this case an attempt 
 should be made to cultivate facility. A shock of surprise 
 may also often be produced by an antithetic or new way 
 of presenting the truth so as to excite activity. It may 
 be that insensibility comes from a bad disposition or per- 
 verse will. This is the case in moral insensibility. Here 
 it is impossible to give complete illustrations, because the 
 consequences can not all be gathered up, and if it were 
 
USES OF PAIN IN EDUCATION. 263 
 
 possible to make an offender experience all the conse- 
 quences, the severity of them would forbid their applica- 
 tion for purposes of education. In dealing with such 
 cases, the first effort should be to check the disposition 
 to wrong-doing by preventing the offender from enjoying 
 the results he had hoped for. Above all things, if a child 
 has committed one wrong, do not allow him to enjoy the 
 advantages that may come from it and escape its penalties 
 by committing another, like lying about it. It is better 
 to pass over many a misconduct, and leave a child uncer- 
 tain whether or not he has escaped notice, than to call 
 him to account for a suspected wrong, and allow him to 
 escape by deception. In the first case, one disposition is 
 strengthened; in the second, the whole character is con- 
 taminated. If enjoyment of the advantages of wrong- 
 doing can not be prevented, punishment outweighing 
 this enjoyment may be inflicted, and in choosing the kind 
 of punishment it is well to consider the character of the 
 wrong, but more important to consider the character of 
 the child. Having done all that is possible to check the 
 disposition to wrong-doing, the second and most persist- 
 ent effort should be made to establish the opposite dispo- 
 sition. This requires that the child should be brought to 
 experience the pleasure of right conduct; and the methods 
 to be employed must be left to the ingenuity of the 
 teacher. 
 
 (IV.) Pain is the lowest incentive, and is therefore the 
 last resort. Higher methods of stimulating activity should 
 be sought first, but one should not be willing to give up 
 a disposition as hopeless until this stimulus is tried. 
 Xenophon considered it a defect in the character of his 
 friend Proxenus, an Athenian general, that he thought it 
 sufficient in the training of an army ' ' to praise those who 
 do well, and not to praise those who do wrong." That 
 
264 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 is, he relied on the pleasure of being praised both as an 
 incentive to well-doing, and a hindrance to ill-doing. 
 If, however, pain is inflicted, we should watch with the 
 greatest solicitude for pleasure to come from the corrected 
 disposition, for unless this comes to encourage and 
 strengthen right conduct, the pain will be barren of 
 good. 
 
 Law II. — The Feelings are Elevated in Charac- 
 ter AS they Require the Discrimination of Vari- 
 ety, AND ARE Degraded as they Lose this Discrim- 
 ination OUT OF Consciousness. 
 
 First Proof. — The intellectual feelings or emotions in- 
 volve a greater variety of discriminations than the phys- 
 ical. The consciousness of a simple excitement in the 
 nervous system, answering only to the exciting physical 
 cause, is all that is found in sensation. Intellectual feel- 
 ings require an addition to the conception of this cause, — 
 the relation of its parts and qualities to each other, its 
 relations to self as a cause of the emotion, its relations to 
 other things, association with things distant in time and 
 space, and thoughts of the past and future. 
 
 Second Proof. — The classes of sensations and emotions 
 rise one above another in complexity. The sense-feelings 
 involve the consciousness of happiness or misery which 
 is found in the lower organic sensations, and something 
 in addition; the intellectual feelings involve the discrim- 
 inations of the senses, and something besides; the prac- 
 tical feelings involve the intellectual, — for we properly 
 speak of moral sublimity and moral beauty, — and add 
 something more ; the altruistic feelings involve the egoistic, 
 and something beyond. 
 
DISCRIMINATION IN FEELING. 265 
 
 Observation. 
 
 In the development of the feelings we should pass from 
 the lower to the higher, and seek the most perfect dis- 
 criminations. This is demanded by the General Law of 
 Mental Development, that the greatest development re- 
 quires the greatest variety in unity. A general feeling 
 of happiness or misery should be specialized by the senses 
 and located by self-consciousness so as to determine its 
 cause. This is what a physician first tries to do for his 
 patient, and if he proceeds correctly in his diagnosis, he 
 thereby more than half determines what remedies to apply. 
 If the sufferer from depression, irritability, or what is 
 called the blues, would make a thorough and conscien- 
 tious diagnosis of his physical and mental condition, it 
 would bring him far on the way to happiness. The 
 stirring of his useful powers to activity, which ought to 
 follow such a self-examination, would be a remedy to 
 restore complete mental equilibrium. The ability to 
 appreciate the sublime and beautiful in nature and art is 
 a high and noble power, and when one has an intelligent 
 appreciation that enables him to hold in mind a discrim- 
 ination of the qualities that work together to excite these 
 emotions, as a true critic of art is able to do, he has made 
 a high attainment. This power to analyze the sublime 
 and beautiful is necessary to a high appreciation of them, 
 and it is what every one should seek. But it is not and 
 can not become the highest attainment. No one should 
 be satisfied to call this his highest aim, however perfectly 
 he may be able to discriminate the sublime and beautiful. 
 There are higher, more complex, and more potent emo- 
 ^tions, to which this power can never grow. The demand 
 for the practical emotions is not only to secure the high- 
 
 S. E.-23. 
 
266 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 est ends of life, but they are higher ends in themselves, 
 as they indicate a higher stage in the development of men- 
 tal energy. It is true, the lowest forms of these are not 
 of a high character, but they are the beginnings of emo- 
 tions that lift the soul immeasurably above a merely con- 
 templative or speculative life. The sense of power, the 
 sense of self, and emotions of sympathy should not be left 
 to expend energy without discrimination. They should 
 be developed till their practical limit is reached in the 
 highest knowledge, the most complete command of self, 
 and devotion to the highest ends of existence. When this 
 is accomplished, the development of the feelings is at its 
 highest point in the discrimination of variety in unity. 
 All the feelings begin in a low type, and if we stop with 
 this, our energy is but poorly spent. If physical feelings 
 fail to reach the discrimination of the senses, the activity 
 excited is of little worth. If the intellect fail to add its 
 recognition of causal relations and harmony to the sensa- 
 tions of color and sound, the senses furnish but little 
 pleasure, and render slight service. If the emotion of 
 wonder do not fade away into the higher emotions of 
 sublimity, beauty, and reverence, it has no fitting place in 
 the human mind. In the same way the sense of power, 
 self, and sympathy must rise above these feeHngs to the 
 highest emotions, and lead the will to action, or they will 
 end in unimportant results. 
 
 Law III. — Exercise by the Same Stimulus Renders 
 Feeling More Difficult While it Makes Thought 
 and Volition More Easy. 
 
 First Proof. — The senses improve in discriminating 
 power by exercise, but they are hardened against pleasure 
 and pain. 
 
EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON FEELINGS. 267 
 
 Second Proof. — The emotions are less affected by the 
 same tale or experience repeated again and again, but a 
 habit of attending to the things called to mind makes our 
 understanding of them clearer and action easier. 
 
 Third Proof. — The feelings are more easily moved in 
 childhood than in advanced life, but the trained man can 
 understand, and command his powers, more easily than a 
 child. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The energy of feeling is very abundant in child- 
 hood, but if it is squandered there will be a dearth in old 
 age. Those who habitually make strong appeals to their 
 tastes, their appetites and their passions in youth reduce 
 the possibilities of enjoyment in later life. 
 
 (II.) When the feelings are excited to secure a higher 
 end the lowest degree of feeling that will secure it should 
 be sought. If the physical system is to be stimulated by 
 medicine to arouse it to greater vigor, the lowest stimulus 
 that will accomplish this should be used, or stimulants will 
 lose their power. Rewards and punishments should be 
 measured by the standard of individual character and 
 disposition. Impartiality does not require that every child 
 in a class should be treated like every other child. The 
 sense of justice is keener and more discriminating than 
 any law. If a teacher is manifesdy seeking individual 
 good, his skill in adapting means to this end will raise him 
 higher in the estimation of his school than the rigid en- 
 forcement of an inflexible rule. Sometimes a frown is 
 more than a child's heart can bear. Incentives should be 
 adapted to cases, as a physician adapts medicine to con- 
 stitution and temperament, as a machinist applies power 
 at the point of resistance, in order that the end may be 
 accomplished with the least waste of emotion. 
 
^268 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (III.) As pupils advance in age, less should be made 
 of the emotions and stronger appeals should be made to 
 the intelligence and reason. A difference should also be 
 made in the kind of motives appealed to. The higher 
 grades should be more and more called into exercise. 
 
 Law IV. — The Office of the Feelings in Mental 
 Development is to Stimulate the Will Either in 
 Directing the Attention or Leading to Active 
 Voluntary Endeavor. 
 
 First Proof. — It is only necessary to refer to the laws 
 of attention and the consciousness of motives, to show 
 that the feelings do direct the attention and lead to vol- 
 untary action. 
 
 Second Proof. — That the feelings have an end beyond 
 themselves in mental development is seen from the fact 
 that they are transitory, while the voluntary thought and 
 action to which they lead are permanent. A feeling can 
 not be prolonged beyond a limited time, and can not be 
 renewed by direct memory. To enjoy it again, the 
 causes of the feeling must be renewed either in experience 
 or by the imagination. The most that can be said of 
 the permanency of feeling is, that experience renders the 
 mind more susceptible to feelings of a certain kind. But 
 thought and volition are permanent mental products. 
 
 Third Proof. — It need not be denied that happiness is 
 an end in itself. Other results are ends in themselves, 
 and have at the same time a higher end. The tree sub- 
 serves many ends besides that of bearing fruit, and the 
 highest end of the tree in the vegetable world is to bear 
 fruit. That happiness is not the chief end of pleasure, 
 nor misery of pain in the constitution of the human 
 mind, and that the pain and pleasure of voluntary thought 
 
OFFICE OF FEELINGS. 269 
 
 and action are not the end of these activities, but rather 
 that these activities are the end of feeling, is evident from 
 the last Law. If the human mind were constituted to 
 secure pleasure as the chief end, and thought and voli- 
 tion were developed to secure this end, exercise ought to 
 make the attainment of this end more easy, in accord- 
 ance with the law of skill, but the reverse is the fact, as 
 has been shown. To secure the same degree of feeling a 
 second time, a greater expenditure of effort is required. 
 The exercise of thought and action, on the contrary, 
 makes these activities possible with less emotion. Exer- 
 cise develops higher grades of feeling corresponding to the 
 higher discriminating power of thought produced, but the 
 degree of each particular feeHng follows the Law, so long 
 as discrimination remains the same. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (L) One of the first motives to be used with children is 
 the love of approbation. Dr. Howe reported of Laura 
 Bridgman, that during the first year of her development 
 with him, she would playfully make mistakes with one 
 hand and strike it with the other, and often pat herself 
 on the head, which was the sign of approbation, when she 
 performed work correctly. When we think how almost 
 utterly incapable of thought she was at the beginning of 
 the year, and what obstacles she had to overcome to gain 
 any ideas, we may see how early in a child's develop- 
 ment this stimulus takes a fixed position among the mental 
 forces. 
 
 (IL) The sense of power is called by Prof. Bain a 
 motive of the first order. It is developed very early, and 
 retains its effectiveness as long as the active powers of 
 life continue unimpaired. The oft-quoted remark of 
 
270 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Virgil, ** Success gives these strength; they can because 
 they think they can," touches upon a motive that kindles 
 enthusiasm alike in youth and manhood. It is a motive, 
 too, that can scarcely be abused, unless, indeed, it leads 
 to overexertion. It is cultivated first, by leading children 
 to succeed in their attempts; secondly, by allowing them 
 to succeed; and thirdly, by allowing them to enjoy such 
 success as they are capable of. A recitation in which a 
 pupil feels he has taken ground that he can hold gives 
 this pleasure. A public declamation or other exercise 
 gives this consciousness in a high degree, when well per- 
 formed, and such exercises would be justified by this 
 result alone if nothing else were gained. It takes away 
 this pleasure to help a child over the last step of any 
 process of thought with a ''Don't you see this is so?" 
 or **Is not this true?" It makes a partial failure nearly 
 as bad as total failure when, instead of mixing praise with 
 blame, a teacher fails to recognize the good work actually 
 done, and only finds fault with what has not been done. 
 If a child has done well for him, he is deserving of 
 praise, no matter how much better some one else might 
 have done the same thing. 
 
 (III.) Much has been said both for and against prizes. 
 That they are a stimulus to exertion can not be doubted. 
 They are tangible. They are more constant in their influ- 
 ence than most other motives. The energies promptly 
 and vigorously respond to them at any and all times. 
 Again, they are most like the common aims of practical 
 life. They are a sure and definite reward for a specified 
 work. But the very fact of their universal adaptation 
 places them at once in the category of a low grade of 
 stimulus, inasmuch as that which is universally recognized 
 as a stimulus must be primitive; and unlike the stimulus 
 of the higher emotions, which begin early in feeble force, 
 
PRIZES. 271 
 
 there is no growing development in the character of this 
 stimulus. It always means one thing, nothing more. The 
 advantages of the prize may almost be summed up in a 
 single word, it is a cheap, effective stimulus, that does not 
 require the constant anxiety, attention, and watchfulness 
 of other motives. Its evils may be summed up with equal 
 brevity. It is a stimulus of low grade, and the energy it 
 excites is easily directed into any channel tending either to 
 good or bad results. 
 
 If it be said that the temptations of the prize system are 
 precisely the same as those of actual life, it may be an- 
 swered that it is the office of the family and the school to 
 shield the child against the temptations of life until 
 strength is developed to meet them. It would poorly 
 comport with this purpose, to introduce an artificial stim- 
 ulus to do the work of temptations against which the school 
 seeks to be a safeguard. 
 
 But still prizes are effective. If it is thought this ad- 
 vantage outweighs all the evils attendant upon them, they 
 should be awarded, so far as possible, to stimulate progress 
 or excellence rather than victory over others; and lead to 
 further exertion in the same direction after they have been 
 won. The last purpose is well met when money is given 
 for excellence in a special pursuit, to be spent in further 
 acquirements of the same kind as those by which the prize 
 has been gained. 
 
 (IV.) The sense of responsibiHty is among the noblest > 
 of the emotions, and is a powerful stimulus to correct 
 moral conduct, as well as to mental activity in general. 
 Children should be made responsible for keeping their 
 books and other things in order, and in place. Every 
 child should have some responsibility placed upon him to 
 draw out his better nature. Until a sense of responsi- 
 bility is felt, a child does nothing except in a desultory 
 
272 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 way; and many persons never rise above this method of 
 work, because responsibility rests so lightly upon them. 
 They do things when and as they like; or, if inclination 
 leads another way, not at all. This is very pure selfish- 
 ness. Yet there is a delight higher than selfish pleasure, 
 when one has the consciousness of holding great interests in 
 his hands for the proper care of which he may be praised, 
 and for the neglect of which he ought to be blamed. 
 
 (V.) Conscience is an intellectual feeling like the other 
 emotions. It is not in place here to raise questions as to 
 its origin or authority. It stands on the same ground 
 with the other emotions. When we attempt to analyze 
 a cognition, and determine what is right and what is 
 wrong, the analysis may be imperfect, but this does not 
 reflect on the reality of conscience, as it does not 
 reflect on the reality of taste that beauty can not be 
 analyzed and its elements pigeon-holed. On the other 
 hand, it may be said for conscience that its first distinct 
 recognition is lost in antiquity, its development preceded 
 the development of mathematical sciences and the fine 
 arts, and its discriminations have been more universally 
 accepted as true than those of any other mental science or 
 of physics. It is not to be forgotten that this is true, not- 
 withstanding the fact that the seeming interests and the 
 passions of men have thrown every kind of obstacle in its 
 way, and men have continually wrought to break down 
 the barriers it sets to vice and crime. It follows from 
 this that conscience is to be developed early and held as 
 one of the most trustworthy forces of the mind. It is to 
 be developed both as a pleasure and a pain, and exer- 
 cised in both these aspects in regard to one's own conduct 
 and that of others. The clearness of conscience is not 
 easily obscured, but its authority will prevail nearly in 
 proportion to the weight it is seen to have with parents 
 
CONSCIENCE. 273 
 
 and teachers. Children may not practice the same viola- 
 tions, — this will depend on their inclinations, — but if 
 others who claim authority over them do not recognize 
 the authority of conscience, they will themselves pay little 
 heed to it. It is a matter of die first importance that the 
 supremacy of conscience should be held inviolable. It is 
 said that Dr. Arnold would not consent that even the king 
 should assume superiority to him in his school-room, 
 fearing the effect such a treatment of his authority might 
 have upon his pupils. The world has praised his wisdom. 
 But the harm would have been slight compared with the 
 moral devastation that comes when the authority of con- 
 science is broken down by precept or example. 
 
 (VI.) It has already been observed that degeneration 
 through the feelings is the most important cause of the 
 waste of energy. Unless activity takes a permanent 
 form, the energy excited is dissipated; as heat coming 
 from the sun to the earth is dissipated, unless it develops 
 the growing tree or ripening fruit, or becomes a moving 
 force. The laws of the feelings show them to be vola- 
 tile, and unless they develop forms of thought and action 
 that fix the energy aroused, and make it available for-^ 
 future use, the activity will be lost. The order of devel- 
 opment is given in the classification of the feelings, and 
 the battle of life should be fought through when begun, 
 from its beginning in pain and indistinct pleasure to the 
 full and discriminating consciousness of the true and 
 beautiful in being, and the fitting and good in action. It 
 is a struggle upward, a reaching after that which is higher, 
 nobler, better. Feeling will not grow into thought and 
 action of itself. We must will to think and act. If we 
 fail to put forth this voluntary effort, every thing that is 
 done for us will be wasted. Even the emotions them- 
 selves will drop from higher to lower forms through the 
 
2 74 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 less and less discriminating forms, and finally end in un- 
 consciousness. The physical feelings should not pass 
 away until clear perceptions are formed. The pleasures 
 of taste^hould develop a definite and clear understanding 
 of the beautiful and sublime. The pains and pleasures 
 of the practical feelings should not end except in action. 
 When a practical feeling produces only a pleasurable sen- 
 sation and no volition, the mental powers degenerate into 
 irresolution and indifference. Literature has this distinc- 
 tion clearly marked. Some writers are stimulating, others 
 sedative. An examination will show the difference to be 
 due to the amount of discriminating activity excited. One 
 class of authors so present thought that we distinguish it 
 in its elements, which we put together into combinations 
 new to us; while the other class present it either indis- 
 tinctly or in forms already familiar. They may excite 
 pleasure, but lead to no fresh thought. Under such an 
 influence the mind loses distinctness of consciousness, and 
 tends to inactivity. Longfellow sets forth this diff"erence 
 in his poem The Day is Done. 
 
 " Come read to me some poem, 
 Some simple and heartfelt lay, 
 That shall soothe this restless feeling, 
 And banish the thoughts of day. 
 
 *'Not from the grand old masters, 
 Not from the bards sublime. 
 Whose distant footsteps echo 
 Through the corridors of time. 
 
 "For, like strains of martial music, 
 Their mighty thoughts suggest 
 Life's endless toil and endeavor, 
 And to-night I long for rest. 
 
DEGRADATION OF FEELINGS. 275 
 
 '* Read from some humble poet, 
 
 Whose songs gushed from the heart, 
 As showers from the clouds of summer, 
 Or tears from the eyelids start." 
 
 " Such songs have power to quiet 
 
 The restless pulse of care, 
 
 And come like the benediction 
 
 That follows after prayer." 
 
 Distirxtness of thought is lost and the cares go with it. 
 This is desirable to one seeking repose, but not to one 
 who does not need rest. 
 
 (VII.) As the casual reading of certain kinds of liter- 
 ature weakens the intellectual vigor temporarily, so a 
 habit of such reading will permanently lower the grade 
 of the intellect. The mind should be stimulated with the 
 strongest food it will bear. Not all the injury done to the 
 young by reading is done by what are called bad books. 
 Much of what is called moral and religious reading, by 
 being deficient in the power of positive good exerts an 
 enfeebling influence that is only less injurious than the 
 development of vicious tendencies. This dilution of ad- 
 vice and instruction degrades them to the level of mere 
 cant in their effect upon the mind. 
 
 (VIII.) A similar difference exists in the intercourse of 
 different companions, and in the influence of different 
 teachers over their pupils. Those who depend upon the 
 sympatlietic emotions mainly as a stimulus to exertion or 
 right conduct, produce but a weak mind and a weak moral 
 character. Children who are never required to do any 
 thing unless they feel like it, will never feel like doing any 
 thing that will give a vigorous and manly mind. 
 
 (IX.) The tendency of the feelings to dissipate intel- 
 
276 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 lectual force is well illustrated in the closing events of 
 Mark Antony's strange career. He appears to have de- 
 veloped an ability at the time of Caesar's death that would 
 easily have placed him at the head of Roman affairs. He 
 was an orator, a shrewd politician, and confessedly the 
 first general in the army. But when the beauty of Cleo- 
 patra won his homage, he flung away his Roman pride, 
 his love of dominion, his military glory, and all his intel- 
 lectual greatness, and let the reins of government and the 
 means of self-defense slip from his nerveless hands almost 
 without a struggle. Had he been overcome by his enemy 
 while bravely doing his best he would not have so fallen 
 from the lofty pedestal of fame he had built for himself, 
 but when his energies all degenerated into wanton pleas- 
 ure, he was shorn of his strength and died ignobly. 
 
 (X.) Love is the climax of the feelings, and it should 
 comprehend all the interests and command all the powers 
 of the mind. To do this the objects of its devotion must 
 be able to unite all the discriminations of the mind in 
 harmony, and elicit all its active powers. Love of hu- 
 manity, love of country, love of children, has led to the 
 development of the noblest lives. But when mere pleas- 
 ure becomes the end of love, it corrupts all the other 
 powers, and the pleasure itself at last will pall. To be 
 worthy to stand at the head of the feelings, love should 
 be prepared to undertake all duties and endure all suffer- 
 ings. Attachment to any thing seems a slight affair at 
 first, but experience reveals the deeper truth in time. 
 
 I mocked at Love ! 
 Love seemed a little thing : 
 
 "A small, blind god;" I said, "with golden wing, 
 For these poor poets to adore and sing ; 
 Their stock in trade which has its price to bring." 
 I did not know. 
 
LOVE AND ACTIVITY. 277 
 
 I looked on Love ! 
 Ah me ! I mocked no more. 
 Within his hand a flaming sword he bore ; 
 His eyes were great, and sad, and prone before 
 Him in the dust I lay, lamenting sore. 
 "Great Love," I cried, "Master forevermore ! 
 I know, I know." 
 
 •' Forgive," I prayed. 
 •'No wings are mine," he said; 
 "My bleeding feet pass on with weary tread 
 Whithersoever I am sadly led ; 
 The poet sings but when his heart has bled. 
 Dost thou not know?" 
 
 "1 mock no more, 
 Great Love, but hear my cry; 
 Give me the pang, the woe, the bitter sigh, 
 Hear me in pity, hear me, lest I die. 
 Let me bear all, so Love pass me not by, 
 Since Love I know." 
 
 — Mrs. Burnett. 
 
 \ 
 (XL) That love develops in accordance with the gen- 
 eral law of exercise, and that the exercise it requires is a 
 voluntary service may be seen in the growth of patriotism. 
 After a time of long continued peace, the emotion of 1 
 patriotism will seem to have almost died out from amongst 
 a people. But when danger threatens and there is a call 
 to arms, the spirit of devotion to one's native land scarcely 
 sets bounds to the sacrifices it is willing to make. It 
 places one in vital relations with a circle wider than kin- 
 dred, and with generations yet unborn who will not be 
 mimindful of the deeds of heroes. Thus the development 
 of the feelings to their fullest power and in their highest 
 form, leads to the necessary recognition of a personality 
 outside ourselves, worthy the exercise of all our energy in 
 his service. 
 
278 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 III. OBSERVATIONS ON SOME SPECIAL FEELINGS. 
 
 (i.) Medicines of all kinds stand upon the apothecary's 
 shelf ready to be dealt out at the call of any customer. 
 But some kinds of medicine may not be sold until they 
 have been marked "Poison." In a manner equally 
 striking some of the emotions should be marked whenever 
 they are presented for use in education. Among these 
 are those emotions of self-concern known as malevolent 
 feelings. Their end is to do harm. Anger, envy, re- 
 venge, and so forth, are to be eradicated. While no 
 panacea for the vices growing out of these feelings can 
 be suggested, a careful study of the laws of mind in ac- 
 cordance with which they are developed will suggest many 
 useful hints with regard to their treatment. 
 
 (2.) First, taking a hint from the Law of Growth by 
 exercise, they may be checked by preventing their indul- 
 gence. It will be remembered they are practical feelings. 
 They are not brought into complete exercise so as to se- 
 cure a unified or permanent product except as they per- 
 suade the will to action. If they fall short of this, they 
 drop like immature fruit, exhausting mental energy some- 
 what, but terminating in unproductive results. In many 
 cases all possibility of accomplishing a malevolent desire 
 may be so manifestly removed as to check th^ emotion. In 
 other cases an effort fully made may be thwarted in its 
 effect, and thus the malevolent pleasure expected will be 
 prevented, and the tendency to repetition checked. When 
 neither of these means can be employed, as a final resort 
 some kind of punishment may be inflicted that will counter- 
 balance the malevolent pleasure. 
 
 (3.) Secondly, a child may be kept away from things 
 likely to excite these feelings. Whenever there is reason 
 
MALEVOLENT FEELINGS. 279 
 
 to fear the feelings can not be controlled, this should be 
 done if possible, for their exercise is sure to develop a 
 tendency toward their indulgence. 
 
 (4.) Thirdly, to avoid all causes that may excite these 
 emotions would not be possible if it were desirable, and it 
 would not be desirable if possible. These causes are the 
 first to excite in a decided form painful intellectual emo- 
 tions, and thus they answer the conditions of exciting 
 intellectual activity. If we examine the history of mental 
 growth, we shall see that these causes are in reality the 
 first to stir the mind to intense effort. As one advances 
 in years besought to be moved by higher impulses, but 
 the child must pass through the lower stages. It is not 
 the same, it does not mean the same thing, for a child 
 as for a man to become angry. The causes of such ex- 
 citement should be used for a child's good. If properly 
 used, they will lead to a higher development than can be 
 otherwise attained. If in seeking to check the evil mani- 
 festations of these feelings they are so treated as to check 
 all activity through intense fear or suffering from punish- 
 ment, the mind will be dwarfed. The uncontrolled in- 
 dulgence of passion is not to be allowed, but there will 
 be some period during the excitement of the mind when 
 its activity may be directed, and when it may make 
 larger gains in moral and intellectual power than can be 
 secured by any amount of mere instruction. Men of the 
 strongest characters are often, if not generally, those who 
 have been known in youth for the possession of strong 
 passions. The earlier these can be subdued, the better, if 
 subdued wisely, not brutally, for the longer indulged, 
 the more they will dominate character, and they them- 
 selves are not only not useful, — they are positively harm- 
 ful. But in seeking to suppress them the energy aroused 
 should be turned to account. 
 
28o THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (5.) Fourthly, the treatment of the malevolent feelings 
 involves the consideration of two uses to be made of the 
 mental stimulus that causes them. First, they may be so 
 controlled and directed as to impress more strongly the 
 value of their opposites; and secondly, they are designed 
 to develop the higher forms of thought and emotion. 
 The malevolent feelings arise from the sense of personal 
 identity. A child's peace or happiness is disturbed; he 
 has been struck, or he has fallen and hurt himself; this 
 makes him feel that his personality has been invaded; he 
 is crippled in his will, and his anger rises. Or, he sees 
 another child enjoy some happiness or advantage denied 
 to himself, and his sense of deficiency leads to envy. He 
 is in possession of something of which he* would be de- 
 prived if he should tell of all the circumstances about it; 
 he thinks to defend himself by lying, and a spirit of men- 
 dacity springs up in his mind. In all such cases the child 
 should be made to see that the gratification of his feelings 
 would antagonize the better part of self, that they are in- 
 consistent with his highest good, that they are at war with 
 a personality he himself knows to be of more consequence 
 to him than they are, that he ought to be above them, 
 that they are unworthy of him. By contrast he may be 
 made to see more clearly and feel more keenly the value 
 of the nobility placed in his keeping. The strongest ap- 
 peal that can be made to a child to lead it to confess a 
 falsehood is, generally, a mother's love. It is the most 
 pleasurable possession of his memory. When he sees how 
 a lie will wound that love and make him unworthy to 
 cherish its memory, he will suffer almost any thing rather 
 than leave that stain upon his character. In the examina- 
 tion of cases arising in an extensive experience, it has 
 been found that three times out of four, when every other 
 motive has failed, an appeal to a mother's love has brought 
 
MALEVOLENT FEELINGS. 251 
 
 to the confession of falsehood. For the sake of the com- 
 plete consciousness of contrast a clear confession of wrong 
 should be made, for clearness of conception requires dis- 
 tinct forms of expression in general, and the mind is espe- 
 cially likely to hide in indistinctness a disagreeable truth. 
 Worse than all is it to allow faults to be covered up by 
 half-confessions, which are accepted as the whole truth. 
 
 (6.) A second use to be made of the stimulus to malev- 
 olent feelings is the development of the higher emotions. 
 An injury that will excite anger may call forth the sense 
 of justice. Perhaps it is the first experience that calls this 
 important emotion into consciousness, and it gives tone 
 and strength to this sense when once developed. That 
 which excites envy may stir a healthy emulation, and 
 arouse the most intense effort toward the highest possible 
 degree of success and excellence. The very existence of 
 envy is an evidence of the perception of a higher excel- 
 lence of character or possessions than is attained by the 
 envious child, and this perception may induce the desire 
 to bring down the more fortunate child to the level of the 
 less fortunate, or, on the other hand, it may lead to the 
 formation of a high and noble ideal and to a struggle to 
 reach it. The one tendency should be opposed, the other 
 fostered. Not only does a restrained feeHng which tends 
 toward malevolence have a great value in bringing the 
 higher emotions into consciousness, but it gives intensity 
 to this consciousness, and renders the disposition to en- 
 force one's judgment of evil more determined. Restrained 
 anger gives a clearer consciousness of justice than any 
 merely intellectual apprehension of it, and a proper spirit 
 of emulation, or the enthusiasm kindled by witnessing il- 
 lustrious examples of success in others is one of the most 
 important elements of successful endeavor. In a similar 
 
 way other malevolent feelings should be displaced by the 
 s. E.— 24. 
 
282 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 higher emotions, and used, when aroused, to heighten 
 noble and virtuous impulses. It need hardly be added 
 that a teacher who is rnoved deeply by conduct that may 
 excite such feelings as anger is recognized as a more posi- 
 tive opponent of wrong if he be self-restrained than one 
 that is stolidly indifTerent, but if he gives way to passion 
 he instandy loses his vantage ground and places himself in 
 the power of others. 
 
 (7.) Fifthly, there are other emotions which, although 
 not malevolent, are little less liable to do harm, and they 
 should receive a warning signal. Chief among them are 
 the feelings of self-consciousness and sympathy. First, 
 there are the feelings of self-consciousness, which belong 
 to the general sense of personal identity. A strongly de- 
 veloped self-consciousness is a great weakness. On one 
 side it is the fruitful source of vanity, pride, and rashness; 
 on the other side, of diffidence, indecision, and supersti- 
 tion. These are all weak points of character which should 
 be forufied and guarded. To think too much about 
 one's self is likely to produce too great self-confidence or 
 too great self-distrust. The victim of such thoughts will 
 either become arrogant or fearful, and a half-believer in 
 any thing rather than a whole-hearted believer in the high- 
 est conclusions of reason. Confidence in self should be 
 cultivated and a due esteem should be given to the knowl- 
 edge one has, but these should be mainly used to heighten 
 effort and confidence in the value of attainments yet to be 
 made. 
 
 (8.) The second of these feelings, sympathy, is the 
 basis of the highest emotions, emotions that lead to the 
 highest endeavors. But it is so much easier to stop with 
 sympathy than develop an active benevolence that there 
 is the greatest danger of expending all one's energy upon 
 it, and bringing nothing good to pass. If a surgeon in- 
 
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND SYMPATHY. 283 
 
 dulged his sympathy for suffering patients to the extent 
 of unnerving his arm at the sight of blood, his surgery 
 would even fall below a butcher's skill. Yet, in times of 
 disaster, of trouble, of any misfortune, the masses of 
 people indulge so much sympathy for the suffering that 
 they can do nothing else. All their strength goes to it. 
 There is no practical good in them. The number of those 
 who can carry a cool head into places of distress and need, 
 and patiently seek out the causes of misery, and apply 
 the proper remedy is exceedingly small. This is not be- 
 cause of indifference. It is because sympathy has been 
 rated at too high a value in itself, instead of being called 
 the worthless rubbish that it is, when not trained to de- 
 velop into deeds of practical friendship and love. To cul- 
 tivate the emotion of sympathy without doing more, to 
 read works that excite this emotion for the sake of itself, 
 is dangerous. That class of literature that excites this 
 emotion without leading to a clear discrimination of the 
 character of the act or person sympathized with, and the 
 reason for sympathy, is positively pernicious. Sympathy 
 is not to be labeled '^ Poison," but the direction should 
 be given, *'To be taken with caution." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WILL. 
 I. NATURE OF THIS FACULTY. 
 
 HE sympathetic nervous system re- 
 sponds to a stimulus and produces muscu- 
 lar activity, sometimes with consciousness, 
 and sometimes without. Respiration, the 
 beating of the heart, and reflex action in 
 general are examples. But there are physical move- 
 ments and mental activities which depend upon reflective 
 consciousness, and the faculty that determines these ac- 
 tivities is called the self-determining power of the mind, 
 volition, or will. While the mind acts in a manner to 
 justify this application of the term self-determining power^ 
 it is not to be supposed that it acts independently of all 
 conditions. It must have knowledge and feeling, and 
 knowledge implies an object known. The cognitions 
 produce the practical feelings, and these act upon voli- 
 tion; but the will is self-determining in this, that it is 
 conscious of freedom to act or not to act. The mind 
 has the power to hold before itself a variety of elements, 
 and choose for itself which it will unify in action. It is 
 not the sole office of the faculty of the will to execute. 
 It must decide what action to take; and, to do this, it must 
 hold the other faculties of the mind to their work ; and, to 
 have a free choice, in a broad sense of the term, it must 
 be able to restrain any particular action till all reasons for 
 action are sufficiently considered. 
 
 (284) 
 
TREATMENT OF THE WILL. 285 
 
 2. It has already been shown that voHtion is the high- 
 est form of mental activity, and it might be inferred at 
 once that the treatment and development of the will 
 ought to occupy the most important place in Psychology 
 and education. But while there are especial and elab- 
 orate treatises on the nature of the will, Psychologists 
 give the will only a very meager and general consideration 
 in its connection with the other faculties of the mind. 
 In education it is treated only incidentally. It has had 
 little distinct recognition either in the theory or the prac- 
 tice of education. The activity of the will is assured to 
 a certain extent from the necessity of the case, but its 
 development is not sought in the same systematic manner, 
 nor with the same elaboration and intelligent purpose as 
 the other faculties. The faculty of knowledge is developed 
 step by step, with patience and perseverance. The feel- 
 ings are cultivated carefully and anxiously. Let the taste 
 and moral feelings especially claim what attention they 
 will, the claim is always allowed. But the will is, for the 
 greater part, left to itself. We ought to consider, on the 
 contrary, that no mental activity becomes a permanent 
 and valuable form that does not involve the will. Memory 
 is strong in proportion to attention. The judgment is 
 positive, and consciousness is clear and definite, in propor- 
 tion to attention. But attention comes from an activity of 
 the will stimulated by feeling. Other voluntary activities 
 are the culmination of activities that have a beginning in 
 the exercise of the lowest faculties, and they are needed to 
 give value and permatiency to the lower thought and 
 feeling. We should not be content with securing mental 
 activity, we should seek voluntary activity. This is re- 
 quired for the development of a strong mind. Unless the 
 power of rational volition is developed a child may as well 
 have been born a parrot. 
 
286 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 3. The volitions have been defined as forms of activity 
 terminating in desire, resolution, or endeavor. These 
 have been shown to be three stages in the exercise of the 
 will. To be complete a volition must culminate in a 
 physical or mental effort to do something or accomplish 
 some purpose. It has also been shown that the volitions 
 depend upon the feelings, and that the feelings must de- 
 pend upon knowledge if they develop volition. We must 
 have some intellectual apprehension of an end in order 
 to put forth a voluntary effort to attain it. The ends we 
 seek to attain are called motives, and sometimes the de- 
 sire is called a motive. Motives exist for us, and stimulate 
 us to action, onlj in so far as we have a knowledge of 
 them, and experience pleasure or pain in anticipation. 
 When a child takes an orange to eat, it is moved to the 
 action by a simple desire which the sight of the orange 
 excites through the knowledge and pleasure reproduced 
 from past experience. The pleasure remembered, and 
 the pleasure anticipated are identified or unified in con- 
 sciousness by the act of eating. 
 
 4. If a second child desires a part of the orange, two 
 opposing motives spring up in the mind of the first child, 
 the desire for the whole orange, and the desire to see the 
 other child happy. These two motives struggle with each 
 other for the mastery until the one or the other prevails. 
 No action seems able to comprehend or unify them both. 
 If the whole orange is kept, the benevolent pleasure is 
 excluded; if a part is given away, the desire for the whole 
 is excluded. But we found in studying the cognitions, 
 that the mind does not rest satisfied with any form of in- 
 tellectual activity until it identifies or unifies it. The same 
 is true of the will. There is at first an utter failure to 
 identify the two desires of the child in any act, and one 
 or the other must be held only as an annoyance while the 
 
DISCRIMINATION IN VOLITION. 287 
 
 Other is gratified. If, now, we will look back to our treat- 
 ment of objects of knowledge, we may gain some light on 
 the correct method of procedure here. In the former 
 case the mind was enabled to identify by making analysis 
 or discriminations, until identical elements were found. 
 Volition should proceed in the same manner. If a part 
 of the orange is given away, an analysis of the results 
 will show that the giving is not all to be reckoned as loss. 
 There accompanies the act the pleasure of feeling that it 
 is a noble thing to do. This pleasure is, perhaps, alone 
 greater than the pain, and it could not be had without the 
 sacrifice. Thus the desires now unified in the act of sharing 
 the orange with another become greater than the first two 
 desires would have been, — the desire for the whole orange 
 and the desire to see a playmate happy, — even if they 
 could have been united. With this solution the child is 
 satisfied, if it can make the unification clear in mind. 
 With other gratifications there may also come the reflection 
 that, perhaps, eating the whole orange might not have 
 been much if any better than a part, and that the act of 
 sharing it may bring the same kindness to the giver at 
 some future time in return. Many other results of the 
 giving are also to be considered, such as the approbation 
 of friends, and the esteem and good-will of the child 
 receiving the gift. In this way it is sought to analyze all 
 that is involved in the act of giving, which in the first 
 place seemed to exclude so much good, and it is found 
 that there are few if any elements in the two original de- 
 sires that are really desirable which are not unified in 
 this act. 
 
 5. But if the whole orange is eaten, the other pleasure' 
 is excluded; and when an attempt is made to reconcile the 
 benevolent desire with this act, the effort fails, and finds 
 no incidental pleasure to make compensation for the ex- 
 
2S8 THE SCIENXE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 elusion. Moreover, the gratification of eating the whole 
 orange would be short, at best, while the other pleasures 
 would be enduring. If the child will make the discrim- 
 inations spoken of, action will be determined in favor of 
 the benevolent motive; but if it will not consider, if its 
 will is determined without any such discriminations and 
 unifications, it will almost certainly choose in favor of the 
 course which will give the least pleasure, and which has 
 the weakest real motives to justify the choice. 
 
 6. We are apt to think of the will in too narrow a sense. 
 We think of it as a single effort of desire, resolution, or 
 endeavor. It will be noticed that volitions have been de- 
 fined above as activities ending in these forms. But the 
 end is not all there is of it. The will is concerned with a 
 whole series of activities which ought to be held in con- 
 sciousness, analyzed and united in a result that will 
 embody a complete unification of all the elements, or, if 
 not all, of as large a number as it is possible to combine 
 with harmony. The development of the child's will in 
 the case supposed, consists in leading it to such an analy- 
 sis of motives as brings the highest motives to bear to- 
 gether upon action with their fullest force. 
 
 7. When the child is older, the feeling of responsibility, 
 the sense of right and wrong, love of friends, and all 
 the higher ends of life will be added as motives. But at 
 every stage of progress the will is developed, in a large 
 sense, only when it is exercised in holding desire in check 
 until motives are thoroughly analyzed, and in unifying in 
 view of this analysis those that ought to prevail in action. 
 This ability is essential to choice. Only in so far as 
 variety is perceived, is choice possible. The freedom of 
 choice implies ability to hold discriminations in con- 
 sciousness without unifying, and in restraining decision so 
 long as there are discriminations to be made. One may 
 
DISCRIMINATIONS IN VOLITION. 289 
 
 say he makes a free choice when he is not forcibly re- 
 strained by another. But this is a low and narrow free- 
 dom. If a child is bHnd folded and told to choose from 
 a basket of apples of different varieties the one he likes 
 best, he will acknowledge his inability to choose. The 
 hands are free to take, and the apples are within reach, 
 but there is no ability to gain a knowledge that is required 
 to make a comparison of desires and free choice possible. 
 
 8. The tendency to hasty unification without sufficient 
 and careful discriminations was seen in studying the Gen- 
 eral Law of Mental Development, and again in studying 
 induction, but it is particularly strong in the exercise of 
 the will. It can not be too strongly impressed upon the 
 mind that decision and action should embrace the broad- 
 est view of motives, and that it is unwise and harmful to 
 yield the will to narrow and ephemeral desires and low 
 purposes, and leave out of consideration the higher mo- 
 tives of action, or neglect to search them out and know 
 what they are. Action that does not embody or unite all 
 the variety of motives possible is not the highest expres- 
 sion of will. 
 
 9. We are now prepared to see more definitely what is 
 meant by rational volitions. Under the head of atten- 
 tion it was said that the cognitions produce feeling, and 
 feelings stimulate the will, and the will directs the atten- 
 tion ; that is, it renews the energy of cognition in a par- 
 ticular direction, and again feeling and volition follow in 
 turn, and the series of activities is repeated until con- 
 sciousness is complete. We have also seen that rational 
 activities are the highest of the cognitions. Rational 
 volition, then, is the exercise of the will in the analysis 
 of rational motives for the purpose of securing the high- 
 est possible unification of these motives, which are then 
 embodied in action. This is the highest exercise of will. 
 
 S. E.-25. 
 
290 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 The complete development of this faculty involves the 
 ability to discriminate and make the highest and most 
 comprehensive unification of motives in decisions, and also 
 the abilility to enforce every determination with vigor and 
 promptness of action in all the variety of cases likely to 
 call for one's consideration. 
 
 lo. If we apply the Laws of Sequence to the will, we 
 shall see why its claims have been so slow of recognition. 
 In the order of dependence it is the last faculty brought 
 into exercise. We might expect it to be fully developed 
 only late in the history of the race and in the growth of 
 the individual mind, and, naturally, it would be late in 
 securing that clear understanding and positive recognition 
 which its importance demands. It may seem at first sight 
 that the will has not been later than the other faculties in 
 securing recognition. Perhaps not in securing recogni- 
 tion, but let us see about a just recognition. In so far as 
 the will is dependent upon other activities, when it makes 
 a choice it ought to take into consideration all the knowl- 
 edge and feelings which have ever been connected with 
 the individual case presented, and choose that combination 
 in favor of which there is the strongest force of deliberate 
 reason. 
 
 But whence come wars? Surely not from a failure of 
 men to recognize their mutual dependence upon one an- 
 other to secure their highest good; but from yielding to 
 the impulse of lower desires, which have a stronger de- 
 termining power than the higher motives, because the 
 power of self-control in nations and masses of men has 
 not been developed sufficiently to hold the immediate 
 motive in check, and give due weight to distant and 
 broader motives. So weak are the higher motives in 
 controlling national action — and this must be considered 
 as most accurately measuring the will power of the race — 
 
SEQUENCE OF THE WILL. 29I 
 
 that national decisions have been almost uniformly deter- 
 mined by the most selfish considerations. No government 
 could exist for a day, and claim respect, that willingly 
 allowed the same license to its citizens in their dealings 
 with each other which it claims for itself in dealing with 
 other nations. Each nation excuses itself, not on the 
 ground of ignorance, but on the ground of necessity in 
 that other nations will act from the same selfish motives. 
 The armaments of Europe are a recognition of the degree 
 to which the nations maintaining them, distrust the ability 
 of the most highly civilized peoples to direct their con- 
 duct by those principles which all acknowledge would lead 
 to the best results, and which ought to be supreme. 
 
 If any one supposes individual will to be better developed, 
 let him ask himself how much more men in their personal 
 relations would act in accordance with the higher princi- 
 ples of conduct than nations if it were not for the power 
 of government to enforce conformity to those principles 
 that are deemed best. As the cognitive faculties or the 
 feelings may be developed in one direction and left feeble 
 in all other directions, so the will may be strong in the 
 direction of one class of motives and weak in all other 
 respects. It should be the object of education so to de- 
 velop the will as to enable one to bring all his powers into 
 action under the influence of the highest motives. Only 
 when this is done can it be considered as rightly devel- 
 oped, and when we consider what external force has to be 
 substituted for it in national control, and in civil and com- 
 mercial life, it must be evident that, however slow the 
 development of intelligence and feeling may be, the de- 
 velopment of the will is still slower. The importance of 
 this stage of mental development should receive more 
 careful consideration. Action should be enforced as the 
 end of knowledge. 
 
292 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 II. APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF EXERCISE. 
 
 The Laws of Exercise to secure breadth, strength, and 
 facility have an important appHcation to the development 
 of the will. 
 
 I. BREADTH OF ACTIVITY. 
 
 (i.) The mind should be exercised in seeking reasons 
 for every thing that is to be done. Reasons may conflict 
 with each other, and require careful analysis to discover 
 the motive that ought to prevail. The motives which 
 weigh with a well-disposed pupil in case of misconduct on 
 the part of a fellow pupil, are often of that conflicting 
 kind. There are duties to fellow pupils, and duties to 
 the teacher and school. It is not always easy to decide 
 which motive should rule. There should be an effort to 
 impress upon the minds of pupils in general the impor- 
 tance of putting aside narrow personal motives, and act- 
 ing on the highest principles. There should also be an 
 effort to analyze the interests that are involved in miscon- 
 duct of various kinds in such a way as to turn the feelings 
 of all the well-disposed towards the support of right and 
 against wrong doing. All the desirable elements of the 
 various motives presented should be made to unify in sus- 
 taining the right. There can be no doubt that they would 
 so unite if they could be seen in their true light. Wrong- 
 doing should have no sympathy from the right-minded. 
 These two characteristics, the desire to act on high prin- 
 ciples in general, and sympathy with the right, should be 
 strongly developed in every mind. When this is done 
 there will only remain the difficulty of determining the 
 cases that require action. On this point there is a great 
 difference of opinion in different schools, and different 
 
VARIETY OF MOTIVES. 293 
 
 communities. Teachers should be careful to avoid push- 
 ing the claims of their side too fast and too far in demand- 
 ing the co-operation of the pupils against their fellows. 
 But it may be said that the tendency of motives in general 
 is to secure more and more the active co-operation of all 
 in maintaining the general well-being against wrong-doers 
 the higher the character of a school or community. If a 
 pupil is called upon to give evidence between two pupils, 
 or in the case of a wrong affecting the general interests, 
 much discretion must be exercised, but on the general 
 principle of such a requirement the teacher may appeal 
 to the common and settled judgment of men as manifest 
 in the requirements of the law, that the state or any indi- 
 vidual may require the testimony of all who can give 
 evidence to their advantage. If the right-minded cause it 
 to be understood, as they ought, that, while they will not 
 be spies and mischief-makers, they can not be held re- 
 sponsible to shield wrong-doing, there are but few children 
 who will not confess readily enough to their own faults if 
 rightly approached. 
 
 (2.) There may be a great variety of motives, not so 
 much conflicting with one another, as leading in opposite 
 directions, so that all can not be acted upon at the same 
 time. If a child is given his choice between having a 
 ride and playing with some mates, one or the other mo- 
 tive must be put aside. When many motives are pre- 
 sented at the same time, it is not an easy thing for the 
 mind to weigh them fairly, and decide in favor of those 
 that ought to have most influence. When a young man is 
 deliberating upon the course he shall pursue for his life's 
 work, it is difficult to determine the relative importance he 
 ought to give to different ends presented to him. If he is 
 to choose wisely he should be able to hold all the motives 
 easily in mind for comparison, and should be able to take 
 
294 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 a broad view of them so as to give a true value to distant 
 purposes. It is much easier to decide from some acci- 
 dental circumstance, or in view of some desire that is 
 strong because the gratification is in sight, but the will 
 should be trained to patience, to endurance, and to the use 
 of the highest reason in such decisions. 
 
 (3.) Motives may differ from each other in degree of 
 certainty. A motive of litde weight may prevail against 
 a strong motive if the latter is uncertain. The mind 
 should be able to analyze the conditions on which the 
 stronger motive depends, and not yield to the tendency 
 to take the easier course, and to decide for the weaker 
 motive, rather than be at the pains to search out the true 
 state of the case with regard to the stronger motive. 
 
 (4.) For reasons like these, and for other reasons, the 
 mind should be trained to hold desire in check, and com- 
 pare all the variety of motives it can find, before making 
 its decision. But a decision should be reached and acted 
 upon, or a habit of delay may be produced that will be 
 as bad as many ill-advised but vigorously executed plans. 
 
 2. STRENGTH OF VOLITIONS. 
 
 (i.) To avoid indecision, strength of will should be 
 cultivated. One may be able to analyze motives, and hold 
 a great variety of them before the mind, and appreciate 
 motives of different kinds, without the ability to concen- 
 trate them and make them fruitful of results. A habit of 
 forming decisions and holding vigorously to purposes 
 which have been formed is a very important element of 
 character. In accordance with the second Law of Exer- 
 cise, strength is cultivated by undertaking and carrying 
 to final completion those duties that require the severest 
 struggles. Hardships endured, obstacles overcome, and 
 
STRENGTH OF VOLITIONS. 295 
 
 temptations resisted, give strength to the will. The will 
 is also strengthened by doing one's work thoroughly. If 
 we stop in any work we have to do before it is finished 
 and made as complete as we feel it ought to be made, 
 our will-power is dissipated ; but the completion of every 
 thing in the best possible manner strengthens the will. 
 
 (2.) The will may be strong in some directions and 
 weak in others. For this reason we should not be satis- 
 fied with the ability to carry out determinations in one 
 line of action. Strength should be cultivated in connec- 
 tion with breadth. The Spartan youth who could keep a 
 fox concealed under his garments, though it tore out his 
 very vitals, rather than betray his theft, undoubtedly had 
 a strong will. Spartans made irresistible and unconquer- 
 able soldiers. But the Spartans were not efficient in many 
 things. They were willing to spend all their energies in 
 the display of physical courage. They could not bring 
 themselves to see the dangers that threatened them, with 
 the rest of Greece, in consequence of civil dissensions. 
 Stubbornness and a dogged disposition should be corrected 
 by the development of broader and more varied purposes. 
 
 3. FACILITY OF WILL. 
 
 Facility in making decisions and in executing them is 
 often of great importance. The third Law of Exercise is 
 naturally applicable to the development of this power. 
 The danger to be guarded against is a tendency to rash- 
 ness and indiscretion. But there are classes of cases that 
 should admit of no hesitation. In these the mind should 
 be thoroughly trained to prompt action early in its devel- 
 opment, and correct habits strongly fixed. When cases 
 of right and wrong are clearly presented, there should be 
 no indecision. There should be no searching after other 
 
296 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 motives to counterbalance the motive of right conduct. So 
 a habit should be cultivated of yielding to the motives of 
 reason rather than passion, and motives of permanent ad- 
 vantage rather than a less important present gain. 
 
 III. SPECIAL LAWS OF VOLITION DEPENDING 
 ON SEQUENCE AND CORRELATION. 
 
 Law I. — The Activity of the Will Must be Ex- 
 cited BY THE Activity of the Feelings. 
 
 First Proof. — The cognitions must be excited before the 
 v^^ill, but these alone can not excite volition. Unless 
 there is a feeling of pleasure or pain, there will be no de- 
 sire either to obtain or avoid an object of cognition. If 
 there is no desire, there will be no resolution ; and if no 
 resolution, no endeavor. The need of feeling becomes 
 less as the will is developed, but it must exist in some de- 
 gree or there will be no volition. 
 
 Second Proof. — If we consider volition in its relations to 
 the other faculties individually, we shall find the Law 
 true in each case. Perception must excite feeling, or the 
 object perceived will not draw attention so as to be brought 
 into clear consciousness. In the same way it has been 
 shown that exercises of memory, imagination, and reason- 
 ing produce feelings which lead the will to direct the 
 energy of the mind to the renewal of these activities again 
 and again until consciousness is made complete. The 
 feeling may be slight, but pain, to the degree of uneasi- 
 ness at least, and other low grades of feeling, like those of 
 curiosity, the sense of power, and personal identity, may 
 always be traced with as much clearness as consciousness 
 itself. 
 
VOLITIONS EXCITED BY FEELINGS. 297 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The Law gives double force to what has been said 
 in favor of the effort to excite interest in study. It was 
 argued before on the ground of its increasing the amount 
 of activity. It is argued now on the ground that the 
 renewed activity is voluntary, and that it thus leads to 
 more permanent results through the exercise of the highest 
 faculty of the mind. It may be well here to recall the re- 
 mark of Humboldt that the value of a study is in propor- 
 tion to the interest it excites. This can not be maintained 
 in comparing the value of different truths ; but it is sound 
 and highly important when applied to study as a mental 
 exercise. 
 
 (II.) The Law of Degradation and Dissipation finds an 
 important application here. The feelings may be excited 
 to a high degree without producing any voluntary activity. 
 Unless the pleasure is such as to lead to voluntary efforts, 
 the energy aroused will be wasted. Dissipation is brought 
 in either of two ways ; first, cognition leads to feeling and 
 the activity stops with this; or, secondly, an attempt is 
 made to excite to resolution by higher motives, and then an 
 appeal is made to the lower and more intense feelings, and 
 in these the mind is allowed to rest. 
 
 (i.) Dissipation of the first kind is produced when the 
 practical feelings are excited with no practical object in 
 view. It is the order of nature that sympathy and affec- 
 tion should be developed in a child as mere feelings before 
 they will lead to acts of benevolence and kindness. But 
 when the child's nature has been developed so as to secure 
 the display of these feelings, the exercise of them without 
 a practical object of care, or a practical service in view is 
 a dissipation. 
 
298 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 (2.) The second form of this dissipation is produced 
 when one begins a lesson by presenting a practical end 
 and closes with an appeal to the feelings. A moral lesson, 
 for instance, begins with the emphatic declaration or illus- 
 tration of the importance of some high purpose, and ends 
 with a farce. Is not this the order of many an exhibition, 
 lecture, or theatrical performance ? Is it not the order of 
 many a sermon to begin with the practical, and close with 
 the emotional ? The following criticism once made upon 
 the treatment of the passage, ''Wherefore, seeing we also 
 are compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses, 
 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so 
 easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 
 is set before us," sets forth the error of this method clearly. 
 There are three things to be considered, the approbation, 
 the preparation, and the race. The order in which these 
 are presented in the passage is the natural order of devel- 
 opment, and the series ends with the intensest degree of 
 action. The idea of the race should be permanent. 
 But many a declaimer would begin with the end 
 to be accomplished, setting it forth before presenting 
 any adequate inducement, and end with a contemplation 
 of the delight of the expected approval, entirely forgetful 
 of the race by which approval can alone be gained. 
 
 (3.) It was said of Demosthenes, that, while other ora- 
 tors left their hearers astonished at their eloquence, the 
 Athenians went out from his presence saying to each 
 other, ''Let us fight against Philip." Every one who 
 reads many of the orations of Demosthenes must be struck 
 at the uniform absence of appeals to the feelings in the 
 peroration. In following the true order of development, 
 each activity excited helps to the next step; but in follow- 
 ing the reverse order, if any success is gained in arousing 
 the mind to resolution in the beginning, the effect is dissi- 
 
ACTION THE END OF MOTIVE. 299 
 
 pated in the more pleasing and easy play of the feelings 
 excited at the close. 
 
 Law II. — The Grade of Voluntary Activity will 
 BE AS THE Grade of the Feelings. 
 
 First Proof. — It is an accepted truth that motive or in- 
 tention determines the character of an act. The laws of 
 the land recognize this, both in criminal cases and the in- 
 terpretation of contracts. But there is a feeling interme- 
 diate between the external motive and the act, and this 
 interprets the character of the motive and determines the 
 act. The motive is named as giving character to the act 
 because the feeling can not be seen in itself, but it is im- 
 plied, and may fairly be inferred from the act. 
 
 Second Proof, — Acts are classified according to the feel- 
 ings that excite them. An act is called moral when it is 
 induced by moral feeHng. It is called intellectual when 
 excited by the contemplative feelings. It is called selfish 
 when excited by selfishness. It is possible for one to at- 
 tain high eminence as a writer, a musician, or worker in 
 any line of activity, and have no heart, as we say. But in 
 such cases there is a subtle element which a sensitive per- 
 son will always say is wanting. Proper feeling is required 
 to produce the perfect work. Religious, patriotic, filial, 
 social acts require, each for itself, feelings that belong to 
 no other kind of actions. ^ 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) There is not an act of life, perhaps, that is not 
 prompted by a variety of motives. In the act of studying, 
 a child desires to learn, to obey his teacher, to please his 
 parents, and to gain the approbation of friends. Perhaps 
 
300 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 the offer of a prize tnay be added to these motives. If he 
 is asked why he studies, any one of these motives may be 
 given as a true answer, but not any one will completely 
 account for the act. The energy expended will be height- 
 ened in value in proportion to the character of the feeling 
 most efficient in exciting it. The motives that will be 
 effective depend upon the mind to be stimulated, and the 
 highest motives that can be used should always be called 
 into exercise. If a high motive finds only a faint response, 
 it may be developed by use and by making proper dis- 
 criminations. In urging a choice of motives, those should 
 be selected which are found to be the highest that can be 
 appreciated. 
 
 (II.) In cases of bad conduct there are many motives, 
 as in other cases. It is neither just nor wise to charge the 
 worst motive of them all with more than its due share of 
 influence. The worst motives may be pointed out to ex- 
 cite an aversion to them, and they should not be excused 
 because an offender is able to point out some better asso- 
 ciated motives; but after a clear analysis of all the motives 
 it should be the endeavor to develop the feelings that will 
 prevent such action, and strengthen correct motives. It 
 is not fulfilling the responsibility of a teacher to say that a 
 child ought to have such and such feelings ; he should seek 
 by every means within his reach to cultivate the feelings 
 which he thinks ought to exist. This can be done effect- 
 ively only by inducing such action as shall call them into 
 exercise. The great superiority of Dr. Thomas Arnold 
 in educating boys consisted in his ability to direct their 
 conduct in such a manner that their better natures found 
 expression; and before they were fully conscious of the 
 motives that controlled them, they had a variety of ex- 
 periences in which they could discriminate the value of 
 high and noble impulses. 
 
PROGRESS OF VOLITIONS. 30I 
 
 Law III. — Complete Development Carries Voli- 
 tion THROUGH THE ThREE SUCCESSIVE StAGES OF De- 
 
 siRE, Resolution, and Achievement or Endeavor. 
 
 Proof. — There may be three cases. 
 
 (i.) A person may desire something which he finds no 
 means of obtaining, when voHtion stops with desire. He 
 seeks for some means of gratifying his desire, but finds 
 none which can serve as a purpose of resolution. An 
 astronomer might have a desire to visit one of the planets. 
 However strong the desire is, he can not resolve upon 
 any plan for effecting the object, for he sees no means 
 within his reach. That he has the desire, however, and 
 that the state of mind is that of an incomplete activity, are 
 both manifest from the fact that the object of such a visit 
 frequently recurs to his thoughts, and he often tries to 
 imagine what conditions would make the attainment of his 
 desire possible. 
 
 (2.) Desire may pass to resolution, and volition stop 
 there. That this activity is not complete volition is man- 
 ifest in this, that resolution has no other end than some 
 action, and desire must either continue in the mind holding 
 it in an unsatisfied state, or dissipate the energy by which 
 it was produced when it ceases to hold clear discrim- 
 inations in consciousness. 
 
 (3.) Resolution may terminate in action. In this case 
 the mental activity is complete. All the elements of 
 thought and feeling centering in desire are unified in the 
 result so far as they can be comprehended in the unifica- 
 tion. Even if some other action is discovered later that 
 would have unified a greater variety of desires, the act 
 performed is the end of all that is involved in this volition, 
 and other volitions must follow if different results are 
 sought. 
 
302 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) The will has now been found to be the highest 
 faculty of the mind, and action or endeavor the highest 
 development of the will. To this conclusion we have 
 come by stages of steady progress, and the proofs are vari- 
 ous and united by links and interlacings that can not be 
 sundered or separated. When Demosthenes was asked 
 what is the most important element in oratory, and replied, 
 ''Action, action, action," who can tell how deep his 
 meaning was ? He is said not to have sought dramatic 
 effects by physical action, but every sentence of his ora- 
 tions had action for its end. If applied to this feature of 
 his oratory his reply would be strikingly pertinent. But in 
 the view of the will here set forth his words have a pro- 
 founder application still. Action is not only the end of 
 oratory, but the highest end to be sought in every attempt 
 to develop the human mind. 
 
 (II.) Children, from the beginning of their education, 
 should be trained in the habit of doing. Manual training 
 and industrial education are attracting the attention of 
 many educators with the end in view of teaching how to 
 do useful work. Without entering upon a discussion of 
 these methods and their merits, and with the fullest recog- 
 nition of the fact that they have many merits, it must be 
 acknowledged that there are practical difficulties of find- 
 ing means sufficient in variety and extent to meet the re- 
 quirements of all occupations; and this fact greatly 
 restricts the application and diminishes the value of these 
 methods. But there is a broader view to be taken of the 
 industrious habit, and the means available for carrying out 
 this broader view are varied and common enough to meet 
 all cases. This view is the recognition of the value of all 
 
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. 303 
 
 action in developing the highest power of the will. A 
 much broader range of actions than can be made to con- 
 tribute immediately to practical results is adapted to 
 accomplish this end. 
 
 (III.) Every relation in which a child is placed in- 
 volves the possibility of some action. Acts of obedience, 
 acts of kindness, self-help, keeping things in their places, 
 care of one's person, clothes or playthings, performing a 
 task, whether of learning or labor, play that has a pur- 
 pose in it, all these are ends in the attainment of which 
 the will develops the power to do. Such ends are not 
 only more common and available, but they are also bet- 
 ter appreciated by children than what is called profitable 
 employment. There is no doubt that practical usefulness 
 is a wholesome exercise, and that the habit of work with 
 such an end in view ought to be cultivated in childhood. 
 But there is danger of producing narrow minds, and of 
 making children prematurely old, if this is pressed too far. 
 But one thing should be insisted on in every case, and 
 that is, that every child should be doing something that 
 will call forth action in view of fixed purposes. 
 
 (IV.) Some children will always be active, and need 
 only to be directed. But many more are naturally indo- 
 lent. Teachers and parents should begin early to set 
 these to work, and stimulate voluntary effort. Regularity 
 of employment in study or manual work is an important 
 element. Stimulating some natural desire by an object 
 which it will cost an effort to gain is a method of develop- 
 ment. Work which a child feels it is right and necessary 
 to perform is a useful stimulus. Few boys who are com- 
 pelled by circumstances to help in maintaining the family 
 of which they are a part grow up inefficient men. They 
 may often fall below their highest possibilities from lack of 
 the advantages needed for mental improvement, but habits 
 
304 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 cultivated by the necessity of toiling for a livelihood will 
 save almost any boy from growing up a burden upon 
 friends or society. But a large proportion of boys who are 
 not compelled by any necessity to toil, grow up to be use- 
 less men, to spend more than they earn, not so much 
 because they do not know a trade or useful business, as 
 because they have no will to do any thing. If they had 
 the will they could learn, but they are not able to set 
 themselves about any thing with a purpose. The reform 
 which manual and industrial training seeks should be 
 broadened, and if parents and teachers could understand 
 the importance of this broader purpose, the effort required 
 for making it a success would be put forth at once in every 
 school and household. This effort will cost thought and 
 care, not other great expense. 
 
 (V.) When cases of the indolent poor are examined, it 
 is often said they are without ambition, they have no mo- 
 tive in life. This is but another way of saying the devel- 
 opment of their wills is defective. If they had the power 
 to hold their minds to thought, to analyze the motives life 
 offers, and to act upon them, there would be no lack of 
 inducements to exertion. We say we can not understand 
 why they are so indifferent, and content to live with such 
 low and poor enjoyments, when they might easily multiply 
 their comforts and pleasures by using the means within 
 their reach. They know much better than they do. If 
 we will recall what has been said of Sequence as applied 
 to the will we may find the explanation. The will power 
 in them has not reached the stage of development gained 
 in intellect and feeling. 
 
 (VI.) Achievement is a difficult act. One is easily dis- 
 couraged at the magnitude of a great undertaking, and the 
 effort to do is degraded to resolution, resolution falls back 
 on desire, and desire sinks into feeling, and in the feelings 
 
DEGRADATION OF VOLITIONS. 305 
 
 all energy is dissipated. The final stage of accomplish- 
 ment is the highest, and in sight of the goal every nerve 
 should be stimulated to its greatest effort. At this point 
 brave men are willing, like the sailors in the race of Virgil, 
 to barter their lives for victory. Let it be understood 
 there are many prizes in life's contest. Not they alone 
 who come in first receive a palm, but all they who strive 
 nobly and come to the goal at all. Strength is gained in 
 the consciousness of achievement, and this prize should be 
 daily sought and won. 
 
 (VII.) But to stop and dally with resolution in the face 
 of an undertaking, is to put one's self on the way to giving 
 up resolution, and is weakening to the will. Yet it would 
 not be too much to say that most of the resolutions of 
 most persons either end in failure, or, at least, fall below 
 the effort required to gain the full results originally aimed 
 at. It is impossible for the will to maintain an activity 
 of consciousness that will hold distinctly all the motives 
 of which we sometimes have glimpses, and the resolutions 
 formed in our highest states of consciousness are insensi- 
 bly degraded and we are satisfied with lower ends, 
 scarcely feeling our loss. To stop habitually short of en- 
 deavor breaks down the power of resolution, and weakens 
 desire, and saps the very foundation of will. 
 
 IV. FORMS OF UNITIES OF THE WILL. 
 
 The forms in which the will makes its final unification 
 of discriminations may be classified as Language, Art, and 
 Conduct. 
 
 I. LANGUAGE. 
 
 (i.) Language is synthetic. The word is a unity, the 
 import of which is determined by the discriminations that 
 
 S. E.— 26. 
 
3o6 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 have been attached, one after another, to the sound or 
 form in accordance with some principle of unification by 
 which language is developed. The sentence is a unity in 
 which the subject is identified with the predicate. 
 
 (2.) Language is man's highest expression of the con- 
 sciousness of truth. What is known as natural language, 
 such as gesture, pantomime, and so forth, may represent 
 some phases of truth more vividly than words, but it can 
 never present the variety in unity which is expressed in 
 words, and if the meaning of the sentence were made as 
 vivid as the gesture the sentence would be the stronger. 
 What modes of unifying thought a child may have before 
 it learns to use language we can not tell, but the prob- 
 ability is that little progress is made by it in thinking, and 
 when a language is learned all other modes are forgotten, 
 if any have existed. 
 
 (3.) It is not the sole purpose of language to express 
 thoughts to others. It is the form in which the unification 
 of thought is developed most clearly in the consciousness 
 of the person using the language. The mind can not 
 use objects themselves, even pictured by the imagination, 
 with sufficient facility to develop thought. It requires 
 some more convenient means that can be used as a repre- 
 sentative of objects. The parts, qualities, and actions of 
 objects are representatively unified in language, and this 
 means the mind is capable of using in bringing out 
 thought clearly in its own consciousness. 
 
 Law I. — Some Activities of the Will Terminate 
 IN the Unifications of Language. 
 
 Proof, — In a large sense, at least, language is artificial. 
 It makes little difference what language a child learns, 
 one is no more natural than another. A term expresses 
 
LANGUAGE A UNIFICATION. 307 
 
 for him only what he has unified in it. No part of lan- 
 guage expresses thought that has not first been put into 
 it. In thus unifying thought in language each one must 
 exercise his own will. When this unification is made 
 with clearness of consciousness, the mind seeks no higher 
 expression of truth. 
 
 Law II. — The Unifications of Language are 
 Amongst the Earliest Developments of Mind. 
 
 First Proof. — In childhood, in nations, and in the de- 
 velopment of the race, there is uniformly a development 
 of language as the earliest exhibition of the exercise of 
 the power of connected thought. Not only has no com- 
 munity ever been known to exist without a language, but 
 the development of language never falls behind other 
 manifestations of intellectual progress in the stage of its 
 development. 
 
 Second Proof. — In our own consciousness we are aware 
 that our struggles after truth begin with an attempt to 
 identify the activities of the mind in the form of language. 
 A new word mastered, a new form of reasoning made fa- 
 miliar, is a new revelation of truth. 
 
 Third Proof. — There are many other striking evidences 
 of the dependence of thought upon the development of 
 language, but there is one of such conclusive character 
 that it alone should be deemed a sufficient demonstration. 
 It is the case of Laura Bridgman, already referred to. 
 She was surrounded in childhood by all the ordinary stim- 
 ulants to mental exercise, but nothing seemed to unseal the 
 springs of intellectual life. Her later development shows 
 that she had an abundance of native mental power. When 
 her mind took its first start, at the age of eight, she re- 
 ceived no new sense. At this time, as always from in- 
 
3o8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 fancy, she was dependent almost entirely upon the sense 
 of touch for knowledge of the external world. What 
 change occurred to give her intellect its first impulse ? 
 Others had communicated their thoughts to her, and she 
 her thoughts to them, so far as she had had thoughts. It 
 can not have been that she now first became conscious of 
 the fact of communication between friends. There is but 
 one fact to which we can refer the change, however we 
 explain the causal influence. Her new friend and teacher 
 brought her to associate the forms of a few words with 
 objects which they represented. But the words were only 
 objects to be placed with other objects at a given signal. 
 The words were taken to pieces, and at the very moment 
 when she became conscious of the power to put the letters 
 together and make the words, she showed signs of intel- 
 lectual life. From this time forward intellect and language 
 grew together. There was here a synthesis of differences 
 in which the unity was distinct, and the elements also, not 
 only distinct in themselves, but held in distinct conscious- 
 ness as making up the unity. The mind could pass from 
 the unity to the elements and from the elements to the 
 unity with sufftcient ease to give pleasure to the mere exer- 
 cise of voluntary thought. There is nothing else that will 
 so unify variety in conscious unity of thought as the use 
 of language. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This Law shows the importance of cultivating the 
 power of language. It must be developed not only in the 
 beginning of intellectual growth, but at every step of 
 progress. The Law is broad and applies to the initial 
 step of every new development of thought in individuals 
 and nations. Civilization and language go hand in hand. 
 A race lives while its language lives. The state of a na- 
 
LANGUAGE A UNIFICATION. 309 
 
 tion's literature represents the stage of its life. The ornate 
 languages of Asia truly represent the. Oriental imagination. 
 The subtle language of Greece represents the keen intel- 
 lect and fine feeling of the Athenians. The methodical 
 language of Rome represents a nation of law. 
 
 (11.) It will be seen from this Law, in connection with 
 the Laws of Consciousness, that the language in which 
 thought is unified is to be used to aid in bringing the uni- 
 fication into its distinct forms in consciousness. While a 
 teacher should guard against supposing that words alone 
 are sufficient to develop thought, he should seek to make 
 himself expert in their use as helps in the development. 
 
 (III.) It must not be overlooked that to develop thought 
 by language is a voluntary act. It requires strong exercise 
 of the will to hold discriminations of perception, memory, 
 reason, and so forth, with distinctness, while unification is 
 perfected in the form of a sentence. It is not enough for 
 a pupil to say he has the idea. If he has it clearly in 
 mind it should be in the form of words. It is a dissipating 
 indulgence to stop short of putting ideas into this form. 
 
 (IV.) Logical and complete forms of expression should 
 be insisted upon, if the power of reasoning and clearness 
 of thought are to be cultivated. There is perhaps more 
 unwise indulgence in these respects than in any other di- 
 rection in class recitations. If a thought is well enough 
 expressed for a teacher who knows what ought to be said 
 to guess at the meaning, this is often counted as sufficient. 
 Pupils thus indulged have so little self-control, that they 
 will almost invariably break down if pressed to state ex- 
 actly what they mean. 
 
 (V.) As language is an aid in unifying variety, from the 
 fact of its comprehending so much in simple forms, its 
 usefulness is increased in proportion as it is made simple 
 and concise. Formulas for explaining Arithmetical exam- 
 
3IO THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 pies and Grammatical relations are often a hindrance 
 rather than a help, from containing so much that has no 
 application to the particular case. They may be useful 
 helps, but when used they should be so mastered that any 
 words that are not required will naturally be omitted. It 
 should be an invariable rule that no form of words 
 should be allowed that does not exactly express the thought 
 intended. 
 
 II. ART. 
 
 (i.) The word art here denotes the use of means to do 
 something, or create some manual production. Sailing a 
 vessel belongs to the art of navigation ; making a table, 
 to the art of carpentry, and painting a picture, to the art 
 of painting. 
 
 (2.) Arts are classified as useful and ornamental. The 
 useful arts have for their end the doing or producing of 
 something that will contribute to physical well-being; the 
 ornamental arts seek to please the taste. Taste is em- 
 ployed in the productions of the useful arts, and the 
 ornamental arts require the exercise of a manual skill 
 that has no especial reference to taste. Both kinds of art 
 contribute to happiness. 
 
 Law III. — Some Activities of the Will Terminate 
 IN Art. 
 
 First Proof. — By the exercise of the will we observe 
 actions and objects of sense-perception until we form con- 
 ceptions of them, and by a still further exercise of the will 
 we reproduce them, or make objects like them. In the 
 same way we invent new forms which we embody in con- 
 crete products. In these cases there are two distinct 
 exercises of the will; in the first, the will unifies by holding 
 
ART A UNIFICATION. 31I 
 
 the energy of the mind to the formation of conceptions, 
 which are unifications of knowledge; and in the second, 
 the will uses the physical powers for action. In either ex- 
 ercise the demands of the mind for unification may be 
 satisfied, but the form of the effect depends upon the pur- 
 pose which actuates the will. 
 
 Second Proof. — By the exercise of the will we unify 
 aesthetic discriminations in the form of artistic products. 
 The demand for unification is satisfied if the product 
 answers the requirements of taste. 
 
 Law IV. — The Unifications of Art are Higher 
 Than the Unifications of Conception. 
 
 First Proof. — It is a common experience for one to 
 think he knows what a thing is, or how to do a thing be- 
 cause he has seen the thing or the act, and then find him- 
 self very ignorant when asked about details. The mind 
 is satisfied with indistinct and partial discriminations and 
 unifications, but when the attempt to do or produce a 
 thing is made, the elements must all be present and in 
 their places, or the product will reveal a lack of unity. 
 
 Second Proof. — That the works of ornamental arts are 
 higher unifications than the conceptions of them before 
 the effort of production, is manifest not only in the fact 
 that the conception is more and more perfected by the 
 requirements of the product as action progresses, but also 
 by the fact that in general little advancement is made in 
 the understanding and appreciation of works of art unless 
 one does something in the way of producing them. Some 
 enjoyment of them may be had but not of the highest 
 kind. The conception of a product involves only a 
 knowledge of its material cause, what it is; to produce, 
 we must also know how it becomes. 
 
312 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) Action and production applied to useful arts have 
 three advantages, each one of which makes it important 
 that children should be early trained in habits of doing 
 and making things. First, these results appeal to the 
 senses, and are more easily appreciated than mere con- 
 ceptions. Secondly, they are higher and more permanent 
 unifications. Thirdly, they require the more complete 
 exercise of the will. 
 
 (II.) The contemplative feelings have not been classed 
 with the practical emotions, because activity is not their 
 end. Yet in the manual process of producing artistic 
 work, these feelings are developed to a higher degree 
 than simply in the act of contemplation, because the dis- 
 criminations are of necessity more various and exact. 
 These discriminations can not be unified in language. 
 The beauties of the beautiful and the sublimity of the 
 sublime can not be set forth in words. The eye and 
 ear must find variety not to be expressed by articulate 
 speech, to produce these feelings. If a more perfect ap- 
 preciation of works of artistic merit is to be produced 
 than comes through the examination of these works, it 
 must be by exercise in drawing, designing, painting, and 
 so forth. 
 
 III. conduct. 
 
 By conduct is meant action directed by a consciousness 
 of our relations to other conscious beings, or by duty to- 
 wards ourselves. It embraces all those actions that are 
 excited by the practical feelings. It is involved in bus- 
 iness ; in duties to the state, the family, and society ; and 
 in the principles of religion and morality. 
 
conduct a unification. 313 
 
 Law v. — Some Activities of the Will Terminate 
 IN Conduct. 
 
 Proof. — Conduct requires an activity of doing and pro- 
 duction which imply an exercise of will, and also a mo- 
 tive excited by the practical feelings, to make it conduct. 
 
 Law VI. — Conduct is the Highest Unification of 
 THE Human Mind. 
 
 Proof. — It has already been shown that doing is a 
 higher unification than conception, and that production is 
 a higher unification than observation or contemplation. 
 Conduct includes these activities, and adds the elements 
 of motives that must be discriminated amongst the most 
 varied and complex relations of which we are conscious. 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (I.) This Law emphasizes the observations made con- 
 cerning the importance of conserving energy by carrying 
 out the purpose of the practical feelings into action. It is 
 not only conserving energy, but it is developing the high- 
 est energy of life. 
 
 (11.) The term practical is generally applied to activ- 
 ities which have only a physical end in view, or at least 
 the term does not seem to imply any end beyond this. 
 The analysis of the feelings and the Laws of the will show 
 a much higher practical end. The lower material ends 
 are important enough in their place, they are indeed es- 
 sential, but they are not all; and as we rise in the scale 
 of being they become less and less in comparison with 
 our increasing consciousness of the higher practical ends. 
 
 (HI.) Notwithstanding the great complexity of the uni- 
 
 S. E.— 27. 
 
314 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 fications of perfect conduct, its development begins almost 
 with the beginning of the lowest rational action. But care 
 should be taken not to attempt the application of complex 
 principles to children. There are many simple principles 
 of conduct to be enforced, and conformity to these should 
 be faithfully required. 
 
 (IV.) From the last Law we may infer that study 
 which leads to an analysis of the relations between con- 
 scious beings, stimulates the practical emotions, and directs 
 to the most perfect conduct, must always have the highest 
 place in the development of mind. This does not exclude 
 the principles of physics but embraces them, and seeks to 
 unify them with the knowledge of higher relations. Those 
 who treat the lower unities of material forms and the 
 higher unities as antagonistic, who think that physical 
 science and the service required by the highest practical 
 emotions are inconsistent with each other, and whose in- 
 tellectual unities are all confined to one of these ends 
 without thought of the other, while they may not formally 
 deny the existence of either class of discriminations, yet 
 narrow their own minds to holding in consciousness the 
 variety involved in one part only of experience. Those 
 who seek to identify the practical emotions under the 
 phenomena of matter, logically exclude from their unifica- 
 tions the higher elements of motive, and the result of their 
 effort must be one of the lower unities of knowledge. 
 
 (V.) On the one hand we can not consistently exclude 
 from complete knowledge either the lowest discriminations 
 of matter or the highest principles of conduct, and on the 
 other hand we can not unify the discriminations of motive 
 under physical forms. It only remains, then, so to de- 
 velop the practical emotions and the resulting activities of 
 the will as to make them include the most perfect dis- 
 criminations of material phenomena, and use them for the 
 
CONDUCT A UNIFICATION. 
 
 315 
 
 highest purposes of Hfe. The peculiar value and impor- 
 tance of using material forms and relations in developing 
 the mnid have been noticed under the Laws of Physio- 
 logical Relations and Reflective Consciousness and else- 
 where. There is a tendency to give larger place to this 
 element in education. But there has been Uttle effort to 
 unify this knowledge under the higher relations, and unless 
 it can be made to contribute to better conduct amongst 
 men and nations its real value will be much diminished. 
 
CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 
 
 T remains to sum up in a general way 
 the more important practical lessons which 
 our science teaches. 
 
 I. COMPEL ANALYTIC ACTIVITY. 
 
 1. This lesson is found on every page of the preceding 
 work. We began with it in our Introduction. There we 
 found it the lesson of common experience, and raised the 
 question of its fundamental importance in the development 
 of thought. Later it was found to be at the beginning of 
 all mental activity, and its essential importance found 
 statement in the General Law of Mental Development. 
 The Special Laws are all either based on the primary ne- 
 cessity of Analysis, or they assume it. The growth of 
 thought, of feeling, and of volition begins in Analysis. 
 
 2. It has been shown that the effort and direction of 
 Analysis are dependent upon external stimuli and the ex- 
 ercise of native energy, and that within certain limits they 
 are subject to control, alike by the teacher in the use of 
 stimuli, and by the taught in maintaining and directing 
 attention. Much of the effort in this work has been to set 
 forth the way in which the mind can best be led to make 
 Analysis. In the first place, it may be said that the study 
 of such a science as this, requiring as it does the practice 
 of the most careful discriminations, is one of the best 
 stimuli which can be presented to a mind that is prepared 
 
 (316) 
 
ANALYSIS TO BE STIMULATED. 317 
 
 to grapple with the questions raised. In the second place, 
 it has been the endeavor to present the subject in the form 
 most completely Analytic. But it has been the chief 
 study to discover and present the Laws in accordance 
 with which different motives stimulate the mind in differ- 
 ent directions, and also those in accordance with which 
 the mind maintains its own activities and determines their 
 form. 
 
 3. The importance of Analysis in the development of 
 knowledge has been shown. We have seen that the intel- 
 lectual faculties lie dormant until the mind is brought to 
 distinguish differences by the stimulus of external objects, 
 and that each of the faculties grows, and each particular 
 form of knowledge is developed, only as a variety of dis- 
 criminations is made. The stimulus of differences is the 
 force-liberator, as the Germans would call it, the releaser 
 of latent force spoken of on page 38 of this work, that de- 
 velops the potential energy of the mind into a kinetic 
 energy acting in the direction of the difference pre- 
 sented. The teacher must use this to excite the activity 
 of knowledge, and the learner must exert his own power 
 in maintaining and directing the attention, and fixing the 
 energies on the differences presented. Other things being 
 equal, one's knowledge and intellectual power must be 
 valued in proportion to the variety of forms to which the 
 mind is accustomed. The teacher should be so thoroughly 
 furnished for each lesson that if he fails to elicit mental 
 activity by presenting truth in one view, he may immedi- 
 ately offer another side to the mind, and another, until a 
 discrimination is found that awakens recognition. This is 
 the active side of his work as an instructor, and it calls 
 for the utmost readiness and diligence. 
 
 4. Difference is not less the key that unlocks the feel- 
 ings. The sense of harmony can not be developed by a 
 
3l8 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 monotone, nor the sense of the beautiful by a straight h'ne. 
 So evident is this that Variety in Unity has formed the 
 theme of endless eulogy in works of Rhetoric and Art, 
 whenever authors have sought to set forth the methods by 
 which the aesthetic emotions are stirred. 
 
 No one cares to deny that it is the harmonious combina- 
 tion of the many in the one that excites the highest feel- 
 ings. But there is not the same appreciation of the fact 
 that it requires an analysis as critical to make the combina- 
 tion harmonious, and to distinguish between a true and a 
 false feeling, as is required to distinguish between true 
 and false reasoning. The common aphorism, *' There is 
 no disputing about taste," and the moral dictum, ''Each 
 man is right in obeying his own conscience," are often 
 used as though taste and conscience were ultimate units 
 of mental energy, and not unities to be developed, like 
 the cognitive faculties, by a many-sided experience which, 
 by analysis, reveals harmonious combinations to the native 
 unifying power that distinguishes the true and the false in 
 feeling, the same as in knowledge. 
 
 In the chapter on the feeHngs it was shown that the 
 sensibilities, tastes, and emotions are developed from dis- 
 criminations, the same as imagination or reasoning, and 
 that the energy rises in importance in proportion to the 
 variety and clearness with which the •differences are held 
 in consciousness. It should be particularly impressed 
 upon the teacher that undiscriminating sentiment can not 
 be relied upon in any activity of feeling. It is not true 
 taste, true benevolence, nor true morality. A person 
 who can not point out any of the harmonies of a picture, 
 a landscape, or an oratorio is no connoisseur in painting 
 or music, however much native capacity for development 
 he may show. No other book so abounds in expressions 
 of sympathy for the poor as the Bible, but we are not 
 
ANALYSIS TO BE STIMULATED. 319 
 
 told that the disciples of him who said, ''Give to him 
 that asketh of thee," went about distributing denarii to 
 the beggars they met by the way, and that thronged the 
 city gates through which they passed. It is not without 
 significance that when Peter was asked for alms by the 
 lame man at the gate Beautiful, he gave not gold, but 
 healing, a gift that, with all its other advantages, freed 
 the beneficiary from dependence on alms. It is a pat- 
 tern of discriminating good will; and every-where the 
 apostles went about thus doing good. As benevolence is 
 thus lifted above the sphere of mere sentiment, so moral 
 duties are lifted above the control of undiscriminating 
 impulse. Perhaps the moral nature may be so perverted 
 that it is impossible to form reliable moral judgments, but 
 there is no way to correct and stimulate conscience but 
 by discriminating the qualities of acts. 
 
 5. If the need of Analysis has been inadequately ac- 
 knowledged in the usual consideration of the feelings, it 
 has been almost entirely ignored in the treatment of the 
 will. Yet it is in this culmination of mental activity that 
 the need of ready and accurate Analysis is most pressing; 
 for the moment of activity quickly passes, and mistakes 
 of conduct can not be recalled. As it is the distinction 
 of color, form, and fragrance that gives character to our 
 perception of a rose, as it is the distinction of right and 
 wrong that gives character to conscience, so it is the dis- 
 tinction of motives to action that gives character to a voli- 
 tion. So little have men been wont to make a sharp dis- 
 tinction between Analysis and Synthesis in treating of the 
 will, that the element of Analysis is often left out of the 
 account in considering a voluntary act without exposing 
 the exact error of an illogical conclusion. We have seen 
 that synthesis is due to the native tendency of an active 
 mental energy. If we leave the Analytic element out of 
 
320 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 our consideration of voluntary activity, there is left only 
 the synthetic or natural tendency, and we are logically 
 driven to a belief in the irresponsibility of human action 
 and even fatalism. All feel that there ought to be some 
 escape from this conclusion, but while we say it can not 
 be true, we confine the attention in considering the will 
 to the final culmination in action, which results from a 
 synthetic impulse, and when a disputant chooses to lead 
 us on to the conclusion of fatahsm it is difficult to detect 
 the fallacy, for it lies outside of things considered. 
 
 But while the element of synthesis, which is manifest in 
 the final determination of the will, is a natural tendency, 
 like the force of gravitation in a falling body, there is 
 always opposed to this the power of Analysis, by which 
 variety may be held before the mind, and synthesis de- 
 layed and modified. It is in this Analytic power that the 
 freedom of the will consists, as we may see if we will ex- 
 amine an after-judgment of conduct. If we have gone 
 wrong or made a failure, we condemn ourselves, not 
 simply because we might have done differently, but be- 
 cause, if we had examined the reasons for our conduct 
 more carefully, we would have done differently. We were 
 not satisfied at the time we acted, and we ought to have 
 given greater consideration to motives that we did not 
 carefully weigh. The measure of our self-condemnation 
 will depend upon the motives within our reach, and our 
 ability to analyze and understand them. These resources 
 of the will limit our real freedom in the case. Analysis 
 throws light on the pathway of human conduct, and this 
 is the condemnation, that men love darkness rather than 
 light. 
 
 Perhaps men mean substantially this when they oppose 
 to the idea of fatalism the fact of the consciousness of 
 freedom. But the two arguments do not seem to meet on 
 
ANALYSIS IN VOLITION. 32 1 
 
 a common ground. The one is an argument of fact, and 
 is convincing for practical purposes ; the other is an argu- 
 ment of reason, and an appeal is taken from the inference 
 of fact on the ground that we are so often deceived by ap- 
 pearances. But when we find Analysis opposed to Syn- 
 thesis in the activity of the will, we find a basis for free- 
 dom in an opposition of forces that runs through every 
 manifestation of mental energy. Not all the forces of 
 light, electricity, chemical affinity, and so forth, have yet 
 been identified with attraction, and reduced to a common 
 law of activity. Perhaps this may be done in the future. 
 But there is one force that seems necessarily irreconcilable 
 with attraction. The force of repulsion has no known 
 character in common with attraction, and it is on the 
 combined activity of the two that nature depends for form 
 and stability. In like manner Analysis and Synthesis are 
 ever present and opposing forces in mental activity, and 
 on their combined influence depend the form and perma- 
 nency of thought, feeling, and will. 
 
 This view does not regard the freedom of the human 
 will as absolute and unconditioned, but as possible on 
 conditions that may be realized, and as actual within cer- 
 tain variable limitations. It meets the argument of fatalism 
 on a common ground, opposing the freedom of Analysis 
 to the native tendency to Synthesis ; and, what is of great- 
 est moment, it shows how the will is. to be developed, and 
 points out the way in which the bounds of its freedom are 
 to be enlarged. So long as the will has the power of 
 choice, it is capable of freedom ; so long as it holds before 
 itself two motives and refrains from decision, it is actually 
 engaged in a free exercise with respect to the thing to be 
 determined upon ; and to whatever extent it discriminates 
 motives with reference to acting, to that extent it exercises 
 freedom with respect to the act. Freedom of action ceases 
 
322 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 as soon as the will makes a decision or ceases to discrim- 
 inate motives. The will is therefore to be developed in 
 accordance with the same laws as the other mental facul- 
 ties, and the character of its decisions must be determined 
 by Analysis, the same as the character of a perception. 
 
 If it be thought by any one that this Analysis is an ac- 
 tivity of cognition rather than of the will, let him consider 
 in the first place, what has been said of the intimate re- 
 lations of cognition, feeling, and volition, and that cogni- 
 tion must always precede volition; and then remember 
 that it is the province of the will to make and control the 
 Analysis of motives as such, for it is only to the will that 
 any thing can appeal as a motive. If it seems to any 
 that the will must determine to discriminate before it ana- 
 lyzes motives, that a synthetic act must precede the first 
 act of Analysis, and that we are therefore driven to con- 
 sider the first act of the will as necessitated, let them con- 
 sider what has been said with reference to the order in 
 which discrimination and unification are developed. They 
 will see that the free act of Analysis implies only the pos- 
 sible forms of determinate Synthesis, not their actual 
 development, as an antecedent condition of its own ex- 
 ercise. 
 
 6. Finally, it must be urged that Analysis is opposed 
 to the natural indolence of the mind, as has before been 
 shown, and the teacher must be prepared to present many 
 varieties of stimulus, and adapt them to the condition, 
 native power, and stage of development of each pupil. 
 The kinds of stimulus that may be presented and the 
 manner of presenting them under different conditions 
 have been set forth in a general way, but a systematic 
 treatment of these subjects belongs properly to the prov- 
 ince of Methods. But, with all the help one can get from 
 books and teachers, he must rely largely on his own in- 
 
ANALYSIS IN VOLITION. 323 
 
 genuity to discover the actual stimulus best suited to a par- 
 ticular case and the way in which it may be best pre- 
 sented. 
 
 II. TEST THE FORMS OF SYNTHESIS. 
 
 1. Having dwelt so minutely on the importance of com- 
 pelling the mind to analyze, it will not be necessary to go 
 to the same length of details in showing the importance 
 of securing clear and exact Synthetic forms. We have 
 already learned that Analysis and Synthesis are always 
 associated, and if we see the importance of clearness of 
 Unification in one instance, it will be easy to apply the 
 same reasoning to all Synthesis. 
 
 2. Important as thoroughness of Analysis is, it is worth- 
 less unless accompanied by a proper Synthesis. Indeed, 
 it is the unification alone that has fixed value, for it alone 
 is the element of mental growth, and the analysis is valu- 
 able only in relation to this unification. Analysis presents 
 variety, and Synthesis can only contain what Analysis 
 gives; but unless the elements of Analysis are unified, 
 and rightly unified, they lose their importance. But, as 
 we have seen, the energy of discrimination is not always 
 held in conscious activity until unified, and often only the 
 less important differences are unified, while those that are 
 really important, partly from obscurity, partly from imper- 
 fect analysis, and partly from lack of active energy, are 
 lost to consciousness, and a distorted, useless, or partial 
 unity is the result. 
 
 3. Not only are there distortion, uselessness, and par- 
 tiality, but the mind, working in accordance with the 
 Laws of Degradation, naturally tends to rest in such im- 
 perfect results. The analytic energy must be constandy 
 
324 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Stimulated, in order to maintain activity in sufficient vari- 
 ety to lead to correct unification. When a proper Syn- 
 thesis is completed, there is no need of further analysis. 
 Thus the forms of Synthetic unity are a test of analysis. 
 If this unity is satisfactory, we cease to analyze. For in- 
 stance : An ordinary observer in a forest only seeks to 
 recognize different kinds of trees, as oak, pine, maple, 
 and so forth, and distinguishes one tree from another only 
 with reference to this classification. When he is able to 
 identify each tree in this way, he is satisfied. But the 
 shipwright must know the different kinds of oak, for he 
 must identify a wood that is hard and strong, and that will 
 resist the action of the elements. The ship of which he 
 thinks has, not simply a keel of oak, but it is live-oak, 
 and he must learn to discriminate a live-oak tree. The 
 unity of the ship properly built determines the limit of his 
 desire to discriminate. But the mind is ever falling short 
 of perfect unities of thought. As only the most expert 
 builders learn to distinguish minutely between different 
 grades of material and kinds of workmanship, so the minds 
 of men in general are satisfied with imperfect forms of 
 thought and action. 
 
 4. The relative importance that belongs to the two ele- 
 ments, Analysis and Synthesis, is unequally recognized in 
 different mental activities. We have seen how analysis is 
 almost wholly ignored in considering the will. On the 
 other hand, the place which Synthesis occupies in cogni- 
 tion is much obscured or entirely lost sight of. Indeed, 
 methods of investigation and subjects of study have been 
 classified as Analytic or Synthetic, much as though but 
 one of these elements of activity could belong to the 
 same subject or method. Such a classification is justifi- 
 able only in the case of methods and subjects where one 
 of the elements is so easy and natural as to be taken for 
 
SYNTHESIS TO BE TESTED. 325 
 
 granted, while the other requires the principal part of the 
 energy to make the subject clear. But sometimes even 
 when the energy is mainly required in one of these di- 
 rections, care is needed to prevent obscurity and error 
 arising from imperfect development in the other. In the 
 exercise of cognition we need to be sure that the ele- 
 ments of thought, which are easily conceived, are properly 
 united. A description of some object, an historical ac- 
 count, an explanation of some process, may be followed 
 with the entire attention and an apparently perfect under- 
 standing, and yet lead to no clear conception of the whole ; 
 or there may be even an entirely erroneous conclusion. 
 
 5. We have seen the importance of unification as be- 
 longing to every mental activity, and have examined the 
 Laws in accordance with which the mind unifies, and we 
 have also seen that the forms of Synthesis are a test of 
 Analysis. But it is difficult to determine when a child has 
 gained a complete Synthetic form. This is especially true 
 when children are taught in classes. What has been said 
 before needs to be repeated here with emphasis, that 
 pupils to be reached at all, must be reached as individ- 
 uals. The working of the individual mind must be 
 studied, to know what forms of thought are passing 
 through it. These forms can be seen only in the child's 
 expression of them. Therefore we must regard Expres- 
 sion as the test of unification. Individual expression 
 must be called out again and again, with various lights 
 and shades, to show exactly what the thought is, as this 
 is the only thing that can be trusted as satisfactory evi- 
 dence of the forms of thought. This is one of the chief 
 ends of questioning, and is not second in importance to 
 that of the development of thought, and rules for methods 
 of questioning should take this end into consideration. 
 
 But expression is found not only in words. It is quite 
 
326 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 as definite in works and conduct. The manner in which 
 one expresses himself best must be taken as the surest 
 indication of the completeness of his thought; and habits 
 of speaking, writing, doing, making things, and proper 
 behavior, should be cultivated, that children may be able 
 to express themselves most appropriately under all the cir- 
 cumstances of hfe. But at least some test of expression 
 should always we exacted, and it should not be taken for 
 granted that one child has unified a thought because an- 
 other is able to express it with propriety. 
 
 III. SEEK THE HIGHER FORMS OF UNIFICATION. 
 
 1. We have seen the necessity for Synthesis, to secure 
 permanency of form in mental growth, in the General 
 Law and elsewhere. But there are degrees of perfection 
 in the forms of unification, and grades of unities. The 
 conception of a piece of metal as gold, because it is yel- 
 low, is an imperfect identification, because there must be 
 other qualities to make it gold. To call the piece gold is 
 a higher identification than to call it metal, for it identifies 
 a larger number of characteristics and implies more 
 knowledge of the piece so named. To call a man a ra- 
 tional being is a higher identification than to call him an 
 animal, for it identifies the higher characteristics of his 
 nature. Synthesis is made more perfect by making 
 analysis more complete, and this point has been suffi- 
 ciently elaborated; it is raised in grade by identifying 
 with more comprehensive or higher ends. 
 
 2. We may see the importance of identifying things 
 with reference to comprehensive ends illustrated in the 
 study of the grammar of a language. If studied only 
 with reference to the forms of words, it appeals to but a 
 narrow range of mental activities, and develops but a 
 
HIGHER UNITIES TO BE SOUGHT. 327 
 
 narrow mind. The importance of a comprehensive end 
 does not imply inability to find enough in more limited 
 spheres to engage our time, but upon- the fact that only 
 the more comprehensive ends call forth our powers in all 
 their variety. The German scholar who is said to have 
 lamented that he had squandered his life in attempting to 
 investigate the whole of Greek accidence, when he might 
 have accomplished something if he had confined himself 
 to the dative case, would certainly have found enough in 
 this to keep him busy; but he would have been only the 
 more completely shut out from the great world of thought 
 in which his fellow men were moving, and for which his 
 own mind was clearly designed. If the facts and laws 
 of grammar can not be made to appear as elements in 
 the expression of thought, and unified with the most com- 
 prehensive view of mental development as manifest in 
 speech, it is not of sufficient consequence to be taught. 
 But the true study of grammar is the study of thought 
 expressed in the form of words, and when this compre- 
 hensive end is kept in view, the study is of great educa- 
 tional value. 
 
 The importance of unities of a high order may be 
 seen by considering the different ends set before the 
 young to stimulate them to activity. With the same 
 natural endowments and industry, children brought up at 
 the court of kings gain a more commanding ability than 
 a poor peasant boy who never has the opportunity of 
 learning the methods and principles that are involved in 
 governing a state. One may acquire great skill in laying 
 brick or braiding straw, it will not save him from the 
 necessity of economizing his expenses and practicing 
 much self-denial, unless he also learns how such things 
 stand related to the greater enterprises of life, and occu- 
 pies his skill in seeking to achieve some higher end. The 
 
328 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 merchant who appears at his best in selling a spool of 
 thread or a paper of pins, the scholar who can do nothing 
 else as well as he can add a column of figures or parse a 
 sentence, the general who thinks of nothing but drilling a 
 battalion, will never accomplish much good for the world. 
 It must not be inferred that perfection in trifles is under- 
 rated, but trifles should not be the end one seeks; and the 
 highest practical perfection even in trifles, can only be 
 gained when they are considered in their relations to great 
 results. The great end should be kept in view, to shape 
 the trifling act. 
 
 3. From the above considerations we may learn the 
 importance of prudence in the choice of subjects of 
 thought and study, and of giving our best thoughts to the 
 highest ends. There is great range for choice, but there 
 are also Hmitations that call for wisdom in choosing. 
 One should consider first, what things are in themselves 
 most worthy; secondly, what things he has capacity for; 
 thirdly, what things are fundamental to the greatest va- 
 riety of results ; and fourthly, what things fit in with the 
 active influences around him. 
 
 a. Under the first head should be placed, first of all, 
 the development of moral character. Unification has 
 been commended for giving permanency to forms of 
 activity. Moral character is the basis of all trust, because 
 it is found to be the most constant and persistent force in 
 the intellectual constitution. It is unification of the 
 highest order. Without it there is no stability or cer- 
 tainty in human action. Not only should sound moral 
 principles be inculcated theoretically, but honesty and in- 
 tegrity should characterize all study, work, and conduct. 
 
 After the development of moral character should be 
 placed that of the other intellectual powers. How far 
 these should be treated with equal consideration to secure 
 
HIGHEST UNITIES TO BE SOUGHT. 329 
 
 symmetry, and how far some specialty should be given 
 the preference to secure pre-eminence in some one thing 
 or because of special fitness of native capacity, must be 
 left to be settled for individual cases. The Laws of 
 Correlation warn us in one direction, and the Laws of 
 Limitation in the other. The extensive range of subjects 
 at present used for intellectual development has led to 
 much controversy as to what has the highest claims upon 
 our schools. Considered with reference to their intrinsic 
 value for purposes of intellectual development, the Laws 
 of Development ought to help us in arriving at some con- 
 clusion. Without entering upon this controversy, how- 
 ever, two cautions may be suggested in regard to the 
 study of the Natural Sciences. In the first place, there is 
 an undoubted tendency to study them with low aims. 
 The effect of this should be guarded against, as it may be, 
 by giving a due portion of time and energy to the study 
 of the intellectual sciences, history, and literature, and by 
 seeking to give the true place to the physical in its rela- 
 tions to other orders of being. In the second place, there 
 is danger that the study of material forms may be resorted 
 to from indolence. Since they appeal directly to the 
 senses, the unifications are easier, and if one does not at- 
 tain to the highest eminence, he can at least make some 
 progress with less expenditure of energy; and a portion of 
 their attractiveness, it is to be feared, is dependent upon 
 the Laws of Degradation. The further these sciences are 
 advanced the less liable they are to this danger, and in 
 teaching them the highest results of the sciences should 
 be sought. 
 
 Study devoted to what are called the practical ends of 
 life should be placed last in educational importance, and 
 subsidiary to the other ends. But these may be so bound 
 up with moral responsibilities as to place them among the 
 
 S. E. 28. 
 
33© THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 first, with moral character. When one places himself, or 
 is placed by the necessary conditions of life, under practi- 
 cal obligations to others, practical results are the highest 
 ends for which he can strive. All else should bend to the 
 call of duty. 
 
 b. In considering the adaptation of one's powers we 
 should not be hasty in judgment, but consider that until 
 there has been a fair trial of each it is unjust to decide 
 with positiveness which is capable of most. All should 
 be tested in youth, that when the responsibilities of life 
 come the powers that are required may be used to the 
 best advantage, and one may be able to tell what he can 
 best do. The highest skill can be attained only in that for 
 which one is best adapted. 
 
 c. In asking what things are fundamental to the greatest 
 variety of results we seek comprehensiveness. It may be 
 said in general that the subjects taught in schools have 
 been proved by long experience and extensive use to be 
 adapted in the highest degree to the various purposes of 
 life. It was for this reason they were adopted, and it is 
 for this reason they have maintained their position through 
 the centuries. Schools and studies were not originally in- 
 vented to discipline the mind of the young, but to render 
 them capable of certain necessary things. As capacity 
 for self-defense and for acquiring the things desired grad- 
 ually changed from the physical to the intellectual — as 
 Sallust has said with respect to military power— the intel- 
 lectual element encroached upon the physical. The term 
 Liberal Education points to this fact. A liberal education 
 was one that was adapted to a free man, liberalis homo. 
 It embraced those things that enabled one to live a life 
 becoming a free man, being largely intellectual, but em- 
 bracing also the manual art of war, for a free man must 
 be a soldier. Slaves were instructed in the arts of servile 
 
HIGHEST UNITIES TO BE SOUGHT. 33 1 
 
 life. In this way the studies of the schools have had 
 their beginning and growth. Those that have proved 
 their worth by centuries of the highest usefulness should 
 not be thoughtlessly thrown out of the school curriculum. 
 It should first be clearly shown that they are less use- 
 ful in the present condition of things than others that 
 might take their place, and then they should be exchanged 
 without hesitation. 
 
 A few subjects should be specially named. Number, 
 form, and mechanical force lie at the foundation of the 
 physical universe in our conception of it, and it does not 
 seem possible ever to supersede them. Therefore the 
 Sciences of Arithmetic, Geometry, and Mechanics lie at 
 the foundation of a true understanding of all physics. 
 These studies should be given pre-eminence in any course 
 for the understanding of the material universe. 
 
 d. The young should be instructed in the thoughts that 
 have engaged the minds of men in the past, for quite an- 
 other reason than because they are likely to be, in their 
 very nature, fundamental to a large variety of ends. The 
 race is making steady progress towards some goal. There 
 are blunders here and failures there, but, like the Alpine 
 glacier, winding its sinuous way around cliffs, through 
 gorges, over granite barriers, and anon spreading itself 
 into a vast sea, but ever moving its mass downward a lit- 
 tle nearer the sunny plain below, where its liquid ice melts 
 and unites with the rain that falls from heaven ; so the 
 dull and formless intellect of man is ever moving slowly 
 but surely forward; now solving some great problem of 
 the universe, and now overcoming some hard physical 
 obstacle; and the mass will ever continue to move for- 
 ward until each individual is able to identify all truth, as 
 a drop of water from the glacier moves and mingles freely 
 with all the waters of the boundless ocean. Without 
 
332 THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 
 
 necessity for the same mistakes and loss of time, it has 
 been shown that the mind of the individual is developed 
 along the same lines as the intelligence of the race, and 
 individual progress is in this direction. If then the child 
 is to be developed in harmony with the most truly pro- 
 gressive forces about him, he must be made acquainted 
 with the thoughts that survive time. He should be made 
 familiar with whatever is classic in literature, science, 
 and art. 
 
 4. It has been shown that the natural tendency of men- 
 tal energy is to drop from higher to lower forms of 
 activity. Nature has many ways of economizing force 
 and saving it from dissipation. Growing vegetation stores 
 up heat that would otherwise be lost in space; forces in- 
 terchange with each other and are preserved; the waters 
 of the sea expand and rise, and are carried back upon the 
 mountain to restore there the conditions of life; mist, clouds, 
 and dust in the atmosphere check the loss of heat by ra- 
 diation and return it to the earth ; but still it requires all 
 the mighty force of the sun's heat and light to make up 
 for the waste that comes in spite of all this economy. It 
 need not be considered strange if, in such a world, it re- 
 quires constant effort to keep the energy of the mind up 
 to the plane of its highest possible achievement. The 
 Law of Mental Degradation is as inexorable as the Law 
 of Gravitation of Matter. Indolence is first to be over- 
 come; next, waywardness, — the disposition to give way to 
 every passing impulse in thought, feeling, and action, — 
 must be fought. Then comes -the struggle against the 
 tendency to seek low aims and form low habits, that ab- 
 sorb and dissipate all the strength of manhood. The 
 power to inspire a young soul with noble impulses is a 
 qualification of the first rank. Tlien there will be the 
 temptation to take the easiest road to apparent success, 
 
HIGHEST UNITIES TO BE SOUGHT. 
 
 333 
 
 rather than the harder road to certain eminence. And, 
 finally, there will be a demand for that judicious advice 
 that, adding the tenderest parental interest to professional 
 pride, seeks to aid the young man in his choice of his 
 life work, where the best that is in him may find its best 
 expression. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Note. — Full-face figures refer 
 are to subdivisions of chapters. 
 
 Ability, extraordinary, late de- 
 velopment of, 104, ( VIII.). 
 
 Abstraction, defined, 27. 
 
 Acquisitive faculty, described, 
 69,/; how developed, 215, i. 
 
 Activity, kinds of, 37. 
 
 Activity, mental, 37, d; sus- 
 tained by diversity, 81, L. IV.; 
 exhausts vitality, 83, L. V.; 
 direction of, 161, L. II. ; im- 
 portance of completing, 167, 
 
 (I)- 
 
 Activity, native, 99, et seq.; 
 known as self-activity, 99, i ; 
 source, 99, L. I.; how devel- 
 oped, 105, L. II.; how stimu- 
 lated, 106, (I); 107, (III.); 
 how directed, 108, L. Ill; 
 119, L. IV.; natural stimulus 
 of, 1 19, ( I. ) ; rewards and pun- 
 ishments, 120, ( II.); gradation 
 of stimuli, 120, ( III.); but one 
 method employed, 130, ( IV.). 
 
 Adaptation, important, 47, obs ; 
 330, b; not always revealed 
 early, ib. 
 
 Altruistic feelings, 251, (7) ; 
 252. 
 
 Analysis, a discrimination, 9, 4 ; 
 stimulated by differences, 13; 
 mind strengthened by, 18, 13; 
 order of, 128, (I.); 130, 
 (IV.); to be stimulated and 
 directed, 316, et seq.; deter- 
 mines the character of feelings, 
 317, 4; of will, 319, 5; op- 
 posed to indolence, 322, 6. 
 
 to the page, and other references 
 L. stands for Law. 
 
 Analysis and synthesis, 7, etseq.; 
 associated in every complete 
 thought, 12 ; actual and repre- 
 sentative, and real and ration- 
 al, 28, 7. 
 
 A posteriori and a priori, 32; 
 33. 
 
 Approbation, an early motive, 
 269, (I.). 
 
 A priori, uncertainty concerning 
 the term, 91, (3) ; see a poste- 
 riori. 
 
 Art, a unification of volition, 
 310, L. III. ; higher than 
 conception, 311, L. IV.; see 
 science. 
 
 Association, cause of reproduc- 
 tion, 220, 4; how strength- 
 ened, 220, L. I.; 221, L. II.; 
 222, L. III. ; how weakened, 
 224, L. IV. ; direction of ac- 
 tivities affects, 225, L. V. 
 
 Attention, importance of, recog- 
 nized, 181; what it is, 182; 
 directed by will, 162, obs.; se- 
 quence of, 183, 4; how to se- 
 cure, 183, 5; excited by emo- 
 tion, 184, L. I.; 191, (i); 
 by pain, 185, (i); by curiosity, 
 188, et seq.; arbitrary stimuli, 
 187; adaptation of stimuli by 
 Tate, 190, ( V.) ; rational stim- 
 uli, 190, L. II.; power of de- 
 velopment, 192, L. III.; stimuli 
 of, graded, 197, ( VII.) ; more 
 easy with exercise of senses, 
 77, I. 
 
 (335) 
 
33^ 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Attribute, defined, 26. 
 Authority, basis of trust in, 94, 
 
 (11.). 
 
 Body, development of not in- 
 cluded in science of education, 
 39, 6 ; condition of affects the 
 mind, 55, 4; organs of, the 
 source of first impression, 71, 
 L. I. 
 
 Breadth, mental, 200; how de- 
 veloped, 200, L. I. ; see skill. 
 
 Brevity, an aid to conservation, 
 168. 
 
 Capacity, differences in, 78, 
 (III.). 
 
 Category, distinguished from uni- 
 ty, 138, 7, et seq. 
 
 Causes, kinds of, 238, 8, et seq. ; 
 isolation of, 241, 13. 
 
 Character, influenced uncon- 
 sciously, ^%obs. ; formed early, 
 88, (V.) 
 
 Civilization, progress of, 93, 
 (I.). 
 
 Classification, an act of judg- 
 ment, 235; under general no- 
 tions, 235. 5. 
 
 Cognitions, defined, 57, a; clas- 
 sified, 58, 59; Laws applied to 
 development of, 215, et seq. 
 
 Complex, see simple. 
 
 Concept, a priori, Kant's ex- 
 planation of, 63, 4. 
 
 Concept and conception,defined, 
 28 ; developed through the 
 senses, 71, L. I. ; rules for de- 
 velopment of, 73; aided by ex- 
 actness, 74; variety of, depend- 
 ent on the senses, 82. 
 
 Conduct, a unification of volition, 
 313, L. v.; the highest unifi- 
 cation of mind, 313, L. VI. 
 
 Conscience, its character, 272, 
 ( v.); its supreme importance, 
 lb.; how developed, ih. 
 
 Consciousness, slow growth of, 
 40; term for in Latin, 41; dis- 
 tinguished from mind, 41; 
 Hamilton's definition of, 41, 
 
 4; distinguished from faculty, 
 
 42, b ; expressed by the neuter 
 verb, 42, 5, 7; words express- 
 ing modifications of, 92, C, 
 (I); defined, 42, 6; laws of, 
 86, et seq. ; beginnings of, 86, 
 L. L;87, ( 11. ); gradually de- 
 veloped, 89, L. II.; limit of 
 development of, 93, (2); deg- 
 radation of, 97, L. V; laws of, 
 applied to acquisitive faculty, 
 216, (3). 
 
 Conservation, by unification, 
 
 166, L. IV. ; by classification, 
 
 167, ( IL); by brevity, 168. 
 Copula, represents consciousness, 
 
 43, 7 ; modifiers of, ib. ; 92, 
 
 (I). 
 
 Corporal punishment, the most 
 arbitrary stimulus to activity, 
 121. 
 
 Correlation, applied to mental 
 energy, 159, i ; of kinetic en- 
 ergy, 160, L. I. 
 
 Course of studies, how devel- 
 oped, 330, c; not to be thought- 
 lessly changed, 331. 
 
 Criticism, destructive and con- 
 structive, 158, (11). 
 
 Curiosity, nature of, 188, (i); 
 faults of, 188, (2), (3) ; methods 
 of treating, 189, (4). 
 
 Deduction, 31, c ; and induction, 
 32, d; character of, 244, 17; 
 depends on notion of causation, 
 ib. 
 
 Deductive, defined, 30. 
 
 Definitions, when to be given, 
 74. 
 
 Degradation, 159, et seq.; from 
 incomplete consciousness, 96, 
 (I.), (II.); law of, 97; through 
 the feelings, 273, ( VI.) ; from 
 weak literature and conversa- 
 tion, 275; in the direction of 
 least resistance, 163, L. III. ; 
 effect of indulgence, 169, L. 
 v.; to be opposed, 332, 4; 
 shown historically, 275, ( IX.). 
 
INDEX. 
 
 337 
 
 Development, not transmission 
 of force, 38, 4; mental, cause 
 of, 63, 4 ; key to the science 
 of, ib.; requires unity and vari- 
 ety, 65, 7 ; beginnings of, 69, 
 2 ; time for, 211. 
 
 Discoveries, dependent on new 
 discriminations, 130, (V.). 
 
 Discrimination, lowest act of 
 consciousness, 9, 4 ; 126, L. 
 II. ; 127, L. III. ; an analysis, 
 9, 4; implies a unification, ib. ; 
 insures good teaching, 122, i ; 
 what it is, 122, 2 ; laws of, 
 123, et seq.; foundation for, 
 123, L. I.; implies the power, 
 not the development of unifica- 
 tion, 122, 2; 129, (II.); rules 
 for development of, 130, 132; 
 useless without unification, 
 131, (VI.) ; accuracy in, 132; 
 direction of, 148, (I.); simple, 
 required for children, 154; 
 see analysis. 
 
 Discrimination and unification, 
 laws of, applied to acquisitive 
 faculty, 216, (4). 
 
 Dissipation, physical, 165, (I.); 
 mental, ib. ; prevention of, 
 166, (II.); J^ot annihilation 
 of force, 218, i. 
 
 Drill, use of, 81, (VI.) 
 
 Education, a development, 7, 2 ; 
 36, 3; 43, 9 ; character of evo- 
 lution, 66, 9 ; time for extend- 
 ed, 43, 9. 
 
 Education, industrial, 302,(11.) ; 
 to be broadened in scope, ib. et 
 seq. 
 
 Education, liberal, meaning of, 
 330, c. 
 
 Education, science of, the sci- 
 ence of a process, 7, 25 ; not a 
 psychology, 7, 8 ; not physio- 
 logical, 38, 5; mental, 39, 6; 
 limits of, 44, i. 
 
 Ego, defined, 34. 
 
 Egoistic feelings, 255, (ii). 
 
 Elaborative faculty, 58, b. 
 S. E.— 29. 
 
 Empirical, defined, 30. 
 Energy, kinetic, 159, i ; latent, 
 
 44, i; 159, i; developed in 
 accordance with fixed laws, 
 
 45, 2; vital, 82, et seq. 
 Energy, mental, related to vital 
 
 force, 82, et seq.; loss of, 97; 
 conservation of, 157, L. III. ; 
 161, (II.), (III.); activity of, 
 accumulated, 160, (I.). 
 Energy, native, real, 45, 2; lim- 
 ited, 45, et seq. ; depends on 
 the senses for development, 
 48, L. V. ; time for develop- 
 ment of, variable, 46, obs. 
 Excitement, 193, et seq. 
 Exercise, 199, etseq.; three class- 
 es of changes by, 199, 3 ; laws 
 of, 202, €t seq. ; applied to ac- 
 quisitive faculty, 216, (2) ; to 
 will, 292, et seq. 
 Expression, evidence of thought, 
 105, (IX.) ; best forms of, 
 326. 
 Faculties defined, 26 ; classifica- 
 tion, 57 ; limitation of, 206, L, 
 I., II.; sequence of, 170, L. I.; 
 172, L. II. ; early beginning 
 of, 171, (II.). 
 Fatalism, 320. 
 
 Feelings, defined, 57, b ; classi- 
 fied, 59, 4; sequence of, 60; 
 248, 2, 3 ; late to be recog- 
 nized, 248, 2 ; classifications 
 of, not satisfactory, 249, (i); 
 classified in order of depend- 
 ence, 249, et seq. ; tabulated, 
 252; organic, 249, (2); 252, 
 (8); of the senses, 250, (3), 
 (9); contemplative, 250, (5); 
 
 254, (10); practical, 251, (6); 
 
 255, (11), et seq. ; lowest prac- 
 tical to be stimulated in chil- 
 dreh, 267, (II.) 5 practical 
 higher than contemplative, 
 265; begin in pain, 259, L. 
 I.; depend on analysis, 265; 
 graded, 264, L. II.; degra- 
 dation of, 273, (VI.); 275. 
 
338 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ( IX,) ; effects of exercise, 266, 
 L. III.; relation to will, 268, 
 L. IV. ; distinguished from 
 cognitions, 247; rest from in- 
 distinctness of, 274. 
 
 Feelings, ethical, 251, (7). 
 
 Feelings, malevolent, 278, et seq. 
 
 Generalization, act of, 235, 5 ; 
 necessary for progress, 243, 
 16. 
 
 General law, development of, 
 62, et seg. ; applied to repro- 
 duction, 220, 4. 
 
 General notion, in classification, 
 235, 5; inexact, ib.; character 
 of, 238, (i) ; relations to par- 
 ticular notions, 238, (2) ; be- 
 gins in obscurity, 237. 
 
 General term, how applied, 
 235, 5 ; relation of to proper 
 names, 236, (3). 
 
 Habits, hasten degradation, 169, 
 L. V. ; of doing, to be culti- 
 vated, 302, (II). 
 
 Heredity, 49, et seq. 
 
 History, sequence inferred from, 
 179,(11.) 
 
 Idea, definition of term, 27, 28 ; 
 effect of new, 167, ( III.) 
 
 Identification, 62, 3; see unifi- 
 cation. 
 
 Identity, personal, sense of, 
 255, (12); feeling of not recog- 
 nized, 256; specialized, 257. 
 
 Image, defined, 27. 
 
 Imagination, defined, 58, c ; in- 
 dividuality of, 229, L. I. ; 
 concrete, 231, ( II.) ; economy 
 of, 230, L. II.; value of, 231, 
 (i) ; aid to consciousness, 232, 
 L. III.; language of, 232, (11); 
 time for development of, 233, 
 (III.) 
 
 Individuality, characteristic of 
 civilization, 62, ( IV.) 
 
 Induction, defined, 26; method 
 of reasoning, 30; and deduc- 
 tion, 32, d; validity of, 237, 
 8; based on notion of causa- 
 
 tion, 238, 8, et seq.; isolation of, 
 causes in, 241, 13 ; causes of 
 error in, 237, 8 ; certainty in 
 difficult, 242, 14 ; a priori no- 
 tions dependent on, 242, 15; 
 essential to progress, 243, 16. 
 
 Judgment, a classification, 235, 
 different standards of applied, 
 179, (I.) 
 
 Kant, his theory of a priori con- 
 cepts, 63, 4. 
 
 Kindergarten, adaptation of to 
 children, 85. 
 
 Knowledge, object of, 43, 8 ; 
 love of, a stimulus, 119. ( I.) ; 
 ultimate nature of act, 136, 2 ; 
 a unification, 137, 4; charac- 
 ter of determined by analysis, 
 317, 3. 
 
 Language, to be developed with 
 experience, 74, ( III.) ; 106, 
 (II.); a unity, 154, ( III.); a 
 unification of volition, 305, I ; 
 309, (III.); law of develop- 
 ment, 307, L. II.; power of, 
 
 308, ( I.); aid to consciousness, 
 
 309, (II.) et seq. 
 
 Laura Bridgman, account of, 
 154, (VII.); education of, 
 164, ( XII.); early appreciation 
 of approbation by, 269, ( I.) ; 
 developed by use of language, 
 307. 
 
 Law, defined, 19, 20; distin- 
 guished from rule and prin- 
 ciple, 21, 22. 
 
 Law, a general, needed for any 
 science, 62, I ; of education, 
 stated, 65. 
 
 Limitations, 205, et seq. ; no 
 proof of unreality, 206, (I.); 
 how compensations are made, 
 207, (III.); makes classifica- 
 tions necessary, 208, ( II.). 
 
 Love, as a feeling, 261, (7) ; 
 258, (14) ; the climax of feel- 
 ings, 276, (X.); degradation 
 ofi 276, ( IX.) ; how devel- 
 oped, 277, ( XI.). 
 
INDEX. 
 
 339 
 
 Memorizing, time and manner 
 of, 221, ^/ seq. 
 
 Memory, defined, 59, e. 
 
 Methods of teaching, improper- 
 ly based on Psychology, 7, 2 ; 
 need of a science of mental de- 
 velopment for, 8 ; flexible, 52, 
 (III.); and order of nature, 94. 
 
 Mind, activity of, 37, d ; and 
 other forms of activity, 37; 
 sustained by diversity, 81, L. 
 IV. ; relations to vitality, 83 ; 
 progress of forms of, 331, d. 
 
 Moral character, permanency of, 
 328, a. 
 
 Motives, rational, stimulate at- 
 tention, 191, ( II.) ; opposed 
 to feeling, 192, ( I.) ; perma- 
 nent, 191, ( III.) ; 196, (IV.). 
 
 Nature, order of, 94. 
 
 Nervous system, to be cared for, 
 48, obs, ; growth of, 69 ; or- 
 ganization of, 69, 70. 
 
 Notion, defined, 27. 
 
 Object and objective, defined, 
 84. 
 
 Observation, habits of to be cul- 
 tivated, 75. 
 
 Opportunities, limited, 209, L. 
 III. ; lost, 210. ( II.). 
 
 Order, liked by pupils, 191, 
 ( I.) ; rational, an aid to mem- 
 ory, 223, (I.) ; dependent on 
 mental characteristics, 223, 
 (II.) 
 
 Fain, stimulates attention, 185, 
 (I.); see pleasure; beginning 
 of feelings, 260, ( I.) ; obstruc- 
 tive, 260, (II.); to be used 
 with care, 262 ; as a natural 
 result, to be presented, ib. ; 
 to be followed by pleasure, 
 263, (III.). 
 
 Parables, models of adaptation, 
 198. 
 
 Pasteur, his method of investi- 
 gation, 241, 13. 
 
 Physiological relations, 55, et 
 seq. 
 
 Physiology, distinct from men- 
 tal science, 69, 2. 
 
 Pleasure and pain, arbitrary, a 
 stimulus, 187. 
 
 Power, sense of, 255, ( 11.) ; as 
 a motive, 269, (II.); in suc- 
 cess, 270. 
 
 Principle, defined, 18, 19 ; gen- 
 eral, how developed, 62, 3 ; 
 see law. 
 
 Prizes, as a motive, 270, (III.). 
 
 Psychology, 7, 2. 
 
 Quality, defined, 26. 
 
 Questioning, rules for, 107, et 
 seq.; 110, et seq.; rules for, 
 112; illustrations of, 113, C; 
 Socratic, illustrated, 115, et 
 seq. 
 
 Questions, what leading are nec- 
 essary, 109, (II.); ai"^ of» 
 107, ( III.) ; form of, ib. ; dis- 
 crimination in, 107, R. I ; va- 
 riety, 107, R. 2 ; complete- 
 ness of series, 108, R. 3, 
 (IV.). 
 
 Beal and rational, 28. 
 
 Reason, gives principles of rea- 
 soning, 245 ; order and devel- 
 opment of, ib. 
 
 Beasoning, 233, I, et seq. ; what 
 it is, 234, 2; act of, 234, 4; 
 see inductive and deductive. 
 
 Recollection, defined, 58, d. 
 
 Recreation, and rest, 134. 
 
 Reflection, required for unifica- 
 tion, 11, 9 ; 156, ( II.) ; Daniel 
 Webster quoted on, 156, (II.). 
 
 Reflex action, 70, 4. 
 
 Religious feelings, how classi- 
 fied, 251, (7). 
 
 Representation, 227, et seq. ; not 
 reproduction, 228, 2 ; uses of, 
 
 228, I, 3; development of, 
 
 229, 4; forms of interchanged, 
 
 230, ( I.) ; philosophical, 230, 
 ( 11.) ; see imagination. 
 
 Reproduction, the proof of re- 
 tention, 219, 2; laws of, 219, 
 et seq. ; how aided, 225, (I.), 
 
340 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 etseq.; sequence of, 226, (VI.); 
 see association. 
 
 Besponsibility, feeling of, 257, 
 (13); moral and commercial, 
 ib.; beginning of, 258 ; devel- 
 opment of, ib. ; its rank as a 
 motive, 271, ( IV.). 
 
 Retention, out of consciousness, 
 218, I ; see reproduction. 
 
 Beviews, needed for memory, 
 224, ( IL). 
 
 Rewards and pvmishment, 120, 
 (II.). 
 
 Rule, defined, 18 ; see law. 
 
 Science, need of exact definition 
 of, 17; and philosophy and 
 art, 17, et seq. ; sequence of, 
 23 ; stages of, 23, 24. 
 
 Self-activity, see activity, native. 
 
 Self-concern, 255, ( II.). 
 
 Belf-consciousness, late in devel- 
 opment, 218, 4; how devel- 
 oped, ib.; feeling of to be guard- 
 ed against, 282, (7). 
 
 Senses, progressively developed 
 in the race, 40, 2; their nature, 
 71, 6; source of distinct men- 
 tal forms, 71, L. I,; need of 
 discrimination, 72, (I.) ; source 
 of first ideas, 73, (11.); and 
 language, 74, (III.); use of, 
 facilitates activity, 75, L. II. ; 
 and abstraction, 77; and dis- 
 crimination, 123, L. I., (I.). 
 
 Sequence, natural, 170; of fac- 
 ulties, 170, L. I. ; of studies, 
 171,(1.); 173, ^/j^^.; of facts, 
 175, (II.) J of the simple and 
 complex, 176, L. III. ; of in- 
 dividual, race, and national 
 development, 177, L. IV. ; 
 laws of applied to will, 290, 
 10; applied to acquisitive fac- 
 ulty. 215, (I.). 
 
 Simple and complex, sequence 
 of, 176, L. III. ; relative, 176, 
 ( I.) ; differences in individuals 
 in regard to, 176,(11.); (III.). 
 
 Skill, sometimes great without 
 
 much capacity, 78, ( IV.); se- 
 cured by drill, 81, (VII.); 
 mental like physical, 200; how 
 produced, 203, L. III. ; effect 
 of division of labor, 204, ( II.); 
 and breadth and strength; 204, 
 (III.). 
 
 Space, extension, 124, (IV.); 
 position, 124, ( III.) ; concep- 
 tions of, fundamental, 124 ; 
 effect of on imagination, 125, 
 (V.). 
 
 Strength, mental like physical, 
 200, how produced, 202, L. 
 II.;203, (IL). 
 
 Studies, fundamental, 330. 
 
 Subject and subjective, defined, 
 34. 
 
 Sympathy, danger of dissipation 
 from, 282; (8). 
 
 Synthesis, a unification, 0, 4; 
 a natural tendency, 9, d seq.; 
 14 ; growth by, 63, 3 ; sequence 
 of, 128, (I.); 130, (IV.); of 
 different values, 826, 2; forms 
 of to be tested, 323, et seq.; 
 gives value to analysis, 323, 2 ; 
 limits analysis, 324; obscure 
 in cognition, 324, 4; highest 
 forms to be aimed at, 326, et 
 seq. ; and analysis, not equally 
 recognized, 324, 4 ; seen in ex- 
 pression, 325, 5. 
 
 Training, needed oftener than 
 genius, 210, ( I.). 
 
 Travel, gives larger conceptions, 
 125. 
 
 Trifles, perfection in, 828. 
 
 Truth, defined, 28. 
 
 Unconscions tuition, 63, et seq. ; 
 foundation for activity, 53, L. 
 I.; and character, 54, L. II.; 
 influence of not easily distin- 
 guished from heredity, 53; 
 early, 54, obs. ; source of re- 
 finement, 55, obs. 
 
 Unification, a synthesis, 9, 4; 
 a natural tendency, li^., etseq.; 
 156, (I.); requires time, 11> 
 
INDEX. 
 
 341 
 
 9; requires attention, 12, 10; 
 laws of, 75, et seq. ; difference 
 in powers of, 78, (III.), ( V.) ; 
 unnatural not to be cultivated, 
 80 ; facility in, needed in busi- 
 ness, 80, (VI.); false, 135, 
 (II.); imperfect with children, 
 133, (III.); basis of discrim- 
 ination, 121, 2; 136, l; 145, 
 L. I.; defined, 137, 3; con- 
 serves energy, 157, L. III. ; 
 166, 167; see synthesis. 
 
 Unit and unity distinguished, 
 138, 6. 
 
 Unities of thought, higher than 
 sensation, 65, 8; distinguished 
 from units, 138, 6; from cate- 
 gories, 138, 7 et seq.; devel- 
 oped gradually, 142, et seq.; 
 value of higher, 144, 18; nat- 
 ural, 148, et seq.; factitious, 
 150, et seq.; arrangement of for 
 instruction, 152, et seq, ; lan- 
 guage, 154, ( VII.) ; values of 
 differ, 326, 2; highest, 326, 
 et seq. ; how determined, 328, 
 
 3. 
 Variety, necessary for children, 
 
 84, (II.); 132, (I.); see dis- 
 crimination. 
 
 Volitions, defined, 57, <:; grades 
 of, 299, L. 11. ; motives of va- 
 rious, 299, (I.); worst mo- 
 tives not pressed too far, 300, 
 ( II.) ; development of to com- 
 pleteness, 301, L, III.; charac- 
 ter of determined by analysis, 
 319, 5; obscurity of analysis 
 in, 324,4. 
 
 Volitions, rational, nature of, 
 
 289, 9 ; late in development, 
 
 290, 291 ; degraded when not 
 complete, 297, (II.) ; see will. 
 
 "Will, 286, et seq. ; distinguished 
 from feeling, 61; sequence of, 
 61, 6; 296, L. I.; breadth, 
 strength, and facility, 292, i ; 
 the highest power, 302, ( I.) ; 
 forms of unities of, 305, et 
 seq. ; freedom of, 320, 321 ; 
 self-determining power of, 284, 
 I ; not duly considered in edu- 
 cation, 285, 2; directs atten- 
 tion, 162, obs. 
 
 "Wonder, beginning of contem- 
 plative feelings, 254, (10). 
 
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES. 
 
 Published by VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO., Cincinnati and New York, 
 
 MILNE'S MATHEMATICS. 
 
 MILNE'S FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC. 
 
 i2mo, 144 pp. Price, 22 cents ; postage and mailing, 4 cents. 
 
 MILNE'S ELEMENTARY ARITHMETIC. 
 
 i2mo, 205 pp. Price, 35 cents ; postage and mailing, 6 cents. 
 
 MILNE'S PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC. 
 
 i2mo, 391 pp. Price, 50 cents ; postage and mailing, 8 cents. 
 
 MILNE'S ALGEBRA. 
 
 i2mo, cloth, 347 pp. Price, 80 cents ; postage and mailing, 13 cents. 
 
 Characteristic Features. — Milne's Arithmetics ai-e prepared upon 
 the Inductive Method. By this method the teacher'' s work is reduced to 
 the minimum, and the scholar's progress increased to the maximum. 
 
 The arrangement of subjects and their treatment is strictly logical 
 and philosophical. 
 
 They are nezv, fresh, original, and progressive. They conform to 
 improved methods of teaching, and to modern business transactions and 
 practices. Obsolete methods and matter are discarded, and new feat- 
 ures are introduced. 
 
 They are practical and reliable in every department. 
 
 The ^'^ First Lessons'''' and the '■'■ PracticaP^ form a complete course in 
 Arithmetic. The ^* Elementary'''' is designed for schools in which the 
 pupils are taught the first principles of numbers orally ; for the use 
 of those pupils who remain in school only long enough to learn the 
 arithmetical processes employed in ordinary business ; and to supply a 
 book intermediate between the other books, which shall give a thor- 
 ough preparatory drill for the more difficult work of the "Practical." 
 
 Milne's Inductive Algebra includes all upon the subject that is 
 taught in a course in Mathematics in the schools and colleges, and 
 with it it is possible, without requiring an undue amount of work 
 from the pupils or teacher, to complete the course in every school. 
 Algebra may thus become a most popular and successful branch of 
 study even in the most unfavorably situated school. The following 
 points of superiority are noted : 
 
 The book is especially noteworthy for its brief and accurate definitions, 
 clear and logical explanations, exact and concise statement of prin- 
 ciples, simplicity and limited number of rules, abundant and varied 
 exercises, frequent and thorough reviews, and numerous and carefully 
 selected test questions. 
 
 es^By the use of Milne's Inductive Arithmetics, and Milne's Ele- 
 ments of Algebra, the course in Arithmetic and Algebra may now 
 be completed in the time heretofore given to Arithmetic alone. 
 
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES. 
 
 Published by VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO., Cincinnati and New York. 
 
 ECLECTIC MANUAL OF METHODS 
 
 FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF TEACHERS. 
 
 How to teach Language. How to teach Grammar. 
 
 How to teach Composition. How to teach Geography. 
 
 How to teach Reading. How to teach History. 
 
 How to teach Arithmetic. How to teach Penmanship. 
 
 How to teach Physiology. 
 
 Especially adapted to assist the many teachers using the text-books of the 
 Eclectic Series. 
 
 This Manual is the outgrowth of numerous requests from young and 
 inexperienced teachers of country schools in nearly every part of the 
 United States, for assistance in their work. While it is, therefore, 
 addressed particularly to this class, it is hoped that it contains many 
 suggestions which will prove useful also to teachers generally. 
 
 During the past few years there has been a strenuous effort made 
 in many States to evolve some degree of symmetry and order out of 
 the chaos in which the ungraded schools have heretofore existed. 
 Superintendents have held meetings, and discussed methods and the 
 proper use of text-books ; they have also, in many cases, issued manu- 
 als to their teachers, setting forth the results of the conferences, and 
 making many valuable suggestions as to the future conduct of the 
 schools. These manuals, although frequently differing in unessential 
 details, agree in recommending a definite and uniform course of 
 study, and, as far as practicable, a uniformity of text-books in classes. 
 
 Wherever these suggestions of the superintendents have been fol- 
 lowed, the schools, without exception, have been improved in char- 
 acter. But many difficulties confront the inexperienced teacher, 
 regarding which he receives no aid from the Superintendents' Manual. 
 Not the least of these, perhaps, is owing to the fact that he does not 
 understand how to use his text-books to the best advantage. 
 
 It has been the endeavor to show, in the Eclectic Manual, what 
 the method is for each subject, and how it should be applied. 
 
 Bound in full cloth ; 262 pages. 
 
 Single specimen copy for examination with a view to first 
 introduction, 60 cents. 
 
 *♦ The Eclectic Manual is a safe and reliable guide for the teacher, 
 whether in the graded or ungraded school."— J. M. GREENWOOD, 
 Supt. Schools, Kansas City. 
 
 ♦* I have examined the Eclectic Manual of Methods and think it 
 well adapted to secure the results aimed at."— H. K. EDSON, Ch, of 
 Didactics, Iowa College. 
 
 "I congratulate you on the Eclectic Manual of Methods. It ought 
 to have a wide sale, and will doubtless be of vast benefit to all classes 
 of teachers, but especially to those who struggle against the heavy 
 odds of unclassified schools."— H. C. SPEER, late State Supt, Kansas, 
 
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES. 
 
 VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO., Publishers, Cincinnati and New York. 
 
 THE ECLECTIC SYSTEM OF DRAWING. 
 
 Freetiand, Industrial, and Perspective. 
 
 By CHRISTINA SULLIVAN. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. — The Eclectic System of Drawing is complete in nine num- 
 bers. No. I is preceded by a three months' course in slate exercises, which are 
 intended to give the pupil some idea of size and form, and some command over the 
 muscles of the hand before commencing the exercises in the book. 
 
 Book I. — Twenty Pages. — First School Year. Location of Points, Connection 
 of Points by Vertical, Horizontal and Oblique Lines. Division of Lines into two 
 equ.il Parts. 
 
 Book II. — Twenty Pages. — Second School Year. Location of Points and Di- 
 visions of Lines into two equal Parts. First Lessons in Tinting with Lines. 
 
 Book III. — Twenty Pages. — Third School Year. Further Practice on the Di- 
 visions given in Book II First Lessons in Curved Lines. 
 
 Book IV. — Twenty Pages. — Fourth School Year. Compound Curves. Leaf 
 Forms Conventionalized. 
 
 Book V.— Twenty-four Pages.— Fifth School Year. Free-hand Construction 
 of the Octagon and Hexagon. Use of Flower and Leaf Forms. 
 
 Book VI. — Twenty-four Pages. — Sixth School Year. Exercises in Original 
 Designs for Surface Decoration. First Lessons in Mechanical Drawing. First 
 Lessons in Perspective. 
 
 Book VII. — Twenty-four Pages. — Seventh School Year. Exercises in Design, 
 Mechanical Drawing and Perspective continued. First Lessons in Drawing from 
 the Object. 
 
 Book VI II.— Twenty-four Pages. — Eighth School Year. Exercises in Design 
 Mechanical Drawing, Perspective and Object Drawing continued. Selections 
 of Designs for Surface Decoration from the Grammar of Ornament. 
 
 Book IX. — Twenty-four Pages. — Ninth School Year. Exercises in Design, 
 Mechanical Drawing, Perspective and Object Drawing continued. Historic Or- 
 nament. 
 
 Manual of Eclectic Drawing, containing full instructions "how to teach 
 the series,'^ yurm'sked free on application, to teachers using the Eclectic System 
 of Drawing. 
 
 The Eclectic System of Drawing meets the real wants of the common 
 schools. It is intended to furnish the necessary basis for special training, but does 
 not require a specialist as teacher. It is, therefore, suited to many places that 
 could not secure the services of a drawing teacher. 
 
 Prices : 
 
 Eclectic System of Drawing. 
 
 Numbers i, 2, 3 per dozen, $1.20. Postage and mailing, 20c. 
 
 Numbers 4, 5 " 1.75. Postage and mailing, 29c. 
 
 Numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 " 2.00. Postage and mailing, 33c. 
 
 Slate Exercises. 
 
 Cards for youngest pupils . . .per doz. sets, .60. Postage and mailing, loc. 
 
 Practice Books, with full directions . . per doz. .50. Postage and mailing, 8c. 
 Prices for drawing material suitable for this series furnished on application. 
 
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES. 
 
 VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO., Publishers, Cincinnati and New York. 
 
 SCIENCE. 
 
 ECLECTIC PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE. 
 
 Accurately illustrated. Special attention given to effects of Narcotics 
 and Stimulants, discussion of habits leading to pain and disease, proper 
 sanitary conditions, etc. Price, 6o c. ; postage and mailing, lo c. 
 
 NORTON'S PHYSICS. 
 
 Elements of Physics for Academies and Common Schools. By 
 S. A. Norton, A. M,, Prof, in Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical 
 College. i2mo, cloth, 286 pp. Price, 80 c. ; postage and mailing, 13 c. 
 
 NORTON'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 The Elements of Natural Philosophy. By S. A. Norton, A. M. 
 A new treatise, embracing latest discoveries to date of publication. 
 i2mo, cloth, 458 pp. Price, $1.10; postage and mailing, 18 c. 
 
 NORTON'S CHEMISTRY. 
 
 The Elements of Chemistry. By S. A. Norton, A. M. i2mo, cloth, 
 504 pp. Illustrated. New Edition, including Organic Chemistry. Price, 
 $1.10; postage and mailing, 18 c. 
 
 ANDREWS'S ELEMENTARY GEOLOGY. 
 
 An Elementary Geology, designed especially for the Interior States. 
 By E. B. Andrews, LL. D., late of the Ohio Geological Corps, and 
 Professor in Marietta College. i2mo, cloth, 269 pp. and Index. 432 
 Illustrations. Price, $1.00; postage and mailing, 17 c. 
 
 GREGORY'S POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 A new Political Economy, by John M. Gregory, LL. D., Ex-Pres. 
 Illinois Industrial University. Contains many features of striking 
 originality. i2mo, clo., 394 pp. Price, $1.20; postage and mailing, 20 c. 
 
 SCHUYLER'S LOGIC. 
 
 The principles of Logic. By A. Schuyler, LL. D., Pres't of Bald- 
 win University; author of Algebra, Trigonometry, Surveying, etc. 
 l2mo, cloth, 168 pp. Price, 60 c. ; postage and mailing, 10 c. 
 
 ANDREWS'S CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Manual of the Constitution of the United States. Designed for the 
 instruction of American youth in the duties, obligations, and rights of 
 citizenship. By Israel Ward Andrews, D. D., Ex-President Mari- 
 etta College. i2mo, cloth, 408 pp., with Index and Appendices, em- 
 bracing important state papers. Price, $1 .00 ; postage and mailing, 1 7 c. 
 
 " In each aspect of its usefulness, the work can not fail to meet with approval, 
 and, as a textbook, it is by all odds the best of its kind."— The Nation. 
 
 GOW'S MORALS AND MANNERS. 
 
 Good Morals and Gentle Manners. A systematic text-book on Moral 
 and Social Law. By Alex. M. Gow, A. M. l2mo, cloth 252 pp. 
 Price, $1.00 ; postage and mailing, 17 c. 
 
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES. 
 
 Published by VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO., Cincinnati and New York, 
 
 NEW ECLECTIC PENMANSHIP. 
 ECLECTIC ELEMENTARY COURSE. 
 
 The three Elettientary Copy-Books form a complete series, designed to cover 
 the same ground as the first four or five of ordinary copy-books. Nos. i and 2 are 
 tracing books. 
 
 The Eclectic Elementary Copy-Books are especially adapted for use by those 
 who teach in schools where there is not time to write through an extended series of 
 copy-books; by those who believe in the early^se of capitals and sentences; and 
 by those who desire the cheapest course. Price by mail, post paid, 7 cents. 
 
 ECLECTIC PRIMARY COPY-BOOK. 
 
 A complete primary book for second year. Contains all the small and capital 
 letters and figures. Price by mail, post paid, 7 cents. 
 
 NEW ECLECTIC COPY-BOOKS. Revised and Re-engraved. 
 
 Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 5 Boys, 5 Girls, 6 Boys, 6 Girls, 6J^, 7 and 8 Boys, 8 Girls, and 
 No. 9. Girls' Copy-Books identical, word for word, with the Boys\ but in smaller 
 hand-writing. Best paper, engraving, and ruling. 
 
 The simplest, most legible and business-like style 0/ Capitals and Small Let- 
 ters is adopted. Each letter is given separately at first, and then in combination ; 
 tiic spacing is open ; analysis simple, and indicated in every letter when first pre- 
 sented; explanations clear, concise, and complete are given on the covers of the 
 books, and not over and around the copies. Price by mail, post paid, 10 cents. 
 
 ECLECTIC PRACTICE-BOOK. 
 
 With either single or double lines, 24 pp., same size and same paper as Eclectic 
 Copy-Books, and designed to be used with them. Price by mail, post paid, 5 cts. 
 
 NEW HAND-BOOK OF ECLECTIC PENMANSHIP. 
 
 A Key to the Eclectic System of Penmanship. A complete description and 
 analysis of movement and of the letters, and a brief summary of what is required in 
 teaching penmanship. Each letter is analyzed, and a graphic diagram of each is 
 given, with full description, by which any one can teach the correct formation of 
 the letters. i2mo, cloth. Price 50 cents; postage and mailing, 8 cents. 
 
 SAMPLE-BOOK OF ECLECTIC PENMANSHIP, 
 
 Containing nearly 200 copies, selected from all the Copy-Books in the Series, 
 will be sent by mail to any teacher or school officer desiring to examine it with a 
 view to introducing the Eclectic Penmanship. Price by mail, post paid, 15 cents. 
 
 ECLECTIC PENS. 
 
 These pens are made by the foremost manufacturer in the world, expressly for 
 the scholars using the Eclectic System of Penmanship. No. 100 School Pen. 
 Flexible and moderately fine. No. 200 Commercial Pen. Coarser, for business 
 writing. No. 300 Extra Fine. Ladies and advanced scholars will find this pen ad- 
 mirable for careful writing. Per gross, either number, by mail, post paid, $1.00. 
 Sample card by mail on receipt of 10 cents. 
 
 ECLECTIC WRITING CARDS. 
 
 The best Assistants in Teaching Penmanship. 72 numbers on 36 Cards. Each 
 number Presents but One Letter or Principle. In box, express prepaid, $5.00. 
 
ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES. 
 
 Published by VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO., Cincinnati and New York. 
 
 THE ECLECTIC GERMAN SERIES. 
 
 Equal in merit to McGuffey's Revised Readers, fully illustrated by the first 
 artists of the day, and superior to any other series of German Readers. Special 
 attention is called to the beautiful script used. 
 ECLECTIC GERMAN PRIMER. 
 
 96 pp. Price, 20 cents ; postage and mailing, 4 cents. 
 
 The Primer is arranged according to the Analytic Synthetic Method; it 
 may be used successfully in various ways, and the young learner is greatly as- 
 sisted by Interlinear English Translations. The pictorial representations of 
 the Normal Words, as well as the illustrations accompanying the reading les- 
 sons of the Second part are done in a superior style. 
 
 ECLECTIC GERMAN FIRST READER. 
 
 112 pp. Price, 25 cents; postage and mailing, 5 cents. 
 
 The First Reader continues the plan of the Primer. The dialogue, a feature 
 very much neglected in readers of other German series, is here made promi- 
 nent. This is undoubtedly one of the best means of interesting children in 
 the reading lesson. In this book exercises on Language, Composition, and 
 Translation are begun. These exercises are continued throughout the five 
 books of the series. 
 ECLECTIC GERMAN SECOND READER. 
 
 144 pp. Price, 35 cents ; postage and mailing, 6 cents. 
 
 The Second Reader contains descriptions and stories which are strictly 
 adapted to the wants of American pupils, and are confined to subjects with 
 which children are familiar. The Language and Translation Exercises begun 
 in the First Reader, gradually increase in difficulty with the Reading Lessons 
 to which they constantly refer. Composition is encouraged by a number of 
 models in the form of reading lessons. 
 ECLECTIC GERMAN THIRD READER. 
 
 191 pp. Price, 42 cents ; postage and mailing, 7 cents. 
 
 The Third Reader contains choice poetry, stories, descriptions, and dia- 
 logues, interesting to American children. The Language Exercises in this 
 reader are in the simple and modified sentence, the declension of nouns, ad- 
 jectives and personal pronouns, the various tenses and derivative nouns and 
 adjectives. 
 ECLECTIC GERMAN FOURTH READER. 
 
 272 pp. Price, 60 cents ; postage and mailing, 10 cents. 
 
 The Fourth Reader is so arranged that it may be used during two years, if 
 wished. History and Biography are introduced, and are illustrated by striking 
 cuts and portraits. A number of German-American authors are represented 
 by their best ])roductions. The vocabulary is arranged alphabetically at the 
 end of the book, so as to train the pupils in the use of the dictionary. 
 
 ECLECTIC GERMAN FIFTH READER. 
 
 pp. Price, ; postage and mailing, 
 
 The Fifth Reader is a complete classical reader, representing the best Ger- 
 man and German-American Literature in Poetry and Prose. Care has been 
 taken, however, not to go beyond such matter as can easily be grasped by pu- 
 pils of the seventh and eighth school year. 
 
 A number of essays on German and German-American Literature, pre- 
 pared for the book by the best German educators of the country, short expla- 
 nations of the different kinds of Poetry and Prose, sketches of the lives of all 
 and portraits of thirteen of the authors represented, render the use of a sepa- 
 rate book on German Literature unnecessary. 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY