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 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 
 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 
 
 FOR THE USE OF 
 
 MECHANICS' INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 BY 
 
 ■ 
 
 Sir G. S. MACKENZIE, Bart. 
 F.R.SS, L. &E. 
 
 SECOND ENGLISH EDITION. 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON : 
 MACLACHLAN, STEWART, & CO. EDINBURGH. 
 
 MI>CCCXL. 
 

 $ 
 
 FRINTKI' BY N ' I I I, .V < <«.. OLD IISHM.VHKH. 
 , II SIIURCH, 
 
MEMBERS OF THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTION 
 OF INVERNESS. 
 
 The following general observations on the Princi- 
 ples of Education (as you are aware), I had intend- 
 ed, but for circumstances that occurred to render it 
 inconvenient, to have publicly delivered at Inverness 
 last spring, in the form of Lectures ; in the hope that 
 some excitement to farther inquiry into a most im- 
 portant subject might be the result, as well as a de- 
 sire to promote lectures on various branches of know- 
 ledge. Having been encouraged to believe that, if 
 printed in a cheap form, these observations might 
 prove useful in directing your minds to the contem- 
 plation of the true principles which must ever direct 
 Education that is to be essentially effective, I now 
 present them to you with my best wishes, though the 
 subject be not exhausted, nor the observations arranged 
 so well as might have been the case had this been 
 other than a merely ephemeral production, in which 
 light I request it may be regarded. 
 
 G. S. Mackenzie. 
 Edinburgh, June 1836. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 This Edition is., in reality, the third, a translation hav- 
 ing been published in France while the author resided 
 there in 1838-9. He has been induced to offer another 
 Edition to the British Public, because, though much has 
 been done for the cause of intellectual improvement, the 
 education of the moral faculties and feelings is scarcely- 
 attended to ; and even that of the intellect is not yet con- 
 ducted under the guidance of any fixed principles. 
 
 Experience has amply and sadly proved, that religious 
 teaching, of itself, and under the usual form, does not im- 
 prove society in reference to virtuous conduct, which it 
 is the object of true religion to enforce. Truthfulness, 
 Justice, and Christian Charity, are as rare in the conduct 
 of men now as ever they were. Something, therefore, 
 must be wrong — something is not properly understood — 
 something must be yet unknown to the world in general, 
 that is needed as a guide to education, religious, moral, 
 and intellectual, und to put an end to the enormous ex- 
 penditure of labour, of time, and of money, that has been 
 going on for ages to little or no purpose, in so far as the 
 morality of the world is concerned. Should this little 
 work assist in pointing out where that which is needed 
 may be found, the author will enjoy the conviction that 
 such is the case, beyond any thing which this world can 
 give. 
 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS, &c. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It cannot be expected that, among- those who 
 may take the trouble to peruse this volume, there 
 are none who have imbibed, and who still cherish, 
 prejudice in favour of old practices. It is requested, 
 that every one to whom the subject is new, will re- 
 solve to attend to what is to be stated and scrupu- 
 lously to criticise it. It is not intended to seize on 
 the imagination by means of studied eloquence, nor 
 to entertain the fancy by entertaining" discourse. 
 It will be our aim to deliver, in the plainest lan- 
 guage,- truths derived from the plainest facts. It is 
 the understanding that will be addressed ; and, 
 therefore, the more narrowly the matter which will 
 be delivered is examined, the more prominent will 
 the truth appear. Those who have no prejudices 
 to overcome, will be more ready to perceive truth 
 when it is announced ; and it is hoped that, from 
 them, some assistance may be obtained in dissemi- 
 nating just views of the subject that is to be un- 
 folded. 
 
 Custom and habit unquestionably have influence 
 on the understanding, both in fixing attachment to 
 what we are accustomed to, and in rendering the 
 nrnd unwilling to exert itself in looking at the ad- 
 
 A 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 vantages of new discoveries. What our fathers did 
 we are inclined to do, rather than to take the trouble 
 to think for ourselves ; and the appeal to the wisdom 
 of our ancestors, so often made by those who are in- 
 clined to keep the human mind in bondage, has had 
 too much effect in plunging mankind into apathy. 
 That men whose interest it is to keep the human 
 mind in darkness do exist, is a lamentable truth ; 
 but the dawn of a new day has arisen, and its noon 
 is now in prospect, when the light will guide the 
 high and the low, the rich and the poor, into one 
 broad highway, on which they will travel harmoni- 
 ously together towards the Temple of Truth, in- 
 structing and helping each other as brethren, the 
 children of one common Father, whose will they 
 strive to discover, whose commands it will be their 
 delight to obey. 
 
 The world being now older than it was in the 
 days of our ancestors, the race having existed longer, 
 our experience should be of greater extent than 
 theirs. Accordingly, although light shone but 
 dimly into the minds of men, although the meteors 
 which occasionally flashed with extraordinary illu- 
 mination, had little influence, still there has been 
 a continual advance in knowledge and improve- 
 ment. To an indifferent spectator, the progress of 
 human atfairs seems to be the result of mere circum- 
 stances ; but, by the reflective observer, the hand 
 is seen of that beneficent Providence, which, alive 
 to the happiness of the creatures He has formed, 
 lias ordered that discovery and improvement shall 
 bo gradual, but constant. At times the page of 
 history is almost a blank in relation to the human 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 race, which we find absorbed in the gratifications 
 of its animal nature, even in the midst of refinement. 
 Barbarous tribes swept over the land where philo- 
 sophy, literature, and the arts, had flourished ; and 
 even where the lights of Christianity were kindled, 
 the lust of dominion and riches strove, and to a vast 
 extent succeeded, to render them the means of add- 
 ing- superstition to ignorance, so as still farther to 
 debase the human mind. In all this, however, the 
 great design seems never to have been changed. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the valuable improvements 
 that have been made, and that we have the benefit 
 of much light that was denied to our fathers, pre- 
 judice still lurks amongst us. The love of power 
 and of influence, as well as the love of self, lead to 
 the desire that things should remain as they are, 
 because it is plain that knowledge is power ; and 
 power so great, that it will not much longer endure 
 that the human intellect should be swayed, so as to 
 subserve the purposes of those whose gratification 
 depends on its being hoodwinked. It is fortunate 
 that those who see the fall of their power, involved 
 in the dissemination of knowledge, have exposed 
 themselves in an unseemly manner. Their ex- 
 pressed fears are the surest indications that all 
 things are working together for good. Yet those 
 who wish well to their fellow-creatures, must not 
 conceal from themselves the risk of letting popular 
 feeling loose, in the eager desire for change. Since 
 those who desire no change have been rash in their 
 denunciations against the dissemination of know- 
 ledge, and have excited the dislike of the people to 
 a degree that may be destructive, those who desire 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a change from darkness and oppression into light 
 and liberty, must hasten to arrest the passions by 
 attracting the intellects of the people. Most per- 
 sons agree in the propriety of this ; and some pre- 
 tend to agree, with the view to pervert the means 
 employed into forging yet more galling chains for 
 the understanding. Many of those, however, w r ho 
 are sincerely devoted to the improvement of man, 
 are uncertain how to proceed. This wavering 
 among the friends of knowledge arises wholly from 
 ignorance of the principles on which a rational de- 
 sire for change is founded and which have been long 
 concealed. Mankind have gone on so long without 
 just and true principles to guide them, that the 
 want of them has not been observed. Happily 
 there exists a higher power that rules the destinies 
 of man. It has been determined by Him who 
 formed the human mind, that it shall not always 
 be in darkness ; that it shall go on progressively in 
 its acquirements of knowledge ; that it shall bene- 
 fit by that knowledge, and draw nearer and nearer 
 to its Creator. 
 
 Those who are unaccustomed to observe the pro- 
 gress of knowledge, do not know how wonderfully 
 that progress unfolds the beneficence, as well as the 
 power and wisdom, of God. It would appear that 
 He has ordained the chief pleasure of man to be to 
 search into his works, and there to see Him. And 
 when any science is pursued, discoveries are made 
 which open up one field of research after another, 
 so as to make it probable that myriads of ages may 
 elapse, and still something new nwd more wonder- 
 nil \\\\\ remain to be discovered. In my youth, the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 science of Chemistry was confined to a few facts ; 
 and it appeared that but a few substances existed 
 which appeared uncompounded and simple. By 
 degrees some of these were decomposed by the ap- 
 plication of newly discovered agents ; and now, so 
 many fields of research have been opened, as to pro- 
 duce a scarcity of labourers ; and it is almost im- 
 possible for any one mind to embrace even a tithe 
 of the mere facts of science. Since, then, the amount 
 of knowledge has already vastly increased, and as 
 it appears that immense accumulations are yet in 
 store for those who will accept the bounty of the 
 Author of all things, it becomes of more and more 
 importance that the modes of educating the young 
 should be improved, that succeeding generations 
 may be fitted to enjoy God in his works, to the full 
 extent which He is pleased to offer, and be thus 
 prepared for still greater enjoyment in a life to come. 
 It is of the greatest importance to lead the youthful 
 mind first to see what has been discovered ; for this 
 better enables it to direct its energies with profit 
 towards attaining new acquirements, and the high 
 enjoyment of contemplating the immensity of that 
 intelligence and power which brought all things 
 into existence, and the inconceivable extent of that 
 benevolence which directs that power to produce 
 enjoyment for its creatures. 
 
DIVISIONS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 DIVISIONS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 There are four great branches of Education. The 
 first relates to the acquirement of the means to ar- 
 rive at knowledge ; the second is the manner in 
 which knowledge is obtained by the means ; the 
 third relates to the cultivation and regulation of the 
 mental faculties, or moral education ; and the fourth 
 to religious education. Or, a division may be made 
 into the objects of education as they refer to the 
 comfort and happiness of society, or moral educa- 
 tion ; and into those referring to the individual, or 
 religious education. 
 
 For a regular moral education, a matter of such 
 vast importance to society, it is lamentable to think 
 that there exists no public provision. Vast sums 
 are levied in the shape of taxes, which are expended 
 on the punishment of crime; but not one farthing 
 is devoted to that which alone can prevent crime 
 from disturbing society. If crime has abated in 
 amount, if any means have been applied to dimi- 
 nish its frequency* society does not owe them to as- 
 sistance from the public purse. We hear indeed of 
 penitentiaries, of establishing systems of prison dis- 
 cipline, of Magdalene asylums, of houses of refuge, 
 — but not one of these is applicable to prevention 
 of crime, and they are but poorly contrived for re- 
 formation. The Legislature is engaged in making 
 inquiry, and it is hoped that, at least, an approach 
 to the proper means of preventing crime may ere 
 long be made. For religious education most ample 
 
DIVISIONS OF EDUCATION. 7 
 
 provision has been made, and the community pay 
 most liberally for it. But, with all the munificence 
 displayed in this department, it appears that there 
 exists something" that hinders it from conferring all 
 the benefits on society that may reasonably be ex- 
 pected from it. What that something" is, may in 
 due time be discovered and removed. At present 
 it cannot be denied, by any one who has duly em- 
 ployed his powers of observation, that religion has 
 not that power in the direction of human conduct 
 which it ought to have ; and it is of the utmost im- 
 portance that the cause of this should be discovered. 
 Probably both positive and negative causes exist, 
 and whatever we may suspect to belong to either 
 class, should be seized upon and investigated. And 
 in the investigation, it should be kept in view that 
 theoretical metaphysical reasoning will not now 
 satisfy the world, and that nothing but the result 
 of induction from facts will carry conviction. It is 
 not to be denied, however lamentable it may be, 
 that minds exist to which even inductive reasoning 
 will not bring conviction. 
 
 No subject has been more written upon than edu- 
 cation. Piles of volumes have been published and 
 forgotten ; and for this reason, that no sound princi- 
 ples were laid down on which a system could rest. 
 Without a foundation formed of imperishable mate- 
 rials, — materials brought together by the hand of 
 the Great Creator himself, — no enduring super- 
 structure can be raised. In all discussions on this 
 most important subject, principles must never be 
 lost sight of. It is our wish to lay them open to 
 view, and perha'ps there may be rashness in ima- 
 
b NATURE OF THE 
 
 gining that we may do so with effect. As no other 
 more able expositor of modern discovery was likely 
 to be induced to undertake the task, and as it is al- 
 ways of consequence to redeem the time, many con- 
 siderations that might have deterred us are waived ; 
 and while we endeavour to compress into as small 
 a space as possible that which is necessary to be 
 known, before any one can undertake the office of a 
 teacher with any certain prospect of success, we 
 trust to the indulgent forgiveness of whatever may 
 appear to be failure, and to a proper and just con 
 struction being put on our motives. If we shall be 
 instrumental in rousing attention to the principles 
 by which education should be directed, our time 
 will have been well occupied, and our satisfaction 
 will be complete. 
 
 NATURE OF THE SUBJECT TO BE EDUCATED. 
 
 When a subject is presented to us for education, 
 it is surely proper to inquire into its nature. If 
 we desire to fashion any inanimate substance into 
 a particular shape, we never fail to examine its 
 qualities and properties. Were we to present a 
 mass of wood to a carver, and bid him cut certain 
 figures upon it, the first thing he would do would 
 be to try the hardness of the material, and its other 
 properties, in reference to the resistance it was 
 likely to offer to his tools, with the view to deter- 
 mine whether it would answer the purpose required. 
 Yrt when a child is presented to a professed teacher, 
 tie makes no inquiry into the nature of the subject. 
 
SUBJECT TO BE EDUCATED. 9 
 
 He thinks it will make no resistance to the only 
 tool he employs ; that the lash will mould it to his 
 will. In ignorance of the human constitution, he 
 thinks all children are alike. He was tyrannized 
 over himself, and deems it fair to be a tyrant in his 
 turn ; and thus the wisdom of our ancestors is 
 handed down from generation to generation. The 
 ordinary schoolmaster goes blindly to his work. 
 He is paid for his work ; and if it be spoiled, he 
 declares it is not his fault, but that of the subject. 
 He jdeads its stupidity, obstinacy, carelessness, and 
 so forth. He never inquires into the causes of such 
 untoward qualities, which give such resistance to 
 his tool. If he cannot remove them by exhibiting 
 passion, and inflicting- disgTace and the lash, he 
 thinks no more about the matter; and the child 
 comes out of his hands nothing the better* but in all 
 probability greatly the worse, of what it has pleased 
 good people to call education. As it is obvious to 
 the most careless observation-^-as it has been a 
 thousand times stated in books- — that children as 
 well as grown-up persons differ from each other in 
 capacity and character, as much as in shape and 
 feature, it is wonderful that the world should have 
 grown so old before the causes of such diversity 
 were sought for. Metaphysical theories have been 
 broached in abundance, and a vast amount of splen- 
 did talent and eloquence wasted ; for whenever such 
 theories are tested by experiment, — whenever they 
 are applied to facts of the most common occurrence, 
 -t— they fail entirely ; and we lament that the genius 
 of so many great men (for great they were, though 
 their efforts failed) should have expended its energy 
 
10 NATURE OF THE 
 
 on that which can be classed only with frivolities, 
 since it led to no practically useful result, however 
 profound its investigations. Before we proceed to 
 educate, we must thoroughly understand the nature 
 of that which is to be educated ; and it will appear 
 of the greatest importance, when that nature shall 
 be known, to make the subject of education ac- 
 quainted with it. We propose, therefore, to exhibit 
 a general view of the nature and constitution of 
 Man, physical and mental, in so far as these have 
 yet been ascertained by observation and experi- 
 ment ; and to point out in what manner the know- 
 ledge of the nature and constitution of man is to 
 serve as a true guide in education. We are not to 
 enter into these subjects in the manner of teaching 
 them. But this need not be regretted, as the means 
 of acquiring more extended information are within 
 reach. 
 
 The first inquiry is, How is the nature and con- 
 stitution of man to be discovered ? Metaphysicians 
 adopted the method of studying their own conscious- 
 ness, and that method has been found wanting; for 
 the instant that a man compares himself with an- 
 other man, he discovers so g'reat a difference, that 
 he can no longer set himself up as a standard. One 
 man may feel that he has a constant inclination to 
 be tender and merciful to his fellow-creatures, and 
 to do good to them ; but were he to believe all men 
 to be so disposed, he would greatly err. For another 
 may be seen, who, by his cruelty of action, betrays 
 that he lias no consciousness of tenderness and 
 mercy, but a disposition to injure and destroy, the 
 gratification of which gives him pleasure. It is 
 
SUBJECT TO BE EDUCATED. 11 
 
 therefore evident, that it is by observation alone 
 that man can be known. 
 
 As it is obvious that man does not owe his exist- 
 ence to himself, we may rest assured, that whatever 
 we may discover by' observation has been produced 
 by the Creator for the best and wisest of purposes. 
 We may meet with facts difficult to be explained ; 
 we may see what may puzzle us to reconcile with 
 that Perfect Morality which we believe clothes the 
 Most High God ; we may imagine there is injustice 
 in some of his appointments ; but this we shall cer- 
 tainly learn, that, in as far as we have yet been 
 able to penetrate, every thing- appears to be ordered, 
 according to our own conceptions of what is right 
 and necessary in reference to the end in view. The 
 just inference is, that, as we proceed, difficulty after 
 difficulty will disappear, and that we may rest as- 
 sured that Perfect Wisdom and Perfect Justice have 
 not erred. Where error seems to exist, it will be 
 found to rest with ourselves; and that, whatever 
 may come upon us that we would avoid, we have 
 brought upon ourselves by neglecting to search for 
 the laws which the Creator has established to go- 
 vern nature; and, consequently, by our ignorantly 
 infringing them. Unless, however, we know our 
 own nature, and the relation in which we stand to 
 all that is around us, we cannot discover the Crea- 
 tor's laws, nor learn his will. He has beneficently 
 spread out before us the great, the attractive, the 
 beautiful book of Nature, in which He reveals him- 
 self by his works. Are we to cast that work aside 
 and treat it with neglect, or are we to apply the 
 powers which have been given to us in the delight- 
 
12 GENERAL STRUCTURE AND 
 
 ful labour of turning- over its leaves, and in every 
 page reading- a call to adore Supreme Power, Wis- 
 dom, and Goodness? Who that is endowed with a 
 rational soul can hesitate in his choice ? Let us, 
 then, open the book, and see what we are, and what 
 we are destined to attain, 
 
 GENERAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE 
 BODY. 
 
 Our bodies are formed upon a structure of bone, 
 admirably adapted for having- fitted to it an appa- 
 ratus of a most complicated kind, by means of 
 which the body is made either to move or stand still. 
 The appearance of desig-n is remarkably prominent 
 in the formation of the skeleton ; for it shews that, 
 before trie first man was created, the whole of his 
 structure, and the functions of every part, must have 
 passed through the mighty intelligence of the Crea- 
 tor. The design was complete ere a single part 
 was formed ; and, in adaptation of means to ends, 
 it is impossible for us to conceive how any one end 
 could have been attained by more simple and ef- 
 fective means. The Bones are united by joints, 
 beautifully fitted, and bound together by ligaments, 
 at once strong, light, and flexible. To produce 
 motion, the Muscles, as they are named, are fixed 
 to the bones, and they are varied in length, in mass, 
 and in position, so as to act as ropes for drawing 
 the bones into any required direction. The strength 
 of the muscles is enormous in proportion to their 
 size. So powerful are they, that the blast which 
 
FUNCTIONS OF THE BODY. 13 
 
 rends a gnarled oak, fails to throw a man upon the 
 ground. Among- the muscles we observe a num- 
 ber of branching tubes and threads ; and, tracing 
 these, we find the former connected with a strong 
 muscular hollow vessel, which is named the Heart, 
 and the latter connected with a mass of matter 
 contained in the skull, and of a tender pulpy struc- 
 ture, called the Brain. Tracing the passage of 
 our food from the mouth, we find that it is carried 
 through a tube into a bag formed of muscular and 
 membranous fibres. In this it is elaborated, and 
 in a fluid state it passes along another tube, vary- 
 ing in its diameter, and tortuous in its course. 
 This tube is supported in a most curious manner, 
 and we find it connected with numerous tubes and 
 threads such as have been already noticed. We 
 also find a connection subsisting between it and 
 some of these tubes which conduct to the Heart. 
 Another kind of tube connects the tortuous aliment- 
 ary canal with another large viscus, called the 
 Liver. From the heart proceed tubes which pass 
 into another large viscus of a very delicate and curi- 
 ous structure, called the Lungs, from which ascend 
 various pipes, which terminate in a large one com- 
 municating with the mouth, and thus with the ex- 
 ternal air, by means of which breathing, or respira- 
 tion, is carried on in the lungs. The fluid called 
 the Blood is contained in the heart, and the nume- 
 rous branching tubes connected with it. The heart 
 is formed so as to expand and contract, and thus to 
 drive the blood through one set of tubes, called Ar- 
 teries, into another set, called Veins, by which it 
 returns to the heart, to be again circulated. In its 
 
14 GENERAL STRUCTURE AND 
 
 passage through the arteries the blood loses some- 
 thing, as is proved by the fact, that its colour changes 
 from a florid red to a dark hue. This loss is sup- 
 plied by an apparatus of tubes, which conveys the 
 dark blood from the heart, and spreads it out through 
 the lungs where it is brought into contact with the 
 air we breathe, which restores to it part of that 
 which it had lost. To supply the waste of the 
 blood, from which every part of the body derives its 
 nourishment, a tube conveys a certain portion of the 
 elaborated food into the circulating mass. Now, 
 in order to induce his creatures to preserve them- 
 selves, and at the same time to derive pleasure from 
 the duty, a vast variety of food is presented. Of 
 course much of this is unessential to the preserva- 
 tion of the body, and therefore the elaborating ap- 
 paratus has been contrived. This abstracts from 
 the food, in a manner incomprehensible to us, all 
 that is wholesome, and the rest is excreted, — the 
 grosser parts by the alimentary canal, and the use- 
 less fluids and soluble matter are abstracted from 
 the blood by the apparatus called the Kidneys, 
 whence they are poured into the reservoir named 
 the Bladder, and ejected. Let us now return to 
 those numerous threads which were mentioned as 
 being connected with a mass of peculiar structure 
 contained within the skull. It has been discovered 
 by direct experiment, that, by means of these threads, 
 called Nerves, a certain influence proceeds from the 
 brain, which produces the action of the muscles. 
 Within the back-bone is a hollow, through which 
 passes what is called the Spinal Cord or Marrow, 
 which is a prolongation of the matter from the 
 
FUNCTIONS OF THE BODY. 15 
 
 brain. From this cord nerves proceed in every di- 
 rection. Now, if. the communication betwixt any 
 muscle and the brain be cut off, by dividing- the 
 nerve which belongs to it, that muscle becomes use- 
 less, and it cannot be moved. If the spinal marrow 
 be cut through at its upper part, the body at once 
 drops a powerless mass. Thus it appears the whole 
 power and strength of muscular action is derived 
 from the brain. But, farther, there is a large nerve 
 which connects the eye with the brain ; if this be 
 divided, blindness is the consequence. And when- 
 ever any nerve is destroyed, so as to stop the con- 
 nection with the brain of the part to which it goes, 
 that part ceases to perform its functions ; and thus 
 we may lose the five senses. The influence of the 
 brain, then, appears to be indispensable to life. 
 But still more extraordinary phenomena are con- 
 nected with this body of ours. We are conscious 
 that within us there is a power, which we call the 
 Will. We will to move our limbs, that they should 
 carry us hither and thither ; we will to do a thou- 
 sand things, and they are done. Yet, whenever the 
 communication with the brain and a limb is cut off, 
 we will to move it in vain. Hence it becomes evi- 
 dent, that the will and the brain are somehow or 
 other connected. We are conscious of power to 
 form designs, and to arrange plans for executing 
 them. But if we drink a certain quantity of strong 
 liquor, not only do the limbs refuse to do their office 
 but all our plans are forgotten ; we can neither 
 think, nor speak, nor act. What is the cause of 
 this ? The effect of the strong liquor is to quicken 
 the circulation of the blood, and to throw so much 
 
16 UNION OF MIND AND BODY. 
 
 into the vessels which enter the brain as to com- 
 press it, and thus render it unfit for its office. The 
 powers we possess may, in their utmost state of 
 activity, be all set asleep by a few grains of opium. 
 Although all these extraordinary effects are pro- 
 duced, we cannot bring- ourselves to believe that our 
 consciousness, our thoughts, and our reasonings, are 
 all performed by a mass of pulpy matter. We can- 
 not reconcile ourselves to the notion that those feel- 
 ings, which lead us to venerate a Supreme Being, 
 are of earth; nor that the blessed feeling of Hope, 
 that wafts us to regions unseen, nor that which as- 
 pirates after perfection, and makes us wish to live 
 for ever, belong to dust that shall to dust return. 
 Since his creation, man has possessed an intuitive 
 sense that he is a compound being ; that a spirit in- 
 habits the body, which regulates all its movements, 
 and from which spring all our desires and all our 
 powers. 
 
 Union or mind and body. 
 
 The fact, then, being admitted, that man is com- 
 pounded of a body and a spirit or mind, it is natural 
 to ask, How are they united ? This question cannot 
 be answered. It is a mystery reserved by the Crea- 
 tor which he has not thought fit to reveal. We are, 
 however, permitted to know, from the facts already 
 stated, and multitudes of others, that the mind is 
 so united to the body as to be dependent on it for 
 its manifestations, as well as for its acquirements, 
 Every action, every utterance of thought, is pro- 
 
UNION OF MIND AND BODY* 17 
 
 duced by means of a bodily organ. Every thing* com- 
 municated to the mind from without, passes through 
 a material instrument. The union and mutual de- 
 pendence of mind and body are so complete, that 
 injury to the body affects the manifestations of the 
 mind ; and, without the directing power, the body 
 would be useless, with all its most wonderful struc- 
 ture, and beautiful contrivances. 
 
 We now come to a very important fact, which, 
 while it is notorious and universally observed, has 
 nevertheless failed to impress its value on those who 
 undertake the office of teachers. The mind seems 
 to grow along with the body. Not that we need 
 suppose that what is immaterial increases in the 
 same manner as that which is material ; but it is 
 evident the body is not all at once fitted to manifest 
 the powers of mind. The new-born babe exhibits 
 only an instinct to draw nourishment from the 
 breast. By degrees its eyes convey to it some in- 
 telligence of external things ; and it manifests by 
 natural language, whether it feels pain or experi- 
 ences pleasure. At a more advanced stage it ac- 
 quires artificial language, by an imperceptible pro- 
 cess of induction learning the meaning and arrange- 
 ment of words. But it is not till after the lapse of 
 many years that the powers of thought arrive at 
 their utmost vigour. As we cannot, then, conceive 
 of the mind that it grows, we arrive at the conclu- 
 sion that the body becomes gradually fitted for its 
 use, and thus in appearance they keep pace with 
 each other. 
 
 Before drawing the inferences which the facts 
 already stated justify in reference to education, it is 
 
 B 
 
18 UNION OF MIND AND BODY. 
 
 proper to know what faculties or powers of mind 
 are manifested when the body is in a state of ma- 
 turity. This inquiry is the most important by far 
 into which philosophy can enter. It has occupied 
 the finest geniuses — the most powerful talents ; but 
 it was reserved for the age we live in to strike into 
 the true path, and to make discoveries that will 
 raise the mental power of man to a degree of which 
 we can scarcely form a conception. Nor will the 
 power alone be augmented ; human virtue and hu- 
 man happiness will be commensurate. It is not 
 destined that we who may contemplate the dawn, 
 shall see the sun arise and proceed to meridian 
 splendour. Ignorance still sits heavy as an incubus 
 on man, and prejudice yet holds him down by the 
 chain which ignorance has rivetted. Efforts the 
 most, gigantic must yet be made, before the eye of 
 the world can be opened to the light. But let God 
 be blessed that we can perceive His beneficent in- 
 tentions towards the human race, and that He per- 
 mits man to approach to Him nearer, and yet near- 
 er. It is that 'great production of the Great Creator, 
 the Mind, that is destined for the great work. To 
 it is given to enjoy the delight of unfolding itself, 
 and its relation to external things ; of learning that 
 almost all the ills of life may be avoided by obe- 
 dience to laws which unerring wisdom has enacted, 
 and left to the mind to discover. The truest enjoy- 
 ment in this life is to seek for God in his works, to 
 contemplate their arrangement and connexion, and 
 to turn them, as he has permitted, to our o\vn ad- 
 vantage, 
 
FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 19 
 
 FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 
 
 The words Faculties and Powers, as applied to 
 the mind, have been used indiscriminately. The 
 word Instinct has been employed to denote some- 
 thing" inferior, and is used chiefly when speaking" of 
 the lower creation. But as this word rather tends 
 to confuse, and as man has instincts equally with 
 his inferiors in creation, it seems best to use the 
 word faculty, and, instead of instinct, to employ 
 the term propensity. Philosophers have enumerated 
 a great number of faculties, and have so mingled 
 modes of action with primitive functions, as to leave 
 us without any precise notion of their exact mean- 
 ing. In the enumeration about to be made, it is 
 our intention to follow that which has been laid 
 down in the new philosophy known by the term 
 Phrenology. It is now about half a century since 
 this philosophy was first announced. It is twenty- 
 four years since it was made known to us. We had 
 attended the prelections of the celebrated Professor 
 Dugald Stewart in the University of Edinburgh, 
 and been tired by vain efforts to discover to what 
 useful purpose the philosophy he taught could be 
 applied. When the new philosophy appeared, it 
 was represented in such a manner that we joined 
 in the ridicule that was lavished upon it. Accident 
 led us to the acquaintance of the able coadjutor of 
 Dr Gall, who discovered the true philosophy of man; 
 and we perceived that the matter had been igno- 
 rantly and grossly misrepresented. In no long time 
 our acquaintance with Dr Spurzheim ripened into 
 
20 FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 
 
 friendship; and that most able, amiable, and ex- 
 cellent man, opened up to us, as it were, a new ex- 
 istence. Like all other things that are new, Phre- 
 nology has been, and still is, exposed to a sort of 
 persecution from those who will not take the trouble 
 to learn what it is ; and from that we have suffered ; 
 but in the company of men who are ornaments to 
 their kind, and to whom truth and honesty are valu- 
 able above all things. Conscious of the vast in- 
 trinsic value of the new philosophy, we felt assured 
 that time would discover that value to the whole 
 world ; and we have been supported in our efforts 
 to propagate truth by the conviction, that, if our 
 names should survive us, posterity would make us 
 ample amends. It has been so ordered, however, 
 that, though Gall and Spurzheim have paid the 
 debt of nature, some of their earliest disciples have 
 lived to see the truth already spreading to an extent, 
 and with a rapidity* which they could not have con- 
 ceived possible, and that in different quarters of the 
 globe ; so true it is, that great is truth, and that it 
 must prevail. It is not our purpose to teach this 
 new philosophy, but only to satisfy the reader that 
 certain faculties do exist, and are necessary for us 
 as social beings. It may be mentioned, however, 
 that the faculties to be enumerated and illustrated 
 have been ascertained to be connected with certain 
 portions of the brain, which are the material instru- 
 ments destined for their being manifested. The 
 brain is not the mind, nor are its parts faculties of 
 the mind, though ignorant and senseless persons 
 have affirmed that such is the doctrine of the new 
 philosophy. No one denies that the eye is the ma- 
 
FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 21 
 
 terial instrument by means of which light, colour, 
 and form, are conveyed to the mind ; and we find the 
 eye connected by a nerve with the brain, certain 
 parts of which have been ascertained to be the or- 
 gans in most direct union with the mind, which 
 receives from them the intelligence, as it were, 
 that light, colour, and form, are present. So it 
 is with the other senses, which are the gates by 
 which objects enter into the chamber of the mind, 
 where it employs its instruments to perceive, to re- 
 flect, to compare, and to judge. The question of 
 Materialism will here naturally occur to you, and 
 we beg to say a very few words on that subject. 
 
 Some men, noted for acuteness and talent, have 
 affirmed that what is called Mind is not an imma- 
 terial principle, but that its manifestations are the 
 result of a peculiar combination of material sub- 
 stances, endowed with what is called life, which 
 also, they have said, results from certain material 
 influences. Such an announcement instantly brings 
 down upon the devoted head the execrations of re- 
 ligious feeling, and the thunders of the church, — 
 the unfortunate philosopher is denounced as a hea- 
 then, an infidel, and so forth. Now we would have 
 every one to reflect in this manner, believing them 
 to be Christians : Jesus Christ himself never uttered 
 a reproachful word. He exhorted his followers not 
 to rail at their neighbours, even though they should 
 rail at them. He denounced and reproached hy- 
 pocrisy ; but never the expression of a mere opinion. 
 He strove to reclaim men from the errors of their 
 ways, and knew well that reviling was not the way 
 to effect that important end. If, then, any one 
 
22 FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 
 
 should broach the opinion (for it is no more) that 
 mind is nothing but a modification of matter, let 
 the question be put, What is matter, a modification 
 of which is spoken of? The instant this question is 
 pronounced, the utter impossibility of answering- it 
 is perceived. All the multitudes of chemical dis- 
 coveries have not yet opened, even to imagination, 
 a hope that what matter is can ever be known to 
 man. 
 
 We may feel an eagerness to dive into the mys- 
 teries of creation ; but we may rest assured that 
 whatever power is denied to us, is denied to us be- 
 cause it is for our good. Now, we are altogether 
 ignorant of what mind may be, as well as matter ; 
 and the materialist could equally puzzle us by put- 
 ting the question, What is mind ? It is inferred, 
 but erroneously, that if the opinion of the materia- 
 list were correct, it would impugn the doctrine of 
 the immortality of the soul. We say erroneously ; 
 because it is obvious that nothing is impossible to 
 God. If it has pleased Him to form body and soul 
 of matter, what is that to us ? He made both soul 
 and body, and he can destroy them both. He can 
 kill and make alive again ; and this whether the 
 materialist be right or wrong in his conjecture. 
 Although the body is formed to die — although we 
 should even suppose that the soul dies with it — 
 though they be reduced to dust, or dispersed in 
 smoke — who will dare to say that the power of God 
 cannot reunite them at his good pleasure, and not 
 only restore their former union, but improve their 
 nature, so that, while the condition of former exis- 
 tence is not forgotten, they shall be fitted for that 
 
FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 23 
 
 new scene of enjoyment reserved for the just when 
 made perfect ? Thus we perceive that the opinion 
 of the materialist is of no value or consequence 
 whatever. But suppose that a man's mind shall be 
 in such a condition as to give such an opinion the 
 hold of belief. Suppose that this belief should lead 
 to the idea that death is annihilation. We ought not 
 to use harsh expressions or severity against him 
 who may be so unhappy as to be reduced to such 
 a state of mind. It is more fitting that Christians 
 should mildly exert themselves to convince him of 
 error, than violently to abuse him, and treat him as 
 an outcast. Any man or set of men holding certain 
 opinions contrary to our own, can inflict no injury 
 upon us. If we should feel offended, and desire to 
 wreak vengeance on our brother who differs from us 
 in opinion, we are guilty of abusing our faculties* 
 as we propose afterwards to point out, when con- 
 sidering what may be called their legitimate and 
 illegitimate exercise. If one man has a right to 
 judge and form an opinion, every other man has the 
 same undoubted right. This is Christian doctrine, 
 and the doctrines of the new philosophy accord with 
 it. Our being right or wrong in conjecture cannot 
 interrupt the order of nature. 
 
 SPECIAL CONNECTION OF THE MIND AND THE 
 BRAIN. 
 
 We find that injuries of the brain, and also dis- 
 ease, injure also the manifestations of mind, — so 
 intimate is the connection which the Creator has 
 
24 SPECIAL CONNECTION OF THE 
 
 made between the mind and its instruments. It 
 was the observation of such facts, and of external 
 forms indicating the predominance of certain facul- 
 ties, that led to the discoveries of the new philoso- 
 phy, which is wholly founded on observed facts; 
 and the existence of certain faculties has been as- 
 certained in the same way. There may be many 
 faculties yet undiscovered. What we at present 
 deem modes of activity may resolve themselves into 
 faculties. The poverty of language greatly retards 
 the progress of discovery ; and it will probably soon 
 be necessary to invent new terms, as has been done 
 in physical science. 
 
 The Faculties are arranged into those which are 
 common to man and the lower animals, and those 
 which are peculiar to man, and which confer upon 
 him the high place which he holds in creation. It 
 may appear extraordinary to some persons that men- 
 tal faculties should be possessed by the lower ani- 
 mals, that they should be endowed with mind. A 
 little observation and reflection will soon convince 
 such persons that such is the fact. Looking at the bo- 
 dily structure of man, and comparing it with that of 
 the lower creation, it becomes apparent that all are 
 formed on a general plan, varied according to the 
 manner in which each was destined to live. Ex- 
 amine the skeletons, and you will find that all the 
 parts, head, chest, arms, pelvis, spine, and legs, are 
 present in the same relative position, though modi- 
 fied in proportions and shape. The wings of a bird, 
 the fore legs of a quadruped, the fins of the whale 
 tribe, and perhaps of all fishes, correspond to the 
 arms in man. In tubes, feet and legs are absent, 
 
MIND AND THE BRAIN. 25 
 
 because they need them not in the element in which 
 they live; and we find that all the other animals 
 which live in the sea, but which seek their food at 
 the bottom and among- rocks, have feet, and differ- 
 ent kinds of locomotive apparatus. No one denies 
 that to will to do any thing- is an operation of mind. 
 We will to go from one place to another, and our 
 feet obey. No one imagines that he obeys his feet. 
 Feet are given to the lower animals that they may 
 carry them where their will directs. They have 
 eyes and ears as well as we ; and if our eyes or ears 
 warn us of danger, our minds quickly prompt the 
 limbs into action. Eyes and ears must serve the 
 same purposes to the lower members of creation, 
 which are all sentient beings as we are. Their in- 
 ternal structure is similar to ours, and their skulls 
 contain brains which send forth nerves to be mes- 
 sengers to the mind from all parts of the body. 
 They experience pleasure, and suffer pain, as well 
 as we ; and facts are on record which exhibit some- 
 thing very like reflection. We need not, however, 
 detain you on this subject at present, however inte- 
 resting and entertaining it may be. As, then, 
 faculties are possessed by man in common with the 
 lower animals, he has in him what is properly de- 
 nominated animal nature. But he has powers so 
 peculiar, that he possesses also human nature. We 
 are not, however, to shew how the faculties have 
 been ascertained to exist, and traced to their organs. 
 To do so would be to undertake to teach the history 
 and progress of Phrenology, the science itself, and 
 all its bearings on human affairs and human enjoy- 
 ment. It is intended only to shew that certain fa- 
 
26 DIVISION OF THE FACULTIES. 
 
 culties do exist, with the view to develope certain 
 principles that ought to guide education, and must 
 guide it to render it effective. 
 
 DIVISION OF THE FACULTIES. 
 
 The new philosophy, then, divides the faculties 
 into Feeling-s or Affective Faculties, and Intellec- 
 tual Faculties. These two orders are subdivided 
 into genera ; the first includes the Propensities, 
 faculties which produce desires, inclinations, or in- 
 stincts only, and are all common to man and the 
 lower animals. There are other feelings, which 
 are denominated Sentiments. Each of these joins 
 to a propensity, an emotion or feeling of a peculiar 
 kind. Some of them are common to man and ani- 
 mals. These constitute the second genus, and may 
 be regarded as Inferior Sentiments ; while those 
 that are peculiar to man are denominated the Su- 
 perior Sentiments, and form a third genus. The 
 Intellectual Faculties are divided into the Percep- 
 tive — those which perceive the existence of external 
 objects and their physical qualities ; and the Reflec- 
 tive Faculties. 
 
 We shall now consider, first, the Propensities — * 
 those faculties which are common to man and the 
 lower animals. And, at the outset, it may be re- 
 marked, that, while the latter have not the means 
 of regulating their faculties, they are, to a certain 
 degree, limited in their operations. With man it 
 is different. He has powers which, when duly 
 
DIVISION OF THE FACULTIES. 27 
 
 exercised, control his propensities, and if he do not 
 control them he sins. There are, however, circum- 
 stances connected with organization, and which 
 have probably arisen from neglect to investigate 
 the laws of our nature, that sometimes render con- 
 trol extremely difficult; and diseased organization 
 induces a state in which control is entirely absent. 
 Each faculty having an organ in the brain by means 
 of which it is manifested, and the organs bearing a 
 variety of proportions among themselves, and vary- 
 ing also in general size, faculties are stronger in 
 their manifestations in some persons than in others, 
 as accords with every day observation. This holds 
 with the propensities, as well as with the faculties 
 proper to man. It is therefore obvious that, when- 
 ever any part of our animal nature appears so strong 
 as likely to run into abuse, it ought to be a primary 
 object of education to point out to the being edu- 
 cated his own nature, the dangers of permitting 
 any faculty whatever to act in excess, and the duty 
 of calling the higher powers of his nature to con- 
 trol the lower ; so that the important Christian 
 precept may be obeyed, — to use the world as not 
 abusing it. 
 
 INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 
 
 Many, it may be perhaps said all the evils of life, 
 may be traced to a well-meaning but false and hurt- 
 ful delicacy, which makes us afraid to communicate 
 to the young those things on which mainly depend 
 the propriety of their conduct in life, their bodily 
 
28 INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 
 
 and their mental health. God said it was not good 
 for man to be alone, and he made an help meet for 
 him. He created man male and female, and en- 
 dowed them with feeiing-s that attract them to each 
 other, and which, when subdued into obedience, and 
 combined with our better faculties, enable man to 
 attain the greatest of all blessings of which his 
 state is capable, the rational enjoyment of a family, 
 and of his truest friend ; and that friend becomes 
 the more true, and the more devoted, when she too 
 exercises her better powers, and when mutual efforts 
 are made against whatever may tempt from the 
 path of rectitude. But if it be thus important to 
 the happiness of the married state to obey the 
 higher impulses of our nature, is it not also a duty 
 the most imperative to study the welfare and happi- 
 ness of progeny ? When we are aware of the evils 
 which are brought upon society by the disorderly 
 indulgence of the sexual propensity — when we Snow 
 that bodily and mental health are both destroyed 
 by it when it acts alone — is it justifiable to the 
 Creator and our own consciences to keep the young 
 in a state of ignorance, until a fatal curiosity is pro- 
 voked, which compromises their own health of mind 
 and body, and also that of their descendants ? The 
 influence of this feeling on society is prodigi- 
 ous ; and its evil influence proceeds from ourselves, 
 not from the great and beneficent Creator. He 
 created man, and bade him increase and multiply. 
 For the wisest and most benevolent ends, it has 
 pleased the Creator to endow us with strong im- 
 pulses, but he has also warned us not to abuse his 
 bounty. If we do so, the consequences rest with 
 
INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 29 
 
 ourselves, and we are inevitably punished by our 
 own acts, in the loss of bodily health and of mental 
 power. The evil of abuse extends itself to a lamen- 
 table extent in those countries where the men em- 
 ployed as religious guides are condemned to religi- 
 ous celibacy, — an institution at total variance at 
 once with reason and with divine law. 
 
 But let us for a moment turn from the evil and 
 contemplate the good. . Let us look at what God 
 has given us to use, and we shall feel his goodness. 
 When joined with other faculties, and permitted to 
 operate only in its pure and elevated sphere, the 
 propensity in question forms the basis of that re- 
 fining and subduing sentiment which we call love. 
 In purity and disinterestedness, it is most eminent 
 in woman. In all ages the love of women has been 
 extolled ; and we may refer to Scripture for an esti- 
 mate of its value. In David's lament for Jonathan 
 he says, "I am distressed for thee, my brother 
 Jonathan ; very pleasant hast thou been to me ; 
 thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of 
 woman." Woman nurses our childhood ; solaces 
 and cheers our mature age ; in our hours of sickness 
 she is a ministering angel ; nay, to succour us in 
 danger she will risk her very life. Is such a being, 
 then, given to us only to be a slave to passion ? Is 
 the happiness and the value of such a gift from the 
 hand of God to be sacrificed by concealing those 
 laws of the Creator which ignorance may cause to 
 be disobeyed? Surely not. 
 
 We have already mentioned, that the discovery 
 on which the new philosophy rests is, that every 
 propensity, every faculty manifested by man, is so 
 
30 INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 
 
 manifested through the instrumentality of a mate- 
 rial organ. It is now necessary to inform you, that 
 manifestations are strong* in proportion to the size 
 of the organ in the brain, supposing it in health, 
 and that this proposition may, in almost all cases, 
 be distinctly recognised in the external shape of the 
 head. Thus we have a sure indication to guide us 
 in the degree of care and caution to be employed in 
 bringing up the young. It has been also ascer- 
 tained that the brain is subject to the laws of exer- 
 cise, and that by regulated exercise an organ may 
 be improved, and by want of it its energy may be 
 repressed. Disease sometimes excites an organ to 
 a degree that causes its manifestations to be inor- 
 dinate, and this is insanity or madness. The pre- 
 servation of health becomes therefore of the utmost 
 importance ; and in reference to that matter, we 
 earnestly recommend to the perusal of young and 
 old Dr Combe's admirable work, entitled, " The 
 Principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation 
 of Health and to the Improvement of Physical and 
 Mental Education," and also to his more recent work 
 on Digestion and Diet. 
 
 In reference to what we have been considering, 
 we propose now to lay before you a summary of the 
 laws of propagation. The subject is most import- 
 ant in an educational point of view, because with- 
 out a healthy body there cannot be a healthy mind ; 
 and as it has pleased the Creator that the manifes- 
 tations of mind shall depend on the state of mate- 
 rial organs, and as these organs are subject to the 
 laws of propagation, the value of a knowledge of 
 these becomes at once prominent. Every one is 
 
INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 31 
 
 well acquainted with the fact, that children resem- 
 ble their parents, and that not only in their persons, 
 but also in their dispositions and talents. Some- 
 times the resemblance is very close ; at other times 
 it is less so. Some children resemble their father 
 most strongly, others their mother; and some ex- 
 hibit a mixture of both. There are instances, too, 
 in which children do not resemble either parent. 
 But where family pictures have been preserved, the 
 likeness to a remote ancestor, either of father or 
 mother, is often found. Talents sometimes disap- 
 pear for a generation or two, and are again seen in 
 a succeeding" one. Disease also descends from pa- 
 rents to children, and becomes hereditary. Nor is 
 this transmission of qualities confined to human 
 beings. It is observed in all organized nature ; and 
 it is lamentable to have it to say, that, while ad- 
 vantage is taken of the laws of propagation to im- 
 prove other beings, Man has neglected to take ad- 
 vantage of them for the improvement of his own 
 race. Is any one fond of the pursuits of horticul- 
 ture ? In that case, does he not select seeds from 
 the most robust and perfect plants, and not from 
 the stinted and sickly ? When he is about to sow 
 the seed, does he not take care that the soil into 
 which it is to be dropped is fitted to nourish the 
 plant, so as to render it robust and well shaped ? 
 When he desires to propagate a particular variety 
 of fruit, does he not select the graft or bud from a 
 tree in its full and mature vigour, and avoid one that 
 is cankered ? In this way we improve the produc- 
 tions of the vegetable kingdom, and prevent them 
 from degenerating. Is any one a farmer and 
 
32 INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 
 
 breeder of animals — any one a sportsman who de- 
 sires good qualities in horses or dogs ? Why, the 
 most ordinary country clown can tell, that, by se- 
 lecting certain animals for breeding, that possess 
 certain desirable qualities, those qualities descend 
 to their offspring. Those who are curious in horses 
 are for ever talking of blood and bone; and to ob- 
 tain them they make use of the laws of propagation. 
 So does the shooter who desires dogs that are active, 
 steady, and acute in the sense of smell. Farmers, 
 by attention to the law of Nature, have succeeded, 
 not merely in giving improved shape to this or that 
 point in a sheep or a cow, but have actually pro- 
 duced races entirely new, and possessing all the 
 qualities desired. Nay, so very much are the laws 
 of propagation under our control, that an English 
 gentleman, Colonel Humphries, succeeded in pro- 
 ducing a race of sheep with deformed bones. The 
 fact that these laws affect man equally with the in- 
 ferior animals, has long been known to him ; and 
 yet how strange it is that he should bestow more 
 attention and care on the qualities of his cattle, 
 sheep, dogs, horses, and other creatures, than on 
 those of his own offspring: Man falls in love with 
 a woman, and neither of them consider, (perhaps 
 they may be ignorant of the fact), that one or both 
 of their parents were diseased ; but even with their 
 eyes open, and with imperfection or disease belong- 
 ing to their own bodies, they think only of their own 
 gratification, are joined in wedlock, and produce 
 unhealthy children, whose sufferings and death se- 
 verely punish the inconsiderate selfishness of their 
 parents. That men wilfully err in this matter is, 
 
INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 33 
 
 we fear, true, since the laws of propagation are not 
 wholly unknown. It is no uncommon phrase for a 
 parent to use when a son is desirous to marry, See 
 that you take a bird out of a good nest. This is a 
 sound advice; for a bird may be beautiful, and to 
 all appearance healthy, and yet the seed of disease 
 may have been planted to produce most bitter fruit. 
 Not only is the bird to be regarded, but the nest ; 
 and here philosophy breaks out, as indeed it always 
 does, from common sense. The parents ought to 
 tell the young woman whether there is a valid rea- 
 son for her declining to marry, and the young man 
 ought to inquire of them beforehand if any such rea- 
 son exists, and if they be honest they will tell the 
 truth. But, alas ! mothers seem to leave all honour- 
 able feeling aside — their sole object, their active oc- 
 cupation, at least in those regions of society where, 
 if education were improved, we might look for bet- 
 ter things, is to get their daughters married. It is 
 enough if they be married, still better if to a rich 
 or titled man. If he has injured his constitution 
 by dissipation, if he belongs to a family in which 
 hereditary disease is known to exist, all is disre- 
 garded, and — O miserable infatuation ! — the delight 
 of the mother is centred in the mere settlement of 
 her devoted daughter, whose ambition to be married 
 has been sedulously educated- — who has been ren- 
 dered accomplished that the ambition may be sub- 
 served — while truth and every distinctive feeling 
 of humanity has been repressed. It is nothing that 
 scrofula, consumption, epilepsy, insanity, which are 
 known to descend in families, stare the parent in 
 the face — it is enough that she has got for her 
 
34 INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 
 
 daughter a good match. In forming matrimonial 
 alliances, it ought ever to be regarded as the duty 
 of both parties to take every precautionary means 
 to ascertain whether they run any risk of produc- 
 ing children that are likely to be unhealthy and ill 
 formed. Every well -constituted mind will reflect 
 on so important a subject, and even selfish motives 
 may act in preventing what must be termed sinful 
 alliances. 
 
 But we must not overlook that the laws of propa- 
 gation extend to the brain ; and no one who acquires 
 a knowledge of them can be indifferent as to the 
 mental qualities of his progeny. It is no doubt true, 
 that men of powerful minds have sometimes but ill- 
 endowed children ; but this is no sound objection 
 against doing all we can to render our children as 
 good, and better than ourselves. It appears certain 
 that it is an ordinance of God, that men and women' 
 should differ among themselves in the amount of 
 talent and variety of disposition. Without such dif- 
 ference and variety, it is clear that society could not 
 subsist. Were all of us possessed of a tendency to 
 pursue the same objects ; were all of us to see truth 
 at once, and instantaneously to agree in opinion ; 
 had none of us any thing new to communicate to 
 our fellows for their instruction and benefit, — society 
 would be vapid and heartless. But let it be kept 
 in mind, that, while talent and dispositions seem 
 destined continually to vary among individuals, 
 their amount may be increased, and their power 
 augmented, by attention to the laws of propagation, 
 with the view to preserve health, and to promote 
 the vigorous growth of our organization. |s it not 
 
INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 35 
 
 a worthy indulgence to look into futurity, and ima- 
 gine that a day may come when the least endowed 
 among mankind shall equal the greatest that yet 
 have lived, and that others shall excel them in the 
 proportion now subsisting between the greatest and 
 the least ? We have lived to see the larger brain 
 of Europe pushing aside the smaller brains of other 
 and greater divisions of the earth, and carrying its 
 philosophy and its arts to spread them over the 
 globe. Improvement is the destiny of the human 
 race. 
 
 There exist reasons why men of talent and science 
 should not have children of minds as powerful as 
 their own, and these reasons in perfect accordance 
 with the laws of propagation. Their studies are 
 carried on, owing to the fascination attendant on 
 the prospect of discovery, till their nervous energies 
 become comparatively exhausted. If in this state 
 they marry, their children will pay the penalty. 
 There is another cause that men of great talent may, 
 equally with others, disregard the laws of propaga- 
 tion, and unite themselves to a partner of inferior 
 abilities. The laws of propagation tell us, that as 
 much attention should be paid to the female as to 
 the male; and it is a well-known fact, that most 
 men of great powers have derived them from their 
 mothers. Among other considerations connected 
 with this subject, is the age at which it is most pro- 
 per to marry, with the view to the health both of 
 parents and children. The civil law permits mar- 
 riage at too early an age ; and it should not be al- 
 lowed before the mental faculties are fully developed, 
 the brain having reached its full size. 
 
36 INSTINCT AND LAWS OF PROPAGATION. 
 
 Degeneration as well as improvement seems to 
 depend on general laws, and to belong to those of 
 propagation. Though the influence of propagation 
 is greatest, a variety of circumstances tend to injure 
 the constitution of animals. What is called breed- 
 ing in and in contributes to this ; and to prevent or 
 remedy degeneration, recourse is had to crossing the 
 breed. Families which intermarry too closely de- 
 generate ; and hence the Mosaic Law forbids mar- 
 riages within certain degrees. That law, or cus- 
 tom, which prevents royal families from intermarry- 
 ing with subjects is mischievous to a great degree ; 
 and in them its degenerating effects are seen, in the 
 tendency to immoral conduct, in disease, in want 
 of capacity, and in insanity. The same holds good 
 among the aristocracy ; and it would be well if the 
 lords of the creation would believe, that beauty, 
 healthiness, talent, and merit, do not exclusively be- 
 long to exclusive society. This subject is, however, 
 too extensive to be followed out in this brief sum- 
 mary. 
 
 LOVE OF OFFSPRING. 
 
 The next faculty, the love and protection of chil- 
 dren, is a necessary one when children are produced. 
 This feeling does not depend on reason any more 
 than the first. In the lower animals it is easily ob- 
 served. It excites courage even in the most timid 
 of them, and they will die in defence of their young. 
 Equally prominent we find it in the human race. 
 It also depends for its energy on the development 
 bf its organ in the brain. When the organ is small, 
 
LOVE OF OFFSPRING. , 37 
 
 the manifestations are weak ; and persons are fre- 
 quently met with who dislike children so much as 
 to be uneasy in their presence. It will never be 
 found small in those who take pleasure in the so- 
 ciety of young* persons, and in amusing them. This 
 feeling may be abused, and hence it requires educa- 
 tion, to prevent its running to excess. In such a 
 state it leads to the over-indulgence of children, so 
 as to nurse their passions and destroy their health. 
 It is not very uncommon for a child, of not many 
 months old, when thwarted, to strike its mother or 
 its nurse. Ignorant that education must begin as 
 soon as such things are observed, the mother calls 
 on those around to admire the spirit of the babe, 
 little dreaming that this spirit may one day be 
 abused. Nature teaches a child to cry when it is 
 hungry, and the signal is readily obeyed. But if 
 caution be not exercised, and reason be not called in 
 to repress the feeling we are considering, the cry 
 for mere gratification will be mistaken for that of 
 necessity, and the child will ere long obtain the com- 
 plete mastery. Indulgence promotes the abuse of 
 the faculties in the child, and many a one has lived 
 to curse the hour when he was indulged. The 
 feeling, in its due exercise, is necessary and good. 
 When it is felt to be too powerful, it is virtue to 
 keep it within due bounds. Females have this feel- 
 ing to a much greater degree than men. Even in 
 childhood, it is evinced in the care of dolls. Women 
 who have no family are often observed to expend 
 this feeling on dogs, or cats, or birds. It is wrong 
 to ridicule this, for it is only an innocent and ami- 
 able way of gratifying a feeling which it is not in 
 
38 CONCENTRATIVENESS. 
 
 their power to indulge according to Nature's ap- 
 pointment. It seems to be most powerfully ex- 
 cited the more helpless its object ; and it is not im- 
 probable that a part of its function is the care of the 
 sick and the maimed, — for it is in the sick chamber 
 that woman shines, and draws down blessings on 
 her head. When it appears weak, it may be exer- 
 cised and improved in various ways. But no wo- 
 man ought to marry, or be chosen as a partner for 
 life, in whom the feeling is not strong, lest the 
 family should be neglected. The organ is large, and 
 easily observed. 
 
 CONCENTRATIVENESS. 
 
 The next faculty in order is that now named 
 Concentrativeness, or the power to bend the ener- 
 gies of the other faculties to one object. This was 
 at first supposed to be the faculty that leads to the 
 habitation of a particular place ; that as it led some 
 animals to burrow in the earth, some birds to make 
 nests in trees and others on the ground, so it led 
 man to attach himself in one case to a mountainous, 
 in another to a champagne country, and so forth. 
 These functions have been found not to be incom- 
 patible, but the reasonings on the subject would lead 
 us too far from our present object. 
 
 ATTACHMENT. 
 
 It scarcely needs demonstration, that the next 
 faculty exists, that of Adhesiveness or Attachment. 
 
ANIMAL COURAGE. 39 
 
 This leads to living' in society, to the formation of 
 friendships. It extends even to inanimate things. 
 It is a faculty to be encouraged, and is scarcely ever 
 abused. 
 
 ANIMAL COURAGE. 
 
 The next faculty has been called Combativeness, 
 — the disposition to quarrel, to contend, to fight. 
 Recently it has been proposed to give it the name 
 Opposiveness. Its legitimate function appears to 
 be to give courage in self-defence. A desire to fight 
 appears to us to be a mixture of animal courage 
 with a desire to injure, which belongs to the faculty 
 to be next spoken of. The fun in a bit of a fight, 
 so much relished by our neighbours in the Green 
 Isle, is never complete unless there be some broken 
 heads. It is quite true, as they say, it is all for 
 love, for there is not often any display of loss of 
 temper or of fury, unless when enemies are engaged. 
 The bit of fun has no reference to hostility, and the 
 pleasure is in the mere fighting. Many a diverting 
 story is told of poor Paddy's propensity. There is one, 
 which you may have'heard, that illustrates the cool- 
 ness with which he goes about to procure his bit of 
 fun. A gentleman observed at a fair a man, armed 
 with a goodly shilelah, going the outside of a tent, 
 and feeling all about it. " What are you after there, 
 Paddy ?" said he. " Please your honour," says Pat, 
 " I'm feeling for a head." On he went, and found 
 a head, to which he forthwith applied his shilelah. 
 The owner, as he expected, instantly came forth to 
 
40 ANIMAL COURAGE. 
 
 demand who had broken his pate. " And wasn't 
 it my own self, jewel," says our friend — and to it 
 they went. Hearing- the din, others rushed out, till 
 the whole fair was in commotion, every one for him- 
 self, and hundreds of heads were broken, and all in 
 pure love. However much we may be diverted by 
 such manifestations, they are clearly a gross abuse 
 of a feeling' given to us for most useful purposes. 
 Whenever we take a view of the constitution of na- 
 ture, we discover that, unless we possessed some 
 such feeling as this, we should soon fall a prey to 
 attack from other animals as well as man, who is 
 so prone to abuse his faculties, and to imitate the 
 nature of his inferiors in creation. It gives energy 
 and activity in all our undertakings ; and, in moral 
 conduct, enables us to resist temptation to do what 
 is wrong. Dangers and difficulties which appal 
 those who are little endowed with it, vanish before 
 courage. In this world we have to contend against 
 prejudice and hostile power, and to resist every en- 
 croachment upon liberty. Being thus of great value 
 when not in excess, it becomes all who are engaged 
 in educating the young to watch its manifestations, 
 to guide them, and repress them when necessary. 
 Its abuses are not confined to fighting without cause. 
 They extend to contradiction, arguing against con- 
 viction, and in a disposition to disagree with others 
 when no cause for difference exists. Persons of this 
 stamp are constantly met with ; and nothing is 
 better known, or more thoroughly disliked, than the 
 spirit of contradiction. Such persons, however, are 
 not difficult to manage. If we desire to gain a 
 point with them, we have only to announce on opi- 
 
ANIMAL COURAGE. 41 
 
 nion different from our own, and they are sure to go 
 our way. In many children, the spirit of contradic- 
 tion shews itself at an early period. To every thing 
 they say, No. This early indication cannot be 
 resisted by reasoning- or warning- ; yet education 
 must not be neglected, and the best way to proceed 
 may, perhaps, be to say no in return when any de- 
 sire is evinced. But mothers are very averse to do 
 this, and incline rather to indulge their own love of 
 offspring-; and nurses are apt to indulge to save 
 themselves annoyance and trouble. Seeing, how- 
 ever, that such a faculty does exist in the human 
 constitution, and the dangers of abuse, both to the 
 beloved object and to others, mothers are bound to 
 act as guardians, and in doing so they are safe, be- 
 cause they act on a principle founded in nature. 
 And they owe a debt to society likewise, which ex- 
 pects them to do their duty. When the organ of 
 this feeling is over-excited by disease, the insanity, 
 especially when the next faculty to be mentioned is 
 powerful, is dreadful. 
 
 PESTRUCTIVENESS. 
 
 There may be some whose nature is so mild, that 
 they may shudder and feel incredulous when it is 
 announced that there is such a faculty in human na- 
 ture as one that gives an impulse to destroy. A little 
 observation will, however, satisfy us on this point. 
 We have only to look abroad upon Nature, and we see 
 that it is altogether based in a system of destruction 
 and renovation. Neither the great globe itself, nor 
 
42 DESTRUCTIVENESS. 
 
 any thing- in the land or in the water, is exempt 
 from its laws. One generation cometh, another pass- 
 eth away. It is so ordered that no organized being- 
 can live without taking- organized matter as sus- 
 tenance, and that'cannot be done without one living 
 thing- putting another to death. The vegetable 
 world could not long endure without a supply of 
 dead organized matter. Some of the lower animals 
 destroy other animals for food, some destroy vege- 
 tables; man destroys both. Without an impulse or 
 instinct to destroy, man could not support life, and 
 he destroys accordingly. In civilized society this 
 impulse is greatly subdued by the existence of the 
 professions of butchers and cooks. It is only those in 
 whom the impulse is strong who betake themselves 
 to the profession of butchers, and such persons too 
 often abuse the feeling in acts of unnecessary 
 cruelty. The profession is a most useful one, and is 
 not, as many conceive, necessarily an inhumane 
 one. You may have heard of the answer of a butcher 
 to a lady who found him in the act of killing a 
 lamb, and who reproached him for his cruelty. 
 What ! said he to her, would you eat the lamb alive ? 
 The lady would never have thought of refusing to 
 eat a slice of delicate roasted lamb, but want of ob- 
 servation and reflection led her to reproach the 
 butcher. Such is the state of education, that ladies 
 as well as others are left in the dark concerning the 
 laws of Nature, and the institutions of their Maker, 
 in which their interest and happiness are so deeply 
 involved. 
 
 Besides destruction for the purpose of sustaining 
 life, the impulse is of great importance in other 
 
DESTRUCT1VENESS. 43 
 
 things. For example, a benevolent surgeon could 
 not perform an operation steadily without a consi- 
 derable endowment of it. All persons who work 
 with edge tools destroy a great deal, in order to 
 bring- materials into shape. We destroy coals to 
 obtain heat, and we apply heat to destroy other 
 thing-s for our use and comfort. A thousand exam- 
 ples might be given. The abuses of this propensity 
 lead to great evils ; and it is only when these hap- 
 pen that we presume to question the benevolence 
 of the Creator, when we have ourselves alone to 
 blame. Many institutions of Nature seem contrary 
 to benevolence ; but only seem : for when we attend 
 to what passes around us, we see so much benevo- 
 lence, that we may rest assured, when we incline 
 to impeach the Creator, it is in ignorance we do so. 
 Our duty is — not to abuse His bounty, aiid thus we 
 shall be safe. We owe much of the abuse of this 
 faculty to not educating it early, and promoting 
 the development of its antagonist faculty — that of 
 Benevolence. Children are prone to destroy insects, 
 and to break various articles, and nothing is done 
 to lessen this inclination, because it is not known 
 to be capable of education, and because the love of 
 offspring is too much indulged. From the predo- 
 minance of this faculty proceed anger, ill temper, 
 rage. Excited by disease, and in a state of insani- 
 ty, it is most formidable. So little pains are taken 
 to repress this feeling within due bounds, and yet 
 so annoyed is society by its manifestations, that a 
 multitude of terms are employed to express the an- 
 noyance that is felt. A man is said to be harsh, 
 passionate, cruel, severe, fierce, ferocious, savage, 
 
44 SECRETIVENESS. 
 
 brutal, and so forth ; and the words beat, bruise, 
 cut, smash, torture, lash, whip, tear, stab, kill, &c. 
 express the acts. It would be better had we less 
 occasion to use such terms ; and early training is 
 the only method to lessen their amount, until, by 
 attention to the laws of propagation, children come 
 to have better proportioned brains. 
 
 SECRETIVENESS. 
 
 The next faculty has received the name Secretive- 
 ness, or the instinct to conceal. This faculty is a 
 most important and useful one, while its abuse leads 
 to evil as well as the abuse of any of the gifts of 
 God. The knowledge of the existence of a faculty 
 is, however, the first step, before we can by educa- 
 tion guard against its abuse s This one seems to 
 have been appointed as a guard, to prevent the im- 
 proper expression of the other faculties. Every one 
 knows the mischiefs to society that arise from an 
 unbridled tongue. How could we confide in a 
 friend, if that friend could not keep to himself that 
 which we entrust to him ? The very term friend- 
 ship implies the possession of such a faculty ; and 
 the words confidence and fidelity would be useless 
 did it not exist. Thoughts arise, unbidden, to which 
 it would be improper to give utterance, both because 
 injury to ourselves and injury to others might be 
 the consequence. Hence there can be no doubt of 
 the existence of this power of the mind ; and that it 
 requires early and sedulous education is made 
 equally certain by its abuses. Cunning is a quality 
 
SECRETIVENESS. 45 
 
 which all moral men detest, and it is an abuse of 
 this faculty. It is too often mistaken for wisdom ; 
 and a cunning- rogue is too often esteemed an able 
 man. When this faculty is employed to b^ing about 
 a laudable end, and when it requires no immoral 
 action, it is in some degree cunning ; but this word 
 is commonly applied to the compassing of ends by 
 improper means, suggested by this and other facul- 
 ties. Lord Bacon wrote on the subject of Cunning : 
 " We take cunning," says he, " for a sinister or 
 crooked wisdom ; and certainly there is a great dif- 
 ference between a cunning man and a wise man, 
 not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability. 
 There be some that can pack the cards, and yet 
 cannot play them ; so there are some that are good 
 in canvasses and factions that are otherwise very 
 weak men !" As there are unprincipled beings in 
 society who are ready to take advantage of their 
 neighbours, it would lead to most deplorable conse- 
 quences had we not the power to counteract their 
 designs. It would be quite intolerable to every 
 well-constituted mind, were thoughts to be uttered 
 in society as they arise ; and hence, as thoughts do 
 arise, even in well-constituted minds, which they 
 are aware would give offence if expressed, or inflict 
 injury, this power is given to repress them. Its 
 abuse also extends to injurious expression of things 
 invented, and which are not true. Joined to other 
 feelings, which perhaps can find gratification in no 
 other way, and are unrestrained by moral sense, 
 this faculty in excess leads to the utterance of lies ; 
 and such lies are quickly propagated through the 
 instrumentality of weak minds, which are gratified 
 
46 ACQUISITIVENESS. 
 
 by having- something- to tell which another person 
 does not know, while, at the same time, they believe 
 what they tell to be true, though they sear their 
 consciences to the injuries they inflict. 
 
 The actions arising from this faculty, either well 
 or ill applied, mig-ht be illustrated at great length ; 
 and some of its manifestations are ludicrous, some 
 hateful, some melancholy. Its uses are innumera- 
 ble to the artist, the actor, the soldier, the poet ; 
 and, in short, wherever desig-n is implied. Its 
 abuses are found in cunning-, duplicity, deceit, and 
 hypocrisy ; and this is enough to lead to care in the 
 training- of the youthful mind. Not that it is to be 
 wholly repressed, as is most absurdly attempted 
 with many faculties by unenlightened teachers, but 
 simply regulated into submission to the moral feel- 
 ing's. 
 
 ACQUISITIVENESS. 
 
 The next faculty is the propensity to acquire or 
 accumulate. That such a propensity exists is evi- 
 dent, more, perhaps, in its abuses than in the legi- 
 timate purposes for which the Creator intended it. 
 He has given us nothing that is in itself evil ; it is 
 we that bring evil on ourselves, by abusing God's 
 gifts, and neglecting to guard our children against 
 abusing them. The use of this faculty is to prompt 
 us to provide for the wants of ourselves and families, 
 to gain the means of enjoying superfluities, in the 
 production of which others are employed, and who 
 thus reap advantage from the accumulation of capi- 
 tal. When we have more than supplies our wants, 
 
ACQUISITIVENESS. 47 
 
 when our labour yields more, then we have wealth ; 
 and this wealth is distributed to others who labour ; 
 and industry being- excited, more and more capital is 
 accumulated, till at length a whole nation becomes 
 wealthy. Society, indeed, could not exist but for 
 the impulse given by this faculty. Various are its 
 abuses. Those who covet what belongs to others, 
 who accumulate wealth and hoard it, so as to ren- 
 der it useless, abuse the power. The crime of theft 
 is prompted by it : but thieves are generally idlers, 
 who will not take the trouble to earn what they need, 
 or who have dissipated what they may have had. 
 The disposition to possess is often so strong- in those 
 who have abundance, as to take the form of insa- 
 nity. Such persons steal from the mere love of steal- 
 ing, and many such restore the stolen articles. An 
 English lady of rank was known to pocket every 
 thing she could come at, and her maid regularly 
 searched her pockets that the things she took might 
 be restored. Some children are observed to be 
 greedy, and on the watch to snatch at whatever may 
 be offered to them, unwilling to part with what they 
 have, and never to give a share to their playfellows. 
 Such should be made to understand how unamiable 
 this is, and their better feelings should be encourag- 
 ed, with the view to repress it. Such children are 
 born with the organ of this faculty in an undue pro- 
 portion, and Phrenology is a great help to discover 
 the predominant feelings, so as to put the trainers 
 of youth upon their guard, and to shew them where 
 to apply their strongest efforts. There is no doubt 
 that during early life certain organs may be repress- 
 ed in growth by want of exercise, and others cul- 
 
48 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 
 
 tivated by having- it. An infant school, directed by a 
 sensible teacher who is master of Phrenology, is the 
 scene for this, and is invaluable to society ; and it 
 were well that infant-school teachers were encour- 
 aged by better remuneration than what they now 
 receive. We do not scruple to say that one teacher 
 of an infant-school, properly endowed by nature, and 
 qualified by his own industry^ is worth to society a 
 thousand of those expensive masters who teach mere 
 accomplishments. 
 
 CONSTRUCTIVENESS. 
 
 The last faculty among the propensities is that 
 which prompts to construct, and need not detain us 
 long". It g'ives facility of executing', but does not 
 give the conception of things to be executed. It is 
 essential to artists of every description. It may be 
 abused in the formation of engines of destruction, 
 and in forging coin. A man may ruin himself by 
 building houses, and so forth. When manifested 
 by children, this faculty should be encouraged by 
 directing it to useful objects. 
 
 SELF-ESTEEM. 
 
 We now come to the second genus of feelings, the 
 Sentiments. The first of the inferior sentiments 
 is Self-Esteem. That this is actually a faculty is 
 proved by its different degrees in different persons. 
 We often see persons esteeming themselves greatly, 
 
SELF-ESTEEM. 49 
 
 and holding" their heads very high and stiff, and 
 occasionally tossing them, who have no pretensions 
 to set themselves above others, either on account of 
 superior talent, fortune, or birth. Others we observe, 
 who have rank, riches, talents, and accomplish- 
 ments, who are equally remarkable for modesty of 
 carriage. A moderate endowment of this faculty 
 gives dignity of deportment and nobleness of cha- 
 racter. When united to superior sentiments, it in- 
 spires self-respect, and tends to prevent descending 
 to low and mean actions. Its abuse is seen in 
 pride, haughtiness, presumption, forwardness, ar- 
 rogance, and insolence ; and these~are often evinced 
 when talent and merit of every kind are absent. 
 Such abuses, which are most disagreeable and dis- 
 gusting in well-regulated society, are to be guarded 
 against in the training of the young, among whom 
 its first appearance is sometimes very early. No 
 one employed to teach should have self-esteem in 
 excess. He ought to be able to practise as well as 
 to preach. 
 
 LOVE OF APPLAtJSE; 
 
 The next faculty is sometimes mistaken for Self- 
 Esteem. It is the Love of Approbation. This is 
 generally much stronger in women than in men, and 
 is shewn even in early childhood. A vast deal is 
 sacrificed to gain applause ; and in mocierate acti- 
 vity it is extremely useful. It produces a desire to 
 please, and renders us attentive to fame. It ex- 
 cites a wish to excel, and produces emulation- 
 
 D 
 
50 LOVE OF APPLAUSE. 
 
 When things of importance are its object, its mani- 
 festation is called Ambition; when it seeks gratifica- 
 tion in trifles it is Vanity. There are higher sen- 
 timents, to be spoken of afterwards, which lead men 
 to do good for its own sake, and the applause of 
 their fellow-men cannot fail to add to their grati- 
 fication, though to acquire it will not be their mo- 
 tive. It is so feeble in some individuals, that they 
 become indifferent, and care not whether their ac- 
 tions be approved or condemned, and as little for 
 the feelings of others. Joined to a large share of 
 Self-Esteem, it leads individuals to imagine that 
 applause is a debt due to them by the world for 
 every action and every word they utter, and thus 
 renders them ridiculous in the eyes of others. A 
 moderate regard to the opinion and good will of 
 others, may be almost said to be the chain which 
 binds civilized society together. When strong, this 
 feeling tends to keep others in check, the manifesta- 
 tions of which would be disagreeable, and rouses 
 others into activity that would otherwise sleep. 
 Many persons are charitable without any motive 
 but to obtain notice, — they sound the trumpet be- 
 fore them. Many, who have not talent to perceive 
 that the few are in the right, join themselves to the 
 multitude who make themselves conspicuous, even 
 in folly. Many are religious in their deportment 
 and speech, whose hearts are far from God, seeking 
 his favour less than the favour of men, joining in 
 senseless and hypocritical cabals for the sake of 
 distinction; and thus forwarding the secret views 
 of men who deceive them, while, if they knew the 
 object, they would perhaps condemn it. The inor- 
 
LOVE OF APPLAUSE. 51 
 
 dinate love of applause leads to great evils, as well 
 as to the frivolities of dress and exterior appearance. 
 It exposes men to the arts of flattery ; and to sacri- 
 fice their fortune in the pursuit of what they imagine 
 gives them consequence in the eyes of the public. 
 Numbers feed on the ignorance of the public, and, 
 instead of teaching them to understand, lead them 
 by exciting- their ignorant vanity, and nursing" er- 
 roneous notions of truth. Thus, we see that to 
 manage this feeling- in the young-, requires very 
 great attention in directing them to seek its grati- 
 fication only in what is really and substantially 
 good and useful. And here we may notice the 
 common system of rewards and punishments in the 
 management of schools. It is entirely forgotten 
 that children by natural constitution differ from each 
 other in talents and dispositions. Now, supposing 
 two boys or two girls, one of them possessing a good 
 memory and the other a bad one, and that both are 
 equally endowed with Self-Esteem and Love of Ap- 
 probation ; you say to them, Now, children, here is 
 a hymn, if you have it by heart in a quarter of an 
 hour, you shall go to play, and the one that has it 
 first shall have the medal. Here we have the de- 
 sire for play and the desire for distinction roused 
 into activity in both. But the natural ability of 
 the one child enables it to get by heart the hymn 
 in ten minutes, and it is sent out to play, with the 
 medal dangling by a ribbon round its neck ; while 
 the other cannot accomplish the task within the 
 prescribed time. Now, while the one is rewarded 
 for no merit, but for the result of what Nature gave 
 it — for no effort ; the other who, bei ig* less endow- 
 
52 LOVE OF APPLAUSE. 
 
 ed, actually made the greatest effort ', and deserved 
 reward for so doing-, is not only punished by the de- 
 privation of play, but its Love of Approbation is 
 mortified ; it becomes dispirited and careless, and 
 in future ceases to make those efforts by which the 
 memory would be improved. Thus the greatest 
 injustice is inflicted upon the individual who really 
 merited reward, and much injury *n reference to 
 its future progress. We can speak on this subject 
 as we feel ; for in this manner we were treated dur- 
 ing the most precious years of our life ; and were 
 we now to attempt to compete with some children 
 at school in getting tasks by heart, we should not 
 only not gain a medal, but probably receive a sound 
 whipping. We have witnessed some horrible in- 
 stances of the utter ignorance of human nature 
 evinced by teachers, who, with the rest of the world 
 at the time, and most of it at the present day, be- 
 lieve man to be a sheet of white paper, on which 
 any thing may be written, or a lump of plastic clay, 
 on which any shape may be moulded they may take 
 a fancy to. The love of approbation is a powerful 
 motive to work upon, and would be of most essen- 
 tial service in educating other faculties if properly 
 managed. In the ordinary mode of management 
 it is, in fact, employed either to be itself nursed into 
 sheer vanity, and to minister to pride, or mortified 
 so as to quell all useful exertion. We would have 
 parents and teachers to reflect deeply on this sub- 
 ject, and forthwith to proceed to study the true phi- 
 losophy of man, which exhibits what he really is, 
 and unfolds the mode in which he is to be ma- 
 naged. But we must carry the warning farther. 
 
LOVE OF APPLAUSE. 53 
 
 Mortified Love of Approbation leads to the ex- 
 citement of other feelings in the manner of abuse. 
 In the first place, dislike to tasks leads directly to 
 dislike of the task-master ; and Destructiveness 
 longs for revenge, Secretiveness for escape ; and the 
 dislike extends to the individual preferred ; and thus 
 bad passions are set to work. Nor does the evil 
 rest solely upon the one who is unjustly treated and 
 mortified. An undue sense of superiority is che- 
 rished in the mind of the favoured individual, which 
 rouses pride, and a contempt for the unsuccessful 
 candidate. Cupidity is also encouraged; and thus 
 are excited, by the most direct means, those very 
 feelings which parents and teachers are most anxious 
 to suppress. It is not always that favoured candi- 
 dates at school become distinguished in after life, 
 either for attainments or amiable character. The 
 errors of education create the wide separation be- 
 tween the aristocracy and the people — the mistaken 
 and ruinous principle of favoritism. The pride of 
 the one, rendered excessive by a system ruinous to 
 moral health, denies the right of the other to the 
 acquirement of knowledge. The other seeks it for 
 itself, discovers that natural endowments are not 
 the gift of art ; and not being rightly guided, comes 
 to hate and to desire to destroy those who, were 
 education placed on a proper footing, would be their 
 friends, and their respected and beloved leaders in 
 all that is great and worthy. When this shall 
 happen, and there is now a prospect before us that 
 a system of national education will ere long be 
 founded on rational principles, the people will cease 
 to listen to itinerant and designing demagogues ; 
 
54 CAUTIOUSNESS. 
 
 and high and low, rich and poor, will say to each 
 other, Are we not men and brethren ? and act ac- 
 cordingly, each an honourable part. 
 
 CAUTIOUSNESS. 
 
 The next faculty we have to consider, is that 
 which has received the name of Cautiousness, or 
 Circumspection ; and it is considered to be the pri- 
 mitive feeling which we call Fear. This last might 
 be supposed to arise from the absence of Courage. 
 But the absence of any faculty cannot produce what 
 is a positive feeling. Accordingly we find that the 
 most courageous persons are not insensible to the 
 presence of danger, or to the risk that may be run 
 by performing certain actions. When Cautiousness 
 is feeble, it allows courage to prompt rash and in- 
 considerate actions ; when powerful, it does not di- 
 minish the power to face danger when necessary, 
 but says, " Take care how you proceed." Without 
 a feeling of this sort, the world would be a scene of 
 anarchy; and no man could deem himself safe in 
 the society of his fellows. Circumspection leads 
 him to consider both what his own conduct should 
 be, and what he may expect from others. A small 
 proportion of courage, and a great one of Cautious- 
 ness, produce cowardice. This fact, therefore, in- 
 stead of having permitted the invention of the op- 
 probrious epithets, coward and poltroon, should 
 lead us to regard an excess of fear as a natural in- 
 firmity which nothing can prevent; to be compas- 
 sionated, not contemned. It may be a new thing 
 
CAUTIOUSNESS. 55 
 
 to some of you to know, that a small endowment of 
 courage, and a large one of caution, leads, in certain 
 circumstances in which an individual maybe placed, 
 to suicide. Self-Esteem and Love of Approbation 
 being deeply mortified and disappointed, the fear 
 of disgrace, and no prospect of recovering station 
 or character appearing, and courage not being pre- 
 sent to sustain the individual against misfortune, 
 he deprives himself of life. This has been ascer- 
 tained by many observations. An excess of fear 
 may lead to criminal actions in reference to others, 
 in order that threatened misfortunes may be avoided. 
 It also tends to render life miserable, by leading to 
 fear of misfortunes happening which are never to 
 come to pass. This feeling is generally stronger in 
 childhood than afterwards ; and it is necessary for 
 the young while their other faculties are only in 
 progress to ripeness, leading them to take care of 
 themselves. Children in whom it may not be fully 
 developed should not be left to themselves. It is 
 too often brought to a morbid state, by mothers, 
 nurses, and schoolmasters. To save themselves 
 trouble, they excite terror, too often at the expense 
 of truth, and nourish that very thing which they 
 would be distressed to see displayed in after life, 
 namely, cowardice. Teachers of religion are not 
 aware of the degree to which they sink human na- 
 ture, when they dwell more on the fear of hell than 
 on the love of God. If the love of God to us pass- 
 eth understanding, surely our love to Him should 
 be promoted, as being better calculated to produce 
 faith and good works, than terror of His power. It 
 is a sad mistake also to make God's word a book of 
 
50 CAUTIOUSNESS. 
 
 tasks. Some even insist on children getting- portions 
 of it by heart by way of punishment. This does 
 nothing* but excite a dislike to the Bible, and in 
 after life leads to that which is so much dreaded, 
 infidelity ; for, when reason comes to be mature, and 
 all the youthful misery that was inflicted by Bible 
 tasks and punishments is remembered, and when it 
 is seen how widely men who profess Christianity 
 differ in the meaning- which they attach to various 
 parts of its contents, and how bitterly they dispute 
 about them, the result is either disregard and indif- 
 ference, or a critical examination of doctrines about 
 which disputes are carried on, which possibly ends 
 in scepticism. Thus, we conceive that the origin 
 of not a little of that infidelity, and even heathenism, 
 which is so much complained of as having- arisen 
 in modern times, is to be found in making- the Bible 
 a school-book, and exciting- dislike to it instead of 
 affection. This opinion seems to be confirmed by 
 the fact, that almost all men who have been most 
 disting-uished by their reasoning powers, are those 
 against whom the cry of infidelity has been loudest. 
 They may be supposed to have seen nothing in the 
 disputes of theologians but battles about straws, and 
 to have said, " That about which such contentions 
 arise cannot be a revelation," and they set aside the 
 Bible accordingly. We humbly conceive that Chris- 
 tianity will never have its proper effect on the con- 
 duct and improvement of mankind, till more wis- 
 dom shall be displayed in the mode of teaching it, 
 and above all, until religion shall cease to be used 
 as a bugbear to excite the fears of children. The 
 excitement of such fears lays the foundation of in- 
 
CAUTIOUSNESS. 57 
 
 sanity ; and we believe that the religiously insane 
 exceed in number all others who are in confinement. 
 If, on the present occasion, we should have permit- 
 ted our own Cautiousness to be so overcome by our 
 sense of duty, as to have made us, by these remarks, 
 give offence to any one, we shall deeply regret it. 
 But we will never conceal our opinion, that the ge- 
 nuine object of religious teaching is to amend men's 
 conduct, by leading them to obey the Christian 
 commands and precepts, which are the will of God. 
 If that be not the object, we cannot understand why 
 so many commands and precepts having such a 
 tendency are contained in the Gospel. That some- 
 thing is wrong we are certain ; for our intercourse 
 with society has been long enough to prove to us, 
 that the commands and precepts of Christ are not 
 better attended to now than heretofore, and, per- 
 haps, are even more than ever neglected among all 
 ranks of society, though the same means of teaching 
 Christianity have always existed. We may be wrong 
 in attributing this wholly to fault in early educa- 
 tion ; but it is doubtless one great cause, and with 
 this only we have to do at present. 
 
 BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 We now proceed to consider the superior or Moral 
 Sentiments ; and the first of these in order is Bene- 
 volence. Men are found to differ in their disposi- 
 tion to do kind and charitable actions. Some ap- 
 pear to devote their lives to charity, while others 
 are selfish and griping. This difference appears in 
 
58 BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 childhood. Nations differ in this respect. That 
 this is an innate faculty is proved also by the ob- 
 servation of similar differences among- animals, es- 
 pecially dogs. The moral virtue of charity is placed 
 above all others by the Christian code. Some mis- 
 takingly suppose that it consists in the mere act of 
 giving- alms, and contributing to public charitable 
 institutions ; and many are induced to give from 
 their love of applause, desiring to see their names 
 in subscription lists and newspaper paragraphs. 
 The innate feeling is directed by the Christian code 
 to obey its dictates in secret, and not to let the left 
 hand know what the right doeth. Mere ostenta- 
 tious gifts cannot therefore be with certainty attri- 
 buted to this feeling. It shews itself in many other 
 ways. It produces a general kindness of manner, 
 a readiness to oblige, and instantaneous desire to 
 relieve distress the moment it is presented. It gives 
 what is called amiability of character, and g-ood na- 
 ture ; and true it is that Charity covereth a multi- 
 tude of sins, a text which, we apprehend, by being 
 in general most wrongfully interpreted, leads to 
 giving with the hand when, as we speak, the heart 
 is not concerned. We are apt to overlook many 
 faults in persons who are good-natured. How often 
 do we hear actions which are condemned softened 
 down by the exclamation, " O, but he is one of the 
 best-natured fellows in the world." Now, it is in 
 this sense we would interpret the text, that charity 
 covers or conceals a multitude of sins, but by no 
 means secures their forgiveness. Yet we have 
 heard the forgiveness, or absolution, often preached 
 when charity was recommended ; and many good 
 
BENEVOLENCE. 59 
 
 people, who would otherwise keep their money to 
 themselves, are induced to give, by the idea that 
 they thus purchase indulgence and pardon, — a doc- 
 trine savouring very much of one sad and gross er- 
 ror of the Roman church, which has most effectual- 
 ly misinterpreted the text to enrich itself, while we 
 seem to do so for the better purpose of doing good 
 to our fellow-creatures, but from a wrong motive. 
 Elevating and delightful as the exercise of this di- 
 vine sentiment is, it nevertheless requires educa- 
 tion. However beautiful it is in all its forms of 
 goodness and mercy, in man it is sometimes too 
 strong, sometimes too weak. In the latter case it 
 requires encouragement, in the former regulation. 
 When too strong it leads to indiscriminate alms- 
 giving, and thus runs the risk of administering to 
 the dissoluteness of the reckless, and the depravity 
 of the wicked. Joined to a high degree of Love of 
 Approbation, it tends to extravagance and waste, 
 and to the ruin of fortune, becoming a prey to the 
 cunning. It cannot resist tales of distress, real or 
 untrue. It becomes, in short, a ! dupe to every 
 scheme pretending- to be for the good of our fellow- 
 creatures in any shape, whether such schemes have 
 been well digested and reasonable, or not. If one- 
 half of the misery and ignorance of our own coun- 
 trymen were known to our charitable folk, not a 
 tithe of the money that goes to foreign purposes, 
 and which is seldom or ever accounted for by the 
 itinerants who collect it, would go to such a desti- 
 nation ; for it should be considered as a duty en- 
 joined by the Christian code, first to provide for 
 our own. It is therefore a proper saying, that cha- 
 
60 VENERATION. 
 
 rity begins at home, though it be sometimes applied 
 ironically. When the feeling- is strong, it should 
 be led under the dominion of reflection, and the 
 sentiment of Justice, to be afterwards treated of. 
 When weak, it should be sedulously exercised by 
 practice, for preaching alone will do little to en- 
 courage it. 
 
 VENERATION. 
 
 The next faculty has been named that of Venera- 
 tion. In connection with others, it produces reli- 
 gious feelings, but by itself gives simply the ten- 
 dency to venerate and respect superiority in gene- 
 ral. It leads up to God; but it inspires respect 
 also for power and worth, and likewise for what 
 is ancient, and, what has been mentioned formerly, 
 the wisdom of our ancestors. Many persons col- 
 lect antiquities merely because they are so, and 
 without any regard to their use in elucidating his- 
 tory. 
 
 It may be as well here to depart from the usual 
 arrangement of the Faculties, and to consider those 
 the combined action of which produces the religious 
 character. Ail nations and tribes have been found 
 to have some sort of religion. Some propitiate only 
 the good, others only the evil spirit. Some worship 
 the heavenly bodies, others graven images. The 
 religious sentiment is universal, and is an innate 
 part of the human constitution, from which it can- 
 not be eradicated by human means. 
 
WONDER. 61 
 
 WONDER. 
 
 It is evident that, to constitute what is meant by 
 the term religious feeling-, there must be something 
 more than mere veneration. There must be some- 
 thing that raises this to a supreme degree. Hence 
 we find, in the human constitution, a feeling that 
 leads to a desire for what is wonderful, surprising, 
 marvellous, and out of the common course of nature. 
 Whenever we begin to study the book of Nature, we 
 at once perceive the result of power and intelligence, 
 far beyond any thing manifested by our own race ; 
 and we are led irresistibly to a great First Cause. 
 Man, however, being fond of seeing causes, has, in 
 his ignorance, supposed that this power resided in 
 the heavenly bodies; or, having once made for him- 
 self representations of an unseen power, he has 
 come to the absurd belief that the images were ac- 
 tually the beings who were worshipped, and here is 
 the origin of idolatry. Many persons shew a great 
 fondness for tales of wonder. They are inclined to 
 give faith to dreams, and to believe in magic, witch- 
 craft, and in every kind of mystery. Miracles and 
 prophecies, whether true or false, find in this feel- 
 ing a ready listener ; and it leads, when powerful 
 or ill-regulated, to superstition in all its degrading 
 forms, — distorting true religion ; to which, never- 
 theless, it is, in its moderate state, essential. When 
 the organ of this faculty of Marvellousness or Won- 
 der is diseased, a most melancholy insanity is the 
 consequence. Legislators of all ages, aware of the 
 influence of this feeling, have made use of it to en- 
 
62 WONDER. 
 
 force their laws, by speaking in the name of the 
 Deity or other supernatural powers. In our own day, 
 many religious sects exhibit its inordinate action. 
 While, therefore, a moderate endowment of this fa- 
 culty is essential to the feeling of dependence on 
 unseen power, too much of it leads to every kind of 
 irrational superstition, and too little renders re- 
 ligious feeling weak. Accordingly, it has been ob- 
 served that some persons are rationally religious, 
 that others carry religion into every thing so as to 
 annoy and disturb society, and others, again, create 
 disturbance and produce uneasiness to their neigh- 
 bours, by laughing at and mocking the expression 
 of their feelings. Seeing, then, that men become 
 superstitious from an excess of a feeling implanted 
 in their natural constitution, — that the same cause 
 in "moderation produces calm and sober worship, — 
 and that, when there is a low endowment, there is 
 so little of this feeling as to lead to its being con- 
 temned in others, we have at once the best possible 
 reason for warring with intolerance, and rousing 
 benevolence. Let us reflect, that we cannot help 
 having the feelings which the Creator has himself 
 implanted in us, and that we ought to bear with 
 what we may consider as the failings of others. It 
 is unchristian to believe, as many do, that different 
 religious denominations are insincere in their pro- 
 fessions. It is true that priests, who in all times 
 have unhappily evinced an inordinate love of power, 
 have turned this feeling into a tool for unhallowed 
 ends. By nourishing it with great assiduity, the 
 priests of Rome enriched themselves by destroying 
 the minds of the people; first leading them to be- 
 
WONDER. 63 
 
 lieve what was irrational, and then contriving, by 
 a skilful management, to induce men to sin, with the 
 view to levy money to subserve their own guilt. But 
 it would be an error to suppose that, even in the cor- 
 rupted mass of the Roman system, there were no sin- 
 cere men. It is just as true that there are insincere 
 men among all sects, as that they exist among the 
 Roman Catholics. To make religion an engine of 
 temporal power, or a means to gratify selfishness in 
 any way, whether in the shape of the creed of one sect 
 or another, appears to he a monstrous perversion of it. 
 But we need say no more to satisfy you that that 
 faculty, which designing men may direct to abuse, 
 requires most careful nurture. As far as our own 
 observation has gone, it appears the most apt to 
 run into excess of almost all the faculties ; and 
 when once it gains ascendency, no power of reason- 
 ing can bring it back to the rational homage due to 
 the Great Author of our being. Even well mean- 
 ing men, when they have this faculty in excess, do 
 infinite mischief, by their exertions to bring the 
 minds of others into the same state. We will not, 
 however, dwell on this melancholy subject ; but 
 only add, that, while the mass of the people is kept 
 in ignorance, — while the knowledge of God's works, 
 in which he is manifested, is hidden from them, 
 they will be ever exposed to the notion that, if they 
 go through certain ceremonies, they may gratify 
 their desires in whatever way they like ; and it is 
 too common, even in this country, to see a man in 
 church on Sunday, who will steal your goods on 
 Monday, get drunk on Tuesday, and tell falsehoods 
 every day, This is the usual result of ignorance 
 
64 HOPE. 
 
 and superstition ; and until knowledge shall be sent 
 widely amongst the people, their reign will conti- 
 nue undisturbed. No other method has yet suc- 
 ceeded any where, and it is time it should be tried. 
 But there is yet another faculty that has a great 
 share in exciting- religious feeling, and is one of the 
 greatest blessings we have received. 
 
 HOPE. 
 
 This is the feeling of Hope, which, it has been 
 well observed, is necessary to the happiness of man 
 in every situation. 
 
 O blessed Hope, that sets the captive free, 
 While fetters bind his limbs— who to the sick 
 Shews rosy health, and riches to the poor ! 
 
 Its existence as a primitive innate faculty seems 
 quite evident. In different individuals it operates 
 with more or less energy, according to the size of 
 its organ. Some are very easily thrown into a state 
 of despair, while, under similar circumstances, 
 others are cheerful, and continue to look to an end 
 of their troubles, and the accomplishment of their 
 wishes. When excessively active, it leads to the 
 most unfounded expectations, even to desire what 
 is impossible. It is the excessive energy of this 
 faculty that leads to what is called building castles 
 in the air. When treble, and when Cautiousness 
 is powerful, low spirits, melancholy, and despair 
 result, whenever any desire is thwarted. Hope 
 leads to the belief, that whatever any other faculty 
 desires may be obtained. It sometimes leads to 
 
HOPE. 65 
 
 indolence and carelessness, from the idea that things 
 will come round of themselves. The operation of 
 hope, however, is not limited to the affairs of this 
 world ; for it expands its wings for a flight to an- 
 other region, believing and resting in the sure pro- 
 mise of Christianity, that there is another and a bet- 
 ter state of existence. Hope is desirable ; but there 
 is nothing more dangerous to an individual than a 
 disposition to be credulous. An excess of the feel- 
 ing of Wonder leads to this in one way, and that of 
 Hope in another ; and when both feelings are strong", 
 credulity is the more easily imposed upon. Hence 
 it is of importance to regulate them both in early 
 life, lest, on the one hand, the individual should fall 
 a prey to designing men, or, on the other, injure his 
 prospects by trusting to improbable events ; or, 
 overwhelmed by both, destroy his own peace of 
 mind, and disturb that of others. 
 
 We can now see how the religious feeling, pro- 
 perly so called, is produced. The feeling' of Won 
 der leads to the conviction of unseen power ; and 
 this is a strong argument for the existence of a Su- 
 preme being ; Veneration leads to the adoration of 
 that power ; and Hope fills the mind with confidence 
 in the object of veneration fulfilling all our reason- 
 able desires, even to the enjoyment of eternal hap- 
 piness, if we exert ourselves to discover his laws, and 
 to obey them. The existence of an innate faculty 
 of Hope is a strong proof of a future state of exist- 
 ence. For as we cannot think of the Creator other- 
 wise than as of a perfectly Benevolent Being, we 
 must conclude that, if there was to be no such state, 
 He would not have permitted us to hope for it. 
 
66 JUSTICE. 
 
 We now also see why, when well regulated, the 
 faculties of Wonder, Hope, and Benevolence, are 
 held up by high authority as feelings to be anxious- 
 ly cultivated ; for it is they who produce faith, hope, 
 and charity. The more we inquire into and study 
 our own nature, the more clearly are we satisfied 
 that the Christian morality is not, as too many are 
 apt to think, too elevated for human nature. The 
 Creator has implanted in us such powers as, when 
 duly cultivated and regulated, lead us to believe it 
 to be no chimera that man may, and indeed will, 
 improve himself, till at last the kingdoms of this 
 world shall merge into one great and uniformly 
 moral and religious family. 
 
 JUSTICE. 
 
 The next faculty we propose to consider is the 
 sense of right and wrong, of justice, or, as it has 
 been named, conscientiousness. This faculty does 
 not discover to us what is right or what is wrong, 
 which is the province of other faculties, or rather 
 of a combination of them ; but when once that 
 which is right is determined, this feeling binds us 
 to prefer what is right. He who has more of the 
 lower propensities than of Benevolence and Vtnera- 
 tion, will call that just which a person with the en- 
 dowment reversed will call unjust. It is said in the 
 book of Proverbs, — " Every way of a man is clean 
 in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the heart." 
 Instances have been known of criminals robbing 
 the rich and giving to the poor, and such individuals 
 
JUSTICE. 67 
 
 will justify their actions. The combination of the 
 other faculties with Conscientiousness, accounts for 
 the various principles which regulate the enactment 
 of laws, and the degrees of punishment awarded to 
 their infraction. Few will maintain that the inflic- 
 tion of bodily injury without cause is just. This be- 
 ing- determined to be unjust, a proper endowment 
 of the faculty of Conscientiousness will prevent us 
 from inflicting' injury even to benefit ourselves. A 
 man with good Benevolence and Conscientiousness 
 may, under the sudden and violent excitement of 
 Destructiveness, kill another ; but as passion cools, 
 his prevailing character will contradict the act, and 
 he will bitterly repent. When Conscientiousness 
 and Benevolence are feeble, there will be no repent- 
 ance, there can be none. Particular faculties may 
 feel disappointment, but repentance is different, — 
 it is sorrow for having committed an action which 
 we know to be wrong, and this is given by the fa- 
 culty now under consideration. From the circum- 
 stance that the natural faculties of man have not 
 been understood, paid consequently left uncultivated, 
 they are less under the guidance of a sense of jus- 
 tice than they ought to be ; they think more of them 
 selves than of others. Therefore, as there are so 
 few who, in the words of the Apostle, are a law unto 
 themselves, it has become necessary not to trust to 
 the conscience of men, but to enact laws, which de- 
 termine what justice is, and to enforce it. Laws, 
 however, are too often founded on what our moral 
 feelings, when consulted, condemn as erroneous prin- 
 ciples. Men differing in mental constitution differ 
 
68 JUSTICE. 
 
 on such points, and debates ensue. As it is neces- 
 sary to legislate, the majority is allowed to do so. 
 When once law is established, then Conscientious- 
 ness condemns its infraction, although reason may 
 tell us that the law is imperfect, or even unjust in 
 its operation. It is to be feared that many ages 
 must pass away before the law will be unnecessary, 
 but it is our duty to hasten the blessed time, if it be 
 destined ever to come. It is a lamentable, but an 
 unquestionable fact, that this important faculty is 
 far oftener found deficient than any other. Selfish- 
 ness is the ruling principle of action, and conscience 
 is allowed to sleep, and is not so often nor so easily 
 pricked as many are inclined to believe. It is true 
 that a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit ; 
 and, as St Paul says, " the natural man receives 
 not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are 
 foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, 
 because they are spiritually discerned." If, then? 
 we see it is necessary to cultivate that by which 
 men may come to discern what is just and right, 
 let us no longer neglect the study of man's nature, 
 and the cultivation of this faculty, which is so low 
 in the race at present. Children, before they are 
 educated, shew great differences in reference to this 
 faculty of Conscientiousness. Some of them are 
 pleased when justice is spoken of, and others are 
 indifferent. In the play-ground of an infant-shool 
 (and without an ample space for this such a school 
 is useless), these differences soon become visible to 
 a master properly endowed with perceptive facul- 
 ties ; and a judicious one will know how to proceed 
 
JUSTICE. 69 
 
 both with precept and example. Every faculty 
 improves by exercise, and this is one of infinite im- 
 portance to the individual and to society. 
 
 We can now explain how it happens that religion 
 and morality are sometimes separated in different 
 individuals. A man may feel the religious impulse 
 in full force, and yet have but little sense of justice. 
 This may assist in explaining- the apparent ano- 
 maly of persons assuming the religious habit whose 
 lives are by no means exemplary. I fear that what 
 we read about priests, monks, and friars, is but too 
 true ; and it proves that the one feeling may exist 
 without the other, and lead to confidence in cere- 
 monies, and forms, and gifts, and penance, for wip- 
 ing away sin. Again, a man may have the strong- 
 est feelmg of justice, and but little of religion ; such 
 persons are also frequently met with- All this, how- 
 ever, ought to convince us that it is uncharitable to 
 deal in denunciations of such men. All the abuse 
 that can be hurled against them is useless. The 
 Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard 
 his spots. The business of the true Christian is 
 not to revile, contrary to the command of his Mas- 
 ter, but to exert himself to turn men from the error 
 of their ways by every means within his reach ; but 
 reviling is not among them. The improvement and 
 enlightenment of the understanding, so that it shall 
 be our guide, under the control of the moral senti- 
 ments, are the legitimate means. We say, under 
 the control of the moral sentiments, for without 
 this the intellect may be, and too often is, grossly 
 misapplied ; while, on the other hand, the senti- 
 ments without intellect act blindly. And when the 
 
70 FIRMNESS. 
 
 nature of man's constitution shall come to be known, 
 then not one will be called to teach either divine or 
 secular thing's, who is not by nature fitted for the 
 important office. We cannot make the branch of a 
 tree that has grown crooked grow back into a 
 straight line, but if we deal with the sapling it will 
 bend to our will. Train up a child in the way he 
 should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
 from it. How very few have reflected that error is 
 perpetuated by ill-directed education, or the neglect 
 of it. Do we not know that the Jesuits attended 
 to this, and selected their pupils, and twisted their 
 growth, to make them as themselves ? Is it not 
 known that this means is employed for every trade 
 and profession ? and for that of priest also ? Why 
 not use it to effect the general improvement of the 
 whole of the human constitution, and to render the 
 better part of it more fruitful, and the worse part 
 barren ? No Jesuits can exist where the people are 
 educated and enlightened. All superstition, and 
 all immoral religious systems, will vanish, and pure 
 Christianity will flourish, undisturbed by sectarian 
 spirit. 
 
 FIRMNESS. 
 
 We now come to the faculty which has received 
 the name Firmness. It is observed of some persons 
 that they are easy to be entreated, that they are 
 infirm of purpose, and yielding, and wavering-, and 
 unable to come to any determinate resolution. 
 Others, again, are found to be the reverse. They 
 will not yield to entreaty ; they are fixed to their 
 
FIRMNESS. 71 
 
 principles, and will not deviate to the right nor to 
 the left. They attend to nothing- but the object 
 immediately before them, — they are uniform and 
 steady in their conduct, and they may be depended 
 on when they engage to do any thing, — they are, 
 in short, firm. When it is too active, this faculty 
 produces stubbornness, infatuation, obstinacy, dis- 
 obedience. When a man who has it powerful, and 
 Conscientiousness deficient, resolves to attain an 
 end by the commission of crime, he will lay his 
 plans, and persevere even through adverse circum- 
 stances, till his purpose be attained. Such a being, 
 especially with much Self-Esteem, will never ac- 
 knowledge himself in the wrong ; and if a consider- 
 able endowment of Secretiveness be added, he will 
 never confess his crime, but declare himself inno- 
 cent in the face of the clearest evidence, and persist 
 in his declaration. This faculty is of great value 
 when within the bounds of moderation, and directed 
 to what is useful and praiseworthy. Deficient chil- 
 dren should be encouraged to persevere, by shewing 
 them some desirable object placed within their reach 
 and to be obtained by overcoming obstacles. But 
 care must be taken not to set more than one child 
 to work for the sake of the same object, for this 
 would lead to injustice, by allowing a child well 
 endowed to overcome and mortify his weaker school- 
 fellow, and retard progress instead of forwarding 
 the object in view. A schoolmaster, for example, 
 may place an orange within sight, put various ob- 
 structions in the road to it, some of which have to 
 be scrambled over, some to be crawled under, so 
 that the road becomes tortuous, and a stone or 
 
rZ IDEALITY. 
 
 something else has to be removed, and so on. He 
 then selects a persevering child, shews him the 
 orange, and tells him he may have it for the trouble 
 of taking it, and it will be got at to a certainty. 
 But while the persevering child is at work to ob- 
 tain the prize, the less persevering should be made 
 to look on, and if the master applauds when each 
 obstacle is overcome, the others will instinctively 
 applaud too, and will regard the affair as diversion. 
 Another orange being- placed, a less persevering 
 child is to be set to work ; and thus, by gradually 
 increasing the difficulties in this and other contri- 
 vances, a weak organ will become stronger. The 
 example of the well endowed should always be ex-- 
 hibited, but never so as to mortify. 
 
 IDEALITY. 
 
 The next faculty to be noticed, is one which you 
 may find it more difficult to comprehend than any 
 of the preceding-, especially as we wish to compress 
 our observations as much as possible ; and our pur- 
 pose is chiefly to induce you to go farther, and to 
 consult books, and to reflect upon the principles we 
 briefly refer to. 
 
 Some persons are called sanguine. Their ideas 
 are perpetually running after what ought to be, and 
 they cannot rest satisfied with what is. They clothe 
 every thing in its fairest suit, and every thing they 
 desire to be perfect. They become easily exalted ; 
 express themselves warmly, in lofty words, and 
 rapturously. All is what we call ideal, — and the 
 
IDEALITY. 73 
 
 feeling that excites this warmth and enthusiasm 
 has been named Ideality. It is the basis of poetry. 
 Many who have a full endowment of this, write and 
 speak true poetry, though not expressed in verses, or 
 aided by the jingle of rhymes. Poets delight in por- 
 traying imaginary life and scenery, and this in the 
 most florid diction. In them the faculty is strong ; 
 but all who have it so are not necessarily poets. 
 The faculty exerts its influence on all the other 
 powers. A painter endowed with a moderate share 
 of it, gives us simply portraits ; with a larger share 
 his portraits have a certain air or action in them ; 
 and when he is still farther endowed, he becomes an 
 historical painter, and his productions partake of 
 sublimity. It adds vastly to the power of the musi- 
 cian, whether in composition or execution. In short, 
 in whichever way the more prominent faculties lead, 
 this faculty of Ideality tends to produce enthusiasm. 
 It probably constitutes a portion of the religious cha- 
 racter. It strikes us, that, since it excites a desire 
 for perfection in all things, it leads to the contem- 
 plation of the perfection of the Creator in power, 
 wisdom, and goodness ; that, in searching into His 
 works, it rouses an extraordinary admiration of 
 them, and directs us at once to their Author. Many 
 view the works of art and of nature with equal in- 
 difference, and we conceive that this faculty leads 
 to genuine and lively admiration of both. Children 
 frequently evince the operation of this faculty with- 
 out being educated, though it be not commonly no- 
 ticed. Enthusiasm may be carried too far ; and 
 looking for what cannot be realized leads to de- 
 spondency. It is seldom, however, that this faculty 
 
74 wit. 
 
 needs to be repressed ; and a strong- endowment of 
 it leads to excellence in all the fine and mechanical 
 arts. Even in the manufacture of very ordinary 
 things, a workman having- a g-ood share of the feel- 
 ing-, will give the article a neatness which another 
 does not seem to know how to produce. 
 
 WIT. 
 
 A good deal of discussion has arisen in regard to 
 the true function of the faculty which was originally 
 named Wit. As we understand this word, it is evi- 
 dently connected with intellect. A jest is made 
 and we laugh, and even those laugh who cannot 
 make a jest or say a witty thing. Some, however, 
 do not laugh even at great wit. Repartee, and a 
 play upon words, require quickness of perception 
 and ready expression. There are also what we call 
 practical jokes, in which the intellect has no con- 
 cern, but which make us laugh notwithstanding. 
 Caricatures make us laugh. It is probable that the 
 faculty in question gives a disposition to be merry 
 without regard to what excites it. Some persons 
 can scarcely speak without laughing, and do so 
 heartily when there is nothing apparent to excite 
 the laugh. The faculty seems to make people in- 
 clined to be pleased with every thing; and I am in- 
 clined to agree in the name Mirth fulness. Wit, 
 which is a word peculiar to the English and Ger- 
 man languages, seems to be an effort of intellect 
 designed to produce laughter in others. But we 
 must not dwell on metaphysical distinctions. You 
 
IMITATION. 75 
 
 will agree, we doubt not, that some persons are 
 more witty than others ; and, therefore, some must 
 have a peculiar mental endowment more powerful 
 than others. It is a happy disposition, and confers 
 much pleasure and amusement when properly di- 
 rected. 
 
 IMITATION. 
 
 The exactness with which some persons can imi- 
 tate the actions, voice, and mode of expression, of 
 others, leads to the supposition that there exists a 
 special faculty of Imitation ; and experience has de- 
 termined that it does exist. It is more active in 
 childhood than in after life, and we observe that 
 children learn a great deal by imitation. Those 
 who are largely endowed with it use gestures when 
 they speak ; and we have seen individuals who 
 could not sit still while describing- what they wished 
 quietly in words, but got up and exhibited what they 
 meant in action. Not only do they imitate their 
 fellow-men, but the cries and actions of animals. 
 They are fond of acting-, and of dramatic represen- 
 tations; but, of itself, the faculty does not consti- 
 tute an actor. In combination with other faculties, 
 it determines the inclination to act, but the other fa- 
 culties determine the line of characters to be acted. 
 Actors with a g-oocl power of imitation, often fail 
 in attempting- to delineate what they do not feel. 
 This faculty does not confine itself to acting-, but to 
 the arts. In drawing and sculpture it gives ease 
 and expression. That it is useful cannot be doubted, 
 since it enables us to avail ourselves of the disco- 
 
76 IMITATION. 
 
 veries of others, and to attain useful ends by doing 
 as others do, and is a source of much pleasure and 
 amusement. But this useful faculty may also be 
 misapplied and abused. For example, it is abused 
 when the failings and infirmities of others are imi- 
 tated for the purposes of ridicule and mockery. It 
 is also abused when employed to compass immoral 
 purposes of any kind. When other faculties are 
 well regulated, and the moral influence powerful, 
 there is little risk of this being abused. 
 
 We now come to the second division of Faculties, 
 the Intellectual. Without their assistance all 
 the faculties we have been considering act blindly, 
 and from mere impulse, as many of them do in the 
 lower creation, and too often are suffered to do so 
 in the higher. Unless guided by intelligence, the 
 very highest sentiments continually err. It is owing 
 to the want of cultivated intellect that the savage 
 worships stocks and stones, and multitudes in civi- 
 lized countries are led to blind submission to the 
 dictates of weak or designing priests. Religious 
 despotism interdicts the exercise of reason. Rea- 
 son is given by God to mankind, not to be hood- 
 winked, but to be employed to draw us nearer to 
 Him. Unenlightened obedience is nothing better 
 than the obedience of a horse to the bridle, or of 
 the dog to the whistle. Nor can the fear of the law 
 be an enlightened source of obedience. Neither is 
 blind belief, what we can suppose acceptable to the 
 
INDIVIDUALITY AND EVENTUALITY. 77 
 
 Creator. Whatever is clone to enforce blind obedi- 
 ence is tyranny, and is calculated only to perpetuate 
 error, and evil, and misery on mankind. Yet this 
 tyranny is extensively exercised in our own country, 
 and the consequence is, that morality is not im- 
 proved, and religious observances and creeds become 
 less respected, as is evinced in the agitation of the 
 present times. We shall not have peace until know- 
 ledge is the portion of all, and the reasoning powers 
 called into action to determine what is best for so^ 
 ciety. 
 
 We should begin by considering the External 
 Senses, which serve as the means of communication 
 between the mind and the external world. The 
 subject is very interesting, but would lead us too 
 far. The importance of their being in a perfect 
 state is sufficiently obvious. We shall, therefore, 
 pass on to the consideration of the first division of 
 the Intellectual Faculties, the Perceptive, which 
 notice the existence of external objects and their 
 physical qualities. 
 
 INDIVIDUALITY AND EVENTUALITY. 
 
 We often meet with persons who know something 
 of every thing that passes around them — who desire 
 to know every thing — possess a great store of facts, 
 individual and eventual— and are very agreeable in 
 society, being what are called clever or brilliant 
 persons. Such persons, however, may not be pro- 
 found, or capable of making discoveries for them- 
 selves. 
 
78 INDIVIDUALITY AND EVENTUALITY. 
 
 The faculty which leads to the knowledge of 
 what is — of simple existence — is named Individu- 
 ality. The kind of disposition which observes what 
 passes, arises from a faculty which has received the 
 name of Eventuality. These excite all the other 
 faculties to contribute to their gratification. They 
 are essential to what we call attention to what is 
 passing, and contribute to safety. There is greater 
 curiosity, or inquisitiveness, among children than 
 among adults. They are always calling out — Let 
 me hear, or Let me see, or Let me taste, or smell. 
 They should always be indulged in this, and the 
 properties and qualities of objects distinctly ex- 
 plained to them. This not only makes them happy 
 and contented in the mean time, but affords them 
 a large stock of knowledge, that will greatly assist 
 them in after life, and save them vast labour. 
 Teachers, as well as parents, are in general too ill 
 provided with knowledge themselves to be able to 
 gratify the natural curiosity of children ; and, to 
 hide their ignorance, too often answer an innocent 
 question witli a rebuff. We remember expressing 
 a curiosity to know what soap was made of. and 
 got no satisfaction ; curiosity was damped ; and we 
 did not know its composition until informed in a 
 course of Chemistry many years after. It is foolish 
 to say to children that it is too soon for them to 
 know what they ask for, as they cannot understand 
 it. Try them, at all events ; and if any thing oc 
 curs which they do not comprehend, let them un- 
 derstand that their powers of mind will increase 
 as they grow older, and that, if they be careful of 
 health, and attend to what they are advised to do, 
 
FORM. 79 
 
 the time will come when they will be fully gratified. 
 Satisfy them that education must be gradual and 
 they will be patient ; and probably, when they are 
 anxious, they will ask, not a direct question, but, 
 Do you think I could understand such or such a 
 thing-, if you were to explain it to me ? . Again — 
 parents, if they do not know what children ask, 
 ought never to answer erroneously, but at once con- 
 fess ignorance, and promise the child to refer to 
 some person who knows, or to a book. But the 
 truth is, that to be a good teacher of children re- 
 quires, we may say, great and universal talent, and 
 a most extensive store of knowledge. Other teachers 
 require a knowledge of only one branch ; but a 
 teacher of infants must know every thing- ; and, 
 therefore, it is hoped the nation will, in any plan 
 for national education, provide amply for such men, 
 and seek for them every where. Some of our pre- 
 sent infant-schools are a very great step ; but, to be 
 perfect, many steps have yet to be ascended. It is 
 pretty well ascertained, that on the education of the 
 first six years of life depends the future health and 
 the future character. For such an end no pains, 
 no expense, should be grudged. 
 
 FORM. 
 
 Of qualities, the faculty of Configuration or Form 
 recognises one. Nothing can exist without having 
 form ; and the faculty is exhibited in strength and 
 weakness as others are. Some persons remember 
 faces which they have once seen, and know persons 
 
80 size. 
 
 again in this way. Others forget them. Some can 
 name persons at a distance by observing- their form 
 and manner of walking-. By means of this faculty, 
 we can tell whether a portrait is like the original, 
 and persons differ very much when tried by this 
 test. We have known persons declare a facsimile 
 not like the original. Some nations are remark- 
 able for this faculty ; the Chinese and the French, 
 for example. The French are more skilful than 
 the English in the invention of patterns, and hence 
 their fashions have long taken the lead. Without 
 the faculty of Form, the study of natural history 
 could not be successfully attempted, nor any branch 
 of knowledge or art in which it is necessary to dis- 
 tinguish forms. This faculty leads us to give form 
 to every thing which occurs to us. It is of essen- 
 tial use, and affords much gratification. 
 
 SIZfi. 
 
 The next Perceptive Faculty is that of Size. The 
 notion of size, or of dimension, is different from any 
 belonging to Form, because two things having the 
 same form may differ vastly in size. Some persons 
 who have this faculty powerful, can guess the vari- 
 ous dimensions of an object, or distances, with 
 wonderful facility and exactness. Hence it is worthy 
 of being cultivated, it is of essential use to archi- 
 tects, and mechanicians, and artists generally, as 
 well as to geometricians. 
 
WEIGHT OR FORCE. 81 
 
 WEIGHT OR FORCE. 
 
 The next faculty has been called that of Weight, 
 or Resistance, or Force, which last seems to be the 
 most general term that can be employed to denote 
 it; for weight is the force of gravitation, and resist- 
 ance is a sense of something opposing force. By 
 comparing degrees of the force of gravitation exert- 
 ed on different bodies, or different masses of the 
 same body, we come to know what we call their 
 different weights. We commonly measure forces 
 by weight, by ascertaining what weight is neces- 
 sary to overcome resistance. It is the activity of 
 this faculty that enables us to learn by experience 
 to judge what amount of force is needed to overcome 
 any obstacle, or effect any purpose. We do not, 
 after experience, employ so much force to move a 
 ball of cork as one of lead. The faculty, then, 
 seems to give us the knowledge and use of muscu- 
 lar force or power, and of all other- forces, whatever 
 may be their origin, and teaches us to estimate and 
 how to use them. The sense of touch is apparently 
 resolvable into that of force, as it operates only by 
 resistance to force. But we will not detain you 
 with such discussions. 
 
 COLOUR. 
 
 The next faculty is that of Colour. That there 
 is a special faculty for colour seems indisputable. 
 Many persons have been known whose vision was 
 
82 COLOUR. 
 
 perfect in reference to light, who could not distin- 
 guish one colour from another. We have been ac- 
 quainted with individuals who were deficient in this 
 quality. Some can distinguish only white and 
 black; others cannot distinguish blue and green. 
 There is a well informed person now living in 
 Edinburgh who was an apprentice to a draper, but 
 from the extraordinary mistakes he made in respect 
 to the colour of goods which customers wanted, he 
 was obliged to follow another profession. It often 
 happens that a person can draw very well who can- 
 not paint, producing only daubs when the attempt 
 is made. Though this faculty perceives colours and 
 their harmonies, it does not give the power of apply- 
 ing them. That depends on higher intellectual fa- 
 culties ; and, where they are weak, we see colours 
 applied and arranged without taste, and in a glar- 
 ing incongruous manner. We see this sad want of 
 taste in the vile manner in which prints hung up in 
 schools are daubed. It is better to have the prints 
 without colour, or well coloured, otherwise the taste 
 of the young people may be greatly vitiated. We 
 do not speak of taste in reference to painting or 
 drawing alone, but to the tasteful use of colours by 
 those who may become artists in pattern drawing, 
 enamelling, paper staining-, calico printing, paint- 
 ing on earthenware, &c, in all of which good taste 
 is requisite; and therefore we are decidedly of opi- 
 nion that ill-coloured prints should be forthwith 
 banished from schoolrooms, and really good ones 
 substituted, otherwise harm will be done to this 
 faculty instead of its being improved. When a child. 
 is observed to hesitate and mistake one colour for 
 
LOCALITY. 83 
 
 another, it should be ascertained whether it is be- 
 cause it forgets the name, or cannot distinguish the 
 colour, 
 
 LOCALITY. 
 
 We now come to the intellectual faculties which 
 perceive the Relations of External Objects. The 
 first of these has been named Locality, or Relative 
 Position, which last term conveys its function most 
 distinctly. Perhaps, however, the primitive function 
 may include the cognizance of interval in reference 
 to space, as well as the position of objects in rela- 
 tion to each other. This faculty was first recog- 
 nised by the observation that some persons could 
 find their way by recognising places where they 
 had been, while others either could not, or could 
 with difficulty. To find one's way, it is necessary 
 to mark the position of objects relatively to each 
 other. This faculty is necessary to astronomers, 
 whose science could not advance without a careful 
 observation of relative positions. To navigators 
 and geographers it is essential. It gives, when ac- 
 tive, a propensity to travel. Some animals possess 
 this faculty in an extraordinary degree, and you 
 must all have heard stories of dogs finding their 
 way in a wonderful manner. It is this that seems 
 to be periodically excited in migrating animals. 
 It also gives the pleasure derived from scenery ; and 
 is indispensable to. the painter who composes land- 
 scapes, that he may give all the objects such rela- 
 tive positions as will make them harmonize in their 
 forms and colours. To such persons as are little en- 
 
84 NUMBER. 
 
 dowed with this faculty, pictures, however interest- 
 ing to others, convey no satisfaction, and they ap- 
 pear to have no perception of perspective. Its uses, 
 then, are apparent. When over active, it produces 
 restlessness, a desire for constant change of place, 
 and for new scenes. It is a faculty that merits cul- 
 tivation in childhood, when it appears deficient es- 
 pecially. It is necessary in the sublimest of the 
 sciences, and is a source of much instruction and 
 pleasure. 
 
 NUMBER. 
 
 The next faculty is that of Calculation or Num- 
 ber. It is well known that individuals differ great- 
 ly in their powers of calculation. Some have had 
 it so strong and active as to have been publicly ex- 
 hibited. One of them, the celebrated George Bid- 
 der, told us that his power became known to him- 
 self in consequence of his having been behind some 
 of his schoolfellows in repeating the multiplication 
 table, which they did by rote, as many do ; but he 
 was not so quick in getting things by heart. His 
 attention having been roused by fault having been 
 found with him (we forget whether he said he had 
 been punished), he found that he could calculate 
 each step of the table with great rapidity, and by 
 doing so repeat the table as fast as others. He 
 then, by mental processes which occurred to him, 
 came to solve questions without the assistance of 
 written figures, and consequently not only got far 
 before those who had rules merely by rote, but ex- 
 celled and astonished his teachers. He could men- 
 
NUMBER. 85 
 
 tally solve in a minute such a question as this : 
 Suppose a wheel of 4 feet diameter to run on a road 
 and make 50 revolutions in a minute, how far would 
 the carriage to which it was attached go in 10 hours? 
 Of the vast use of this faculty in the ordinary affairs 
 in life we need not speak. No one doubts the im- 
 portance of cultivating- it, and much attention is 
 paid to it. The apparatus of Wilderspin is admir- 
 ably adapted to giving- notions of number, and to 
 making- children learn certain facts related to num- 
 ber in a better way than altogether by rote. But 
 we think very young- children may be induced to 
 exercise the faculty of number in a more efficient 
 way than merely getting words, the names of num- 
 bers, and the results of calculation which are facts. 
 The true exercise is to make them find out some- 
 thing like method and combination, and we think 
 this may be done 5 at least if we may judge from an 
 experiment once made in the Dingwall Infant 
 School, and of which the master availed himself. 
 It was this ; the children were singing out the pence 
 table, and we stopped them at — thirty pence is two 
 and sixpence. How do you find out, children, that 
 thirty pence is two and sixpence ; we said. They 
 all looked at us with very grave and anxious faces, 
 and we paused a while, seeing that their minds 
 were at work. We then hinted the first step, by 
 saying, Tell me how many pennies make a six- 
 pence. Six, was instantaneously screamed. Well 
 then, children, how many sixpences are in a shil- 
 ling ? Two, was the ready answer. Now, then, 
 how much is two sixes ? Twelve. Very well ; How 
 many pennies are there in a shilling ? Twelve v 
 
86 NUMBER. 
 
 Very well ; you see that because six pennies make 
 a sixpence, and because two sixpences make a shil- 
 ling-, you have only to add two sixes tog-ether, which 
 make twelve. Now, if twelve pennies make one 
 shilling-, how many should there be in two shil- 
 ling's ? This seemed to require a little time, but at 
 leng-th one of them sung out, twice twelve is twen- 
 ty-four, and the rest sung out too, happy that the 
 discovery was made. Well then, children, we have 
 got as far as twenty-four ; now tell me how many- 
 do you want to make up thirty ? Very soon the 
 answer was given, six. Well then, you sea that 
 when you think how many pence are in a sixpence, 
 and in a shilling, and in two shillings, you find out 
 how many pennies make two shillings and sixpence, 
 which we also call half-a-crown ; because five shil- 
 ling's make a crown, which is sixty pence, because 
 five times twelve make sixty. Now remember all 
 this when we see you again. Here the matter end- 
 ed. We have no doubt whatever that the very best 
 form of teaching- is conversation ; any thing like 
 tasks being altogether abolished. This no doubt 
 requires high talent and accomplishment in a 
 teacher, and an infant school teacher needs more 
 than any other ; but no pains nor expense should 
 be spared to procure the best qualified. 
 
 ORDER. 
 
 The next faculty we come to consider is that of 
 Order, or, perhaps, Symmetry is the proper name 
 for it. We observe some persons exceedingly care- 
 
ORDER. 87 
 
 ful to place things, and to keep them, in order. 
 Even children are noticed who shew a disposition 
 to restore things to their usual places after they have 
 been removed. This disposition, however, does not 
 exhibit the entire function of the faculty. That is 
 exhibited in the arrangement of things in a deter- 
 minate order, according to their use and form. For 
 example, suppose there were a number of figures, 
 all of different heights, this faculty would give the 
 tendency to place the shortest first, the next in size 
 second, and so on to the tallest. Suppose, again, 
 that there is one tall figure and two shorter of equal 
 size, then the tall one is placed in the middle, and 
 one on each side. The operation of the faculty is 
 also observable in architecture, and in the arrange- 
 ment of walks in pleasure-grounds, planting trees, 
 &c. A ludicrous example of it is narrated of a 
 gardener, in whom the faculty was so powerful that 
 the word uniformity was always in his mouth. On 
 one occasion, a person had been condemned to 
 stand in what was called the jougs, or pillory, and 
 the post happened to stand on one side of a gate 
 leading into the approach to the place where the 
 gardener served. So great was his love of unifor- 
 mity, that he had a jougs erected on the other side 
 of the gate, and bribed a man to stand as long as 
 the culprit was exhibited. 
 
 The desire to see a thing completed appears to 
 belong to this faculty, and also what the English 
 call tidiness. Cleanliness is an essential part of 
 tidiness. This faculty, then, appears most useful. 
 The encouragement to cleanliness promotes health ; 
 and a habit of it is agreeable to all around us. 
 
88 TIME. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the human mind 
 takes cognizance of time, or duration. That there 
 is a special faculty for this is proved, as in other 
 cases, by differences in the perceptions of different 
 individuals. Some can guess with great exactness 
 the time that elapses between one event and ano- 
 ther, while others cannot approach to correctness. 
 Some can perform certain actions exactly in the 
 same time with others ; and some cannot keep time 
 to music in dancing- ; nor when they attempt to play 
 on musical instruments, or to sing in concert. Much 
 expense is often uselessly incurred in teaching mu- 
 sic to young persons deficient in this faculty and 
 the next, — that of Melody, or Tune. 
 
 TUNE. 
 
 That this faculty exists independent of the sense 
 of hearing, is evident from the fact, that persons 
 who hear may be indifferent to music ; while others 
 are so fond of it, as to give up their whole time to 
 it. It is a faculty from which so much rational and 
 innocent enjoyment may be derived, as to make it 
 very desirable to cultivate it. 
 
 ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE OR SPEECH. 
 
 We now come to the faculty of Language, igno- 
 rance of the existence of which has led to vast er- 
 
ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE OR SPEECH. 89 
 
 rors in education. Natural language is common to 
 man and to animals, — at least the natural language 
 of faculties possessed by both. A dog, having the 
 faculty producing anger, knows its expression by 
 the sign and sound of it in his master. Artificial 
 language, which is the means of gratifying all the 
 faculties, is peculiar to man. By means of this fa- 
 culty, audible or visible signs were invented to ex- 
 press ideas ; and to employ these signs, we must 
 have organs of voice, sight, and hearing. We should 
 have stated before, that each faculty is apparently 
 more or less perfect in different parts of its func- 
 tions. In this of Language, we find some persons 
 deficient in memory for names, as others may be for 
 dates. Various qualities of objects may be remem- 
 bered, and the particulars in which one thing- dif- 
 fers from another, while their names are forgotten. 
 Disease, or injury of the part where the organ of 
 this faculty is placed, produce failure of memory, 
 and even loss of words has occurred. There are 
 persons who cannot speak more than two or three 
 words at a time, who are deemed idiots, and they 
 are so to a certain extent; but while the cause of 
 imbecility is sought for in the tongue and other 
 organs of speech, it is to be found in the brain. All 
 the organs of speech may be perfect, and yet the 
 power to command words to express thought and 
 feeling be absent. This faculty informs us of arbi- 
 trary signs, those called letters and words ; enables 
 us to remember them, and facilitates all exercises 
 connected with words. Admitting this faculty, then, 
 and that it is powerful in some and weak in others, 
 it is evident that in learning languages, one person 
 
90 ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE OR SPEECH. 
 
 may excel another in a great degree, by mere force 
 of natural endowment. But schoolmasters have 
 acted as if deficiency in this faculty could be made 
 up by the free use of bundles of birch-twigs or straps 
 of leather, applied to tender skin so as to make it 
 smart. A boy with this faculty well developed will 
 necessarily excel those who have but a moderate 
 share of it. If, then, ability is given by Nature, 
 why should a boy be rewarded for possessing- what 
 he did not obtain for himself, and another be 
 punished for natural deficiency ? That the world 
 should have gone on so long* before facts of hourly 
 occurrence led to the observation, that both endow- 
 ment and deficiency originated in natural constitu- 
 tion, is a matter of surprise. Nay, so extraordinary 
 have been the effects of our ignorance, that defi- 
 cient subjects have been most negiected, while they 
 were those to whom the greatest attention was re- 
 quisite. When we were at school it appeared that 
 the master considered the boobies, or dunces, to have 
 been sent to him only to be flogged. We have 
 known many dunces, into whom flogging could not 
 drive Greek and Latin, live to be men distinguished 
 for many more important acquirements, and for 
 being useful members of society, while mere lin- 
 guists were left far behind by these same supposed 
 dunces. It is not to be denied — it would be absurd 
 to deny — that while the acquirement of modern 
 languages is extremely useful, that of the dead lan- 
 guages is an elegant accomplishment ; but to de- 
 vote six, ten, or more years, the most important of 
 life, to dead languages, is exceedingly irrational. 
 The faculty of language ought to be assiduously cul- 
 
ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE OR SPEECH. 91 
 
 tivated, and the memory of words particularly. 
 But this is to be done by satisfying- the pupil of its 
 utility ; and, with such as cannot understand utility, 
 coaxing- and reasoning-, not punishment and tasking-, 
 are to be employed. By coaxing-, we do not mean 
 bribery ; thoug-h there is no harm in that, provided 
 that bribing- one does not injure another. Much 
 may be done by making- learning' a thing- of amuse- 
 ment. And here it may be remarked, that we have 
 seldom met with a schoolmaster without a grave 
 face, and without appearing- almost incapable of 
 smiling-. If ever it shall fall to our lot to choose a 
 schoolmaster, the chief test of his qualification shall 
 be his being- able to tell a funny story, and being- 
 disposed to laug-h and make merry. The corners 
 of his mouth shall turn up, and not down. Instruc- 
 tion should be a thing of delig-ht and amusement, 
 not of labour and terror. We have suffered, and 
 many of you may also have suffered, much terror, la- 
 bour, and pain for the sake of the dead languages ; 
 and have gained nothing- from it in after life. 
 Many of us can be useful to our fellow-creatures 
 though we may have entirely forgotten Greek and 
 Latin, and know no other but our mother tongue. 
 Nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that the faculty 
 of language ought to be sedulously improved, the 
 usefulness of modern languages inculcated ; and, as 
 accomplishments, Greek and Latin may be acquired; 
 though, if morality be regarded, there will be found 
 no means of guarding or improving it in the school 
 literature of Greece and Rome. It is supposed that 
 a clergyman becomes a better Christian than his 
 neighbours by learning to read the New Testament 
 
92 COMPARISON. 
 
 in Greek. We wish all would agree in how it 
 should be translated, and, when translated, in its 
 meaning- and extent ; and the world would be more 
 peaceful. 
 
 COMPARISON. 
 
 We now come to the Reflecting Faculties, 
 which are two in number, Comparison and Causali- 
 ty. With respect to the faculty of Comparison, it 
 may be better understood by the word analogy ; for 
 every faculty compares within its own sphere. This 
 faculty, however, compares objects cognized by dif- 
 ferent faculties, and compares things with one an- 
 other which have no actual resemblance. For ex- 
 ample, the faculty of Colouring compares one colour 
 with another; but when we compare the harmony 
 of soft sounds to the blending of the colours in the 
 rainbow, it is the faculty we now speak of that 
 makes the comparison. It compares things of the 
 most opposite kinds, and perceives likeness which 
 takes the form of analogy. For example, the death 
 of a good man may be compared to a fine sunset. 
 The Scriptural analogy between the kingdom of 
 Heaven and a grain of mustard seed, is prompted 
 by, and addressed to, this faculty. Poetry is full 
 of it ; and those orators are most popular who deal 
 in fanciful comparisons ; because the multitude is 
 better endowed with this faculty in general, than 
 with the next faculty we are to consider. Every 
 orator or preacher who has more of this faculty than 
 of that which leads to strict logical reasoning', deals 
 
COMPARISON. 93 
 
 in metaphors, similes, and figures of speech, accord- 
 ing" to the suggestions of such of his other faculties 
 as may be most prominent. The celebrated Dr 
 Chalmers, whose faculties for Mathematics and 
 Astronomy predominate, generally uses figures of 
 speech derived from the sciences. Many persons 
 are thought profound reasoners who do nothing 
 more than state analogies ; and, because they strike 
 the hearers as reasonable, an inference is drawn 
 which strict reasoning might not warrant. No- 
 thing deceives so much ; and hence orators and law- 
 yers before a jury make ample use of it ; and, con- 
 sequently, truth suffers not a little on some occa- 
 sions, while on others it is powerfully enforced. A 
 speech or a sermon is scarcely attended to when it 
 is an argumentative detail ; but when full of illus- 
 trations, and tropes, and figures, it is to many minds 
 improved in perspicuity, and carries all before it. 
 Two speakers, skilful in the use of analogy, speak- 
 ing on opposite sides of the question, puzzle the lis- 
 teners exceedingly, when they do not apply strict 
 reason or the feeling of justice to what they hear. 
 King James the First of England, having listened 
 to two theologians on a disputed point, scratched 
 his head, and exclaimed, " The deil's in the carles, 
 they're baith in the right." 
 
 While this faculty of Comparison catches ideas 
 from the perceptive or knowing faculties, and de 
 liberately institutes an analogy or a simile, the fa- 
 culty of Ideality clothes its expression with anima- 
 tion and fire, and gives all its charms to oratory, 
 and no small share of its influence. Comparison 
 may be said to be a candle, which throws a quiet 
 
94 COMPARISON. 
 
 and sufficient light upon an object ; but Ideality 
 converts the candle into a lamp. It may be said 
 to resemble the lyre of Timotheus, which raised the 
 soul to heaven ; while Ideality is the organ of St 
 Cecilia, which drew an angel down. We speak of 
 the softness of charity, and of hardness of heart ; 
 and a thousand instances of Comparison, and the 
 enthusiasm of Ideality, will occur to you. 
 
 This faculty, like every thing arising from the 
 Creator, is eminently useful in exciting our notice 
 of things, and their properties and qualities. It 
 seems to lead us to say — This will do well, but that 
 will do better ; ancl makes us choose the best. To 
 lead the young to compare one thing with another, 
 imparts pleasure to the minds, and adds vastly to 
 their knowledge. If we see two masses of matter 
 before us, exactly similar in size, and shape, and 
 colour, they may yet differ in other qualities, which 
 it is necessary for us to know. Comparison, then, 
 prompts us to touch them, and this informs the fa- 
 culty of Individuality that they are both hard or 
 soft, Or one hard and the other soft ; and farther 
 knowledge is given through the senses of taste, 
 smell, and hearing. Although this faculty is more 
 generally possessed powerful than any other, it loses 
 its energy by neglect. Exercise must be given to it, 
 else it will not afford the benefit intended by the 
 Creator we should derive from it. 
 
 CAUSALITY. 
 
 The last faculty we have to consider is named 
 
CAUSALITY. 95 
 
 Causality, from its function of giving- the idea of 
 the invisible bond between cause and effect. It 
 satisfies us that every phenomenon must have a 
 cause, and leads us, step by step, to the First Cause 
 of all. And not only does this refer to the pheno- 
 mena of matter, but to the motives and causes of 
 action in ourselves and fellow-creatures. The fa- 
 culties of Individuality and Eventuality apply 
 themselves to judge from facts, Causality from cir- 
 cumstances. Hence, on the trial of a culprit, a jury 
 endowed with much Individuality, and little Causa- 
 lity, will hardly convict on circumstantial evidence. 
 If choosing* a jury by ballot could, on occasion, give 
 us the men endowed with the largest share of Cau- 
 sality, it would be valuable. As things are, it is not 
 uncommon for trials in civil causes to be removed 
 from a place where it is supposed justice has not 
 been done, to another. Juries ought not to be 
 chosen by ballot, but on account of intellect; and the 
 old mode of leaving the judge to select was better 
 than the present, as he selected men who, from their 
 known estimation for discernment, were best fitted 
 for a particular case. This faculty enables the 
 mind to penetrate deeply into every thing ; and, in 
 argument, will not admit of any thing* but the 
 strictest sequence. When, however, it is not sup- 
 ported by Individuality and Comparison, it carries 
 us into the region of speculation, far away from the 
 concerns of life. When Causality is feeble, the 
 mind cannot enter into the abstractions of science, 
 or the intricacies of business. In such a case, re- 
 mote and contingent things are not perceived, and 
 the profound investigations of Causality are deemed 
 
96 CAUSALITY. 
 
 little better than dreams and impossibilities. In 
 this we find the cause of imperfect legislation and 
 inefficient government. The ambition which Love 
 of Approbation excites, leads men to undertake 
 what they cannot perform. Instead of examining 
 into the dependence of one thing on another, they 
 resort to temporary means of effecting an object, 
 which may for a moment succeed, but ends in 
 making bad worse. Were our legislators well in- 
 formed of things, and their relations to each other; 
 if they knew man, and the relation in which he 
 stands to external things ; if they felt the impera- 
 tive demands of Conscientiousness, and rose above 
 their petty selves, — they would not tamper so much 
 with the welfare of society, nor risk its peace and 
 security. If well stored with the knowing and re- 
 flecting powers, six men would represent our com- 
 munity better than 600 ill-provided with aught but 
 prejudice and party spirit. The true philosophical 
 understanding is made up of the faculties of Indi- 
 viduality and Eventuality, which make us acquaint- 
 ed with facts and phenomena ; the faculty of Com- 
 parison, which informs us of their identity, analogy, 
 or difference ; and of Causality, which prompts us 
 to penetrate into the causes of every thing. This 
 faculty enables a person to find resources when or- 
 dinary means are not present. We have seen one 
 labourer spend a w hole day trying- to remove a stone 
 with the tool in his hand, which was not adapted 
 for the purpose : we have seen another go for a 
 proper tool and do the thing at once. A person 
 with a tolerable share of Causality will contrive 
 means to produce an effect that may be desired ; 
 
CAUSALITY. 97 
 
 while another, deficient in it, will be idle, or ask 
 another to do that for him which he cannot do him- 
 self. A person with a fair share of Individuality, 
 Eventuality, and Language, will write a good book 
 of narrative, but if, without a good share of Causa- 
 lity, he attempt to unfold a chain of reasoning, he 
 gets confused, Such a person, taking up a bcok 
 written by one with a large endowment of Causality, 
 calls it dry and tiresome. Young people being 
 prone to indulge in reading- stories which gratify 
 by their facts and occurrences, the faculties for which 
 are usually most prominent in childhood and youth, 
 the most important faculty we are now considering 
 is left idle, and becomes feeble solely from want 
 of exercise. Those faculties which are naturally 
 strongest require less attention than such as are 
 feeble, and it may be said, perhaps, no faculty re- 
 quires so much careful nursing as Causality. 
 
 For more extended illustrations of the functions 
 of the faculties, we must refer you to Combe's Sys- 
 tem of Phrenology ; and for their connection with 
 external things, to his work on the Constitution of 
 Man. This last work has been so much appreciated 
 that it has run through many editions of many thou- 
 sands of copies each, in a time almost incredibly 
 short. 
 
 From the preceding enumeration of the human 
 faculties, it will have been perceived, that nothing 
 in man's nature has been created in vain ; that 
 every faculty is useful to him when it is regulated 
 
 G 
 
( 98 ) 
 
 according- to the Divine Will ; and that they are 
 productive of evil only when we bring- it on our- 
 selves, by disregarding- the proper cultivation of the 
 Moral Sentiments, the exercise of which is intended 
 to counteract every thing like excess in the animal 
 nature of man, and to place him in the high sta- 
 tion which the Creator intended him to occupy, 
 There are yet many difficulties that meet us while 
 investigating- human nature ; and we are apt hastily 
 to draw conclusions which, when we reflect on the 
 perfection of the Creator, we ought to suspend, as 
 derogatory to his benevolence and justice, and lay 
 to the account of our own ignorance. In acting 
 thus, we perceive that we may, by industry, substi- 
 tute knowledge for ignorance ; and we are excited 
 to search into God's works : " Seek and ye shall 
 find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.' 1 ' 
 Every thing done in contradiction to the Moral Sen- 
 timents brings its own punishment. We are apt 
 to accuse fate, luck, and so forth ; but whenever 
 we trace effect to its cause, we find that we our- 
 selves are to blame for permitting our propensities 
 to act blindly. We repeat, read Mr Combe's work 
 on the Constitution of Man, and you will there find 
 ample illustration of what has now been stated. A 
 cheap edition of that work has been published by 
 the Messrs Chambers, to whom the world is indebt- 
 ed for a great amount of instruction and entertain- 
 ment. 
 
( 99 ) 
 
 MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 
 
 We now request your attention to the mutual in- 
 fluence which the different faculties have upon each 
 other. They seldom act singly, but almost always 
 in combination. You will easily conceive that, as 
 men are not endowed with the faculties equally, 
 that is, every one not having- them in the same pro- 
 portion, talent and character come thus to be in- 
 finitely varied. No two individuals are alike in 
 every respect. If any of you will take the trouble 
 to calculate the variations which may occur among 
 thirty-five faculties, taking into account different 
 states of activity, as well as power from- difference 
 in size, you will very soon perceive we do not use the 
 term infinitely unadvisedly. To a teacher a know- 
 ledge of the faculties is indispensable ; and that each 
 faculty has its organ in the brain, and may be ob- 
 served externally to a very considerable extent, is a 
 valuable fact to assist in determining the power of an 
 individual, and this is the province of phrenological 
 science. Since there is this evident variety in dis- 
 positions and talents, it is absurd in any teacher to 
 imagine himself the model or standard being, and 
 to expect that every pupil can do what he can do 
 with equal facility. The proportions among the 
 faculties in him being different from those in his 
 pupils, require him to study the differences with 
 care, and to act accordingly. But this is seldom 
 done. The mutual influence must be attended to. 
 The courage of females is roused into unusual acti- 
 vity when their young are in danger, though at the 
 
100 MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 
 
 same time they have but little of the feeling-. The 
 desire to possess, Acquisitiveness, excites caution, 
 and these two excite Secretiveness. Firmness is 
 aided by Hope and a sense of Justice. Wonder 
 may be roused by Ideality ; and, in short, the opera- 
 tions on each other appear infinite. But it is evi- 
 dent that the faculties which are most powerful will 
 chiefly influence the others that are less so; and 
 hence, when these are known, and appear to act 
 unfavourably, the weak powers must be assisted, 
 and the strong 1 ones repressed. It is always of the 
 greatest consequence to bring- the moral sentiments 
 into a state of activity, as they bug-lit to have the 
 chief influence in directing all the others to their 
 legitimate uses. When emulation is roused, the in- 
 fluence of one faculty over another is perceived in 
 its unusual efforts to excel. If a prize be offered to 
 Acquisitiveness, on certain conditions, the faculties 
 adapted to fulfil the conditions are instantly set to 
 work. When any particular study attracts an in- 
 dividual, he may ruin his health by over-working 
 to gratify himself, as others often do from a desire 
 to be distinguished. The brain being the seat of 
 the faculties, and the centre of nervous energy, any 
 faculty over-wrought produces disease, which often 
 terminates in imbecility and death. To over-task 
 children is ruinous ; and it requires the utmost care 
 in a teacher to modify the amount of work to suit 
 the strength of the faculty under cultivation ; for 
 one may need more exercise than another, and one 
 may be able to effect more than another. In refer- 
 ence to emulation it may be observed that, if two 
 children are set to get some lines of poetry by heart, 
 
MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 101 
 
 and have an equal endowment of Love of Approba- 
 tion, but an unequal talent for language, both will 
 exert the same spirit, but the one with the better 
 faculty of Language will outstrip the other. In 
 ordinary schools the boy with the best faculty would 
 be rewarded, and the other punished, though both 
 had made equal efforts. Suppose now that they 
 both had Language equally powerful, but that one 
 had a great deal more Love of Approbation than 
 the other, this one will excel the other because he 
 has a stronger motive, and may become the better 
 scholar of the two. -In this case also the teacher 
 may err in not stimulating the weaker Love of Ap- 
 probation. But the two should never be set to com- 
 pete with each other. Each one needs to be taught 
 by himself. Seeing, then, that the faculties power- 
 fully influence each other, it becomes of vast im- 
 portance to give them a proper direction. If we 
 reflect on what ought to constitute a happy society, 
 we at once conclude that the cultivation of morality 
 renders it so. Morality is not, however, negative 
 ~-it is not the mere absence of crime or vice ; but 
 also the positive operation of doing good. There- 
 fore, in Education, we have to direct all the facul- 
 ties to their proper objects, and the superior moral 
 sentiments are those which deserve the highest cul- 
 tivation, because they are the directors of all the 
 others. In past time the understanding has been 
 exclusively cultivated as the chief part of the mind ; 
 but unless the understanding be under the guidance 
 of moral sentiment, it will be, as it has been, em- 
 ployed only to assist inferior faculties to gratify 
 themselves. If we look about us in the world, we 
 
102 MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 
 
 shall see that this statement is too true. A person 
 inclined to gratify Acquisitiveness by stealing, but 
 with a puny understanding, will betray himself, or 
 be easily detected; but with a better intellect, he 
 will consider all circumstances of time, place, and 
 means, so as to avoid detection if he can. Strong 
 intellect with weak moral sentiment produces a 
 dangerous character. Persons of this stamp prove 
 frequently the scourges of nations. Why is crime 
 punished, but because we prefer moral conduct to 
 criminal ? Why is sin denounced, but because good 
 deeds are acceptable to the Creator? Yet while 
 crimes are sedulously punished, and while sin is 
 sedulously preached against, What is done to give 
 strength and mastery to moral feeling ? Nothing. 
 It is neither promoted, nor are the abuses of the fa- 
 culties repressed ; the intellect is all in all in the 
 existing system of education. The understanding 
 has its best employment in the attainment of due 
 effect from moral and religious feelings. How often 
 is it forgotten from whence the command issued to 
 love our neighbours as ourselves ? In this command 
 our Self-Esteem is appealed to, and we are desired 
 to estimate the love we have for ourselves, and to 
 deal out the same proportion of love to all. So 
 highly did the Author of Christianity value this 
 moral feeling of love, and obedience to the laws of 
 morality issued by God, that He declared He es- 
 teemed those who did the will of his Father as his 
 dearest relatives. Universal benevolence is the 
 grand touchstone of Christianity, and yet is rare 
 among Christians, who, as the world now is, are too 
 much governed by selfishness alone. That this is 
 
MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 103 
 
 the case can be attributed only to ignorance of our 
 own nature, and the consequent errors of education. 
 The moral and religious feelings should have supre- 
 macy, and rule over all the faculties, directing their 
 applications to proper objects. They are, however, 
 neglected, as if there was no such thing as moral 
 feeling in nature. Though man has power over his 
 inferior in creation, he is not entitled to abuse it. 
 The moral sentiments, if he would listen to them, 
 forbid every abuse, and command the exercise of 
 mercy. He kills for food, but is not permitted to 
 torture. Far less has man authority to inflict evil 
 on his fellow men. All agree in such opinions, but 
 all do not agree as to the best means of obtaining 
 such ends. Means and ends are often confounded. 
 Some wait for divine influence ; but, in our humble 
 apprehension, it is improper to expect divine aid, 
 until we have made & proper use of what God has al- 
 ready put within our reach. Let us first use that 
 as we ought, and then we may in reason look for a 
 divine blessing on our labours. 
 
 The vast importance to society of moral conduct 
 is very generally admitted. To secure it, a well 
 directed and well conducted education of the facul- 
 ties appears to be the means best Calculated for 
 this purpose. Let us next consider, then, that the 
 tendency of each faculty is to produce action ; there- 
 fore the primitive functions must be studied before 
 the proper education can be applied to direct that 
 action. Emulation has been referred to, which 
 arises out of the Love of Approbation. Hence, 
 when this faculty is strong, it needs no encourage- 
 ment, but rather repression. When moderate, a 
 
104 MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 
 
 sound judgment will find opportunities of employ- 
 ing* it with advantage. Nor should the fear of of- 
 fending either this or Self-Esteem deter from ac- 
 customing children to have their faults pointed out 
 to them, and the feelings which occasion them ex- 
 plained, and directing the exercise of faculties which 
 are antagonist to those which are predominant. 
 Any of the faculties may be directed to good or to 
 evil. The correction of predominance must of ne- 
 cessity be gradual, and patience is the first virtue 
 in a teacher. The exercise of mere authority, a 
 word of command, cannot change a natural ten- 
 dency. The same treatment will not suit every 
 child ; and education will never produce good con- 
 duct, which is preferable to learning, while teachers 
 continue to believe the mind of every child a plastic 
 mass, on which whatever they will may be im- 
 pressed. Hence it is our opinion that no expense 
 should be spared by the public to procure the ser- 
 vices of teachers fully qualified to manage every 
 case. Such are rare, and proportionally precious. 
 
 To return to the mutual influence of the faculties. 
 Love of Approbation demands distinction. This 
 may be procured by proper and improper means ; 
 and unless the faculty be placed under the direction 
 of the moral sentiments, it may call the lower pro- 
 pensities into action, and seek notoriety in debauch- 
 ery, and mischief, and riot; while, if under right 
 direction, it may demand gratification from the con- 
 structive and other faculties applied to the arts, or 
 from the knowing and reflecting faculties in the 
 walks of science. The consequences of fraud may 
 be contrasted with those of honesty, and Acquisi- 
 
MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 105 
 
 tiveness be prevented from gratifying itself by dis- 
 honesty, by guiding it to derive higher pleasure from 
 the practice of honourable industry. Nor is it ne- 
 cessary only to guide the faculties. Children may 
 be taught their own nature as far as they may be 
 able to comprehend it ; may be told that a faculty 
 predominates, which, for their future happiness, 
 they must check ; and, for the same purpose, that 
 they must exercise one that is weak. Motives for 
 action must exist, and the best and most rational 
 motives should be excited, and this too in attention 
 to bodily as well as to mental health. 
 
 The amount of direction and instruction which 
 may be given by well informed teachers and parents 
 on every occasion, and to very young children, is 
 immense. The nature of food, whence it is derived, 
 how it is cooked, — a thousand things may be told 
 about what might be thought trifles ; — and moral 
 knowledge, as well as physical, may be conveyed 
 in the same way. Neither parents nor teachers 
 should ever repress curiosity, by telling children 
 that they are not old enough to know, or that it is 
 not proper they should know. This is a disgrace- 
 ful way to hide ignorance. It is better at once to 
 acknowledge ignorance, and to promise inquiry. 
 Bread furnishes discourse on agriculture, chemistry, 
 and mechanics ; a potato, on vegetable physiology ; 
 a knife, on mineralogy, mining, metallurgy, and 
 various arts ; a bit of paper will furnish materials 
 for a long lecture ; even a particle of dust furnishes 
 a theme. for much instruction and amusement. But 
 those who are ill taught cannot teach. Although 
 children may not be able to follow out the pro- 
 
106 MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 
 
 cesses of observation, reasoning-, and calculation that 
 lead to discovery, they will be found capable of en- 
 joying- the detail of the facts of science, and not al- 
 ways unable to apply them. 
 
 It is a lamentable mistake, but a very common 
 one, to suppose it enough to tell a child to be this 
 or that, — to be merciful, obedient, and so forth, as 
 if this could create feelings. If a feeling of be- 
 nevolence do not exist, no preaching about charity 
 or mercy can excite it. The feelings must be ex- 
 cited to action, and not vainly bidden to exist. 
 Another thing* equally unfortunate is, that teachers 
 are not aware that the same faculties may be exer- 
 cised in childhood, on objects very different from 
 those to which they are likely to be afterwards ap- 
 plied. A child may be ambitious to possess a toy, 
 when a man may strive for the badge of an order 
 of knighthood, to possess an estate, or may feel un- 
 happy because he cannot obtain what another has, 
 and thus envy and jealousy may result, and all this 
 from the same source. 
 
 We often see nurses and mothers torment children 
 by resisting their demands, and at last yielding to 
 them. Nothing can be more injurious. If any 
 faculty predominates, — if firmness produce obsti- 
 nacy, and courage resistance, let them be repressed 
 by steady conduct, and not be encouraged by the 
 hope that they will gain their ends. Too often 
 children are required to do what is unjust, and that 
 is not the way to teach them justice. Timid chil- 
 dren should be cautiously accustomed to face dan- 
 ger. If they are too bold, means may be found to 
 let the child experience evil consequences, and be 
 
MUTUAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTIES. 107 
 
 taught the propriety of keeping combative impulse 
 down. When children are too much applauded, 
 they become vain and proud, and are thus tempted 
 to do wrong-, and become troublesome. The feel- 
 ing- of private interest is in g-eneral too strong-, and 
 it is actually taug-ht that the chief purpose of life is 
 to accumulate riches ; and that the object of such 
 accumulation is, that all desires may be gratified, 
 money being supposed capable of procuring all we 
 need. Those who acquire riches are very apt to 
 give wealth undue importance ; and, indeed, the 
 world is too apt to defer to it in all things. Ac- 
 quisitiveness thus derives nutriment and becomes 
 excessive, and its gratification becomes so imperious 
 that other faculties are called upon to serve it. 
 There is no injustice in any pursuit while another 
 is not injured. But when selfishness prevents Be- 
 nevolence from bestowing what is not needed by 
 self, an injury is inflicted on society. When Bene- 
 volence acts powerfully, and overcomes selfishness, 
 benefits are conferred. Yet, when we look around 
 us, we perceive that the action of the faculties singly 
 is too much cherished, and injury to others in the 
 attainment of gratification overlooked. Those who 
 have most talents will govern those who have least ; 
 and as long as talent is employed for selfish pur- 
 poses, and not for the general advantage of society, 
 and is not under control of the moral sentiments, 
 tyranny will rise, be pulled down, and another ty- 
 ranny be established ; and so on v/ill the world go, 
 being turned and overturned. The direction given 
 to all the faculties ought to be in obedience to the 
 moral sentiments. 
 
108 RELIGIOUS FEELING, 
 
 RELIGIOUS FEELING. 
 
 We may be expected to say something' of the direc- 
 tion of the sentiments which combine to give the re- 
 ligious feeling. Very little will suffice. Modes of 
 worship are various in different countries. Some 
 consider the sacrifice of human life, some of animals, 
 as acceptable to the Deity. Some assume painful 
 postures, others dance ; some fast, some flog or cut 
 their skin, and various absurd things are done to 
 conciliate the favour of the Great Spirit. Some, 
 again, fearing an evil spirit more than loving a 
 good one, perform similar actions for propitiation. 
 So credulous are mankind that, let any one trump 
 up a story, however ridiculous it may appear to 
 common sense, and pronounce it with an air of au- 
 thority, it will be believed. This is not peculiar to 
 barbarians or savages, for even Christians differ 
 among themselves, and sects are formed by bold- 
 ness of preaching, or rank imposture. It is scarcely 
 credible that Joanna Southcote had followers who 
 believed every thing she said, and did what she 
 commanded. Credulity is the offspring of Hope, 
 and ought to be checked, — imposture succeeds with 
 Marvellousness, which should be put on its guard, 
 — truth should be unfolded to the Intellect, and to 
 Conscientiousness ; and when they are satisfied, 
 there is little risk from credulity or imposture. 
 There exists great diversity of opinion in regard to 
 the interpretations to be given to the contents of the 
 Bible, which are the foundations of the various doc- 
 trines that divide Christians. There seems no pro- 
 
SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 109 
 
 spect of a perfect union ; and this will be more and 
 more distant, while peculiar doctrines are infused 
 into the minds of the young, before they are capa- 
 ble of judging" for themselves, or understanding 
 what they are commanded to believe. In this mat- 
 ter each sect must be left to itself, until knowledge 
 shall be increased, or it shall ; please God to inter- 
 pose and enable mankind to distinguish truth from 
 error. 
 
 SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 
 
 Besides giving the faculties such a direction as 
 to secure rectitude of general conduct, due consider- 
 ation must be given to the station which it is likely 
 will be occupied in after life, and how acquired 
 knowledge will be applied. In every station moral 
 conduct is necessary, and hence the assiduous cul- 
 tivation and regulation of the faculties can never 
 be unnecessary. In reference to their own bodily 
 health and comfort, as well as to their interests as 
 members of society, good conduct is required from 
 every one ; and as it is also indispensable in order 
 to shew obedience to the commands of God, it is 
 the end of their existence. Improvement in moral 
 conduct is desired by all ; and, therefore, if the 
 means hitherto employed to effect this, however 
 they may be sanctioned by long use, be found in- 
 efficient, they should be set aside, and new means 
 employed, such as may be justified by increasing 
 knowledge of our own nature. Force, punishment, 
 temptation, will neither produce good feelings nor 
 eradicate bad ones ; they will not create intellect, 
 
110 SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 
 
 nor prevent it being- applied. We must know what 
 already exists, and apply what reason, directed by 
 knowledge, deems proper. There are faculties 
 adapted to every employment of life ; and while 
 some may be most sedulously cultivated that are to 
 be used in a particular profession, not one should 
 be neglected. Education for boys has too long- con- 
 sisted of Latin and Greek ; for girls, music, draw- 
 ing, and French, and little or nothing else. But 
 were they instructed also in natural history in all 
 its various branches, — were chemical experiments 
 exhibited to them, and mechanical operations, we 
 should confer great pleasure, and give instruction ' 
 at the same time. Put young people in the way of 
 knowledge, and they will soon display partiality 
 for something, and point out in this way the kind 
 of employment in which they are most likely to ex- 
 cel, so as to make themselves independent. Even 
 in regard to accomplishments, we try to force them 
 in a manner the most preposterous, and at vast ex- 
 penditure of money and of time, and often of health. 
 How many women complain of the time wasted on 
 music ! And it is also a great mistake to suppose, 
 that fondness for music is all that is necessary to 
 enable a person to perform on instruments. Even 
 the wishes of an individual will not enable him to 
 succeed ; and this we can state from our own case. 
 We do not find many ladies who, after leaving 
 school, practise music for the pleasure it affords to 
 themselves. To excel in any thing, there must be 
 a desire, and the necessary combination of talent 
 to execute. If let alone, and placed in the way of 
 .music or drawing, children soon exhibit their de- 
 
SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. Ill 
 
 sires. And this may be discovered by putting" va- 
 rious instruments in their way, and noticing" their 
 choice. We think Wilderspin limits plaything's too 
 much in the Infant Schools ; and are of opinion that 
 the greater the variety of plaything's the better, 
 provided they be what leads to utility. 
 
 Accomplishments are most desirable when not 
 attained by the sacrifice of what is more important ; 
 but unless there be a natural desire for them they 
 should be let alone ; for where no desire exists — no 
 love for the things themselves — to excel so as to 
 make them agreeable is impossible. Those who 
 love and understand music do not meet one in 
 twenty performers that can please them. If mamas 
 imagine that husbands are to be caught for their 
 daughters by means of accomplishments in an in- 
 ferior degree, they are mistaken. Nor will any 
 wise man marry for the sake of accomplishments 
 alone. While they are most agreeable and desir- 
 able in his eyes, he demands more than one faculty 
 in a state of cultivation. All must have leisure 
 time to recruit after exertion, whether bodily or 
 mental, and that time is most delightfully filled up 
 by music, drawing, or works of art. But, as al- 
 ready observed, let no time or money be expended 
 on these, unless there be that which enjoys them 
 for their own sake, as well as the desire to please 
 others. The desire to please is a powerful and 
 valuable motive, and should be carefully encouraged. 
 When any thing is done not quite to our minds, it 
 is better to say, " I am much pleased with what 
 you have done, I will now shew you how it may be 
 better done ;" than to scold or punish. At a writ- 
 
112 SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES, 
 
 ing school, the pupils sometimes get a rap over the 
 hand for not shaping" their letters properly, and 
 thus the poor little ringers are disabled from doing- 
 better. The mode of teaching to write by forcing 
 little children to make letters too large even for a 
 grown hand, and which are never afterwards used, 
 is an absurdity that reigns at this day, to the dis- 
 grace of common sense. Children ought at once to 
 learn the smallest hand in use. But the cupidity 
 of writing-masters will exclaim against this, be- 
 cause it would amazingly abridge the time occupied 
 in learning, and instead of filling- their pockets save 
 money to the parents. A child that has a talent 
 for drawing will shew it in writing, which is in fact 
 a branch of drawing, and depends on the faculties 
 of Form and Constructiveness. It would be of great 
 importance could a space defended from the weather 
 be provided for children at infant schools, and 
 where large black boards, and a supply of bits of 
 chalk, could be placed for their use, with which 
 they might write or draw as they pleased. As 
 things are, such boards might be used in fair wea- 
 ther in the play-ground. 
 
 The faculty of Order should be carefully culti- 
 vated and directed. Whatever is given to children 
 ought to be accompanied by instructions how they 
 are to take care of it, and to return it when they 
 have no further use for it, and not to break or de- 
 stroy. Young females cannot be too early accus- 
 tomed to keep a house in order, and family accounts 
 distinct. This is the natural province of females, 
 and such as excel in these matters are universally 
 applauded and highly esteemed. In general con- 
 
SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 113 
 
 duct, Order is of great value, and practice is neces- 
 sary for its improvement. The regulation of time, 
 for bestowing it on different occupations, is of the 
 utmost consequence. A boy should be placed in 
 various situations, and be left to exercise his own 
 powers, and to manage in his own way ; and, being 
 observed well, he may be instructed when he errs, 
 and commended when he does right. Perhaps this 
 may not suit girls so well ; yet it is best to let them 
 learn as much as possible from reality, rather than 
 wholly from the experience of others. 
 
 We are not quite certain of it, but are of opinion, 
 that the faculty of Order contributes pretty largely, 
 as well as Benevolence, to what is called refinement 
 of manners. All coarseness of behaviour is dis- 
 agreeable, as well as awkward motions, and every 
 thing odd. All this may be, if not eradicated, 
 greatly amended or prevented in young persons, by 
 pointing out their awkwardness, and shewing them 
 what to imitate. Nothing renders society so agree- 
 able as suavity, and easy manner. No doubt these 
 to many come of themselves naturally, but to very 
 many they do not, — and, therefore, it should form 
 part of early education to form manner. We often 
 see among persons who move in the most refined 
 society those who allow some unmannerly action 
 or expression to escape ; and Destructiveness, under 
 the cover even of smiles, too often employs itself to 
 detract from our neighbours ; and Secretiveness and 
 Love of Approbation are too often employed, in 
 what is called the best circles, to invent and pro- 
 pagate falsehood. Mischievous and unchristian as 
 the propagation of lies may be, when done with the 
 
 H 
 
114 SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 
 
 appearance of good manners, still proper behaviour 
 is not to be neglected though thus abused. As 
 Shakspeare says, a man may smile and smile and 
 be a villain ; but a smiling face has charms which 
 are not to be banished on that account from the 
 faces of the good, though they may serve as masks 
 for villany. 
 
 In directing the reflecting faculties, we have no 
 scarcity of subjects on which they may be exercised. 
 It is absurd to say that children are incapable of 
 reasoning. Doubtless they cannot reason with so 
 much power as a grown-up person, but this is very 
 different from their not being able to reason at all. 
 We formerly gave you an example of how Compa- 
 rison and Causality might be exercised in arithme- 
 tical questions. But it may be done in very trifles. 
 We have no doubt that some children at an infant 
 school, could be made to comprehend the laws of 
 the planetary motions, by some short lectures and 
 experiments with their swing, and the laws of 
 motion while playing- with marbles. Cause and 
 effect are found every where, and, in children, Indi- 
 viduality and Eventuality are seldom idle. There 
 is something else, however, required besides the facts 
 for inductive reasoning, and the capacities of the 
 t children. A knowledge of the subject, of the con- 
 stitution of human nature, and great tact, must be 
 possessed by the teacher. As said before, no si- 
 tuation requires so much in a teacher as an infant 
 school. He must have the knowledge of a score of 
 professors, and talents of the highest order, and 
 they should be suitably remunerated, for their em- 
 ployment is the most useful, we will say the most 
 noble, of all professions. 
 
SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 115 
 
 There is nothing so hurtful as to tax Benevolence. 
 This feeling- sets us agoing to institute schools and 
 other charities, and most erroneously to rely on the 
 voluntary support of the public. The truly bene- 
 volent form but a small proportion of the commu- 
 nity, and very often they are not found among those 
 who have, or ought to have, something to spare for 
 the gratification of this feeling. Those who have 
 less Benevolence leave the whole burden on those 
 who have most ; and thus the best institutions com- 
 menced with enthusiasm are left to pine away. 
 This is one among many reasons why the State 
 should take up the cause of Education on the most 
 extensive and most liberal scale. Indeed it is time 
 for us to look about ; for Great Britain, once looked 
 up to by the rest of the world, is lagging* far behind 
 her neighbours in the matter of education. Gross 
 injustice is often committed on the benevolent, who 
 are frequently prevented from accomplishing their 
 desires, and obliged sometimes to withdraw their 
 bounty, and to refuse demands, by causes of a pri- 
 vate nature, over which they have no control ; and, 
 among others, by the duty of providing for their 
 own. Yet we have known such persons cruelly de- 
 famed, while others, who love to sound the trumpet, 
 ostentatiously give their alms, and delight in seeing 
 their names and deeds in newspapers and subscrip- 
 tion lists. Nay, we have known instances in which 
 the Christian injunction not to let the left hand 
 know what the right hand doeth in the giving- of 
 alms was obeyed, but defeated by those who en- 
 forced publicly that injunction sending paragraphs 
 to the newspapers. The benevolent alone should 
 
116 SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 
 
 not be taxed for what is the duty and the interest 
 of all. 
 
 To return. It is chiefly by exercising the reflec- 
 tive powers that new ideas are acquired. But in- 
 stead of furnishing a succession of new ideas to 
 young- people, their time is wasted in learning to 
 express the same ideas by different signs. Horse 
 is as good a word as equus or hippos. Ass is 
 shorter than asinus, and as expressive as onos. It 
 is of little use to a child, when taking his food, to 
 know that a spoon was once called kochliarion, or 
 porridge jusculum. To learn such things does not 
 cultivate the understanding, or impart knowledge. 
 Modern languages are extremely useful, but the ac- 
 quirement of dead ones should be regarded as mere 
 accomplishment. It has been said the dead lan- 
 guages are necessary for learned professions. They 
 are so, only because in such professions there is 
 monopoly. Physicians seldom think it necessary 
 now to preserve mystery with patients in regard to 
 the medicines they prescribe ; and examinations for 
 degrees are not now carried on in Latin, at least in 
 Edinburgh. If dead languages are to be taught in 
 early life (which they ought not to be), they ought 
 to be secondary to the acquirement of general know- 
 ledge. Instruction in art and science, properly con- 
 veyed, stimulates reflection, and excites desire to 
 make farther discoveries. Children should be so 
 conducted as that they may make discoveries, or 
 seem to make them, themselves ; and this is at- 
 tained' by conversational and practical education. 
 How many human beings live and die, and know 
 nothing of the air they breathe, the light that en- 
 
SPECIAL DIRECTION OF FACULTIES. 117 
 
 ables them to see, or the heat that gives them 
 warmth ? How many pass their lives knowing" no- 
 thing- of the food they eat or drink, or of that where- 
 with they are clothed ? Ignorance of common things 
 pervades all classes, and chiefly the highest. It is 
 owing to the ideas of legislators being confined by 
 want of general knowledge, that improvement in 
 the condition of States is retarded, and the liberty 
 of the people abridged. We could scarcely hesitate 
 to undertake to match perhaps more than half of 
 our Representatives in Parliament, in their amount 
 of positively useful knowledge, by an equal number 
 of pupils selected from a well conducted infant 
 school. We are not ashamed to say that, after visits 
 to infant schools, we have been obliged on reach- 
 ing home to apply to books ; and many good people 
 have retired from an examination of babes, full of 
 regret that, in their time, no such schools existed. 
 
 Allow me to repeat, that each faculty has an in- 
 clination to act in its own sphere ; but when it so 
 acts, it acts blindly. Each faculty assists and go- 
 verns another, and the directors that are intended 
 by the Creator to keep all in a right direction are 
 the moral and reflective faculties. Each or all may 
 be abused, but education is intended to prevent this. 
 Maxims, and rules, and precepts, are inadequate 
 without practice. Each faculty must be exercised 
 in its legitimate sphere of action. Bad example 
 ought to be shunned. Yet it is too true that, while 
 children have sobriety preached, they see the re- 
 verse at home, all classes aiming at luxury and dis- 
 play. Lessons are read in schools in which avarice 
 and vanity are denounced ; yet, when they look 
 
118 MOTIVES OF ACTION. 
 
 about them, they see all busy in making the most 
 of others, and gratifying- vanity and selfishness. 
 Vanity, vanity, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 
 MOTIVES OF ACTION. 
 
 It is of importance in conducting' education, to 
 consider from what source the motives for action 
 proceed, for there can be no action without a motive. 
 If certain faculties exist in man, as we have endea- 
 voured to set before you, then it is obvious that each 
 faculty has its own gratification as a motive for ex- 
 citing action. This being the case, it is the more 
 necessary that there should be certain faculties su- 
 perior to others, in order to proper education. Each 
 faculty is good in itself, and its abuse only is evil. 
 But liability to abuse renders education and direc- 
 tion necessary for the sake of society. Since the 
 manifestations of the faculties are influenced by or- 
 ganization, this most important fact puts much in 
 our power for regulating society, which we did not 
 before possess. It enables us to see the cause of 
 improper and hurtful manifestations, and to guard 
 against them. The great aim in regulating mo- 
 tives, is to produce only such actions as are justified 
 by the superior faculties, when these operate in full 
 vigour. The motive which excites Acquisitiveness 
 should be regulated by Benevolence, — the proper 
 aim being, not only to please ourselves, but to as- 
 sist others by a share of what we acquire. When 
 we kill for food, there arc two faculties at work, one 
 of which we did not before mention, — the desire for 
 
MOTIVES OF ACTION. 119 
 
 food, and the propensity to kill. Benevolence again 
 interferes, and bids us kill suddenly, and not to in- 
 flict unnecessary pain. In the same way, Consci- 
 entiousness interferes to prevent any other faculty 
 gratifying- itself by doing injustice to others. When 
 the superior sentiments act from their own mo- 
 tives, they are highly gratified; and not less so 
 when they are called upon to enforce the moral law 
 upon the lower faculties. The law of Nature is 
 the law or will of God, and none but He can alter it. 
 Christ himself declared he came to fulfil it, not to 
 destroy it ; and by his personal example exhibited 
 how it ought to be fulfilled by others. It is not for 
 us to inquire why is any thing as it is, but to dis- 
 cover what is, and to act accordingly. Therefore, 
 if we discover by inductive reasoning that man pos- 
 sesses certain faculties, and that their manifestations 
 depend on organization, we must hold this to be a 
 part of the great law of Nature, and employ the dis- 
 covery for the amelioration of our species. Some, 
 indeed, maintain that man is by nature incapable 
 of improvement, and yet, with great inconsistency, 
 call upon him to mend his ways, and punish him if 
 he does not. We are told in Scripture there are just 
 persons that need no repentance, and that those ex- 
 ist who are a law unto themselves. This, then, is 
 sufficient authority for believing that man is capa- 
 ble of being improved, so as to become more just, 
 and to need less the penalties of the law. If man 
 be not capable of improvement, for what purpose 
 are so many efforts made in his behalf? When we 
 know the sources or motives from which actions pro- 
 ceed, a very great step to improvement is made. 
 
120 MOTIVES OF ACTION. 
 
 The motives which proceed from the higher facul- 
 ties are the religious, in respect to our relation 
 to God ; and moral as respects our relations to 
 our fellow-men. God having- created man, and 
 adapted him to the laws of Nature, men differ in 
 opinion embraced in the question — Did God make 
 man to serve any purpose of his own, to gratify him- 
 self, or for man's own sake, that he might confer 
 happiness on his creatures ? It is obvious that God 
 cannot stand in need of any thing- that man can be- 
 stow, in order to augment his own happiness. It 
 is equally obvious that nothing can be received more 
 willingly by the Creator than obedience to the laws 
 which he has established. Man feels that happi- 
 ness is his being's end and aim, the end and aim 
 of his nature. To understand that nature, must 
 therefore greatly contribute to happiness, and un- 
 derstanding it leads directly to the obedience of the 
 laws of Nature, and this is agreeable to the Creator. 
 Ignorance and perversity conceal his own nature 
 from man, and prevent his listening to those who 
 have been so fortunate as to discover it, and are 
 willing to afford him this important means of at- 
 taining the object that is the chief one of his life — 
 happiness here and hereafter. Nay, he not only 
 will not listen, but he reviles his greatest benefactors. 
 Young people may soon be taught many of the 
 laws of nature, and satisfied that they cannot be 
 changed, and that, if they infringe them, they will 
 suffer natural punishment. It is a law of nature 
 that fire burns ; yet we could not do without it. It 
 makes water to boil, and thus puts gigantic power 
 into the hands of man; but such is the nature of 
 
MOTIVES OF ACTION. 121 
 
 heat, that, if we touch boiling- water, we are scalded. 
 If, therefore, we disobey a law of nature by thrust- 
 ing- a hand into burning- fuel or into boiling- water, 
 we are punished. Cautiousness is given to enable 
 us to avoid accidental infringement of the laws, and 
 the Knowing- Faculties to make us acquainted with 
 them. When once we know these, it is invariably 
 and necessarily our own fault if we suffer the pe- 
 nalty of infringement. But while it has pleased 
 the Creator that we shall thus necessarily suffer for 
 every infringement of natural law, which is His 
 own law, he has at the same time rendered these 
 very laws subservient to our happiness, and there- 
 fore obedience is as sure to bring- us satisfaction as 
 disobedience punishment. Children may be taught 
 this, and ought to be, because it will not only save 
 them pain in acquiring knowledge for themselves, 
 and excite caution along with curiosity, but lead to 
 the contemplation and veneration of that inconcei- 
 vable Power and Goodness, that has ordered all 
 things for our good, under the easy condition of 
 obedience. The proper use of the faculties, the con- 
 trol of motives by the superior powers, is obedi- 
 ence ; but it is easier to shew men the law, than to 
 induce them to obey. It will be difficult to bring 
 them to comprehend why the government of the fa- 
 culties should tend to the general good of the human 
 race, and to induce them to prefer that good to their 
 individual gratification in listening to the solicita- 
 tions of inferior feelings, and neglecting the warn- 
 ings and advice of the superior sentiments. Which- 
 ever of these last may be most powerful in any in- 
 dividual whom we wish to call back from disobedi- 
 
122 MOTIVES OF ACTION. 
 
 ence, and to look to the injury inflicted by his con- 
 duct on society, let them be appealed to. If Conscien- 
 tiousness and Benevolence prevail, stir up these 
 to do the good work ; if Hope and Veneration pre- 
 vail, let their motives be made use of; and if both 
 the natural and revealed law can be used, it will go 
 hard indeed if obedience cannot be secured. Such, 
 however, is the present unfavourable state of the hu- 
 man race, that we can live only to see the beginning 1 
 of improvement. It is fitting that every thing should 
 be done to reclaim the old, but the finest fruit will 
 be obtained by cultivating the plant when young. 
 If the superior motives will not reclaim, then let us 
 have recourse to inferior ones, such as Love of Ap- 
 probation, Acquisitiveness, reward and punishment, 
 &c. But let these be the last resources. It should 
 be kept in mind, that the same action may arise 
 from different motives. One child may obey from 
 fear, another from a desire of praise, a third from 
 a prospect of gain, a fourth from a sense of duty. 
 A teacher who knows human nature as taught by 
 Phrenology, will be able to ascertain motives with 
 great precision, and to correct them so as to satisfy 
 children of the value of the highest motives. Nor 
 should it be forgotten, that children do many things 
 from mere imitation ; and there are occasions when 
 this faculty may be very profitable in education. It 
 is this, however, that renders good example so ne- 
 cessary, and bad example so disastrous. Children's 
 minds, when not trained, are easily led, unless their 
 faculties be somewhat precocious, or determinate. 
 They consider whatever others do, or extol, to be 
 right ; and they act by imitation, whether what they 
 
MOTIVES OF ACTION - . 123 
 
 see or hear be good or bad. It is most dangerous to 
 exhibit conduct to children that is contrary to the 
 precepts inculcated on them. If they are expected 
 to be just, let them be treated with justice, and see 
 others so treated. Nothing- unjust should ever be 
 demanded of children, and they should be made to 
 submit to every just demand and no resistance on 
 their part yielded to. Unjust demands should never 
 be persisted in. Children are able to perceive moral 
 distinctions before they can reason. There is one 
 thing- that may here be mentioned, which is a very 
 common error, and one which, while intended for 
 one thing, produces the reverse. Giving holidays 
 by way of reward, clearly indicates that being in 
 school is a punishment. To keep holidays makes 
 children like them, because, when they come round, 
 they are allowed to be idle. This is indeed the 
 same kind of error, but not so gross a one, as making 
 children learn portions of the Bible by way of pu- 
 nishment. Both tend to make them dislike that 
 to which we wish to attach them. Yet no error is 
 so common, and betrays a sad want of reflection in 
 teachers and managers of schools, while it shews, 
 when once we are aware of it, how much ignorance 
 of our own nature yet obtains in the world. The 
 same folly is extended to religion ; and in some 
 churches the saying of prayers a certain number of 
 times is enjoined as penance. By what we have 
 said, it must not be understood that human nature 
 is believed yet to be in so improved a state, that, to 
 produce good conduct, appeals even to the lowest 
 motives are not necessary. Every one differs from 
 another, and therefore different motives must be ex- 
 
124 MOTIVES OF ACTION. 
 
 cited. But on every occasion let the highest motives 
 be tried first, because many will be found to submit 
 to them, while others will need to be stimulated 
 by disagreeable things, such as a cautious excite- 
 ment of keen hunger, or privations of various kinds, 
 or a moderate and not a cruel use of the rod applied 
 to the motive of fear. In order thoroughly to com- 
 prehend the principle of motives of action, it is in- 
 cumbent on teachers to study the nature of man, 
 and parents will be all the better of applying them- 
 selves to it. 
 
 We have yet to consider that individuals of the 
 human race differ from each other in natural en- 
 dowment, and this in infinitely various propor- 
 tions. This fact establishes the principle, as yet 
 almost unknown, that education cannot be car- 
 ried on by means of one motive. The aim of it is 
 one, but the means of attaining it must necessarily 
 vary with the different constitutions of those to be 
 taught. Every one is not equally capable of im- 
 provement, and those that are least so require the 
 greatest attention and care. Some are so greatly 
 endowed that they excel at once in whatever they 
 turn their attention to. Others well endowed, but 
 not so much, cannot reach excellence in more than 
 a few things, and some in only one or two; and 
 those there be who excel in nothing, but have only 
 middling powers ; and so on we descend from the 
 most brilliant genius to the idiot. Some characters 
 are naturally moral, are a law unto themselves, and 
 act from a sense of duty. Others, stamped by a re- 
 ligious character, act from faith. When persons of 
 different natural characters have certain faculties 
 
MOTIVES OF ACTION. 125 
 
 so active as to produce a motive, Love of Approba- 
 tion, for example, they will strive to make others 
 like themselves, and to bring- them over to their 
 own way of thinking-. This creates much disturb- 
 ance in the world, and in religious matters gives 
 rise to sects and sectarian spirit, and unchristian 
 wrang-ling- about interpretations and forms. Edu- 
 cation must be adapted to human nature, otherwise 
 it will never improve it. No single motive, as al- 
 ready observed, can succeed. All men cannot be 
 made philosophers, though some may think it possi- 
 ble. No one who understands human nature can 
 expect that the motives which regulate his own 
 conduct will regulate that of all others. Yet this 
 is imagined by teachers of every kind ; and preach- 
 ers sometimes wonder at their want of success, 
 while it is entirely owing to their making their own 
 feelings, as proportioned in themselves, the stand- 
 ard for all others. Hence, while a sermon is de- 
 livered, we see a few listening, others fldgetting, 
 some taking snuff, and probably the majority seek- 
 ing relief to their weary brains in devotion to Mor- 
 pheus, He before whom the nature of man was 
 open, took a different course. He applied to every 
 motive, — excited every moral feeling, and did not 
 confine himself to one or two. Let those who doubt 
 this read the history of Jesus Christ. Preachers con- 
 fine themselves to the inferior sentiments, — to Ac- 
 quisitiveness, which desires reward, — to Cautious- 
 ness, which dreads punishment. Time and know- 
 ledge will rectify this, and bring about the percep- 
 tion of the principle of motives ; and it should be 
 remembered, the teacher of humility must not be 
 
126 MOTIVES OF ACTION. 
 
 proud, nor he who inveighs against vanity be vain. 
 He who says we should keep ourselves unspotted 
 from the world, should not be a slave to the world's 
 opinion, nor rest his happiness on its applause. As 
 such contrarieties exist, the cause of their appear- 
 ance is to be found in the ignorance that brings up 
 young men to professions for which their predo- 
 minant faculties unfit them. However powerful 
 his understanding may be, he that is too large- 
 ly endowed with Combativeness, Destructiveness, 
 Acquisitiveness, and Self-Esteem, should not be 
 brought up for the church. Those of weak under- 
 standing are equally unfit. No man who is known 
 to be capable of taking a bribe is made a judge, nor 
 should any one with too much Cautiousness be made 
 a general ; nor should any one who is fond of power, 
 or too strongly attached to a party, be sent to the 
 national council to represent free people. But while 
 feelings are to be exercised that are adapted to a 
 particular profession, the higher sentiments must 
 predominate to render an individual useful and re- 
 spected in the situation to which he may be called. 
 A clergyman must have Veneration, and a soldier 
 Combativeness ; but neither can be respected nor 
 useful, if he be deficient in Benevolence and Justice. 
 Without these intellect is of no avail. A mechanic 
 may have less intellect, and a greater share of moral 
 feeling, than a bishop or a philosopher ; but he is 
 not a worse workman or member of society on that 
 account, nor is the bishop or philosopher more re- 
 spected for his deficiency. 
 
 While the supremacy of the moral and religious 
 feelings is admitted, it by no means follows that 
 
MOTIVES OF ACTION. 127 
 
 the intellectual faculties are to be neglected. They 
 have been given to us expressly to enable us to find 
 out God in his works and make us wise. Some ne- 
 glect, and even despise, intellectual acquirements. 
 Such persons must be poorly endowed with intel- 
 lectual power, or their feelings must be in a morbid 
 state. Such are the persons who become hermits, 
 and put away from them all temporal concerns. 
 Many unhappy creatures, of all religions, seek the 
 approbation of God by torturing themselves. Some 
 are of opinion, from a morbid state of feeling and 
 small endowment of intellect, that all knowledge 
 of every kind is comprehended in the Bible. Schools 
 are known where, if, in the course of reading, any 
 thing is said of the natural history of the bear, the 
 scholars are stopped, and made to turn up and 
 read, from the book of Kings, that two she bears 
 came out of a wood to devour the children who 
 mocked Elisha. If a fox happens to be mentioned, 
 or the nests of birds, they are told that every thing 
 is in the Bible necessary to be known, and they are 
 made to read, as a proof of this, that foxes have 
 holes and the birds of the air have nests ; and every 
 applicable passage is thus sought out, as if, by do- 
 ing so, the credit of the Bible could be raised by its 
 being considered as a treatise on natural history, in- 
 stead of being looked upon in a more rational light. 
 The intellect is necessary to regulate the feel- 
 ings. Without it, Benevolence would exercise it- 
 self on unworthy objects, and veneration on stocks 
 and stones. Unreasonable hopes are certain of dis- 
 appointment j and unenlightened justice is seldom 
 seasoned by mercy. No judgment can be formed 
 
128 MOTIVES OF ACTION* 
 
 without reflection, else it is probable it will be er- 
 roneous. The intellect, in short, is essential to 
 conduct. 
 
 In cultivating- the intellect, every thing that is 
 taught should be useful. Some persons are so weak 
 as to imagine that, if a man be a good classical 
 scholar, he is every thing. Being a scholar depends 
 almost wholly on one faculty. Reflection is not 
 necessary ; all that is needed is a talent for artifi- 
 cial signs, so perfect, as to have a good memory, 
 which gets ready-made rules by heart. With re- 
 spect to the spirit and structure of language, it may 
 be understood without dead languages. Classical 
 scholars will give you the names of things in Greek 
 and Latin, but may not be able to give you any in- 
 formation in regard to their properties and quali- 
 ties. A boy learning Latin once asked his father 
 an unlucky question, Who made the Latin Lan- 
 guage, and for what did he make it ? Another boy, 
 with a feeble faculty of language, wished he had 
 not been born, since he had to learn Latin. It has 
 been remarked, that many sprightly boys, of ex- 
 cellent capacities for useful knowledge, have been 
 so disgusted with the dead languages, as to retreat 
 from the drudgery of schools to low company, and 
 have become bad members of society. We have 
 seen this at a great English school ; and, not long 
 since, we were in the company of some young men 
 who had been at Eton and Westminster, whose 
 conversation turned, with much apparent delight, 
 wholly on the low blackguardism in which they 
 had been engaged. At such schools the existence 
 of any faculty in the human constitution, save that 
 
MOTIVES OF ACTION. 129 
 
 of learning- Greek and Latin, seems to be wholly 
 unknown, or, if known, to be wholly disregarded, 
 as unworthy of cultivation. Yet from such semi- 
 naries do our legislators and aristocracy issue. To 
 consider mere scholarship as a test of genius is ri- 
 diculous. It can only shew that a great scholar is 
 endowed greatly with one faculty, which might 
 have been more profitably employed on living* lan- 
 guages. Whatever difference, then, may be in na- 
 tural endowment, the efforts made to educate should - 
 be the same, but most assiduous where there is a 
 deficiency. This, however, is not attended to in 
 schools. The best endowed are the favourites, and 
 receive indulgences and rewards which would be 
 more properly bestowed on those who, though with 
 less success, exert themselves to the utmost of their 
 power. This renders classification necessary, and 
 those with weak powers should not be exercised 
 along with those who are more clever. It is always 
 more agreeable to children to keep pace with each 
 other; and giving precedence to the clever Only 
 puffs them up and renders them proud, while it 
 despirits and renders unhappy those to whom at- 
 tention should be chiefly directed. We do not say 
 that it is possible to render, by education, a weak 
 endowment equal to a strong one ; it is only affirmed 
 that it may be greatly improved, beyond what it 
 would turn out were education not employed. Be- 
 sides, as good conduct is, and ought to be always, 
 the chief aim, not only may weak powers be im- 
 proved in reference to this object, but such as are 
 too strong modified and directed. 
 
 General should precede professional education ; 
 
 i 
 
130 TEMPERAMENTS. 
 
 and when the time comes for the latter, classifica- 
 tion is again necessary. For it will be found that 
 the tendencies of some are in one direction, and 
 those of others in different ones. And after the di- 
 vision according- to the object to be taught in re- 
 ference to professions, young people must again 
 be classed according to their ability. In general 
 education, it is necessary to announce many facts 
 without stopping to detail the processes by which 
 they were discovered ; at the same time, when this 
 can be done shortly, and in a manner suited to the 
 capacities of the pupils, it should be done. And on 
 all occasions it would be proper and very encourag- 
 ing to the pupils, and a means of exciting their fa- 
 culties, to ask them if they would like to know how 
 such and such a thing was found out ; and the detail 
 will rouse their own powers of observation, and 
 greatly assist in displaying the different degrees of 
 mental activity. For mental activity depends not 
 more on the size of the brain than on its quality and 
 state of health ; and that health is always affected 
 by the general state of the body. That general 
 state is designated by physiologists Temperament. 
 
 TEMPERAMENTS. 
 
 It is not necessary, in such a work as this, to 
 convey a full notion of what is meant by Tempera- 
 ment. Yet a brief account is proper, because every 
 day's experience proves the correctness of the theory, 
 and it is of very great importance in training the 
 young. 
 
TEMPERAMENTS. 131 
 
 The entire system of the body is made up of di- 
 gestive organs ; of those which prepare and circu- 
 late the blood ; and of those which contribute to 
 keep mind and body in action, and which have the 
 name Nervous System. There are some who have 
 the digestive powers proportionally more fully de- 
 veloped than the sanguineous or nervous systems ; 
 some who have the sanguineous gTeatest ; and some 
 in whom the nervous system predominates. The 
 digestive process goes on in the abdominal viscera ; 
 the sanguineous in the thorax or chest; and the 
 nervous in the brain. 
 
 When we observe a person with a large abdomen, 
 and, proportionally, a small head and small chest, 
 this person is said to have the Lymphatic Tempera- 
 ment. All the parts of the body are plump and 
 rounded ; the face pale and full ; and the expression 
 of the eye heavy. There is a slowness in every 
 movement, and an aversion to exercise and labour. 
 The constitution is heavy and dull. A child with 
 such a constitution cannot exert itself, even when 
 willing, to nearly the same extent as others with a 
 more favourable one. Yet we have seen such a one 
 knocked about and flogged at school, and the little 
 effect of such treatment rousing the ignorant master 
 into fury. Common sense allowed its fair sway at 
 once condemns such savage treatment, and dictates 
 what it ought to be. Encouragement to exertion is 
 the obvious means of improvement ; and though 
 experience has not yet proved it, analogy leads us 
 to hope that, by proper attention, such a tempera- 
 ment, taken early, may be very much improved. 
 
 When the chest is large, and the brain and abdo- 
 
132 TEMPERAMENTS. 
 
 men small in proportion, we have the Sanguine 
 Temperament. The complexion is florid, and the 
 hair usually fair. In this there is much activity of 
 body ; and the mind partakes of it even to restless- 
 ness. The elaboration of the blood, in capacious 
 lungs, is speedy and perfect, and its circulation is 
 rapid and abundant ; and thus the system is greatly 
 excited. Here we need repression more than en- 
 couragement. There is both strength and activity, 
 but these are chiefly devoted to muscular efforts, and 
 less to mental effort ; and, at the same time, diges- 
 tion will not be so rapidly performed. 
 
 When the head is large, indicating" a large brain, 
 and the chest and abdomen small, there will be 
 little disposition to exert the limbs, and little mus- 
 cular strength, and less perfect digestion. But 
 there will be much power of mind, as well as acti- 
 vity ; the nervous energy being proportional to the 
 mass of nervous matter, and this energy becoming 
 more conspicuous as the size of the chest and abdo- 
 men are less. This state of things constitutes the 
 Nervous Temperament. 
 
 Persons who have what is called the Bilious 
 Temperament, are distinguished by very marked 
 contour of figure and face, having the indications of 
 determination and resolution. There is much ener- 
 gy. We have been disposed to regard this as a 
 combination of the Sanguine and Nervous Tempe- 
 raments. 
 
 Though there certainly appears something in ge- 
 neral bodily constitution that has a powerful effect 
 on the amount of energy manifested both in mus- 
 cular and intellectual effort, the theory of Tempe- 
 
TEMPERAMENTS. 133 
 
 raments is not yet brought clearly out ; nevertheless 
 it is sufficiently so to merit great attention. 
 
 We see these temperaments to a certain extent in 
 the lower creation. Among our domestic animals, 
 we find the lymphatic temperament in those dis- 
 posed to fatten — for example, in the New Leicester 
 sheep ; and if farmers were acquainted with this 
 matter, they would select animals with large abdo- 
 mens and small chests and heads. The sanguine 
 temperament we find in dogs, and especially in the 
 greyhound, the form of which has been strikingly 
 adapted by the Creator for extraordinary muscular 
 effort ; and, accordingly, the chest is very large, and 
 the abdomen very small. Beasts and birds of prey 
 are distinguished by a combination of the sanguine 
 and nervous temperaments. Indeed it is somewhat 
 rare to see any one of them in great predominance, 
 and they are commonly combined in various pro- 
 portions. In some individuals they are so com- 
 bined, that sometimes one, sometimes another, pre- 
 dominates in its influence. We are sometimes sur- 
 prised to see a large heavy-looking person active 
 and making great exertions, and dancing lightly. 
 Such persons will be found to have capacious chests 
 and large heads, as well as a large abdomen and 
 general plumpness. When the nervous and san- 
 guineous systems are both energetic, and the abdo- 
 minal moderate, there is apt to be too much acti- 
 vity, and much risk to general health. The waste 
 arising from over-exertion, needs a supply which 
 feeble digestion cannot afford. The utmost care is 
 therefore necessary to prevent undue waste from 
 over-exertion. Parents fall into sad mistakes in 
 
134 TEMPERAMENTS. 
 
 reference to this. A precocious child is exhibited 
 and pushed forward, and its nervous energy de- 
 stroyed ; bad health follows, and it is carried to an 
 early grave. Children with large and active brains 
 ought to be kept back until their nervous system 
 has acquired its full growth and tone. Its preco- 
 cious activity should be expended on employments 
 and amusements that require little effort ; and there 
 is no risk of its being left behind others, for as soon 
 as the brain has acquired strength, its power and 
 activity will soon place it foremost in the race. 
 
 A knowledge of the temperaments, then, appears 
 of importance to teachers, since they are found to 
 modify mental as well as bodily activity ; which last 
 is derived from the former. This should be at- 
 tended to in the choice of a profession, and no young 
 person should be encouraged to follow a profession 
 for which his temperament may not suit him. Im- 
 proper education may repress faculties that, if turned 
 towards objects suited to them, might have enabled 
 the possessor to excel. Some are made soldiers who 
 would have graced a pulpit, and others there are, 
 who might have beaten any other drum better than 
 the drum-ecclesiastic. It is very natural for boys 
 in a large class at school, while they are not saying 
 lessons, to follow their natural bias, by drawing on 
 the blank leaves of their books, or doing any thing 
 which they can conceal from the master ; and if 
 they are discovered they are punished for doing 
 something rather than sit idle. Instead of resort- 
 ing to punishment, the teacher should note down 
 the fact, and either communicate with the parents, 
 or employ the natural bias in a rational manner. 
 
TEMPERAMENTS. 135 
 
 At present men are appointed to stations of trust 
 and importance without the slightest attention be- 
 ing- paid to their natural endowments and charac- 
 ter, and the duties intrusted to them are but too 
 often ill performed, or dishonestly undertaken. The 
 Society of the Jesuits rose to possess extraordinary 
 power and influence, chiefly from attending- to the 
 natural talents of their pupils. They carefully noted 
 the natural bias, and chose for admission into the 
 order only those with acute understanding, and em- 
 ployed them in matters which their natural disposi- 
 tion enabled them to manage with dexterity. This 
 society perceived what Phrenology afterwards de- 
 monstrated, by discovering the cause of varied men- 
 tal endowment. The purposes to which the Jesuits 
 applied their knowledge of human nature are not to 
 be commended, but their sagacity enabled them to 
 wield a weapon of power unknown to the rest of the 
 world. The society was destroyed and dispersed, 
 but the facts by means of which it had flourished re- 
 main the same; and though it be in the power of 
 men to avail themselves of them for purposes tend- 
 ing to promote human happiness, they are too much 
 inclined to shut their eyes against truth. 
 
 In professional education a vast deal of time is 
 wasted ; and the cupidity of monopolizing profes- 
 sors forces the student to expend his money and his 
 time, and to weary his brain, for that which can 
 be of no use to him, unless he happens to have a 
 natural partiality to it. Every kind of knowledge 
 is useful, but where a profession is to be followed, 
 the acquirement of any branch not immediately con- 
 nected with it ought not to be compulsory. Our 
 
136 TEMPERAMENTS. 
 
 clergy are forced to attend certain classes in the 
 universities, and a vast majority do no more than 
 attend. The study of man whom they are to guide 
 forms no part of their duty, while it should be a prin- 
 cipal part of it ; all that is required being, that the 
 student shall answer a few questions in the dead 
 languages, expound a few texts in a way he knows 
 will please, though contrary perhaps to his own 
 sentiments, and he is turned out to seek patrons. 
 When we are among professional men, we find 
 them of every variety of mental constitution ; where- 
 as all should have that portion of mind that is ne- 
 cessary for their business in the greatest vigour, 
 and the moral sentiments in full command. The 
 profession of the law exercises powers in a direction 
 too often in opposition to morality and religion. 
 In conducting a lawsuit, deception, frand, and even 
 direct falsehood are too much employee, to deceive 
 judges and juries, and justice can seldom be said to 
 triumph. We meet with similar anomalies in other 
 professions, whether learned or mechanical. 
 
 We have extended this summary perhaps too 
 much, although the subject is far from being ex- 
 hausted. From our desire to include as many im- 
 portant truths as possible in a small space, there is 
 an apparent want of connection, which you will 
 excuse ; and also some meagreness of illustration. 
 Our object has been more to excite farther inquiry, 
 than fully to elucidate ; and you will be at no loss 
 to find what you may desire in various works writ 
 ten by eminent men. 
 
 FR'NTFD BY NKItl. CV CO., OI,D FISFlMAttKET, EDINBrRQII. 
 
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