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 THE 
 
 
 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE 
 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION 
 
 
 • 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 
 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION, HELD IN WASHINGTON IN DECEMBER, 1854. 
 
 
 BY 
 
 
 JOSEPH HENRY, LL. D., 
 
 
 SECRETARY OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
 
 
 HARTFORD: 
 
 
 PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY. 
 
 
 M.DCCC.LV. 
 
^H Xt*. f*,iAUAO/. 
 
 ^hl 6 IbK 
 

 I. INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE 
 
 THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION. 
 
 BY JOSEPH HENRY, LL. D. 
 
 No subject of Imman tlioiiglit has perhaps received more attention 
 than that of education. Every one has the material for specuhitino; 
 in regard to it in his own experience ; but individual expei'ience is 
 too limited a basis on Avhich to found a general theory of instruction, 
 and besides this, paradoxical as it may appear, an individual is per- 
 haps less able to judge correctly of the effects of the course of instruc- 
 tion to which he has been subjected than another person. No one 
 can tell what he would have been under a different course of training, 
 and the very process which he condemns may perhaps have been 
 the one best suited to develope the peculiarities of mind which 
 have led to his success in life; and indeed in some very rare in- 
 stances the want of all training of a systematic kind may be the best 
 condition imder Providence for p)i"oducing an entirely original chaa-- 
 acter. Shakespeare's genius might have been shackled by the 
 scholastic curriculum of Oxford or Cambridge ; but these cases are 
 extremely rare, for genius itself, like the blossoms of the aloe is the 
 solitary production of a century. 
 
 I bring forward my own views on education witli diffidence. First, 
 because I have read scarcely any thing on the subject, and wliat 
 I shall say may be considered common-place ; seeondl)^, because my 
 views may in some respects be at variance with what are regarded 
 as the established principles of the day. But important truths 
 cannot be too often presented, and when re-produced by diffei-ent 
 minds under different circumstances they can scarcely fail to awaken 
 new trains of thought and renewed attention ; and again, if the pro- 
 positions which I maintain are erroneous, I desire that they may be 
 discussed and disproved before they are given more widely to the 
 public. What I shall advance may be viewed as suggestions for 
 consideration rather than propositions adequately proved. 
 
 In the establishment of a principle it is of the first importance.-that 
 all probable suggestions relative to it may be subjected to critical 
 examination, and tried by the test, as fiir as possible, of experience ; rt 
 is in this way that science is advanced. 
 
18 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 The first remark whicli may be made in regard to education is, that 
 it is a forced condition of mind or body. As a general rule it is 
 produced by coercion ; at the expense of labor, on the part of the 
 educator, and of toil and eflbrt on the part of the instructed. That 
 there is no royal road to learning, is an aphorism as true now as it 
 was in the days when first uttered. God has placed a price on that 
 which is valuable, and those who would possess a treasure must earn 
 it at the expense of labor. Intellectual as well as material wealth 
 can only be purchased at the price of toil. It is true the child may 
 be induced to learn his task by the prospect of reward ; by emula- 
 tion ; by an appeal to his affections ; but all these, in some cases, are 
 ineffectual, and recourse must be had to the stimulus of the rod. I 
 do not by this remark intend to advocate a general recoui-se to cor- 
 poreal coercion. It should be used sparingly, perhaps only in ex- 
 treme cases, and for the purpose of eradicating a vicious habit. The 
 philosophy of its use in this case is clear. We associate pain with 
 the commission of an improper act and thus prevent its recurrence. 
 
 I have said, that education is a forced condition of mind or 
 body. The child, if left to itself, would receive no proper develop- 
 ment, though he might be surrounded with influences which would 
 materially affect his condition. The savage never educates himself 
 mentally, and were all the educational establishments of the present 
 day abolished, how rapidly would our boasted civilization relapse 
 into barbarism. 
 
 Another important fact is, that every generation must educate and 
 give character to the one which follows it, and that the true progress 
 of the world in intelligence and morality consists in the gradual im- 
 provement of the several generations as they succeed each other. 
 That great advance has been made in this way, no one can doubt 
 who views the facts of history with an unprejudiced mind ; but still 
 the improvement has not been continuous. There have been various 
 centres and periods of civilization. Egypt, Greece, and Rome, 
 though they have left an impress upon the world which extends 
 even to our time, and modifies all the present, have themselves 
 " mouldered down." It appears, therefore, that civilization itself ]nay 
 be considered as a condition of unstable equilibrium, which requires 
 constant effort to be sustained, and a still greater eflbrt to be 
 advanced. It is not, in my view, the manifest destiny of humanity 
 to improve by the operation of an inevitable necessary law of pro- 
 gress ; but while I believe that it is the design of Providence that man 
 should be improved, this improvement must be the result of indi- 
 vidual eflbrt, or of the combined eflbrt of many individuals, animated 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 19 
 
 by the same feeling, and co-operating for the attainment of the saine 
 end. The world is still in a degraded condition ; ignorance, want, 
 rapine, murder, superstition, fraud, uncleanness, inhumanity, and 
 malignity abound. We thank God, however, that he has given us 
 the promise, and in some cases, the foretaste, of a happier and holier 
 condition, that he has vouchsafed to us as individuals, each in his 
 own sphere, the privilege, and has enjoined upon us the duty of 
 becoming his instruments, and thus co-workers, in ameliorating the 
 condition of ourselves, and our fellow men ; and above all, that he 
 has enabled us through education to improve the generations which 
 are to follow us. If we sow judiciously in the present, the world will 
 assuredly reap a beneficent harvest in the future ; and he has not 
 lived in vain, who leaves behind him as his successor a child better 
 educated morally, intellectually, and physically than himself From 
 this point of view the responsibilities of life are immense. Every 
 individual by his example and precept, whether intentionally or 
 otherwise, does aid or oppose this important work, and leaves an 
 impress of character upon the succeeding age, which is to mould its 
 destiny for weal or woe in all coming time. 
 
 Civilization itself, as I have before observed, is a state of unstable 
 equilibrium which if not supported by the exertions of individuals, 
 resembles an edifice with a circumscribed base, which becomes the 
 more tottering as we expand its lateral dimensions, and increase its 
 height. Modern civilization is founded on a knowledge and applica- 
 tion of the moral, intellectual, and physical laws by which Divine 
 wisdom governs the universe. The laws of morality have been 
 revealed to us, but they require constant enforcement and habitual 
 observance. The laws of the intellectual and material universe have 
 been discovered by profound study and years of incessant labor, and 
 unless they are taught in purity, and freed from error, they fail to 
 produce their legitimate result. But the illustration and enforce- 
 ment of the laws of morality require the exertions of men of high 
 talents and profound learning ; and a true knowledge of the laws of 
 nature can only be imparted by minds that have long been devoted to 
 their, study. Therefore a large number of highly educated men 
 whose* voice may be heard, and whose influence may be felt, is abso- 
 lutely necessary to sustain the world in its present moral and intel- 
 lectual development. The world, however, is not to be advanced by 
 the mere application of truths already known ; but we look forward, 
 particularly in physical science, to the effect of the development of 
 new principles. We have scarcely as yet read more than the title 
 page and preface of the great volume of nature, and what we 
 
OQ INTKOUUCTOKY DISCOURSE. 
 
 do know is iiotliiiii;; in comparison with that whicli may be yet mi- 
 Iblded and applied ; but to discover new truths requires a still 
 higher order of individual talent. In order that civilization should 
 continue to advance, it therefore becomes necessary that special pro- 
 vision should be made for the actual increase of knowledge, as well as 
 for its diffusion ; and that support should be afforded, rewards given, 
 and honors conferred on those who really add to the sura of human 
 knowledge. 
 
 This truth however is not generally appreciated, and the tendency 
 is to look merely at the immediate results of the application of 
 science to art, and to liberally reward and honor those who simply 
 apply known facts, rather than those who discover new principles. 
 
 From what we have said it would appear that in order that civili- 
 zation should remain stationary, it is absolutely necessary that the 
 great truths which have been established should not become diluted, 
 obscured, or forgotten ; that their place should not be usurped by 
 error, or in other words that the great principles of science, which 
 have been established through long years of toil and nights of 
 vigilance, should not be superseded by petty conceits, by hasty and 
 partial generalizations, and by vague speculations or empirical 
 rules. Farther, that civilization should not retrograde, it is indis- 
 pensably necessary that the great truths of morality should not 
 only be theoretically taught and intellectually apprehended, but 
 activel}', constantly, and habitually applied. But this state of things 
 can only exist by means of the efforts of individuals actuated by a 
 generous, liberal, and enlightened philanthropy. Unfortimately, 
 however, the tendency of civilization, fmm the increase of wealth, and 
 security, is to relax individual effort. Man is naturally an indolent 
 being, and unless actuated by strong inducements or educated by 
 coercion to habits of industry, his tendency is to supineness and in- 
 action. In a rude state of society an individual is de2>endent upon 
 his own exertions for the protection of himself, his family, and his 
 })r()perty ; but as civilization advances personal effort is less required, 
 and he relies more and more on law and executive government. 
 Moreover, as wealth and elementary education become more 
 general without a corresponding increase of higher instruction, the 
 voice of the profound teacher becomes less and less audible ; his 
 precepts and admonitions less and less regarded ; he is himself 
 obliged to comply with popular prejudices and conform to public 
 opinion, however hastily formed or capricious such an opinion 
 may be. Hence the tendency to court popular favor, to be in- 
 fluenced by it, rather than attempt to direct it. Hence charlatanism 
 
EDUCATION. 21 
 
 and th(j various dishonest attempts to gain notoriety rather than a 
 true re2:>utation, so frequently observed. Knowledge has arrived at 
 such a stage of advancement that a division of labor in regard to it 
 is necessarjr. No one can be learned in all the branches of human 
 thought ; and the reputation of an' individual therefore ought to 
 rest on the appreciation of his character by the few, comparatively, 
 who have cultivated the same field with himself. But these are not 
 generally the dispensers of favor, and consequently he wdio aspires to 
 wealth or influence seeks not their approbation ; but the commenda- 
 tion and applause of the multitude. It is impossible that those who 
 are actively engaged in the business of life should have time for 
 profound thought. They must receive their knowledge, as it were, 
 at second-hand ; but they are not content under our present system 
 of education with the position of students, they naturally aspire to 
 that of teachers ; and every one who has learned the rudiments of 
 literature or science becomes ambitious of authorship, and a candidate 
 for popular applause. Knowledge in this way becomes less and less 
 profound in proportion to its diftusion. In such a condition of 
 things it is possible that the directing power of an age may become 
 less and less intelligent as it becomes more authoritativ'e, and that 
 the woi'ld may be actually declining in what constitutes real, moral, 
 and intellectual greatness, while to the superficial observer it appears 
 to be in a state of rapid advance. I do not aflirm that this is the 
 case at present. I am merely pointing out tendencies. 
 
 The present is emphatically a reading age ; but who will venture 
 to say that it is proportionately a thinking age ? The sum of posi- 
 tive knowledge is embraced in but few books, and small would be 
 the library necessary to contain the essence of,all that is known. 
 We read too much and too quickly to read understandingly. The 
 world is gorged with intellectual food, and healthful digestion is 
 comparatively unknown. Too many books are published ; I do not 
 mean to say that too many standard luorks are printed, but by far 
 too many silly, superficial and bad books are sent forth from the 
 teeming press of our day. The public mind is distracted amidst a 
 multiplicity of teachers and asks in vain for truth. But few persons 
 can devote themselves so excliisively to abstract science as fully to 
 master its higher generalizations, and it is only such persons who are 
 properly qualified to prepare the necessary books for the instruction 
 of the many. I cannot for a moment subscribe to the opinion which 
 is sometimes advanced that superficial men are best calculated to pre- 
 pare popular works on any branch of knowledge. It is true that 
 some persons have apparently the art of simplifying scientific prin- 
 
22 
 
 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 ciples ; but in the great majority of cases this simplification consists 
 in omitting all that is difficult of comprehension. There is no task 
 more responsible than that of the preparation of an elementary book 
 for the instruction of the community ; and no one should embark in 
 such an undertaking who is not prompted by a higher motive than a 
 mere love of notoriety, or the more general incentive, a hope of 
 commercial success. He should love the subject upon which he in- 
 ii'iids to write, and by years of study and habitual thought, have 
 become familiar with its boundaries, and be enabled to separate the 
 true and the good from that which is merely hypothetical and 
 plausible. 
 
 In this connexion I may mention the evils which result from 
 literature and science becoming objects of merchandize, and yet not 
 amenable to the laws of trade. I allude to the international copy- 
 right system. The tendency of the present condition of copyright 
 law between England and America is greatly to debase literature, 
 to supply cheap books, and not to impart profound wisdom or sound 
 morality. English books are republished in this country and 
 American books are reprinted in England, because they are cheaj'), 
 and not because they are good. Literary and sciei;tific labor must 
 I)e properly remimerated, or the market will be supplied with an 
 inferior article. The principles of free trade are frequently im- 
 properly applied to this question. The protection required and de- 
 manded by the literary man is not that of a premium on his work, 
 but the simple price which it ought to bear in the market of the 
 world. lie asks that the literary product of the foreigner may be 
 paid for in order that justice may be done his brother, and also that 
 he himself may reoeive a proper remuneration for his own labors. 
 Would there be any manufactories of cloth, think you, in this coun- 
 try, if the tailor had the means and inclination to procure free of 
 cost all the material of the garments which he supplies to his 
 customers? And can it be supposed that valuable literary works 
 will be produced among us, so long as our publishers are allowed to 
 appropriate, without remuneration, the labors of the foreigner ? The 
 want of an international copyright law has, I know, produced a very 
 unfavorable effect upon higher education in this country. It has 
 prevented the preparation of text-books better suited to the state of 
 education among us than those which are re-published from abroad, 
 and adopted in many of our institutions of learning. 
 
 Another result of the wide diffusion of elementary knowledge, with- 
 out a proper cultivation of the higher intellectual faculties, and an in- 
 culcation of generous and unselfish principles, is the inordinate desire 
 
EDUCATION. 23 
 
 for wealth. To acquire power and notoriety in this way requires the 
 least possible amount of talents and intelligence, and yet success in 
 this line is applauded even if obtained by a rigid application of the 
 dishonest maxim tliat " all is fair in traded We have a notable 
 example of this fact in the autobiography of an individual who 
 glories in his shame, and unblushingly describes the means by which 
 he has defrauded the public. No one who has been called upon to 
 disburse public money can have failed to be astonished at the loose 
 morality on the part of those who present claims for liquidation. 
 The old proverb here is very generally applied, namely, " the public 
 is a goose, and he is a fool who does not pluck a feather !" A full 
 treasury, instead of being considered a desirable or healthy state of 
 the nation, should be regarded as the precursor of a diseased con- 
 dition of the public morals. That the tendencies which I have 
 mentioned do to a greater or less extent exist, and that they re- 
 quire the serious consideration of the enlightened statesman, and the 
 liberal minded and judicious friend of education, must be evident to 
 every one who seriously and withotit prejudice observes the habits 
 of the times. 
 
 The proper appreciation of profound learning and abstract science 
 is not as a general rule what it ought to be. The most authoritative 
 teacher is the editor of a newspaper. Whatever may have been his 
 previous training, or however circumscribed his field of thought, he is 
 the umpire to decide upon all questions even of the most abstract 
 science or the most refined casuistry. 
 
 The question may be asked with solicitude — Are the tendencies 
 we have mentioned inevitable ? Are there no means of counteract- 
 ing them ? And is our civilization to share the fate of that of 
 Egypt, Greece, and Rome ? Is humanity destined to a perpetual 
 series of periodical oscillations of which the decline is in proportion 
 to the elevation ? We answer. No ! Though there have been 
 oscillations, and will be again, they are like those which constitute 
 the rising flood-tide of the ocean, although separated by depressions, 
 each is higher than the one which preceded it. Something may 
 have been lost at intervals; but on the whole more has been and will 
 be gained. But how is this to be effected ? The man of science antl 
 literature, the educator, and the christian teacher, together with the 
 enlightened editor, must combine their efforts in a common cause, 
 and through the inffuence of the press, the school, the college, and 
 the pulpit send forth a potential voice which shall be heard above 
 the general clamor. 
 
 Common school or elementary education is the basis on which 
 
24 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 tlie superstructure of the plan of true progress should be established ; 
 but it must be viewed in its connection with a general system, and 
 not occupy exclusively the attention and patronage of governments, 
 societies, and individuals ; liberal means must also be provided fur 
 imparting the most profound instruction in science, literature and 
 ai't. 
 
 In organizing new states and territories, the amplest provision 
 ought to be made for all grades of education ; and if possible, every 
 individual should have the opportunity offered him of as much 
 mental culture as he is capable of receiving or desirous of acquiring. 
 Notwithstanding comparatively few may have the industry and 
 perseverance necessary to the highest attainment. It is also of the 
 hrst importance, that modes of instruction be examined and thoroughly 
 discussed, in order that what is valuable in the past should be re- 
 tained, and what is really an improvement in the present, be judi- 
 ciously and generally applied. 
 
 Having presented some general suggestions in regard to the 
 bearing of education, and the ^ftbrts of individuals on the progress 
 of humanity, I now propose to offer for consideration a few observa- 
 tions on the theory of the process of instruction. 
 
 It may seem strange that the theory of an ai't so long practised as 
 that of education should not be definitely settled ; but strange as it 
 may appear, the fact is certain, that few writers fully agree as to 
 what is the true plan and process of education. No art can be per- 
 fect unless it rests n2:)on a definite conception of fundamental ]M-in- 
 ciples, or in other words, unless its theory be well established upon 
 a general law of nature. The laws which govern the growth and 
 operations of the human mind are as definite, and as general in 
 their application, as those which apply to the material universe ; 
 and it is evident that a ti'ue system of education must be based ujioii 
 a knowledge and application of these laws. Unfortunately^ how- 
 ever, psychologists have not classified and exhibited them in a 
 form sufficiently definite to render their application easy, and the 
 directors of education have too often considered merely the imme- 
 diate practical result which might follow a particular course of 
 training, rather than that which would be conducive to the highest 
 development of the individual. In this condition of the theory of 
 education, I have myself ventured to speculate upon the subject, and 
 though I may have nothing new of value to ofter, it is my duty at 
 this time to make such suggestions as may furnish topics of discus- 
 sion, or serve to illustrate established truths. 
 
 The theory which T would present for your consideration, and 
 
EDUCATION. 25 
 
 critical examination, and whicli appears to me to be in accordance 
 with the results of experience, may be briefly expressed as follows : 
 
 The several faculties of the human mind are not simultaneously 
 developed, and in educating an individual we ought to follow the 
 order of nature, and to adapt the instruction to the age and mental 
 stature of the pupil. If we reverse this oi-der, and attempt to culti- 
 vate faculties which are not sufficiently matured, while we neglect 
 to cultivate those which are, we do the child an irreparable injuiy. 
 Memory, imitation, imagination, and the faculty of forming mental 
 habits, exist in early life, while the judgment and the reasoning 
 powers are of slower growth. It is a fact abundantly proved by 
 observation that the mere child, by the principle which has been de- 
 nominated sympathetic imitation^ may acquire the power of expres- 
 sing his desires and emotions in correct, and even beautiful language 
 without knowing, or being able to comprehend, the simplest princi- 
 ples of philology. He even seizes, as if by a kind of instinct, upon 
 abstract terms, and applies them with ease and correctness. But as 
 life advances the facility of verbal acqiiisition declines, and with 
 some it entirely disappears. Hence the plan appears to me to be 
 wise, and in accordance with nature, which makes the acquisition of 
 language an essential part of early elemental education. The same 
 child *which acquires almost without effort his vernacular tongue 
 may by a similar process be taught to speak the principal ancient 
 and modern languages. He may also acquire the art of the 
 accountant, and be taught by proper drilling to add long columns of 
 figures with rapidity and correctness, without being able to compre- 
 hend the simplest abstract principles of number and magnitude. 
 Moreover, it is well known that the memory may be stored at a 
 very early age with valuable rules and precepts, which in future life 
 may become the materials of reflection, and the guiding principles 
 of action ; that it may be furnished with heroic sentiments and 
 poetic illustrations, with " thoughts which breathe and words that 
 burn," and which long after, will spontaneously spring up from the 
 depths of the mind, at the proper moment, to embellish and to en- 
 force the truths of the future author, statesman, or divine. 
 
 But the period of life, when acquisitions of this kind are most 
 readily made, is not that in which the judgment and reasoning- 
 powers can be most profitably cultivated. They require a more ad- 
 vanced age, when the mind has become more matured by natural 
 growth, and better furnished with the materials of thought. 
 
 Mental education consists in the cultivation of two classes of 
 faculties, viz., the intellectual and the moral. 
 
26 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Intellectual instruction, of which we shall first speak, should have 
 at least three objects : — 
 
 1. To impart facility in performing various mental operations. 
 
 2. To cultivate the imagination, and store the memory with facts 
 and precepts : and 
 
 3. To impart the art of thinking, of generalization, of induction 
 and deduction. 
 
 The most important part of elementary mental insti-uction, and 
 that which I have placed first in the foregoing classification, is that 
 of imparting expertness in the performance of certain processes 
 which may be denominated mental arts. Among these arts 
 are spelling, reading, penmanship, drawing, composition, expert- 
 ness in the first rules of arithmetic, and in the use of difft^rent 
 languages. These can only be imparted by laborious drilling on 
 the part of the teacher, and by acquired industry and attention on 
 the part of the pupil. The practice in each case must be so long 
 continued, and the process so often repeated, that it becomes a men- 
 tal liabit, and is at length performed with accuracy and rapidity 
 almost without thought. It is only in early life, while the mind is 
 in a pliable condition, that these . mental facilities can most readily 
 and most perfectly be acquired, while the higher principles of science, 
 on which these arts depend, can only be thoroughly understood by a 
 mind more fully matured. Expertness in the performance of an art 
 does not depend on a knowledge of its' principles, and can be re9.dily 
 acquired without reference to them. The most expert accountants 
 are frequently, and perhaps generally, those who have no knowledge 
 of the philosophy of figures. On the other hand, a profound ac- 
 quaintance with the principles of an art may exist without the 
 ability to apply it in practice. I have known of mathemati- 
 cians who were unable to perform with accuracy and dispatch the 
 processes which constitute the aj^plication of the simple rules of mul- 
 tiplication and addition. The same is the case with the art of com- 
 position. A most learned rhetorician is not necessarily a fluent and 
 pleasing writer. 
 
 The acquisition, therefore, of these arts should be the principal 
 and prominent object of the primary or common school, and nothing 
 ought to be sufi'ered to usurp their place. Unfortunately, the 
 drilling which is at first required to induce the mental habit is so 
 laborious and tedious to the teacher, and in most cases so irksome 
 and distasteful to the pupil, that there is a tendency, and I am sorry 
 to say in our schools a growing one, to neglect them, and to substi- 
 tute other objects of more apparent, Init of less intrinsic value. 
 
EDUCATION. 27 
 
 This is not only an irreparable injury to the individual, but also to 
 the public. All the practical operations of life in which these pro- 
 cesses are concerned, — and they apply to all except those of me^-e 
 handicraft skill — are badly performed. I may venture to say that the 
 general substitution of instruction in the mere rationale of the rules 
 of arithmetic, without a proper drilling in the practice, would produce 
 more bankruptcies than all the changes of tariffs or fluctuations of 
 trade. 
 
 It is an important principle, which should be kept in view by the 
 teacher, that although the practice of an art is at first difficult, and 
 requires at each step an effort of mind, yet every repetition rendei-s 
 it easier, and at length Ave come to exercise it not only without 
 effort, but as a pleasurable gratification of an habitual act. Per- 
 severance therefore in this cause will ultimately receive a grateful 
 reward. It should be impressed upon the minds of the directors 
 of elementary education that the teacher who neglects to train his 
 pupils to expertness in these processes, or who merely does enough 
 in this way to awaken a distaste, and who fails to overcome this 
 condition of mind by subsequent judicious driUing, is unworthy of 
 his high vocation, and should give place to a more industrious or 
 more philosophical instructor. 
 
 All the processes we have enumerated, besides various manipula- 
 tions and bodily exercises necessary to health, refinement and con- 
 venience, may be taught previous to the age of ten or twelve years. 
 At the same time the memory may be educated to habits of reten- 
 tion and precision ; and, for this purpose definite, and if possible 
 elegantly expressed rules should be' chosen, to be committed without 
 the slightest deviation, and so impressed upon the memory that they 
 will ever after remain a portion of the mental furniture of the man, 
 always ready to be called up when needed, and always to be de- 
 pended npon for accuracy. The mere understanding of the rule, 
 and the power of being able to express it in a vague and indefinite 
 way in original language is, in my judgment, not of itself sufficient. 
 The memory is an important faculty of the mind, and is susceptible 
 of almost indefinite cultivation. It should, however, in all cases be 
 subservient to the judgment. 
 
 Habits of observation may also be early cultivated, and a boy at 
 the age of twelve years may be taught to recognize and refer to its 
 proper class almost every object Avhich surrounds him in nature ; 
 and indeed the whole range of descriptive natural history may be 
 imparted previous to this age. 
 
 Nothing, in my opinion, can be more preposterous or mischievous 
 
28 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 than the proposition so frequently advanced, that the child should 
 be taught nothing but what it can fully comprehend, and the 
 endeavor in accordance with this to invert the order of nature, and 
 attempt to impart those things which cannot be taught at an eai'ly 
 age, and to neglect those which at this period of life the mind is well 
 adapted to receive. By this mode we may indeed produce remark- 
 ably intelligent children who will become remarkably feeble men. 
 
 The order of nature is that of art before science, the entire con- 
 crete first ; and the entire abstract last. These two extremes should 
 run gradually into each other, the course of instruction becoming- 
 more and more logical as the pupil advances in years. 
 
 Thus far we have principally considered only the education of the 
 habits and the memory, and it is particularly to these that the 
 old system of drilling is peculiarly applicable. I know that this 
 custom has, to a considerable degree, fallen into disuse, and the new 
 and less laborious system of early precocious developement, been sub- 
 stituted in its stead. In this respect the art of instruction among us 
 has retrograded rather than advanced, and " Young America " 
 though a very sprightly boy may fail to become a very profound 
 man ! 
 
 I would not, however, by the foregoing remarks have it inferred, 
 that the reasoning faculties of the child should not receive due 
 attention, and that clear conceptions of the principle of every pro- 
 cess taught should be elucidated and explained, as far as he is able 
 to understand them ; but that the habits and the memory should be 
 the main objects of attention during the early years of the pupils' 
 course. The error of tbe old system consisted in continuing the 
 drilling jjeriod too long, and in not shading it off gradually into that 
 of the logical, or what might be called the period of the acquisition 
 and use of general principles. 
 
 The last part of mental education as given in our classification i.s 
 that which relates to the cultivation of the judgment and the 
 reasoning powers. These faculties of the mind, as we have repeated- 
 ly said, are latest in arriving at maturity, and indeed, they may be 
 strengthened continually and improved progressively through a long 
 life, provided they have been properly directed and instructed in 
 youth and early manhood. 
 
 They should be exercised in the study of mathematical analysis 
 and synthesis ; in deducing particular facts in a logical form from 
 general principles ; and instructed in the process of discovering new 
 truths. The cultivation of the imagination should also be considered 
 an essential part of a liberal education, and this may be spread over 
 
EDUCATION. 29 
 
 the whole course of instruction, for like the reasoning faculties the 
 imagination may continue to be improved until late in life. 
 
 From the foregoing remarks it will be evident that I consider the 
 great object of intellectual education to be, not only to teach the pupil 
 how to think, but how to act and to do, and I place great stress 
 upon the early education of the habits. And this kind of training 
 may be extended beyond the mental processes to the moral prin- 
 ciples ; the pupil may be taught on all occasions habitually and 
 promptly, almost without thought, to act properly in any case that 
 may occur, and this in the practical duties of life is of the highest 
 importance. We are frequently required to act from the impulse 
 of the moment, and have no time to deduce our course from the 
 moral principles of the act. An indindual can be educated to a 
 strict regard for truth, to deeds of courage in rescuing others from 
 danger, to acts of benevolence, of generosity and justice ; or though 
 his mind may be well stored with moral precepts, he may be 
 allowed to fall into opposite habits alike prejudicial to himself, and 
 to those with whom he is associated. He may " know the right, 
 and yet the wrong pursue." 
 
 Man is the creature of habit ; it is to him more than second 
 nature; but unfortunately, while bad habits are acquired with 
 readiness, on account of the natural desire to gratify our passions 
 and appetites, good habits can only be acquired by unremitting 
 watchfulness and labor. The combined habits of individuals form 
 the habits of a nation, and these can only be moulded, as I have 
 before said, by the coercive labor of the instructor judiciously 
 applied. 
 
 The necessity of early and judicious moral training is often re- 
 ferred to, but its importance is scarcely sufficiently appreciated. 
 The future character of a child, and that of the man also, is in most 
 cases formed, probably, before the age of seven years. Previously to 
 this time impressions have been made which shall survive amid all 
 the vicissitudes of. life — amid all the influences to which the indi- 
 vidual may be subjected, and which will outcrop, as it were, in the 
 last stage of his earthly existence, when the additions to his 
 character, made in later years, have been entirely swept away. In 
 connection with this point, I may mention one idea which has 
 occurred to me, and which I have never seen advanced ; but which, 
 if true, invests the subject of early impressions with a fearful interest. 
 The science of statistics shows that certain crimes which are com- 
 mon in the seasons of youth disappear, comparatively, with advancing 
 age, and re-appear again toward the close of life ; or in other 
 
30 
 
 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 words, that the tendencies to indulgences in disorders of imagina- 
 tion, and habits which were acquired in the early life of a vicious 
 youth, or one exposed to evil associations, thoi\gh they may be 
 masked and kept in subjection by the judgment, and the influences 
 of position and reputation during early manhood, middle life, and 
 first decline, resume their sway, and close the career of the man who 
 has perhaps for years sustained a spotless reputation, with ignominy 
 and shame. How frequently do cases of this kind present them- 
 selves ? I have now in my mind's eye an individual who for forty 
 years was known and esteemed as a model of honor, purity and 
 integrity, but who at the age of seventy committed a crime which 
 consigned his name to infamy. Depend upon it, this man was sub- 
 jected to evil influences in early life, and the impressions then 
 made, though neutralized by the conditions and circumstances which 
 afterwards surrounded him, were never eftaced, and when the latter 
 ceased to produce their restraining effects, the former resumed their 
 original sway. Pursuing this train of thought we would conclude 
 that the child is not merely the father of the man, but more 
 emphatically, the father of the old man ; that the term second child- 
 hood has a more extended signification than that of the mere 
 decline of the faculties. It also should convey the idea that the 
 tendency of the dispositions and propensities of individuals is to return 
 to the condition of earlier life. This principle is important also in a 
 historical point of view. The aged, though they may forget the oc- 
 currences of middle and after life, recall with vivid distinctness the 
 impressions of childhood, and thus the grandfather with senile 
 garrulity, transmits the history of his early times, as it were, across 
 an intervening generation to his grandson. This again makes an 
 indelible impression upon the plastic mind of his youthful auditor, 
 to be alike transmitted to his children of the third generation. 
 Abundant examples might be adduced to illustrate the proposition 
 of the vivid recurrence of the effects of early impressions 
 ■ apparently effaced. Persons who have for long years been accus- 
 tomed to speak a foreign language, and who have forgotten the use 
 of any other, have frequently been observed to utter their dying 
 prayers in their mother tongue. 
 
 In this country, so far as I have observed, the course of education 
 is defective in two extremes : it is defective in not imparting the 
 mental habits or facilities which can most easily be acquired in early 
 life, and it is equally defective in the other extreme, in not instruct- 
 ing the student, at the proper period, in processes of logical thought, 
 or deductions from general principles. While elementary schools 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 31 
 
 profess to teach almost the wliole circle of knowledge, and nedect 
 to impart those essential processes of mental art of which we have 
 before spoken, our higher institutions, with some exceptions, fail to 
 ux^part knowledge, except that which is of a superficial character 
 The value of facts, rather than of general principles, is inculcated.' 
 Iheone, however, is almost a consequence of the other. If proper 
 seeds are not sown, a valuable harvest cannot be reaped 
 
 The organization of a system of public education in accordance 
 with my views would be that of a series of graded schools beginning 
 wnh the one in ^v^lich the mere rudiments of knowledge are taught, 
 and ending with that in which the highest laws of mind and mattei' 
 are unfolded and appHed. Every pupil should have the opportunity 
 of passing step by step through the whole series, and honors and 
 rewards should be bestowed upon those who graduated in the highest 
 school. Few,_however, as I have said before, would be found to%os- 
 sess the requisite talent and perseverance necessary to finish a complete 
 course But at whatever period the pupil may abandon his studies, he 
 should be found fitted for some definite pursuit or po.sition in life 
 and be possessed of the moral training necessary to render him a' 
 valuable citizen and a good man. 
 
 These are some of the subjects which I commend for discussion at 
 the present meeting of the association. The great aim should be to 
 enforce the importance of thorough early training and subsequent 
 high education. It should be our object to bring more into repute 
 profound learning, and to counteract the tendency to the exclusive 
 diffusion of popular and mere superficial knowledge. We should 
 endeavor to enlarge the pyramid of knowledge by symmetrical in- 
 crements, by elevating the apex, and expanding the base always 
 observing the conditions of stable equilibrium. 
 
019 847 498 8 
 
 CONTENTS OF NUMBER I. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN JOUEML OF EDUCATION 
 
 COLLEaE KEVIEW. 
 
 Notice by Publisher, ------- iii 
 
 Address by Editors, -.--.--v 
 
 The American Association for the Advancement of Education. 
 
 History of, - - - - - - - - 2 
 
 Constitution of, ------- 4 
 
 Journal of Proceedings of Fourth Annual Meeting, held in Washington , 
 on the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th of December, 1S54. By R. L. 
 Cooke, Secretary, - . - . - . 9 
 
 LECTURES, PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS. 
 
 I. Philosophy of Education. 
 
 Introductory Address. By the retiring President, Joseph Henry, LL. D. 17 
 Remarks on the same, by Bishop Potter, Prof. Bache, Dr. Proudfit 
 and others, ------- 32 
 
 II. Lecture on the Study of the Anglo-Saxon Language. 
 
 By John S. Hart, LL. D., Principal of Public High School in Phila- 
 delphia, .--..-- 33 
 
 Remarks on the same by Bishop Potter, Prof Dimitry, Dr. Proudfit, 
 Rev. M. Hamill, Prof Baclie, Dr. Stanton, Prof. Henry and others, GO 
 
 III. Classical Education. 
 
 By David Cole, Principal of Classical Academy, Trenton, New^ Jersey, 67 
 Discussion on the same by A. Greenleaf, Bishop Potter, Z. Richards, 
 Dr. Proudfit and others, - - - - - - SG 
 
 IV. School Architecture. 
 
 Plans and Description of the Public High School house in Philadel- 
 phia. By John S. Hart, LL. D. - - - . 93 
 Plans, -------- 94 
 
 Remarks on the same by Prof Bache, Dr. Proudfit, Mr. Barnard 
 and others. - - - - - - -100 
 
 V. Practical Science. 
 
 An Account of a visit to the office of the United States Coast Survey, 103 
 
 VI. Discipline, Moral and Mental. 
 
 By Z. Richards, Principal of Union Academy, Washington, - 107 
 
 VII. Education among the Cherokee Indians. 
 
 By William P. Ross. - - - - - - 120 
 
 VIII. School Government. 
 
 By Rev. Samuel M. Hamill, Principal of Academy, Lawrenceville, 
 New Jersey, ...---- 123 
 
 IX. Plan of Central Agency for the Advancement of Education in 
 
 the United States. 
 By Henry Barnard, Hartford, Ct., - - - - - 134 
 
 The American Journal op Education and College Review is editeJ by Absalom Peters , 
 D D , and Henry Barnard, LL. 1)., and published by N. A. Oalkin.i, 348 Broadway, New York. 
 
\ 
 
 jr'JRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 019 847 498 
 
 Hollinger Corp. 
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