■• v*i 
 
 No. 1. 
 
^ 
 
ESSAY ON EDUCATION; 
 
 !N WHICH THB 
 
 SUBJECT IS TREATED AS A NATURAL SCIENCE, 
 
 SBRIBS OF FAMILIAR LECTURES. 
 
 WITH NOTES. 
 
 BY MRS. BARBARA O'SULLIVaN ADDlCKS. 
 
 DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE RIGHT HONORABLE JOHN MARSHALL, 
 Chief Justice of the United States. 
 
 N E W YO R K : 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL PRE8!?, PRINT 
 
 Ai PCCO XXXVU. 
 
V 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
NOTICE ON THE DEDICATION 
 
 In the autumn of 1834, being on the eve of my departure for Eng- 
 land, where I intended to publish some miscellaneous writings, 1 ' 
 addressed a letter to Chief Justice Marshall, requesting his permis- 
 sion to dedicate them to him, and received the following answer : — 
 
 Richmond, Dec. 12, 1834. 
 
 Madam, — Your letter of the 25th of November was accidentally 
 mislaid, so that I have read it only this morning. I wish you a 
 safe and pleasant voyage and a happy reunion with your friends. 
 
 It has always been my wish to avoid receiving the dedication of 
 any work. It has the appearance of courting compliments. My 
 objections, however, are not of such a character as to go farther than 
 the mere expression of disinclination, and should you think the 
 dedication to me calculated to answer your wishes, it will give me 
 pleasure. 
 
 I am, Madam, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. Marshall. 
 
 Although subsequent circumstances prevented me from accom- 
 plishing my desired journey, now that I am presenting my Lectures 
 on Education to the American public, I believe that I may dedicate 
 them to the memory of him, who, when living, permitted me to do 
 so to himself in person. 
 
 In my incapacity to give utterance to the recollections that crowd 
 on my mind when thinking of Chief Justice Marshall, I shall, in 
 the following extract from a letter written to myself, borrow the 
 words and sentiments of the Honorable Joseph Hopkinson, Judge 
 of the United States District Court for Pennsylvania; and I do so 
 the more readily, as it portrays in true colors the character of 
 
4 
 
 the late Chief Justice of this Union ; — it also presents a perfect 
 model of eloquence, and reflects that moral and intellectual excel- 
 lence with which the writer is gifted in an eminent degree. 
 
 " I saw your friend the Chief Justice a few days before his death. 
 He was to the last the great and good man ; unassuming, shading 
 his vast intellect and high qualities under a veil of unaffected mo- 
 desty, boasting of nothing, complaining of nothing. Honors came 
 upon him without an emotion of vanity, and sickness and suffering 
 without a murmur of impatience : solicitous to give as little trouble 
 as possible to any body, and grateful for the humblest attentions. 
 There is no such man left among us. He is the last of our truly 
 great men. In my estimation we have had but four — Washington, 
 Hamilton, Robert Morris, and Marshall. We have had and have 
 now many extraordinary men — men of high talents and distin- 
 guished qualifications, but a great man, who fills the whole measure 
 of the character, with all its moral and intellectual requisites, is a 
 rara avis^ 
 
 Barbara O'Sullivan Addicks. 
 
The merit of the following pages will be found in 
 the purity of sentiment and the love of trutii which 
 is manifested throughout the whole of their contents. 
 Inclination first prompted me to write them; and in 
 offering them now to the public, lam actuated by the 
 motives that usually induce such attempts. If, in 
 advantaging myself, I, perchance, occasion some ben- 
 efit to the reader, the end of my labours will be 
 accomplished. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
The present Essay on Education, treated as a 
 natural science, in a series of familiar Lectures, 
 will comprehend the investigation of that subject, 
 under three separate sections, containing the follow- 
 ing order of inquiries : 
 
 Section 1st. The Physical Organization of Man, considered in 
 its correspondence with the faculties of the mind, and the pur- 
 poses of Education — The Term Education — Its radical mean- 
 ing — Its application to things in general — Its bearing to man in 
 particular. 
 
 Section 2d. The Education of Man in general, as it ap- 
 pertains, 1st, to the relations of his Physical State; 2d, to 
 the relations of his Intellectual State ; lastly, to those of his 
 Social State. 
 
 Section .^d. The Education of Women especially considered — 
 its importance to the good of society — its being the guide to all 
 improvements in civilization, and the main conductor to the com- 
 plete fulfilment of the intention of man's existence as an intel- 
 lectual being. 
 
LECTURE THE FIRST. 
 
 FIRST SECTION 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The Physical Organization of Man ; considered in its correspondence 
 with the intentions of an intelligent mind, and in its consequent 
 bearing upon Education — The Human Hand ;* the evident impres- 
 sion which it bears of the existence of an intelligent power, to the 
 execution of the dictates of which it is indispensable— Speech ; the 
 most conspicuous of the bodily faculties, whereby the intentions of 
 the mind are made known, inasmuch as it offers the readiest means 
 of giving utterance to language — Language ; one of the highest gifts 
 of human intellect, inseparable from the mind, and co-existent with 
 thought — The correct understanding of language indispensable to 
 the attainment of knowledge, as the non-comprehension of it is the 
 cause of errors — The disadvantage of the English Language on that 
 account — the term Education offers an example of this, proved by 
 inquiring into the original meaning of the term— Its application to 
 things in general and to man in particular. 
 
 If we look into the animal kingdom,! we discover 
 every species of which it is composed to be a link in 
 an unbroken chain of beings : in the most minute 
 animal as in that of the greatest bulk ; in the most 
 inert as in the most active; in the weakest as in the 
 strongest ; in the most intelligent and skilful as in the 
 dullest and least able ; in the no longer existing sorts 
 as in those of the present day: in all, the same prin- 
 
 » See note A. t See note B 
 
 Q 
 
10 
 
 ciples of bodily organization prevail. And yet, man 
 is aware of a power within him, which he believes 
 other animals not to have in common with himself 
 He thinks that he is urged by an impulse or a 
 power different from that of mere bodily sensation 
 or necessity ; and however unsettled this opinion 
 may be, ere matured reflection enlightens his under- 
 standing, still he thus believes, and is confirmed in this 
 belief by the manifestation of superior intention in 
 the mechanism and faculties of his body. In short, 
 man intuitively and demonstratively knows that he 
 has a mind. 
 
 Buffon says, that man having a hand, he must of 
 consequence have a soul ; and a celebrated philolo- 
 gist of the present day, Dr. Thiersch, of Munich, in 
 the Introduction to his learned Grammar of the Greek 
 Tongue, supposes, that the faculty of speech in man 
 is the first index of his having a mind. These philo- 
 sophical opinions are meant to evince, that although 
 man's bodily organization, as far as it relates only to 
 his animal wants, resembles that of the brute, yet he 
 is also fitted with physical organic powers suited to 
 perform the dictates of the mind. The brute kind 
 appears not to be organized to obey any other 
 impulse than that of mere animal necessity ; man, 
 on the contrary, is bodily fashioned with faculties 
 appropriate to the intentions of the mind, the purposes 
 of the will ; and it may be farther advanced, that the 
 
II 
 
 intention of man's here-being is such, that those dis- 
 tinguishing bodily faculties, governed by the mind, are 
 requisite even to the gratification of the wants 
 caused by the impulses to which he is moved in com- 
 mon with other animals. The brute species, appa- 
 rently constructed to obey no law except that of 
 'necessity, never acts wrong : never in violation of its 
 nature and intent. With it, instinct, meaning an in- 
 ward motion, a motion in the parts themselves, unin- 
 fluenced by the power of volition, is sufficient to all 
 the purposes of existence. Not so with man, whose 
 first obligation is not to follow, but to control his in- 
 stinct, and who, even in the unavoidable subjugation 
 of his bodily wants, if not ruled by the mind, will not 
 only positively act wrong and against the dignity of 
 his intent, but be far below the brute. In short, so 
 imperiously is it ordered that man should by virtue of 
 his reasoning faculty hold a never-ceasing command 
 over his instinct and its consequences, that where 
 this is not the case — where he is seen without this 
 helm, this guide ; a rational mind, a regulated will — 
 not any thing in nature presents an aspect of so 
 abhorrent and senseless a kind, as we behold in 
 him : nay, on such an occasion, the very superiority 
 of the conformation of his body, serves only to 
 exhibit in a stronger point of view, the total imbe- 
 cility to which it is subjected w^hen not directed by 
 intelligence. Can we reflect on this and not grieve 
 
12 
 
 at witnessing so perfect an intent as man perverted 
 by ignorance? Can we behold his godlike attri- 
 butes, and not shudder on discovering them daily 
 violated by vice? Yes; I repeat, whilst instinct 
 and its consequent impulses are all-sufficient to the 
 brute ; principles — principles founded on a dispassion- 
 ate judgment of the fitness and unfitness of things — 
 are the only guides which man can or dare follow^ ; 
 and on this great truth, as I shall hereafter prove, rests 
 the whole aim of man's education. I cannot let pass 
 the opportunity oflfered me by my observations on the 
 distinguishing features of man's bodily organization, 
 without reverting to my quotation from Buffon, w^hich 
 says, that the peculiar conformation of the human 
 hand points out the fact of man having a soul. 
 
 I have found it difficult to comprehend, how per- 
 sons of reflection could misunderstand or pervert the 
 meaning intended to be conveyed on this subject by 
 this great observer of nature. To see individuals 
 of supposed veracity and of knov/n learning, play as 
 it were the part of children, and in corresponding 
 capriciouvsness refuse to admit the truth contained in 
 an assertion, the good ground for which is so clearly 
 demonstrated, is indeed a phenomenon in morals. 
 Nay ; even a child, supposing its powers of perception 
 were not already weakened by unmeaning prejudices 
 and contradictions, would familiarly seize hold of the 
 full and unobscured meaning contained in the obser- 
 
13 
 
 ration of this celebrated naturalist. For my part, 
 I was scarcely twelve years of age when I read 
 Buffon, whose works came to the relief of my, till 
 then, daily reading of the Latin Liturgy and the 
 Lives of the Saints ; and I may feel some gratitude 
 towards it, from its having been the first book 
 'which freed my intellects from their state of 
 imprisonment, although, in justice to the good re- 
 ceived from my education in a convent, I shall say, 
 that the reading of the Lives of the Saints in the 
 Roman Calendar, joined to the exceeding quiet and 
 purity^ of cloistered scenes, was the earliest source 
 from which I imbibed those impressions of the sublime 
 in human actions, mixed, I own, with many ex- 
 travagant ideas, but which nevertheless served to 
 dispose my mind to the practice of the best principles 
 of which human nature is capable. 
 
 Those who have read Buifon know the attraction 
 which that learned man has strown over the pages of 
 his work. True, not in every case will some of his 
 hypotheses hold good with the present march of 
 obr:;ervations, but even in their supposed errors they 
 are full of sublimity and of beauty. I now have a 
 lively recollection of the curiosity and wonder with 
 which my young thoughts dwelt on his beautiful 
 theory of the earth, as also on his penciling of the 
 soul-proclaiming lineaments of the human hand. 
 
 » See note C. 
 
14 
 
 Then even in dream I would follow up the traces 
 of creation ; see the hand of the Almighty strike 
 forth from the centre of light, orbs of virtual matter, 
 wiiich, ranging themselves in dependent order, formed 
 the system in which we revolve ; and on awakening, 
 would I look on the face of day with delight, and 
 behold my own hands with confidence. 
 
 I know not any subject on which most men 
 have written better, or one the study of which is 
 more calculated to please, than Natural Philosophy : 
 whether it is that man, in the contemplation of a vast, 
 passionless and unerring subject, losing sight of his 
 individuality, becomes also free from the influence of 
 petty motives ; or that the charms of truth discover- 
 able in nature render vapid every selfish view, I .shall 
 not take upon myself to judge ; but it is certain that 
 writings on natural science are less encumbered and 
 disfigured by monotony, false reasoning, prejudices, 
 narrow conceptions, and a desire of domineering, than 
 any other species of composition common among us ; 
 and consequently it is that the study of them affords 
 both pleasure and instruction. In the second case, 
 not any pursuit after literary attainment and the 
 knowledge of science is so fitted to captivate the 
 attention and induce a spirit of research, as that 
 which leads to the understanding of Natural Philos- 
 ophy. The sudden discovery of a thousand move- 
 ments, beauties, and relative properties in objects, 
 
15 
 
 which before appeared to be merged ia inactive 
 sameness and to exist by mere effects of chance, gives 
 a peculiar buoyancy to the mind. We become, as it 
 were, endowed with a duplicate of senses. A new 
 language strikes on our ears ; prospects before tui- 
 known spread before our sight, and we are sensible 
 of a thousand impressions till then unfelt. And as 
 we advance in life, if perchance grief enter the heart 
 and canker there; if our fellow beings forsake, and 
 our very children turn from us, ah ! then it is that we 
 find a solace in communing with Nature. We look 
 to the clear blue sky, peopling it with beings more 
 kind, more constant, more humane ; or, reclining on 
 the young verdure, bend over each flower, and ask if 
 a congenial spirit breathe not there. The grave itself 
 is no longer dark, for there too Nature keeps her vigil, 
 and come what may, we approach under the guidance 
 of her laws. 
 
 Not to digress longer from the subject in view, 
 namely, the intention of the human hand as discover- 
 able in the mechanism of its parts, I shall proceed to 
 say, that in all ages, among all nations, and as if by 
 common assent, the hand of man has given rise to 
 some of the finest figures in poetry and in heroic lan- 
 guage. In profane and sacred legends — in the wor- 
 ship of the heathen, in that of the Jews, and lastly 
 in that of the Christians — the hand offers a conspicu- 
 ous emblem of purity and of power. In the circum- 
 
16 
 
 stances of social life, and on the assumption of moral 
 responsibility, the hand is held out as the pledge for 
 each firm, sacred, honourable, friendly and endearing 
 act. Among many nations, swearing by the hand of 
 some of its rulers was a sacred oath ; as for example, 
 in Ireland ; and the original costumes of the ancient 
 Irish deserve attention, from the evidence which they 
 bear of a common origin with those of the most en- 
 lightened nations of the remotest antiquity : We find 
 that in that particular clan^ which once possessed 
 and spread over the whole south of that island, to 
 swear by the hand of him who ruled over it, was an 
 oath thought to have been so awful, that even to this 
 day not one bearing the name would have the hardi- 
 hood to violate it. The pride of hand which we dis- 
 cover in women, in certain families of renown, and in 
 those of kingly race, is only an additional circum- 
 stance in support of the belief that the hand re- 
 ceives a strong impression from the sentiments of the 
 mind, and consequently becomes as it were an her^ 
 aldic feature of pure, talented, and commanding 
 thoughts. The fitness of the hand to express the 
 feelings of the soul by corresponding motions, and its 
 evident incapacity the moment that the mind is itself 
 incapacitated, is a fact strikingly observable in insane 
 persons and in idiots. Those who have not been in a 
 situation to observe in actual life examples of what 
 
 * See note D, 
 
17 
 
 I here advance, will have had ample opportunities of 
 doing so when given on the stage. Who has seen 
 '^ Zear/' well acted, that will not come in support of 
 my first position? Behold the agitated, impotent 
 and uncertain movement of the sceptreless hand of 
 this dethroned king — this heart-broken father— this 
 vvo-maddened old man! Methinks his trembling, 
 sighing^ hands tell, not of a physical disorder of the 
 brain, but of that deep, all-destroying madness of the 
 soul, which the ingratitude of a child — of a daughter 
 alone — can cause. In the comedy of '' Rule a Wife 
 and have a Wife," — a composition in which I never 
 could discover any intention but that of a humiliating 
 satire! on the female mind, — we are presented with 
 a true picture in proof of the second case, namely, of 
 the impotence of the hand in idiots, or in persons 
 ignorant from innate stupidity. 
 
 That play is the first at which I was present on 
 coming out of the cloister ; and as I did not then 
 understand the English tongue, the gestures of the 
 actors alone were comprehensible to me ; yet never 
 shall I forget, and Siore than thirty years stand be- 
 tween now and the time of which I speak, never 
 shall I forget the exhibition of absolute dulness and 
 complete idiotism observable in Cooper's hands, as in 
 acting the part of the open-mouthed and should-be 
 
 • ♦See note E. t See note F. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 brainless lover, his lank fingers hung inertly by his 
 side. So well had this excellent actor studied the art 
 of cutting off, as it were, all correspondence between 
 those members and his intelligent eyes, that w^hilst 
 these in stolen glances darted forth all the purposes 
 of his schemmg thoughts, the former hung on, a dead 
 weight, so slothful and so stupid, that the very food 
 would have dropped from them on its way to a hun- 
 gry stomach, and that from sheer want of sufiicient 
 animation to hold it. 
 
 Speaking in the opposite sense, namely, in proof 
 of the impression which the hands have of the dignity 
 of the mind, I will advance, that I never saw a person 
 having a handsome hand that did not also possess 
 great intelligence and abilities. Mrs. Siddons, of 
 whom may be said, as said Frederick the Great, of 
 Leibnitz, '• she had more than one soul," had a hand 
 surpassingly beautiful and expressive. In none of 
 those of the royal^ personages whom I have been 
 permitted to approach, have I discovered greater im- 
 print of sovereignty than was perceivable in that of 
 Mrs. Siddons. When that distinguished woman held 
 forth her hand, the effect on the beholder was pecu- 
 liarly striking, and acted on the mind as the harbinger 
 of the heroic verses to which this ^' great mistress of 
 the voice" gave so much strength, pathos, and beauty. 
 
 * See note G. 
 
19 
 
 I ^ould take this opportunity to remark, that of 
 all the celebrated women of whom history makes 
 mention, there is not one whose biography should be 
 more attentively read, particularly by women, than 
 that of Mrs. Siddons. Her being a great actress was 
 not simply the result of early habits improved to 
 perfection by the precepts and examples of the tal- 
 ented actors of her time ; but her excellence on the 
 stage arose from that boundless conception of the 
 commanding and the beautiful, which was a peculiar 
 feature of her mind, and for the manifestation of 
 which her person and her voice had been as if ex- 
 pressly ordered. Every hour of that ladys life was 
 devoted to some noble purpose. Notwithstanding 
 the major portion of tune which must of necessity 
 have been taken up by the duties attendant on the ex- 
 alted rank which she held in her profession, Mrs. Sid- 
 dons found leisure to cultivate her taste for statuary ; 
 and it was in the study of that superior branch of the 
 fine arts, that she acquired the chaste and grace- 
 ful style of draperies and attitudes which in her 
 acting gave her whole appearance an air so truly 
 picturesque and classic. In person as in mind. Mrs. 
 Siddons presents a perfect model of the charms and 
 dignity of human nature. With Rush I exclaim, 
 " The vision of the great actress is before me ! ' and 
 in common with Bvron, I would not that the impres- 
 sion of it were effaced. 
 
20 
 
 To conclude my observations on the subject of the 
 hand, I shall state, that were I to cite the hundreds 
 of examples that can be adduced in support of Buf- 
 fon's having rightly discriminated the character of 
 the human hand, a volume would scarcely suffice. 
 I shall, therefore, close the subject with saying, that 
 Buffon never meant to advance, as some writers 
 have asserted of him, that the soul of man was cre- 
 ated for the use of his hands ; but he merely wished 
 to demonstrate, that on beholding the human hand, 
 the belief must follow, that so finely formed an 
 instrument could have been intended only as the 
 executive of an intelligent mind. A fact which we 
 cannot disprove is, that without the hand there is 
 not before us the least appearance of a means 
 whereby the conceptions of the mind can be brought 
 into effect. In Georgetown, District of Columbia, I 
 saw a man born blind, who was not only a good 
 cabijietmaker, but also an excellent mathematician. 
 On crossing the Allegany I came to a farm kept by 
 a family of blind people, a man and his two sisters, 
 all three born blind ; and yet the house, garden, 
 orchard, field, and dairy, bore the semblance of hav- 
 ing been governed with the nicest attention to com- 
 fort and profit. But who ever saw a human being 
 without hands accomplish any thing materially use- 
 ful to himself or to his fellow beings 1* 
 
 * See note H. 
 
21 
 
 At this instant the fact strikes me, that in the word 
 ^mechanics we have a clear demonstration of what I 
 have been endeavoring to prove through the whole of 
 the foregoing remarks ; for whilst the general accepta- 
 tion of this term is the science of the laws of motion, 
 its radicals imply an operation consummated by the 
 'joint dictates of the faculties of intelligence and 
 those of matter — in man, of the mind and those of 
 the body — those of the hand. We are aware that 
 the faculties of the body become developed in propor- 
 tion to the force and frequency with which they are 
 exercised; and it is likewise evident, that if he who 
 executes an art be the same individual who conceived 
 it, the greater share of mental power required for 
 the conception of such art, the greater will be the 
 impress on of mind on the bodily organ which is 
 employed in executing it. 
 
 I am sensible that I have been somewhat prolix 
 on the subject of the hand ; still, good can flow from 
 it, inasmuch as from what I have said, young persons 
 may discover that the best cosmetic for the hand is 
 produced by inducing the mind to follow a constant 
 course of noble and virtuous sentiments. 
 
 Of all the bodily faculties whereby man can bring 
 into operation the conceptions of the mind, that of 
 speech holds the first rank, inasmuch as it offers the 
 readiest means of giving utterance to language, a 
 power inseparable from the operation of the mind ; 
 
22 
 
 for whilst without language, man might as well 
 have been without a mind : in the absence of mind, 
 speech were to him a superfluous endowment. I 
 shall exemplify the truth of this proposition by pass- 
 ing in review the operations that take place each 
 moment in the mind, and to the accomplishment of 
 which, language is indispensable. 
 
 Man experiences sensations ; he is capable of con- 
 sciousness ; he thinks ; he reflects ; he judges. Sen- 
 sations are produced by the action of matter, actu- 
 ally or recollectively. Consciousness is the internal 
 sense of the existence of these sensations. Thinking 
 is an act of the mind originating in consciousness, 
 and presupposes a distinct and intentional perception 
 of things, their actions, and effects. Reflection is 
 the act of examining our thoughts, and of making 
 them subservient to our judgment: lastly, judgment 
 is the decision of the mind on the fitness of things, 
 acts, and effects, by means of comparison. The first 
 two of these faculties, namely, sensation and con- 
 sciousness, are involuntary and common to all ani- 
 mals ; the last three, however, are governed by the 
 will, and might he thought the privilege of man only. 
 I say might be, from the consideration that when 
 man shall have attained to the science of '' breathing 
 the breath oflife^^ into apparently cold, motionless mat- 
 ter, then, and then only, may he arrogate to himself 
 the power of pronouncing on the hidden faculties of 
 
23 
 
 living things. However, as it is not my wish to 
 encumber the subject which I have chosen to lecture 
 upon wath speculative disputations, I shall proceed to 
 state, that in accordance with what I have said to be 
 the power of thinking and its attendant faculties, re- 
 flection and judgment, it is evident, that without the 
 'additional faculty of language, that of thought would 
 be to no rational end: for, as in that case, man 
 not having the power of retaining his thoughts, his 
 life would be filled up with a round of sensations, 
 going and coming as the objects and necessity 
 which occasion them come and go. In short, under 
 the influence of so sad a state, man could be only 
 a brute. 
 
 We must therefore conclude, that since neither the 
 faculty of language nor that of thought could be to 
 any purpose without mutual co-operation, each must 
 have been coeval to the other ; consequently, with 
 his first thought man nmst have uttered his first 
 word. It matters not whether that first word was 
 oral, or made known by means of speech, or made 
 palpable to the sight by means of gesture or form, 
 or whether it was merely quiescent in the mind; 
 a word it still was, and meant to portray and pre- 
 serve the thought for which it stood, else the thought 
 itself could not have had duration ; nay, it could not 
 even have come into existence. And now the infer- 
 ence follow^s, that as thinking originates in the con- 
 
24 
 
 sciousness of our sensations, language, in proclaiming 
 thoughts, must also have made known the concurring 
 elements and circumstances that originated thoughts. 
 If these were simple in their elements, the name to 
 designate them must also have been simple; if, 
 on the contrary, they were complex thoughts, or 
 thoughts resting on the idea of the connexion or 
 relation of two separate things, composite terms, 
 that is to say, terms compounded of parts bearing 
 a similitude to the separate elements of which the 
 thoughts were composed, must have been used. 
 Did, however, a thought rise in the mind, based on 
 the close connexion, relation or dependence of se- 
 veral distinct objects, acts or consequences, resolved 
 into one whole ; it is evident, that on such an 
 occasion the primitive man, untaught in the lan- 
 guage of art, would simply have composed a 
 term consisting of parts expressive of the most 
 prominent features observable in the matters which 
 gave rise to that thought. Hence it is, that whilst 
 the languages of primitive or untaught people are 
 less furnished with adjuncts and explicatives than 
 those of cultivated nations, and from that circum- 
 stance less fitted to objects of science, nevertheless, 
 from their abounding in figures drawn from sensible 
 objects and from natural passions, they are as re- 
 markable for their conciseness, as they are rendered 
 
25 
 
 impressive, and often magnificent, by their strength 
 ^nd pathos. 
 
 From the foregoing exposition of the use of words 
 we come to the perception, that language, being the 
 only means whereby man could portray the inten- 
 tions of his mind, the first step to civilization must 
 'have been the improvement of language. That this 
 is a fact is easily proved. Civilization implies the 
 attainment of ideal or moral excellence, meaning 
 the attainment of those objects, whether real or 
 imaginary, that conduce to the promotion of our 
 Qomfort or our delight; such as charity and justice to 
 our fellow beings, the study of nature, application to 
 the fine arts, the cultivation of refinement both in 
 manners and address, a delicate sense of what is 
 due to the feelings of others, a high sense of honor, 
 &c., &c., &c. ; and in granting this definition of the 
 term to be correct, we are brought to the conviction 
 that it takes its rise in thoughts, the objects of 
 which are purely intellectual, and originate in the 
 wants of the mind. 
 
 Admitting the truth of this last position, our next 
 inquiry is, how shall such thoughts be held fast in 
 our remembrance, to the end that they may be re- 
 flected on, judged, preserved, and transmitted, if we 
 have not some appropriate terms to designate them ? 
 Sensible objects, on coming in contact with the 
 senses, at once proclaim themselves ; and we become 
 4 
 
26 
 
 conscious of the sensation which they produce at the 
 instant, and are often led to recollect that which 
 similar ones may have produced on some former 
 occasion. Did any sensation create delight, the 
 consciousness of it being impressed on the mind, 
 will lead us to seek the opportunity of renewing 
 the same ; on the contrary, is it pain that charac- 
 terizes the sensation, the sense of pain and the ur- 
 gency of avoiding a renewal of it will hold as strongly 
 on the recollection. And it is evident that these 
 operations, as far as they relate to animal actions 
 only, could take place without the use of language. 
 But the case immediately alters the moment that we 
 are induced either to reason on the cause or causes 
 that have occasioned this pleasurable or painful 
 sensation, or are called upon to decide on the expe- 
 diency of renewing the one or avoiding the other, 
 from the comparison of their consequences ; and here 
 it is that the rational faculties of man first come into 
 action : and to form a correct judgment, being 
 obliged to call to mind numerous ingredients, that 
 by reflecting and comparing them he may judge 
 of their nature and fitness, it is evident each must 
 have a name, else, not having the means of calling 
 them to mind at pleasure, nor with perspicuity, they 
 could not be made to take the stable and collected 
 aspect necessary to the close and satisfactory inves- 
 tigation of their several characters and capacities. 
 
27 
 
 Since language is requisite in the judgment of 
 the actual impressions caused by sensible objects 
 on our senses, how much more indispensable must it 
 be to the investigation of ideal and moral purposes ! 
 I may advance that each moral idea, as also ideal 
 excellence in any one thing, is the result of a long 
 series of thoughts on the nature and intentions of 
 a combination of actions, and the consequences of 
 these actions relatively to man; and in admitting 
 this exposition to be correct, we are struck by the 
 multitude of objects, acts, and effects which the 
 Judgment of the fitness of a single moral purpose, 
 or the attainment of one object of ideal perfection, 
 brings before the mind. Consequently, language 
 being the only means whereby moral and intellectual 
 ideas become tangible to our recollection, it is evi- 
 dent, that without the power of language, not any of 
 these ideas could hold duration in the mind, any 
 jnore than the ideal excellence of form could do so 
 without a model to represent it ; words being as ne- 
 cessary to embody the first, as painting or sculpture 
 to incorporate the last. 
 
 Even now that languages are so numerous, so co- 
 pious, and so generally known, how difficult do we 
 find it to keep in remembrance the recollection of 
 ideas simply named! how difficult even to distinguish 
 them, as robed in their distinct terms they succes- 
 sively pass through the mind ! The mind of man 
 
28 
 
 may not unaptly be compared to a machine, all parts 
 of which are employed in the generative afflux of 
 thinking. Thoughts flow on thoughts, and that with 
 a force and continuity that almost deprives us of the 
 possibility of discriminating them. Scarcely has the 
 first wave of ideas swelled into existence, ere it is 
 o'er-billowed by the next ; this again by a third, 
 which in its turn is submerged by the coming one, 
 and thus each overwhelms the other till the conduit 
 is closed and the machine worn out. 
 
 In this pressure of thoughts, in this difficulty of giv- 
 ing them an appropriate order in the mind, we trace 
 the origin of the invention of written signs. Ere that 
 useful art was known, ignorance kept the major part 
 of mankind in bondage ; and although a particular 
 set of men made it the business of their lives to re- 
 cord and transmit, by means of oral traditions, the 
 accounts of great events, yet the benefits resulting 
 from a studious application to the investigation 
 of those truths in which the happiness of humanity 
 is concerned, were but partially felt, and that from 
 no other cause than the one arising in the difficulty of 
 preserving and transmitting the result of that investi- 
 gation by means of oral words alone, unassisted by 
 visible signs. Soon studious men became sensible of 
 this great impediment in the march of science ; and, 
 as at first, words were invented to express thoughts, 
 written signs were now found to picture words, and 
 
29 
 
 render them ineffaceable before the mind of the then 
 living, and of future generations. Lastly, came the 
 art of printing : and the laborious investigations of 
 learned men in knowledge, for ages back, is spread 
 before us as if only the work of a day ! 
 
 From the view which I have given of the necessi- 
 ty of Language, it is obvious, that without the per- 
 fecting of that faculty, the powers of the mind 
 could be used but within narrow limits, and of course 
 the improvements of which we are capable would be 
 slow, and in many instances unattainable ; all our 
 means of improvement depending on the recollection 
 which we have of the impressions made on our mind. 
 This fact has been satisfactorily proved in more than 
 one case, where persons having been lost in their infan- 
 cy, and when grown up, caught wild in the w^oods and 
 mountains; for although afterwards civilized and 
 taught to speak, in not any one instance were they 
 found to have had only a very obscure conception of 
 what their deserted state had been. 
 
 Another instance in point is that of persons born 
 deaf. In the various opportunities which I have had 
 of examining the deaf and dumb students, I uniform- 
 ly found them wholly deficient in the power of stating 
 clearly what their impressions were, ere they had been 
 taught to clothe their ideas in words : yet it can- 
 not be doubted that they possessed the power of 
 having ideas, as also of realizing an image of 
 
30 
 
 them ; but, deprived of the sense of hearing, and with 
 it of the opportunity of acquiring language by imita- 
 tion, they were left to the slow process of their own 
 imaginative powers to clothe and keep their ideas 
 in remembrance ; an operation too difficult to make it 
 probable that it would be had recourse to, on any but 
 simple and unavoidable occasions. Besides, even as 
 respects the mere impression made on the senses by 
 common daily occurrences, none but the closest inti 
 macy could hold out the prospect of coming at the 
 true knowledge of what were the prevalent ideas of 
 men situated as were the deaf and dumb, ere the 
 rays of light which emanated from the benevolent 
 founder of their school, dispersed the darkness in 
 which their minds were enveloped ; and as from the 
 very incapacity of those ill fated individuals, their 
 moral obligations were few, their moral sense must 
 have been far less acute than that of mere animal 
 character ; hence their thoughts may in general have 
 been imbued with ideas resulting from impulses too 
 gross to be found worthy of the dignified garment of 
 language. 
 
 I wish it to be understood, that when I speak of 
 language, I do not limit it to the capacity of speech — 
 for whilst language emanates from the powers of the 
 mind, speech is the action of the bodily organs, in- 
 tended by nature as the instruments of language ; 
 consequently, speech is to the mind what the hand, or 
 
31 
 
 in fact what the whole of the human bodily organi- 
 zation is to it — the executive of its intentions ! Hence, 
 were it so to happen that a number of men born deaf 
 were collected together, and apart from all other hu- 
 man beings, there is not a doubt, but that the capa- 
 city of language in them, urged on by necessity, and 
 ^ided by mutual reflection, would soon develope itself 
 through some sensible signs, and a written language 
 might closely follow that of gesture. And if we but 
 reflect for a moment on the extraordinary powers 
 which man possesses of rendering each of his bodily 
 faculties subservient to the purposes of intelligence, 
 we may confidently assert, that such an assemblage 
 of men might arrive at a high degree of culture in 
 the arts of civilization and in the knowledge of the 
 sciences. Nay, it is even possible that the capaci- 
 ties of the nervous system might be so completely 
 awakened in them, and so nicely exercised, as to 
 become sensible to the pleasures of harmony, caused 
 by the various vibrations of the atmosphere, namely? 
 the harmony of tone. 
 
 On my visit to Wier's Cave, in Virginia, I had 
 occasion to enter the dwelling of a neighbouring me- 
 chanic, a shoemaker. The door of the house being 
 closed only by means of a much- worn wooden latch, 
 it opened without the least appearance oi noise or 
 violence; and besides, the day was remarkably calm, 
 and not a breath of air was stirring ; — still, at my en- 
 
32 
 
 trance, a man sitting at work at the farther end of 
 the room, and with his back to the door, immediately 
 turned to see who had come in ; and on my address- 
 ing him, to my astonishment I found him to be both 
 deaf and dumb : and yet the slight motion and pressure 
 of the air, caused by my quiet entrance into the house, 
 had been as quickly felt by him as the most distinct 
 utterance could have been by the nicest ear. 
 
 But to return to the subject of language : As an 
 additional example of its power, would it be unphi- 
 losophical to attribute our want of recollection of 
 the incidents of our infant years to a want of lan- 
 guage to preserve them by ? And on the other hand, 
 has not the slow development of the faculty of lan- 
 guage in children been wisely ordered to prevent the 
 injury which the labour of thoughts w^ould occasion to 
 the tender organs of an infant ? This supposition 
 may be erroneous, but through how many errors do 
 we not go ere we arrive at truth ! A false pro- 
 position, if it elicits inquiries, will in the end be use- 
 ful. How many follies, says a celebrated writer, 
 would we not be guilty of, if our ancestors had not 
 committed them before us ! 
 
 To conclude. Language being the power whereby 
 the operations of the mind take a form, are preserved 
 and transmitted; the more it assimilates to those 
 operations, the more comprehensive will it be. It is, 
 however, to the languages the nearest approaching 
 
33 
 
 to those which were spoken by the primitive races of 
 men that we must look for remains of this compre- 
 hensiveness in its original force. The primitive 
 man, untaught in the ornaments and uninfluenced by 
 the methods of art, must have spoken a language 
 simply but steadily accordant with the impressions 
 made on his senses. With him, the organs of speech 
 must have taken the lead in the formation of the 
 language which his mind dictated. If one or more 
 of the impressions made on his senses excited strong 
 movements in his mind, his organs of speech would 
 suddenly dilate or be violently compressed; and a 
 strong aspiration or a violent compression of these 
 organs would characterize the utterance of the term 
 by which the impressions on his senses were intend- 
 ed to be designated. Did, however, the idea to be 
 portrayed rest on some mild and pleasing impression, 
 an harmonious and a liquid assemblage of sound 
 would distinguish the utterance of the word that 
 pictured it. And as the impressions by which man 
 is governed take their character from the sensible 
 objects by which he is surrounded, we are at once 
 led to the cause of the difference of style in the char- 
 acter and utterance perceivable not only in the lan- 
 guages of distinct nations, but in the language of one 
 people. 
 
 As, for example: — the language spoken by the 
 dwellers in forests, on the mountains, and on the 
 
34 
 
 barren shores of the tempestuous waves, in the midst 
 of gloom, dangers, heights, and storms, must have 
 been stronger in its aspirations and sharper in its 
 accents than that spoken among the inhabitants of 
 the smiling plains ; who, under an even sky, and 
 fanned by the mild winds, would naturally speak in 
 a cadence both soft and complying. In the two 
 principal dialects of the ancient Greek language, 
 namely, the Doric and the loriic^ we have the fore- 
 going clearly demonstrated. We may indeed philo- 
 sophically infer, that the language of the plain could 
 not be spoken with advantage in the depths of 
 woods, nor on the heights of mountains, any more 
 than the loud, harsh, and prolonged tones, which 
 mark the language of these last, could be suited to 
 the former. On crossing the Gothard in company 
 with a Bavarian and a Florentine artist, I had an op- 
 portunity of satisfying myself of the truth of what I 
 have here advanced ; and I was peculiarly struck 
 with the superiority of the effect produced by Schil- 
 ler's Song of the Robbers, as sung in the loud tenor 
 voice of the German, over a melodious Italian air 
 performed in the undulating accents of our Tuscan 
 companion. As a further assertion that language must 
 comport with climates and localities, I shall not hesi- 
 tate to say, that were a colony from Rome to emigrate 
 to the w41ds of the Allegany, its hitherto soft and 
 melting language would imperceptibly assume a 
 
35 
 
 figure of expression and a tone of utterance suited to 
 the solitude and savageness of its new abode. 
 
 In all the grand features of expression, the Eng- 
 lish language is to us particularly deficient. I say 
 to us, from the fact, that we have been taught to 
 speak it, and to attach certain meanings to certain 
 terms, without being made sensible of the correspond- 
 ence of the terms to the things which they are 
 meant to represent. Consequently, whilst the learn- 
 ed seek, in the study of ancient languages, for a 
 clearer understanding of their vernacular tongue, the 
 untaught move around with the words which they 
 daily use, not unlike the wheels of a watch with the 
 spring that causes them to go — without being sensi- 
 ble of the cause. 
 
 Webster, in the Introduction to his Critical Dic- 
 tionary of the English language, says : " Those who 
 are acquainted with the English language only, can 
 scarcely know the true original meaning of the 
 words which they daily use." Finding myself thus 
 supported in what I before advanced, I shall follow 
 up the subject still farther, and will say, that the 
 people who speak the English language as their ver- 
 nacular tongue have the disadvantage of speaking a 
 language composed of words that do not emanate 
 from their own conception of the elements or attri- 
 butes which these words are meant to proclaim; 
 consequently, the great end of language, namely, 
 
36 
 
 that of a vivid portraiture of our impressions and 
 thoughts, is unattainable to them. The meaning of 
 the words which they speak cannot be sensitively 
 felt by them ; they cannot and do not recognise in 
 those words an image of their actual perception of a 
 fact ; they have only been taught to name this or 
 that object, act, or sensation, by this or that term ; 
 but not comprehending the radicals of the term, they 
 cannot be sensible of its analogy with the thing, 
 attribute, or impression which it is meant to desig- 
 nate. One illustration will suffice to establish the 
 truth of this proposition. 
 
 I shall take the word Geography,* and addressing 
 myself on the one hand to an ignorant Greek or 
 German, ask each successively, in his original lan- 
 guage, if he have studied Geography: both will 
 in due order answer, '' No ! " I now turn with the 
 same question to an equally ignorant Englishman, 
 who, with a broad stare, will probably exclaim, 
 " Whafs that ? " The cause of the marked differ- 
 ence of these two modes of meeting one and the 
 same question is evident ; for whilst the Englishman 
 has not a single word in his language that can lead 
 him to the comprehension of the term Geography, 
 the two former individuals being on the contrary 
 familiar with the simple words of w^hich are com- 
 
 * See note H. 
 
37 
 
 pounded Geographia for the Greek, and Erdebesch- 
 reibung for the German, both at once understood 
 that they were asked if they had studied the descrip- 
 tion of the earth. 
 
 The utility of the study of original languages is 
 here made evident ; as not any thing will sooner aid 
 in dispelling ignorance and false views in general, 
 than the correct comprehension of the words which 
 we speak. We have not, perhaps, made a suffi- 
 ciently strict inquiry into the disadvantages resulting 
 from our use of words not radically understood — we 
 have not looked earnestly enough on the fact, that 
 as language is the first step to the attainment of 
 knowledge, the non-comprehending of it is the most 
 direct obstacle which could be placed in the way of 
 that attainment. And on the other hand, will it be 
 presuming too much, were I to attribute the lively 
 and imaginative powers displayed in the works of the 
 ancient Greeks, as also the spirit of profound philos- 
 ophy and of studious research so conspicuous in the 
 writings of the Germans, to those having spoken, and 
 these now speaking a language perfectly in unison 
 with their original and actual perception 7 
 
 An additional disadvantage of the English lan- 
 guage is, that being derived from two languages of 
 opposite origin, the Latin and the Teuton, it is sel- 
 dom that a single word can lead us to the compre- 
 hension of a composite, each being of different origin • 
 
38 
 
 consequently, in most words, ignorant of their pri- 
 mary sense, we often adapt them to their secondary^ 
 and even to the adverse sense of their original 
 meaning. This is particularly true of words compo- 
 site, especially those that stand for intellectual ideas, 
 a class of words the radicals of which are the most 
 difficult to trace. The term whereby the subject of 
 the present series of lectures is designated, offers a 
 striking example of our proneness to overlook the 
 radical intention of the foreign terms which we 
 speak ; I mean the term Education^ or its verb, To 
 Educate. 
 
 According to the exposition given by English lexi- 
 cographers, " Education comprehends all that series 
 of inst7'uction which is intended to enlighten the un- 
 derstanding, correct the temper, and form the habits 
 of youth ; " as to educate is ^' to instruct, instil good 
 principles into the mind," &c., &c. 
 
 We have only to look into the radicals of the 
 terms to educate and to instruct, to be convinced of 
 the error of the foregoing exposition of their meaning; 
 nor should our research be thought fastidious, * for 
 it is surely of importance that we should knoiv icell 
 the real import of the words which we speak ; more 
 especially, when these words stand for things on the 
 correct use of which the whole sum of our happiness 
 depends. 
 
 * See note I. 
 
39 
 
 The verb TO Educate is a term! The verb to Instruct, also a 
 composite, derived from the Latin composite, is from the Latin In- 
 Educo, meaning to extract s^rz^o, meaning to set on, put on, 
 FORTH, BRING FORTH, DRAW ' Contract for, provide, <^c. It 
 OUT, &c. It is compounded of Ex, ' " ' " "' 
 
 OUT OF ; and Duco, to nurse, 
 
 NOURISH, LEAD, CONDUCT,GUIDE, 
 BRING, &C. 
 
 composed of in, signifying to- 
 wards, against, into ; and struo, 
 to build, devise, form, make, &c. 
 
 This etymological definition of the verb to educate 
 and to instruct presents us with a clear view of their 
 original meaning and of the opposite sense in which 
 they stand towards each other. We recognise, that 
 whilst TO EDUCATE relates to what is already in 
 existence, holds out the evidence of a primary cause 
 to the accomplishment of the fixed intentions of 
 which it is indispensable, and is of necessity un- 
 changeable in both its operations and effects ; to in- 
 struct relates, on the contrary, to the projecting of that 
 which is not at the time in being, is dependent on 
 accidental causes, and is of consequence variable 
 and uncertain in its acts and consequences. To 
 instruct is in opposition to destroy ;^ the first, /orm^, 
 amasses J holds; the last, laysioaste, dissolves, lets go; 
 each of which contrary operation may or may not take 
 place, either being called into action by circumstan- 
 ces of a secondary and variable character. Not so 
 to educate, which being founded on the requisition 
 of primeval origin, is no less an operation among 
 each of the species of beings in nature, than the one 
 
 ♦ See note K. 
 
40 
 
 whereby the Supreme Intelligence gorerns the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 We come therefore to the conclusion, that the cor- 
 rect meaning of the verb to educate is, to draw forth 
 the inherent properties of things, and to adjust, direct, 
 and guide their mutual parts and faculties to the end 
 that each may act in accordance with its nature and 
 the design of its existence. It is to regulate the 
 actions of things in obedience to fixed laws, the effect 
 of which will be harmony and unity.* Finally, edu- 
 cation provides for the experience, the knowledge of 
 truth : it is the science whereby harmony and unity 
 are produced. Harmony and unity cannot be in 
 buildedy formed, created, they being not bodies, but 
 simply the effect of the coaction or relative position 
 of bodies. As an example : — Does an organist give 
 harmony of tone to an organ ? Assuredly not ; but 
 the organ-builder having constructed t the instru- 
 ment after certain laws of proportion, if acted upon 
 in corresponding proportion by the organist, the effect 
 will be harmony of tone; if the contrary, dishar- 
 mony will be the consequence. Can we find a more 
 perfectly constructed being than we behold in man ? 
 The work of an omniscient artist^ he is perfect in his 
 physical organization, peifect in his mental power ! 
 
 * See note L. t See note M. 
 
41 
 
 Can philosophy say why, thus privileged, his actions 
 produce not always harmony? 
 
 Were it not that it would carry us beyond the limits 
 of a Lecture, by entering into a still closer investiga- 
 tion of the radicals of the verb to educate through 
 all the branching out of its root and origin, many 
 curious facts would be developed ; however, as it 
 is, we have sufficiently examined the import of the 
 word to be convinced that it embraces a wider 
 field of action, and is more definite in its aim, than 
 we perhaps anticipated. For whilst it is now evi- 
 dent to us that all things in nature must be educated^ 
 be it through instinct or experience, as in being edu- 
 cated consists the means whereby each of the species 
 can alone be preserved, we likewise become con- 
 vinced that to educate is an art inherent in nature. 
 Consequently, the terms to educate and education 
 are as ancient as their image on the mind. The 
 first human being who reflected on himself, who 
 raised a child, a plant, an animal, composed words 
 for education and to educate : and as there is not an 
 object in nature that does not stand in relation to 
 another, it is evident that education must accord 
 with these relations. The relations between objects 
 can admit of the following classification : — 
 
 1st. Primitive or internal relations, meaning 
 those existing between the parts of a body or 
 tiling. 
 
42 
 
 2d. Transitive or external relations^ meaning those 
 existing between two separate bodies or things. 
 
 3d. Productive or consequent relations^ that is to 
 say, those originating in the action of bodies. 
 
 4th. Secondary or accidental relations^ namely, 
 those arising from accidental or changeable causes. 
 
 In the course of this Lecture we shall have occa- 
 sion to prove, that whilst man, by virtue of his men- 
 tal power, holds mastery over these two last classes 
 of relations, nevertheless, in their turn, they exercise 
 so powerful a control over him, that it is only by a 
 correct understanding of their import that he can 
 act up to the intentions of his being. This assump- 
 tion brings us to the second section of the subject of 
 this Lecture, namely, the education of man relatively 
 considered with his three distinct natures of, 
 
 1st, A Physical Being. 
 
 2d, An Intellectual Being. 
 
 3d, A Social Being. 
 
 The first of these considerations, namely, man's 
 education as it appertains to the relations of his phy- 
 sical state, will form the contents of the next Lec- 
 ture. 
 
NOTES TO LECTURE THE FIRST. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 " THE HUMAN HAND."— Page 9. 
 
 As far as the extent of ray reading will permit me to say, I believe 
 that since Buffon down to the circumstance that has occasioned the 
 publication of the " Bridgewater treatises," I am the only writer who 
 has spoken of the human hand as an organ strikingly characteristic of 
 a special affinity with an intelligent mind. As early as 1822 I had 
 prepared materials for the composition of a philosophical essay on the 
 nature of man. Subsequently, my notes were lost ; and owing to 
 events, originating in the death of my lamented father, the late 
 Major Thomas Herbert O'Sullivan Bear, of Bearhaven, it was not 
 till 1830 that I found myself placed in a situation sufficiently calm to 
 allow of my turning my attention a second time to the subject. Then, 
 however, I found a great obstacle in the loss of my former manuscripts,' 
 and with it of numerous interesting notes made during my residence 
 in Germany, and a daily intercourse with some of the learned men of 
 that country. Despairing of being able to recal to mind the train of 
 ideas which my former situation and associations had facilitated, I 
 gave up all thoughts of a regularly digested philosophical essay, and 
 limiting myself simply to the consideration of the principal features of 
 the organization and intention of man, I ranged it under the rubric of 
 an Essay on Education, treated as a natural science, in a series of 
 short familiar lectures. The first of these was read at the Franklin 
 Institute, Philadelphia, January, 1831, and a few copies of it came 
 before the public on the 1st of May following, precisely two months 
 before the coming out of the first number of the " American Journal of 
 Geology and Natural Science;'' the first and only channel through 
 which I came to the knowledge of the Bridgewater bequest, and that 
 the late Earl had ever thought of the hand in its relation with an intelli- 
 gent mind. The learned author of the Journal* will not refuse testify- 
 ing to the fact of the priority of my publication to his, particularly as 
 at the time, he did me the honour of noticing my humble attempt at 
 speculative philosophy. 
 
 In reference to the Bridgewater treatises, all studious men will have 
 read that portion of them which treats on the hand. I have not the 
 slightest pretension to being thought able to come within any degree of 
 its author's (Sir Charles Bell) capacity to treat this curious and im- 
 
 * G. VV. Featherstonhaugh, Esq. Fellow of the Geological Society of London • 
 Member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, Jc. &c ^ ' 
 
44 
 
 portant subject. I am not an anatomist, nor even a naturalist ; but I 
 may assume that the statement which I have given of my opinion of the 
 intention of the human hand originates in ideas purely my own. True, 
 I cannot support my argument on the spirituality of the hand by proofs 
 drawn from anatomical observations, nor indeed is it necessary that I 
 should have recourse to any such authority, to establish a fact sufficiently 
 demonstrated to the eyes of the philosophic or thinking man. I care 
 not how many joints or nerves my hand may contain, nor am I curious 
 to examine what are their angles, and how they play ; it is enough for 
 me to see that it accomplishes all that which my mind conceives, nor 
 do I perceive it to be in the disposition of the several parts of the hand 
 discernible to the eye of the naturalist, the physician, or the professor 
 of anatomy, but singly in its expression and in its execution, that its 
 spiritual mission is felt. The man of science, who shall succeed in 
 measuring the changing play of the organ of the seemingly motionless 
 lips, whilst clothing the silent thoughts with words ere the utterance 
 of them has reached the ear, and explain the nature of the inseparable 
 connexion existing between the organs of the lips and the faculties of 
 the mind and the hidden feelings of the heart, and which makes it im- 
 possible for a thought to arise or a sentiment to exist in either of the 
 two last without the coeval expression of it by the first ; so able a man 
 will be able to trace mathematically the various expressions of the 
 hand. To those who are not sensible of what I mean by the spiritu- 
 ality of the human hand, [ shall simply use the words of Schiller : 
 " We must despise the worthless being who ne'er reflects on what he 
 executes; for the faculty that embellishes man, and to the end of 
 which reason was given him, is, that he can trace to his inner breast 
 that which he creates with his hand^ 
 
 From my earliest childhood, separated from all parental ties, a va- 
 riety of causes occasioned in me a habit of contemplation. Independent 
 of the quiet of a cloistered life, nuns in their retirement fill up the 
 measure of their time with ceremonies and practices which have a 
 remarkable and salutary effect on the young mind, disposing it to the 
 love of the sublime and of the innocent. But it was not till after my 
 arrival in Germany, among the Germans, in the midst of that moral 
 and intellectual people, in the sanctuary of the sciences, and surround- 
 ed by the poetic creations of the arts, that my inclination to speculative 
 philosophy became fixed ; and among the many objects in nature and 
 in man which by turns filled me with wonder, the hand held the first 
 rank, and I became satisfied, that an organ that could execute so much, 
 must be endowed with a spiritual affinity to the power that guided it; 
 and thence I drew the conclusion, that the hand took and bore the im- 
 pression of the predominent ideas of the mind and of the passions of 
 the heart. 
 
45 
 
 That I should wish to establish my right to be considered an original 
 writer on the hand, might with propriety be attributed to the wish we 
 all have of seeing our few talents acknowledged. However, higher 
 motives induce me to exertion : A daughter of the ancient house of 
 Bearhaven, and yet from my birth doomed to live apart from all relatives, 
 my whole life has been spent among strangers— under no control but 
 that of my own impulses — nevertheless I have had many friends, 
 many distinguished friends, and to these, here or abroad, I would show 
 that even now, in my advanced age, I am still attached to those 
 pursuits which at an earlier period they honoured in me. I would 
 make known to the few of my paternal clan yet in existence, that 
 although long exiled from them, still I have preserved pure within my 
 mind the spirit handed me down by my sires. Lastly, I would leave 
 some memorial that may do honour to my children. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 " ANIMAL KINGDOM." — Page 9. 
 
 On the subject of the opening of this Lecture, an able critic, speaking 
 of me, writes : " Neither is it safe to open a grave work by asserting 
 any thing about the animal kingdom, when the writer is evidently not 
 a naturalist." In answer to this I would presume to say, that all per- 
 sons of observation, reading and reflection, without being practical 
 anatomists or naturalists, may with propriety understand the general 
 bearing of those sciences. In matters of learning, the aim of instruc- 
 tion is to give a general idea of the fundamental characteristic of all 
 the important sciences to a student, leaving him to perfect himself in 
 any one of them by a life of study and practice. 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 " auiET AND PURITY." — Page 13. 
 I should act an unjust and an ungrateful part towards the sisterhood 
 of La Congregation Notre Dame, at Montreal, were I not to take this 
 opportunity of reprobating the slanders which of late years have come 
 from the press in this country to the disadvantage of female convents 
 abroad in general, and of those of Montreal in particular. Letting 
 alone the audacity and absurdity of traducing the purity of life of a 
 community of women, established in a British province, and under the 
 surveillance and guardianship of British virtue, of British laws, I 
 would point out to my own sex at least, the insult offered them by 
 these demoralizing and impure writings. Since 1798, that I left the 
 convent of La Congregation Notre Dame at Montreal^ where from 
 the tender age of two until I had attained my sixteenth year, I was 
 kindly fostered and educated ; where I received that nursing which a 
 mother could not give me, and that protection which my father was 
 
46 
 
 too distant to afford me — since then. I sar,. I have had scarcely any 
 intercourse with persons of the Roman Church, and indeed most of my 
 friends among religious men have been clergymen of the Church of 
 England, and these will testify that I am free from all prejudices on 
 Church matters; and they will credit my assertion, when I say. that 
 more monstrous falsehoods could not have been told of pure and chari- 
 table persons than those that have formed the contents of the loathsome 
 books that have been circulated throughout this country respecting the 
 convents in Montreal. At this instant I turn with affectionate remem- 
 brance to the quiet and innocent scenes of my early life — scenes where- 
 in I imbibed a rich store of those high-toned sentiments that have 
 been my safeguard through a life of excessive sorrows. I have not 
 seen the place since. If. perchance, these pages should travel thither, 
 may the pious nuns of whom I speak, accept these few lines as a tribute 
 to their virtue, and as a mark of the remembrance of one whose life 
 has been too stormy to leave her leisure to commune with them. 
 
 NOTE D. 
 
 '•'in that particular clan.-' — Page lf5. 
 The -'O'Sullivan Bear.*" — Whilst at Rotterdam on business with Alex- 
 ander Ferrier. British Consul and executor to my late father's will. I 
 became acquainted with his Secretary, Mr. Masterson, who showed me 
 an interesting document, namely, a fac simile of an ancient map of 
 Ireland, to be seen in the royal archives of Brussels. On it the divi- 
 sions of the counties being principally marked out by the names of the 
 reignant family, it was with no little pride that I saw the name of 
 O'Sullivan spread over the whole south of that island; the O'Sullivan 
 Bear having the largest share, the O'Sullivan Moor the least. The 
 pride of hand among the O'Sullivans is perfectly clanish. 
 
 NOTE E. 
 '• siGmxG HA>D.*' — Page IT. 
 It is difficult for me to state the idea which I mean to convey by this 
 expression ; perhaps it might be understood more clearly by the word. 
 tremor in its softest, and most silent, and j'et most affecting degree. 
 Those whose heart and mind have been touched by softening or by sad 
 emotions will understand me. They who do not, cannot as j-et have 
 felt either pleasure or pain, or are incapable of being sensible to either. 
 
 NOTE F. 
 '• A ecMiuATLNG SATIRE." — Page 17. 
 These compositions are losing ground in public opinion, and it is 
 beginning to be understood that the men, in lowering woman, lower 
 themselves ; whilst in proportion to the recognition of the worth of wo- 
 man, men themselves become more worthy. 
 
47 
 
 NOTE G. 
 '' EOTAL."— Page la 
 
 Having a great respect for the individual whose criticism on this 
 Lecture I have already spoken of, I am anxious that he should not 
 misunderstand my motives. Speaking fanher of me, he sav^ ■•' There 
 IS an occasional display of foibles, that detracts from her merits. The 
 passage about royal personages can serve no pmT)ose but that of draw- 
 ing unfriendly criticism upon her." If the gentleman had reflected for 
 a moment on the association of ideas that mnst have occupied mv 
 . mmd whiLn uTiting the passage which he disapproves of. he would have 
 seen that they were too exalted to admit of the meaner consideration 
 which he would seem to intimate. I was speaking of the hand of Mrs 
 Siddons, a personage who fiUed up, in my mind, the beau ideal of a 
 perfect woman. I speak of her hand being commanding, and forth- 
 with draw a comparison with that of royal persons, whose habits are 
 that of command. Besides, although as a royalist, I feel towards kines 
 all the reverence which is their due, still, from mx infancy bein^ ac- 
 customed to the idea of having the right to appear in their presence I 
 could not have been guilty of a weakness inconsistent with my habhs, 
 and beneath the grave and sublime subject by which my mind was at 
 the time taken up. 
 
 -VOTE H. 
 
 ■• rSEFCL TO HIMSELF OR TO HIS FEXLOW-BEOGS."— Page 30. 
 
 A sensible Englishman thought me wrong in this assumption! yet I 
 cannot but repeat it, and in support of my opinion I wiU giye the only 
 passage in BeU's Essay, which actuaUy speaks of the hand in corre- 
 spondence with the mind. " The hand which is to becmne the instru- 
 ment for perfecting the other senses, and dctdaping the endowmunU 
 of the mind itself, is in infants absebOefypaweHess.- This {Mssage is 
 aU-sufficient to establish the correctness of my position. I hare seen 
 exhibitions of little petty anicles of workmanship, curioos, because exe- 
 cuted by men or women who had no hands ; but which in point of art 
 or utility had not the slightest value. 
 
 NOTE H. 
 
 "geography.-- — Page 36. 
 Some one has blamed my putting such a question to an ignorant 
 man, and thus placing myself as it were, on a par with him and his cart- 
 horse, and I was further told to recollect, that the most useful branch of 
 knowledge is not to ask a foolish question. It is evident that this critic mis- 
 understood me, or did not read the whole passage, else he would have dis- 
 covered that it was precisely from my addressing myself to an ignorant 
 
48 
 
 man of both nations tliat I wished to establish my position of the superior- 
 ity of original over originated languages. But, suppose that, in lieu of 
 the term geography, I had chosen one less generally understood ; for ex- 
 ample, the term stelog-raphy, it is more than probable that a well-edu- 
 cated man, who nevertheless knew only his mother tongue, would not 
 comprehend its meaning, while its equivalent, Sdulenschrift, in the 
 German, would be perfectly understood by a German of not the least 
 education. 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 " NOR SHOULD OUR RESEARCH BE THOUGHT FASTIDIOUS.'' — PagC 38. 
 
 I know not a work that would prove of more utility than a derivative 
 dictionary of all those words from the ancient languages which we have 
 adopted for moral ideas and for sciences. Were we to examine the roots 
 of each of these classes of words, and that of their component part, we 
 would be struck with astonishment at the obscure and often false inter- 
 pretation which we have given them ; whilst our minds would be filled 
 with admiration at the extended and sublime, yet natural character of 
 their real meaning. 
 
 NOTE K. 
 
 " TO DESTROY." — Page 39. 
 This operation, as also to instruct, is the act of man. In nature there 
 is neither instruction nor destruction, all things being subject to cer- 
 tain laws, and the changes we perceive in objects being necessary to 
 the preservation of the whole. Not so with the creations of man : not 
 being the work of Omniscience, they are subjected to the nothingness 
 which, from their imperfect and often capricious origin, must inevita- 
 bly be their doom. 
 
 NOTE K. 
 
 '' HARMONY AND UNITY." — Page 40. 
 
 Every thing in nature feels the necessity of this. Beauty in any ob- 
 ject is only a harmonious proportion and unity of its parts ; and if 
 children and even animals look with pleasure on such objects, how 
 much more is it required that man, who has attained the full strength of 
 his faculties and mental powers, should study its importance, and regu- 
 late his actions by it. 
 
 NOTE M. 
 
 "the ORGAN-BUILDER HAVING CONSTRUCTED THE INSTRUMENT." — Page 40. 
 
 Here we have an example of the difference existing between the 
 work of man and that of nature. Nature never errs, and all her crea- 
 tions are endowed with self-acting powers, while the creations of man 
 are inert and passive. 
 
019 810 605 7 
 
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