LC
107
C73
Im the Mutton.
WHAT SHOULD
SECULAR EDUCATION EMBRACE?
BY
GEORGE COMBE.

"
Why did the members of the Privy Council take an oath? Why make a reference to a
superintending Providence in the Queen's speeches, and in some of their Parliamentary
enactments? Was it not perfectly clear that in doing these things they were recognising a
moral Providence, a moral Governor of the world, who superintended, directed, and con-
trolled human actions? and, therefore, when they recognised a superintending Governor
and a moral Providence, it was perfectly clear that they also recognised the necessity of
knowing and acting upon his will."-Speech of Lord Ashley in the House of Commons on 16th
December 1847, reported in the Evening Mail, on the "Removal of Jewish Disabilities.”


EDINBURGH:
MACLACHLAN, STEWART, & CO.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.
DUBLIN: JAMES M GLASHAN.
MDCCCXLVIII.
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PREFACE
THE following Pamphlet contains a farther elucidation and
application of the principles advanced in my two preceding
publications, Remarks on National Education," and on
"The Relation between Religion and Science."
The word "secular" signifies "temporal, belonging to this
world or life," in contradistinction to "spiritual," which de-
signates things relating chiefly to eternity. Secular educa-
tion, therefore, should mean education calculated to instruct
us in the best means of acting with success the part allotted
to us in this world, whatever that may be; and to train us
to render that instruction practical. The object of the fol-
lowing pages is not to expound the details of a scheme of
secular education, but to inquire into the kind of information
which man stands in need of, in order to place him in a con-
dition to act his part in this life with success; and to shew
that the communication of that information, whatever it
shall prove to be, should form the grand object of secular
education. After the object of secular education is under-
stood, the means of accomplishing it will be more accurately
judged of, and more easily realised.
The line of inquiry which I have followed is difficult and
comparatively new. If, therefore, I shall succeed in convey-
ing to the mind of the reader a general comprehension of the
idea which I advance, I shall hope for his indulgence on ac-
count of the imperfections which must necessarily attend an
attempt to treat so vast a subject in so brief a compass as a
pamphlet. In no other form, unfortunately, could so general
a consideration of the topic be expected to be attained.
In the words of the great Reformer, "I think they are ex-
tremely mistaken who imagine the kowledge of philosophy
and nature to be of no use to religion."-Luther, tom. ïï.,
epist. 371.
45 MELVILLE STREET,
EDINBURGH, 15th January 1848.
HWC
7-5-44
Education Lib.
Education
schweate
3-13-43
47514
tranfit to
24
WHAT SHOULD SECULAR EDUCATION EMBRACE?
THE question which at present engages so much public
attention, viz., What should Secular Education embrace?
appears to me to depend for its solution on the answers to
some previous questions; viz., Does God really govern the
world? Is the mode in which He governs it discoverable?
If it be scrutable and intelligible, is it adapted to the nature
of man? If man be capable of acting in harmony with it,
what will be the consequences of his neglecting to make him-
self acquainted with it, and to adapt his conduct to its laws!
It will not generally be disputed, 1st, that secular education
should include an exposition of everything which is necessary
to be known to enable us to act in harmony with the order of
God's secular providence, if such an order exist,—be disco-
verable,—and be designedly adapted to the human faculties;
and, 2dly, that it should embrace also such a training of all
our powers, physical and mental, as may be necessary to
establish in us the disposition to act habitually in harmony
with that order.
In the early part of the seventeenth century, religious men
believed that the government of the world was then ad-
ministered by special acts of Divine interference in the
affairs of man, in the manner described in the books of the
Old and New Testaments. If this opinion was well founded,
and if the same system of government is continued in the pre-
sent day, then instruction in the principles and mode of ac-
tion of that government should constitute the substance of
secular as well as of religious instruction; because such
knowledge alone would reveal to man the influences by which
his condition on earth is determined, and enable him to adapt
his conduct to their agency. The curriculum of study in most
of our schools and universities was instituted by men who be-
lieved not only that this system of government prevailed in
their own day, but that it would continually exist; and this
opinion influences the judgment of the great majority of re-
ligious persons to the present hour.
In a pamphlet on "The Relation between Religion and
Science," I endeavoured to shew that this belief is neither
2
What should Secular Education embrace ?
countenanced by science nor warranted by experience, as ap-
plicable to the times in which we live; but that, on the con-
trary, the world is now governed by natural laws designedly
adapted by the Divine Ruler to the human mind and body,
and calculated to serve as guides to human conduct. It is
not necessary again to enter into the evidence and train of
reasoning by which this conclusion was reached. I proceed,
therefore, to remark, that if the scheme of government by
special interpositions of Divine power be not now in force, and
if human affairs be ruled by God's providence operating through
the medium of the constitution and relations of natural ob-
jects and beings, then a knowledge of these things and beings,
and of their modes of action, will be a key to the knowledge of
the order of God's providence in the secular government of the
world, and will constitute valuable instruction for the young.
It will unfold to their understandings and their consciences
the temporal duties which God requires them to discharge,
and the mode in which they may most effectually discharge
them; and it will enable them to comprehend the rewards
and punishments by means of which He enforces obedience
to his requirements in this life.
As few persons doubt that God actually governs the world,
we may assume this point to be conceded, and proceed to
inquire whether the mode in which his government is main-
tained be discoverable by human reason. I beg to remind the
reader that, if this world be not now governed by acts of special
interposition of Divine power, and if it be not governed by
natural laws cognizable by the human understanding and
adapted to the nature of man, it must necessarily be a theatre
of anarchy, and consequently of atheism; in other words, a
world without the practical manifestation of a God. If, on
the other hand, such laws exist (as science proclaims), they
must be of Divine institution, and worthy of our most serious
consideration.
Accordingly, the profoundest thinkers generally admit that
this world is governed by natural laws;* and hence the chief
practical questions that remain to be solved are these:-Can
human intelligence discover the means by which God governs
the world? And, if it can do so, is it able to modify the action
of those means, or to adapt human conduct to their influence?
These topics, accordingly, shall form the first subjects of the
present inquiry.
* See Note I., in the Appendix to "The Constitution of Man," and pages
5th and 6th of "The Relation between Religion and Science." Also "Answer
by G. Combe to the Rev. C. J. Kennedy." I was indebted to Dr Spurzheim's
work on the Natural Laws of Man, for my first appreciation of the importance
of these laws.
Loucation
Le
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What should Secular Education embrace?
3
In introducing them to the reader, perhaps I may be ex-
cused for stating the circumstances which first awakened in
my own mind that deep interest in the subject, which has
induced me so often to address the public in relation to it.
By pursuing this course, I shall be under the necessity of
introducing a portion of my individual history—a perilous
thing for a living author to do, and one which naturally ex-
poses him to the imputation of vanity and egotism: but as a
counterbalance to this disadvantage, the development of the
origin and progress of a writer's convictions may probably,
with some readers, invest the abstract questions of which he
treats with a greater living interest, while it will afford faci-
lities to all for deciding whether he is labouring under an
idiosyncrasy of perception and judgment, or is advocating,
however inadequately and imperfectly, really interesting and
important truths.
Fortified by these considerations, and soliciting the indul-
gence of the reader, I beg to mention, that an event so com-
mon and trivial as almost to appear ludicrous when intro-
duced into a grave discourse, but which is real,-led by insen-
sible degrees to the convictions which I am now endeavour-
ing to diffuse. When a child of six or seven years of age,
some benevolent friend bestowed on me a lump of sugar-
candy. The nursery-maid desired me to give a share of it to
my younger brothers and sisters, and I presented it to her to
be disposed of as she recommended. She gave each of them
a portion, and when she returned the remainder to me, she
said, "That's a good boy-God will reward you for this."
These words were uttered by her as a mere form of pious
speech, proper to be addressed to a child; but they conveyed
to my mind an idea;-they suggested intelligibly and practi-
cally, for the first time, the conception of a Divine reward
for a kind action; and I instantly put the question to her,
"How will God reward me?" "He will send you everything
that is good." "What do you mean by 'good'-Will he
send me more sugar-candy?" Yes-certainly he will, if
you are a good boy." "Will he make this piece of sugar-
candy grow bigger?" "Yes-God always rewards those who
are kind-hearted."
*
I could not rest contented with words, but at once pro-
ceeded to the verification of the assurance by experiment and
observation. I forthwith examined minutely all the edges of
the remaining portion of sugar-candy, took an account of its
dimensions, and then, wrapping it carefully in paper, put it
into a drawer, and waited with anxiety for its increase.
left it in the drawer all night, and next morning examined it
I
4
What should Secular Education embrace?
with eager curiosity. I could discover no trace of alteration
in its size, either of increase or decrease. I was greatly dis-
appointed; my faith in the reward of virtue by the Ruler of
the world received its first shock, and I feared that God did
not govern the world in the manner which the nursery-maid
had represented.
"The
Several years afterwards, I read in the Grammatical Exer-
cises, an early class-book then used in the High School of
Edinburgh, these words: "Deus gubernat mundum," "God
governs the world." “Mundus gubernatur a Deo,"
world is governed by God." These sentences were introduced
into the book as exercises in Latin grammar; and our teacher,
the late Mr Luke Fraser, dealt with them merely as such,
without entering into any consideration of the ideas embodied
in them.
This must have occurred about the year 1798, when I was
ten years of age; and the words "Deus gubernat mundum—-
Mundus gubernatur a Deo," made an indelible impression,
and continued for years and years to haunt my imagination.
As a child, I assumed the fact itself to be an indubitable
truth, but felt a restless curiosity to discover how God ex-
ercised his jurisdiction.
In the course of time, I read in the Edinburgh Advertiser,
the newspaper taken in by my father, that Napoleon Buona-
parte (instigated and assisted, as I used to hear, by the
devil) governed France, and governed it very wickedly; and
that King George III., Mr Pitt, and Lord Melville, govern-
ed Great Britain and Ireland-not very successfully either,
for I read of rebellion, and murders, and burnings, and ex-
ecutions in Ireland; while in Scotland my father complained
of enormous Excise duties which threatened to involve him
in ruin. I saw that my father ruled in his trade, and my
mother in her household affairs, both pretty well on the
whole; but with such evident marks of shortcoming and im-
perfection, that it was impossible to trace God's superintend-
ence or direction in their administration.
In the class in the High School of which I was a member,
Mr Luke Fraser seemed to me to reign supreme; and as I
felt his government to be harsh, and often unjust, I could not
recognise God in it either. Under his tuition, and that of Dr
Adam, the Rector of the High School, and of Dr John Hill,
the Professor of Latin in the University of Edinburgh, 1
became acquainted with the literature, the mythology, and
the history of Greece and Rome; but in these no traces of
the Divine government of the world were discernible.
These were the only governments of which I then had
What should Secular Education embrace?
5
experience, or about which I could obtain any information;
and in none of them could I discover satisfactory evidence
of God's interference in the affairs of men. On the contrary,
it appeared to me, that one and all of the historical personages
now named did just what they pleased, and that God took no
account of their actions in this world, however He might deal
with them in the next. They all seemed to acknowledge in
words that God governs the world; but, nevertheless, they ap-
peared to me to act as if they were themselves independent
and irresponsible governors, consulting only their own notions
of what was right or wrong, and often pursuing what they
considered to be their own interests, irrespective of God's
asserted supremacy in human affairs. Most of them pro-
fessed to believe in their accountability in the next world;
but this belief seemed to me like a rope of sand in binding
their consciences. They rarely hesitated to encounter all
the dangers of that judgment when their worldly interests
or passions strongly solicited them to a course of action con-
demned by their professed creeds.
From infancy I attended regularly an evangelical church,
was early instructed in the Bible, and in the Shorter and
Larger Catechisms, and the Confession of Faith of the
General Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and read
orthodox sermons and treatises by various distinguished
authors. In the Old Testament I read narratives of God's
government of the Jewish nation, by the exercise of special
acts of supernatural power, and understood this as a clear
and satisfactory exposition of Divine government.
the New Testament, also, certain special acts of Divine in-
terference with the affairs of men were recorded, which
likewise gave me great satisfaction, as evidences that God
governs the world; but I never could apply these examples
to practical purposes.
In
I learned, in some way which I do not now recollect, that
during many ages after the close of the Scripture records,
the Roman Catholic priesthood had asserted that such acts
of special supernatural administration continued, and that
they themselves were the appointed instruments through
whose medium it pleased God thus to manifest his power.
But I never saw instances of this kind of government in
my own sphere of life.
In the course of time I read arguments and criticisms
which carried with them an irresistible conviction, that these
pretensions of the Roman Catholic priesthood had been pious.
frauds practised on an ignorant and superstitious people!
Here, then, was another shock to my belief that God go-
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What should Secular Education embrace?
verns the world; and the difficulty was increased by an
obscure impression, that notwithstanding this denial by the
Protestant divines, of the continuance of a special super-
natural Providence acting through the Roman Catholic
priesthood, they and their followers seemed to admit some-
thing very similar in their own favour.* As, however, I
could not discover by observation, satisfactory evidence of
special acts of Divine interference in human affairs, taking
plaec in consequence of their solicitations, any more than in
consequence of those of the Roman Catholic priesthood, I
arrived at the conclusion that all special acts of Divine
administration had ceased with the Scripture times; and thus
I was again sent adrift into the great ocean of doubt, and no
longer saw traces of the manner in which God governs the
world in our day, whatever He might have done in the days
of the Jewish nation.
As I advanced in understanding, my theological studies
rather increased than diminished these perplexities. I read
that "not a sparrow falls to the ground without our
heavenly Father," and that "the very hairs of our heads are
numbered;" which seemed to indicate a very intimate and
minute government of the world. But simultaneously with
this information, I was taught that God forgives those who
offend against his laws, if they have faith in Jesus Christ
and repent; and that He often leaves the wicked to run the
course of their sins in this world without punishing them,
reserving his retribution for the day of judgment. This
seemed to me to imply that God really does not govern the
world in any intelligible or practical sense, but merely takes
note of men's actions, and commences his actual and effi-
cient government only after the resurrection from the dead.
On the other hand, when still a youth, I read “ Ray on
the Wisdom of God in Creation," and subsequently "Paley's
Natural Theology," and these works confirmed my faith that
God does govern the world; although, owing to my igno-
rance of science, they rather conveyed an impression of the
fact, than enabled me to perceive the mode in which He does
so. As, however, I never saw any person acting on that
faith, it maintained itself in my mind chiefly as an impres-
sion; and not only without proof, but often against appa-
rent evidence to the contrary. My course of inquiry, there-
fore, was still onward; and with a view to obtaining a solu-
tion of the problem, I studied a variety of works on moral
and metaphysical subjects; but from none of them did I re-
* See examples in point in the pamphlet on "The Relation between Reli-
gion and Science," pages 1, 2, 3.
What should Secular Education embrace?
7
ceive any satisfaction. In point of fact, I reached to man's
estate with a firm faith that God governs the world, but
utterly baffled in all my attempts to discover how this go-
vernment is effected.
This feeling of disappointment became more intense in
proportion as a succession of studies presented to my mind
clear and thoroughly convincing evidence, that in certain de-
partments of nature God does unquestionably govern the
world. When, for example, I comprehended the laws of the
solar system, as elucidated by Copernicus, Galileo, Newton,
and Laplace, and perceived the most perfect adaptation, har-
mony, and regularity pervading the evolutions of the planets
and their satellites, the conviction that God governs in that
system was at once irresistible, complete, and delightful.
But the planets were far away, and I longed to discover the
same order and harmony on earth; but in vain.
My next study was Anatomy and Physiology. From this
source new light broke in upon my mind. When I saw
and understood the mechanisms for the circulation of the
blood, the nutrition of the body, the motions of the limbs, and
the execution of the functions of vision, hearing, and smelling,
again the conviction became intense that in the constitution of
the human body also, God's agency is clearly discernible: But
then came the puzzling question,-Why, if such be the case,
does God abandon this mechanism, after He has so exquisitely
made it? That He does forego all subsequent care of it,
then appeared to me only too obvious; for around me I saw
disease, and pain, and death, and multitudinous evils, all aris-
ing from this mechanism becoming impaired in its structure
or disordered in its functions.
Nevertheless some facts transpired which seemed in con-
tradiction to this supposed abandonment of the machine by
its Author. I was told, for example, that every tissue of the
body had received a conservative, and also a reparative
power; that, in virtue of the former, it resists, up to certain
limits, external injurious influences; and that when those
limits have been passed, and the structure has actually
been invaded, a process of reparation commences, the na-
tural issue of which is restoration of the injured part. The
granulation of flesh wounds, and the re-integration of bro-
ken bones, afford familiar examples of this process. In these
instances, the wisdom, goodness, and power of God ap-
peared actually woven into the texture of our frames. His
government of our corporeal structure seemed so complete,
that every muscular fibre, and every filament of nerve, obeyed
his mandate throughout our lives, and not only when in
8
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health performed precisely the function which He had
assigned to it, but, in disease, brought into active play
powers which He had provided for the emergency, and which,
although incomprehensible to human intelligence, entered on
their protective and recuperative functions at the very mo-
ment when their agency was wanted.
Clear, however, as this example of Divine government ap-
peared to be, I found no application made of it beyond the
domains of surgery. No practical inference was deduced
from it, to regulate human conduct in the ordinary circum-
stances of life. When I left the medical school, all traces of
the government of God in the world were lost, and my feel-
ing of disappointment returned.
Chemistry was the next science which engaged my atten-
tion, and it presented extraordinary illustrations of Divine
government in the qualities and relations of matter. In the
revelations made by this science, I discovered powers con-
ferred on matter capable of producing the most stupendous
results, yet all regulated in their action with a degree of
precision that admitted even of mathematical and arith-
metical measurement. In their reciprocal relations, I per-
ceived an extent, variety, and wisdom of adaptation that cap-
tivated the understanding, and roused the most vivid emotions,
as if of a present Deity. It is difficult to describe the effect
which the first scientific demonstration of the chemical law
in virtue of which water, when in the act of freezing, loses a
portion of its specific gravity, and in its form of ice floats on
the surface of the pool, produced on my intellect and moral
sentiments. The adaptation of this quality to the pre-
servation of the beings which inhabit the water, and to the
due limitation of the influence of frost on the physical
creation-the efficacy, simplicity, and unerring certainty of
the means, contrasted with the vastness of the end accom
plished-appeared irresistibly to proclaim the all-pervading
God. Yet when I left the chemical laboratory and returned
into the world of business, these delicious visions fled, and I
could no longer trace the Divine government in the affairs of
men.
In this condition of mind I continued for several years, and
recollect meeting with only two works which approached
to the solution of any portion of the enigma which puzzled my
understanding. These were "Smith's Wealth of Nations,"
and "Malthus on Population." The first appeared to me to de-
monstrate that God actually governs in the relations of com-
merce; that He has established certain natural laws which
regulate the interests of men in the exchange of commo-
What should Secular Education embrace ?
9
dities and labour; and that those laws are in harmony with
the dictates of our moral and intellectual faculties, and wisely
related to the natural productions of the different soils and
climates of the earth. But in my early days, I found the
truth and utility of Smith's doctrines to be stoutly denied by
Parliamentary leaders, and practical merchants; in short, by
every body except a small number of thinking but uninflu-
ential men. With this exception, our rulers, merchants, ma-
nufacturers, and even our divines, concurred in treating Dr
Smith's alleged discovery, that the relations of commerce are
governed by natural laws instituted by God, as an idle dream;
they pursued measures directly opposed to the principles
which he taught as characterising that government, and they
confidently expected to reap a higher prosperity from follow-
ing the dictates of their own sagacity than from obedience to
that wisdom which Smith represented as Divine. I perceived,
indeed, that they were constantly disappointed in their expec-
tations, and that the more they opposed the free intercourse
of nations, the more their commercial prosperity was im-
peded; but all influential men thought otherwise, and these
lessons led only to new experiments on their own principles-
still avoiding most scrupulously every approach to the views
advocated by Dr Smith.
I first read the work of Mr Malthus in 1805, and he ap-
peared to me to prove that God reigned, through the medium.
of fixed natural laws, in another department of human affairs
-namely, in that of population. The facts adduced by
Malthus demonstrated to my mind that the Creator has be-
stowed on mankind a power of increasing their numbers
much beyond the ratio of the diminution that, in favourable
circumstances, will be caused by death; and, consequently,
that they must either, by ever-extending cultivation of the
soil, increase their means of subsistence in proportion to their
numbers, or expose themselves to the evil of having these
restricted by disease and famine, to the amount which the
actual production of food will maintain. These propositions,
like the doctrines of Adam Smith, met with general rejection ;
and their author, far from being honoured as a successful ex-
pounder of a portion of God's method of governing the world,
was assailed with unmitigated abuse, and his views were stre-
nuously resisted in practice. Nevertheless, I saw clearly, as
time wheeled its ceaseless course, that the results of human
conduct corresponded with Mr Malthus's annunciations; and
that his opponents, who governed the United Kingdom ac-
cording to their own maxims, were never able to screen the
inconsiderate poor, who reared families without securing for
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What should Secular Education embrace?
them adequate means of subsistence, from the evils which he
had pointed out as inseparably connected with their errone-
ous principles of action.
Bishop Butler also threw a flash of light across the dark
horizon; but it was only a flash. He announced clearly the
great principle of a moral government of the world by natu-
ral laws; but he threw little light on the means by which it
is accomplished. In consequence of his not understanding
the means, his views in regard to the Divine government of
the world, although in the main sound, are not practical.
He was compelled to resort to the world to come, in order to
find compensation for what appeared to him to be imperfec-
tions in the moral government of this world, in some in-
stances in which a more minute knowledge of the mode of
God's present administration would have convinced him that
the apparent imperfection is removable on earth.
During the continuance of these perplexities, this consider-
ation presented itself to my mind, that in every depart-
ment of nature, the evidences of Divine government, of the
mode in which it is administered, and of the laws by which it is
maintained, become more and more clear and comprehensible,
in proportion to the exactness of our knowledge of the objects
through the instrumentality of which it is accomplished.
Wherever we are altogether ignorant of the causes of phe-
nomena, or where our knowledge of them is vague and gene-
ral, confusion seems to reign; while intimate knowledge uni-
formly reveals order and harmony,-in other words, action
characterised by the regularity of law. Moreover, I observed
that in the physical creation, order is maintained, and an effi-
cient government realised, by the endowment of every object
with certain definite forces, which it displays with undeviat-
ing regularity, so long as its circumstances continue the same;
and by the adjustment of the action of each of these forces
to that of all the others with which it is connected. The
balanced centripetal and centrifugal forces of the planets,
for instance, produce their revolutions round the sun, and, at
the same time, preserve them in their places. These en-
dowments and adjustments of material substances forcibly
convey to the human mind the impression of government and
order instituted and maintained by a Being superior to man.
The following questions next presented themselves for so-
lution :-Why should the traces of Divine administration be-
come obscure in the moral department of creation? Why
should we be so deeply in the dark concerning the laws ac-
cording to which life, health, talents, dispositions, and indivi-
dual and social happiness, are dispensed to man? It appeared
What should Secular Education embrace ?
11
to me that these questions might best be answered by asking
others. Do we know intimately the causes which produce
health and disease? These must regulate the endurance of life.
Do we know the causes which give rise to the different dispo-
sitions and capacities of men? These must be eminently in-
fluential in determining their individual lots. Do we know the
precise social effects which these dispositions and capacities
are fitted to produce, when permitted, in the case of each per-
son, to act blindly, to act under false or imperfect information,
or to act under a clear and correct knowledge of the real na-
ture and relations of things? On the extent of this know-
ledge will depend our capacity to discern the causes of social
happiness or misery. Do we know whether these causes and
effects, whatever they may be, are subject to any extent to
human control? And if so, how we may control them? If
they are not subject to man's jurisdiction, do we know whether
he has it in his power to modify, in any degree, his own con-
duct, in relation to their agency, so as to diminish the evil or
increase the good which they are calculated to produce?
To nearly all of these questions only a negative answer
could be given; and I suspected that in this ignorance lay
the grand obstacle to the discovery of the mode in which God
governs the organic and moral departments of creation: but
time rolled on, and no new light appeared.
Hitherto, probably, I have succeeded in carrying the mind
of the reader along with me; for many persons may have
experienced doubts and difficulties similar to those now de-
scribed but from this point forward I fear that greater dif-
ferences may arise between him and me. The facts on which
the view to be now stated is founded have not hitherto been
generally investigated with that seriousness and patience
which are indispensable to their successful study; and hence
their reality, and the importance of the lessons which they
teach, are not appreciated. Nevertheless, long-continued
and dispassionate observation having convinced me of their
truth, and of the inestimable value of the consequences which
flow from them, I proceed to describe, in a few words, the
means by which these clouds of darkness were at length
partially dispelled from my mind, and the moral horizon
of the world, in some degree, cleared up to my mental vi-
sion.
In the course of time I became aware of the importance,
in relation to this question, of certain facts which were pre-
viously generally known, but from which no practical conclu-
sions had been drawn in regard to the mode in which God
governs the world. These were, that the Creator has con-
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What should Secular Education embrace ?
ferred on man a system of organs of respiration; a heart
and blood-vessels; a stomach and other organs of nutri-
tion, and so forth; that to each of these He has given a
definite constitution; that He has appointed definite rela-
tions between each of them and all the others, and between
each of them and the objects of external nature; that life
and health accompany the normal and harmonious action of
the whole; and that disease, pain, and premature death are the
consequences of their disproportionate and abnormal action.
Moreover, I saw that God had given to man faculties which
enable him to observe, understand, and act according to, the
laws which regulate the functions of those organs.
From that time the idea began to dawn on my mind that
the study of the structure, functions, relations, and laws of
these vital parts, is the true mode of investigating the princi-
ples according to which God dispenses life, health, disease, and
death in this world; in other words, the mode in which He
governs this department of creation. In maturing this idea,
my late brother, Dr A. Combe, was my constant coadjutor
and guide.
It is unnecessary to carry the history of these personal
difficulties farther. Let us now endeavour to bring this idea
itself to the test of observation and reason. With this view
we may select the endurance of life as the subject of our
consideration.
That the endurance of life is governed by regularly ope-
rating laws, becomes obvious from the records of mortality.
The records of burials kept in the different countries of Eu-
rope present striking examples of uniformity in the number
of deaths that occur at the same ages in different years. So
constant are these results, while the circumstances of any
country continue the same, that it is possible to predict,
with nearly absolute certainty, that in England and Wales,
of 1000 persons between the ages of 20 and 30, living on
the first day of January in any one year, ten will die before
the first day of January in the next year.*
Uniformity in the numbers of events bespeaks uniformity
* I have selected the example of deaths from ages between 20 and 30, be-
cause, as will afterwards be shewn, during this interval the conditions of life
seem to be to a great extent under human control. In later periods, from 70
to 80, or 80 to 90, they are not so. The human frame then obeys the law of
its constitution-it decays and dies; but it does so under no inscrutable law.
The causes of its decay are palpable, and the effects are obviously designed.
The individual who suffers has then no duty but submission to the will of the
Being who conferred life on him at first as a gratuitous boon, and who is en-
titled to withdraw it when the objects for which it was given have been ac-
complished.
What should Secular Education embrace ?
13
in the causes which produce them; and uniformity in causes
and effects constitutes the fundamental idea of govern-
ment by natural laws. If, then, these deaths do not occur
arbitrarily or fortuitously, but result from regularly operat-
ing causes, the following questions present themselves for
solution:-Are these causes discoverable by human intelli-
gence? If they are so, can that intelligence modify them?
If not, can an individual adapt his own conduct to their
operation so as to influence their effects? These questions
are important equally in a religious and a practical point of
view. If the causes are constant and inscrutable, and their
effects irresistible, it follows that, in regard to death, we
are subject to a sublime and mysterious fatalism; in short,
that the Mahometan doctrine on this subject is true. If, on
the 1st day of January in any one year, a thousand youths,
in the vigorous period of life, know, with nearly positive cer-
tainty, that ere the clock strikes twelve on the night of the
31st of December, ten of their number will be lifeless
corpses; and if, nevertheless, not one of them be able to dis-
cover who are to be the victims, or to employ any precau-
tions to avert the blow from himself,-what is this but being
subject to a real fatalism?
•
If, on the other hand, the causes are discoverable, and if the
individuals subject to their influence possess also the power
of modifying them, or of accommodating their own conduct
to their action, and of thereby changing their influence on
their own condition for good or evil, the Divine government
will present a widely different aspect. Instead of a system
of mysterious fatalism it will be one of causation, regular in
its action, scrutable in its principles, designedly adapted to
the physical, moral, and intellectual nature of man, and as such
presented to him for the cognizance of his intelligence, the
respect of his moral feelings, and the practical guidance of his
conduct. In discovering the causes of the ten deaths and their
modes of operation, we shall acquire a knowledge of the princi-
ples on which God administers life and death to men at the age
between 20 and 30. We shall obtain a glimpse of the order
of God's secular providence in this department of his king-
dom. If this view be erroneous, there appears to be no
alternative to the conclusion that, in regard to life and death,
we are the subjects of a fatal despotism. Let us inquire,
then, whether the causes be scrutable, and whether human
power is capable of modifying their influence.
If we desire to know by what laws God governs the sense
of hearing,—that is to say, under what conditions He bestows
this boon upon us, and continues it with us, we shall best
14
What should Secular Education embrace ?
succeed by studying the structure and modes of action of the
ear, and examining its relations to the air, to the constitution
of sonorous bodies, to the brain, and also to the digestive,
respiratory, and circulating systems of the body, on the action
of which the sense of hearing indirectly depends. It is no
abuse of language to say that, in studying those details, we
should be studying the conditions under which, within cer-
tain limits, we may retain, forfeit, improve, or impair the
sense of hearing, pretty much at our discretion. In the
structure, the functions, and the relations of the ear, we
should discern the manifestations of God's power and good-
ness, and a clear exposition of the principles on which He
administers this sense. In the means by which we are per-
mitted, within certain limits, to destroy or to preserve, to
impair or to invigorate our hearing, we should discover the
evidence of His government not being a despotism or a
fatalism, but a system of regular causation adapted to our
constitution and condition, and presented to us for the inves-
tigation of our intelligence, and the guidance of our conduct.
In the constitution of the sense and the appointment of its
relations, which man cannot alter, God's sovereignty is made
apparent. By connecting certain beneficial consequences
with the actions done in accordance with that constitution
and those relations, and certain painful consequences with
actions done in discordance with them, which consequences
also man cannot alter, the Divine Ruler preserves His own
sway over the sense and over all who possess it; while by
endowing man with intellect capable of discovering that con-
stitution and its relations, with religious emotions enabling
him to respect it, and with power within certain limits to act
in accordance or discordance with it, and thereby to command
the favourable or the adverse results at his own pleasure,
human freedom is established and guaranteed; and man ap-
pears as a moral, religious, and intelligent being, studying
the will of his Creator in His works, worshipping Him by
conforming to His laws, and reaping the rich rewards of en-
joyment destined to him as the consequences of his fulfilling
the objects of his being. By those means the Divine go-
vernment is maintained simultaneously with man's freedom.
The same propositions may be predicated in regard to all
the senses.
The question next occurs, Does this mode of government
stop with the senses? It appears to me not to do so, but to
extend to every organ of the human frame. As already ob-
served, God has bestowed on man lungs and other organs of
respiration; a heart and other organs of circulation; a sto-
What should Secular Education embrace?
15
mach and other organs of nutrition; a brain and nervous sys-
tem, which are the organs of thought, sensation, and will: to
each of these He has given a definite constitution, and He has
appointed definite relations between each of them and all the
others, and between each of them and the objects of external
nature. These constitutions and relations have been esta-
blished with design, viz., the design of conferring on man life
and health until he shall reach the age of threescore years
and ten. They have been framed and appointed by Divine
wisdom and intelligence; and every part of them operates
with undeviating regularity. Life and health, then, are the
result of the normal and harmonious action of the whole of
them; disease, pain, and premature death, are the conse-
quences of their disproportionate and abnormal action.
Now, no reasonable doubt can be entertained that man
has received from his Creator faculties of observation and
reflection, which, when assiduously employed, render him
capable, to a constantly increasing extent, of observing,
understanding, and acting in conformity with the constitu-
tion, functions, and relations of these organs, and thereby
securing the enjoyment of life and health; but, if he choose,
he may neglect them, and suffer pain, disease, and premature
death. Hence it seems to follow that God has revealed to
man the laws according to which He dispenses life and
health; and actually invited him to take a moral and in-
telligent part in acting out the scheme of His providence
for his own advantage.
The practical conclusion which I draw from these con-
siderations is, that an intelligent individual who should
know the structure, and functions, and laws of health of the
vital organs of the human body,-the quality (i. e. whether
strong or weak, sound or diseased) of the constitution
which each of the thousand persons had inherited from his
progenitors,—and the moral and physical influences to which
each should be subjected, could predict with a great ap-
proximation to accuracy,-which of the thousand would die
within the year. If this view be correct, the ten deaths in
the thousand, which, in the present circumstances of social
life, appear like the result of a fatal fiat, would become
merely the exponent of the number of individuals in whose
persons the conditions of health and life had de facto been
so far infringed as to produce the result under consideration;
without necessarily implying either that these conditions are
in themselves inscrutable, or that the course of action which
violates them is unavoidable. The sway of fatalism would
16
What should Secular Education embrace?
disappear, and in its place a government calculated to serve
as a guide to the conduct of moral and intelligent beings
would be revealed;-a government of which causation, re-
gular in its action, certain in its effects, and scrutable in
its forms, would constitute the foundation.
Moreover, it would follow from this view, that in the
administration of God's secular providence in consigning ten
individuals out of the thousand to the grave, and leaving
nine hundred and ninety alive, as little of favouritism as of
fatalism is to be discovered. The only sentence which each
individual would find recorded regarding himself would be,
that he must either obey the conditions of health, or suffer
the consequences of infringing them.
It may be objected that it is impossible for any one indi-
vidual to acquire all the requisite information; but this ob-
jection is foreign to the question. The real point at issue is,
whether, if our instruction were directed by a just apprecia-
tion of these principles, it would be possible for an intelligent
person between 20 and 30 years of age, to acquire from his
parents, his teachers, his medical advisers, books, and his
own observation and experience, a knowledge of the con-
ditions of life and health in relation to himself? and whether,
if instructed in them, and trained from infancy to venerate
and observe them as Divine institutions, and supported in
doing so by social manners and public opinion, he could then,
in an adequate degree, comply with the conditions, and
escape from the supposed fatal list? I can perceive no
reason for answering in the negative. If, in the first hun-
dred years after the members of any community began to
act on those principles, one individual in the thousand, could
escape from the list, and reduce the mortality to nine, the
principle would be established; and the question in subse-
quent centuries would be only how far this knowledge and
obedience could be carried.
In point of fact, the records of mortality prove that the
view now stated, correctly represents the principle on which
the continuance of life is administered by the Divine ruler of
the world. When read in connection with history, these
records shew that if the intelligence, morality, industry,
cleanliness, and orderly habits of a community be improved,
the result will be an increase in the duration of life in that
people. Thus, in 1786, the yearly rate of mortality for the
whole of England and Wales was 1 in 42 or in other
words, 1 out of every 42 of the whole inhabitants died
annually. In the Seventh Annual Report (p. 19) of the
What should Secular Education embrace ?
17
Registrar General, it is stated that the rate of mortality for
the whole of England, on an average of 7 years, ending in
1844, was 1 in 46. Allowing for some errors in the earlier
reports and tables, the substantial fact remains incontestible,
that the average duration of human life to each individual
is increasing in England and Wales, and from the causes
here assigned.
Moreover, Professor Simpson, in a recent pamphlet on the
value and necessity of the statistical method of inquiry as
applied to various questions in operative surgery, presents
direct evidence in support of the proposition which I am now
maintaining.
The following table, he says, calculated from the bills of
mortality of London, demonstrates statistically. that, in con-
sequence of improvements in the practice of midwifery (and
I should say also, in consequence of the improved habits and
condition of the people), the number of deaths in childbed in
that city in the 19th century was less by one-half than that
which occurred in the 17th century. The table is the fol-
lowing:-
Average number of Mothers dying in childbed in London
from 1660 to 1820.
YEARS.
PROPORTION OF MOTHERS LOST.
For 20 years ending in…………..1680......1 in every 44 delivered.
For 20 years ending in..
For 20 years ending in…………….
For 20 years ending in
For 20 years ending in
་
1700.. .1
• •
•
.1720. 1
• •
•
• .
.1740. · 1
•
....
1760..
•
For 20 years ending in......1780…………….1
For 20 years ending in- 1800......1
For 20 years ending in......1820...
•
...
• •
1
:
:
:
56
69
71
77
...
82
110
107
:
It is probable that in the earlier years included in this
table the records were more imperfect than they were in the
later years, and that the difference of the mortality is in con-
sequence exaggerated; but, again, making every reasonable
allowance for errors and omissions, the grand result is still
the same, a diminution of deaths from a more rigid conformity
to the conditions according to which the Ruler of the world
dispenses the boon of life.
Further, the records of mortality, when arranged accord-
ing to the different classes of society, and different localities of
the same country, indicate the soundness of the same principle.
In the pamphlet on the "Relation between Religion and
Science," p. 24, I cited the following results presented by a
18
What should Secular Education embrace ?
report of the mortality in Edinburgh and Leith for the year
1846:
The mean age at death of the 1st class, composed of gentry
and professional men, was
431 years.
The mean age at death of the 2d class, composed of mer-
chants, master-tradesmen, clerks, &c., was
The mean age at death of the 3d class, composed of artizans,
labourers, servants, &c., was
•
36 years.
27 years.
It is a reasonable inference from, although not necessarily
implied in, this table, that the 3d class furnished a larger
proportion of the ten deaths in the thousand persons between
the ages of 20 and 30 than the 2d, and this class a larger
proportion of them than the 1st; and, as God is no respecter
of artificial rank, that the differences in the proportions were
the result of the individuals of the 1st and 2d classes having
fulfilled more perfectly than those in the 3d, the conditions on
which He proffers to continue with them His boon of life.
Again, Mr Chadwick testifies that "while one child out of
every ten dies within the year at Tiverton-and one-tenth
is the average of the county,-one in five dies at Exeter," in
consequence of deficient sewerage and improper habits in the
people. The reports of the Registrar-General of England
afford overwhelming evidence of a similar kind. The same
conclusion follows from these facts-that life is administered
according to regular laws, which the inhabitants of some lo-
calities obey to a greater extent than those of others :-in
other words, that a knowledge of the causes which favour the
endurance of life, and of those which produce disease and
death, is an acquaintance with the order of God's providence
in this grand department of the government of the world. And
if this be the case, can we doubt that the relations of cause and
effect, in virtue of which life is preserved, and death ensues,
were rendered by God cognizable by the human understand-
ing, with the design of serving as guides to human conduct?
The suggestion here presents itself, that as an intimate
knowledge of the structure, functions, and laws of the vital
organs of the body, is apparently the true key to the right
understanding of the order of God's secular Providence in
dispensing health and life, and disease and death, to indi-
viduals, it is possible that, in like manner, an intimate
acquaintance with the functions, relations, and laws of the
faculties of the mind, may open the path to the discovery
of the mode in which the Divine government of the moral
world is conducted.
By the moral government of the world, is meant the con-
trol and direction maintained by the Divine Ruler over human
What should Secular Education embrace?
19
actions, by means of which He leads individuals and the
race to fulfil the objects for which He instituted them. The
problem is to discover the manner in which this government
is accomplished. As observed in the pamphlet on Religion
and Science, our ancestors in the 17th century believed
this government to be conducted by special acts of super-
natural interference on the part of God with human af-
fairs. Science has banished this idea, and has substi-
tuted in its place the notion that the moral world also is
governed by natural laws; but it has made small progress
in unfolding what these laws are, and how they operate.
The consequence is, that, at this moment, even enlightened
men have no systematic or self-consistent notions concern-
ing the mode in which the Divine government of the moral
world is conducted. They acknowledge in words that there
is a Divine government in the moral as well as in the physi-
cal world, and that it is by natural laws; but here they have
stopped, and most of them are silent concerning the mode of
that government. In consequence of the exclusion, effected
by science, of the notion that special acts of Divine interfer-
ence now take place in human affairs, the religious teaching
founded on that principle has become effete. It has not been
formally given up, but it is no longer of practical efficacy.
Hence, we are at this moment really a people without
any acknowledged, self-consistent, satisfactory, or practical
notions concerning the moral government of the world; in
other words, concerning the order of God's providence in
governing the actions of men, and educing from them the
results which He designed.
How is this deficiency to be supplied? Apparently in the
same manner in which we have supplied our other defects of
knowledge of the order of God's providence in the physical
and organic kingdoms. Do we know intimately the machinery
by means of which the government of the moral world is
maintained and conducted? The answer must be in the
negative. Have we any science of mind resembling in pre-
cision, minuteness, and certainty, the sciences of astronomy
and chemistry? Monsieur De Bonald, in words quoted by Mr
Dugald Stewart, answers the question. "Diversity of doc-
trine," says he, "has increased from age to age with the
number of masters, and with the progress of knowledge;
and Europe, which at present possesses libraries filled with
philosophical works, and which reckons up almost as many
philosophers as writers; poor in the midst of so much wealth;
and uncertain, with the aid of all its guides, which road it
should follow;-Europe, the centre and focus of all the
20
What should Secular Education embrace?
lights of the world, has yet its philosophy only in expecta-
tion."
"'*
If the science of mind be as indispensable to our under-
standing the manner in which the Divine government of the
moral world is conducted, as is the science of matter to our
comprehending the order of that government in the physical
world, and if Monsieur De Bonald's description of the condi-
tion of mental science be correct, there is no cause for sur-
prise at the darkness which envelopes us in regard to the
government of the moral world.
It is too certain that Monsieur De Bonald is in the right;
for although man has received a material body, has been
placed in a material world, been subjected during his whole
life to material influences, and can act on the external world
only through the instrumentality of material organs, never-
theless, in the most esteemed treatises on the philosophy of
mind, moral and intellectual faculties are described without
mention of special organs, or of the influence of these in
modifying the manifestations of the faculties; and without
taking notice of the relation of each faculty and organ to the
other faculties and organs, or to external objects. Here, then,
a dark abyss of ignorance, apparently impassable, breaks off
all practical knowledge of the connection of the body with the
mind, and of the organs by means of which the mind acts, and
is acted upon, by the external moral and physical creation. And
if our knowledge of the order of God's providence can increase
only with our knowledge of the means or instruments through
which He administers it, are we to sit quietly down, and
allow this state of ignorance to continue for ever?
The cause why it has continued so long appears to me to
be obvious enough. In a state of health, most men have no
consciousness of the existence and interposition of material
organs in thinking. They are conscious of thoughts and
feelings, but not of organs; and people have been taught to
ascribe all the phenomena of consciousness to mind alone.
Consequently, they are offended with those who refer such
phenomena in any degree to the influence of organs. Never-
theless, facts which are revealed by the most ordinary observa-
tion, shew that our mental manifestations are influenced, at
every moment of our lives, by the condition of the organs.
The question then occurs, May not the key to a knowledge of
the manner in which God governs the world of mind be found
in the study of these organs, and their laws and relations?
One point seems to be clear enough; namely, that if God has
* Stewart's Preliminary Dissertation to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. i.,
p. 230.
What should Secular Education embrace?
21
instituted mental organs, and ordained their functions, their
constitution and laws must be adapted to the constitution
and laws of all the other departments of creation; and that,
therefore, a correct knowledge of the relations of the world
of mind to the world of matter, must be unattainable while
we remain in ignorance of the mental organs.
A knowledge of these organs, therefore, and their rela-
tions and laws, appears calculated at last to form a bridge
across the abyss of ignorance, which has hitherto concealed
from our view the manner in which the Divine government
of the moral world is conducted.
Let us inquire, then, whether the system of Divine govern-
ment before described, stops with the inorganic and organic
departments of creation; or whether it extends into the do-
main of mind. One of the most striking anomalies in the
moral government of the world consists in the wide-spread-
ing magnitude and frequency of crime. Is it possible to dis-
cover whence it arises? Is it a direct result of the institu-
tions of the Creator, or does it spring from abuses of faculties
that are in themselves good? Statistical inquiries into hu-
man conduct present the same striking indications of uni-
formity in results as do those into the endurance of life.
Mons. Quetelet furnishes us with the following table relative
to crime in France:

Accused and
brought per-
YEARS. sonally be- Condemned.
before the
Tribunals.
Number
of Inha-
bitants
for each
person
accused.
Number
condemn-
ed out of
each 100
accused.
Accused of Crime.
Against
the per-
son.
Propor-
tion
between
Against
property.
these
classes.
1826
6988
4348
4457
62
1907
5081
2.7
1827
6929
4236
4593
61
1911
5018
2.6
1828 7396
4551 4307
61
1844
5552
3.0
1829 7373
4475 4321
61
1791 5582 3.1
Total 28,686 17,610 4463 61 7453 21,233
"Thus," says Mons. Quetelet, "although we do not yet
possess the statistical returns for 1830, it is highly probable
that we shall find, for that year also, 1 person accused out
of every 4463 inhabitants, and 61 condemned out of each 100
accused. The probability becomes less for 1831, and less for
the succeeding years. We are in the same condition for es-
timating by the results of the past, the facts which we shall
see realized in the future. This possibility of assigning be-
22
What should Secular Education embrace?
forehand, the number of the accused and condemned which
should occur in a country, is calculated to lead to serious re-
flections, since it involves the fate of several thousands of
human beings, who are impelled, as it were, by an irresistible
necessity, to the bars of the tribunals, and towards the sen-
tences of condemnation which there await them. These con-
clusions flow directly from the principle, already so often.
stated in this work, that effects are in proportion to their
causes, and that the effects remain the same if the causes
which have produced them do not vary.
""
The same uniformity is observable in Great Britain. A
return to the House of Commons, dated 22d May 1846, shews
the number of persons committed to prison for each of seven-
teen different denominations of offences, including robbery,
housebreaking, arson, forgery, rape, and so forth, for two dif-
ferent periods of five years each, one while the offences were
capital, and one after they had ceased to be so punished.
The result is the following:-
Number of persons committed for the foregoing crimes during the
five years immediately preceding the abolition of the punishment
of death,
Number of ditto during the five years immediately succeed-
ing the abolition of the punishment of death,
7276
7120
?
It is
The first aspect of these facts suggests the idea that fa-
talism is the principle of government in the moral world also ;
and the questions must again be solved-Whether the causes
which produce these constant results are scrutable by man
and if so, whether he is capable of modifying them; if not,
whether he is capable of adapting his conduct to their action
in such a manner as beneficially to vary their results?
remarkable that in all ages, lawgivers have acted on the as-
sumed principle that human volitions are free; for they have
directly forbidden certain actions, and enacted punishments
against those who committed them, without making any in-
quiry into the power of their subjects to obey the law. Even
in modern times, and in the face of statistical returns such
as those now quoted, shewing a constant succession of crimes,
little influenced in amount by the punishments inflicted, and
proclaiming, with trumpet tongue, the existence of causes
lying deeper than mere punishments can reach, the rulers of
nations proceed in their course of assuming absolute free-
dom. They proclaim the law, and inflict punishment for dis-
obedience, irrespective of the mental condition and physical
circumstances of their subjects, as if unquestionable success,
* Sur L'Homme, &c., tome ii., P. 168.
What should Secular Education embrace?
23
instead of failure and disappointment, had hitherto attended
their efforts. But what is the sound conclusion to be drawn
from the facts before us on this important question?
The regularity observable in the numbers of criminals
indicates the existence of regularly operating causes of
crime. The first step in the investigation, therefore, must
be to discover these. Several causes are generally recog-
nised by reflecting men, such as, want of education, bad ex-
ample, destitution, and so forth. These, however, do not
serve to account satisfactorily for the phenomena; for out of
a thousand persons all equally deficient in education, equally
exposed to bad example, and equally destitute, only a defi-
nite and constant number, (say ten,) will become criminals in
any one year in which the external circumstances of all con-
tinue unchanged. This fact shews that the primitive causes
of crime, be they what they may, affect some and not other
individuals; and until we discover what these are, we shall
never understand whether crime is a direct or a contingent
result of the Divine institutions; nor whether human intelli-
gence is capable of modifying these institutions so as to di-
minish or remove it. Moreover, until we make this disco-
very, these causes, although removable, must and will pro-
duce unvarying and constant results, as if they were the mere
instruments of an overwhelming fatalism.
The solution of this problem extends far beyond the de-
partment of mere criminal legislation. It involves the
whole question of God's government of the moral world; of
man's freedom, and of the nature of his responsibility in this
world. If the common assumption that the will of man is
absolutely free were founded in fact, then God could exer-
cise no direct control over the moral world; for the control
of a superior necessarily implies limitation of freedom in the
servient agent. If, on the other hand, He exercises an in-
scrutable and irresistible sway, dooming thousands to com-
mit crime, and to become the victims of the tribunals erected
and administered by their more favoured brethren, every no-
tion of a moral government of the world must be abandoned.
On such a supposition man could enjoy no freedom, and his
only duty would be that of submission in despair.
I have already hinted at the causes why this branch of
knowledge is involved in such apparently hopeless obscurity.
The means by which the Creator conducts the moral admin-
istration of the world have been unknown, and hence His
scheme of government could not be comprehended. If there
any part of the human system by means of which all the
desires, emotions, and intellectual powers of man act, and
be
24
What should Secular Education embrace?
are acted upon by external objects and beings, it appears to
follow, that by studying its constitution, functions, laws, and
relations, in the same spirit and manner as we do those of
the ear, or the eyes, or the lungs, and with analogous objects
in view, we may be able to discover the mode in which it has
pleased God to govern the world of mind; and that then also
we may be in a condition to judge whether the causes of moral
actions in general are subjected to any natural laws, and
whether the moral being himself can exercise any control
over those laws, or modify their results by accommodating
his conduct to their sway. If there be organs subject to
natural laws, which subserve the action of all the inental
powers of man, the Divine government may have its founda-
tion in, and maintain its authority by means of, those organs
and their relations, just as that government is maintained
over health and life through the medium of the laws to
which the vital organs have been subjected. If man be
capable of discovering those organs, of modifying them, or
of accommodating his conduct to their action so as to vary
their results, then will he, within certain limits, be a free
and intelligent agent; and his responsibility will be esta-
blished by the fact, that over the constitution, relations, and
laws of the organs and faculties themselves, and the conse-
quences of good and evil attached to the use and abuse of
them, he will have no command; while, by choosing between
obedience and disobedience, he will enjoy that kind of free-
dom which consists in selecting results.
The constitution of the human mind appears to be adapted
to such a system of things as is here supposed. Man has
received animal propensities and moral sentiments, every
one of which has a legitimate sphere of action, accompanied
by enjoyment; while each may be misapplied, and thereby
become an instrument of suffering. He has received also
intellectual faculties enabling him to observe the qualities
of things that exist, and reflecting faculties that enable him
to perceive causation. These endowments would be abso-
lutely unsuited to a sphere of being in which there was no
fixed order of cause and effect. They presuppose regular
causation; and in bestowing them, the Creator has obviously
invited us to study the means by which He executes His se-
cular providence and to accommodate our conduct to its laws.
In submitting these means to our cognisance, He presents
to us a practical revelation of the course of conduct which
He desires us to pursue in order to work out our own enjoy-
ment in this world. Is it not true, therefore, that in the en-
dowment of objects and beings with specific qualities and
What should Secular Education embrace?
25
modes of action, which we cannot alter, God maintains his
supremacy; while in enabling us to discover these, and to
modify our conduct in relation to them, He bestows on us
all the freedom compatible with our subjection to the govern-
ment of a superior Being?
It is of no consequence to the validity of this argument, in
what part of the body the organs of the mind are situated.
Their mere existence warrants the inference, that they serve
as the media through which God maintains His government
in the moral world. The reader, therefore, may, if he please,
reject phrenology as an idle dream, if he only admit that in
this life the mind is not a disembodied spirit, but acts and is
acted upon through the instrumentality of organs, the condi-
tion of which affects its powers of manifestation.
Let us assume, then, but only for the sake of illustra-
tion, that the brain is the instrument by means of which the
mental faculties act, and are acted upon by the external
world, and let us try to solve the problem of the moral govern-
ment of the world by means of this hypothesis. Suppose that
each primitive animal desire, moral emotion, and intellectual
faculty, is connected with a certain portion of the brain; and
that age, (exercise, health, constitution, and all other things
being the same,) each organ acts with a degree of energy
corresponding to its size. Suppose farther, that in ten indi-
viduals out of a thousand, the size of the animal organs in
relation to the moral and intellectual is plus, and that in the
other 990 the balance of size is equal between these different
groups of organs, or that it predominates in favour of the
moral and intellectual,-we can easily comprehend that in
social circumstances in which stimulants are applied to all
the faculties, the animal desires may be prone to attain a
criminal ascendency in the ten individuals in whom their
organs are in excess; in other words, that these may be the
ten offenders in the thousand.
If all the organs, wherever situated, were instituted by
God; if the connection between their size, health, and other
conditions, and the energy of their action; and also the sub-
ordination in authority of the animal to the moral,- were
established by Him; if certain spheres of action were as-
signed by Him to each of them, and certain consequences
attached to under-action, moderate action, and over-action.-
also to action in accordance with the constitution of exter-
nal objects and beings, and other consequences to action in
discordance with that constitution ;-then it appears to me
that a knowledge of these particulars will, to a certain extent,
constitute information concerning the means by which God
administers the moral and intellectual government of man.
26
What should Secular Education embrace?
If, farther, we assume that man, without being able to
alter the fundamental constitution and relations of any one
of these organs, has, nevertheless, received faculties which
enable him to observe and comprehend them, and to modify
his conduct in relation to the consequences of their action,
we should again have an example of human freedom existing
within prescribed limits, combined with stable, regular, un-
deniable Divine government. Suppose, for example, an indi-
vidual to exist, in whom the size of the animal organs so
far predominated over that of the moral and intellectual
organs, that, in ordinary circumstances, he could not avoid
yielding to external temptation to vicious indulgences; still,
if either he, or the society among whom he lived, possessed
the knowledge of the cause of his proclivity to fall into crime,
he himself, by changing his circumstances, or they, by doing
so for him, might avert the crime, by withdrawing him from
the temptation.
According to this view, the tables of crime adduced by
Mons. Quetelet and others, would indicate only the number
of individuals whose mental organization is so deficient, or
so unfavourably balanced, that they are unable to resist the
external temptations to crime to which they are exposed; but
would not warrant the conclusion, that the better constituted
members of society, if they knew the peculiarities of that
organization, and used all the means which that knowledge
would place in their power to rescue the individuals from
temptation, might not diminish the number of offenders and
offences to an extent as yet unascertained.
The limits of a pamphlet do not allow me to enter on the
consideration of acts of mere vice, imprudence, or folly; or
to show their causes, and the nature of the consequences by
which they are followed. This has, to some extent, been
attempted in my other works; and I can now only remark,
that the principles here expounded apply to them all.
These illustrations are introduced merely to call attention
to the proposition, that if there be now no special interpositions
of Divine power in human affairs, it appears to follow, that
the Divine Ruler must either govern through the constitution
and laws which He has bestowed on the inorganic, organic,
and moral elements of creation, or (in so far as man can
perceive) not govern at all. Moreover, there appears to be
no road open by which human intelligence can discover the
principles according to which the Divine government proceeds,
in administering the details of secular life, and can learn to
act in accordance with them, except that furnished by the
study of the instruments through which it is accomplished.
If the main idea here insisted on be sound, it will present
What should Secular Education embrace?
27
secular education in a new light. Instruction concerning
the qualities, modes of action, and relations of sublunary
things and beings, instead of being godless, will prove to be
an exposition of the means by which God's secular providence
is administered.
The next question, however, is, Will this knowledge be of
itself sufficient to induce and to enable the young to regu-
late their conduct in accordance with the natural laws?
Certainly not. The following desiderata will still need to
be supplied.
Knowledge directly addresses the intellect alone; but the
intellect is more the regulator than the source of active power.
The latter comes chiefly from the propensities and sentiments.
We must therefore train all the propensities and sentiments,
under the direction of the intellect, to act in harmony with
the secular arrangements of God's providence. The senti-
ment of Veneration, for example, must be trained to respect,
to hallow, and to obey, the laws prescribed for human conduct
in the constitution of nature. This sentiment is distinct
from the intellect, and may be led to regard almost any ob-
ject as sacred. In ancient Egypt, it was trained to venerate
reptiles; in ancient Greece and Rome, to reverence images as
gods; in modern Roman Catholic Rome, to invest with sanc-
tity the Pope; in Presbyterian Scotland, to venerate the Bible,
and the clergy who expound it; but in no country with which
I am acquainted, has it been trained to regard as sacred
the order of God's secular providence revealed in nature.
The liability of this sentiment to take almost any direc-
tion given to it in youth, appears to me to explain the widely
different responses which the religious consciences of men
differently educated give to the same question. The Roman
Catholic religious conscience regards it as sinful to eat flesh
on Fridays; while the Protestant religious conscience con-
siders this observance to be superstitious. In Scotland, the
Protestant religious conscience considers it sinful to engage
in any amusement or recreation on Sunday afternoon; while
on the continent of Europe, the religious conscience, both
Protestant and Catholic, generally views recreation on the
Sunday evening as perfectly permissible.
The inference which I draw from these and similar well-
known facts is that it is possible to invest almost any object
or observance with a religious character, provided the senti-
ment of Veneration be trained in childhood and youth to re-
verence it, and be supported through life by the sympathy of
public opinion in its favour. If this conclusion be sound,
and if the secular arrangements by which God exercises His
28
What should Secular Education embrace?
sovereignty in this world, be worthy of the respect of His ra-
tional creatures, then it would be a legitimate and useful
practice to present these arrangements to the young as
objects of regard. When they had been trained to respect
them, perhaps the knowledge thus hallowed might exercise
some influence over their practical conduct.
There are other two sentiments belonging to the higher class
of faculties which strongly influence conduct, namely, Hope,
and Admiration of the wonderful, the great, and the good.
These are the fountains of trust, expectation, faith, and joy
in believing Experience proves that they are distinct from
the intellect, and that, by early training, they may be directed
to very different classes of objects and observances. I should
propose, therefore, to present the order of God's secular pro-
vidence, as revealed in nature, to these sentiments also, as
objects worthy of regard, and should train them to see God
himself revealed in His works. A child thus reared, might
perhaps, when he grew up to man's estate, consider himself
as exercising faith, trust, and confidence in God himself, when
he yielded obedience to His laws; and he might be led even
to believe that God would render the order of His providence
conducive to good, however darkly and imperfectly this ten-
dency might be discerned, in some of its parts, by those of
His creatures, who continued to be the ignorant slaves of
prejudice and passion.
It is impossible in a pamphlet to enter into a full exposi-
tion of this subject. Suffice it to observe, that all the facul-
ties should be trained in youth to respect and obey God's
natural laws; and that I venture to hope for practical results
only after this has been accomplished. The reader is re-
quested to aim at grasping the general idea which is here
expounded, irrespective of the completeness or perfect accu-
racy of all the details.
It will be objected, perhaps, by some individuals, that such
a training of the moral and religious sentiments would be a
complete desecration of them; that it would bind the free
and immortal spirit in the trammels of material laws; render
its actions and aspirations ever subservient to low calcula-
tions of secular good and evil; and, in short, put an end to
spiritual life, and all those inward communings of the soul
with God, which constitute the grand sources of the enjoyment
and consolation afforded by religion.
The answer to this objection is easily given. The educa-
tion and training now proposed, would leave every man free
to follow the bent of his own inclinations in regard to the
whole spiritual kingdom, and its interests and objects. The
What should Secular Education embrace ?
29
only effect of it would be, to place the religious emotions, and
all the other faculties, under the restraints of God's natural
laws, when they acted in sublunary scenes and dealt with
temporal duties.
Farther, the religious sentiments are not singular in being
fountains of inward light. Every faculty has its inward lights
as well as they. An individual, for example, who has an ac-
tive temperament and large organs of Acquisitiveness, is in-
spired by brilliant aspirations after unbounded wealth, and
pictures to himself unlimited happiness in its attainment.
But the modes of producing and attaining riches are really
regulated by natural laws; and these will, in point of fact,
determine his failure or success, whether he believes in their
influence or not. To follow the inward lights of his Acqui-
sitiveness, therefore, irrespective of these laws, is not to en-
joy a rational freedom, but to yield to the blind impulses of
an inferior propensity.
Similar remarks apply to the inspirations of the reli-
gious emotions. While their action is confined to the inte-
rests of eternity and the spiritual kingdom, the laws of that
kingdom are their proper guides; but when they issue forth
into the sphere of temporal objects, they come under the ju-
risdiction of the laws of God's secular providence as certainly
as the animal propensities themselves. They can accomplish
no terrestrial good, except by conforming to these laws; while
they must produce unequivocal evil whenever they transgress
them. This view of the strict subjection of man to the order
of God's secular providence is offensive to many religious
persons; but it is so, in my opinion, only because, owing to
the imperfections of their education, they either do not know
the laws of that order, or have not been trained to reverence
them as sacred.
When the structure and functions of the eye are studied in
relation to the qualities and laws of light, an exquisite adap-
tation of the sense to external luminous bodies is discernible.
The same observation applies to the ear and sonorous bodies;
to the lungs and the respirable gases; in short, to every
organ and function of the body, with which we are suffi-
ciently acquainted. No human sagacity, however, can yet
predicate the precise use of the spleen, and, in consequence,
its adaptation to its objects is a mystery. It appears as
an unmeaning mass, amidst objects resplendent with de-
sign. Similar remarks apply to the brain. To many who
have studied the functions of its different parts, there ap-
pears the same admirable adaptation of them to the exter-
nal world, and to the order of providence embodied in the
30'
What should Secular Education embrace ?
constitution of that world, as is recognised in the case of
the organs before named. We discover organs and faculties
of observation directly related to the qualities of external ob-
jects and beings; organs and faculties related to their phe-
nomena; organs and faculties related to their agencies, and
the consequences which they produce; and organs and facul-
ties related to the interests of man as an individual, and as
a social, a moral, and a religious being. On contemplating
these endowments and relations, and the order of God's pro-
vidence administered through them, the intelligent mind
thrills with vivid emotions of love, gratitude, and admiration
of their Great Author. A "present Deity" is felt to be no
longer a figure of speech, or a flight of poetry, but a positive
and operating reality. We not only feel that we "live, and
move, and have our being" in God, but become acquainted
with the means through which His power, wisdom, and good-
ness affect us, and discover that we are invited, as His mo-
ral and intelligent creatures, to co-operate in the fulfilment
of His designs. The beautiful exclamations of King David,
"If I climb up into heaven, Thou art there; if I go down to
hell, Thou art there also: if I take the wings of the morn-
ing, and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there
also shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold
me," become positive scientific truths; and man takes his
true station as the interpreter and administrator of nature
under the guidance of nature's God.
In the days of Lord Bacon, philosophers speculated and
reasoned concerning the constitution of nature, without suf-
ficiently observing its qualities and phenomena. He recom-
mended to them to observe first, and to reason afterwards;
and so thoroughly has this counsel been followed, that in
modern times, scientific reputations are built up almost ex-
clusively on observations. Science has, perhaps, to too great
an extent, fallen into the hands of men in whom the observing
organs predominate over the reflecting; and it is now rather
an exception than a rule to see practical conclusions regarding
what men should do or abstain from doing, drawn from even
the most elaborate expositions of natural science. There is a
gulf between science and daily life, and another between
science and religion; and the schoolmaster, who, under an
enlarged and enlightened view of the order of God's provi-
dence, should be the expositor of that order to the young,
pursues his daily routine in comparative ignorance of his high
vocation, and is humbly estimated and poorly requited by a
society nearly as ignorant as himself.
To those who are not acquainted with the functions of the
7.
What should Secular Education embrace?
31
different parts of the brain and their relations, this organ,
like the spleen, still appears a mere unmeaning mass of
matter lodged in the interior of the skull, and these views
of its importance may seem to be a hallucination or a dream.
But, as already observed, if they acknowledge the existence.
of mental organs at all, instituted by God, the conclusion ap-
pears to follow that those, wherever situated, are the direct
instruments by means of which He exercises His secular do-
minion in the world of mind; and I hope therefore to be par-
doned for the earnestness of this appeal in favour of the study
of their functions.
If there be any degree of truth in the views now pro-
pounded, the question," What should secular education em-
brace?" may be easily answered. It should embrace instruc-
tion in the qualities, modes of action, relations, and purposes
of the things and beings by means of which the government
of the world is maintained; and also training of the whole
faculties, animal, moral, and intellectual, to action in confor-
mity with the order of Providence.
I do not mean that all the arts and sciences should be
taught to every child, in the manner and to the extent in
which they are now expounded in our universities and higher
seminaries of education. All I here propose is to unfold
principles and views which may form the groundwork, and
serve as guides to the practical evolution of a sound system
of secular education. The details will be best reached after
we have agreed upon the outline. If every teacher will con-
sent to view himself as commissioned to communicate to his
pupils practical instruction concerning the order of God's
secular Providence, and the means by which it is adminis-
tered, and to train them to act in accordance with it,—the
things necessary to be taught, as well as the best mode of
teaching them, will speedily be discerned. If the reader will
visit our common schools, and estimate the things at present
taught and the modes of teaching, with this idea in his mind
as his standard, he will speedily be able to judge to what de-
gree they are fulfilling the object of training the young to act
in accordance with the order of God's secular Providence.
Even our churches may be submitted to the same test with
advantage; for they also profess to shew the way in which
man should walk on earth, as well as to to point out the gate
that leads to heaven. Their secular instruction, therefore,
must be perfect or imperfect, in proportion to its success in
expounding the means by which we may discover and fulfil
the requirements of God's natural laws.
32
What should Secular Education embrace ?
The arts of reading and writing have hitherto been con-
sidered the chief elements of secular education for the people;
while Bible-precepts and catechisms have been viewed as
constituting religious instruction. But, if the principles now
expounded be correct, the imperfections of this curriculum
will be obvious. Reading implies merely the knowledge of the
written or printed artificial signs or words, by means of which
any nation or tribe express their thoughts; and writing is the
forming of these signs ourselves. The signs do not convey
their own meaning; they are merely sounds and forms; and
we must be instructed in their meaning before we can de-
rive any substantial benefit from them. Instruction in the
objects, qualities, relations, and modes of action of the beings
and things which the words are employed to designate, should,
therefore, go hand in hand with the teaching of words them-
selves.
In regard to religious instruction, again, the Bible consti-
tutes the only directory recognised in Protestant countries
concerning the mode of securing everlasting happiness. The
object of the school for religion, therefore, may be held to be
to unfold the means by which eternal interests may be best
secured, and to train the young to practise them.
Although the Bible contains, as subservient to this end,
numerous valuable precepts for regulating secular conduct,
yet, not being intended to supersede the use of observa-
tion and reflection, it embodies no complete exposition of the
special natural agencies by means of which the order of
God's secular Providence is now executed and maintained.
Moreover, it does not expound the arrangements in nature
by which even its own precepts in regard to the duties and
interests of this life are enforced and rendered practical.
Hence secular instruction, such as is now recommended, is
necessary to render practical the moral precepts even of the
Bible itself. Every precept of the Bible, therefore, which
has a counterpart in nature, and which is supported and
enforced by the order of God's natural Providence, may le-
gitimately be introduced into secuiar schools.
It is impossible, however, to draw a precise line of demar-
cation between secular and religious education, because, in
point of fact, when we instruct children in the order of nature,
and train them to reverence it, we teach them religion as well
as science. Those doctrines only which rest exclusively on
the authority of supernatural revelation, seem to belong pe-
culiarly to the school for religious teaching.
It appears to me that it would be difficult to exaggerate
the beneficial effects that might eventually be elicited from a
What should Secular Education embrace?
33
scheme of secular education founded on these principles. The
young-trained to direct their observing faculties to the
study of the things and beings which exist, as instruction ad-
dressed to them by God, and their reflecting faculties to the
study of the causes of natural phenomena; and taught, more-
over, to comprehend, that, to the action of these causes, cer-
tain consequences have been attached by Divine intelligence,
which, at every moment, affect their own condition, and
which they can neither alter nor evade, but to which they
may, or may not, as they choose, accommodate their conduct
-the young, I say, thus instructed and trained, might, per-
haps, at last be enabled to comprehend that they are ac-
tually placed under a real and practical Divine government
on earth, and they might be led to feel some disposition to
act in harmony with its laws.
The general soundness of the argument now maintained
is supported by facts open to the observation of all. What
is called the "common sense" of mankind, has induced them
in all ages, in spite of the diversities of their religious
creeds, to act on the foregoing views of the government of
the world, so far as they have been able to comprehend them.
They have generally believed instinctively in a Divine go-
vernment, and at the same time in human freedom. They
have generally endeavoured, when sick, to escape from dis-
ease and death by removing what they believed to be their
causes; they have pursued happiness by following what
they conceived to be the natural road that led to it; and they
have also acknowledged and approved of the consequences
attached by nature to virtue and vice, however far short they
may have fallen, either in successfully warding off disease
and death, in attaining temporal felicity, or in avoiding im-
morality. The doctrine, therefore, which I am advocat-
ing, would, if carried into effect, confer on common sense,—in
other words, on the operations of our instinctive principles
of action,—some degree of the clearness, consistency, fruit-
fulness, and utility of powers guided by science and religion,
instead of leaving them to grope in the dark, and to act at
hazard. Farther, many reflecting men are distressed by the
discord which reigns between the popular expositions of re-
ligion and the obvious dictates of science. But the doctrine
now advanced, by opening up comprehensible and practi-
cal views of the order of God's providence on earth, would
enable them in some degree to establish harmony between
their religious and scientific convictions. Again, by invest-
ing all God's secular institutions with that character of
sacredness which truly belongs to them, it would add a new
34
What should Secular Education embrace?
and an elevated motive to the intellect to discover and apply
all natural truth.
I am well aware, however, that some persons may regard
these views as doctrinally unsound. But is there no error in
the religious opinions of such men themselves? Must the
minds of every succeeding generation in this great country
be for ever cribbed and cabined in the dark formulas of the
seventeenth century? Will science not yet assert its own
fountain to be in God? Will man never venture to take
his place as the moral and intelligent co-operator with his
great Creator, in carrying into effect the secular objects of
Divine wisdom and goodness? If he will do so, let him shake
off the trammels of bygone ages, rouse the mighty energies.
that have been conferred upon him; and, with his feet upon
the earth, and his whole mind directed to God, intrepidly fol-
low the beacon lights presented by nature to his reason, and
fear neither disparagement to his Maker nor peril to himself
while he travelin the paths of science, and adopts its revela-
tions as assistant guides to his temporal conduct.
Above all, let not the laity in their zeal for the holiest
of causes, allow themselves to trample science under foot.
It comes from God, and is addressed by Him to our intellects
and our consciences for the guidance of our secular conduct.
Let them not desert the standards of divine truth unfurled
on the fields of nature, in order to prostrate themselves be-
fore those raised by fallible men; but let them embrace and
reverence every truth in whatever record it is to be found.
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bearing of physiology upon moral and intellectual training, has been added in
the later editions.
CONTENTS:-CHAP. I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.-ÏÌ. NATURE AND USES OF PHYSIOLOGY.
-III. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SKIN.-IV. CONDITIONS OF HEALTH OF THE
SKIN, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE GENERAL SYSTEM.-V. NATURE OF THE MUSCULAR
SYSTEM. VI. RULES FOR MUSCULAR EXERCISE.-VII. THE BONES; THEIR STRUCTURE,
USES, AND CONDITIONS OF HEALTH.-VIII. ON THE BLOOD AND THE ORGANS OF CIRCU-
LATION.-IX. THE LUNGS, THEIR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.-RESPIRATION AND ITS
USES.-X. LAWS OF RESPIRATION-CONDITIONS OF HEALTH OF THE LUNGS.-XI. THE
BRAIN AND NERVES CONSIDERED IN THEIR RELATION TO THE REST OF THE BODY AND
TO THE MENTAL FACULTIES.-XII. CONDITIONS OF HEALTH OF THE BRAIN-LAWS OF
MENTAL EXERCISE.-XIII. APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES TO THE HEALTHI
OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND TO GENERAL EDUCATION.-XIV. INFLUENCE
OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM UPON THE GENERAL HEALTH.-XV. APPLICATION OF
PRECEDING PRINCIPLES TO THE ORIGIN AND PREVENTION OF BAD HEALTH.
"A treatise which contains more sound philosophy, more true practical wisdom, relative
to the all-important subject of preserving health, than any other volume in our language;
and which, while it is calculated to please and benefit the public generally, is no less
adapted for the study of professional men. The extremely large sale of the former editions
of this work, is, at once, cvidence of its merits, and a gratifying proof that the reading part
of the public are becoming daily more awake to the importance of that branch of philo-
sophy of which it treats. Since its first appearance in the spring of 1834, nine editions,
consisting together of 14,000 copies, havo been exhausted in this country, and upwards of
30,000 copies in the United States of America. We believe such a wide circulation as this
of a medical book, can only be stated of that before us, and of the other works of Dr
Combe."-British and Foreign Medical Review, October 1841.
"The work of Dr Combe is, to a great extent, we think, original. . . . The style is so
plain, and the arguments so convincing, that no person can fail to perceive how intimately
his health and happiness are connected with the truths which the author has endeavoured
to enforce.
The aim of the author has been to speak to the whole community.
His book most admirably applies to persons of all conditions, and to every variety of
situation."-Quarterly Journal of Education.

ADVERTISEMENTS.
3
•
II. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF DIGESTION considered with relation
to the PRINCIPLES OF DIETETICS. By ANDREW COMBE, M.D.,
M.D., &c.
With Illustrative Woodcuts. Seventh or People's Edition, neat 12mo, price
2s. 6d.
CONTENTS.-CHAP. I. GENERAL REMARKS ON WASTE, GROWTH, AND NUTRITION.-II ›
THE APPETITES OF HUNGER AND THIRST, AND THEIR USES.-III. MASTICATION, INSALI-
VATION, AND DEGLUTITION.-IV. ORGANS OF DIGESTION: THE STOMACH AND ITS STRUC-
TURE.--V. ORGANS CONCERNED IN INTESTINAL DIGESTION.--VI. AGENTS CONCERNED IN
DIGESTION: THE GASTRIC JUICE, ITS PROPERTIES AND MODE OF ACTION.--VII. CONDITIONS
REQUIRED FOR SECURING HEALTHY DIGESTION.--VIII. TIMES OF EATING.--IX. ON THE
PROPER QUANTITY OF FOOD.--X. CONDITIONS TO BE OBSERVED BEFORE AND AFTER
EATING.--XI. THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSTITUTION AND OF FOOD CONSIDERED WITH
RELATION TO EACH OTHER.--XII. ADAPTATION OF DIET TO CONSTITUTION, AGE, SEASON,
AND MODE OF LIFE.--XIII. ON DRINKS.--XIV. ON THE PROPER REGULATION OF THE
BOWELS.
“Of this admirable work we have already more than once expressed our opinion. It
leaves nothing to be desired on the subject of which it treats, as far as regards the class
of persons to whom it is principally addressed; and we are of opinion that there are few
members of the profession who will not derive advantage from its perusal.”—British and
Foreign Medical Review, January 1842.
III. A TREATISE ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MORAL
MANAGEMENT OF INFANCY: Being a Practical Exposition of the Prin-
ciples of Infant Training, for the Use of Parents. By ANDREW COMBE, M.D.,
&c. Sixth or People's Edition, revised and considerably enlarged, neat 12mo,
price 2s. 6d.
"After a careful perusal of this little volume from beginning to end, we do not hesitate
to pronounce it to be one of the most valuable and most important works that has issued
from the medical press for years. We make this statement in reference as well to the
matter of the book as to the manner in which it is written, and also the probable extent
to which it will be read. . . . Indeed we are persuaded, from long experience and obser-
vation, that there are few members of the profession who will not derive some benefit from
this little work; while to young practitioners, and to all enlightened parents, it cannot fail
to prove of inestimable value”—British and Foreign Medical Review,
IV. PHRENOLOGY-Its NATURE and USES: An Address to the
Students of Anderson's University, Glasgow, at the opening of Dr WEIR'S
first Course of Lectures on Phrenology in 1846. By ANDREW COMBE, M.D.,
&c. Price 6d.
V. EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS on the GASTRIC
JUICE AND PHYSIOLOGY OF DIGESTION. BY WILLIAM BEAUMONT,
M.D., Surgeon to the United States Army. Reprinted with Notes by ANDrew
COMBE, M.D., &c. 1 vol., post 8vo, price 7s.
Alexis St Martin, the young man on whom Dr Beaumont's experiments were made,
-presented an external opening into the stomach, the result of a gunshot wound, from
which, in other respects, he entirely recovered. Through the hole thus left, the interior
of the stomach could be seen, and the process of digestion investigated. The experiments
extended over a period of three years, and embraced many points of great practical interest
in the management of diet.
"We speak advisedly when we assert that we know no more valuable contribution to
physiology within our memory."-Dublin Medical Press.


MACLACHLAN, STEWART, & CO., EDINBURGH;
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON; JAMES M'GLASHAN, DUBLIN:
D. ROBERTSON, GLASGOW; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
4
ADVERTISEMENTS.
CHEAP REPRINTS OF AMERICAN WORKS.
I. ESSAYS ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THEIR POLITICAL
GUARANTIES. By E. P. HURLBUT, one of the Judges in the Supreme
Court of the State of New York. With a Preface and Notes by GEORGE
COMBE. Royal 8vo, price 2s.
CONTENTS:-ORIGIN OF HUMAN RIGHTS.-TRUE FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT. CONSTI-
TUTION OF GOVERNMENT.-CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS AND PROHIBITIONS.-ELECTIVE
FRANCHISE. RIGHTS EMANATING FROM THE SENTIMENTS AND AFFECTIONS.-RIGHTS OF
WOMAN.-RIGHT OF PROPERTY, AND ITS MORAL RELATIONS-INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.
-APPENDIX OF NOTES, BY G. COMBE.
II. THOUGHTS ON
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND THE
TRUE MODE OF IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF MAN. By CHARLES
CALDWELL, M.D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Medical Juris-
prudence, Louisville, Kentucky. With a Recommendatory Preface by GEORGE
COMBE. Second British Edition, royal 8vo, price ls.
"Dr Caldwell's Thoughts on Physical Education' contains facts and principles of great
interest to every parent and teacher, and is calculated to be highly useful in advancing
the cause of rational education.”—Dr A. Combe's Physiology applied to Health and
Education.
"Dr Caldwell's views are very judicious, and presented in such a form as to be intelli
gible to all.”—Lancet.
"We earnestly recommend to all who have children to educate, an attentive perusal of
these Thoughts.”—Analyst.
"This most valuable little volume should be in the possession, and in the thoughts and
practice, not only of every teacher of youth, but of every parent who desires health of
mind and body to bless his children. As a system of the principles of practical
education, the book is complete."-Phrenological Journal.
•
·
“It is concise, luminous, and philosophical, and written throughout with energy and
eloquence."-Glasgow Constitutional.
"This work should be in the hands of every person entrusted with the education of
children; it should be perused by every mother, and it will be read with instruction and
advantage by thousands who have hitherto fancied they had little to learn on the subject."
-Edinburgh Chronicle.
III. MENTAL HYGIENE: Or, AN EXAMINATION OF THE
INTELLECT and PASSIONS, designed to illustrate their INFLUENCE ON
HEALTH AND THE DURATION OF LIFE. BY WILLIAM SWEETSER,
M.D., late Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Royal 8vo, price 1s. 6d.
"We shall close our notice of this excellent and truly intellectual performance, not
without urgently recommending its attentive and careful perusal to all who desire the
• mens sana in corpore sano.””—Medico-Chirurgical Review, July 1844.
"It contains a great deal of good sense on some very important topics.”—Northern Jour
nal of Medicine, Sept. 1844.
"This admirable little treatise cannot be too extensively circulated."-Lancet.
"A clear and judicious exposition of the subject of which it treats."-Scotsman.
“It is distinguished by sagacity and good sense, and is tastefully and intelligibly writ-
ten.”—Perthshire Advertiser.

MACLACHLAN, STEWART, & CO., EDINBURGH;
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON;
J. M'GLASHAN, DUBLIN; D. ROBERTSON, GLASGOW.
-