rational and efficient system being adopted, and till a powerful and simultaneous movement take place among all classes, in order to the erection and endowment of seminaries calculated to produce a moral and an intellectual education. For many of the principles which pervade the present mode of tuition require to be completely reversed, and a system organized which shall form the foundation of the future progress of the human race-which will bear the test of succeeding and enlightened ages-which will render the acquisition of knowledge pleasant and desirable to the young-and which will embrace every thing that is interesting to man as an intellectual being, as a member of society, and as a candidate for a blessed immortality.

In the meantime, I am fully convinced, (however extravagant and paradoxical the sentiment may appear,) that the great majority of our youth acquire more real and substantial knowledge, during their play hours, and in their various amusements and intercourses with each other, than they acquire during the formal process of teaching while in school. At these times they acquire a rude knowledge of the appearances and qualities of various objects; of some of the laws of Nature and its general scenery; of the forms, economy, and varieties of vegetables,-of the habits and instincts of animals; of the application of several mechanical powers; and of the various modifications of human temper and action. Their games at shuttle-cock, nine-pins, marbles, balls and tops-their exercises in swimming, running, climbing, swinging and jumping their visits to museums, menageries, and other exhibitions of natural and artificial curiosities their views of the shipping, and the operations connected with it in seaport towns their occasional excursions to the delightful and romantic scenes of the country, and the daily spectacle of the ebbing and flowing of the sea, of the sun shining in his glory, and of the moon walking in brightness among the host of stars-convey to their minds fragments of useful knowledge, more diversified and practical, than any thing they acquire from their catechisms, spelling-books, grammars, and "English Readers," in the manner in which they are generally taught. In school they acquire, indeed, the means of knowledge, in being taught the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic; but as they are seldom taught to apply these means to their proper ends, little knowledge is thereby acquired; and, in the majority of instances, they depart from school, and pass the remainder of their lives, without ever thinking of making the further cultivation of their minds even a subordinate object of pursuit-glad that they are at length released from the confinement and drudgery

connected with scholastic discipline. As a proof of this I need only appeal to the ignorance, the prejudices, the foolish opinions and the wayward passions, which still pervade the greater portion of the inferior ranks of our population, and even of the middling and higher classes-and the disinclination which so generally exists to rational investigations, and to prosecuting the path of mental improvement.

Much has of late been said on the subject of abolishing corporal punishment in schools; and it is certainly a highly desirable object, which we should endeavour to promote by But we can have every means in our power. little hope that this will ever be fully attained while the present plan of education continues in operation, and while the majority of children are so injudiciously trained, as at present, by their parents and guardians. If, however, the evils complained of in this chapter were removed; if the books which are put into the hands of children were interesting and level to their comprehension; if they were taught to understand the lessons they read and commit to memory; if the understanding and the affections were as frequently exercised as the memory; if the mechanical drudgery of grammar were postponed to a period when they could enter into its spirit and applications; if the processes of arithmetic were more frequently illustrated by sensible objects and representa tions; if interesting experiments and repre sentations, calculated to illustrate the operations of nature and art, were frequently exhibited; if ample and agreeable accommodation were furnished, both within and without doors; if they were not too long confined in school; a spirit of conciliation on the part of teachers, and a disposition to bestow merited commendation, were generally exercised; if every branch of education were taught at separate hours, and the attention of the pupil completely engaged while in school; and if a system of moral training were to form a prominent object in the business of education-we have good reason to believe that corporal punishment might be almost, if not altogether superseded; and the employment of teaching in crowded promiscuous schools-instead of resembling Paul's "fighting with beasts at Ephesus," might become a rational, interesting, and delightful employment, both to the teacher and to the scholars.*

if

*The preceding strictures, chiefly written in 1821, were published in the Edinburgh Christian Instructor, for March 1822, and February 1823 The Author has good grounds for stating, that they proved a stimulus to the active mind of its learned Editor, the late Dr. A. Thomson, in exciting to in St. George's Parish, over which he presided, those arrangements which were afterwards made for establishing schools on a more enlightened

CHAPTER III.

Hints in reference to a comprehensive and improved system of Education.

with general opinion and practice, is certainly a very limited and defective view of the subject In the ordinary mode of our scholastic instruction, education, so far from being finished at the age above stated, can scarcely be said to have commenced. The key of knowledge has indeed been put into the hands of the young; but they have never been taught

THE education of human beings, considered ir its most extensive sense, comprehends every thing which is requisite to the cultivation and improvement of the faculties bestowed upon them by the Creator. It ought to embrace every thing that has a tendency to strengthen and invigorate the animal system-to enlighten and expand the understanding-to regulate the feelings and dispositions of the heart to unlock the gates of the Temple of Science, and, in general, to direct the moral powers in such a manner as to render those who are the subjects of instruction happy in themselves, useful members of society, and qualified for entering on the scenes and employments of a future and more glorious existence. The series of instructions by which these ends are to be attained, ought to be continued, not merely for five or six years, or less than the tenth part of the period of human existencebut during the whole of that interval which lies between the cradle and the grave.

It is a very common but absurd notion, and has been too long acted upon-that the education of our youth terminates, or should terminate, about the age of thirteen or fourteen years. Hence, in an article on this subject, in one of our encyclopedias, education is defined to be "that series of means by which the human understanding is gradually enlightened, between infancy and the period when we consider ourselves as qualified to take a part in active life, and ceusing to direct our views to the acquisition of new knowledge or the formation of new habits, are content to act upon the principles we have already acquired." This definition, though accordant

system, both for the children of the higher and the lower ranks within that district. In the autumn of 1823, the author had several conversations with the Doctor, by special request, in reference to this subject, in which he unfolded his leading ideas on what he considered the true principles of education and the improvements that required to be introduced, which in general met the Doctor's approbation, and appeared to coincide with the views he had lately adopted on the subject. He showed the author, at the same time, a variety of natural and artificial objects, which he had partly purchased, and partly received as donations from certain benevolent ladies, with the view of introducing them as part of an improved system of tuition which he intended soon to establish; and urgently requested him to continue his disquisitions on education, in the Christian Instructor, at certain moderate intervals between the appearance of the different essays, in order that the subject might be kept for some time before the view of the public. The intended communications, owing to certain circumstances, were never

to enter within its portals, to contemplate its treasures, and to feast their minds on the entertainments there provided. Several moral rules and maxims have been impressed on their memories; but they have seldom been taught to appreciate them in all their bearings, or to reduce them to practice in the various and minute ramifications of their conduct. Besides, although every rational means were employed for training the youthful mind till near the age of puberty, no valid reason can be assigned why regular instruction should cease at this early period. Man is a progressive being; his faculties are capable of an indefinite expansion; the objects to which these faculties may be directed are boundless and infinitely diversified; he is moving onward to an eternal world, and, in the present state, can never expect to grasp the universal system of created objects, or to rise to the highest point of moral excellence. His tuition, therefore, cannot be supposed to terminate at any period of his terrestrial existence; and the course of his life ought to be considered as nothing more than the course of his education. When he closes his eyes in death, and bids a last adieu to every thing here below, he passes

published; but the substance of what was then intended to be communicated will be found in the following pages. The schools established by Dr. Thomson, alluded to above, along with the Edinburgh Sessional School, under the superintendence of Mr. Wood, are material improvements on the usual mode of scholastic instruction, and though deficient in many important particulars, approximate, in a considerable degree, to the true intellectual mode of tuition.

The strictures thrown out in the preceding pages, more particularly apply to the parochial and other schools in Scotland, for the instruction of the middle and lower classes; but most of them are likewise applicable to the general modes of tuition in England. Since the period stated above. when they were first written, a few schools on more improved plans, have been established; but their number does not, perhaps. exceed twenty or thirty throughout the whole of North Britain; so that the preceding remarks will still apply to the modes of instruction generally practised in our country.

into a more permanent and expansive sphere of existence, where his education will likewise be progressive, and where intelligences of a higher order may be his instructors; and the education he received in this transitory scene, if it was properly conducted, will form the groundwork of all his future progressions in knowledge and virtue throughout the succeeding periods of eternity.

There are two very glaring defects which appear in most of our treatises on education. In the first place, the moral tuition of youthful minds, and the grand principles of religion which ought to direct their views and conduct, are either entirely overlooked, or treated of in, so vague and general a manner, as to induce a belief that they are considered as matters of very inferior moment; and, in the business of teaching, and the superintendence of the young, the moral precepts of Christianity are seldom made to bear, with particularity, upon every malignant affection that manifests itself, and every minor delinquency that appears in their conduct-or to direct the benevolent affections how to operate in every given circumstance, and in all their intercourses and associations. In the next place, the idea that man is a being destined to an immortal existence, is almost, if not altogether overlooked. Volumes have been written on the best modes of training men for the profession of a soldier, of a naval officer, of a merchant, of a physician, of a lawyer, of a clergyman, and of a statesman; but I know of no treatise on this subject which, in connection with other subordinate aims, has for its grand object to develope that train of instruction which is most appropriate for man considered as a candidate for immortality. This is the more unaccountable, since, in the works alluded to, the eternal destiny of human beings is not called in question, and is sometimes referred to as a general position which

of instruction through which he now passes has an important bearing on his happiness in that state, and his preparations for its employments-every system of education must be glaringly defective which either overlooks, or throws into the shade, the immortal destination of human beings.

If these sentiments be admitted as just, the education of the young must be a subject of the highest importance-and there cannot be an object more interesting to Science, to Religion, and to general Christian society, than the forming of those arrangements, and the establishing of those institutions, which are calcuculated to train the minds of all ranks to knowledge and moral rectitude, and to guide their steps in the path which leads to a blessed immortality. In this process there is no period of human life that ought to be overlookedwe must begin the work of instruction when the first dawning of reason begins to appear, and continue the process through all the succeeding periods of mortal existence, till the spirit takes its flight to the world unknown.

In the following cursory observations, I shall, in the first place, offer a few general remarks on the proper training of the young during the earlier stages of life, and afterwards illustrate some of the modes of instruction which may be proper to be adopted in the more advanced stages of human existence. It may be proper, however, to premise, that I have no intention of presenting to the reader a detailed system of education, but only a few general hints in reference to the outlines of this important subject, and to the principles on which a system of rational tuition ought to be conducted.

SECTION I.

THE PERIOD OF INFANCY.

cannot be denied-yet the means of instruc- ON THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG DURING tion requisite to guide them in safety to their final destination, and to prepare them for the employments of their everlasting abode, are either overlooked, or referred to in general terms, as if they were unworthy of particular consideration. To admit the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul, and yet leave out the consideration of it, in a system of mental instruction, is both impious and preposterous, and inconsistent with the principle on which we generally act in other cases, which requires, that affairs of the greatest moment should occupy our chief attention. If man is only a transitory inhabitant of this lower world, if he is journeying to another and more important scene of action and enjoyment, if his abode in this higher scene is to be permanent and eternal, and if the course

At the moment a child is ushered into the world, and first draws into its lungs the atmospheric air, it may be said to commence its education. What its sensations are, when it has emerged from the watery fluid with which it was surrounded, and inhales this new element, it is impossible to determine; but from the sounds which it utters, we may reasonably conjecture that they are attended with pain, It struggles and cries-hunger produces an uneasy sensation-it feels a want-that feeling opens its lips, and makes it seize and greedily suck the nourishing breast of its mother. At this period its eyes are generally dull and languid; it seems to keep them fixed and idle; they want that lustre which they

PROCESS OF INFANT EDUCATION.

afterwards acquire; and if they happen to move, it is rather an accidental gaze, than an exertion of the faculty of seeing. But, after some months have elapsed, its vision becomes distinct, its organs are fortified, and it becomes susceptible of various impressions from surrounding objects. Then the senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling, begin to act with a certain degree of vigour; all the avenues to the mind are thrown open; the objects of nature and art rush in crowds to their respective organs of sensation, and engrave an indefinite assemblage of ideas upon the mind, though perhaps with a certain degree of irregularity and confusion. In this first stage of existence, the various sensations it feels, and the multifarious external objects it perceives, may be considered as so many instructors conveying the rudiments of knowledge to the infant mind.

As the infant advances in its new career, multitudes of objects of various descriptions begin to solicit its attention. A thousand sounds, of different degrees of intensity, and variously modified, strike its ears, producing various indescribable emotions; a thousand visible objects of diversified forms and colours present themselves to his visual organs, producing pleasure or pain, desire or aversion. By insensible degrees it learns to see and to hear to mark the difference between one sound and another, and between one object of vision and another-to distinguish the form and countenance of its mother from those of other individuals, and to take an interest in some of the objects which compose the surrounding scene. Being uniformly struck with the same sensations and emotions in the presence of the same objects, its memory begins to be exercised, and it acquires a more accurate idea, and a more distinct remembrance of them, in proportion to the frequency with which these objects are presented to view. Its body, in the mean time, gradually expands, and becomes more firm, vigorous, and alert. It crawls along the nursery or parlour, below tables and chairs, examining every object that falls in its way, and appears delighted in exerting its muscular powers. It tries to stand erect, and at length to walk; it tumbles and rolls on the floor, uttering screams of pain and disappointment. Numberless and repeated falls lead to more caution, and teach it to endeavour to preserve the equilibrium of its body, and to stand firmly upon its legs; and the more frequent and painful the falls, the more instructive they prove, to teach it to balance its body, and to walk with adroitness and ease. Having acquired, after repeated exertions, a certain firmness of step, it runs from one place to another, eagerly intent upon now objects and pursuits, and feeling a delight

39

in proportion as the range of its perceptions is increased. It tries to climb a stair, and, after repeated efforts, and exertions of hands and feet, succeeds in the attempt; hut, when arrived at the top, and wishing to descend, it looks down to the bottom, and, remembering the falls it formerly experienced, feels a sense of danger, and screams for assistance.

of

The child (whom we shall now distinguish by the masculine pronoun) now runs about through the garden or in the fields, and perceives a variety of objects and operations. He sees a stone thrown into the water, and sink to the bottom; he sees a piece of wood or the leaf of a tree fall into the same water, and yet float on the surface; he amuses himself with numberless experiments of this kind, and from these he gradually acquires his first ideas of the specific gravity of bodies. If he take the stone and the wood out of the water, and by chance they fall upon his feet, he learns that the heavier body falls with more force than the lighter, from the unequal degree of pain occasioned by the fall, and has his mind impressed with the idea of their unequal hardness and weight. He strikes a table with a stick, and soon after, a pane window-glass with the same weapon; he perceives the glass broken to shivers, while the table remains as before, and thus learns the difference between substances that are hard, and those that are brittle, and that some bodies are broken with a blow which others can resist. He views with pleasure a brilliant light, and ventures to put his fingers to the blazing hearth, or to the flame of a candle, but feels a sudden sensation of acute pain, which warns him of the danger of using too much familiarity with fire, notwithstanding its alluring aspect. He sees a cow, a dog, or a cat, and is told its name, and, after frequent repetitions, he learns to connect the sound with the object which it is intended to represent. He sees a horse walking along a road, and afterwards its figure as represented in an engraving, and soon learns to recognize the resemblance of the one to the other. In short, every person with whom he is acquainted, every individual object of which he becomes fond-his rattles and his bells, his drums and his whistles, his little coaches and his jumping Jacks, may all be considered as so many instructors conveying lessons to his opening mind.-In acquiring the information such objects are calculated to afford, repeated exertions of the understanding must necessarily be made. The knowledge of any particular object, as to its powers and qualities, cannot be supposed to be attained without an effort similar to that which an adult person must exert, when investigating the laws of Nature, and the general economy of the universe. For, every thing a child sees or hears, in the first instance, all the

(39,

marks and characters of Nature, and the qualities and operations of surrounding objects, are as much unknown to him as the sciences of Philology, Mathematics and Astronomy, to the untutored savage; and, consequently, require a certain degree of attention and reasoning before the knowledge of them can be acquired.

sure,

The little student, however, prosecutes his observations and studies with apparent pleaand with evident marks of industry, and soon acquires pretty correct notions of the nature and relations both of the inanimate and of the living world. He learns to correct the illusions to which he was at first exposed -to distinguish one object from another, and to exert his memory so as to know them again, and to recognize their general forms and qualities. It is amazing what a degree of knowledge a child has thus acquired before he arrives at the age of two years, or even twenty months. By this time he has made a thousand experiments on an indefinite variety of objects, all which he has arranged in his mind, and distinctly remembers. Light and heat, the properties of fire and flame, of water and air, the laws of projectiles and moving bodies, things sweet and bitter, soft and hard, rough and smooth, articulate sounds and the objects they denote, sounds soft or loud, agreeable or terrible; horses, cattle, dogs, asses, sheep, ducks, birds, butterflies, beetles, worms, the clouds, the sun, moon, stars, and numerous other objects—are all distinguished, and many of their properties and relations indelibly imprinted on the mind. He has acquired more real knowledge during this short period, than he generally does, on the present plan of instruction, throughout the eight or ten succeeding years of his life; and it is a striking instance of the Benevolence of the Creator, and a prelude of the vast extent of knowledge he is afterwards capable of acquiring, that all these acquisitions are not only made without pain, but, in the greater number of instances, are accompanied with the highest pleasure and enjoyment.

In the process of instruction, now described, during the first two years of human existence, although Nature is the principal instructress, yet she frequently requires to be guided by the hand of Art; and much is left to the judicious attentions of parents and guardians, that her benevolent designs may not be thwarted, and that her efforts may be conducted to their proper ends. In throwing out a few hints on this point, our remarks may be arranged under the following heads-Physical, Moral, and inellectual Education.

1. The Physical Education of Infants. The influence of physical education during

infancy, on the future happiness of the individual, is much greater, and more extensive in its consequences, than is generally imagined. A proper attention to food, climate, cleanliness, air and exercise, may have an important effect, not only in developing the different parts of the body, and strengthening the animal system, but also in invigorating, and calling forth into exercise, the powers of the mind. We find, in advanced life, that the state of the body as to health or sickness, has a powerful influence on the vigour of the intellectual faculties; and we have reason to believe that the same connection between the physical system and the development of mind exists in the most early period of life. certain writer has observed that, " as the manifestations of mind depend on organization, it is conceivable why even talents and moral feelings depend on the influence of climate and nourishment."-In throwing out a few cursory remarks on this subject, I shall attend, in the first place, to

A

The food of Infants. As soon as an infant is ushered into the world, Providence has provided for it food exactly adapted to its situation. The milk of the mother is at first of a thin, watery consistence, fitted to evacuate the meconium, and no other substance is found to be so efficacious for this purpose. Syrups, wines, oils, honey, or rhubarb, which have been so frequently administered to new-born infants, by midwives and nurses, are repugnant to nature, and are condemned, except in extraordinary cases, by every medical practitioner. Children require very little food for some time after birth; and what they receive should be thin, weak, light, and of a cooling quality. After a few days the mother's milk becomes thicker and more nutritious, and should form the principal nourishment of the child during the first three months. It appears to be the dictate of nature, that every mother ought to suckle her own child, since she is furnished with the proper nutriment for this purpose; and nothing but downright necessity should prevent her from undertaking the task, or induce her to have recourse to a substitute. We might tell the mother who, without necessity, throws the care of her issue upon a stranger, that the admirable liquor which the God of Nature has provided for her child, may become mortal to her for want of a discharge, diffuse itself within, gather and stagnate, or, at least, bring on a dangerous fever-that there is a natural proportion between the blood that runs in the veins of a child, and the milk it receives from its mother -that to receive the caresses, to enjoy the smiles, and to mark the gradual progress of her child towards maturity, would be more than a compensation for all the fatigues sho