366 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



MAN AS AN OBJECT OF SCIEN- 

 ' TIFIG STUDY. 



IT will now scarcely be questioned 

 that the law of progress in educa- 

 tion is a tendency toward limitation of 

 mental pursuits. Under the theory of 

 education as a discipline, knowledge is 

 held subordinate, but it is obviously 

 rising in educational value, while it is be- 

 ginning also to be understood that men- 

 tal discipline may be acquired in any 

 field of study by the vigorous and me- 

 thodical exercise of the mental powers 

 upon its subject-matter. But, with the 

 increasing importance of knowledge, 

 there comes a difficulty from its vast 

 extent. Every thing cannot be learned; 

 if some subjects are chosen, others 

 must be passed by; indeed, but few 

 can be taken, while many are left, and 

 so study is inevitably specialized. This 

 raises the further question of the rule 

 of choice, or the relative value of the 

 knowledges. What are the most neces- 

 sary things to be generally studied, and 

 which shall have the first place in any 

 system of mental cultivation that goes 

 beyond the barest rudiments? This we 

 take to be now the urgent and fun- 

 damental problem of education. 



Among the articles of our present 

 number, we publish an abstract of an 

 address before the theological students 

 of Yale College, by Mr. Beecher, on 

 the " Study of Human Nature." He 

 presents, with his usual force, the 

 claims of this subject upon students of 

 his profession, but the reader will 

 hardly fail to remark that his argu- 

 ment is much broader than its profes- 

 sional application. It is certainly ne- 

 cessary for clergymen, who aim to 

 instruct and elevate their hearers, to 

 understand their natures, if they 

 would work effectually. It is, in fact, 

 a simple business necessity ; and, if 

 neglected, it will entail the same con- 



sequences that ignorance of the mate- 

 rial in which he works entails upon 

 the artisan ; that is, failure. But this 

 necessity is a thousand times greatei 

 in the case of the teacher than in that 

 of the preacher. For the teacher takes 

 the human material directly in hand 

 in its plastic period, to shape and in- 

 form, and he works at it day by day 

 and all day long. That the study of 

 human nature, systematic and pro- 

 longed, is incumbent upon the faithful 

 teacher is self-evident, but what, then, 

 shall we say of its necessity to the 

 parents who give their life to the new 

 being, and make those deep initial im- 

 pressions that affect the unfolding na- 

 ture more profoundly than all that is 

 done afterward by teachers and preach- 

 ers combined ? 



But it is not as fitting preachers, 

 teachers, or parents, for their special 

 functions, that we are now impelled to 

 demand that the scientific study of 

 human nature shall take a high and 

 universal place in education. It should 

 be done because this knowledge is of 

 first and fundamental importance to all. 

 Living in complex social relations, in- 

 cessantly in contact with others, acting 

 upon them and acted upon by them in 

 innumerable ways that vitally involve 

 the mutual welfare, it is certainly of 

 the highest importance that each person 

 shall comprehend the qualities of the 

 natures that are thus brought into reac- 

 tion. But it is needless to enforce the 

 old injunction "know thyself," or to 

 insist upon the correlative duty of 

 knowing others also. The want will 

 be freely admitted : the question is how 

 it may be supplied. 



Mr. Beecher maintains that "one 

 of the prime constituents of clerical 

 training should be a study of the 

 human soul and body from beginning 

 to end," and he insists furthermore that 



