EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE. 399 



The introduction of narratives, stirring incidents, and topics of 

 human interest generally, is cliiefly a mode of pleasurable recreation. 

 If taken in any other view, it falls under some of the leading studies, 

 and engages the memory, the judgment, or the constructive power, 

 and must be estimated accordingly. 



Bodily training, fine art (itself an aggregate of alternations), 

 language, science, do not exhaust all the varieties of acquirement, 

 but they indicate the chief departments whose alternation gives re- 

 lief to the mental strain, and economizes power in the whole. Under 

 these, as already hinted, there are variations of attitude and exercise; 

 from listening to repeating, from learning a rule, to the application 

 of it in new cases, from knowledge generally to practice. 



The ti-ansition from one language to another, being a variation in 

 the nature of the impressions, is a relief of an inferior kind, yet real. 

 It is the more so, if we are not engaged in parallel exercises ; learning 

 strings of Latin words in the morning, and of German in the evening, 

 does not constitute any relief. 



From one science to another, tlie transition may be great, as al- 

 ready shown, or it may be small. From botany to zoology afibrds a 

 transition of material, with similarity in form. Pure and mixed 

 mathematics are the very same thing. The change from algebra to 

 geometry is but slightly refreshing; from geometry to ti-igonometry, 

 and geometrical conic sections, is no relief to any iaculty. 



There are minor incidents of relief and alternation that are not 

 to be despised. Passing from one master to another (both being 

 supposed competent) is a very sensible and grateful change ; even 

 the change of room, of seat, of posture, is an antidote against weari- 

 ness, and helps us in making a fresh start. The jaded student relishes 

 a change of books even in the same subject, the alteration from soli- 

 tude to company. 



Some subjects are in themselves so mixed, that they would appear 

 to contain the elements of a sufficiently various occupation of the 

 mind; such are geography, history, and Avhat is called literature, 

 when studied both for expression and for subject-matter. This vari- 

 ety, however, is not altogether a desirable thing. The analytic 

 branch of the science of education would have to resolve those ao-ore- 

 gates into their constituent parts, and consider not only their respec- 

 tive contributions to our mental culture, but also the advantages and 

 disadvantaoes attendincr the mixture. 



Culture of the Ejiotions. The laws attainable in the depart- 

 ments of emotion and volition are the immediate prelude to moral 

 education, in which all the highest difficulties culminate. There are 

 emotional and volitional forces prior to any cultivation, and there are 

 new forces that arise through cultivation; yet from the vagueness 

 attaching to the measured intensity of feelings and emotions, it is not 

 easy to value the separate results. 



