EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE. 391 



EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE. 



Br ALEXANDER BAIN, LL. D., 



PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 

 III. 



IN preceding articles/ the psychological bearings of Education 

 were entered upon ; and two out of the three primary functions 

 of the intellect were considered. There remained the power named 



Similarity or Agreement. It is neither an inapt nor a strained 

 comparison to call this power the law of gravitation of the intellectual 

 world. As regards education, it has an importance coequal with the 

 plastic force that is expressed by retentiveness or memory. The 

 methods to be pursued in attaining the commanding heights of gen- 

 eral knowledge arc framed by tlie circumstances attending the detec- 

 tion of like in the midst of unlike. 



With all the variety that there is in the world of our experience, 

 a variety appealing to our consciousness of difference, there is also 

 great repetition, sameness, or unity. There are many shades of color, 

 as distinguished by the discriminative sensibility of the eye ; yet the 

 same shade often recurs. There are many varieties of form the 

 round, the square, the spiral, etc. and we discriminate them when 

 they are contrasted; while the same form starts up again and again. 

 At first sight, this would appear to mean nothing at all ; the great 

 m.atter would appear to be to avoid confounding differences blue 

 with violet, a circle with an oval ; when blue recurs, we simply treat 

 it as we did at first. 



The remark is too hasty, and overlooks a vital consideration. 

 What raises the principle of similarity to its commanding height is 

 the accompaniment of diversity. The round form first discerned in 

 a ring or halfpenny recurs in the full moon, where the adjuncts are 

 totally different and need to be felt as different. In sjDite of these dis- 

 turbing accompaniments, it is important to feel the agreement on the 

 single circumstance called the round form. 



When an impression made in one situation is repeated in an al- 

 tered situation, the new experience reminds us of the old, notwith- 

 standing the diversity; this reminder may be described as anew kind 

 of shock, or awakened consciousness, called the shock or flash of iden- 

 tity in the midst of difference. A piece of coal and a piece of wood 

 differ, and are at first looked upon as differing, Put into the fire, 

 they both blaze up, give heat, and are consumed : here is a shock of 

 agreement which becomes an abiding impression in connection with 



' See Popular Science Monthly for February and March, \%1^. 



