THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



MARCH, 1877. 



EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE. 



By ALEXANDER BAIN, LL. D., 



PBOFESSOE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 

 II. 



The Retentive Faculty. 



THIS is the faculty that most of all concerns us in the work of 

 education. On it rests the possibility of mental growths or 

 capabilities not given by Nature. 



Every impression made upon us, if sufficient to awaken conscious- 

 ness at the time, has a certain permanence; it can persist after the 

 original ceases to work ; and it can be restored afterward as an idea 

 or remembered impression. The bursting out of a flame arouses our 

 attention, gives a strong visible impression, and becomes an idea or 

 deposit of memory. It is thought of afterward without being actually 

 seen. 



It is not often that one single occurrence leaves a permanent and 

 recoverable idea ; usually, we need several repetitions for the purpose. 

 The process of fixing the impression occupies a certain length of time ; 

 either we must prolong the first shock, or renew it on several suc- 

 cessive occasions. This is the first law of memory, Retention or Ac- 

 quisition : " Practice makes perfect ; " " exercise is the means of 

 strengthening a faculty," etc. The good old rule of the schoolmaster 

 is simply to make the pupil repeat, rehearse, or persist at a lesson 

 until it is learned. 



All improvement in the art of teaching consists in having regard 

 to the various circumstances that facilitate acquirement, or lessen the 

 number of repetitions for a given effect. Much is possible in the way 

 of economizing the plastic power of the lmman system ; and when we 

 have pushed this economy to the utmost, we have made perfect the 

 Art of Education in one leading department. It is thus necessary 

 vol. x. 33 



