EDUCATION AS A SCIENCE. 521 



and incapacitates the mind for feeling them. The quiescence and still- 

 ness of the emotions enables the mind to give its full energies to the 

 intellectual processes generally ; and of these, the fundamental is 

 perception of difference. Now, the more mental force we can throw 

 into the act of noting a difference, the better is that difference felt, 

 and the better it is impressed. The same act that favors discrimina- 

 tion favors retention. The two cannot be kept separate. No law of 

 the intellect appears to be more certain than the law that connects 

 our discriminating power with our retentive power. In whatever 

 class of subjects our discrimination is great colors, forms, tunes, 

 tastes in that class our retention is great. Whenever the attention 

 can be concentrated on a subject in such a way as to make us feel all 

 its delicate lineaments, which is another way of stating the sense of 

 differences, through that very circumstance a great impression is 

 made on the memory ; there is no more favorable moment for engrav- 

 ing a recollection. 



The perfection of neutral excitement, therefore, is typified by the 

 intense rousing of the forces in an act or a series of acts of discrimi- 

 nation. If by any means we can succeed in this, we are sure that the 

 other intellectual consequences will follow. It is a rare and difficult 

 attainment in volatile years ; the conditions, positive and negative, 

 for its highest consummation cannot readily be commanded. Yet we 

 should clearly compi'ehend what these conditions are ; and the fore- 

 going attempt has been made to seize and embody them. 



Pleasure and pain, besides acting in their own character that is, 

 directing the voluntary actions, have a power as mere excitement, or 

 as wakening up the mental blaze, during which all mental acts, in- 

 cluding the impressing of the memory, are more effective. The dis- 

 tinction must still be drawn between concentrated and diffused excite- 

 ment, between excitement in, and excitement away from, the work 

 to be done. Pleasure is the most favorable adjunct, if not too great. 

 Pain is the more stimulating or exciting ; under a painful smart the 

 forces are very rapidly quickened for all purposes, until we reach the 

 point of wasteful dissipation. This brings us round again to the 

 Socratic position, the preparing of the learner's mind by the torpedo 

 or the gad-fly. 



The full compass of the operation of the painful stimulant is well 

 shown in some of our most familiar experiences as learners. In 

 committing a lesson to memory, we con it a number of times by the 

 book : we then try without the book. We fail utterly, and are 

 slightly pained by the failure. We go back to the book, and try 

 once more without it. We still fail, but strain the memory to re- 

 cover the lost trains. The pains of failure and the act of straining 

 stimulate the forces ; the attention is aroused seriously and energeti- 

 cally. The next reference to the book finds us far more receptive of 

 the impression to be made; the weak links are now reenforced with 



