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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



organized creatures, living and extinct, 

 was yet nothing less than a delightful 

 entertainment. His vast audience of 

 three thousand people were held spell- 

 bound and so closely occupied with the 

 interest of the discussion that the at- 

 tempt at cheering was repressed as an 

 interruption. Something, however, was 

 due in this remarkable effect to the in- 

 terest of the theme, and the rapid lib- 

 eralization of public opinion that has 

 latterly taken place; for fifteen years 

 ago it would neither have been possible 

 to get such a multitude together to lis- 

 ten to the uncompromising defense of 

 evolutionary doctrines, nor could Prof. 

 Morse have kept such a crowd in con- 

 trol even if they could have been got 

 together. 



BAIN ON EDUCATION. 



TnE readers of the Monthly will 

 hardly need any reminder as to the 

 importance of carefully perusing the 

 first article in our present number, 

 concluded from last month, on "Edu- 

 cation as a Science," Every art, when 

 science comes to be applied to it, un- 

 dergoes something like a revolution, 

 as the principles which control it are 

 gradually working out into such clear- 

 ness that they can be followed in prac- 

 tice. And however important this fact 

 may be in relation to the industrial arts, 

 it becomes of infinitely greater moment 

 when the object to be attained is the 

 cultivation of the human mind. It is 

 difficult to exaggerate the benefits 

 which must follow the establishment 

 of scientific principles for regulating 

 the work of education, and every valu- 

 able contribution to this end is entitled 

 to the most serious and sympathetic 

 consideration. 



Hitherto the dictators of education- 

 al method have been metaphysicians. 

 Having taken possession of the prov- 

 ince of mind, they have claimed to be 

 law-givers in all that pertains to its 

 management. But their method is vi- 



cious and misleading, from its incom- 

 pleteness and want of a secure scientific 

 basis. It has neglected the corporeal 

 side of human nature. As mind is 

 never manifested except by and through 

 a material substratum, no analysis of 

 it, no statement of its modes and con- 

 ditions of working, can be scientifically 

 grounded, or true to Nature, or full and 

 trustworthy in its elements, that does 

 not take into constant and essential ac- 

 count the organic concomitants of in- 

 tellect and feeling, or the bodily organ- 

 ism. By doing this, mental science has 

 not only been widened and deepened, 

 but placed upon a positive foundation. 

 Prof. Bain is a pioneer, and an eminent 

 authority, in this great reform of men- 

 tal philosophy. His principal works 

 upon the human mind, "The Senses 

 and the Intellect," and " The Emo- 

 tions and the Will," are comprehensive 

 expositions of mental science from this 

 point of view, and have thoroughly pre- 

 pared their author for treating the ap- 

 plications of scientific psychology to 

 the practical business of culture. In- 

 deed, no better vindication of this 

 method of treating the subject of mind 

 can be furnished than that which the 

 reader will gather from his last essay 

 on the conditions of mental acquisition 

 in the paper herewith published. The 

 vagueness of metaphysics here disap- 

 pears, and the various forms of mental 

 effort are graded, not with reference to 

 abstract considerations, but with refer- 

 ence to the variable vigor and unequal 

 plastic power of the corporeal system. 

 The most important questions of prac- 

 tical education can only be resolved 

 from this point of view, and from this 

 point of view they are capable of being 

 resolved in a way to command the con- 

 fidence of teachers, and guide the opera- 

 tions of the school-room. Prof. Bain, 

 is expected to pursue the subject in 

 future into the details of educational 

 practice, and the readers of the Month- 

 ly will probably hear from him again 

 before very long. 



