220 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



resource and of smiling self-control, were all made efficient by high ten- 

 sion. Mr. Kinglake says : 



" Although Todleben seemed to be one to whom the very labors of fighting 

 and of exterminating the weaker breeds of men must be an easy and delightful 

 exertion of natural strength, he had joyous, kind-looking eyes, almost ready to 

 melt with good-humor, and a bearing and speech so frank and genial, strangers 

 were instantly inclined to like, and very soon after to trust in him. From his 

 looks and demeanor, it could not at all be inferred that he was a man who had 

 devoted his mind to a science ; nor imagined that his power of doing the right 

 thing at the right time had been warped at all by long study of the engineering 

 art. . . . Few men of great intellect have attained so closely what Englishmen 

 mean by practical." 



How great quality and quantity of brain may fall short of achieve- 

 ment, for lack of high tension rather than of control, must be sought in 

 the story of " Hamlet " and like inventions ; for, although the unhappy 

 General Trochu is not yet quite forgotten, none such leave an enduring 

 name. How many of us know that quiet friend unnoted of the many, 

 unfelt by the world ; whose powers of assimilating knowledge are great, 

 whose intellect is capacious, and whose accomplishments are manifold, 

 but whose nerve-currents are of low or inconstant tension ! He finishes 

 no work, he fathoms no research, and he dies leaving but the memory of 

 great powers wasted. Other curious instances of low tension are seen 

 in those unhappy mortals who conceive so truly, and have mental 

 force in such quantity, that they spend their lives in bestowing volumes 

 of good advice upon their fellows, but who never rouse themselves to 

 their own work or duty. 



How, lastly, the greatest quality and capacity of mind, varied at- 

 tainments, and spiritual fire, may be spent as a sky-rocket is spent for 

 lack of control and direction, has been the theme of moralists of all 

 centuries, from the death of Abel to our own time. Of all endowments 

 control is the most precious, and its nurture our most bounden duty. 

 For a happy and useful life, perhaps control is more needful than qual- 

 ity, volume, variety or even tension of brain. But, were not men born 

 to us whose high qualities of brain enable them to see more deeply into 

 the secrets of Nature, our progress would cease ; did quantity of brain- 

 force cease from a people, that people would lack endurance ; were 

 tension feeble, the lions would roar on in the paths of our enterprise ; 

 were self-control wanting, that which were won would hardly be won 

 ere it was lost. Of all gifts, then, to be cherished and nurtured, perhaps 

 we should place first control, as by it effort is husbanded ; perhaps of 

 equal or scarcely of the second place comes tension; quality of brain 

 cannot be had for the asking, and lack of quantity in individuals may 

 be compensated by numbers. Variety, however charming, however 

 grateful, is the least precious of these conditions of brain, and is the 

 last which calls for nurture. How, then, are we so to wield our instru- 

 ments of education as to promote the increase of control, tension, and 



