ON BRAIN-FORGING. 227 



" Divina Commedia," and " The Tempest," are works not of youth but 

 of age. 1 



I must pass on to consider brain-work under the head of tension. 

 Tension, I believe, depends in some way upon the tides of the blood- 

 vessels upon their rapidity, perhaps and more especially upon the 

 rapid distribution of blood in particular directions. It may well be a 

 matter of the nervi vasorum. Probably also some relation of capillary 

 to cell, which favors rapid absorption, enters into the matter ; for we 

 see that tension diminishes with age with the susceptibility of nerve 

 and arteriole. It is a factor of infinite value to the man. " Learning," 

 says Falstaff, " is a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil till sack com- 

 mences it and sets it in act and use " (" King Henry IV.," book iv., 

 scene 3). We may regard tension under several aspects, as in the keen 

 tenacity of intellectual work in such a master as Newton, when it is 

 associated with lofty and powerful control ; or again in vivacious tem- 

 peraments, where control is often less complete. In those " whom 

 Englishmen delight to call practical " we see it associated with dexter- 

 ity, with readiness of resource, and with keenness of the special senses. 

 This invaluable attribute is happily much under the influence of educa- 

 tion. Compare, for instance, the slow wit of the rustic with the mental 

 alertness of the " joly prentis of Chepe." Education can not only in- 

 struct the mind, but can make it apprehensive, nimble, and even fiery. 

 " It is of no use to know a thing," we often say to our bedside students, 

 " unless you can deliver yourself of your knowledge." The brain must 

 not be a silent receptacle, but, to use the old phrase, must be a " copi- 

 ous promptuary " of learning and device. In this paragraph, then, we 

 take not the contrary, but the converse of the former, and, while remem- 

 bering that quantity and quality of nerve-force are diminished by call- 

 ing upon the tender brain for production, tension, on the other hand, 

 is promoted by busying the student with his work, and by stimulating 

 him with a sense of his duties and of his just ambitions. Hence class- 

 tests and even class-competitions, and the due use of the spur, are to be 

 encouraged so far as they favor readiness, quick and accurate observa- 

 tion, and modest rivalries, but not so far as to call for " original compo- 

 sitions," for heated and straining effort, or for the rapid disgorgement 

 of bolted and undigested book-work. Tension, then, is an endowment 

 of Nature, or is increased by education and example, and especially by 

 the personal influence of an earnest and practical teacher, and by the 



1 The visitor who has lately returned from the magic show of Turner Drawings now in 

 Bond Street, will doubtless remember Mr. Ruskin's words on the opening page of his 

 " Guide," wherein he says of Turner, " He produced no work of importance till he was 

 past twenty working constantly, from the day he could hold a pencil, in steady student- 

 ship, with gradually-increasing intelligence." Of the master's work done between the 

 ages of fifty-five and sixty-five, Mr. Ruskin says (page 9), " In this period he produces his 

 most wonderful work in his own special manner in the perfect pieces of it, insuperable." 

 In the Slade School at Kensington, subjects are given out for original work, a system 

 which, in my judgment, is more likely to do harm than good. 



