90 REMARKS ON DR. CALDWELL'S 



REMARKS ON DR. CALDWELL'S "THOUGHTS ON 

 PHYSICAL EDUCATION/'* 



Dr. Caldwell's Thoughts on Physical Education, were origi- 

 nally delivered in a discourse addressed to a convention of teachers, 

 in Lexington, Kentucky, on the 6th and 7th days of November, 

 1833 ; and, in the following year, they were published in the form 

 of a Treatise, which has been reprinted at Edinburgh, by an editor 

 whose judicious and instructive Notes have greatly enhanced the 

 author's Essay, both in usefulness and importance. 



Education, in the abstract, is considered by Dr. Caldwell as a 

 scheme of action or training, bij which any form of living matter may 

 be improved and, by perseverance, reared to the highest perfection of 

 which it is susceptible. He uses the expression " any form," be- 

 cause the lower orders of living beings — vegetables not excepted — 

 may be educated and improved as certainly as the higher, and on 

 the same grounds. That this scheme may produce its desired effects, 

 its principles and their applications must be conformable to the con- 

 stitution of the race of beings for whose improvement it is intended. 

 No one, therefore, is capable of devising and arranging a system of 

 education for the amendment of the general condition of the human 

 race, or even of comprehending and applying it skilfully, unless he 

 be thoroughly acquainted with the human constitution. He that 

 would rectify or improve a piece of machinery, must first under- 

 stand its structure and principles : in like manner, he that would 

 alter human nature for the better must know it as it is. Special 

 education, designed for a given purpose, is a scheme of training in 

 accordance with that purpose. General training does nothing more 

 than improve general powers : special training fits for some definite 

 and corresponding pursuit. By the human constitution, Dr. C. 

 means the material portion of man, in its organized and vital capa- 

 city; this being the only part of him we are able to improve. 



Dr. Caldwell's theory of education is universally admitted to be 

 correct, as it respects several of the mental functions. Seeing, hear- 

 ing, tasting, smelling, and feeling, as well as voluntary muscular 

 motion, are as true operations of the mind as judging, reasoning, 



* Thoughts on Physical Education, and the true mode of Improving the Con- 

 dition of Man ; and on the Study of the Greek and Latin Languages, by Charles 

 Caldwell, M.D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Clinical Practice 

 in Transylvania University ; with Notes by Robert Cox, and a recommenda- 

 tory Preface by George Combe. 12mo. Edinburgh and London. 1836. 



