6o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to be exercised, is to contribute to the illumination of each. There has, 

 undoubtedly, in former times been very great mismanagement in al- 

 most every one of the regions of repressive authority — in the state, in 

 the family, and in the school, in all which an excess of human misery 

 is habitually engendered by badness in the manner of exercising con- 

 trol. It is perhaps in the family that the mischief is most widely 

 spread and most baneful. 



By degrees we have become aware of various errors that ran through 

 the former methods of discipline, in the several institutions of the state, 

 as well as in the family. We have discovered the evil of working by 

 fear alone, and still more by fear of coarse, painful, and degrading in- 

 flictions. We have discovered that occasions of oflFense can be avoided 

 by a variety of salutary arrangements, such as to check the very dis- 

 position to unruly conduct. We consider that a great discovery has 

 been made in regard to punishments, by the enunciation of the maxim 

 that certainty is more important than severity ; to which should be 

 added, proportion to the offense. We also consider that by a suitable 

 training, or education, the dispositions that lead to disorder and crime 

 can be checked in the bud ; and that, until there has been room for 

 such training to operate, the mind should not be exposed to tempta- 

 tion. We have become accustomed to lay more stress in cultivating 

 the amicable relations of human beings, all which tend to abridge the 

 sphere of injurious conduct on the part of individuals. 



The consideration of discipline in education supposes the relation 

 of a teacher to a class, one man or woman exercising over a body of 

 pupils the authority requisite for the work in hand. Nevertheless, it is 

 not lost time to advert, in the first instance, to the maxims pertaining 

 to authority in general. 



Authority, government, power over others, is not an end in itself; 

 it is but a means. Further, its operation is an evil ; it seriously abates 

 human happiness. The restraint upon free agency, the infliction of 

 pain on individuals, the setting up a reign of terror — all this is justified 

 solely by the prevention of evils out of all proportion to the misery 

 that it inflicts. This might seem self-evident, but is not so. The deep- 

 seated malevolence and lust of domination in the human mind makes 

 the necessity of government a pretext for excesses in severity and re- 

 pression ; to which must be added the opportunity of preying upon the 

 substance of the governed. 



Mankind have had their eyes gradually opened to this state of 

 things; the philosophy of society now endeavors to formulate the lim- 

 its to authority, and to the employment of repressive severities. Not 

 only is it restricted to the mildest penalties that will answer its pur- 

 pose, but its very existence has to be justified in each case. 



Authority is not necessary to every teaching relation. A willing 

 pupil, coming up to a master to be taught, is not entering into a rela- 

 tionship of authority ; it is a mere voluntary compact, terminable at 



