326 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1854 



trains of thought and renewed attention; and again, if the 

 propositions which I maintain are erroneous, I desire that 

 they may be discussed and disproved before they are given 

 more widely to the public. What I shall advance may be 

 viewed as suggestions for consideration, rather than proposi- 

 tions adequately proved. 



In the establishment of a principle it is of the first im- 

 portance that all probable suggestions relative to it may be 

 subjected to critical examination, and tried by the test, as 

 far as possible, of experience; it is in this way that science 

 is advanced. 



The first remark which may be made in regard to edu- 

 cation is that it is a forced condition of mind or body. As 

 a general rule it is produced by coercion, — at the expense 

 of labor on the part of the educator, and of toil and effort on 

 the part of the instructed.- That there is no royal road to 

 learning is an aphorism as true now as it was in the days 

 when first uttered. God has placed a price on that which 

 is valuable, and those who would possess a treasure must 

 earn it at the expense of labor. Intellectual as well as ma- 

 terial wealth can only be purchased at the price of toil. It 

 is true the child may be induced to learn his task by the 

 prospect of reward ; by emulation ; by an appeal to his affec- 

 tions ; but all these, in some cases, are ineff"ectual, and re- 

 course must be had to the stimulus of the rod. I do not by 

 this remark intend to advocate a general recourse to cor- 

 poreal coercion. It should be used sparingly, perhaps only 

 in extreme cases, and for the purpose of eradicating a vicious 

 habit. The philosophy of its use in this case is clear. We 

 associate pain with the commission of an improper act, and 

 thus prevent its recurrence. 



I have said that education is a forced condition of mind 

 or body. The child, if left to itself, would receive no proper 

 development, though it might be surrounded with influ- 

 ences which would materially affect its condition. The sav- 

 age never educates himself mentally; and were all the 

 educational establishments of the present day abolished, how 

 rapidly would our boasted civilization relapse into barbarism. 



