(50 EDUCATION, AS IT IS AND AS IT SHOULD BE. 



ceeded in this at least : bul when I became acquainted with Phreno- 

 logy behold, the cause of the failure became as clear as the noon- 

 day sun ! — he had the three first organs enumerated by Combe 

 deficient. Another master, with whom I was acquainted, had not 

 the slightest experience in teaching ; but he was completely success- 

 ful with the same pupils, who were always sorry to miss a lesson 

 with him : in him the three organs were large. Another teacher 

 possessed two of the organs large, namely, Individuality and Con- 

 centrativeness ; but the third, and most important one (Eventua- 

 lity), small. When he became acquainted with Phrenology, he 

 said he felt the deficiency ; but he added that he found that science 

 of great assistance to him, for he read over carefully the functions of 

 the deficient organ, and was thus in some measure enabiea to sup- 

 ply its place : and, at any rate, he then saw how far he himselt was 

 to blame for any want of progress in his pupils. 



But if all the three organs are deficient. Phrenology will be of 

 little or no use to the individual ; he cannot become a phrenologist, 

 and consequently is incapable of being a teacher. Phrenology 

 would be to him what manure is to the stony moor, and would only 

 encumber what it could not enrich. If Causality is likewise de- 

 ficient, as in the case of the first-mentioned teacher, his case is 

 truly pitiable. He is as incapable of grasping the science in its 

 breadth and depth, as a fly would be of taking in the proportions of 

 St. Paul's; and to hide the threadbare state of his mind, he would 

 be obliged to take refuge among the " illicit processes" and " undis- 

 tributed middles" of routine logic. 



An incompetent teacher is one of the greatest curses of mankind, 

 and no language can be too strong to warn parents how they put 

 their trust in one. If an architect, or a painter, or an actor fail, 

 the)f are visited with severe criticism; and nothing can more forcibly 

 show the backward state in which society yet remains, than the im- 

 punity with which a teacher can disgrace his calling. This will 

 not, however, last long : Phrenology will render it impossible. Let 

 every one expose any instance of the kind that may come under his 

 notice, and the evil will vanish. "No effort is lost.'' Therefore 

 let all exei't themselves in the good cause, and by degrees our island 

 shall be ridded of a race, compared to which the slaveholders were 

 harmless. Children were intended by their Creator to enjoy their 

 existence — 



" And yet how many weary hours 



Those joyous creatures know ! 

 How much of sorrow and restraint 



They to their elders owe !" 



