240 RULES FOR THE PROPER EXERCISE 



been understood. To induce facility of action in 

 the organs of the mind, practice is as essential as it 

 is in the organs of motion. The idea or feeling 

 must not only be communicated, but it must be re- 

 produced and represented, in different forms, till all 

 the faculties concerned in understanding it come to 

 work efficiently together in the conception of it. We 

 often blame servants for not doing a thing every 

 day, because they were once told to do so. The 

 organic laws, however, teach us that we are pre- 

 sumptuous in expecting the formation of a habit 

 from a single act, and that we must reproduce the 

 associated activity of the requisite faculties many 

 times before the result will certainly follow. We 

 find, on turning to a new subject, that however well 

 we may understand it by one perusal, we do not 

 fully master it, except by dwelling upon it again and 

 again. 



Repetition is thus necessary to make a durable im- 

 pression on the brain ; and, according to this prh> 

 ciple, it follows that, in learning a language or 

 science, six successive months of application will 

 be more effectual in fixing it in the mind, and making 

 it a part of its furniture, than double or triple the 

 time, if interrupted by long intervals. Hence it is 

 a great error to begin any study, and then break off 

 to finish at a later period. The ennui is thus doubled 

 and the success greatly diminished. The best way 

 is to begin at the proper age, and to persevere till 

 the end is attained. This accustoms the mind to 

 sound exertion, and not to fits of attention. Hence 

 the mischief of long vacations, and hence the evil 

 of beginning studies before the age at which they 

 can be understood, as in teaching the abstract rules 

 of grammar to children ; to succeed in which im- 

 plies in them a power of thinking, and an amount 

 of general knowledge, which they cannot possess. 



In physical education, we are quite alive to the 

 advantages of repetition and practice. We know 



