36G PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH. 



Their minds are grand storehouses of facts, which they do not 

 know how to apply to useful purposes. Some have great rea- 

 soning powers, but neither carefully observe, nor remember 

 the facts that are presented to them. Some are very saga- 

 cious in some kinds of business, to which they have given 

 particular attention, and seem lost when affairs of other 

 kinds are presented to them. 



846. The moral powers, individually, grow or suffer by 

 the same treatment. If cultivated, they are strong and active ; 

 and, if neglected, they are weak and sluggish. Some men 

 are rigidly honest and sincere, but they are harsh and unkind. 

 Others are the very reverse of these gentle, affectionate, 

 and full of benevolence, while they fail in justice and truth. 

 The mind may be so exclusively devoted to one interest as 

 to lose sight of the worth of others. A philanthropist may 

 be so intensely absorbed in one kind of human distress or 

 one means of relief, as to think all othfer sufferings light, and 

 other plans of relief unworthy of notice. 



847. In any time, of life, the weak faculties may be 

 strengthened, and the strong ones made stronger. However 

 difficult any mental action may be at the beginning, it be- 

 comes familiar and easy by frequent repetition. The faculty 

 of memory, for instance, may labor hard at first, but, after a 

 time, a man will commit pages with the same effort that he 

 had exerted in acquiring as many lines. A young minister, 

 taking charge of a church in the western country, where 

 clergymen usually preach without notes, and yet not being 

 accustomed to preach extempore, determined to write his 

 sermons, and then commit them to memory, and thus avoid 

 the use of his papers. At first, it cost him nearly as much 

 labor to commit as to write his sermons ; but, after three 

 years' practice, the same work required only about an hour's 

 attention. 



848. The power of observation is very greatly quickened 

 and strengthened by being constantly called into use. One's 

 eyesight becomes sharp, and he learns to recognize the mat- 

 ters which he looks for. The practised seaman discovers a 



