402 . Edward Livingstori Youmans. 



found, but has been actually organized into educational 

 institutions for hundreds of years — a hypothesis which dis- 

 credits the whole movement of modern intellect in its edu- 

 cational bearings — let us take up this question of mental 

 discipline. The subject is not only intrinsically impor- 

 tant, but its importance is greatly heightened when an old 

 and widely established system, challenged by the spirit of 

 the age, yields the point of the usefulness of the knowl- 

 edge it imparts, and offers as its sole defence its superior 

 merits as a system of mental training; and still more im- 

 portant does it become when the idea is so constantly and 

 vehemently iterated as to acquire all the force and tenacity 

 of a superstition, and breed a regular cant of education, 

 which serves as the stereotyped apology for numberless 

 indefensible projects and crudities of instruction. The 

 writer recently opened a huge volume on Heraldry, and 

 the very first passage which struck his eye in the preface, 

 urged the claims of that subject to more general study on 

 the ground of its excellence as a mental discipline. 



I propose, in the present Introduction, j^ri-/, to point out 

 the defects of the traditional system as a means of disci- 

 plining the mind ; and, second, to show the superior claims 

 of scientific education for this purpose. 



The claims put forth in behalf of the prevailing scheme 

 are as multitudinous and diverse as the tastes and capaci- 

 ties of those who offer them — a natural result, perhaps, 

 in the absence of any considerations so decisive as to com- 

 mand general agreement ; but those most commonly urged 

 are, that the grammatical acquisition of the dead languages 

 best disciplines the memory and judgment, and the study 

 of mathematics the reason. Let us briefly notice these 

 points first : 



That the acquisition of words exercises the memory is 

 of course true — those of living languages as well as dead 



