292 THE EDUCATIONAL CLAIMS OF BOTANY. 



nesses of given actions, and classing them as right 01 

 wrong.* 



Having thus formed some idea of how mental growth 

 takes place, let us now roughly note how far it proceeds in 

 the first three or four years of childhood. 



III. EXTENT OP EARLY MENTAL GROWTH. 



From the hour of birth, through all the waking moments, 

 there pour in through the eye ever-varying impressions of light 

 and color, from the dimness of twilight to the utmost solar 

 refulgence, which are reproduced as a highly-diversified lumi- 

 nous consciousness. Impressions of sound of all qualities and 

 intensities, loud and faint, shrill and dull, harsh and musical, 

 in endless succession, enter the ear, and give rise to a varied 

 auditory consciousness. Ever-changing contrasts of touch 

 acquaint the mind with hard things and soft, light and heavy, 

 rough and smooth, round, angular,* brittle, and flexible, and 

 are wrought into a knowledge of things within reach. And 

 so, also, with the senses of taste and smell. This multitude 

 of contrasted impressions, representing the endless diversity 

 of the surrounding world, has been organized into a connected 

 and coherent body of knowledge. 



After two or three years the face that was at first blank 

 becomes bright with the light of numberless recognitions. 

 The child knows all the common objects of the house, the 

 garden, and the street, and it not only knows them apart, but 

 it has extended its discriminations of likeness and difference 

 to a great many of their characters. It has found out about 

 differences and resemblances of form, size, color, weight, trans- 

 parency, plasticity, toughness, brittleness, fluidity, warmth, 

 taste, and various other properties of the solid and liquid sub- 



* To those who care to pursue this important subject of mental growth, 

 which is here hardly more than hinted at, I would recommend the "Princi- 

 ples of Psychology," by Mr. Herbert Spencer, now being published in parts 

 by D. Appleton & Co. Mr. Spencer considers mind from the point of view of 

 Evolution, and his work is, beyond doubt, the most important contribution to 

 this aspect of psychological science that has yet been made. I have to ac- 

 knowledge my own indebtedness to it. 



