242 CAPACITY FOR EDUCATION. 



6. Perseverance, like patience, may have to be infinite. 



7. Persuasiveness the use of encouragement or coaxing. 



These must form the basis of the best systems of educa- 

 tion, whether of other animals or of the human child. Berke- 

 ley advocates in the training of sporting dogs a combination 

 of kindness, firmness, and persuasion. 



On the part of the pupils there must be a basis of recepti- 

 vity, aptitude, or capacity, the power of application, involving 

 sufficient force of will ; and there should also be willingness to 

 learn, and effort in learning. It is the combination of these 

 good qualities that leads so many intelligent animals the 

 elephant, dog, parrot to practise their lessons, to make effort, 

 and persistent effort, at self-improvement. 



Among the conditions favourable to systematic education 

 by man are time, the absence of distraction, and the incessant 

 repetition of his lessons. There is an obvious necessity for 

 time in the acquisition of knowledge or skill. Results can- 

 not be achieved at once ; they may be rapid in their growth 

 in some cases, but more commonly they are gradual, even 

 slow, so that it is not till an animal has arrived at maturity, 

 or even old age, that it has duly learned, and learned to profit 

 by, the lessons either of man or of experience. Many ani- 

 mals have to serve an apprenticeship in the detection of 

 danger, and the means of avoiding or escaping it in construc- 

 tive and defensive operations. 



Time is obviously requisite for the learning of lessons, in 

 successive series, as requisite as in the case of the human child. 

 Much depends, as regards the duration of training, on the 

 character of the teacher, on the one hand, and of the pupil on 

 the other, as well as on the nature of the accomplishment to 

 be acquired the lessons to be learned. Thus while it may 

 reasonably be expected that all animals of average capacity 

 will more or less speedily learn to fly or run, to catch prey, to 

 kill and eat it, to select and collect food, it must take a much 

 longer period to teach man's words or songs, to enable them to 

 find their way home from great distances, to act in concert, to 

 play parts, to subdue or control their natural strong passions 

 or propensities. 



The work of tuition and of learning implies time and 

 trouble on the parts both of pupil and teacher. There must 



