1 6 THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



by the change of a word or two it would apply 

 equally well to the art of breaking colts. If 

 the definition is stated more in detail, it is 

 found to lie entirely in the domain of applied 

 logic; and education of the intellect, in the 

 only sense in which it can cover the whole 

 field, is the process of training the intellect in 

 the art of reasoning. 



If there is or ever shall be a common aim in 

 all phases of education, it will be based upon 

 this common element. However important the 

 information may be which is conveyed to the 

 student in any department of study, his ability 

 to retain it and use it for further acquisition 

 depends entirely on the method by which he 

 acquired it, and the degree to which he has be- 

 come master of that method. The facts neces- 

 sary for a new investigation are easily brought 

 to hand if the intellect has been trained to 

 work independently. One of the most strik- 

 ing things in Darwin's Autobiography is the 

 relative importance, to be mentioned again 

 hereafter, which he assigns, in his analysis 

 of his own education, 1 to the accumulation of 

 facts and to the development of mental habits. 

 Probably few minds ever possessed in a higher 



1 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, by Francis Darwin, 

 Vol. I. pp. 51, 52. 



