204 THE PHILOSOPHY 



their wants and defires. The number of new objeds daily diminifh- 

 es, and the impreffions made by thofe with which they are familiar 

 become comparatively fmall and uninterefting. Hence their habits 

 of attention, and the ardour of their minds, begin to relax. Inftead 

 of a general and undiftinguifhing gratification of their fenfes, this is 

 the period when it is neceflary to ftimulate children, by various ar- 

 tifices, to apply their minds fteadily to the examination of particular 

 objeds, and to the acquifition of new ideas from more complicated 

 and refined fources of information. The great bafis of education is 

 a habit of attention. When this important point is gained, the minds 

 of children may be molded into any form. But that reftleffnefs, 

 and appetite for motion, which Nature, for the wifefl purpofes, has 

 implanted in the conftitution of all young animals, fhould not be 

 too feverely checked. Health and vigour of body are the fureft 

 foundations of ftrength and improvement of mind. 



With regard to the duration of infancy, from man to the infedt 

 tribes, it fecms, in general, to be proportioned, not to the extent of 

 life, but to the fagacity or mental powers of the different clafles of 

 animated beings. The elephant requires 30 years, and the rhino- 

 ceros 20, before they come to perfedt maturity, and are enabled to 

 multiply their fpecies. But thefe years mark not the period of in- 

 fancy ; for the animals, in a much fhorter time, are capable of pro- 

 curing their own food, and are totally independent of any aid from 

 their parents. The fame remark is applicable to the camel, the horfe, 

 the larger apes, &c. Their ages of puberty are four, two and a half, 

 and three years. But, in thefe quadrupeds, the terminations of in- 

 fancy are much more early. The fmaller quadrupeds, as hares, rats, 

 mice, &c. are mature at the end of the firft year after birth; and the 

 Guiney pig and rabbit require only five or fix months. There is a 

 gradation of mental powers, though not without exceptions, from 

 the larger to the more minute quadrupeds; for the dog and fox, 



whofe 



