Education and Innervation. 53 



manage our affairs, in what way to treat the body, in what way 

 to treat the mind, in what way to fulfil the duties of a parent or 

 a citizen, in what way to utilise those sources of happiness which 

 nature supplies ; in short, how to use all our faculties to the 

 greatest advantage of ourselves and others, that is, how to live 

 completely, is the true function of education. Now the 

 development of the various activities which constitute human 

 life may be classified under three heads — viz., Physical, In- 

 tellectual, and Moral Education, and though at different stages 

 these three sections may be said to shade off into each othei and 

 blend together, yet the initial steps in each may be treated as 

 distinct and clearly defined. And to understand the nature of 

 each it is necessary to have a clear idea of the ultimate issue, 

 towards which the necessary activities in each are tending. In 

 physical education the special object is the functional develop- 

 ment of all the organic aptitudes of the system. Intellectual 

 education aims at the development and training of those 

 faculties by which man is enabled to derive the utmost advantage 

 from his environment, and to become himself a centre of activity 

 in mental operations. By moral education may be understood 

 this very broad principle, that effect follows cause, that the true 

 consequences of conduct cannot be warded off, intensified, or 

 ignored. How to secure the most effective system of training in 

 order to accomplish these various objects has engaged the 

 attention of the learned and thoughtful from the earliest times 

 to the present day, and it must be confessed that the success 

 achieved has not always been the highest and most complete 

 possible. That mistakes have been made, even the greatest 

 enthusiasts in the cause of education must admit, and my.object 

 to-night, if possible, is to put before you some considerations, to 

 which, if due attention be paid, we may look for greater success 

 in the future. It is unfortunately the case that the influence of 

 the nervous system in physical, intellectual, and moral training 

 has been either lost sight of or ignored, and so failures have had to 

 be recorded What I wish, therefore, to set before you is the 

 intimate relationship existing between the development of 



