INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 



tcrual impreflions will be formed, which, in moft cafes, is 



al.vays injurious, and which in the early period of life is 



fuf5i;iont to ilop its progrefs in intelleftual improvement. In 



this, however, as in every branch of education, our efforts 



il'iiLiId often be regulated by the prevailing mental habits of 



• • individual. A child of lively conceptions (hould be 



ted as much as praflicable to accurate obfervation ; 



.-■ th.e conceptions arc dull, abllraftion ihould be encou- 



i ; and it is encouraged by every inltance in which it is 



r: fed with pleafure, by every inllance in (hort, in which 



.lind is pleafantly enframed upon the objef^s of thought 



:mt the affiRance of feniation, and efpecially if in oppo- 



3 to feufations. Thefe the intelligent parent has greatly 



- - command ; an account of a walk requiring the recol- 



.'jii of little circumftances and objetls which occurred 



a;-ing it, the retracing of ideas on any interefting fubjeA, 



and various other exercifes of a fimilar kind, contribute to 



cultivate the abilraftion. But after all, it is rather by in- 



-'. — n means, than direttly, that we are in the early periods 



ir.telleftual culture, to aim to produce and exercife this 



:. By early giving a decided bias for intellcftual pur- 



■, and exciting a lively interell in them, and by forming 



; - habit of fteady attention to the objedts of knowledge as 

 ti; y are prefented to the mind, we do in reality prepare it 

 fi •: the cultivation of the habit of abllraftion, whenever it 

 . be called for by the higher purfuits of knowledge. 

 . I'fince of mind fometimes arifes from the mind's being 

 . occupied with its own trains of thought, but it fhould 

 not be confounded with abftraftion. The latter implies, at 

 leaft in the commencement of the particular exercife of it, a 

 voluntary diredion of the mind ; the former, even where it 

 is really caufed by mental operations, commonly fuppofes a 

 ■want of power over the attention ; but it very often arifes 

 from a more fluggifh inittention to external imprcffions. 

 Abfcnce of mind, proceeding from tiiis lall caufe, ihould be 

 ftcadily and conftantly checked ; not fo much, however, 

 ^iredtly, as by roufing the attention to the objcfts of fenfa- 

 tion, by making the nrgleft of them unpleafant, &c. : and it 

 ihould by every means bo difcouraged in the early periods of 

 education, becaufe it will by degrees induce a tendency to 

 reverie which mud almoft inevitably give the imagination 

 undue power, and which is more than any quality of mind 

 calculated to dellroy all the valuable effeds of the habit of 

 well regulated abltraftion. In the external appearances, 

 abfence of mind proceeding from reverie, differs httlc, if at 

 all, from the fixed intentional devotement of the mind to 

 fome objeA of thought ; but thole who have experienced 

 both, and who have watched their charafteriftics in the 

 young, know that the difference is very important, and de- 

 ierving of the careful attention of the early inftruftor. In 

 feft, the habit of reverie is the moll baneful pofiible to the 

 influence of the mind over its trains of thought ; and totally 

 dellroys, if toomuch indulged, all pouer of iteadily directing 

 the attention to fpccitic objefts of mental purfuit. 



VI. We have hitherto fpoken of the kabil of abftraftion, 

 by which we underlland (agreeably, we believe, to the com- 

 mon acceptation of the term) the devotement of the atten- 

 tion to fome objerts of thought, to the cxclufion of others, 

 and alfo of impreflions from external objeAs ; but it is well 

 known, that the word is alfo uied by fome writers on logic 

 and mental philofophy, to denote the po-unr whicli tlie 

 underllanding has (or rather, is fuppofed to have) of ie- 

 parating the combinations which are prefented by it. We 

 introduce the qualifying claufe, • is fuppofed to have,' be- 

 caufe in many cafes the undcrlhinding has no fr.ch power ; it 

 »8 impoflible, for inllance, to form a conception of ixtenfion, 

 witliout fome idf a of colour, or »f length without breadth ; 



btit in reality, the abflraaivt potvir is, after all, nothing more 

 orlefs, thau the power of Icparate attention, the power of 

 attending to one idea diftinit from the combination in which 

 it occurs, — of attending to one part of a conception diftincl 

 from the reft, and perhaps, by degrees, forming a concep. 

 tion of that part detached from the reft, of attending to one 

 quality or circumftance feparate from other qualities or cir- 

 cumftances with which it is really connefted, or conne&ed 

 in the inind. 



The habit of abfti-aftion, or fixed attention to the objeft$ 

 of thought, is effential to any high degree ot mental progrefs, 

 and is requifite in various circumftances in life ; the power 

 of abftradbon, or of feparate attention to fome objtcl of the 

 mind diftinft from the combinations in which it is prefented, 

 is nccefiary in almoft every procefs of rcafoning, and is the 

 foundation of an accurate, diicriminating judgment. The 

 power of abftratlion, in this fenfe, may obvioufly be culti- 

 vated without the exercife of the habit of abftraftion ; ex- 

 cept indeed where the object is purely mental. A child at- 

 tending to one part of a profpeCt, to one part of a flower, 

 to one of the fenfations which an object prefents, (to the co- 

 lour of a fubilance, for inftance, inftead of itsfmell or fhape, 

 or fi7.e or weight, or to any one of thefe witliout attending 

 to the colours,) is exercifing the power of abftraction ; and 

 in thefe very ufeful exercifes of the power of abilraclion, the 

 habit of abilrac'tion is not called for ; all that is wanting is 

 that of obfervation. On the other hand, the habit of ab- 

 ftraftion may have been cultivated even to excefs, witliout 

 tlie individual poffcffing the povTcr of attending to one of a 

 combinatior. of objetts, or to a part of a conception, fo as 

 not to allow the retl to influence his reafor.ings and judgment. 



The involuntary exercife of the power of abftraction, i« 

 very often produced by the mere influence of the afiociative 

 power, without any effort on the part of the individual, and 

 iometimes by the influence ot the fenfations themielves. In- 

 ftances of the latter continually occur. That impreffion from 

 any objeft which is the moil vivid, attracts the notice of a 

 child ; and while the attention is directed to this, the other 

 impreiTions from it remain unnoticed. But the exercife of 

 the abftradtive power is often, in a great meafurc, voluntary ; 

 and though that degree of this power which fliall completely 

 feparate at once the combinations whiA are prefented to it, 

 is probably altogether chimerical, yet it is in our power Xn 

 acquire it to iuch a degree that the parts which we 

 wilb to exclude from the attention fhall not affect our 

 reafonings, and but little even our feelings. We do not 

 mean that in all cafes we have fuch power ; but the 

 more the mind is trained to it, the more it is to be ac 

 quired. And here again we perceive the advantage of the 

 purfuits of literature and ftill more of fcience. Tlie ab- 

 ilractive power is continually brought into exercife in moft of 

 the leading objects of mental occupation. The young ai-e 

 thereby continually led to leave out of view fome circumftance 

 or quality, and to dircft their attention to the effential points. 

 Every definition that is underilood and made the foundation 

 of rcafoning, every exercife of claffification of words or 

 natural <jbje(5ts according to fome iyftcm, brings into play 

 this important faculty. -It is neceffary to every correct judg- 

 mi^nt, and at the fame time the cultivation of the judgment 

 ferves as its guide and brings it into exercife. 



The abftradive power ftiould be early exercifed, but moft 

 commonly upon the objefts of fenfation. Still however not 

 without caution ; becaufe, though feparate, felift attention 

 ib f great confequcnce in the lafer periods of cdu.atioii, 

 yet .: the earlier periods, the firft point iscorrci't and exten- 

 five oL'ervation in order to lay up a fund of ideas for the 

 future operations of the underltanding. 



1 i J With 



