INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 



<Bp!rion,- is that which fefpefts IVarJs : at lead, this is of 

 ^ential -itnportance; A clear and correft underftanding 

 t>f the force of words, is of the utmoil confcqcence in 

 «very period of the intelleftual progrefs. On the care which 

 js early taken in furthering this objeft, depend, in a great 

 irieafure, the future developement of the underllanding and 

 tl» acquifition of knowledge; A well-educated child will 

 alivays hefitate to ufe words which he does not fo far un- 

 derft;tnd as to be able to foel their force in the particular 

 conneaion : and in many inllances this is all which can be 

 underftood by a child. The names of external objefts, are, 

 of courfe, the firll words w hich arc acqnired and under- 

 ftood : and here all is plain. Either the things themfelves 

 can be fliewn, and the words coimefted with them ; or pic- 

 tures can be employed to reprefent to the mind what cannot 

 be direftly made the fubjed of perception. In like man- 

 ner, names denoting the atlions of animated objcfts, and 

 the changes which take place among inanimate objefts, the 

 fenfible qualities of the different fubftances around, and, in 

 fhort, any thing which can be made the fubjcft of direft 

 fenfation, or can be reprefented to the fight, are calculated 

 for the early exercife of the affociative power. And it is in 

 the application of thefc, that the earliell efforts of cla.Tifica- 

 tion are employed. The fame name is unavoidably given 

 to a variety of things or animals agreeing in forae parti- 

 •culars ; and indeed this circumllance is of the utmoll con- 

 fequence to the progrefs of intellect. It may be truly faid, 

 that without general terms little knowledge could be ac- 

 'quired, that there would be almoft a total Hop to every 

 procefs of mind not immediately depending upon feniation. 

 In the firft; periods of language the bufmefs of claffifica- 

 tion, and the application of general terms, went on to- 

 gether ; the proceffes of claffification are now, however, in 

 'innumerable inllances, directed by the cuftomary mode of 

 applying the terms. Still the apphcation of them is ac- 

 :c6mpanied with claflllication ; and when the mind is, in 

 ■fome inllances, a little familiarized with the operation, it 

 acquires, with great eafe, the mode of applying general 

 terms in others. This is an excellent and important exer- 

 cife of the judgment ; and it leads to notice circumftances 

 of agreement and circumftances of difference, which is in 

 itfelf a highly ufeful employment of the underllanding. In 

 fome inllances children cannot but be puzzled, either by 

 the unavoidable irregularities of language, or by the ap- 

 plication of terms depending upon little niceties which can- 

 not be expefted to lie within the fphere of their obfervation ; 

 butwherever the grounds of the apphcation can be (hewn, 

 =it \Vill always furnilh a ufeful exercife of the mind to be led 

 ■to'obferve them as fuch. 



" We have already referred to the great importance of the 

 mathematical fciences in training the mind to habits of correcl 

 reifoning ; indeed it is by the various acquifitions of know- 

 ledge, that the different mental faculties are developed and 

 Vttltivated ; and we fully expeft the concurrence of our 

 readers when we fay, that an early and accurate acquaint- 

 ance with our arithmetical notation and numeration, is pecu- 

 liarly calculated to lay the foundation of habits of precifion, 

 of arrangement and claffification. Our notation took its rife 

 in the necefiities of circumftances, operating upon thofe 

 powers and qualities of mind v/hich are poffeifed by every 

 human being ; but it is an objeft worthy of the attentive 

 examination of the philofopher, while, at the fame time, 

 from its diftinftncfs and fimplicity, it fcrves as a moll im- 

 •portant exercife to the juvenile underllanding. A child, 

 early rnade familiar with the fimple operations of arithmetic, 

 '(taught, not technically, but by a conftant reference to the 

 ■ princij)ies on which they arc founded, and particularly to 



thofe of the notation, on which in fliort the whole depends,) 

 can fcarcely fail to form fome precife ideas, and to acqiire 

 a tendency to arrangement and metliod, which will almoft 

 inevitably lead on to a fimilar employment of the underftand- 

 ing in other circumftances. It may not perhaps be known 

 to all our readers, that there is an excellent pofthumous work 

 of Condorcet, which will furnilh fome highly valuable in- 

 formation to the intelligent parent, on the beft means of 

 communicating an acquaintance with the firtt principles of 

 arithmetic. It is entitled, " Moyens d'apprendre a compter 

 furement et avec facilite. " If it were more the objeft of early 

 education to cultivate the faculties of the mind, rather than 

 to ilore the memory with words, or with ideas, which are of 

 little importance except fo far as they are made an exercife 

 of the underftanding, this little Iradl would not have been 

 fo long left inaccefiible to the mere Englifli reader. The 

 French editor juftly remarks, that the firtt thing which 

 diftinguiihcs thefe elements of arithmetic, is, that they are 

 at the fame time the elements of the art of reafoning. The 

 ufual formulas of arithmetic are founded upon principles and 

 procefRs which can generally be made intelligible to thofe 

 who are capable of employing them ; but the formula; do 

 not of themfelves fufficiently exercife the underftanding: they 

 are a fpecies of machinery with \\-\{w\\ v.l- operate almolfc 

 mechanically. But in fo far ast!i> ,, ij procefies 



are made intelligible and famili;ir, , cullivated, 



the reafoning powers are exercif-., i - are gained, 



and the commencement made of tliule iiilL-ikctiial operations 

 and habits, which are fubfervient to the higheft purl"uits of 

 knowledge, and to the beil condudl of hfe. 



While we thus recommend the early employment of the 

 underftanding upon numbers, we ought not in juftice to our- 

 felves to omit mentioning, that natural hiftory furnifties 

 ample fcope for the exercife of the intd'etl on ihlngs, on 

 words, and in clafTification ; and in fome refpecfls it is a more 

 ufeful objefl of early mental cullure ; it brings into exercife 

 the habit of obfervation, while it equally i-equires and more 

 rewards the attention ; it gives more room for the exercife of 

 the memory, and is more calculated to fet the mind at work, 

 and fupplies more numerous and interefting fubjedls for its 

 operations. " The art of forming a found and aftive under- 

 ftanding," fays Mifs EJgewortli, " confifts in a due mixture 

 of facls and refleflion. Dr. Reid has, in his Effay on the 

 Intelledlual Powers of Man, p. 297, pointed out, with great 

 ingenuity, the admirable economy of nature in limiting the 

 powers of reafoning during the firll years of infancy. This 

 is the feafon for cultivating the fenfes, and whoever, at this 

 early age, endeavours to force the tender ftioots of reafon, 

 will repent of his radinefs." We have not yet been able to 

 meet with the paffage to which Mifs Edgeworth refers in 

 our 8vo. edition of Reid ; but we are fully convinced that 

 (he cannot go the whole lengths of that philofopher, refpeit- 

 ing the degree in which the reafoning faculty is naturally 

 developed, or rather lies undeveloped, during childhood: as 

 \w have already remarked, children reafon much m.ore than 

 is ufnally fuppofed : and provided we are cautious in giving 

 due vigour to the obfervation and judgment, we may fome- 

 times direftly employ the reafoning faculty, under the 

 reftridlions which we have already pointed out. Fe haps, 

 however, it is better to be fatislied with thofe proceffes of 

 reafoning, which, where the mind is healthy, will almoft in- 

 evitably follow the exercifes of the obfervation and recollec- 

 tion, and make no dircifl effort to cultivate the reafoning 

 facuhy, than to aim to bring it forwards prematurely ; and 

 it was with a view to this principle, that we have thought it 

 defirable to fnbjoin the foregoing remarks to what we have 

 faid on attention to numbers.' 



