SECT. V. THE FOUR EDUCATIONAL PERIODS OF YOUTH. Youth is the season of life designed by Providence for giving a proper direction to the faculties, for training the habits and laying the foundation of the physical, moral, and mental character. It may be divided into four periods, through which are distributed the various exercises indispensable to a good education, and to which we shall often have occasion to allude. four periods are, 1. From birth to the age of 6 (Infancy). 3. From 12 to 16 years old (Adolescence). These It must be well understood that this classification is only approximate; for the natural activity of the faculties is found to vary considerably throughout the different periods of youth. It is not unusual to see, for example, a child of eight years more advanced in physical or mental growth, than one of ten or even twelve. We Te must, however, observe that education does not end with youth: it continues through the entire of our earthly existence, The discipline to which man is subjected during these four periods, and especially during the first three, ought to be considered only as a preparation for the great education of life; its primary object is to enable him to improve himself afterwards, and to adapt himself to the particular circumstances in which it shall please Providence to place him. The threefold process which transforms the most helpless being into the noblest work of God on earth, is too vast in its details to permit us to do justice to the subject in the present initiatory Book: we will only briefly indicate what are, in the three departments of education, the faculties to be trained and the acquisitions to be made through their instrumentality. Our observations on these points are not offered as a treatise on education; they are merely intended to exhibit the fundamental principles of the science of Education, from which are deduced our precepts, and on which should be based the study and the teaching of languages. No system of instruction, in fact, can be safe or successful, which has not its foundation in a thorough knowledge of the constitution of man, and which is not formed with due regard to the end proposed in education. CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL EDUCATION. SECT. I.-DEFINITION. THE objects of physical education are the preservation of health, the cultivation of the physical faculties, and the acquisition of useful arts and accomplishments. Physical Perfection may be said to consist in bodily strength and beauty, which are the offspring of a healthy constitution, and of well-developed organs. SECT. II. THE ORGANS AND FUNCTIONS OF ORGANIC LIFE. The physical constitution of animals is invariably formed according to the instincts and kind of intelligence with which each species is endowed: that of man is divided into two systems which, although distinct, have a mutual dependence on each other; these are the organic and the animal. The organic system, or vegetative life, has for its principal organs, the heart, the stomach, and the lungs. Their functions, independent of the will, are confined to the preservation of health, the support of life, and the growth of the individual. The functions of organic life being involuntary, come only indirectly within the power of education: as health and life depend on them, the Creator has not permitted that they should be under the immediate control of our caprice; they are as active in infancy as in the maturity of life. Physiology makes us acquainted with the natural laws which govern these functions; and it is our interest to conform to them; for, as long as man acts in accordance with the dictates of nature, in the gratification of his wants and appetites, she provides for the regularity and energy of the vital faculties. The child generally comes into the world in a healthy condition; it is the duty of the educator, whether a parent or his substitute, to preserve him so. This will be more particularly effected by a close attention to diet, sleep, cleanliness, clothing, air, and exercise, which have a direct influence on the organs of life. The manner in which these first wants of nature should be supplied is an essential part of physical education. Hygiene prescribes for this object rules, which are but too often neglected. It would be impossible to state the extent of injury done to humanity by the almost universal ignorance of this important branch of the medical science. The benefits of health are not confined to the individual; they extend to the community and to the future generation. The child will be a parent; and on the constitution of the parent depends, in a great measure, the constitution of the future child: man follows, in this respect, the laws of animal nature. SECT. III.-RECIPROCAL DEPENDENCE OF MIND AND BODY. By reason of the intimate relations which exist between all the parts of the animal economy, the judicious exercise of the physical faculties which obey the will, cannot fail to exert a favourable influence on those which are not subject to it. Not only do pure air, proper food, muscular exercise, and cleanliness of the skin, stimulate and improve the circulation of the blood, the digestion and the respiration; but moral feelings and intellectual occupations have, through the nervous communication existing between the brain and the three vital organs, a direct influence on their functions. A well-regulated activity of the mind, and cheerfulness of disposition, are essential to sound bodily health, whilst excess of intellectual labour, and violence of moral emotions are among the many causes of physical derangement. On the other hand, the state of the circulatory, digestive, and respiratory organs, has a direct influence not only on physical education, but on moral and intellectual training. Health is the foundation of the whole edifice of education. The mind is incapable of exerting all its energies and the heart its kindliest affections, if the body is in a state of debility or disease. The connection between the body and the mind, and their reciprocal dependence on each other, as established by physiology and psychology, must never be lost sight of. As the physical organs are the instruments which the soul employs in its operations, their soundness and activity must facilitate its discipline. Physical education cannot, therefore, be separated from moral and intellectual training. Physiology affords aid in psychological investigations. An educator must understand the animal economy of man, in order to study with advantage his higher faculties. Whatever he attempts to teach, from the first elements of knowledge to the higher truths of science, his success will depend, in a great measure, on his acquaintance with the functions of the human frame, and on the extent to which he acts in obedience to the laws of physiology. The mental and the moral powers with which the child is endowed, manifest themselves through the medium of organisation, and no plan which he can devise will be successful for their cultivation, that is not in harmony with the laws which regulate that organisation. "I cannot," says Dr. A. Combe, from whom we borrow the last observation, "I cannot regard any teacher, or parent, as fully and conscientiously qualified for his duties, unless he has made himself acquainted with the nature and general laws of the animal economy, and with the direct relation in which these stand to the principles of education." * "Instructors of youth and authors of books for children," says also Dr. Brigham, “would do well to acquaint themselves with human anatomy and physiology, before they undertake to cultivate and discipline the mind."+ The celebrated Galen was so convinced of the influence of the physical nature of man over his moral and mental constitution, that he invited the educators of his time to send him the children whose hearts and minds were vitiated, promising to improve them by purely hygienic means. Descartes also declares, that, if mankind can be improved, it is in the medical science that we must seek the means of doing so.‡ SECT. IV.--THE ORGANS AND FACULTIES OF ANIMAL LIFE. The animal system is composed of several organs, the seats of corresponding faculties; it presides over functions which are intended to supply the demands of reason, and are, consequently, subservient to the commands of the will. The cultivation of these physical faculties is next in importance to the preservation of health. Their development is proportionate to the quantity, and analogous to the nature of the exercise to which the respective organs, their instruments of action, are subjected in the pursuit of the arts and accomplishments which constitute physical acquirements. * Elements of Physiology. On the Influence of Mental Cultivation, &c., on Health. We subjoin here the organs, or groups of organs, of this system, with their corresponding faculties, and the qualities which this branch of education proposes to cultivate in these faculties. Organs to be Faculties to be Qualities to be cultivated. Brain Consciousness, &c. Power, activity, correctness, acuteness. Sight Ear Hearing Sensitive organs. Muscles Muscular Action Activity, flexibility, strength. Bones, limbs Motion Activity, flexibility, strength, agility. 1. The Brain. The Brain, the principal and central organ of animal life, is, under the direction of the mind, the mover of the voluntary organs, and the focus towards which all the sensitive faculties converge. This double function is effected by means of the nervous system, which has its origin in the brain and spinal marrow. The nerves distribute sensibility and life through the whole physical organisation; some convey to the brain the sensations which the organs of sense receive from the external world, whilst others obey its determinations, by bringing into action the vocal, the muscular, and the locomotive organs. The brain may perhaps be considered rather as a system of organs, than as a single organ; but, in whatever light it be viewed, its entire development is the necessary consequence of the activity given to all the faculties, and particularly to the sensitive organs. Like the other organs, it increases or diminishes in power, as it is exercised or not exercised; it is enfeebled by inaction, and injured by over-activity. This complex organ, the mysterious link which unites the physical with the mental nature of man, is the seat of consciousness |