SECT. VI.-INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUAL OCCUPATIONS.

The activity of the physical faculties being always, in their development, in advance of that of the mind, manual occupations not only may be indulged in before intellectual exercises can be seriously commenced, but serve as the best preparation for them; because most mechanical pursuits demand the co-operation of the mental powers. They particularly exercise attention and perception; they excite a spirit of observation and invention; they habituate the mind to the formation of plans, and the observance of proportion; they bring out, in fact, every intellectual resource. The practice of any art, even the simplest, is the application of some of the principles of science: familiarising young people with facts illustrative of these, will, at a future period, render their study of science more interesting and profitable, as presenting to them innumerable opportunities of applying to practical utility the one in which they may then be engaged. In the business of life the union of practical habits and intellectual acquirements is useful, both to the capitalist and to the operative.

Mechanical ingenuity has, in many instances, given rise to intellectual pursuits of the first order. Many discoveries in the arts have led to the discovery of unknown laws in nature, and of new principles in science; for, in the progress of knowledge, theory generally follows practice. Had Stephen Mongolfier not been a practical as well as a scientific man, the hydraulic ram might for ever have remained as speculative and useless a philosophical project as it was in the hands of Hales. Haüy, the originator of the science of crystallography, Belzoni, the explorer of the antiquities of Egypt, James Brindley, James Ferguson, Herschel, Lord Rosse, and many others, preluded their scientific careers by purely mechanical operations. Peter the Great became a mechanic to civilise a nation.

If children are accustomed to the use of tools, and are gradually taught to work in paper, pasteboard, wood, and metals, according as their physical progress permits the difficulty to be increased, they will soon acquire a mechanical skill which may, at a future time, prove very beneficial to themselves and to others. Manual dexterity makes us, in a great measure, independent of others, and gives us the means of providing for our own comforts in most of the circumstances of life. It is indispensable in many professions, to travellers, to naval and military

men, to engineers, architects, and surgeons, but particularly to the votaries of natural philosophy. Those who have distinguished themselves by high conceptions in the sciences, and by useful inventions in the arts, have, for the most part, early in life, displayed a taste for mechanical operations, and have constructed with their own hands the instruments or apparatus necessary for illustrating their discoveries. Archimedes fabricated his own wonderful machines, Galileo made his own telescopes, Torricelli his barometers; Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Roger Bacon, Benjamin Franklin, Kepler, Pascal, Newton, James Watt, Buffon, Humphry Davy, George Cuvier, Isambert Brunel, Charles Babbage, and many others, were aided by their mechanical skill in gaining celebrity, fortune, and the enviable glory of being the benefactors of mankind.

Let us encourage, among young people, games of skill and dexterity and all occupations which lead them to form plans and contrivances, which, in short, exercise their ingenuity, their patience and inventive powers. The early discovery of some artifice may, by opening the eyes of a child to deceitful appearances, save him, through life, from foolish credulity, and warn him against the deceptions of impostors.

Not only is manual occupation, like all bodily work, conducive to physical and intellectual improvement, but, in a moral point of view, it is most beneficial: it forms a bond of sympathy between the wealthy and the operative; it makes man submissive to an imperative law of his existence,―labour being the condition of human life; it calms his inclination to sensuality, exercises his patience and perseverance, and disposes him, by habits of industry, to tranquillity of heart. It must contribute to happiness; for the exercise of any faculty, physical, moral, or intellectual, satisfies one of the demands of man's nature.

If bodily labour be turned to a useful purpose, it will acquire a new degree of importance, and will become more interesting than if undertaken merely for the preservation of health. As the improvement of the individual ought always to be considered with a view to the benefit which society may derive from it, and which it has the right to claim, the physical powers of the child should be especially directed towards the acquisition of such arts and manual occupations as may be rendered subservient to the well-being of the community. Thus, physical training truly becomes an auxiliary to moral education.

No system of education is complete which does not provide,

by due attention to useful arts, for the activity of the physical powers, for relaxation from mental labour, and against reverses of fortune. There is no station in society, be it ever so high, which may dispense with them altogether. Many instances might be recorded, in which even powerful princes have derived benefit from skill in manual occupations. By a law of Solon, the children whose parents had neglected to have them instructed in some profitable trade, were relieved from the obligation of maintaining them in their old age.

SECT. VII.-LIMITS WITHIN WHICH PHYSICAL ACQUIREMENTS SHOULD BE CULTIVATED.

Physical education embraces the first three periods of youth ; but the exercises which it prescribes, particularly gymnastics, should be continued through life, without however, interfering with intellectual pursuits; they are necessary at every age, in order to keep up health and the harmony of the whole animal economy. Some of those exercises may not always be practicable: it is the duty of persons entrusted with the care of children to select for them such as may suit their social position, their sex, constitution, and temperament, as also the vocation or profession to which each is destined.

The end proposed by the educator ought to be to cultivate the physical powers of the child, so as to keep them within the sphere of action which is suitable for the destination to which he is called by nature and by society. Physiology lays down the fundamental principles by which this object may be attained, and health may be preserved. An educator must therefore be acquainted with this science: his skill consists in preventing disease, as that of the physician, in curing it; and, as prevention is better than cure, so is the office of the educator more important than that of the physician.

In the present state of society, when man is placed in circumstances which constantly tend to make him deviate from the simple path of nature, the study of her laws, as explained by physiology, becomes indispensable to those who have to provide for the education of youth; for, if they are not thoroughly acquainted with the nature and functions of the bodily organs, how can they minister to them their due share of exercise, or restrain their activity within judicious bounds? The neglect or over exertion of any of the physical faculties is equally injurious:

if their inaction keeps them in impotent debility, an excess of exercise, on the other hand, would bring a premature decay of the over-tasked organ, or destroy the symmetry of the frame by the over-development of some particular muscle.

The excessive activity of the physical faculties is usually acquired at the expense of higher faculties: it is a well-known fact, that mental excellence is rarely the portion of those who devote much care and time to increasing the volume of their body and the force of their muscles. We ought to seek in muscular action only a means of health and diversion, without aiming at a superiority which is not consistent with the occupation of a highly cultivated mind. "Men," observes Londe, "who give themselves up exclusively to muscular exertions, are deficient in sensitiveness, moral tact, reflection, and intellectual labour." * "It would be difficult," says also Richeraud, “to find in history the example of a man who has combined with the physical powers, which the muscular temperament implies, distinguished strength of the intellectual faculties. For excelling in the fine arts and in the sciences, there is need of exquisite sensibility, a condition absolutely at variance with much development of the muscular masses."+ Tissot's aphorism will be found true, in general, that the man who thinks the most digests the worst, and vice versâ, he who thinks the least digests the best.‡ (1)

*Gymnastique Médicale.

De la Santé des Gens de Lettres.

Nouveaux Elémens de Physiologie. (1) See Appendix.

CHAPTER II.

MORAL EDUCATION.

SECT. I.-DEFINITION.

MORAL education has for its object the cultivation and direction of the moral faculties, so as to enable us, through their means, first, to acquire the virtues and fulfil the duties required by our condition as creatures of God, and social beings; and, secondly, to imbibe the sentiments and inclinations which can ensure individual happiness.

Religion may be considered as the basis of morality; for no moral principle is safe which is not founded in religion; but, for the convenience of classification, we will consider the actions of man in three different points of view, as they immediately relate to his Maker, to his fellow-creatures, and to himself. The moral education, which embraces the immediate relations of man with the Divinity, we will call Religious Morality; that which embraces his relations with society, Social Morality; and that which concerns him individually, Individual Morality.

The fulfilment of our duties to God constitutes Piety; the performance of our social duties, Justice; affections and social virtues are the elements of Goodness; the duties, virtues, and inclinations of individual morality combine to produce Wisdom. Piety, Justice, Goodness, and Wisdom, are the acquirements of the soul which, as stated in our definition of education, raise man to the image of his Maker: the possession of them in their highest degree constitutes Moral Perfection.

SECT, II.-MORAL FACULTIES.

Progress towards moral perfection is based on the right exercise of the moral faculties. The soul is perhaps more than the body subject to the great law of education. Its improvement is also of greater importance, as it affects society at large, and the