Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1811-06-17
& dollars per annum.]

N the Ordinary course Of education. We are
hrst employed, It IS true, in languages, geo
graphy, HISTORY, natural philosophy, subjects
that deal in particulars. But at enc bound
| we are carried to the most abstract studies
icg;cs, for example, and metaphys sizes. These
indeed, give exercise to the reasoning faculty
but 1t will not be said, that thev are The
best qualified for initiating a young person in
the art of reasoning. Their obscGritv and
intricacy unfit them for that Office. Here
there is evidently a void, which must be fin.
ed up, II we wish that education should De sue
cesstal. To improve the faculty Of abstract
ing, and gradually lead US from particular
acts to general propositions, the tender mind
ought at first 10 be exercised In o6eerUations
u the sfDlhleat kEsd, Such as may easilv be
comfrcheHded. To that end, the subject
ought, by all means, to be .Jlniiiur, and il
ought also 10 be agreeable and instrucnuc.
Life, vol. l, $50, 40.
This extract, iii the last sentences. expIainS
in very striking manner, the system of Pes
talozzi and Meet. But lord Xames, when he
wrote his .4rt Of Tin King, instead of begin
ming with things OF the simplest kind, set p
bout composing aphoTisms and anecdotes for
persons already educated, Of which thsse who
had not already considerable knowledge Of
human life, could not understand. Ii has
been the general error Of education TO take
tor granted, that children either already have
formed accurate ideas, or that it is only ne
cessary TO learn them words, and that IDEAS
VIII follow n time whence IN fact, the grea-
ter parts OF the words are forgotten before ma
tural incidents puts the grown man in posses-
sion OF those ideas which it should have been
the first business of education to define and
render familiar in the simplest manner. and in
the most agreeable and instructive way.
The natural capacity OF Zerah Colbnrn, &c
the fortunate accidents by which that capaci-
ty has been unfolded, even slightly as it has
been, for 1t is but slight compared with what
better method may eject upon every child
Of the same age; and what is still more, it so
happened that the very method by which
young Colburn's faculties have been unfolded
in the single branch Of arithmetic but in an
imperfect manner, corresponds with the ge-
neral principle OF the method by which the
pupils ofNeef, become masters Of the eIemen-
tary principles or anatomy, and a knowledge
or their own faculties, their persons, members,
and the causes and uses OF every branch Of
the animal economy which their infant minds
can embrace and which lays in their minds
the foundation of accurate thoueht, and forti-
hes them against vulgar names and vulgar
errors; which leads them to nprehend not
only the active mechanical powerof numbers,
but the laws ofProportion between unity and
ali its compounds to intinity; which teaches
them 10 be geomeIricians and to comprehend
the forms and properties of all visible figures,
and to measure by the eye with more accura--
cy than the practiSed mathematician of the
schools with his instruments and his lead Of
apparatus; which leads the infant mind rhro'
all the delightful mazes of natural history.
and teaches the boy to discriminate and name
with accuracy all the objects Of mineraioey.,
chemistry, botany, and the sensible clements
of things which after acquiring these
branches, leads him full Of ideas and with rea-
soning powers and habits already prepared.
to investigate the powers of his own organs,
to analyse sounds, words, and language; to
understand and to speak with understanding
on grammar and rhetoric to lead him thro'
the arcana of languages, and make him mas
ter OF three languages without mere labour
than the ordinary recreations Of innocent in.
fancy, and converts education itself into an a.
museInent which enlarges without fatieuing
the mind and which invigorates the animal
constitution instead of supplying and orpress-
ing 1T, as is the too common effect Of the pc
neral modes Of education where the animal.
system is not sufficiently vigorous to bear the.
oppression of rules never understood, but got
by rote, and Of lessons learned only to pro-
duce stipend for some Inerccnary ped.gogue,
and forgotten BY the victim Of their torture as
soon as they have escaped from the terrors
of their barbarian fernla.
Such IS the system which has already given
evidence OF It's prodigious power in unfolding
the natural faculties CT human beings, ard e
which all we are competent to say, falls IN
iinitely short.