Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1811-06-17
FROM THE AURORA.
EDUCATION-NEyY MErHon
EUSEBIUS.

| usual, and therefore n most surprising man
| ner, by a child between and z wears old
young Zerah CcLbouan Of Vermont. Having
| paid some attention to thea sti-nrising DOW
ers of that child, and hayiing5.s SiuuessoIki
truth of all that has been. said cfhin ~
public papers, we may be allowed NspfIer
some observations, not to disparage tNs ia
cuities of the child. but to state fact, that
we saw that child, in the presence of twenty
! children, all nearly Of his own age, Saw and
heard him and them, ard that every one of
these children, in whose COMPANY he was,
! were as much beyond hinelp knowledge, and
IN the knowledge of numbssesse, as the pro-
lessor OF college is beyond scholar Of
| twelve months standing.
| We say this without the least apprehen-
sion OF contradiction, because every one may
see and judge of those children, whom we
| have seen, and no one can presume to con-
tradict upon mere incredibly or presunp-
ton We repeat, every one who thinks fit to
| put the matter to the test, may see what we
haze said demonstrated every day in the
school or Mr.. Neef, near the Falls of Schuy-
kill, five miles from this.
It is sometimes said, that Zeyak ColBoyy7r.
has acquired his power of calculation, by
what is sometimes called the force of genius,
| at other times instinct. These modes of ac-
Counting for the exercise of his faculties, are
erroneous, and that they must be erroneous
| is demonstrable from a few simple facts.
What gives to this surprising child, the ca
| pacity which he possesses in the manage
ment OF numbers, principally consists in the
power OF memory, which is in fact, the sole
foundation of those extraordinary and rapid
answers, which he gives to questions invol-
| wing numbers, and in any of the four ordna-
| ~ rules of arithmetic.
1 al,,t L.. 4
may be arranged to iniinity by an order in
the mind; the extent and bounds the uni
| verse may be conceived b. a comparison of
one object with another, and by prOpcrtion-
ing the thing Of which we only conceive, be-
cause its magnitude and form forbid our en-
| bracing it in our view time short Of eterni-
ty may be conceived and counted by a COR
responding process, the revolutions of the
| heavenly bodies, or as our Indian neighb rs
calculated by Skeehs meaning nights, or by
moons meaning months. But even among
the rude Indians there is compact for
terms, by which the idea conceived is enbo-
| died in an expression and the expression ta-
ken as the common term of the particular
| idea.
BY considering this fact, we shall at once
| perceive that young Coiblgn must have had
| some instruction it does not diminish the
measure of his capacity, tho it may take d
way from the admiration of those who are
fond only of the marvellous but it is very
| important to know it, because it aids in e,x-
hibiting to the world the general absurdity of
the prevailing and universally facilitating
methods of education.
For cXampte, a mile is an arbitrary term :;
young ofibSrn <ould at once tell you how
many WAdssfeeA or inches, in any number
OF nhlesX Ny word mile is term sub
ject to gNat Nri8ies, our mile is 1760yards,
| that of RdAAa 100, thai of Italy 1867, that
| Of Hungary $500 yards; It is very obvious
that these proportions of the inferior parts of
! yards, feet, or inches, being mere matters Of
! convention and agreement, must be acqui-
red either by instruction on study; for It is
not possible that knowledge could be ac-
| CURED by mere instinct, of matters perfectly
arbitrary and conventional. Young Colburn
| must therefore have been taught not cry the
names and proportions Of the measures Of
| length, but Of time also; for the day and the
| year, as well as the week and the month, are
| all terms expressing not an uniform and ma
turally apportioned period, but arbitrary and
| conventional times.
| The computation Of numbers by the deci-
| NAL order, is perhaps the hrs9sid Of young
Colbufn's wonderful memory nd skilfll
| management Of the decimal ordination of
tons ofmeasures, Of length and time appear
| to constitute the extent OF his surprising ia
! Guilty.
Perhaps this might be questionable, and
we are ready to confess that had we not
seen The pupils Of Meet, of the sayh age, rc-
solve problems huCh more extraordinary.
| nay complex and faluirng Mast force Of
reasoning, had we n& seen children of the
same "a resolve, ananot Merely receive
but eSpl1p the principleS n the solution Of
the most .fcult question: We migllthayc
been indut to believe Hat only one enid
in an age IS susceptible II acquiring such a
faculty for arithmctcaf aicul Aion. But the
pupils of Meet have VT It bcytGd dispute,
that any childin goo9hcalth mAbc taught
not only to calcuiateHs young CoiS1ln does,
but to understand and account for calcutta
tons UNNECESSARILY more extraordinary.
| Indeed it is surprising that on tie subject
OF education, the principles have been 50
well understood as general principles, while
the practcal application Of those principles
nave remained undiscovered, until the ven.
cradle Pestalozzi Of SwisserianJ, devised bis
admirably simple and elective method. in
the writings Of the celebrated lord Hcmts
We have an example OF this knowledge 81 the
principles Of education; but in bis tract en-
/ titlcd the .9T Of IhiHSMg, VIC have seen
how much short his execution fell OF his great
conception. His words arc these:
Nature, in ercoursc, begins with particu-
t lars, and ascends gradually to what is gone
S raj and abstract. EUt natuTc is ~ seconded