The Yazoo Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1842-04-15


Men have met and fought in fields of carnage;
have prosecuted, have destroyed one another like
teroclOus animals, for differences of opinion and
dOgmas, maintained with blind fury; which, in
subsequent periods, universally rejected as too
gross Tor credence. These the fruits of error
the consequences of false and deceptive system
of misunderstanding the mind undisciplined and
incapable of acting for itself, devoid of the means,
habits and processes of ratiocnation its irregular
energies abandoned to the direction and excite
ment OF those who are disposed to employ them
for their own advancement and interests. Man
then loses his individuality, and is but compo-
nent part of a physical mass, moved and governed
by exterior agency.
The important object in education should be to
avert this unhappy state of Intellectual nullty-
to form the habit OF investigation-to conduct the
mind to the comparison of things, estimating their
similitudes and differences. arranging them in
their respective and appropriate classes, and ex-
pressing them in precise formula. A lust educa-
ton is Eluch less the communication OF knowledge
than instruction in the methods of acquiring know
ledge-by examination and Neutrality-suspicious.
and induction. Whoever is DESTROYS of mastering
the difficulties of a science, must rely chiefly on
his own instruction; dependence on others will
ever throw him into sciolism-aways inefficient,
, often contemplate. He must labour in his own
vineyard who would be rewarded with abundant
harvests, and would gather the choicest fruits.
The education you have completed il only pre-
paratory. 1t embraces two objects; tho first is
| language, or the signs representing commune
eating simple ideas; that is, words; and the ar
| tifces by which words are combined, arranged
and modified, so as to express the operations of
the intellect in the formation of reflected and COM
pound ideas-the distinctions between them-and
the formula for their expression what is called
grammar and logic. This department of educa-
ton is fundamental; essential to the completeness
of every other; is vastly important TO a perfect
method of study & the acquisition of knowledge.
1t is language that pOurs the mind Of one man into
that of another; 1t paints the thoughts; gives it
pal pable existence and individuality, by which it
may be seized on and appropriated. It is in Ian
guage that the mind finds immortality, while the
body perishes in the dust.--It is language that
preserves to US the thoughts of the great the learn
ed, the wise, the good OF all ages, making them
heir-oOms of the Notwithstanding from genera
ton to generation-transmitting lessons Of wisdom
and of virtue-enlightening, instructing, benefit
ting, elevating and improving their species. But,
for the communication of ideas for useful purpo-
ses, and an accurate comprehension of them, lam
guage must be the exact representation of the
idea; it should be clear, precise, simple, and the
/ value of each word be express, united, and def
nitey explained. Many Of the disputes that vex
mankind, and fill the world with discord and en-
FILTERED feelings, turn merely words or phrases,
taAen without the parties being aware OF It, IN
meanings entirely different. Words, as Burk most
| Justly observes, are things
| A second object embraced in this preliminary
of magnitudes--the laws of the forces imparting
motion to the bodes-that is, arithmetic and alge.
bra, calculation, geometry and mechanics; oil
collectively, mathematics, in the fullest accePta
ton of the term. Education thus composed is
series of exercises adapted to every faculty; by
which, systematically pursued, the organization
Of the mind is corrobOrated, and its power fully
displayed. BY these exercises are its wild and ir
regular impulses restrained, while they control its
tful and wasteful sallies; that direct its forces
h,,o nd
discipline; they harden it to toll, and qualify i
for application; they prepare it tc grapple with
the abstrusest subjects of philosophy, and for thu
achievement of noblests cOnquests over opposing
difficulties; they arm it with power to drag from
the deepest recesses of nature her most hidden Sc
crets; and crown its triumph with the never fading
3 chaplet of immortal truth.
Such has, or should have been the education yol
have finished. The more complete this has been
the more thoroughly you have been mbued will
its principles, and have deeply imbibed its spirit
: the fewer difficulties you will encounter, the LOT
tier the station you will be enabled to reach; tn
}, brighter your fame, the richer your reward.
4 In the Investigation of a science, two branche
are invariably presented for your consideration an
examination list, its principles I'd, the VERNE
. and incontesti5le facts of the science. On know
= ledge of both depends its successful application
VI to practical purposes. The principles of scenc
It are its animating spirit-the only rational objec
IF of its cultivation is their establishment Fact
st are to be Investigated and verified by ObservatiO
! and experiment, the only means to be relied OF
But the attestation and verifcaton of facts are
otherwise useful, than as they enable US to dete
o mine principles and establish theories; and if
err in theory it is either that the facts are impe
IL fectly known, or what is furnished to as fac
~ are false When facts are confirmed, Philos'
" phic genius never fails in its generalization
ID soon establishes sound theory Of universal al
r. pication, offering the solution of myrads Of PHI
nOmena. A genius Of this character Immediate
n perceives the similitudes and dissemblances
ne things, embraces analysis, and distinguishes Il
o. particularites Of objects, comPrehends the ent
re mass in its views recognizes the points in whlC
p many millions of phenomena meet IN perfect a
n cordance, and deduces from study of their ge
ma eral relations the reciprocal connection and NUT
tn al dependence-the causes or law regulating the
of productions With this concentration of the
culties directing the senses to the perception al
e. examination of substantiatec facts, their arrang
We ment aud classification under appropriate heaC
%, their generalization or reference to general pon
y OfVieWs are readily accomplished. The facts a