Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1871-01-09
MIND VI. MRMoRY.
In these days Of abundance Of books,

MIND W. MEMORY.
In these days Of abundance Of books,
good, bad and Indifferent q leading
object q education with the higher
classes in schools should be ,ohGt to
read, and how. There are many books
parliamentary, scientific and historical
subjects to study, or ever to read,
which Is loss Of time. And yet q gen.
eral knowledge Of their contents Is in
dispensable. No good book Is without
q copious index. If it has not this APP
pendage, It IS not what the book-read-
ing and purchasing public have a right
to demand In these days, however
much Information the book may COLI
tain. If a volume otherwise excellent
lack the requisite Of q directory to Its
contents, the reader should exercise
himself by supplying the omission.
This once done, he will probably have
q better knowledge Of the subject be-
cause available than the author
or compiler himself has. But suppos-
ing the work to be properly classified,
with the leading arguments or princi-
pies clearly stated, the true purpose OF
study Is not to transfer from the pages
of the book to the tablets of the mind
all that the volume contains. 1t is
rather to get knowledge of the fact
that the Information desired Is there,
and how to find 1t; to fix in your mind
the general important principles or
leading facts; and to have at hand the
apparatus by which you AN get details
when you wish for them for any spe-
citic purpose. In other words, You
should know your book as you know
your friend. You understand on what
subjects he Is competent to instruct you,
and you ask advice or information
from him. In the same way should
books be consulted. Any library or
smaller collection Of volumes. thor
oughly understood In this way, is avail
able upon a greater variety Of subjects
than most people would deem possible.
And now to come back to the thought
with which we started. In common
school education there is a cruel
amount Of mere verbal memorizing re-
quired, and the younger the student
the more unreasonable the task. The
power Of memory Is excessively stimu-
lated; the power OF thought is neg
lected. Results are presented to the
learner often in language which is to
the young mind unintelligible jargon.
But no effective means Is taken to
teach how these results are reached, or
to make the little student really un-
derstand the language which is EN-
ployed. There Is not much need Of
new books just now. But what is
wanted Is the attempting of fewer
branches OF knowledge at once, and
the giving Of more oral instruction and
explanation by the teacher. Many
things which are painfully drilled into
the minds OF the students would be
better taught because sufficiently, II
tho pupils were simply Instructed how
to consult books rather than required
to memorize their contents. We need
not enlarge upon the positive damage,
physical and mental, which Is inflicted
upon ambitious children ut school by
the present system Of everlasting the
memory, and really ncglecting the
reasoning powers Of the mind. No
system Of physical education" Is n
suficientc ounteracting influence to the
mischicEs Of owe study. For 1t would
only that the gymnast, having
wearied his brains into inaction, or
excited his mind to fever, is expected
to complete the process of exhaustion
by over exercise Of the body, reducing
the corporal to the same hopeless con-
dition as the mental. No wise man
tries to do more than one thing at n
time, or to have more than one leading
object Of pursuit. In like manner
should children and youth be educated.
PUNISHMENT OF SEAHEN.-Since the
abolition Of flogging in the national
and merchant navies of the United
States, it Is asserted that the Captains
have exercised their ingenuity in in
venting various substitutes, which,