The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-07-17
INTELLECTUAL CULTURE.

work Itself:
Rightly considering that the mind
makes but sorry music when the body, It's
instrument, Is out OF tune, the writer pri-
marily treats Of the physical basis upon
which the intellect must build. Admit
ting that the best phyGiCal conditions are
rarely compatible with great mental Ia
bOrB he thinks that sedentary confinement
insufficient variety and lack OF amuse'
meut, which 80 often accompany It, to-
pether with the greatest evil Of all-want
Of exerciSe-must share the responsibility.
As 10 nervousness, the plague Of literary
men, and, indeed, The American disease
he prescribes exercise as the best sedatiVe
and tranauilizer. Il should not be taken
in large quantities, OF by its and starts,
and the relaxation Of hours cannot be
spread over minutes; there Is no economy
Of time possible here. Amer . rapid and
severe mental effort, Q little thorough u
dolence is not unhealthy. As 70 the
measure OF mental labor, Mr.. HAmmerton
thinks that twelve or fourteen hours work
per day, for years together, might be IN
dulged In by a person naturally robust
and with a clear brain, II there was d
sufficient margin OF time LETT for amuse'
ment, exercise and aeep. This esumNe
Is too high, we think, for our exciting
climate. He adds, very PenSibly, that me
needs OF our independent nature must %
followed in reference 10 toods drink,
regt society, or solitude, rather than the
customs OF people about us. AS to the
matter OF diet, however, he inSiSts thata
the intellectual life makes large demands
upon nutrition, the worker requires food
OF the most nourishing kind to supply the
waste Of his cerebral activity constantly
going on. Quality, therefore, must take
the place Of quantity, aimee oVer-eating
interGeres with digestion and their subse-
quent brain work, and must be carefully
avoided. Hence the Importance Of scion.
tiilc cookery, our author insisting that In
tellectual labor Is as much dependent
upon this for, the dissemination Of its re-
suits as upon the paper maker. Il such
cOunsels are needed for an English liteFa-
ry public, how much more iOrcibly they
apply here, where the adage that God
sends the meat, but the devil the cooks,
has such singular appropriateness, Our
author does not shirk the much mooted
question OF the influence Of spitituOus and
malt liquors upon the brain, but insists
that the moderate use oil sound natural
wines, not strengthened by the edition
Of aIChohol, supply both stimulus and
nourishment thereto while beer has It's
uses In the rest which It gives to the nGr-
vous system. He prudently adds that
stimulants are, however, apt TO delude us
as 10 the limits Of our natural powers
and encourage Us to attempt too much.
lie recommends moderation as 10 quaint.
ty with good quality, and the same rule
Is applied to the use OF tea, coffee and to-
bGcCO. ..t..
The animal and intellectual must be
conciliated il we would gain high Mon
tai standard, and Scott, Humboldt,
Leonardo da Vinci, &c, are cited as In
stances of what rational physical activity
can do for the mental powers. -
Passing from the physical, the writer
next treats the "morAl basis" Of intel
lectual life, and at the outset he utterly
denies the i'll .considered charge that
there is necessarily lack Of moral fibre
In the intellectual, or that intellectual
living Is simply pleasure Of a higher kind.
While admitting that there Is a divine
excitement and stimulus in such labOrs,
he recalls tho fact that every other sort
of successful toll also has It's stimulus
money, ambition, &c. But the excite
ment Of intellectual labor Is but small
part Of it, compared with the immense
drudgery that alone produces results.
Even poetry, the most GxhilaratiDg kind
Of literary labor, involves much Of this,
and he Instances Moore's Ldlla RoOkh,
one OF the most airy and fancitul OF
poems, for the composition OF which the
author laboriously prepared himself by q
careful study Of Oriental manners, Gus.
toms and images. d. ya-i..
The writer reaches the conclusion that
culture, on the whole, Is favorable to
morality, the excitement which the I'M
cultivated seek in the qualification OF the
lower passions being measurably furnish.
ed by the pursuits OF the, cultivated. Be.
sides, excuses oil any kind lead to the
gradual seltdestruction Of the mental
forces, by weakening the springs Of the
mind and leaving it unable to face the re.
quistc drudgery. The trite subject Of
education Is treated of with much fresh
ness. The writer does not believe in the
approved American plan OF overCrowding
the mind with two many studies, and he
enumerates sixteen different branches Of
knowledge which young Englishman
thinks it his duty 70 attempt As'eyel
half an hour day given 70 each Of these
would leave no time for professional Oc-
cupation or the pursuit, Of q iayorite
study, such scheme Of education h
simply impracticable. l.I .,.j o,... n
Everybody with much pretensions 10.
culture, nowadays, studies one or more
foreign languages, and the writer's views
upon the difficulty Of their acquisition
have attracted some attention. HeinsiSts
that whenever foreign language is per-
iGctIy acquired, that The one 80 acquiring
has either married person Of the nation
referred to, or 10 OF mixed blood. Where
a foreign language has been acquired in
absolute perfection, there has almost
always been loss id the native tongue,
and man, sometimes speaks two IAN
Ruages correctly, his fathers and his
m0th6f6 iot his own and his Rile's, but
never three. We think tina latter too
broad sh assertion. Many Europeans,
generally Germans or Russians speak
more than two Languages with entire cor.
rectness and tiuency, but 1t is rare that
the Angel. Saxon tongue kassuch Aexibil.
ity. Children, our author contends, can
speak several languages exactly like
natives but in succession, never stimuli
taneOusly; they forget the first In acquiring
the second, and 80 on. This assertion Is
also too broad, numerous instances being
known where children speak two Ian
gusges equally well at the same time, and