Liberal Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1872-1???, 1873-05-17
INTELLECTUAL CULTURE {.

The consideration of the Development
and growth OF the intellect furnishes
the only true principles by which to
regulate the culture of the intellect, and
to arrange the order in which the differ
ent branches of knowledge should ffbe
studied.
The studies which should be first
pursued are those. which require and
discipline the powers of observation and
aquisition, and which involve imagina-
ton and memory, ia contrast with
those which demand severe efforts and
trained habits of thought 1nasmuch,
also, as material objects are. appre>
hended and mastered ia earlcy life
with far greater ease and success than
The acts and states of the spirit, objec.
tive and material studies should have
almost the exclusive precedence. The
capacity of exact and diseriminatiRs
perception, and OF clear and retentive
memory, should be dew elored as largely
as possible The imagination, in allits
forms, should be directed and elevated
we do not say stimulated, because, in
the case Of most children, its activity
is never-tiring, whether they be at
study, work, or play.
We do not sly, cultivate perception,
memory. and fancy, to the exclusion or
repression of thought for this is impossi-
Bile. These powers, if exercised by
| human beings, must be interpeuetrated
by thought. If wisely cultivated BY
studies properly arranged, they win
necessarily involve discrimination, COM
parison, and exp anatiou. To teach
pure observation, or the mastery Of
objects or words. without classification
and Interpretation, is to bel ignorant
even to simple stupidity. Bot, on the
other hand to stimulate the thoughts
processes 10 unnatura and rromaturcly
painful efforts is to do violence 10 the laws
which nature has written in the cous,i>
tuition of the intellect Even thought
and reflection teach us that,
before the processes Of thought
can be applied. materials must be
gathered in large abundance; and to
provide for these, Nature has made
acquisition and memory easy anl spon-
taneous for chiIdI ood. and reasoning
and science difficult aud unnatural
The study of language should be
prosecuted in childhood, as it is, is
fact, 10 the acquisition ofthe mother
tongue. la the acquisition of other
languages the methods by which the
vernacular is learned should be follow
cd as far as possible. Grammar, so far
as it is required should be simple, pain,
and practical. Its theories should be kept
in the back. ground; its terminology aud
princiL les should be the reverse of tie
abstract The contrasts and compari-
sons involved between the strange and
the familiar, will stimulate aud guide to
the frs. beginnings of reflective gram
mar. The memory for words should be
exercised and stimulated. Choice tales,
poems, narrative and lyric, should be
learned for recitation. Natural history
10 all its branches, as contrasted with
the objects before the eye flowers,
minerals, shells, birds, aud beasts.
These studies should all be mastered in
the spring time of life. when the tastes
are simple, the heart is !resh, and the
eye is sharp ard clear The facts Of
history and geography should be fixed
by repetition, and stored away ia
order. .sY
But science Of every kind, whether
of language, of nature, of the soul, or
Of God, as science, should not be pre-
maturely taught For the consequence
is, either disgust and hostility to .saA
stndy on the one hand. oron the other,
superficial thinking, presumptuous con-
ceit, aud, worst Of all, sated curiosity
The law of intellectual progress iuyol-
yes effort and diciplre severely impos-
ed and constantly maintained, but
the effort and dicipline should follow
the guidance of fnature.--From Porisr's
Human Intellect.