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 Published by order of the American Lyceum. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 AMERICAN LYCEUM. 
 
 JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1833. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 EARLY EDUCATION 
 
 By J. M. KEAGY, M. D. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY COLLINS AND HANNAY, 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 CARTER, HENDEE & CO. 
 
 1833. 
 
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 \"*EW TORK PUBL, LIB*. 
 
 IN EXCHANGE. 
 
 
AN 
 
 ADDRESS ON EARLY EDUCATION. 
 
 Read before the American Lyceum. 
 
 BY J. M. KEAGY, M. D„ 
 
 The subject of education has engaged the attention of the wisest 
 and best of men in ancient and modern times. Much has been said 
 and much has been written on it. The minds of statesmen and of 
 philosophers have been directed to it, and in many instances with the 
 happiest success. It however presents a field of inquiry so extensive, 
 that we can scarcely suppose that it will ever be fully explored ; but 
 the discoveries of one age will only prove the harbingers of more 
 sublime and useful advances in the subsequent progress of human 
 improvement. 
 
 In our present essay, we purpose presenting a general view of the 
 subject of Education in connection with its practical application, more 
 especially to the early stages of human existence. This, which is 
 now usually known under the title of Infant Education, and which 
 has been limited to the first seven years of childhood, is one of the 
 most interesting and useful departments to which our investigations 
 can be directed. The inquiry however cannot be judiciously con- 
 ducted without examining into the ivhole nature of the human being. 
 We shall therefore endeavor, briefly, to present such an outline' of 
 theory and practice as may be adapted to the limits of this address. 
 
 Education may be defined to consist in the development and in- 
 vigoration of all the useful susceptibilities or powers of our being, 
 whether bodily or mental. 
 
 Man, above all animals on this globe, may be characterised as the 
 creature of education. For some elementary peculiarities of his 
 constitution, he is truly, what education makes him. He is destitute 
 of those definite instincts with which other animals are endowed, and 
 which qualify them, without instruction, to enter upon the duties of 
 their situation. In him we find capacities of indefinite improve- 
 ment substituted for instinctive qualifications, to act in the sphere in 
 which he is placed. 
 
 One of the most important, results of the culture of the human be- 
 ing, is observable in the beautiful and wonderful capacity for forming 
 habits. As these may be either good or bad, according to the 
 manner in which the original faculties are exercised, it becomes a 
 matter of serious concern to watch over their formation, and to give 
 
 
48 Early Education. 
 
 them such a direction in early life as may render them the sources of 
 refined pleasure to the possessor. 
 
 Man, as to his susceptibilities of education, may be divided into 
 the physiological functions, the intellectual faculties, and the moral 
 feelings; or as St. Paul very concisely expresses them, 'the body, 
 soul and spirit.' 
 
 The cultivation of each of these divisions of the human constitu- 
 tion must be attended to, if we desire to prepare a child to be use- 
 ful and happy : the body, that it may become a comfortable habita- 
 tion for the spiritual and intellectual part, the soul, or intellect, that it 
 may see clearly and judge correctly of what tends to happiness or 
 misery , and the spirit that it may acquire such habits of feeling, 
 under the guidance of reason, as shall produce the greatest sum of 
 felicity in this state, and afford an assurance as well as a foretaste 
 of joys, immortal, in another and a more exalted condition of be- 
 ing- , 
 
 These three portions of the human constitution reciprocally in- 
 fluence one another, and therefore require to be consentaneously un- 
 folded and strengthened, in order to secure the happiness of the indi- 
 vidual. In this respect, very great errors at present prevail in 
 our community, some one portion of our being receiving cultivation 
 to the exclusion and lasting injury of the other two, and ultimately of 
 the whole man. It is in consequence of this error that we can scarce- 
 ly find an instance of a wholly educated man — that men, in general, 
 exhibit the distorted growth of irregular development. 
 
 In accordance with these views, we shall make a few remarks un- 
 der each of the divisions above mentioned; notice some of the most 
 prevalent errors, and then present hints on a course of practical in- 
 struction adapted to the laws of the mind and the present state of so- 
 ciety in our country. 
 
 Physical Education. 
 
 The healthful condition of the bodily functions must be a subject of 
 deep interest with us, so long as we are surrounded by such numer- 
 ous causes tending to produce disease, and to place our lives or our 
 limbs in jeopardy. We are liable to injury, from heat, from cold, from 
 moisture, from sudden or long continued muscular exertion, from in- 
 dolence, from excess in our food, our drink, or our sleep, and from a 
 great variety of almost nameless circumstances. 
 
 It is the province of Physical Education to offer such a succession 
 of exercises as shall establish physiological habits which may grant 
 us the privilege of an exemption from most of the evils that usually 
 arise from the above named causes. The muscular and circulato- 
 ry system, therefore, with the digestive organs, and the organs of sen- 
 sation, come under the special direction of this department. 
 
 Particular attention must therefore be paid to a proper and varied 
 exertion of the muscles, so as not only to insure general strength and 
 ease of motion, but also to obviate the disastrous consequences of 
 suddenly putting into action a set of muscles which have rarely been 
 exercised, and must therefore be too weak to save their possessor 
 
 ; 
 
Early Education. 49 
 
 from a dangerous accident. In the ordinary exercises of most per- 
 sons, a number of muscles are left nearly quiescent, whereas these 
 may be the very ones, upon which, in a perilous position, they may 
 be obliged to depend for the safety of their limbs or their lives. This 
 is true of most of the muscles of the trunk of the body. Many also of 
 the limbs are not ordinarily exerted, to an extent sufficient to attain 
 a tonic power capable of preserving us from danger. These circum- 
 stances of themselves, are enough to awaken an interest in physical 
 training. But when we reflect on the dreadful maladies, corporeal, 
 moral, and intellectual, that result from a debilitated condition of the 
 digestive organs and the circulatory system, that view cannot fail to 
 induce us to use such means as may prevent these evils. Should it 
 seem strange to some that we connect morals, and the exercise of intel- 
 lect, with the state of the digestion and circulation, we need only refer 
 them to the mental phenomena exhibited by an epicure or a drunk- 
 ard ; or even the more innocent, though not much less distressing 
 condition of our modern dyspeptics. In these classes of degraded 
 and suffering humanity will be found facts that would fill volumes ; 
 all proving incontestably the overwhelming influence exercised, 
 by the physiological functions, upon the intellectual and moral state 
 ot man. 
 
 It becomes then a subject of grave import, to institute and bring 
 into practice among our children, such a succession of lessons in this 
 department, as will form vigorous bodies, able to perform the dictates 
 of vigorous souls. 
 
 Mens sana in corpora sano, was a maxim with the ancients, and 
 the institution of athletic exercises and public games among the 
 Greeks and Romans had reference to this principle. In this respect 
 they were very much superior to the moderns, who possess in other 
 respects innumerable advantages which had no existence in their 
 times. We shall do well to introduce into our system of education, 
 and improve upon all the unexceptionable parts of the ancient gym- 
 nastics, so as to suit them to the circumstances and customs of mod- 
 ern life. The plays of children are too irregular and too often associ- 
 ated with pernicious moral influences to be recommended. Those 
 gymnastic exercises which have been lately introduced into our country, 
 might form, with some additions, a very useful substitute for the ordi- 
 nary amusements of youth and childhood. They possess the desirable 
 variety which we have before noticed, by bringing into energetic 
 action, muscles, that in most cases, are at rest. Some of these exer- 
 cises should be commenced very early. An attention to them may 
 very appropriately make apart of the duties of the nurse, provided she 
 is instructed to regard the delicacy of the muscular fibre, and the 
 want of strength still existing in the cartilages and ligaments. Much 
 may be done by her in strengthening the muscles of the infant, espe- 
 cially those of the chest, and thus securing an enlarged capacity of 
 the lungs, a greater scope of respiration, and consequently an inval- 
 uable addition to the means of Longevity. 
 
 Since good health is almost entirely owing to the integrity of ac- 
 tion, that exists in the systems of circulation and digestion, these 
 
50 Early Education. 
 
 portions of the human frame demand primary attention. The vigor 
 of these organs we know is much increased by muscular exercise, 
 which is therefore a great auxiliary in accomplishing Our intentions. 
 There are, however, agencies connected with these functions that 
 require specific notice. 
 
 As it would be absurd to discuss the subject of Intellectual Edu- 
 cation without a constant reference to the laws of thought ; so it is,, 
 equally improper to dictate a course of Physical Education without 
 a similar reference to the laws of animal life. Under a conviction 
 of the correctness of this opinion, we shall be excused for introduc- 
 ing a few general principles of Physiology, on which we found our 
 preceptive instructions. 
 
 The whole human body consists of a mesh of vessels which are 
 either cellular in, their structure, or elastic tubes, containing fluids in 
 progressive motion. If all the vessels contain their proper quantum 
 of fluid, propelled with a due degree offeree, we denominate this state 
 of things health. So far as it regards the circulation of the blood 
 and other vital fluids, the functions of the heart, the lungs, and the 
 skin must be considered together, as they constitute, with the absor- 
 bents and glands, but one universal system of distributing and secre- 
 ting apparatus. 
 
 The skin exposes so great an extent of surface to the changes of 
 temperature, incident to our atmosphere, that it becomes necessary 
 to guard it by clothing and other means. Much however may be 
 done by physical training, especially if we keep in mind one curi- 
 ous and valuable fact, viz. that if the minute vessels of the surface are 
 kept in a state of healthful action, we shall almost certainly secure 
 an equable circulation in the rest of the fluids throughout the whole 
 body. For in proportion as the superficial circulation is healthful, 
 the respiration becomes free, the pulse regular, the head tranquil, 
 and the functions of sight, hearing, touch, &c. accurate and comfort- 
 able. 
 
 In order to accomplish this desirable object, and establish habits 
 of sound action in these organs, so dependent on the state of the skin, 
 it is necessary from early infancy to accustom children to frequent 
 frictions and bathing, either in warm or cold water, according to the 
 power of reaction in the system ; to attend to cleanliness in clothing, 
 &c. ; to strive, by prudent measures, to harden the constitution, and 
 enable it to support the sudden changes of our climate, with impunity. 
 We are aware that the hardening course of physical education has 
 been much disgraced by the injudicious manner in which it has been 
 practised. It has been anything else than rational and consistent. . 
 There has been every irregularity in clothing and exposure ;— one 
 while excessive housing and protection, and then again as unjustifiable 
 and wanton exposure to the rude inclemencies of the seasons. Such 
 mismanagement must produce disease and destroy life among our 
 children, so long as it may prevail. Nothing has so great a tendency 
 to make the surface indifferent to exposure, as a daily familiarity with 
 the bath, during every variety of season and weather. 
 
 The lungs consist of two species of vessels, the air cells, and the 
 
Early Education. i)L 
 
 blood vessels, both in the closest apposition. The former contain the 
 breath of life, which communicates to the fluid, in the latter, a vivify- 
 ing energy. In proportion, therefore, as we increase the capacity of 
 the air vessels, we afford the system a greater stock of the pabulum 
 vitae. Moderately loud speaking, reading and singing, having this 
 tendency, should be made invariable exercises in the physical cul- 
 ture of children. 
 
 The healthy state of the stomach and other digestive organs, de- 
 pends very much on the sound condition of those to which we have 
 adverted. But we would here remark, that the stomach has a pe- 
 culiar connection with the nervous system, and seems to be a con- 
 stant gauge of the mental force of the human being. However singu- 
 lar this opinion may appear, there^is no difficulty in substantiating it 
 by facts innumerable, drawn from the moral history of dyspeptics. 
 One great law with regard to food and drinks is plainly indicated by 
 the phenomena attendant upon the mastication of our food or the 
 reception of sapid substances into the mouth ; and that is, that no 
 substance should be swallowed until the cohesion of its particles is 
 destroyed by chewing, and its taste neutralised by the saliva. Hence 
 children should not be much indulged in sugar, sweetmeats and 
 spices, as they will get a habit of swallowing them carelessly, and 
 much use of them will invariably injure the tone of the stomach, and 
 the nervous system, and may lay the foundation for the habits of the 
 epicure, the drunkard, or the debauchee. We know that all the ap- 
 petites are allied to one other, that they all form physiological habits, 
 and that these habits have an almost uncontrollable influence over 
 the moral man. We cannot therefore be too guarded in the judicious 
 education of the stomach, if we maybe allowed such an expression. 
 For there cannot be the least doubt that thousands of adults might this 
 day have enjoyed a good character, sound health, and happiness, who 
 have lost all, through neglect on this point. 
 
 With regard to the improvement of our organs of sense, it is well 
 known that the eye, the ear, and the sense of touch, may be render- 
 ed much more acute by definite exercise than without it. The func- 
 tions of these senses, being the medium of connection between the 
 surrounding world and the intellectual faculties, the perfecting and 
 strengthening of their percipient power, must form the highest step 
 in physical education. 
 
 Nature obliges us, in our waking hours, to bring our senses con- 
 stantly into action. The utility of these fortuitous exercises will 
 depend very much on circumstances. One set of organs may be 
 exercised to the detriment of those of some other sense. In order 
 to produce that balance, or those relative degrees ol perfection, which 
 will enable all the senses most advantageously to serve as instruments 
 of the mind, a regular course of exercises should be instituted and 
 persevered in, with this specific design. These lessons should include 
 within their scope, the direction of each sense by itself upon objects 
 adapted to its cultivation. Thus, there must be a series of lessons 
 to perfect the sense of touch so as to render it as delicate and accurate 
 as possible. A similar series must be brought to bear upon the or- 
 
52 Early Education. 
 
 gans of hearing and sight.. The gustatory and olfactory organs are 
 not of much account as a ground work to mental education, and may 
 therefore be omitted : But the touch, the hearing, and especially the 
 sight, may be called the intellectual senses, and should receive a large 
 share of our attention. 
 
 The advantages of Physical Education, in its fullest extent, are, as 
 yet but little understood, and will continue to be so, until the natural 
 sciences are made a part of school learning. When Anatomy, 
 Physiology, and Hygeine, shall assume an importance at least equal to 
 Arithmetic, Mensuration, and Surveying in our schools, then, and not 
 till then, shall we properly value the education of the physiological 
 functions. Then may we expect;; to see the efforts of the head, the 
 heart, and the hands, united in the amelioration of the condition of 
 man : then shall we see a rapid decrease in the cases of bodily dis- 
 ease, as well as in the degradation of morals arising from the intem- 
 perate indulgence of the appetites: even the dyspeptic himself, who 
 has always lived a borderer on the regions of insanity, will then be 
 restored to his natural vigor of body and mind. 
 
 Having now briefly noticed some of the leading features of phys- 
 ical education, we shall pass on to an examination of some of the 
 intellectual faculties, and their mode of action. 
 
 Intellectual Education. 
 
 When we examine our thoughts, we find that they consist of a re- 
 currence to our minds of what we have seen, heard, tasted, smetted, 
 ot felt, and of mental combinations and judgments concerning these 
 things. Of the truth of this position, every one is convinced, who 
 has paid but a slight attention to the operations of his own mind. An 
 idea then, is nothing more than a mental perception of an absent 
 object, its qualities or actions ; or it is a mental repetition of our sen- 
 sations. As our ideas are derived from our sensations, the primary 
 business of intellectual education, as before hinted, ought to be the 
 cultivation and strengthening of the senses, and the perceptive power 
 through them. This is the only solid foundation for subsequent 
 acquirements. 
 
 By the power of perception, we become conscious of the various 
 sensations communicated by the organs of sense ; and by the faculty 
 of attention, we give direction to our perceptive power, and are capa- 
 ble of holding an object before the mind so as to examine it minutely. 
 The faculty of attention, is, from this circumstance, the means of fur- 
 nishing our memory, judgment, and reasoning powers, with all the 
 materials on which they operate. If we are capable of fixing our at- 
 tention vigorously, our memory and judgment will possess similar vig- 
 or. If, on the contrary, we possess but little ability to direct and fix 
 our attention, our memory and judgment, will exhibit the same debil- 
 ity. To acquire a habit, then, of fixing our attention steadily and un- 
 dividedly on any object so as to trace out all its attributes and rela- 
 tions, is a matter of the greatest moment in a good system of educa- 
 tion. 
 
I 
 
 Early Education. 53 
 
 The cultivation of our senses by a course of suitable exercises, 
 invigorates our power of attention. As before observed, the senses 
 that should be particularly exercised, are those of sight and touch. 
 The reason why these two senses should receive the greatest cul- 
 tivation, is, that the sensations acquired by them form the pivot up- 
 on which all our other sensations revolve. It is through touch that 
 we receive our ideas of space and location. And these ideas of space 
 and location, as they exist in our perceptive faculty, constitute the sub- 
 stratum upon which all our sensations rest. They act the part of the 
 frame and canvass on which our imagination paints all her pictures 
 and scenes. And it is in this way that space and location become 
 the great foundation for memory; for without the aid of these elemen- 
 tary ideas, it would be nearly impossible to improve, or even to retain 
 our faculty of reminiscence. 
 
 But although our ideas of space and location are originated by the 
 sense of touch, yet they are very soon transferred by association to the 
 sense of seeing, in every human being that has the use of his sight. 
 The infinite variety and pleasing appearance of colors may have a 
 great influence in giving sight such a predominant superiority over 
 the touch. Whatever the cause may be, it is an undoubted fact that 
 sight is the overwhelming sense, and that it bears off en vigorous 
 wings all the other sensations of taste, smell, hearing, and even touch 
 itself. 
 
 From what has been said, we may venture the position that we 
 think in pictures or scenes. That this is true, is evident from the 
 terms used in all languages to express our intellectual operations, as 
 well as from the simple reflections of our own minds. The influ- 
 ence of ocular perception and location, in arresting attention and 
 securing mental retention, is freely exemplified by a reference to the 
 art of Mnemonics, an art, whose principal dependence is upon visible 
 imagery and symbols, which it calls to its assistance. The surprising 
 instances which Feinagle and other late teachers of Mnemonics give 
 us of persons remembering long and difficult series of events, &c.,can 
 all be explained on this principle. In our every-day experience, we 
 also witness the singular tenaciousness of our memory, whenever we 
 associate visible scenes and places with ideas of any kind. The 
 method of teaching the deaf and dumb may likewise be brought for- 
 ward as an evidence in proof of the effect of visual sensation and loca- 
 tion on the memory. In teaching these persons, everything must be 
 pictorial, scenic, and pantomimic ; and this is the reason, that although 
 deprived of that sense, which is the great avenue of instruction, they 
 nevertheless learn so fast, and remember so well. 
 
 The more we embody and arrange our knowledge after this manner, 
 the more perfectly will it be remembered. This truth should be made 
 a leading principle in the education of the intellectual faculties of 
 infancy and childhood. The public mind is fortunately directing its 
 attention to this principle, but still, not yet with a zeal at all commen- 
 surate with the stupendous importance of the subject. So far as it 
 has been applied, it has displayed the most valuable results. Every 
 teacher is acquainted with the utility of maps, in teaching Geography, 
 2 
 
54 Early Education. 
 
 and of charts on the plan of Priestly and Le Sage, in teaching History 
 and Biography. Historical paintings and portraits, likewise, become 
 the nuclei for concentrating and fixing thousands of ideas, which would 
 otherwise be as evanescent as a wasting cloud. Lectures and appara- 
 tus, with the accompanying experiments, form the scenery in which 
 our ideas permanently reside, and it is the circumstances which come 
 under the notice of our vision, which render this mode of instruction 
 so much superior to the routine of our schools. This law of the mind 
 may be extended to ethics, and the most abstruse of what are called 
 the abstract sciences. For what idea can we have of the terms good, 
 bad, honest, fraudulent, benevolent, &c, without identifying these 
 words with scenic actions exhibiting those attributes of moral char- 
 acter. 
 
 From all this we may draw a useful conclusion, viz., that precepts, 
 or abstract principles in any science, are of little or no use to the inex- 
 perienced. An abstract principle, can only be of service to him who 
 has been an experimenter, and has been in the habit of drawing infer- 
 ences from what he has observed. Hence in moral instruction, fables, 
 parables, and descriptions of conduct and character, a.lways make a 
 deeper impression and have a better effect, because in them moral 
 principles are displayed before the mind in scenic representations, and 
 correct practical reasonings are the immediate result. 
 
 We may conclude then, that the method of teaching by induction 
 from, facts and scenes, is the only correct and speedy method of com- 
 municating knowledge ; and that when it shall have come into general 
 use, it will change the face of the intellectual world. To follow out 
 these views in a practical course of education, we ought to make all 
 nature our tablet of mnemonic symbols, with which we might always as- 
 sociate appropriate ideas. All the scenic ideas, thus located, would 
 form a world of experimental facts, and supply us with funds in our 
 generalization of phenomena, or in other words, in the construction of 
 our systems of science. 
 
 There are two intellectual operations which should be continually 
 kept in exercise, in a course of practical instruction. These are analy- 
 sis and generalization. These two processes reciprocally aid each 
 other; for a correct analysis of individual objects as to their different 
 parts, properties and actions, becomes the source of accurate general- 
 ization, and this is the origin of all science. Analysis cultivates the 
 faculty of attention, and renders the memory tenacious. Generaliza- 
 tion has a similar effect on our power of recollection, by connecting 
 to one point a number of useful facts existing in different objects. 
 
 In conducting a course of such lessons with a pupil, we shall derive 
 much advantage from questions. Interrogatories fix the attention, 
 and by that means strengthen it. It is in this way that the interroga- 
 tory system lately introduced in various branches, has produced such 
 valuable results. This is probably the method of the ancients revived. 
 Their most efficient teachers taught on this plan ; and the categories 
 of Aristotle can be considered useful in no other light, than as they 
 are a means of investigating a subject by interrogatories, and in this 
 
Early Education. 55 
 
 way arresting attention, and securing knowledge. As language is the 
 medium through which knowledge is communicated, it may be proper 
 to notice the office of words with reference to the theory we have given 
 of the thinking process. 
 
 Words stand either for whole objects or for parts, for whole scenes 
 or for some portion or action of a scene. Thus the word body repre- 
 sents a whole consisting of many parts, as the head, trunk, extremi- 
 ties ; and these of their subdivisions. The term head includes in it 
 the ideas represented by face, forehead, eyes, ears, mouth, &lc. But 
 since language would be imperfect if we had only words standing for 
 the names of objects, it was found necessary to be more minute, and 
 hence we have terms expressing every species of action and quality. 
 Words then being used not only as signs for whole objects and their 
 parts, but also for their qualities, actions and uses, become our most 
 useful instruments of analysis. They are, from the same circumstan- 
 ces, equally the instruments of generalization. Thus the minute ap- 
 propriation of terms, concentrates attention, and insures accuracy of 
 observation. 
 
 When we look at words in this light, as a means of communica- 
 ting our thoughts to one another, we may compare them to the pen- 
 cil of the painter. Each word traces out, in the imagination of the 
 hearer, the whole of an object, or some part, or quality, or action. 
 All the elementary images and scenic actions exist in a latent state in 
 the mind of the hearer, and the speaker by a successive analysis of 
 his pictures by words, raises the same in the mind of the hearer. If 
 the reader or hearer can readily realize and embody the scenery pre- 
 sented by words, he is said to understand what is written or spoken, 
 and if not, the language is said to be unintelligible. 
 
 We have dwelt so long on this point because we deem a just and 
 simple view of it, of primary consequence in the acquisition of language 
 and science, not only during infancy, but during the whole period of 
 our terrestrial existence. We shall not have time to prosecute an in- 
 quiry into the method by which nature teaches language to infants, 
 nor to show how truly it tallies with our exposition of the principles 
 of thought. There is one circumstance, however, which is so uni- 
 formly observable in the learning of language in infancy, that we think 
 it worthy of special notice, because an inference of a very useful prac- 
 tical bearing can be deduced from it. 
 
 When we observe a child for the first six or eight months after he 
 begins to articulate words, we shall see that he acquires in that time 
 all the terras that are necessary for his daily use, and along with this, 
 their phraseological construction. Were we not familiar with this 
 fact, we should consider it an astonishing achivement for such feeble 
 powers to accomplish so much : But another circumstance equally 
 curious, is, that in the second eight months or a year afterwards, he is 
 seen to make scarcely any progress, compared with what was previ- 
 ously done. This contrast, in these two stages, appears to be capa- 
 ble of explanation in one way only, and that is, that when the little 
 tyro has mastered the vocabulary which is adapted to his common 
 
56 Early Education- 
 
 purposes, he is not furnished with more means of enlarging his know- 
 ledge, and so remains in a great measure stationary in his acquirements. 
 There is no doubt that if this fact were kept in view, his attainments 
 in the use of language, during the second year, would far exceed his 
 first year's progress. This we conceive to be a matter of too much 
 consequence to be overlooked in the management of infantile educa- 
 tion. After the child is acquainted with the names of the things which 
 occupy his little sphere of thought and feeling, let new objects and 
 pictures be presented to his notice; let their names and their histories, 
 so far as they may be intelligible, be given to him ; and his interest 
 and advancement in learning will be secured. For, if so much is 
 learned in the first instance, without anything but accidental and ir- 
 regular instruction, what might not be expected from it, when made 
 a regular and definite business 1 
 
 We shall now leave any further remarks on intellectual education 
 until we come to the more practical part of our essay, and proceed 
 to a hasty review of the next division of our subject, which we took 
 the liberty of denominating the moral feelings. 
 
 Moral Education. 
 
 The moral feelings form the most interesting portion of the hu- 
 man constitution ; for it is in them that our happiness or misery is 
 experienced. They are the springs of action, and are hence also call- 
 ed the active powers, and by some metaphysicians, the emotions, affec- 
 tions, &.c. They possess an intimate connexion with the intellectual 
 faculties and the bodily functions. They constitute man a social 
 being. They are felt in the breast or heart, and hence are sometimes 
 named the heart, in contradistinction to the head. They include all 
 the passions, whether benevolent or malevolent, and the appetites so 
 far as they are related to them. 
 
 It is a universal fact, that the moral feelings and appetites natu- 
 rally tend to excess in their exercise, and this excess causes misery. 
 It is their excessive, irregular, or malevolent action that constitutes 
 vice; and their regular and benevolent exertion, virtue. They show 
 themselves as instincts with the first breath of the infant, and never 
 leave him through all the changes of youth, manhood and old age. 
 Without reason and religion, as their guide, they may become the 
 greatest curses to their possessor. Whereas the proper government 
 of them produces the highest sum of human happiness; and the for- 
 mation of habits of directing them aright, and restraining their way- 
 wardness, is the most exalted exercise to which a human being can 
 apply himself. 
 
 It is of primary importance in the moral education of children that 
 they be taught habits of self-control, or as divines term it, self-denial ; 
 and the first step towards the acquirement of such habits, is, that their 
 will should be entirely subject to the control of those under whose 
 guardianship they are placed, whether these be parents, teachers, or 
 others. We may say without hesitation, that no human being will 
 
\ 
 
 Early Education. 
 
 57 
 
 ever govern himself well, who has not first learned to submit implicitly 
 to the government of others. Jt must then be assumed as a funda- 
 mental principle in moral education, that obedience must be pro- 
 cared and retained at all hazards. This is indispensable : and the 
 second principle is, that we prove to the little subjects of our authority, 
 that we love than. If either of those principles is wanting, the con- 
 sequences will be bad. Some of the bad moral feelings will be devel- 
 oped, and many of the benevolent ones repressed or extinguished. 
 Most of us are liable to err, by leaning too much either to rigor on the 
 one side, or fondness on the other. Of the two errors, however, it 
 must be confessed that rigor is the safest course, both for the child and 
 society. For we see thousands of good citizens, and comparatively 
 happy persons formed by the rigorous system of treatment alone, to 
 one by the system of fondness and indulgence. But it is not at all 
 necessarv that these balancing operations in a good course of moral 
 education should b-3 separated, if parenrs will take the trouble to know 
 themselves; their duties, as well as their rights. Let us make chil- 
 dren know that they must submit; but let us be careful to make them 
 know as certainly that we tenderly love them : and their happiness will 
 be an inevitable result of this course of treatment. Physical and mo- 
 ral qualities bear so intimate a relation to one another, that a differ- 
 ence in the physical conformation of children of the same family, often 
 forms the first cause of moral differences. Since those circumstances 
 are connected with the earliest existence of the child, its moral edu- 
 cation should be commenced as early as possible, and be prosecuted 
 with unremitting attention. It is upon this, that his future felicity or 
 wretchedness depends, and it draws with it responsibilities which no 
 reflecting person can assume without great solicitude. What consid- 
 eration can possess greater force, than that we are making ourselves ac- 
 countable for the future welfare of an immortal being! Yet this is 
 the relation which every parent and guardian holds with regard to 
 those placed under his authority and guidance. 
 
 Moral education, as a field of inquiry and experiment, has been 
 but little explored. Little indeed has been done in watching the 
 eariv phenomena of the moral feelings, their progressive development, 
 and the modifications they undergo from the agency of the intellectual 
 powers, and from the changes that take place in the actions of our 
 corporeal organization. Much has been done, and with consideiable 
 success, in unfolding and applying the laws of intellect : but the the- 
 ory of mora! sentiments, is far from being perfect, and we need not 
 therefore wonder that vice is co-extensive with ignorance on this sub- 
 ject. One great defect that now prevails, is a want of knowledge 
 respecting the relations that exist between the physical and moral 
 man. These are relations of such stupendous moment, that there 
 must always be much error in conduct, until more light is thrown on 
 the reciprocal agency of these portions of the human constitution. 
 The direct influence of the imagination on the moral feelings has, 
 likewise, not been sufficiently investigated. 
 
 It may be stated as n general truth, that all the passions have an 
 
 "1 
 
 < " < -- 
 
58 
 
 Early Education. 
 
 immediate influence on the pulse or circulation of the blood ; and 
 from the universalobservation of this fact no doubt it is, that the term 
 heart is used as a comprehensive synonyme for the moral sentiments. 
 
 With this view then our passions are capable of a twofold subdivi- 
 sion, viz. into the expansive, and the contracting ; that is, those which 
 cause a diffusion or centrifugal action of the blood, and those which 
 restrain the efforts of the heart to distribute the vital fluid. 
 
 These ideas are not visionary, but are verified by the external ex- 
 pressions of our feelings. Every one is familiar with the modifications 
 that the countenance, the tones, and the gestures undergo, from the 
 operation of the different passions. We can readily advert to the 
 expansive effect of joy, or tranquillity, on the motions and direction of 
 the eye, the easy condition of the features, the roseate tint of the cheek, 
 the elasticity of the muscles exerted in our gestures, and the free con- 
 dition of the muscles of the larynx, as evinced by the agreeable and 
 benevolent tones of the voice. The opposite state of these indexes of 
 the spirit will easily be remembered in the pallid hue and tremulous 
 movements and accents of fear, t'he distorted features of anger and 
 malice, or grief and despair. 
 
 It cannot then be doubted, that the moral education of children has 
 an immediate connection with the external manifestation of the moral 
 feelings of those who are about them. The infant instinctively per- 
 ceives the difference between a harsh tone, or disagreeable look, and 
 a soothing voice or pleasant countenance. Indeed, children are almost 
 exclusively governed by the looks, tones and gestures of those who 
 have the charge of them, and feel most correctly and acutely all the 
 changes that are going on in the minds of others. From these facts 
 are derived considerations of the highest, value ia managing the pas- 
 sions of infancy and childhood. They prove the truth of the great 
 maxim, ' govern yourself, if you wish to govern others.' They also 
 show the necessity of presenting such scenes as awaken the noble and 
 free passions; and, when they can understand language, that of fur- 
 nishing their imagination with stories exemplifying correct moral prin- 
 ciples and benevolent sentiments. In moral teaching, that ' example 
 is almost everything,' is a remark that will apply even to adult age. 
 It is to be expected then, that the constant influence of correct con- 
 duct is almost the only one that can be exercised, while the judgment 
 has scarcely displayed itself in any rational effort. The passions of 
 children are strong, while their intellect is extremely weak ; and un- 
 der the present arrangements of education, and of general society, 
 the evil passions, ( grow with their growth and strengthen with their 
 strength,' while reason is kept in a state of utter inbecility. A princi- 
 pal cause of this, we believe, is, that the moral culture of our children 
 is, to a fearful extent, put into the hands of our domestics. It is a 
 lamentable truth that the ignorant, the vulgar and the vicious, are 
 the first teachers of morals, among nearly all orders of society in every 
 part of the world. Admitting this as a fact, how can we expect to 
 see virtue and piety prevail, except in a very imperfect and mutilated 
 form? 
 
Early Education. 
 
 59 
 
 We see, for instance, nurses and older children teaching the younger 
 pride and revenge, both by precept and example. We see despotic 
 severity and foolish fondness so quickly succeed each other, that 
 the balance of the moral faculties in the little victim is destroyed, and 
 the child is rendered more a creature of impulse than any of the inferior 
 animals. It is also taught deception and iaisehood by being often 
 deceived. Its tender moral sensibilities are transformed into a mor- 
 bid irritability by that most, depraving of all practices, the practice of 
 ' teasing' and ' making fun,' as children call it. We are convinced 
 that there is not a more demoralizing influence in the wide range of 
 mental ills that prey upon the tender mind. It unhinges the intel- 
 lectual faculties, and retards the growth of genius. How many a no- 
 ble mind has been fettered and kept in degrading bondage by the 
 wizard spell of this unholy influence, long after the causes which pro- 
 duced the moral habit of feeling had ceased to exist ! Instances of 
 the truth of this remark may be called to mind by every person of 
 observation and reflection. An extensive field of interesting inquiry 
 presents itself here, but, as the limits which we have prescribed to 
 ourselves will permit us to give only general views with a few practi- 
 cal references, we must leave this subject, and proceed to notice some 
 of the more usual errors that are committed in the culture of the in- 
 tellectual powers in our primary schools. We shall, by this means, 
 ascertain how far the prevailing method of instruction in those estab- 
 lishments is in accordance with the acknowledged laws of thought. 
 This is a point in which, both as teachers and parents, we are more 
 peculiarly concerned. 
 
 EjRtsqns in Education. 
 
 The ignorance that prevails throughout the community is vastly 
 greater than we should suppose it ought to he, when we take into 
 view the number of our common schools, and the opportunities of 
 attendance that are offered to the poorest families among us. Neither 
 the want of schools, nor the attendance of children can be the cause 
 of this great deficiency in knowledge, for thousands of children pass 
 through, and receive from them such advantages as they are able to 
 bestow. Habits of thinking, however, are not developed. The facul- 
 ties of children are left in a dormant state, and they come out into 
 the world with a little mechanical or parrot learning, which has but 
 little effect in making them useful members of society. An examina- 
 tion into the cause of so common a result involves the interests of the 
 public, and, so far as vice and ignorance are concomitant evils, makes 
 the inquiry assume a form that invites attention. 
 
 We know that children are instinctively inquisitive, and have their 
 curiosity excited by every object that meets their senses. It would 
 seem natural to conclude that this love for knowledge should increase 
 as a child grows up, and becomes capable of greater mental effort. 
 The reverse of this, however, is the fact. This disposition to inquire 
 gradually declines, and even vanishes, before he has passed his puerile 
 years. Such a retrograde and unnatural course of the mind must 
 
60 
 
 Early Education. 
 
 have some producing cause; and to none is it, in our opinion, more 
 justly to be attributed, than to the use of spelling books as an initiatory 
 step in school instruction. This will appear probable by the follow- 
 ing observations. 
 
 It is universally admitted that our first impressions and habits, 
 whether moral or intellectual, are the most lasting, and have the 
 greatest iufluence on our minds through life. In applying this prin- 
 ciple, we will remark, that the spelling book is the first book that is 
 put into the hands of children. Here their first associations with the 
 business of, reading and learning are formed. Here they are doomed 
 to learn almost endless catalogues of words or signs, without a knowl- 
 edge of the things signified. Disgust is the necessary consequence, 
 and their powers of attention become so wandering and debilitated 
 by this practice, that they will pronounce the most familiar words, 
 without having the corresponding ideas awakened in their minds. 
 They will for example read the words, cat, dog, cake, and not think 
 of either a cat, a dog, or a cake. If we ask a child who has gone 
 through the spelling book in the usual way, the meanings of the words 
 in his lessons, he will be unable to define one tenth of what he has 
 been reciting. We do not intend these remarks as a censure upon 
 the teacher, but upon a system of teaching that was in operation long 
 before the existence of the present generation ; — a system, the mis- 
 chiefs of which continue with its victim in most instances through 
 life ; — a system, which, like a destructive mildew, has blasted the 
 buddings of many a rising genius. There is no difficulty in perceiv- 
 ing that under such a course, the memory, as well as the faculty of 
 attention, must languish and decay; and as for the judgment or rea- 
 soning power, it is scarcely ever brought into action, because the 
 other faculties do not supply it with any thing to operate upon. If 
 this then be a true state of things, it presents an evil of a monstrous 
 and deplorable kind, and one that calls loudly for correction. What 
 is more likely to result from learning terms without ideas, at an age 
 when a child is all alive with a spirit of inquiry, than permanent dis- 
 gust and opposition to every thing like the unthinking course of his 
 school? We need not wonder then that a child, however he may 
 have been training thought before going to school, should in this way 
 lose all his inclination to know, and have all his mental powers blunted, 
 by the monotonous routine of sounds and letters without sense. It is 
 in the spelling book that the almost universal habit of reading without 
 thinking is acquired, the tendency of which, says Dugald Stewart, is 
 to abolish the intellectual faculties ; a habit which has for several 
 centuries been the greatest barrier to mental improvement. To some, 
 it may seem extravagant to assert that spelling books produce and rivet 
 habits of not thinking. But we are convinced that a proper reflection 
 upon the subject will lead them to the same conclusion. Many pupils 
 are afterwards brought into habits of thinking by learning another 
 language, or by being placed in a situation in which their minds are 
 obliged to attend to the signification of terms. It is on this account 
 that the study of Latin is so useful, that it may be considered as one 
 of the best remedies for this disease of the mind. 
 
Early Education. 
 
 61 
 
 It is gratifying to see that there is a strong tendency in the public 
 mind to scrutinize every thing that concerns education, and there is 
 every reason to hope that this, with other errors, will become the sub- 
 ject of a thorough reform. Infant schools are preparing the way for 
 it, and will no doubt, when improved and perfected, be the chief 
 agencies in placing early education on its true and rational basis. 
 
 The spelling-book, however, possesses its ground by the right of 
 long occupancy, and cannot therefore be suddenly thrust out of its 
 place. The only method that can now be adopted, is, to combine a 
 more rational system of teaching with the use of this book, so far as 
 such a union can be effected. This has been attempted in a little 
 work called the Pestalozzian Primer, which possesses the old form, 
 with an arrangement for teaching the pupil to think at the same time 
 that he is learning to read. By gradual innovations of this kind, the 
 mental torpor resulting from the spelling-book system, may be very 
 much obviated, and a rational plan be finally substituted. 
 
 Before we present an outline of a plan of infant instruction, we will 
 take the liberty of offering a few additional reasons for commencing 
 the process of education at a very early age. 
 
 The wants of society in America are peculiar. In this country, 
 more than in any other, the whole community are active members. 
 Our youth also enter sooner into business, and are by this means 
 placed beyond the influence of systematic educational arrangements. 
 It therefore seems necessary that our children should be prepared for 
 this state of things, as speedily as their faculties permit them. — The 
 independence of thinking, and freedom of action, among our youth, 
 constitute another reason for bringing out the latent energies of mind 
 and character, as fast as nature presents a prepared state of the sub- 
 ject. But there is still another reason, and one that involves conse- 
 quences of the most momentous bearing, for bringing the moral and 
 intellectual powers early into exercise. — In our country, the human 
 system exhibits the indications of puberty, between the ages of 14 and 
 16 years. As Providence is always wise and consistent in its arrange- 
 ments, we may safely infer, that the mental faculties were designed 
 to be cultivated and perfected, to an extent precisely commensurate 
 with the progress of the physical functions. We mean to say that 
 Providence designed that every human being, should have all his 
 useful, moral, and intellectual habits, established by the time he arrives 
 at the age of puberty. This intention, so apparent to the most careless 
 observer, has been almost wholly overlooked. It may, however, be 
 assumed as a law in the moral arrangements of the universe, which, 
 if not conformed to, must always be followed by its penalty. But the 
 general disregard of this law is such, that we may say the great ma- 
 jority of our youth only begin their practical education when it ought 
 to be accomplished. — A few indeed there have been, whose reason 
 and morals have been early matured ; but how great a mass, at that 
 age, exhibit unfledged minds and feeble virtue. Their moral force 
 has never been directed aright; and their conduct displays rather the 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 ' ■ k 
 
62 Early Education. 
 
 rude instincts of an animal, than the magnanimous actions of a heaven- 
 descended soul. 
 
 Whether mental improvement advances, or is stationary, the growth 
 of the body is in continued progression from infancy to manhood. 
 Sleeping or waking, the physical functions perform their office in 
 developing t the body to its ultimate perfection. But with the mental 
 powers the case is nearly the reverse. Here almost every thing must 
 be derived from the assistance of others ; and children ar,e for this 
 purpose, left many years under the guardianship of parents, that their 
 mental improvement may be promoted. It becomes then the impera- 
 tive duty of parents, not to permit the physical man to be one step in 
 advance of the moral man. It is here that the greatest of all our 
 errors in education has its existence. 
 
 We will now attempt a brief sketch of what we conceive to be a 
 method of teaching, suited to the views which we have presented. 
 
 Plan of Instruction. 
 
 Our first endeavor as parents, after children begin to talk, should 
 be to teach them to think regularly, and express their thoughts orally. 
 Here analysis and generalization should be constantly called to our 
 aid. Let them name the parts, properties, and actions of objects, and 
 then generalize objects from the similarity of parts, properties, and 
 actions. — This will give them language, the great instrument of 
 thought, and the ability to define their words without waiting for 
 Dictionary lessons. This oral course might occupy the two first years 
 after the child commences the use of language. Examples of the 
 method of conducting these lessons, though in a small advanced style, 
 may be seen interspersed among the alphabetic and syllabic lessons 
 of the primer before referred to, and in a little book called Lessons on 
 Things. Some of the papers in the Annals of Education and our 
 infant school manuals, contain many appropriate specimens. After 
 the child has gone through his two years' course of domestic instruc- 
 tion in this way, an infant or primary school, conducted on proper 
 principles, will afford the best means of accomplishing our design. 
 These institutions, the invention of which constitutes one of the prin- 
 cipal glories of our age, are destined to do more good than any other 
 scheme that has ever been devised by man. Their effects are already 
 seen, under the direction of many worthy and intelligent persons. 
 But they may be said to be still .in a very imperfect state, and will 
 require considerable changes and amendments, before they shall be- 
 come truly what they ought to be, schools for teaching to think. 
 When these institutions shall have assumed strictly this character, 
 and shall be brought into general use, they will effect an entire revo- 
 lution in the intellectual world. 
 
 In the business of education, as we have before hinted, the wlwlc 
 man must be constantly kept in view. While we are, therefore, 
 treating of mere instruction, it must not be supposed that physical 
 training and moral education, shall be omitted a single day. — This 
 being understood, we should transfer our pupil of the nursery, not to 
 
Early Education. 
 
 a common school-room, but to a museum in miniature. This should 
 contain all the most useful articles, natural and artificial, to be met 
 with ; first in our woods, our fields, our hills, then in our groceries, 
 dry-goods' stores, druggists' shops, &c. &,c. These could be collected 
 at a trifling expense of time and labor ; money, in most instances, 
 would not be needed. Where it can be afforded, a collection of pic- 
 tures in Natural History, and historical pictures, and moral scenes, 
 well designed, will be very valuable. To these should be added the 
 portraits of all the most eminent persons of all nations, so far as they 
 can be obtained. These are as useful in giving interest to lessons in 
 Biography, as maps are in those of Geography. Maps and globes are 
 so common, that it is not necessary to say that they are indispensable. 
 
 With these preparations, a thinking school might be commenced 
 with the most cheering prospect of success. In such an establish- 
 ment, teaching to think and to understand, would be found to be a 
 much more delightful and easy occupation, than the usual one of 
 teaching not to think. 
 
 The business of the teacher would be, first, to make himself well 
 acquainted with the subjects of his lessons, and then to give oral in- 
 structions on them to his pupils ; requiring them when he has done, 
 to give an account of what he has told them. This latter point must 
 not be dispensed with, or cases of inattention may not be detected. 
 
 In this way an immense mass of useful knowledge could be collect- 
 ed, before any attempt is made at the difficult business of learning to 
 read and spell. After about 18 months, or two years, have been spent 
 in this oral and thinking course, the child may be taught reading. 
 And here he should by no means be taught his letters, or spelling at 
 first, but whole words should be presented to him, to be pronounced 
 at sight. This is the surest method of learning to read understand- 
 ing^ and speedily. The most familiar words and phrases must be 
 given him, such as hat, head, eye, mouth, pen, candle, book, &c, with 
 easy phrases on them. It is better not to give him words of more than 
 two syllables, and to exclude entirely, for some weeks, the capital let- 
 ters ; but let him rather see the same words and phrases, in the com- 
 mon written character. This would early familiarize him with the 
 reading of manuscript. — He should read his lessons as if the words 
 were- Chinese symbols, without paying any attention to the individ- 
 ual letters, but with special regard to the meaning. When the little 
 pupil can read a series of such lessons with facility, then, and not 
 till then, let him be taught to analyse his words, or name his letters, 
 and learn to spell. This method needs neither recommendation, nor 
 defence, with those who have tried it : and were it adopted, we should 
 soon get rid of the stupid and uninteresting mode now prevalent. Both 
 teacher and scholar would experience a pleasure that is in vain to be 
 looked for, in the practice of the other plan. 
 
 The primer before mentioned, is partly suited to these exercises. 
 By going through a series of entertaining juvenile books, with in- 
 variable attention to the meaning of words, a portion of the school 
 hours might be profitably employed. Collaterally, however, with this 
 
 :\ 
 
64 Early Education. 
 
 employment, the previous oral lessons ought to be continued. In ad-' 
 dition to these, elementary Drawing, Writing, Mental Arithmetic, and 
 a knowledge of maps, with so much of Biography and History, as they 
 can associate with them, would give sufficient variety to their exer- 
 cises. As soon as they can write on a slate, they ought to write out, 
 as exercises in composition, the details of their oral lessons. 
 
 In giving instructions in Natural History, a uniform reference 
 should be made to Natural Theology. Let the child continually be 
 shown the evidences of the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of 
 an invisible being ; and teach him to love, to fear, and to obey HIM. 
 This will form the best ground-work for the superstructure of Chris- 
 tian principles. It is an inattention on this subject, that is, we believe, 
 one of the great sources of religious carelessness and infidelity. 
 
 From the great variety of religious opinions existing in this country, 
 it is doubtful whether instruction in religious doctrines should be given 
 in our common schools. It may, perhaps, be better to confine it to 
 the domestic circle, the pulpit and the Sunday schools. But that the 
 Bible should be acknowledged as the standard of morals and religion, 
 is in perfect accordance with our civil institutions ; and it should, 
 therefore, assume its proper place in all our schools. 
 
 A child may, in most cases, accomplish the course of studies we 
 have here prescribed, by the time he is 7 years of age, and will then 
 be well prepared for entering our English schools, where his studies 
 may be extended ; or for commencing the languages, if that should 
 be the course chosen by his parents. 
 
 We have not time to take a review of what his qualifications will 
 be, or we should feel a gratification in dwelling on them. But a little 
 reflection will satisfy any one that thus prepared, he will continue 
 to learn with a pleasure, which is rarely realized by the pupils com- 
 monly received from our primary schools. Such scholars would easily 
 accomplish all the necessary education by the time they were 15 years 
 old, and thus attain the desired mental preparation and self-control, 
 which will enable them under the Divine blessing, to say to their ap- 
 petites and passions, 'Ye were made to obey, not to rule; thus far 
 may ye come, but no farther.' 
 
 The expense of extending the benefits of such a system, throughout 
 our country, would be trifling compared with the advantages resulting 
 from il. There is no form of internal improvement that would be 
 as productive as this. It would take in its scope the education of the 
 poor, whose moral education is of the first consequence. It would 
 also afford them such school learning, as might be suited to their 
 situation in life. We possess no visionary hopes of making the 
 laborious classes as scientific as persons of more leisure. If this were 
 even practicable, we are not certain that it would be necessary. — But 
 we are certain that if we elevate the moral tone of this class, and afford 
 them the means of obtaining such information as may render their 
 condition more comfortable, we shall have better domestics, and more 
 comfort in our family government, because they will better understand 
 their duties, and be more disposed to perform them. And as another 
 
Early Education. 65 
 
 important result, our children will become more correct in their morals, 
 There is no hope of effectually elevating the moral condition of the 
 community, without improving the moral education of our domestics, 
 or that portion of society, from which we receive them. This may be 
 laid down as an incontrovertible maxim. Mothers may be intelligent, 
 prudent, and pious, but while their nurses and other domestics are 
 ignorant and low, on the scale of moral sensibility, our children must 
 suffer from the contamination. But let us radically improve the moral 
 feelings and reasoning powers of this class, and a great source of 
 demoralizing influence will be arrested. 
 
 We have now communicated some of our views on a subject, which 
 has for a long time interested our feelings. Of the correctness of our 
 peculiar opinions, others may be more competent judges than our- 
 selves. It will, however, be readily granted, that there are errors 
 existing in our prevailing systems of school and domestic education. 
 It will also be admitted, that at the present time, more than at any 
 other period in the history of man, some great and important modifica- 
 tions in our mode of teaching, are demanded. Moral and political 
 excitements prevail throughout the whole civilized world. The moral 
 and intellectual energies, now brought to bear on all subjects, must be 
 directed aright, or such immense forces will produce mischiefs exactly 
 proportionate to the good they might have effected. — Investigations 
 into physical nature, are now carried on to an extent quite unprece- 
 dented in the annals of the human race ; and man seems destined 
 shortly to arrive at a species of earthly omnipotence. How important 
 is it then, that his moral and mental cultivation, should keep pace 
 with the tremendous development of physical power, committed to his 
 hands by his benevolent Creator ! 
 
 The application of the principles of the physical sciences to the 
 improvement of our condition, constitutes one of the greatest blessings 
 of Providence. But should these sciences be studied, as some pro- 
 jectors propose, to the exclusion of moral and religious cultivation, we 
 may bid farewell to the chances of human happiness. Our species 
 will then exhibit only the powers of a highly gifted animal, while the 
 moral being will be merged in the atheistic apathy and grossness of 
 a materialist. 
 
 But such a scene need not be anticipated, much less apprehended. 
 All our wishes will be secured, if we, as a christian community, com- 
 mence a vigorous course of attention to the early education of our 
 children. Let us give them science that they may render themselves 
 useful and comfortable, — habits of temperance and bodily exercise, 
 that they may enjoy sound health, — and religious and moral instruc- 
 tion, that they may be happy here, arid be ready, when Providence 
 shall require it, for a translation to a state of felicity inconceivable by 
 our imagination, and unutterable by human language. 
 
The first anniversary of this new institution terminated its sittings 
 in the city of New York, on the 7th of the present month. 
 
 The number of delegates in attendance — the essays produced 
 and read — the oral communications of members from different 
 parts of the United States, illustrative of the state of education, and 
 of the interests of learning and morality in their respective sections 
 of the country — together with the presence of several learned for- 
 eigners, from some of whom communications were received — all 
 tend to inspire the belief that the American Lyceum may become 
 eminently serviceable in collecting and diffusing information on 
 matters intimately connected with our national harmony and pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Several of the essays which were read at the anniversary, and 
 others since received by the Executive Committee, are deemed to 
 be worthy of extensive distribution. 
 
 There are no subjects within the range of elementary and prac- 
 tical education — of the physical, moral, and intellectual culture of 
 the youth of our country — that may not be treated of by those per- 
 sons in any part of the union, who are best qualified to write upon 
 them, and whose productions, presented and read at the meetings 
 of the Lyceum, may, when approved, be extended in the form of 
 pamphlets, tracts, or treatises, to the constituent country, town, and 
 village Lyceums, and to every member of the National Institution. 
 
 An agency may thus be created, which will render this institu- 
 tion not only national and patriotic, but which will enable it to fulfil 
 all the objects of an American Society ' for the diffusion of 
 
 USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.' 
 
 This agency may be extended, as far as circumstances may ren- 
 der it expedient, to Mexico and South America. 
 
 It may co-operate, on terms of reciprocal benefit, with any 
 European Society, of a similar beneficent character. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 (38 Circular of the American Lyceum. 
 
 019 847 583 A 
 
 l 
 
 The publications of the institution may be distributed at cost, or 
 below cost, if funds should be obtained to justify such a reduction. 
 
 Lyceums in all parts of the country may participate in the 
 advantages of this concentration of knowledge and effort, in propor- 
 tion to the funds which they may contribute. 
 
 Essays produced at any Lyceum, auxiliary to the American 
 Lyceum, may be forwarded to its Corresponding Secretary, and if 
 approved at its annual meeting, or by the Executive Committee, 
 may be printed and distributed to an extent correspondent with the 
 pecuniary resources of the institution. 
 
 The following constitutional regulations for obtaining the funds 
 indispensable to the successful operation of the American Lyceum, 
 was adopted at the late anniversary meeting : 
 
 Any person paying to the Treasurer $ 100, shall be a life director 
 of the institution. 
 
 Any person paying $20, shall become a life member. 
 
 Any person paying $3 annually, shall, when elected by the 
 Executive Committee, be a member during the continuance of such 
 annual payment. 
 
 Those to whom this circular is sent, if they approve of the 
 objects of the institution, are respectfully invited to become either 
 donors, members, or directors, and to forward their benefactions to 
 William Forrest, Treasurer, city of New York, and information 
 of this fact to Theodore Dwight, jr. Corresponding Secretary. 
 By direction of the Executive Committee, 
 
 J. GRISCOM, Chairman. 
 
 Wm. B. Kinney, Recording Secretary. 
 New York, May 21th, 1832. 
 
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