chiefly directed to the faults of others, rather than those of the observer himself; while, as a forming and moulding process, its chief benefit would lie in its efficacy in training the mind to the perception and recognition of positive beauty and perfection, and in forming the tastes and habits of the individual by a strict but genial preventive discipline, which should preclude the tendency to deviation from the principles of beauty and truth. To secure the results of such discipline, a liberal course of early training, directed to the intelligent recognition of beauty in nature and in art,- -as was suggested in a former lecture,-becomes an indispensable foundation. The reasoning, on the data thus furnished, would necessarily become positive and practical. The mind would proceed under the sure guidance of ascertained principle; and the canons, so called, of criticism, would have an authority more sure than merely the speculative opinions of an individual, or of a class of theorizers. But, so far are we, as yet, from a truly liberal standard of education, that in all our higher seminaries, scarcely can we find a place assigned to any course of aesthetic study or training. Yet no species of discipline could be prescribed so admirably adapted to the generous development of the powers of judgment and reason, as that critical exercise by which the mind, in the analysis and combination of the elements of beauty, learns to interpret to its own consciousness the laws of grace and of harmony.

Philosophical Training.--The principles of intellectual and moral philosophy, we have already adverted to, as peculiarly adapted to the discipline of the reflective faculties. The great facts which the mind recognizes in contemplating the principles of the former of these branches of science, and the vital truths which it evolves in tracing the relations of the latter to the former, call for the exercise of reason and judgment on materials purely mental, and, by their very nature, fitted to train the mind to habits of close investigation and nice discrimination. On these habits is the mind's whole reliance to be placed in tracing the subtle distinctions on which the eviction of the profoundest truths not unfrequently depends.

On such subjects, as also in relation to logic and criticism, it was suggested, in a former connection of our subject, that education should be rendered more personal and practical in its methods; that it should comprise, in its measures for discipline, the mental efforts of the student himself in thought, conversation and discussion, rather than the mere endeavor to retain in memory the definitions and statements of a text-book.

Civic Training.-The study of civil polity, as it comprehends subjects collateral to history and to ethics, forms a theme well-suited

to the exercise of the mind's reflective powers, by the trains of thought to which it naturally leads. As a branch of education, it should be extended to an attentive survey of all the political relations of human society, as embodied in forms of government, in national constitutions, in international law, in civil institutions. Independently of the value of such investigations to the intelligent discharge of the duties of life, in all countries favored with constitutional immunities, the class of subjects now mentioned is of the utmost moment in the higher relations of education, as affording large scope and full exercise for the reasoning powers, in the investigations and discussions to which such subjects naturally invite the mind of the student. The discipline, however, resulting from this branch of studies, depends, obviously, on the extent to which it is made a matter of personal thought, of writ ten dissertations, and of oral discussion, on the part of the student. In this, as in other departments of ethical science, our colleges would do well to arrange their exercises on the model of the debating society, or of the moot-courts of professional schools; so as to elicit voluntary mental action and effective coöperation on the part of students in their own education. The random exercises of debating clubs, as they are commonly conducted, in which little or no systematic preparation is made for discussion, do not serve such a purpose.. For educational influences, careful premeditation and critical supervision are equally necessary to render discussion an appropriate discipline.

Natural Theology forms another branch of study peculiarly fitted to call forth and improve the reflective and reasoning powers of the mind. Every new advance of science gives additional attractions to this ennobling theme of contemplation. The profound thought to which it leads, the large analogies which it reveals, the great truths which it urges home to the mind, the sublime heights to which it conducts aspiring reason,-all indicate the high value of this branch of philosophic investigation, as an effective means of enlarging and invigorating the noblest faculties with which man is invested.

The subject of natural theology is, by no means, neglected in our customary routine of studies, either in schools or colleges. It is carefully designated on the programme of instruction, and regularly assigned to a definite term of the course. But restricted, as the attention given to these subjects generally is, to recitation from a formal text-book, little of the peculiar effect of personal investigation into them is felt on the mind at the time, or marked on the subsequent mental character of the student. Personal examination, and actual analysis and manipulation, are as much needed in the illustrations which serve to throw light on the subject of natural theology as they

are in the study of any other branch of science. The actual, ocular inspection of objects, is felt to be the only means of effective instruction in all other subjects which require the verification of principle by reference to fact. Without the aid of such practical measures, the best of text-books becomes dry or tedious, and, at all events, fails of exciting the earnest attention and personal interest which secure the energetic action of the whole mind, give life and vigor to its habits of action, and insure the further prosecution of inquiry in after stages of life.

To secure an earnest voluntary application to this noble study is not difficult, if the instructor take pains to invite his students to personal investigation of the numberless evidences of Divine power, wisdom, and goodness, which are furnished in every department of nature. The pleasure of observing, recording, and reporting these, is one to which the teacher who will faithfully make the experiment will find few minds so torpid as to be insensible.

Evidences of Christianity.-This subject, too, has its appointed place in our seminaries of learning; and that it is a study required in our higher schools for the female sex, as well as in our colleges, is a happy indication. But, the unintellectual, uumeaning process of reciting merely the paragraphs of a text-book, has the same injurious effect in this as in other departments of education. No subject can be presented to the mind on which the importance of clear and distinct views, or deep impressions and personal convictions of truth, are so important to the student, as on this ;--none on which the utmost rigor of deduction, the closest investigation, the most cautious induction, are so imperatively demanded. The mere verbatim committing to memory, or even the careful recapitulation, of the arguments presented in the best of manuals, is a process too passive for any valuable purpose of educational influence on the individual. The secondhand knowledge thus acquired, makes too slight an impression to become a permanent personal possession; as the experienced teacher has sometimes cause to feel most deeply, when he sees a promising youth, who has recited his way successfully through a whole manual of "evidences," so easily caught and entangled in the slight web of superficial and sophistical arguments offered by a fluent fellow-student, inclined to skeptical habits of thought.

The result is quite different when the instructor prescribes, not the mere language or reasoning of a single author, but a careful comparison of several, and a resumé prepared by the student himself, together with a full statement of objections, and the arguments by which these are rebutted. A still deeper impression is made on the mind of the individual, when such recapitulations are made, not only in the regular

form of writing, but in that also of deliberate, correct, and, if possible, earnest oral expression. It is thus only that great and vital truths can be woven into the texture of his own mind, and become, as it were, inseparable parts of itself.

Practical Exercises.-In conclusion of these suggestions regarding the development and discipline of the reflective faculties, a few other forms of practical exercise may deserve attention, as matters which devolve on the personal action and diligence of the teacher,-in regard to the aid which his living instructions and intelligent supervision ought to furnish, in addition to the customary course prescribed in manuals or text-books; and here we may advert to the great value of

(1.) Systematic Reading, as a means of cultivating reflective and thoughtful habits of mind,-reading, I mean, which is study, and not mere perusal reading which is attentively done, carefully reviewed, exactly recorded, and, if practicable, orally recounted. Memory, under such discipline, becomes thoroughly retentive, information exact, judgment correct, conception clear, thought copious, and expression ready and appropriate.

(2.) An important aid to systematic reading may be found in the exercise of writing a careful, marginal synopsis of valuable works, comprising all their principal topics, distinctly presented, and, in addition to this, a penciled analysis of every prominent head or paragraph into its constituent subordinate details. In the case of standard works of great value and permanent authority, it may be worth while to draught a separate plan of the entire work under study, in which the synopsis and the analysis are so arranged to the eye, that the advantage of a mental map of the whole subject is secured for distinct and easy recollection, by the union of logical and ocular method.

(3.) As a means of training the faculty of judgment to correctness in its decisions, and exactness in discrimination, exercises in analysis, on every description of material, are of the greatest value. In the earliest stages of education, these may be performed, to great advantage, on objects in nature, particularly on the structure and organization of plants, with the aid, too, of the microscope. At a more advanced stage, the analysis of language, successively extending to sentences, clauses, phrases, words, and syllables, in written as well as oral forms, is another exercise of great value for sharpening the power of discrimination and forming habits of correct judgment. Still greater benefit attends the oral analysis of discourses, essays, and other didactic compositions, for the purpose of tracing their authors' trains of thought, following these in detail, and afterward recording the analysis, as has been already suggested.

(4.) To cultivate successfully the reasoning faculty, no method more effectual can be adopted than that of training the mind to a perfect observance of the prime law of Order. This great principle comes to the aid of the young mind, as creative ordination applied to chaos. The countless multitude and variety of objects soliciting observation, in the early years of childhood, and even at much later stages, often throw the mind into confusion and perplexity, till order comes to its aid, and, like the benevolent fairy in the fable, arranges the complicated masses and irregular accumulations, and lets in the light of system and method upon the elements of the mental world. Conflicting objects and relations are thus parted by due distinction; accordant elements and phenomena are grouped together, by their analogies and affinities, their connections and dependencies, the predominance of some and the subordination of others; till, at length, the authority of Law is recognized, and harmony established.

To attain this result, Reason, the supreme ordaining faculty, has to exert its power in various modes of operation. Judgment, as reason's executive, has to collate, examine, compare, associate, combine and classify the objects of observation and the subjects of consciousness. For such purposes no exercises can be better adapted than those which commence with the action of the perceptive faculties, and yet involve the use of the reflective, to a certain extent. Nature's great systems, in her three vast kingdoms, furnish, of course, the best material for such exercise and discipline of the mind, by combining with its perceptive action the aid of reflecting reason, in the contemplation and study of the vast domain of creation. As a noble discipline for the rational faculties, in their ascendancy over those of outward observation, and yet in perfect harmony and coöperation with them, no exercise can be more beneficial than that of surveying, in the light of science, the elements and forms of external nature. An illustration in point may be found in the science of botany, which is now rendered so generally accessible and so highly attractive, by recent manuals presenting this subject on the "natural" system, as an instructive and interesting branch of knowledge for all minds. Another example occurs in the arrangement of the animal kingdom presented by Cuvier, and modified by our great contemporary naturalist, Agassiz. The generous labors of this distinguished instructor, in his endeavors to bring his favorite subject before the minds of teachers, in forms happily adapted to the condition of their schools, have afforded the best suggestions for conducting appropriate exercises in this department of education. And it is to be hoped that many of our seminaries will henceforward enjoy the benefits of the admirable mental discipline resulting from those