the time; and much of the anxiety, and care,
and labour of the nurseryman would be thrown away. Ultimately he would
find, that of the many thousands of oaks he had sowed, he had been able
to rear no more _than the acre could carry_. By following out this
principle in education, and giving the child as much as he can receive,
and no more, of the whole series of truths to be communicated, his mind,
at the close of the exercise, will be much more vigorous, the ideas
received will be much better understood, more firmly rivetted upon the
memory, and much more at the command of the will, while the quantity of
knowledge really communicated, is at least equal in amount.--The only
thing indeed that renders a contrary plan of procedure even tolerable to
a child, is the wise provision of Nature, by which she induces him to
throw off, with some degree of ease, the superfluous matter; but had the
reception and retention of the whole by each child been demanded by the
teacher, the very attempt to do so on the part of the pupil, would not
only have been irritating and burdensome, but it would have been
extremely hurtful to the mind, by stretching its powers beyond its
strength.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Note E.

CHAP. VIII.

_On Nature's Methods of Teaching her Pupils to make use of their
Knowledge._

We come now to another operation of Nature with the young, to which she
appears to attach more importance than she does to any of her previous
educational processes, and to which she obviously intends that a more
than ordinary attention should be paid on our parts. This is the
training of her pupils to make use of their knowledge, and to apply the
information they possess to guide them in the common affairs of life.
This is obviously the great end which she has all along had in view; and
to which the cultivation of the mind, and the acquisition of knowledge
are merely preparatives. We shall first direct attention to a few of the
indications of this principle as they actually appear in ordinary life;
and then we shall endeavour to point out some of the laws by which she
appears to regulate them.

In the early periods of infancy we can plainly distinguish between
certain actions which depend upon _instinct_, and which are performed by
the infant perfectly and at once, without experience, and without
teaching;--and others of which the infant at first appears to be
incapable, but which it gradually _acquires_ by experience, or more