_To teach, instruct, inform, educate_:--

'Of these words, the first two are often used synonymously, but they
have also a distinct meaning. "Teaching," strictly speaking, when
distinguished from instruction, is applied to the practice of an art or
branch of knowledge: instruction, to the theory. A child is, correctly
speaking, _instructed_ in the grammar of a language, and _taught_ to
speak the language. Thus, teaching may be merely mechanical; while
"instruction" implies a degree of understanding in the pupil, as well as
in the master. A child who has been _taught_ to learn lessons by rote,
without understanding them, will find difficulty in comprehending
_instruction_ in the principles of what he has learned: hence, we speak
of _teaching_ a brute, but never of _instructing_ it.

'_Information_,[6] again, is distinguished from instruction, in relation
to the truths conveyed by it. Matters of fact, made known to one who
could not have known them before, are called information: instruction
elicits new truths out of subject-matter _already_ existing in the
mind--(see Whately's _Logic_, book iv. Sec. 1.)

'A traveller gives us information respecting foreign countries; a
metaphysician instructs us in the principles of moral
science--principles drawn from facts already known to us. The two
processes may take place at the same time: a child in learning a lesson
receives both information and instruction: he is taught things he never
knew before, and also taught to apply and make use of what he does know
already. In fact, pure mathematics is the only branch of instruction
which includes no information, as the propositions are all based on
principles previously assumed. In short, a person who is informed,
_knows_ something he did not before; one who is instructed,
_understands_ something he did not before; one who is taught, can _do_
something he could not do before.

'Education is more comprehensive than any of the other words before us.
It includes the _whole course_ of moral and intellectual teaching. One
who gives occasional lessons is not said to _educate_. To _educate_
(agreeably to its derivation, from "e-duco," not "in-duco"), includes
the _drawing out_ of the faculties, so as to teach the pupil how to
teach him_self_; which is one of the most valuable of arts.

'Moral training, considered _by itself_, is called "teaching;" this
constitutes no exception to the rule laid down, as its object is to
enable us, not to _