on of scientific form, or method; and indeed, few of the
subjects had as yet passed the stage of desultory treatment; so that the
idea of casting the knowledge into some one form, under the guidance of
a chosen author, would never occur to him. Better things might have been
expected of James Mill, in conducting the education of his son. Yet we
find his plan to have been to require an even and exhaustive perusal of
nearly every book on nearly every subject, without singling out any one
to impart the best known form in each case. The disadvantage of the
process would be that, at first, all the writers were regarded as
profitable alike. Nevertheless, in the special subjects that he knew
himself, he gave his own instructions as the leading text, and his
pupil's knowledge took form according to these. In some cases, accident
gave a text-in-chief, as when young Mill at ten years of age, studied
Thomson's Chemistry, without the distraction of any other work. If there
had been half-a-dozen Chemical manuals in existence, he would probably
have read them all, and fared much worse. It happens, however, that,
in the more exact sciences, there is a greater sameness in the leading
ideas, than in Politics, Morals, or the Human Mind; and the evil of
distraction is so much smaller. Undoubtedly, the best of all ways of
learning anything is to have a competent master to dole out a fixed
quantity every day, just sufficient to be taken in, and no more; the
pupils to apply themselves to the matter so imparted, and to do nothing
else. The singleness of aim is favourable to the greatest rapidity of
acquirement; and any defects are to be left out of account, until one
thread of ideas is firmly set in the mind. Not unfrequently, however,
and not improperly, the teacher has a text-book in aid of his oral
instructions. To make this a help, and not a hindrance, demands the
greatest delicacy; the sole consideration being that the pupil must
be kept _in one single line of thought_, and never be required to
comprehend, on the same point, conflicting or varying statements.

Even the foot-notes to a work may have to be disregarded, in the first
instance. They may act like a second author, and keep up an irritating
friction. There is, doubtless, a consummate power of annotation that
anticipates difficulties, and clears away haze, without distracting the
mind. There is also an art of bringing out relief by an accompaniment,
like the two images of the stere