The circumstance to which we would especially call attention at present
is, the singleness of thought exercised upon the object, during the time
that the child is amused by it.--He attends to nothing else, and he will
look at nothing else; and were his attention forced from it for a
moment, this is evidently done unwillingly; and, when allowed, it
immediately returns to the object. It is also worthy of notice, that if,
while he is so engaged, we attempt to teach him something else, or in
other words, to induce him to divide his attention upon some other new
object, the distraction of his mind is at once apparent; we perceive
that it is unnatural; and we find by experience that he does not profit
by either. Now, from these indications it must be evident, that any
interference with this principle of individuation in teaching any thing
for the first time, must always be hurtful:--on the contrary, by
attending to the principle, and acting upon it in the training of the
young, it must be productive of the happiest effects.--While acted upon,
under the guidance of Nature, its efficiency and power are astonishing.
It is by means of this principle, that the infant mind, with all its
imbecility and want of developement, acquires and retains more real
knowledge in the course of a few months, than is sometimes received at
school afterwards during as many years.--Few things are more cheering in
prospect than the knowledge of this fact; for what may we not expect
from the _man_, when his education while a _child_ shall have been
improved, and approximated to that of Nature!

The operation of the principle of individuation, is not confined to the
infant, but continues to maintain its place during all the after stages
of life, whenever any thing new and uncommon is presented as an object
of knowledge. Every thing is new to the infant, and therefore this
principle is more conspicuous during the early stages of education.--But
it is still equally necessary for the child or the youth in similar
circumstances; and Nature compels him, as it were, still to concentrate
the powers of his mind upon every new object, till he has received and
become familiar with the information it is calculated to furnish.--Every
one must have observed the intensity with which a child examines an
object which he has never seen before, and the anxiety which he evinces
to know all about it.--It requires a considerable effort on his own
part, and still greater on t