with the acquisition of knowledge, with
the application of knowledge, or with the ready communication of
knowledge,--all of which, as we have seen, are concomitants in Nature's
process,--it will, in an equal degree, be valuable and worthy of
adoption. But if, on the contrary, the exercise may be performed without
the necessity of voluntary thought, or the reiteration of ideas by the
mind, however plausible or imposing it may appear, it is next to
certain, that although such an exercise may be sufficiently burdensome
to the child, and cause much labour and anxiety to the teacher, it will
most assuredly be at least useless, if not injurious.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] See the Fifth Public Experiment in Education, conducted before Sir
Thomas Kirkpatrick, and the clergy and teachers of Dumfries, in the
month of October 1833.

[10] Note K.

[11] Note H.

[12] For the methods of employing this exercise and the books best
adapted for it, see Note I.

CHAP. II.

_On the Methods by which Nature may be imitated in the Pupil's
Acquisition of Knowledge; with a Review of the Analogy between the
Mental and Physical Appetites of the Young._

The second step in the progress of Nature's pupil is the acquisition of
knowledge.--This has always been considered a chief object in every
system of education; and the discovery of the most efficient means by
which it may be accomplished, must be a matter of great importance.

In our remarks upon this subject in a previous chapter, we have shewn,
that Nature in her operations employs four distinct principles for
accumulating knowledge, for retaining it upon the memory, and for
keeping it in readiness for use at the command of the will. There are,
_First_, the "reiteration of ideas" by the mind, without which there can
be no knowledge; _Secondly_, the principle of "Individuation," by which
the knowledge of objects and truths is acquired one by one; _Thirdly_,
the principle of "Grouping," or Association, in which the mind views as
one object, what is really composed of many; and, _Fourthly_, the
principle of "Analysis," or Classification, in which the judgment is
brought into exercise, the different portions of our knowledge are
arranged and classified under different heads and branches, and the
whole retained in order at the command of the will, when any portion of
it is required.--Our object now is to consider, what means are within
the reach of the parent and the teacher, by which Nat