ut especially in that of adult prisoners." "The
examination evidently brought out only a specimen of their knowledge,
and did by no means comprise all that had been acquired by them; but,
even though it had constituted the whole amount of their information,
the fact that such a treasure had been amassed in three weeks is in
itself astonishing. The writer of this Minute was not acquainted with
the extent of their acquirements when Mr Gall commenced his operations;
but judging from the examination, and from his knowledge of the contents
of the books taught, he has no hesitation in averring, that the answers
which they gave, arose entirely from information communicated by them.
And when he reflects that their answers, being clothed in their own
words, guaranteed the fact, that it was _the ideas_ upon which they had
seized, and that their knowledge participated in no degree of rote, the
conviction to his mind is irresistible, that the universal application
of the Lesson System to Prison Discipline, and to adults every where,
would be followed by effects incalculably precious to the individuals
themselves, and to the improving of society in general."

The efficiency of this exercise in communicating knowledge, was equally
conspicuous in another experiment, conducted under the eye of the
Principal, Professors, and Clergymen of Aberdeen, in July 1828. The
persons on whom this experiment was made, were children taken from the
lower classes of society, carefully selected on two several days, by a
committee of clergymen appointed for the purpose, from the various
schools in the city. These children were all carefully and individually
examined in private by the committee, and were chosen from among their
companions, not on account of their natural abilities, or educational
acquirements, but specially and simply on account of their ignorance.
The precautions taken by the Rev. and learned examinators, to secure
accuracy in their ultimate decision, were at once judicious and
complete; and were intended to enable them to say with confidence at the
close of the experiment, that the results, whatever they might be, were
really the effects of the exercise and discipline to which the children
during it had been subjected, and were in no respect due to the previous
capacity or the attainments of the children.

To secure this important preliminary object, therefore, the
sub-committee of clergymen above alluded to was appointed, as soon as