, and our general happiness depend, not
on knowledge _received_, but on knowledge _applied_; and therefore, to
teach knowledge that is inapplicable or useless, or to teach useful
knowledge without teaching at the same time how it may be put to use by
the pupil, is neither reasonable nor just. Hence the importance of our
present investigation; and hence we have no hesitation in saying, that
the enquiry, "How can Nature be most successfully imitated in her
application of knowledge?" is the most momentous question that can be
put by the teacher; and a successful answer will constitute the most
precious boon that can be afforded to education. To assist in this
enquiry is the design of the present chapter; and we shall accordingly
examine a little more in detail the circumstances that take place in the
experience of the young, when they are induced to apply their knowledge
under the guidance of Nature, and without another teacher.

For this purpose, let us suppose two children about to cross a piece of
soft ground. The one goes forward, and his foot sinks in the mud. Does
the other follow him? No indeed. The most stupid child we could find, if
within the limits of sanity, would immediately stand still, or seek a
passage at another point. Here then is an example of the way in which
children, while entirely under the guidance of Nature, make use of their
knowledge, by applying the principle of which we are here speaking in
cases of urgency and danger; and we shall now endeavour to analyse the
process, that we may the more readily arrive at some exercise, by which
it may be artificially imitated, whether the application be urgent and
required at the moment or not.

We have supposed one child going forward on the soft ground, while the
other is slowly following him. When the foot of the first sinks, the
other instantly stands still; and a spectator can perceive, better
perhaps than the child himself, that something like the following mental
process takes place on the occasion. The child thinks with himself,
"Tom's foot has sunk; if I go forward, I also will sink; I will
therefore stand still, or cross at another place." This is an exact
parallel to thousands of similar instances which come under the notice
of parents and others every day; and is a process quite familiar to
adults who have paid any attention to the operation of their own minds
when similarly circumstanced. When it is analysed, we find it to
consist, as shewn in