d in
infants are expanded and strengthened, as there can be no mental culture
without mental exercise. While a child is awake, therefore, Nature
prompts him to constant and unwearied mental exertion; by which means he
becomes more and more familiar with external objects; acquires a better
command over his own mind in perceiving and remembering them; and
becomes more and more fitted, not only for receiving constant accessions
of knowledge, but also for putting that knowledge to use.

The _second_ part of Nature's educational process, we have said,
consists in her powerfully stimulating her pupil to _the acquisition of
knowledge_.--This, which we call the second part of Nature's operations,
has been going on from an early period of the child's history, and it
acts usually in conjunction with the first. As soon as an infant can
distinguish objects, it begins to form ideas regarding them. It
remembers their shape; it gradually acquires a knowledge of their
qualities; and these it remembers, and, as we shall immediately see, is
prompted to put to use upon proper occasions.--It is in the acquisition
of this kind of knowledge that the principle of curiosity begins to be
developed. The child's desire for information is increased with every
new accession; and for this reason, its mental activity and
restlessness, while awake, have no cessation. Every glance of the eye,
every motion of the hands or limbs made to gratify its curiosity, as it
is called, is only an indication of its desire for information:--Every
sight or sound calls its attention; every portable object is seized,
mouthed, and examined, for the purpose of learning its qualities. These
operations at the instigation of Nature are so common, that they are
scarcely observed; but when we examine more minutely into their effects,
they become truly wonderful. For example, were we to hear of an infant
of two or three years of age, having learned in the course of a few
months to distinguish each soldier in a regiment of Negroes, whose
features their very parents perhaps would have some difficulty in
discriminating; if he could call each individual by his name; knew also
the names and the uses of their several accoutrements; and, besides all
this, had learned to understand and to speak their language;--we would
be surprised and incredulous. And yet this would be an accumulation of
knowledge, not much greater than is attained in the same space of time
by many of the feeble uns