ophisticated pupils of Nature.--Infants, having
no temptation to depart from her mode of discipline, become in a short
period acquainted with the forms, and the uses, and even the names, of
thousands of persons and objects, not only without labour, but with vast
satisfaction and delight.

The training of her pupils to _the practical use of their knowledge_,
forms the _third_ department in Nature's educational process.--This is
the great end which the two previous departments were designed to
accomplish. This is Nature's _chief_ object;--all the others are
obviously subordinate. The cultivation of the mind, and the acquisition
of knowledge were necessary;--but that necessity arose from the
circumstance of their being preparatory to this. Nature, in fact,
appears to have stamped this department of her operations almost
exclusively with her own seal;--repudiating all knowledge that remains
useless, and in a short time blotting it entirely from the memory of her
pupils; while that portion of their acquired knowledge, on the contrary,
which is useful and is put to use, becomes in proportion more familiar,
and more permanent. It is also worthy of remark, that the knowledge
which is most useful, is always most easily and pleasantly acquired.

The superior importance of this department of education is very
observable. In the previous departments of Nature's educational process,
the child was induced to _acquire_ new ideas;--in this he is prompted to
_make use of them_. In the former he was taught to _know_;--in this he
is trained to _act_. For example, if he has learned that his nurse is
kind, Nature now prompts him to act upon that knowledge, and he
accordingly strains every nerve to get to his nurse;--if he has learned
that comfits are sweet, he acts upon that knowledge, and endeavours to
procure them;--and if he has once experimentally learned that the fire
will burn, he will ever afterwards keep from the fire.

Last of all comes the _fourth_, or supplementary step in this beautiful
educational process of Nature. It consists in gradually training her
pupil to _communicate the knowledge and experience which he has
attained_.--It is probable that Nature begins this part of her process
before the child has acquired the use of language;--but as it is by
language chiefly that man holds fellowship with man, it is not till he
has learned to speak that the mental exercise on which its success
depends, becomes sufficiently marked a