every previous acquirement
obliterated from the adult mind by fever or by accident, leaving
education to be commenced anew, as if it had never been; and yet, with
all these evidences of the organic influence, the proposition that the
established laws of physiology, as applied to the brain, should be
considered our best and surest guide in education, seems to many a
novelty. Among the numerous treatises on education, there are very few
volumes in which it is even hinted that these laws have the slightest
influence over either intellectual or moral improvement.

As God has given us bones and muscles, and blood-vessels and nerves, for
the purpose of being used, let us not despise the gift, but consent at
once to turn them to account, and to reap health and vigor as the reward
which he has associated with moderate labor. As he has given us lungs to
breathe with and blood to circulate, let us at once and forever abandon
the folly of shutting ourselves up with little intermission, whether
engaged in study or other sedentary occupations, and consent to inhale,
copiously and freely, that wholesome atmosphere which his benevolence
has spread around us in such rich profusion. As he has given us
appetites and organs of digestion, let us profit by his bounty, and earn
their enjoyment by healthful exercise in some department of productive
industry. As he has given us a moral and a social nature, which is
invigorated by activity, and impaired by solitude and restraint, let us
cultivate good feelings, and act toward each other on principles of
kindness, justice, forbearance, and mutual assistance; and as he has
given us intellect, let us exercise it in seeking a knowledge of his
works and of his laws, and in tracing out the relation in which we stand
toward him, toward our fellow-men, and toward the various objects of the
external world. In so doing, we may be well assured we shall find a
reward a thousand times more rich and pure, yea, infinitely more
delightful and enduring, than we can hope to experience in following our
own blind devices, regardless of his will and benevolent intentions
toward us.

CHAPTER VI.

THE EDUCATION OF THE FIVE SENSES.

If the eye be obstructed, the ear opens wide its portals, and hears
your very emotions in the varying tones of your voice; if the ear be
stopped, the quickened eye will almost read the words as they fall
from your lips; and if both be close sealed up, the whole bo