from our own ignorance and carelessness. People talk a great deal about the depravity of human nature, but human nature, if we may be allowed the expression, is not half so depraved as men make it by their own neglect and folly. "The depravity of human nature," says a distinguished divine, " may be too easily assumed to be incorrigible by those who do not look for its causes in the deficiency of moral education." correspondence is ever found to exist between the character of the mind and the state of the brain. They grow together, and decay together; whatever affects the one exerts an influence upon the other. The mind is weak in childhood, strong in mature years, and decays with the decline of life; a certain amount of brain is necessary to sound mental action; whatever directly affects the brain, as a blow, pressure, &c., manifestly affects the mind, to the extent sometimes of producing unconsciousness or insanity; whatever affects the body, and consequently the brain, by way of elevating or depressing its natural powers, exercises a corresponding effect upon the mental powers. "I have examined, after death," says an eminent have hardly seen a single brain which did not exhibit obvious marks of disease; in recent cases, loaded vessels, increased serous secretions; in all instances of longer duration, unequivocal signs of present or past increased action; blood vessels apparently more numerous, membranes more thickened and opaque, depositions of coagulable lymph, forming adhesions or adventitious membranes, watery effusions, even abscesses; add to this that the insane often become paralytic, or are suddenly cut off by apoplexy." If the authority of a metaphysician is required, "The mind,” says J. D. Morell, "we know by experience depends for the manifestation of all its activities upon a material organism. Consciousness, moreover, reveals to us the fact, that our mental phenomena keep pace in every stage of their growth with the material counterpart, the one becoming more mature as the other becomes more perfect" (Elements of Psychology).* Man is a compound being, having a body material and corruptible, and a soul immaterial and incorruptible; the one subject to the laws of matter, the other endowed with the properties of spirit. To the educator, to him that sets himself to the development of the human powers and faculties, it is of importance to know what posi-surgeon, "the heads of many insane persons, and tion each of these occupies in the animal economy, when he is dealing with the one or with the other, or whether either of them is ever to be met with by itself apart from the other. In body, has he anything but matter; in mind, anything but spirit? In the one, does he ever meet with matter alone; in the other, with spirit by itself? The body is that part of man's nature that brings him into connection with the material world. It is by means of the senses that the mind or spirit of man obtains its knowledge of the material universe. It sees, hears, tastes, &c., only what and so far as the senses give it the power of seeing, hearing, tasting, &c. Wherever we find a human being that has never possessed one or more of these senses, we find his mind to be entirely destitute of all those classes of ideas that are connected therewith; and if we could suppose one who has never had any avenue of communication opened up between his mind and the external world, the mind of such a person must of necessity be a perfect blank. Hence our very ideas are at first only material. The mind must begin with the concrete before it rises to the abstract; it must first have the individual before it can reach the general. In other words, it must ever have the material before it can attain the spiritual. Our ideas of hardness, softness, colour, motion, beauty, virtue, &c., are first of all awakened by the contemplation of particular objects and instances. "The child has not formed to itself a refined idea of moral good, but contemplating a given action, it proclaims it to be good or evil." (M'Cosh's "Intuitions of the Human Mind.") Farther, we learn from physiology, that every thought that passes through the mind causes the destruction of a certain portion of the nerve matter of the brain; that human thought, like fire, cannot subsist without fuel, and, like fire too, only exists by the destruction of that from which it derives its subsistence. Even more than this, some physiologists, among whom is Dr Carpenter, "The mind,' says Descartes, is so intimately dependent upon the condition and relation of the organs of the body, that if any means can ever be found to render men wiser and more ingenious than hitherto, I believe it is in medicine (or an upon this point, and also as shewing the ridiculous errors that sensible men, who are carried away with particular theories, and yet cannot shut their eyes to facts, sometimes fall into in their attempts to reconcile the two.' Satan does take advantage improved condition of body) they must be sought. As bearing But not only are the earliest materials upon which the mind acts material, supplied to it through the senses, but it also acts upon them through a material organ, the brain. This is evident from a variety of considerations. A certain | did!"-Dr Increase Mather's "Special Providences.” from the ill humours and diseases which are in the bodies of men, greatly to molest their spirits; and when bodily diseases are removed by the use of natural means, the matter upon which the evil spirit was wont to operate being gone, he does no more disturb and disquiet the minds of men as before he are of opinion "that some change must be effected a material being at the mercy of a spirit moving in the nervous centres by every impression of about in another sphere of intelligence, and which we become conscious, whereby that im- directed and guided by laws and influences which pression is organically perpetrated in such a he could neither control nor comprehend, has, as manner as to allow of its presenting itself anew it were, sheathed this spirit in a material covering, to the cognizance of the mind at any future in order that all its movements may be observed time" (Human Physiology). And who can say and reckoned upon. To an intelligent being for certain that it is not so? Who can tell what whose welfare is committed to himself it is of the even the minutest particle of matter may not con- utmost importance that the laws and operations tain? We will hear him who shall analyse the of nature are regular and determined, otherwise brain of one of those minute animals, of which his every provision might be thwarted, his every multitudes exist in a drop of water, and shall give purpose deranged. It is ever the material side of us the exact proportions of albuminous matter, our nature that is towards us, for this only can we and fat, and phosphorous contained therein. The comprehend. Indeed, we question if there be any humiliating fact is, that of the essential elements element in nature of which we are cognizant that or properties of matter, we are about as ignorant is not material, or known to us only from its conas we are of spirit.* nection with matter. As regards the nature of spirit in itself, and apart from matter, we know nothing directly. We can only speak of it negatively, as being in its nature and properties entirely distinct from those of matter. Matter is changeable, spirit is unchangeable; matter is divisible, is destructible, spirit is indivisible, indestructible; matter is limited as to time and space, spirit is unlimited as to either; matter is subject to law and order, spirit, as belonging to another sphere of intelligence, is not amenable to any laws, or subject to any influences known to us. The soul or spirit of man cannot by itself take cognizance of or acquire a knowledge of the properties of matter, at least in any sense that we know of. Without eyes to see, ears to hear, and the other senses, by means of which we acquire a knowledge of the nature and conditions of matter, pure spirit cannot, at least in the same way as we do, perceive material objects. Nor can it be subject to those material laws and influences to which our bodies are subjected. Not only so, but, as already shewn, our very thoughts, feelings, and emotions are dependent upon our physical constitution for their existence.† The natural conclusion from all this is, that the immaterial is enveloped in every direction by the material; that the Deity, in place of leaving man * "The constitution of the elements in the material world is inscrutable; the gravitating force, and the principles of chemical affinity, and the nature of light, and the principle of vegetative life, these things are utterly inscrutable; so also is the principle of animal life; and so in like manner, but not more so is mind."-Taylor's " World of Mind." "Die Seele ist ein einfaches Wesen; nichts blosz ohne Theile sondern auch ohne irgend eine Vielheit in ihrer Quaität." "Sie hat ursprünglich weder Gefühle noch Begierden; sie weisz nichts von sich selbst und nichts von andern Dingen; es liegen auch in ihr keine Formen des Anschauens und Denkens keine Gesetze des Wollens und Handelns; auch keinerlei wie immer entfernte Vorbereitungen zu dem allen."-Herbart Lehrbuch sur "Psychologie." If we may seem to set too high a value upon the material side of our nature, we might refer to various passages of Scripture where the like doctrines are taught, and where we are admonished not to sin against our bodies, which are temples for God's Holy Spirit to dwell in. Such a high value does the Scripture set upon these bodies of ours, that one of the most distinctly taught doctrines of the New Testament is, that they will be again raised up at the last day, and endure throughout eternity. They will indeed be perfect and free from infirmities, but they will be the same bodies that we possess now, and they will bear about with them the impressions received in this present state of existence. This is very clearly expressed by Dr Candlish in his "Life in a Risen Saviour." "I am apt," says he, "to feel as if with reference to this or that small instance of sloth or of self-indulgence, it cannot really matter much how I act. It is but an affair of the body after all." My spiritual walk with God in Christ is safe. Oh, my friends, beware of the first approach of this most subtle and insidious temptation, and that you may beware of it, hold fast your faith in the doctrine of the resurrection." "Then (in that future life) you live again in the body; in the very body, as to all essential properties, and to all practical intents and purposes, in which you live now." "Let me never at any time, in any circumstances, lose sight of this solemn thought, that the deed which I am now doing in the body, the thought I am thinking now, the word I am speaking now, the work I am working now in the body must follow me. I may perhaps lay it down at death, but I must take it up at the resurrection. This deed of mine must follow me into that future and eternal life." "I am to live not a ghost, a spectre, a spirit, I am to live then as I live now, in the body." both the physical and the mental powers, and attention to the other conditions upon which a state of health depends. More particularly, however, it teaches us to look for the same laws governing our mental constitution as we know to prevail in our physical nature. "If the mind," says Morell, "partakes truly of an organic character, though in a higher region, the laws which apply to the progress of organic life generally ought, mutatis mutandis, to hold good within its own subjective sphere, and the functions of the one ought to throw light upon the several stages of the other." The mind is as much under the control of laws as the physical system and laws too of the same kind. “If, for example," says the author of the “Natural History of Enthusiasm." "scientific inquiry relates to the mental processes of perception; or Farther, we hold, indeed it follows naturally from what we have already advanced, that not only are soul and body inseparably connected the one with the other in this life, but that they are both inseparably present in each individual act; not only "that the soul and body are perfectly coincident," but "that no single organic action takes place in the one without the other" (Morell). Thus every thought that passes through the mind partakes of the material as well as the spiritual, as in like manner every action of the body of the spiritual as well as the material. This is of importance to bear in mind, as we constantly hear persons speaking of mental acts and physical acts, as if the two were distinct and separate, and not inseparably connected the one with the other.* The spirit is the active formative principle, the body that which is animated and formed. "Into the combinations of impressions from two or mind," says Feuchtersleben, we have incorpor- more of the senses; or to the laws and conditions ated spirit, in body animated matter." In the of volition; or to the influence of animal appetites former the spiritual, in the latter the material or moral emotions; or to the operation of the element predominates, but both are in each. reasoning faculty, all these are matters of fact belonging to the actual conformation of this or that animal; and are as strictly physical and as absolutely independent of metaphysical dogmas and abstract truths as are the affinities of acids and the crystallisation of salts." "These inquiries, simply physical as they are, must be solved by observation and experiment, and cannot even in the most remote manner be affected by abstract doctrines of the sort that constitutes the greater part of what is termed the 'science of mind."" "In a word, any sort of practical question relating to the dispositions, constitutional motives, or proper treatment of this or that species of animals higher or lower, must be determined in the methods proper to physical science, and can neither be illustrated nor interfered with by those unchanging truths which draw not their materials from the world as it is."-(Introduction to Edwards On the Will.) By thus bearing in mind the intimate connection that subsists between soul and body, and the dependence of the former upon the latter for its manifestations, we can understand a number of the mental phenomena which are otherwise incomprehensible. We can understand the growth and development of the mind from infancy to manhood, and its decay in old age; we see how particular states of body manifest themselves in corresponding conditions of mind, how physical influences acting upon the body come directly to affect the mental powers. Have we not here, too, an explanation of what is otherwise so mysterious, namely, the hereditary transmission of mental qualities as well as physical characteristics? If we recognise the physical constitution of the mind, then the principle is the same in both cases, and there is nothing more mysterious in the one than what we observe every day in the other. But it is especially in the matter of education that the recognition of this doctrine is of value. It shews us the necessity of a sound body to a sound mind, that "in order to make the most of the intellectual powers, the animal system should be maintained as nearly as possible approaching a state of health" (Sir B. Brodie). This is only to be effected by a due and proper exercise of "The true difference between intellectual and sensual pleasure does not consist in this, that intellectual pleasure is that which is perceived by the body (for the body perceives not at all, the soul being the only true percipient in both), but rather in this, that sensual pleasure is that which the soul perceives, by the meditation of the body upon the occasion of some motion or impression made upon it, whereas intellectual pleasure is that which the soul perceives immediately by itself and upon her own thoughts."-John Norris's Miscellanies. "The The great means of improving any power, whether mental or physical, is exercise. one condition," says Sir William Hamilton, "under which all powers, and consequently the intellectual faculties, are developed, is exercise. The more intense and continuous the exercise, the more vigorously developed will be the power." In all cases, the exercise is subject to the same laws and conditions, and effects the same results. On a muscle, for instance, the first effect of exercise is to occasion the destruction of a portion of the matter of which it is composed, leading to an increased flow of nutritious material, i. e. arterial blood, to the part, which compensates, and more than compensates, for the waste that has taken place. It is in this way that the repeated exercise of a muscle enlarges its size, and gives it a greater degree of density and hardness, together with increased strength and power. This may not of itself account for the greater freedom and dexterity which exercise, in a particular direction, imparts to a muscle, unless we also suppose that the new material receives, in the act of assimilation, a particular mould or bias from the state of the muscle at the time. In this way we would account for the fact, that actions which are at first troublesome and difficult, become gradually less so by practice, until they come to be a second nature. In like manner, the exercise of any of our mental faculties, while causing the destruction of a portion of the nerve matter of the brain, causes also an additional flow of nutritious material to the part, and thus the mind is improved by the brain, the mind's organ acquiring greater volume, density, and fineness of texture. May we not farther suppose, as in the other case, that each new particle of matter receives a particular mould or impression, and believe, with Dr Carpenter, that " every impression of which we become conscious," "is organically perpetuated in such a manner as to allow of its presenting itself anew to the cognizance of the mind at any future time." That the exercise of any bodily organ causes an increased flow of nutritious material to the part, is evident from the increased degree of fulness and heat that is imparted to it; and that the same takes place in the brain during mental exercise, is evident from the like feelings, and sometimes throbbing sensations that are occasioned in it when such exercise is long protracted. The first effect of any exercise, whether physical or mental, is to increase the activity of all parts of the system. It is thus that in a rapid walk, for instance, the mental powers are elevated, and the ideas flow more readily. The reason is evident. At first, an increased flow of blood is imparted to all parts of the system; and it is only as the waste in one particular part becomes greater than the natural supply can compensate, that it comes to be abstracted from the other parts which are thus deprived of their due share, and a feeling of fatigue is produced. It is in this way that bodily exercise tends to produce mental fatigue, as in like manner mental exercise to occasion bodily fatigue. It is in this way, too, that people who have much physical exercise feel a natural repugnance to great mental efforts, in the same way as those who have much mental labour are naturally disinclined to much active physical exercise. Have we not here, too, a natural ex planation of what has been so puzzling to many of our would-be philanthropists, the small degree of success that has attended all the efforts hitherto made of inducing working-men to devote their spare time to intellectual pursuits? After the system is exhausted, by ten or twelve hours of physical labour, it naturally demands ease, or only those lighter mental efforts that commonly come under the head of relaxations. The best friends of the working-man are those who seek to add to his happiness, comfort, and enjoyment in the sphere in which God has placed him. There is a dignity, a majesty, in physical as well as in mental labour, and skill and excellence to be acquired in the one as well as in the other. Thus, in the physical constitution of the mind, we find an explanation of many of its phenomena. We find it subject to the same general laws as the body, and we see how it should be so. In the one case, as in the other, exercise is necessary to development, exercised under the like conditions, and producing the like results. It must be of its proper kind, in its proper time, and to its due extent. Each power or faculty has its appropriate exercise. The time best adapted for any kind of training is when the system is fresh and vigorous, and the attention fully alive. Each kind of exercise, mental or physical, has also its appro priate conditions. It ought not to be continued too long, nor cease too soon; not to be prosecuted too slowly, nor yet too fast; not to be intermitted too long, nor resumed too soon. It ought to be commenced slowly and gradually, by little and little at a time, and prolonged and extended as the special organs come to acquire strength. "The plastic, or hardening operation," says Professor Bain, "takes a certain interval of time; and, although the current be never so much sustained by keeping at a thing, the rate of acquirement is not increased in the same degree." of We thus learn, in many cases, from a study of our physical, how we ought to proceed in the training of our mental powers. When we wish to teach a child a manual art, we do not do so by any learned disquisitions on its principles or philosophy, but by directly setting it in the way practising it. In like manner, we believe that our moral teaching of children would have much more effect, if, in place of lecturing, and telling, and explaining so much as we do, we set them simply and quietly to the practice of what is right and proper. The same, we believe, holds true in all intellectual teaching. If we wish to teach a man logic, or language, or anything else, we ought to do so, not by rules, and definitions, and excep tions, but by examples which we ought to teach he has not to do with an incomprehensible essence, him how to follow. Our remarks might be carried farther, but we must stop. They will not be without their value if they inspire a spirit of investigation, and lead the teacher to believe that, in dealing with mind, guided by laws and directed by influences which he can neither understand or control; but that, on the contrary, it is everywhere the creature of law and order, and subject to influences which it is his duty to find out. THE CONSONANTS.-PART SECOND. OF THE TRANSMUTATIONS AND INTERCHANGES TO WHICH THEY ARE LIABLE. F a word is radically the same in two | English, have all grown out of some one or other 1st. The word in the one language 2d. The word in English may have grown out of the Latin, mostly through the medium of the French. In this case the consonants are often quite changed. The people of successive generations have here made the words-not one or two authors or learned men. Thus receive has grown out of recipio, while recipient has been manufactured from the same. There is the very same distinction in French between manufactured words and those of natural growth, so that many words which have actually come to us through that medium are exactly the same as if they had been taken direct from the Latin. But it is by the process of gradual change and natural growth and development that the great body of French words have been formed from Latin. In a similar way the most important part of our English vocabulary has grown out of the Anglo-Saxon. Thus cheap has grown out of ceap, and eye out of eage. stock, which, as a single language, is now extinct. Their common origin is proved by there being thousands of words radically the same in all three, where there has been no borrowing from one another. 4th. Sometimes the existence of the same word in different languages is not of itself a proof of any connection between these languages. The word may be onomatopoetic-formed in imitation of some natural sound. Thus though g in Greek, bur in Latin (uro, anciently buro as in comburo), and burn in English, have most probably a common origin, they might have been separately formed, as their original no doubt was, in imitation of the sound of fire; just as the Scotch burn is due to the sound of the purling brook. It is from the second and third of these classes of words that we must draw our illustrations of the changes to which the consonants are liable. And in tracing the connection of words we may, for our present purpose, generally disregard the vowels altogether. They have a certain philological value, but in comparison with that of the consonants it is not great. In them lies the music, the softness, the sweetness, the feminine grace of language, as D'Arcy Thompson says. In them, too, I would add, is found all the fickleness and inconstancy attributed to woman. Our genealogies must be traced on the father's side, among those bold rough consonants regarding which it may be truly said that it is not good for them that they should be alone. The ôô's and ee's, however, must not be entirely disregarded. They are peeresses in their own right, tracing their descent, you must remember, from the princely guttural and labial families., 3d. The word in the one language may neither have been manufactured nor have grown from the corresponding word in the other, but both words may have been derived, by adoption or by natural This vocal inconstancy is abundantly manifest growth, from some common source, some other from the local dialectic peculiarities both of Scotch language. Thus Italian, French, and Spanish, and English. Every teacher knows that it is are well known to be the offspring mainly of mispronunciations of the vowels, far more than of Latin. German, Dutch, and (in a great measure) the consonants, with which he has to contend. |