directly opposed to that which is usually adopted. If a child shows, at an early age, a great propensity for study, instead of animating and encouraging him to proceed in this course, as most teachers do, it is necessary to moderate his zeal; for precocity of mind is nearly always disease, or shows an unnatural propensity, which it is most prudent to correct. A child of more dull intellect, whose thoughts are slow, may, on the contrary, apply to study at an earlier period of life, for in him this exercise is necessary for the proper development of the mental faculties."

:

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Doctor Spurzheim, whose inquiries upon this subject have been very extensive, and who has for many years devoted himself to the task of ascertaining the influence of the organization upon the mental and moral faculties, thus remarks, in his Essay upon the Elementary Principles of Education:"Many parents anxiously strive to cultivate the intellect of their children, and neglect to fortify their constitution. They believe that children cannot too soon learn to read and write. Their children, therefore, are obliged to remain many hours in school, breathing an impure air, while they ought to be developing the organs of the body by exercise. The more delicate the children are, and the more their affections and minds are precocious, the more important it is that the above error should be avoided if it is not, premature death is often the consequence of this infraction of the laws of nature. often see, also, that those much admired in infancy for their genius, waste all their energies in youth, and, at a mature age, possess but ordinary minds. Experience demonstrates, that of any number of children, of equal intellectual powers, those that receive no particular care in infancy, and who do not learn to read and write until the constitution begins to be consolidated, but who enjoy the benefit of a good physical education, very soon surpass in their studies those who commenced study earlier, and read numerous books when very young. The mind ought never to be cultivated at the expense of the body; and physical education ought to precede that of the intellect, and then proceed simultaneously with it, without cultivating one faculty to the neglect of others; for health is the base, and instruction the ornament of education."

That these views respecting early education have had, and continue to have, a practical influence in Germany, I have been assured by those long resident in that country, and by Germans who have been educated there. By a learned and accomplished German lady, now resident in this country, and who, in her own, enjoyed the best opportunities for knowing the views of the most intelligent class, I was assured, "There is but one voice in Germany

*The above is taken from the French edition of this valuable work. A later edition in English, with additions, has been published, which I have not seen. The learned and estimable author of the above is now in America, and proposes to lecture upon the interesting science of phrenology,-a science to which he has given a philosophical character, and which, by his labours, he has advanced to its present high standing. I cannot but believe that his visit to this country will be productive of great good, by directing the attention of the public to the immense importance of physical education,-a branch of education the almost entire neglect of which, in this country, threatens dangerous and lasting consequences. As to the correctness of the phrenological system, I am not qualified to determine; but so far as I have had an opportunity of observing, I think it explains the phenomena of the morbid action of the brain far better than any other.

I leave this note as it was in the first edition, though the work referred to has been reprinted in this country. I still hope, that although its illustrious author lived but a few months after his arrival in this country, his visit will be of great service to it, and that he will ere long be accounted a great benefactor.

In a letter which I received from him but a few days before the illness which terminated his life, he remarks upon the uncommon mental activity of the people of this country, and expresses his belief, that the science which he taught would do great good here, and would "contribute to a reform in education." I trust that he has awakened a spirit of inquiry on this subject, that will not subside until the benefits he predicted are realized.

upon this subject, and that is,-very early learning affords no advantage to the mind, and does essential injury to the body."

Italy has produced many great and distinguished scholars; and the same instructions upon early education have been given by some of her most learned men. Sinabaldi, in his great work on the Science of Man, or Anthropologie, thus speaks of education in early life:-"We ought not to fatigue the memory of children by precepts, fables, and histories, of which they are not in a state to comprehend either the signification or morality. To force the memory, before that mysterious organ the brain is developed, is the same thing as to fatigue the muscles while imperfect, by long continued walking, or by hard labour, which will produce a general languor, and arrest for ever the complete development of the organs of the body. Children at this age ought to be guided wholly by example. In one word, this first epoch of life, from birth to the age of seven, ought to be entirely consecrated to the perfect development of the organization of children, and, by the agency of physical education, to render them as healthy, robust, and strong as the nature of man will permit."

In France, the education of youth has engaged the attention of many learned and distinguished men. Numerous treatises upon the subject have been published, urging the importance of physical education. M. Friedlander, in a late work dedicated to M. Guizot, thus speaks of early instruction: From the highest antiquity we have this rule, that mental instruction ought not to commence before the seventh year." M. Friedlander thinks this rule is correct; and says, that our climate, which necessarily confines children much of the time within doors, has led to the idea of teaching them early, and thus making them prodigies. He gives the following table for the hours of rest and labour, which, he says, is adopted by many instructors:

-

M. Ratier, in an essay on the Physical Education of Children, which was crowned by the Royal Society of Bordeaux in 1821, thus speaks of early mental instruction :- "The labour of the mind to which some parents subject their children, not only too soon, but in a wrong direction, is often the cause of their bad health, and causes nearly all those who are distinguished by precocity of the intellectual faculties to perish prematurely, so that we seldom see a perfect man; that is, one who exhibits an equilibrium of the physical, mental, and moral faculties." M. Julien, late editor of The Révue Encyclopedique, in his large and valuable work on Physical, Moral, and Intellectual Education, remarks," All the pages of this work repel the double reproach, of wishing to hasten the progress of the intellect, and obtain premature success, or retard the physical development of children, by neglecting the means necessary to preserve their health. We have constantly followed the principle of Tissot, who wished that infancy might be consecrated to those exercises, which fortify the body, rather than to mental application, which enfeebles and destroys it." Again, he observes, "The course to be adopted with children for the first ten years of life, is neither to press or torment them ; but by plays, exercise of the body, entire liberty wisely regulated, and good nourishment, to effect the salutary and progressive development of the phy

sical, moral, and intellectual faculties, and by continual amusement and freedom from chagrin (which injures the temper of children), they will arrive at the tenth year without suspecting that they have been made to learn any thing: they have not distinguished between study and recreation; all they know they have learned freely, voluntarily, and always in play. The advantages obtained by this course, are good health, grace, agility, gaiety, and happiness; a character frank and generous; a memory properly exercised; a sound judgment, and a cultivated mind."

In a late work, which holds a deservedly high rank in France, entitled Medical Gymnastics, by Charles Londe, similar views are inculcated, and the true physiological reasons assigned,-that the moral and intellectual man depends upon the physical; that the mental faculties depend upon certain organs, and the exercise of these organs developes them, in accordance to a general law; that "the more an organ is exercised, the more it is developed, and is able to execute its functions with more facility. Thus habit, education, and other like causes, do not change the moral and intellectual character without acting on the physical man, or changing the action of organs; repressing some, and increasing others."

Professor Broussais, a man of great learning and genius, and one of the most distinguished physicians of the present age, thus alludes to this subject: Intellectual labours give rise, in early life, to effects corresponding with the actual state of the individual constitution. Thus the brain, the growth of which is not complete, acquires, by the exercise of thought, an extraordinary energy and volume; the moral faculties become truly prodigious but this advantage is sadly counterbalanced by cerebral inflammations, which give rise to hydrocephalus, and by a languor in the rest of the body, the development of which remains imperfect.

Most

"It is easy to conceive what a number of evils must result from a kind of life so little in harmony with the wants of youth: hence we rarely see all those prodigies of premature intellectual education prospering. If encephalitis does not carry them off, they infallibly perish with gastritis or scrofula. generally, all these evils oppress them at once; and, if they do not sink under them in infancy, they carry along with them in mature age an irritability which does not allow of their resisting the morbific influences, in the midst of which man is necessarily forced to live. They are seen to decay and die, in the prime of life, if they are not destroyed, in spite of all the efforts of the art, by the first violent inflammation that attacks them."*

Similar opinions have been inculcated in England, by some of the most distinguished medical men of that country; and particularly by the celebrated Dr. James Johnson, in several of his valuable and interesting works. I ought, however, to remark, that the treatise of Locke on education has had, in England, great influence; and undoubtedly has done much injury, by teaching the importance of "reasoning with children at a very early age." The practice has, no doubt, been carried much beyond what he intended; and its injurious effects are of late often alluded to. Writers on mental alienation, state, that early and frequent attempts to reason with children, increases, if it does not create, a predisposition to insanity; and its inutility has been satisfactorily and abundantly shewn by several writers, and particularly by Rousseau in his Emile, or Treatise on Education; a work exceedingly defective and absurd in some respects, but abounding with many important and practical truths upon education. The work has had a great and beneficial influence in Europe, but appears to be but little known in this country.

The evil effects of the course recommended by Locke, have been noticed, as I have said, by the medical men in England. A late writer on dropsy of the head, observes, "The present plan of education, in which the intellectual powers are prematurely exercised, may be considered as one of the causes of the more frequent occurrence of this disease."

* Treatise on Physiology applied to Pathology.

† Voison on the Moral and Physical Causes of Mental Maladies. + Medico-Chirurgical Review, 1826.

Another writer, in a recent and valuable work, has also alluded to this subject, and in a manner that ought to awaken the attention of parents and teachers. He says, "It is undoubtedly too much the custom of the modern system of education to stimulate the infant intellect to premature, and therefore prejudicial exertion. The recommendations enforced by Struve, should never be forgotten; and if they are forgotten by parents, it is the imperative duty of the medical practitioner to point out the necessity of complying with them. We should operate upon the tender intellect of a child by the gentlest progression. It must surely be more judicious to complete the instrument previous to its use, than to employ it in an imperfect state. It is the same with children as adults. In the cultivation of the mental powers, we are always to bear in mind the capability of the individual to answer the demands which are made upon him for exertion. It is not only irrational, but it is frequently destructive, to impose either upon the mind or body, but particularly upon the former, a load which it is incapable of supporting. It may be a source of consolation to those parents who are too apt to lament any apparent loss of time in the very early periods of life, that carly acquirements are not to be gained without destruction of health, and that the future progress and mental powers of the individual depend upon the foundation which is laid in infancy, by judiciously adapting the studies of the child to its age and constitution. By premature efforts to improve the powers of the intellect, the organ in which they reside is exhausted. The practitioner, then, cannot too forcibly reprobate the pernicious enforcement of precocious studies. The injurious effects arising from the folly and false vanity of parents, who are ambitious of holding forth their children as specimens of extraordinary talent, are constantly presenting themselves to our view, in a train of nervous symptoms, and of susceptibility to ordinary impressions, which frequently pave the way to decided paroxysms of convulsions."*

The same dangerous consequences, resulting from the premature development of the intellect, have often been noticed by medical men in the United States, and one of the most distinguished has thus happily referred to them, in a recent and able work.

"In an early age, before the organism has acquired its proper development, the brain its perfect consolidation, or the organs are confirmed in the order of their existence, premature exercises of the intellectual faculties are the source of many disorders. By the undue excitement of the brain, its organic functions are augmented unnaturally; the organic actions of the organs of nutrition, secretion, &c. are enfeebled; the muscular system is stunted and debilitated; the nervous system becomes morbidly irritable, and the brain subject to a variety of affections. Those highly gifted with precocious intellects possess miserable health, and are generally short-lived: they are cut off by chronic inflammations and disorganization of their viscera, or by acute inflammation of the brain."+

* Practical Observations on the Convulsions of Infants. By John North. † Principles of Medicine, founded on the Structure and Functions of the Animal Organism. By Samuel Jackson, M.D.

NOTE.-The inutility of early cultivating the mind, and its evil results, have been noticed by observing men, not belonging to the medical profession. Cobbett, in his Advice to Young Men, a work abounding with most excellent remarks upon the rearing and education of children, observes, "The mind, as well as the body, requires time to come to its strength; and the way to have it possess, at last, its natural strength, is not to attempt to load it too soon, and to favour it in its progress, by giving to the body good and plentiful food, sweet air, and abundant exercise, accompanied with as little discontent or uneasiness as possible. It is the first duty of a parent to secure to his children, if possible, sound and strong bodies."

A distinguished and popular American author has advanced, in a late work of fiction, the following just opinion upon this subject :-" Knowledge should only keep pace with the natural growth of the human faculties. When I see a little urchin, who ought to be enjoying nature's holyday, and strengthening his consti

The Young Composer; or, Progressive Exercises in English Composition. By JAMES CORNWELL. Simpkin and Marshall. (Second Notice.)

We intended in our last to make some extracts from the above work, as we consider such to be due to the author. We have, therefore, pleasure in laying before our readers the following, which will give a fair specimen of the work in question :

ENGLISH COMPOSITION.

DIVISION I.
SENTENCE-MAKING.

1. Man thinks and speaks.

2. That which he thinks is called a Thought.

3. A thought put into words, that is, spoken or written, is a Sentence.* 4. A sentence is an assemblage of words, conveying a complete sense or thought; as, Time flies. (Gr. 222).

6. Sentences are either Simple, or Complex.

SIMPLE SENTENCES.

7. A Simple Sentence contains only one finite verb; as, Perseverance surmounts difficulties. (Gr. 224).

PARTS OF A SENTENCE.

8. A Sentence must contain a Subject and a Predicate. These are the only necessary parts of a sentence.

9. The Subject is that of which we are speaking, and is always in the nominative case, or equivalent to a nominative; as, The boy runs.

EXPL.-Here the boy is the subject of the verb runs. We ask, Who runs ?-the boy. This is the Subject.

10. The Predicate is that which we say of the subject; as, The boy is lazy; The boy runs.

EXPL.-Here is lazy and runs are the Predicates. We ask, The boy is what?— is lazy; the boy does what?-runs. These are the Predicates.

11. But a Sentence may contain an Object also, and many predicates require an object to complete their sense; as, The boy strikes the dog. EXPL.-Here, after strikes, the mind naturally asks, Strikes what?-the dog. This is the Object.

THE SUBJECT.

13. The Subject in a Simple Sentence may be:

(1) A noun, or pronoun; as, Play is pleasant. We are tired.

(2) An infinitive; as, To play is pleasant.

(3) An infinitive clause of a sentence; as, To play without quarrelling is pleasant.

(1) A phrase of distance or time, &c.; as, From London to Highgate is

tution by wholesome exercise to bear the vicissitudes of the world in after times, kidnapped and sent to school, to sit on a bench for four or five hours together, employed in learning by rote what he is unable to comprehend, I cannot help contemplating him as the slave and the victim of the vanity of the parent, and the folly of the teacher. Such a system is only calculated to lay a foundation for disease and decrepitude, to stint the physical and intellectual growth, and to produce a premature old age of body and mind."-Paulding, Dutchman's Fireside. vol. i.

*From the Latin sentio, I think.