Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 11.djvu/579

 578 CRITICAL NOTICES : longer, as in the larger work, separated from the exposition of the science itself by any difference of type or arrangement. Doctrine and precept are fused into a continuous whole, which, assisted by an openly printed page and an effective style, becomes, I must say, extremely readable, considering the nature of the subject. Upon each branch of the subject enough is said con- cerning the principles of Psychology to serve the ordinary purposes of the educator ; and everything is said so simply that no one, however unaccustomed to such inquiries, can fail to follow and understand it. There is no attempt to enter into subtle disquisitions or vexed controversies. The bog-fires of Metaphysic, hardly seen to glimmer on the borders of the demesne, can tempt no wayfarer to go astray. Every sentence is subordinated to the single end of clearing-up the problem how best to train the minds and characters of the young. And the inferences drawn step by step as the book advances, and the suggestions made upon this most important of all subjects, are an admirable example of the application of science to life. Vlic can help wishing to have been born later, and to share the more enlightened instruction that awaits the next generation ? If I were to take exception to anything in the scientific aspect of this book, it would be chiefly to the treatment of Conception, Judgment and Eeasoning, which seems to me too much under the influence of ordinary Logic. But even here what seems to me questionable lies more in the expression than in the thought : and there is, after all, in this part of the exposition some advan- tage in availing oneself of the terms and distinctions of Logic ; since many readers will partly understand them to begin with, and will thereby be more readily familiarised with the abstruser ideas of Psychology. Still this advantage may be bought too dear. In the practical aspect of the book, I am inclined to say that it lays too much stress upon the importance of authority in moral training. But probably few of those for whom the book is intended will think the author's doctrine of discipline overstrict. His treatment of the emotions and sentiments in relation to education, a particularly difficult and important part of the work, seems to me especially good. It is a striking fact, the sudden turning of so many first-rate minds to the subject of Education ; and a great revolution in scholastic affairs, however gradual, will certainly result from it. No subject ought to be so universally interesting. If none seem so tedious to us, it may be because our own education was so bad ; or that we have reflected so little about it that new sugges- tions find in our minds no soil to strike root in ; or that the complexity and practical difficulties of it paralyse our faculties : in any case, the more reason for spurring ourselves to the study. There is no subject more beset with popular errors, none in which science is more useful, explanatory and suggestive. Not only every professional educator, but every father and mother (amateur-