Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/751

Rh, memory, imagination, and reasoning are phases of one process, and they can not be separated from each other except by logical procedure; nor can the intellect be considered apart from the emotions and will. There is no virtue either in this separation except for the mere purpose of analysis, for in daily life these faculties are never divorced in their activities from each other; and in training the individual in school, educational psychology declares it to be a serious mistake to try to separate one faculty from the others and train it by the use of some special material.

The workings of this old analytic and analogical psychology are especially apparent in its teaching that the exercise of the mind in any direction generates a capacity which may be used equally well in all directions. The very statement of this doctrine would seem to show its falsity, but yet belief in it has practically determined the subjects taught in our schools for the last three centuries. No one, upon reflection, would maintain that an extended study of mathematics would prepare a man for the practice of medicine so well as would the special study of physiology and the effect of medicinal agencies upon the human system. Nor would such mathematical discipline be the very best thing to prepare for the profession of law, or theology, or any other business which does not directly call into play a large body of mathematical knowledge. Common-sense philosophy long ago concluded, and thoroughly believes now, that one who is to be engaged in the practice of some art should wisely acquire all the knowledge possible relating thereto; and it esteems this of far greater account than to be concerned in getting some foreign matter for the sake of whatever discipline this will give. Thus one who is to become an architect could spend his time to greater advantage in familiarizing himself with those things that relate to the successful conduct of his business, than he could to study profoundly into chemistry, botany, or theology in the belief that the general power gained by such mental gymnastics would make him more expert in architectural matters; and the illustration may be multiplied at pleasure.

To carry our point a step further, it must be obvious to any one who has thought about the matter that what an individual studies, and what he thereby gets to know, determines almost entirely what he can get to know in the future; not along general lines either, but in special directions. The mathematician, for example, is enabled by the abundance of his learning in geometry and calculus to appreciate and interpret further mathematical facts; but he is by no means empowered, by virtue of his mathematics merely, to be a competent or appreciative judge of historical, legal, psychological, or linguistic matters. It has become a