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ESSAYS ON THE ART OF THINKING. IV.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
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THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY AND REVIEW .
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NEW SERIES , No . XXXV .
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NOVEMBER , 1829 .
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Our limits allow us to offer only a few hints respecting the discipline which is necessary to the formation of habits of accurate thought . These hints must be expanded and improved by our readers , if they are to be rendered in any degree beneficial ; and our suggestions must be modified according to the circumstances of those who may be inclined to adopt them .
As knowledge affords the materials of thought and the incitement to its exercise , we shall begin by offering some hints respecting the best modes of obtaining information , and shall afterwards point out the methods by which knowledge may be rendered available to the further improvement of the intellectual faculties . We are careful to develop the power of Observation in a child , because by means of this faculty is to be obtained the most important , if not the
most extensive , information which we have it in our power to acquire . In proportion to the perfect development and wise direction of this faculty will be the improvement of the intellect at large . Every human being is possessed of the power of observation , and in every case ( not excepting that of the idiot ) it is called into action ; but how different is its operation , how various are its results , in various minds ! The ignorant ploughboy beholds the changes of the seasons , the clouds and the sunshine , the waxing and
waning moon , the fixed and moving lights of the sky , and gathers no new ideas from the revolutions of nature ; while the fall of an apple suggests to a Newton inquiries which urge on the human intellect to the utmost limits of space and time . Such an instance is sufficient evidence that the faculty of observation cannot be too highly cultivated ; and that the common belief ,
that the power of observation interferes with that of reflection , is founded in mistake . We may observe wrongly , but we cannot observe too much ; and if the right direction be given to the faculty , if the stores which it brings in to the mind be rightly disposed and duly appreciated , those stores can never be too ample . But a small part of the external world is subjected to the
Essays On The Art Of Thinking. Iv.
ESSAYS ON THE ART OF THINKING . IV .
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VOL . Ill , 3 F
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/1/
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