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Untitled Article
all the associations of our minds . The connexion is , in such an instance , frequently slight , and sometimes imaginary ; but this occasional experience shews us how the results of observation , may be classified . In this instance , the classification is arbitrary , because the comparison was partial * Ideas were not impartially received , and then arranged according to their nature and value : but they were welcomed as supporters of some assumed truth ,
to which their relation was more imaginary than real . We have heard tell how , when the apprehension of an invasion from France had risen to its highest pitch , every distant sound was believed by those who lived near the coast to be a signal gun , and every light was mistaken for a beacon fire . Here a moral cause existed for the perversion of judgment , and the process of comparison . was disturbed by fear : but an intellectual defect often occasions errors as absurd : of which Sterne ' s Critic with his stop-watch is an instance in point . To such perversion of judgment all are liable
who are given to a favourite pursuit or a peculiar mode of thinking ; and though in the one case a great deal of knowledge may be accumulated on a particular subject , and in the other , the convictions may become comfortably strong , the mind is proportionably indisposed for the enlargement of jknowledge or the perception of truth . Generally speaking , those men who have enriched the world by their labours in one department of art or science have not been remarkable for enlargement of mind , and deformity
rather than symmetry has been the characteristic of their intellectual frame . It is true we have had one Milton and one Michael Angelo ; but we have had hundreds who to their proficiency in a single department of science , have sacrificed more than the object was worth . Those who propose their own improvement as their aim , will do wisely to promote the general development of their powers , instead of directing all their efforts to one point . To be a fine poet , painter , or musician , an eminent mathematician , or mental or natural philosopher , is in the power of a very few ; and if it were
otherwise , the object is not worth the sacrifice which is often made to attain it . A power of enlarged observation , of accurate judgment , of enlightened reflection , of steady reasoning , is worth more to its possessor than the exercise of any single talent , however splendid or however useful , if encouraged at the expense of the intellect at large . Believing thus , we have often grieved over the method of conducting the education of the sons of tradesmen at grammar-schools , where classical learning is the only object , and
have never been able to coincide in opinion with those parents who would confine the studies of their daughters within a very narrow range , from a dread of their obtaining " a smattering of learning . " Now , all agree that deep learning is better than a smattering ; but surely , a smattering is better than none at all ; and if , as may easily be managed , they are guarded from the danger of over-estimating their small attainments , their minds will
become enlarged in proportion to the variety of objects to which their attention is directed . Because their knowledge of many subjects must be limited , it need not , therefore , be inaccurate ; and as advancement in any one branch of science affords facilities for improvement in others , the development of the whole mind proceeds at a much quicker rale where the objects of attention are various than where they are very limited .
The more various , however , the objects of inquiry , the more cautious should be the selection from the field of knowledge . We have no superfluous time or power to was ; e on subjects which are unattainable , either from their own nature , or from the degree of preparation necessary : and therefore our first inquiry should be into our own intentions in pursuing a
Untitled Article
Essays on the Art of lliinking . 749
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 749, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/5/
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