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Untitled Article
grow rapidly into strength , whether we notice the process or not ; whether we interfere with it or not ; whether our interposition be beneficent or maleficent . Good or bad habits will be formed . The habit of temperance or of intemperance ; the habit of yielding to every impulse , or the habit of self-control ; the habit of thinking only of
gratifications that relate to self , or the habit of taking into account the pleasuresof others ; the habit of indulging an irritable , ] fretful , and passionate temper , or the formation of a gentle , calm , and sweet disposition—all this , with or without us , will go on ; just as much without us as with us , but not the same without as with . Now is the time to
lay the foundation of moral excellence , to make good moral feeling and good moral conduct just as much a part of the sentient and intelligent being , as any organic action , or any animal perception . And this it would be possible to do for every human being without a single exception , to an extent which would render every individual of the
human race more uniformly and consistently good than the very best is at present , were the physical and mental constitution of each individual , as well understood a 3 study might make it , and were the circumstances under which each is placed , adapted to it with a wisdom which it is within the range of human ability to attain .
* * * * The period of childhood extends from the second to about the seventh or eighth year . * * * Every effort should be directed from the beginning to the end of this period , to the developement and invigoration of the physical powers , and the formation and direction of the moral . The intellectual are comparatively of little consequence . The mind should be employed more as a matter of amusement than of exertion . You must never forget that the brain is still exceedingly soft and delicate , and that its action is almost
incessant . We do not in general sufficiently consider how incessant are the intellectual operations of the child without any artificial stimulus to exertion . Unceasingly external objects are transmitting impressions to the brain through the medium of the senses which it has to distinguish , to compare , to combine , and to name . There is scarcely a moment during its waking hours in which some operation of this kind is not carried on by the child ; and it entirely depends on the kind of stimulus applied to the miri 4 # whether it produce healthy
excitement or exhausting stimulation . It would perhaps be scarcely possible to spend too much time in seeing , in hearing , in handling , in observing , in imitating , in constructing in the pure air , under the sunny sky , in the \ erdant fields , and amid the various objects which there meet the senses . And without doubt a vast portion of physical science may be communicated at this period without imposing on the pupil any great mental effort—affording merely an agreeable and beneficial excitement . The observation of phenomena , the storing in the memory interesting and useful facts , are the main things to be aimed at . Every indication of precocious intellectual attainment or ability should be checked with as much anxious care as the earliest indication of curvature in the spine , or of the formation of tubercles in the lungs . Early mental acuteness is almost invariably associated with a state of the system which produces physical debility ; and it is exceedingly apt ultimately to terminate in intellectual feebleness . Throughout the entire organized world , whatever is destined to live
Untitled Article
Dr . Southwood Smith on the Animal Economy . 20 a
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1833, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2610/page/61/
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