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Untitled Article
of the second year ) is remarkable for the developement of the perceptive powers . The physical organization of the brain * which still advances with rapidity , is now capable of a greater energy , and a wider range of function . Sensation becomes more exact and varied ; the intellectual faculties are in almost constant operation ; speech commences , the sign , and , to a certain extent , the cause of the growing strength of the
mental powers ; the capacity of voluntary locomotion is acquired , while passion , emotion , affection , come into play with such constancy and energyi as to exert over the whole economy of the now irritable and plastic creature a prodigious influence for good or evil . If it be , indeed , possible to make correct moral perception , feeling , and conduct , a p art of human nature , as much a part of it as any seneation or propensityif this be possible for every individual of the human race , without
exception , to an extent which would render all more eminently and consistently virtuous than any are at present , ( and of the possibility of this , the conviction is the strongest in the acutest minds which have studied this subject the most profoundly , ) preparation far the accomplishment of this object must he commenced at this epoch . But if preparation for this object be really commenced , it implies , on the part of those who
engage in the undertaking , some degree of knowledge ; knowledge of the physical and mental constitution of the individual to be influenced ; knowledge of the mode , in which circumstances must be so modified in adaptation to the nature of the individual being , as to produce upon it , with uniformity and certainty , a given result . The theory of human society , according to its present institutions , supposes that this knowledge is possessed by the mother ; and it supposes , further , that this
adaptation will actually take place in the domestic circle through her agency . Hence the presumed advantage of having the eye of the mother always upon the child ; hence the apprehension of evil so genera ) , I had almost said instinctive , whenever it is proposed to take the infant , for the purpose of systematic physical and mental discipline , from beyond the sphere of maternal influence . But society , which thus presumes that the mother will possess the power and the disposition to
do this , what expedients has it devised to endow her with the former , and to secure the formation of the latter ? I appeal to every woman whose eye may rest on these pages . 1 ask of you , what has ever been done for you to enable you to understand the physical and mental constitution of that human nature , the care of which is imposed upon you ? In what part of the course of your education was instruction of this kind introduced ? Over how large a portion of your education did it extend ?
Who were your teachers ? What have you profited by their lessons ? What progress have you made in the acquisition of the requisite information 1 Were you at this moment to undertake the guidance of a new-born infant to health , knowledge , goodness , urid happiness * how would vou set about the task ? How would you regulate the influence
of external agents upon its delicate , tender , and highly-irritable organs , in such a manner as to obtain from them healthful stimulation , anil avoid destructive ex citerrierit ? What natural and moral vhiedtd ' ' Wo ^ td ] fbu select as the best adapted to exercise and cfevijtopdi& 6 toerii n # jfacufttea ? What feelings Would you check , and what cherish ? ' 'HW Would you excite' aims ; how would you' apply motives ? < JtJow would i you ? avai 1 yourself of pleasure as a final end , or as the means to aome further
Untitled Article
156 The Philosophy of Health .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 156, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/12/
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