use, which, though he will never hereafter be able to call to mind the moment or the circumstances of their accession, he will use as effectually as if he had originally acquired them by industrious and direct

attention.

It does not fall within the intention of this treatise to attempt to ascertain the period when the first dawn of intelligence enlightens the countenance of the infant; but, undoubtedly, among its earliest beams are those expressive smiles, which, although they are occasioned by the aspect of the mother, and are perhaps only connected with the expectation of an animal pleasure, namely the simple enjoyment of nourishment, yet are soon elicited by other individuals. also, who may understand how to win the attention, and amuse the faculties of the infant mind.

It seems as if there were implanted in the young of all animals, of the higher orders, an instinctive propensity to those actions which are naturally determined by their specific form when fully developed; in order perhaps, among other purposes, to give occasion for that exercise of the limbs which is necessary to the health of the individual. Hence the young ram couches his head, and tilts at his adversary, long before his horns have appeared; and the young pheasant assails his antagonist with his projected legs, long before his spurs have begun to bud. And, following this analogy, may we not reasonably suppose that the sports of childhood have a natural tendency to prefigure the occupations of manhood; and that by the extension of the same principle, independently of the impulse given by systematic education, or spontaneous imitation of their parents and others, there are instinctive differences in the amusements of children of different temperaments, connected with their future destination in life? Thus while the boy is engaged in the mimicry of military parade or equestrian exercises, the girl devotes her time to more feminine occupations, and busies herself in acting the various duties which her nursery or house

hold will hereafter require. The recorded attempt to conceal Achilles in female attire, whether founded in fact, or, as is probable, merely a fictitious anecdote, will serve to illustrate the present point; inasmuch as the use of the means, said to have been employed by Ulysses to detect the hero, was evidently suggested by the principle just now advanced.

At this early period of life then, the judgement being not sufficiently matured for deeper observation, the mind is satisfied with a view of the form and surface of objects presented to it; with their anatomy, as it were, rather than with their physiology: but, in the mean time, it is thus acquainting itself undistractedly with those sensible qualities, with which it must necessarily be familiar before it can proceed to reason on causes and relations. And although it may appear at first view that a very disproportionately long period of our life is devoted to the mere exercise of the senses, it is yet highly probable that important mental operations may be simultaneously going on, though we are at the time unconscious of them: for something analogous is observable throughout the whole course of our existence. How few there are, for instance, who, at any period of life, can call to mind a tenth part of what they have even recently heard or observed. And if this may be correctly affirmed of the adult age of life, and of those individuals whose original powers of mind are great, how much more strongly will it apply to those whose original powers of mind are not above the common standard, or not yet matured by age. So that there can be very little doubt that the general principles and rulers, which regulate the reasoning and conduct of men on ordinary occasions, have been originally deduced by each individual from much of what has been long forgotten.

It has been asserted by persons,* whose intellectual

*Lord chief justice Hale: (see Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. ii. p. 511, 4to. London, 1791;) not to mention living authorities.

powers were of the highest order, and whose industry was as remarkable as their abilities, that more than six or eight hours in each day could not be employed effectively by the generality of young men for the purpose of mental improvement. If this however be the case, and as a general position it probably is not very far from the truth, in vain does the ambitious student rob nature of that sleep which Providence has made necessary for the renovation of the exhausted powers of our mind, as well as of our body; and in vain also does he attempt to combine simultaneously the efforts of mental attention with bodily exercise, or to pursue his severer studies during the hour of meals: in both which cases, they, who adopt the custom, not only err in employing too continuous an application of the powers of the mind; but in impeding to a certain and often very inconvenient degree the process of natural respiration; and, consequently of other functions of the body, particularly of digestion. How main a point ought it to be therefore with those who superintend the education of young persons, to avoid the application of too great a strain on the natural spring of the intellectual powers.

It is questionable whether at any period of life the correspondence between the external world and the sensitive and intellectual faculties of man, is so rapid, so vivid, and so effectual, as during that space which is intermediate to infancy and adolescence: and this fact, if it be so, may be explained by that principle of our nature, on which depends the love of novelty; namely, that susceptibility of the nerves which makes them capable of being stimulated more vehemently by new, than by accustomed impressions: for certainly this principle is likely to be more exercised in proportion as we are nearer the period of infancy; since every impression is then either absolutely new, or has not yet rendered the nerves dull by too frequent a repetition of its application. Another happy instance of the harmony that exists between the na

ture of man and the external world, is the readiness and confidence with which at this early period of life the impressions of sense are received. Where all is new, and therefore equally matter of wonder, there is yet no room for doubt. Nature teaches the mind to receive every thing without distrust, and to rely implicitly on those inlets to knowledge, the impressions of sense, which are destined to be its only guides in the first years of life. Scepticism is not the tendency of childhood: and perhaps it is with reference to the analogy between the eye of faith and the eye of sense at this early period of life, that our Saviour pronounces a blessing upon those who receive the evidences of our religion with the simplicity of little children.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE POWERS OF THE HUMAN HAND, CONSIDERED AS A CORPOREAL ORGAN.

At length, however, having passed the preparatory discipline both of natural and of parental education, and having arrived at the maturity of his powers, man is fitted to exercise his empire over the external world.

But before we consider the character of the materials provided for the supply of his various wants, or for the exercise of his intellectual faculties, let us examine more closely than hitherto the condition of those corporeal organs, by the agency of which he is enabled to produce the results intended.

There can be no doubt that those organs are, if not exclusively, at least pre-eminently, the brain and the hand: of the latter of which, not only are the uses of the several parts and of the whole made practically manifest every moment of our lives; but its antecedent capabilities are so open to the investigat

ing eye of reason, as to afford one of the readiest subjects of physical demonstration. And although, with respect to the brain, we not only have no satisfactory evidence, but cannot even form a probable conjecture, of the use or mode of action of any particular part; yet we cannot doubt that it is the instrument by which our intellectual powers hold communion with external nature. I shall dedicate therefore this and the following chapter to the consideration of the general history of these organs.

It would be an invasion of the province of others to give an anatomical description of the several constituent parts of the human hand; but in saying that its adaptation to the various purposes to which it is applicable is so open to the investigating eye of reason as to afford one of the readiest subjects of Physical demonstration, a tacit reference was made to that remarkable part of the writings of Galen, in which he expatiates upon the capabilities of this wonderful instrument; and that that extraordinary writer could hardly have selected a better subject, for the exercise of his powers in intellectual analysis, will be readily granted on a perusal of the following passages; provided they correctly represent the spirit of the original.

In that portion of his works which bears this title, "On the use of the various Parts of the Body," after having defined what is to be understood by the term part, or member, as applied to an animal body, Galen proceeds in the following manner:* "But all these parts of the body were made for the use of the soul, that sentient and intelligent principle which animates the body, and of which the body is merely the organ; and on this account the component parts of animals differ according to the nature of this principle: for some animals are bold and fierce; others are timid and gentle some are gregarious, and co-operate for their mutual sustenance and defence; others are soli

*Lib. i. cap. 2.