ties for enlarged action, and detailed investigation. His charges against peculators, afterwards proved to be just, were of course clamorously denied by them. Dr. Franklin, says the author, was finally induced to yield an ear to them; and denied it to Mr. Lee, thus countenancing public defaulters to the injury of the public interests. Mr. Lee resented this conduct, and fearlessly stated its consequences to the United States. The result was, as has been stated.

Non nobis tantas componere lites. We can only say, that we have always contemplated our revolutionary worthies, as neither impeccable nor infallible. Among the zealous defenders of Mr. Lee from all aspersions upon his patriotism, vigilance, wisdom and great services, were the deceas ed President Adams, Dr. Cooper, the late Vice President Gerry, and others. The perusal of this volume has left no doubt on our mind, that Mr. Lee was an inflexible and ardent patriot; and that few men contributed more effectually to the final success of the great struggle. No individual, probably, did so much, to bring about the recognition of our independence, and the subsequent alliance of France and Spain.

As an intellectual man, Mr. Lee was a ripe and trained classical scholar, and thoroughly conversant with the modern languages of the south of Europe; and a fine writer. In person he was above the middle size, and of features, striking and handsome, with blue eyes and an expressive countenance. His manners were elegant and polished; and his conversation, according to circumstances, gay and brilliant, or solemn and severe. It was his misfortune, that he was not married. He incurred his death, in consequence of assisting in planting out a choice fruit orchard, intended as an embellishment to an estate he had purchased. It was a cold and rainy day in December. The consequence was a pleurisy, which proved fatal, December 12, 1792, in the fifty-second year of his age.

From p. 185 to the end of the volume, more than half the work, is in the form of an appendix, being chiefly composed of letters and memoranda by Mr. Lee. They are exceedingly interesting, leading you directly to the secret springs and movements of the great events of the revolution. You feel the fervid operations pressing round you, and are transported back to be a spectator, and almost an actor in the transpiring scenes. As this is a book of memoirs, and as Mr. Lee is almost entirely his own biographer, arrangement of the letters and papers may not appear of much importance. Yet it seems to us, that there are deficiencies in point of order. In the French there are some mistakes of the press; though on the whole, it is a book of great interest, and beautifully published.

THE

WESTERN

MONTHLY REVIEW.

FEBRUARY, 1830.

THOUGHTS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.

To that branch of education, which embraces the cultivation of the propensities, sentiments, and intellectual faculties, I purpose, at present, to direct my own attention, and respectfully solicit that of the reader. Although few subjects have been more frequently treated, by enlightened writers, there is none, perhaps, whose real philosophy is less understood. Nor is it difficult to discover the cause. It is, that investigation has been instituted on fallacious principles, and mistaken views, of the human intellect. Education, when sound, being nothing but that training of the intellect, best calculated to discipline it to its highest state of perfection, it need scarcely be observed, that, to the attainment, a correct knowledge of the intellect is essential. As well may an artificer attempt to put together a complicated machine, with whose construction he is entirely unacquainted, as a teacher to discipline successfully the human intellect, without a competent knowledge of its constitution. And no less preposterous would it be for one, who is utterly ignorant of chemical affinities, to attempt to philosophize on a chemical process, than for him who is unacquainted with that, which is to be educated, to profess to unfold the philosophy of education.

Nor is the reason concealed, why those, who have heretofore written on the subject of education, have been mistaken in their views, and defective in their knowledge of the human intellect. They have attempted the study of it on unsubstantial ground. They have regarded it, as something so subtle and refined, that the knowledge of it was transcendental; an attainment too etherial for our capacity to grasp. The intellectual powers they have considered as belonging exclusively to the spirit of man, and not only independent of his material nature, but actually opposed to it.His material portion they have regarded as little else than the dark dungeon of his spiritual, excluding the light which it would receive more abundantly, if in a disembodied condition. Notwithstanding their occasional expressions apparently to the contrary, such have been substantially the views and dogmas of metaphysical writers. As if that exquisite piece of workmanship, the human body, were fitted for none but gross purpe VOL. III.-No. 8.

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ses and degraded offices, and were even worse than useless, as relates to the attributes and efficiencies of the human soul.

Under the influence of notions so visionary, and a system of such abstract and exclusive spiritualism, nothing useful can ever be learned.— They are as blighting to sober reason, and, therefore, to genuine and sound philosophy, as the arctic climate to the plantain and the olive; or the fervors of the tropics to the rein-deer. Whatever attractiveness of fiction such speculations may possess, they are utterly destitute of all the excellencies of practical science.

The intellectual faculties of man are not the exclusive growth of his spirit. They belong as much to his material, as to his immaterial portion; and are as essentially dependent on the former, as on the latter. The spirit of man does not alone think, will, love, hate, and perform all other functions of intellect and feeling, without the aid of material or

gans. As well may it be contended, that the vital principle alone, without the instrumentality of material organs, secretes bile, gastric juice, pancreatic liquor, and saliva; or that the will without organs, is the sole cause of voluntary motion. To the performance of these functions, the liver, stomach, and pancreas, the salivary glands and the muscles are known to be essential. Nor is the brain less so to the performance of every mental operation. The soul stands related to the brain, precisely as the vital principle does to the other organs of the body. It is the quickening spirit which prepares it to act, without which the brain would be as inert, as the liver and pancreas without the principle of vitality. But this proposition is fairly revertible. The soul itself deprived of the instrumentality of the cerebral system, is, in our present state of existence, as utterly incompetent to the business of intellection, as that system, when deprived of the influence of the soul. A dead brain, and a disembodied human spirit, are alike incompetent to human intellection, or any other kind of human achievement, Whatever man does, corporeally, he does through the instrumentality of organized matter. And when he is disciplined, in the performance of any function it is his organized matter alone that is educated. It is that alone which is improved in its facilities, and augmented, in its powers. To speak of educating the simple, uncompounded, invisible, immutable, and immortal spirit of man, is to use words unmeaningly, if not contradictorily. I have called the soul"immutable;" and so it must be, to render it immortal. Mutability and immortality are incompatible. All compounds change, and are, therefore, perishable. Simples do not change, and hence are, imperishable. Besides, to change a simple substance, in any degree, is completely to take from its identity. It is no longer the same substance, but as essentially different, as from any other essence. To alter the spirit, by education, then, would be, as relates to the existing spirit, tantamount to annihilation. This proposition can be as satisfactorily proved, as any other connected with intellectual or physical science. If you change a simple, it cannot be in part; because parts are not predicable of it. It has no parts. You must change it, in totality; and it is then no longer the same. You have changed its essence, which, to its previous existence, is tantamount to annihilation.

When we improve, then, by means of education, it is the condition of

organized matter, that is improved. It is that alone which is invigorated, and rendered, by habit, more adroit in action. The invisible spirit remains unchanged; impassive, in its nature, to all the processes of art.

When, as relates to the exercises of the gymnasium, increased dexterity is acquired, every one acknowledges the improvement to be organic; that the muscles, nerves and brain alone have been augmented in their fa cility and power of action. No one supposes, that the spirit is altered. Yet, the movements being voluntary, the spirit is, doubtless, concerned in the The will is the spring of motion. But it acts with augprocess. mented effect, only because its instruments, the muscles and their system of appendages, are improved. Without these, it would be a nullity. The victor, who overcomes in a gymnastic contest, has no more power of abstract volition, than his opponent who is vanquished. His muscles only are superior.

As relates to improvement, by education, in seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, the same is true. The spirit is concerned in them, but not altered. So to improve by eduThe change is confined to the organs of sense. cation, the various mental processes, whether of propensity, sentiment, or intellect, and whether, as respects the acquisition or recollection, of knowledge, or the application of it to the purposes it is calculated to subserve; in effecting this improvement, it is only necessary to improve the condition of the cerebral system, which constitutes the apparatus of the intellect. Mental improvement, then, of every description, bears to ameliorating changes in the condition of organized matter, a relation as immediate, as improvement in the power of muscular motion, or the strength These several positions are susand acuteness of the external senses. ceptible of proof, and will be received, in time to come, as unquestioned axioms in the science of human nature.

If I am not mistaken, this presentation of the subject greatly simplifies our view of the process of education, facilitates our conception of it, and renders its philosophy comprehensible and plain. It gives to the mind, something tangible, on which it may act. It dissipates that shadowy mysticism, which hangs around every thing, where abstract spiritualism alone is concerned. It establishes a luminous analogy between mental cultivation and the improvement of the corporeal functions. In doing this, it makes the knowledge of each shed light on the other, and thus prepares the way for a much more correct acquaintance with the science of man.

But for the thorough understanding of this subject, a more detailed exposition of it is requisite.

The mind I have already avowed my undoubting belief, that education has no influence in improving, or, in any way, altering, the spirit of man. that of a Newton is no more educated, than that of an idiot. It is alone the organ, or rather apparatus, of the mind, consisting of many organs, education ameliorates. And that apparatus is the cerebral system, which like other parts of the body, can be improved in its condition and powers, only by suitable training. The entire science of education, then, consists in a correct knowledge of that system, in its constitution, faculties and functions, and of the kind and mode of exercises, by which it may be most effectually improved. And he that is destitute of this knowledge, cannot be a competent instructor,

The brain of man, which, instead of being a single organ, is a system of organs, consists of three compartments, the animal, the intellectual and the moral. Each of these is composed of several individual organs, which are the seats or instruments of an equal number of corresponding faculties, radically distinct from each other.

Of these compartments the development and arrival at maturity are not synchronous, those of the animal being much earliest. Hence the intellect of infancy is composed chiefly of the mere propensities, those being the faculties that belong to the animal compartment. The most powerful of them, at this period are, Combativeness, or a propensity to resentment, and quarrel; Destructiveness, or a disposition to inflict pain, or injure, in mere wantonness, and to crush and destroy; Adhesiveness, or a tendency to form attachments to persons and things that are congenial, to that which gives pleasure, or from which benefits are received; Secretiveness, or a proneness to concealment, deception and falsehood; and Covetiveness, or a disposition to desire and claim such things, as are deemed valuable, and often to get possession of them by furtive contrivances. At a period somewhat subsequent appears, Constructiveness, or a turn and fondness for building, or for the invention and construction of toys, or some kind of mechanical implements, while a still later and more matured period, is marked by the development of Amativeness, or a propensity to physical love; and Philo-progenitiveness, or a feeling of the love of offspring.

While the animal propensities sway almost alone, it would be superfluous to observe, that the intellect is without balance, and of a very humble character. Correctly speaking, it is not the human intellect. The being possessing it is altogether animal, and, in many respects, inferior to some of those that belong to what are denominated the lower orders of creation. Hence, from a consciousness of their own superiority, the elephant and the dog often undertake the guardianship of children, and discharge the duties of their office, not only faithfully, but with great sagacity. It will appear hereafter that the entire catalogue of human vices and crimes, for the prevention and suppression of which laws are enacted, arises from the inordinate strength, and excessive indulgence of five of the propensities that have just been specified. It is, therefore, in a very particular manner, by the training and due regulation of these, that the moral department of man is to be improved, and society freed from profligacy and crime. The means of so curbing and regulating the propensities, as to establish the requisite balance of intellect, shall constitute hereafter a topic of discussion.

That the elements of this discussion may be the better prepared, the more easily understood, and the more correctly appreciated, it is necessary to observe, that, at a very early period of human life, two other cerebral organs, not belonging to the animal department, are considerably developed. These are Cautiousness, the foundation of fear; and Imitativeness, which imparts the disposition to follow example; or, which amounts to the same thing, to imitate action, and even modes of thinking.

The portions of the brain that in the progress of growth, are next developed, and matured for action, belong to the intellectual department, and are denominated the knowing organs. The faculties appertaining to