Part 1 (1/2)
Practical Essays.
by Alexander Bain.
PREFACE.
The present volume is in great part a reprint of articles contributed to Reviews. The princ.i.p.al bond of union among them is their practical character. Beyond that, there is little to connect them apart from the individuality of the author and the range of his studies.
That there is a certain amount of novelty in the various suggestions here embodied, will be admitted on the most cursory perusal. The farther question of their worth is necessarily left open.
The first two essays are applications of the laws of mind to some prevailing Errors.
The next two have an educational bearing: the one is on the subjects proper for Compet.i.tive Examinations; the other, on the present position of the much vexed Cla.s.sical controversy.
The fifth considers the range of Philosophical or Metaphysical Study, and the mode of conducting this study in Debating Societies.
The sixth contains a retrospect of the growth of the Universities, with more especial reference to those of Scotland; and also a discussion of the University Ideal, as something more than professional teaching.
The seventh is a chapter omitted from the author's ”Science of Education”; it is mainly devoted to the methods of self-education by means of books. The situation thus a.s.sumed has peculiarities that admit of being handled apart from the general theory of Education.
The eighth contends for the extension of liberty of thought, as regards Sectarian Creeds and Subscription to Articles. The total emanc.i.p.ation of the clerical body from the thraldom of subscription, is here advocated without reservation.
The concluding essay discusses the Procedure of Deliberative Bodies. Its novelty lies chiefly in proposing to carry out, more thoroughly than has yet been done, a few devices already familiar. But for an extraordinary reluctance in all quarters to adapt simple and obvious remedies to a growing evil, the article need never have appeared. It so happens, that the case princ.i.p.ally before the public mind at present, is the deadlock in the House of Commons; yet, had that stood alone, the author would not have ventured to meddle with the subject. The difficulty, however, is widely felt: and the principles here put forward are perfectly general; being applicable wherever deliberative bodies are numerously const.i.tuted and heavily laden with business.
ABERDEEN, _March_, 1884.
I.
COMMON ERRORS ON THE MIND.[1]
On the prevailing errors on the mind, proposed to be considered in this paper, some relate to the Feelings, others to the Will.
In regard to Mind as a whole, there are still to be found among us some remnants of a mistake, once universally prevalent and deeply rooted, namely, the opinion that mind is not only a different fact from body--which is true, and a vital and fundamental truth--but is to a greater or less extent independent of the body. In former times, the remark seldom occurred to any one, unless obtruded by some extreme instance, that to work the mind is also to work a number of bodily organs; that not a feeling can arise, not a thought can pa.s.s, without a set of concurring bodily processes. At the present day, however, this doctrine is very generally preached by men of science. The improved treatment of the insane has been one consequence of its reception. The husbanding of mental power, through a bodily _regime_, is a no less important application. Instead of supposing that mind is something indefinite, elastic, inexhaustible,--a sort of perpetual motion, or magician's bottle, all expenditure, and no supply,--we now find that every single throb of pleasure, every smart of pain, every purpose, thought, argument, imagination, must have its fixed quota of oxygen, carbon, and other materials, combined and transformed in certain physical organs. And, as the possible extent of physical transformation in each person's framework is limited in amount, the forces resulting cannot be directed to one purpose without being lost for other purposes.
If an extra share pa.s.ses to the muscles, there is less for the nerves; if the cerebral functions are pushed to excess, other functions have to be correspondingly abated. In several of the prevailing opinions about to be criticised, failure to recognise this cardinal truth is the prime source of mistake.
To begin with the FEELINGS.
I. We shall first consider an advice or prescription repeatedly put forth, not merely by the unthinking ma.s.s, but by men of high repute: it is, that with a view to happiness, to virtue, and to the accomplishment of great designs, we should all be cheerful, light-hearted, gay.
I quote a pa.s.sage from the writings of one of the Apostolic Fathers, the Pastor of Hermas, as given in Dr. Donaldson's abstract:--
”Command tenth affirms that sadness is the sister of doubt, mistrust, and wrath; that it is worse than all other spirits, and grieves the Holy Spirit. It is therefore to be completely driven away, and, instead of it, we are to put on cheerfulness, which is pleasing to G.o.d. 'Every cheerful man works well, and always thinks those things which are good, and despises sadness. The sad man, on the other hand, is always bad.'”[2]
[FALLACY OF PRESCRIBING CHEERFULNESS.]
Dugald Stewart inculcates Good-humour as a means of happiness and virtue; his language implying that the quality is one within our power to appropriate.
In Mr. Smiles's work ent.i.tled ”Self-Help,” we find an a.n.a.logous strain of remarks:--