Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

Is Both Manifest _À Priori_, And Proved _À

Posteriori_, By The   Experience Of    Every One. Every One Knows, For

Instance, That The   Digestion Of    A Heavy Meal Makes Such A Demand On The

System As To Produce Lassitude Of    Mind And Body, Frequently Ending In

Sleep. Every One Knows, Too, That Excess Of    Bodily Exercise Diminishes

The Power Of    Thought--That The   Temporary Prostration Following Any

Sudden Exertion, Or The   Fatigue Produced By A Thirty Miles' Walk, Is

Accompanied By A Disinclination To Mental Effort; That, After A Month's

Pedestrian Tour, The   Mental Inertia Is Such That Some Days Are Required

To Overcome It; And That In Peasants Who Spend Their Lives In Muscular

Labour The   Activity Of    Mind Is Very Small. Again, It Is A Familiar Truth

That During Those Fits Of    Rapid Growth Which Sometimes Occur In

Childhood, The   Great Abstraction Of    Energy Is Shown In An Attendant

Prostration, Bodily And Mental. Once More, The   Facts That Violent

Muscular Exertion After Eating, Will Stop Digestion; And That Children

Who Are Early Put To Hard Labour Become Stunted; Similarly Exhibit The

Antagonism--Similarly Imply That Excess Of    Activity In One Direction

Involves Deficiency Of    It In Other Directions. Now, The   Law Which Is

Thus Manifest In Extreme Cases, Holds In All Cases. These Injurious

Abstractions Of    Energy As Certainly Take Place When The   Undue Demands

Are Slight And Constant, As When They Are Great And Sudden. Hence, If

During Youth The   Expenditure In Mental Labour Exceeds That Which Nature

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Has Provided For; The   Expenditure For Other Purposes Falls Below What It

Should Have Been; And Evils Of    One Kind Or Other Are Inevitably

Entailed. Let Us Briefly Consider These Evils.

 

 

 

Supposing The   Over-Activity Of    Brain To Exceed The   Normal Activity Only

In A Moderate Degree, There Will Be Nothing More Than Some Slight

Reaction On The   Development Of    The   Body: The   Stature Falling A Little

Below That Which It Would Else Have Reached; Or The   Bulk Being Less Than

It Would Have Been; Or The   Quality Of    Tissue Not Being So Good. One Or

More Of    These Effects Must Necessarily Occur. The   Extra Quantity Of

Blood Supplied To The   Brain During Mental Exertion, And During The

Subsequent Period In Which The   Waste Of    Cerebral Substance Is Being Made

Good, Is Blood That Would Else Have Been Circulating Through The   Limbs

And Viscera; And The   Growth Or Repair For Which That Blood Would Have

Supplied Materials, Is Lost. The   Physical Reaction Being Certain, The

Question Is, Whether The   Gain Resulting From The   Extra Culture Is

Equivalent To The   Loss?--Whether Defect Of    Bodily Growth, Or The   Want Of

That Structural Perfection Which Gives Vigour And Endurance, Is

Compensated By The   Additional Knowledge Acquired?

 

 

 

When The   Excess Of    Mental Exertion Is Greater, There Follow Results Far

More Serious; Telling Not Only Against Bodily Perfection, But Against

The Perfection Of    The   Brain Itself. It Is A Physiological Law, First

Pointed Out By M. Isidore St. Hilaire, And To Which Attention Has Been

Drawn By Mr. Lewes In His Essay On "Dwarfs And Giants," That There Is An

Antagonism Between _Growth_ And _Development_. By Growth, As Used In

This Antithetical Sense, Is To Be Understood _Increase Of    Size_; By

Development, _Increase Of    Structure_. And The   Law Is, That Great

Activity In Either Of    These Processes Involves Retardation Or Arrest Of

The Other. A Familiar Example Is Furnished By The   Cases Of    The

Caterpillar And The   Chrysalis. In The   Caterpillar There Is Extremely

Rapid Augmentation Of    Bulk; But The   Structure Is Scarcely At All More

Complex When The   Caterpillar Is Full-Grown Than When It Is Small. In The

Chrysalis The   Bulk Does Not Increase; On The   Contrary, Weight Is Lost

During This Stage Of    The   Creature's Life; But The   Elaboration Of    A More

Complex Structure Goes On With Great Activity. The   Antagonism, Here So

Clear, Is Less Traceable In Higher Creatures, Because The   Two Processes

Are Carried On Together. But We See It Pretty Well Illustrated Among

Ourselves When We Contrast The   Sexes. A Girl Develops In Body And Mind

Rapidly, And Ceases To Grow Comparatively Early. A Boy's Bodily And

Mental Development Is Slower, And His Growth Greater. At The   Age When

The One Is Mature, Finished, And Having All Faculties In Full Play, The

Other, Whose Vital Energies Have Been More Directed Towards Increase Of

Size, Is Relatively Incomplete In Structure; And Shows It In A

Comparative Awkwardness, Bodily And Mental. Now This Law Is True Of    Each

Separate Part Of    The   Organism, As Well As Of    The   Whole. The   Abnormally

Rapid Advance Of    Any Organ In Respect Of    Structure, Involves Premature

Arrest Of    Its Growth; And This Happens With The   Organ Of    The   Mind As

Certainly As With Any Other Organ. The   Brain, Which During Early Years

Is Relatively Large In Mass But Imperfect In Structure, Will, If

Required To Perform Its Functions With Undue Activity, Undergo A

Structural Advance Greater Than Is Appropriate To Its Age; But The

Ultimate Effect Will Be A Falling Short Of    The   Size And Power That Would

Else Have Been Attained. And This Is A Part-Cause--Probably The   Chief

Cause--Why Precocious Children, And Youths Who Up To A Certain Time Were

Carrying All Before Them, So Often Stop Short And Disappoint The   High

Hopes Of    Their Parents.

 

 

 

But These Results Of    Over-Education, Disastrous As They Are, Are Perhaps

Less Disastrous Than The   Effects Produced On The   Health--The Undermined

Constitution, The   Enfeebled Energies, The   Morbid Feelings. Recent

Discoveries In Physiology Have Shown How Immense Is The   Influence Of    The

Brain Over The   Functions Of    The   Body. Digestion, Circulation, And

Through These All Other Organic Processes, Are Profoundly Affected By

Cerebral Excitement. Whoever Has Seen Repeated, As We Have, The

Experiment First Performed By Weber, Showing The   Consequence Of

Irritating The   _Vagus_ Nerve, Which Connects The   Brain With The

Viscera--Whoever Has Seen The   Action Of    The   Heart Suddenly Arrested By

Irritating This Nerve; Slowly Recommencing When The   Irritation Is

Suspended; And Again Arrested The   Moment It Is Renewed; Will Have A

Vivid Conception Of    The   Depressing Influence Which An Over-Wrought Brain

Exercises On The   Body. The   Effects Thus Physiologically Explained, Are

Indeed Exemplified In Ordinary Experience. There Is No One But Has Felt

The Palpitation Accompanying Hope, Fear, Anger, Joy--No One But Has

Observed How Laboured Becomes The   Action Of    The   Heart When These

Feelings Are Violent. And Though There Are Many Who Have Never Suffered

That Extreme Emotional Excitement Which Is Followed By Arrest Of    The

Heart's Action And Fainting; Yet Every One Knows These To Be Cause And

Effect. It Is A Familiar Fact, Too, That Disturbance Of    The   Stomach

Results From Mental Excitement Exceeding A Certain Intensity. Loss Of

Appetite Is A Common Consequence Alike Of    Very Pleasurable And Very

Painful States Of    Mind. When The   Event Producing A Pleasurable Or

Painful State Of    Mind Occurs Shortly After A Meal, It Not Unfrequently

Happens Either That The   Stomach Rejects What Has Been Eaten, Or Digests

It With Great Difficulty And Under Protest. And As Every One Who Taxes

His Brain Much Can Testify, Even Purely Intellectual Action Will, When

Excessive, Produce Analogous Effects. Now The   Relation Between Brain And

Body Which Is So Manifest In These Extreme Cases, Holds Equally In

Ordinary, Less-Marked Cases. Just As These Violent But Temporary

Cerebral Excitements Produce Violent But Temporary Disturbances Of    The

Viscera; So Do The   Less Violent But Chronic Cerebral Excitements Produce

Less Violent But Chronic Visceral Disturbances. This Is Not Simply An

Inference:--It Is A Truth To Which Every Medical Man Can Bear Witness;

And It Is One To Which A Long And Sad Experience Enables Us To Give

Personal Testimony. Various Degrees And Forms Of    Bodily Derangement,

Often Taking Years Of    Enforced Idleness To Set Partially Right, Result

From This Prolonged Over-Exertion Of    Mind. Sometimes The   Heart Is

Chiefly Affected: Habitual Palpitations; A Pulse Much Enfeebled; And

Very Generally A Diminution In The   Number Of    Beats From Seventy-Two To

Sixty, Or Even Fewer. Sometimes The   Conspicuous Disorder Is Of    The

Stomach: A Dyspepsia Which Makes Life A Burden, And Is Amenable To No

Remedy But Time. In Many Cases Both Heart And Stomach Are Implicated.

Mostly The   Sleep Is Short And Broken. And Very Generally There Is More

Or Less Mental Depression.

 

 

 

Consider, Then, How Great Must Be The   Damage Inflicted By Undue Mental

Excitement On Children And Youths. More Or Less Of    This Constitutional

Disturbance Will Inevitably Follow An Exertion Of    Brain Beyond The

Normal Amount; And When Not So Excessive As To Produce Absolute Illness,

Is Sure To Entail A Slowly Accumulating Degeneracy Of    _Physique_. With A

Small And Fastidious Appetite, An Imperfect Digestion, And An Enfeebled

Circulation, How Can The   Developing Body Flourish? The   Due Performance

Of Every Vital Process Depends On An Adequate Supply Of    Good Blood.

Without Enough Good Blood, No Gland Can Secrete Properly, No Viscus Can

Fully Discharge Its Office. Without Enough Good Blood, No Nerve, Muscle,

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Membrane, Or Other Tissue Can Be Efficiently Repaired. Without Enough

Good Blood, Growth Will Neither Be Sound Nor Sufficient. Judge, Then,

How Bad Must Be The   Consequences When To A Growing Body The   Weakened

Stomach Supplies Blood That Is Deficient In Quantity And Poor In

Quality; While The   Debilitated Heart Propels This Poor And Scanty Blood

With Unnatural Slowness.

 

 

 

And If, As All Who Investigate The   Matter Must Admit, Physical

Degeneracy Is A Consequence Of    Excessive Study, How Grave Is The

Condemnation To Be Passed On This Cramming-System Above Exemplified. It

Is A Terrible Mistake, From Whatever Point Of    View Regarded. It Is A

Mistake In So Far As The   Mere Acquirement Of    Knowledge Is Concerned. For

The Mind, Like The   Body, Cannot Assimilate Beyond A Certain Rate; And If

You Ply It With Facts Faster Than It Can Assimilate Them, They Are Soon

Rejected Again: Instead Of    Being Built Into The   Intellectual Fabric,

They Fall Out Of    Recollection After The   Passing Of    The   Examination For

Which They Were Got Up. It Is A Mistake, Too, Because It Tends To Make

Study Distasteful. Either Through The   Painful Associations Produced By

Ceaseless Mental Toil, Or Through The   Abnormal State Of    Brain It Leaves

Behind, It Often Generates An Aversion To Books; And, Instead Of    That

Subsequent Self-Culture Induced By Rational Education, There Comes

Continued Retrogression. It Is A Mistake, Also, Inasmuch As It Assumes

That The   Acquisition Of    Knowledge Is Everything; And Forgets That A Much

More Important Thing Is The   Organisation Of    Knowledge, For Which Time

And Spontaneous Thinking Are Requisite. As Humboldt Remarks Respecting

The Progress Of    Intelligence In General, That "The Interpretation Of

Nature Is Obscured When The   Description Languishes Under Too Great An

Accumulation Of    Insulated Facts;" So, It May Be Remarked Respecting The

Progress Of    Individual Intelligence, That The   Mind Is Over-Burdened And

Hampered By An Excess Of    Ill-Digested Information. It Is Not The

Knowledge Stored Up As Intellectual Fat Which Is Of    Value; But That

Which Is Turned Into Intellectual Muscle. The   Mistake Goes Still Deeper

However. Even Were The   System Good As Producing Intellectual Efficiency,

Which It Is Not, It Would Still Be Bad, Because, As We Have Shown, It Is

Fatal To That Vigour Of    _Physique_ Needful To Make Intellectual Training

Available In The   Struggle Of    Life. Those Who, In Eagerness To Cultivate

Their Pupils' Minds, Are Reckless Of    Their Bodies, Do Not Remember That

Success In The   World Depends More On Energy Than On Information; And

That A Policy Which In Cramming