Inaugural address delivered at the opening of Morrison College, Lexington, Kentucky : November 4th, 1833 / by the Rev. Benjamin O. Peers.

  • Peers, Benjamin O. (Benjamin Orrs), 1800-1842.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inaugural address delivered at the opening of Morrison College, Lexington, Kentucky : November 4th, 1833 / by the Rev. Benjamin O. Peers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    L 8] just as independent of our will, as those of mutter. We can no more control nor determine the influence which certain causes and modes of treatment shall have upon the mind, than we can make it depend upon our inclination, whether water shall evaporate or freeze on the application of caloric. Sup- posing then, we proceed in the work of cultivating the mind, ignorant of its laws; success if attained at all, would be accidental; and on the contrary, if we act in defiance of these laws, success would be miraculous. The Baconian maxim therefore, that to conquer nature we must obey her laws, is as true of mind as of matter; and hence the inva- riable criterion by which the instructor should be guided in judging of all expedients proposed for the cultivation of mind is, their accommodation, or want of accommodation to its laws. Here it may not be inappropriate to remark, that the science of education is to a surprising degree, ahead of the art. Expressions derived from orthodox theories have al- most degenerated into cant. There is scarcely an article written, or a conversation held upon the subject, which does not enumerate correctly the defects of education; telling us that the ordinary practice is almost exclusively adapted to the cultivation of memory, whereas the real object of educa- tion is to form the character; to engraft good habits; to quali- fy an individual to think, investigate, and reason for himself. But Condillac told us this near two centuries ago, and na- ture and common sense proclaimed it long before the days of Condillac; and yet how tardy has been the application of acknowledged truth to the correction of acknowledged er- rors. This being the case, the province for improvement lies in devising practical expedients adapted to principles admitted to be fundamental; and the great retarding cause has been, and still continues to be, the fixing upon these in obedience to custom; in making usage, and not the philoso- phy of human nature, the controling guide in their arrange- ment. A system of education consisting of methods deduced from the well known laws of mind, would with reference to its