The principles of physiology applied to the preservation of health and to the improvement of physical and mental education / by Andrew Combe.

  • Combe, Andrew, 1797-1847.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of physiology applied to the preservation of health and to the improvement of physical and mental education / by Andrew Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    them all, not only in activity, but in the useful result of our services. (P. 2.) The new captain was a man who knew his profession, and possessed that decision of character which makes its weight instinctively felt. Between certain disgrace and punishment to offenders, and high favour to those who took pains to do right, the ship was speedily brought into proper trim. Everything now seemed alive, and moved smartly ; no time ran to waste; even the indolent and the ill-disposed found their best interest in working well. The decks became cleaner than they had ever been before; the people dressed themselves more tidily; the sails looked better furled; the yards better squared; the complaints of in- atterdion and drunkenness grew daily less frequent, and an air of general hap- piness, as well as new-horn energy, spread itself over the whole ship. . . . So magical, indeed, was the effect of this change, that I dare swear we should then have engaged and beaten an enemy whom it might not have been considered by any means pru- dent to have brought to action a week before. (P. 17.) Captain Hall gives other examples of the same principle, and remarks that, in this way, the simple fact of Nelson joining the fleet off Trafalgar, was almost equivalent to double man- ning every ship in the line. The explanation which he gives of the mysterious agency by which the genius of a commanding ofiicer im- parts a portion of its spirit to every one under his orders, is perfectly philosophical. When a person of talents is placed under an able commander, he feels confident that nothing he does will be passed without notice, and conse- quently that his exertions must tell to his advantage, exactly in propor- tion as their utility makes itself felt. This consciousness will, of course, stimulate him to fresh endeavours to excel ; and, from thus feeling sure that his conduct is duly appreciated, he has an immediate motive to bring his whole strength into play,—an exercise which must overproduce good results. But suppose the case differently put, and let the superior in station be the inferior in abilities or experience, or not so zealous in the execution of his duty as the men he commands: the situation of the inferior is now far from being so independent, or so well calculated to draw forth his powers, as it was in the first case. The subordinate officer has no longer the same animating stimulus to exer- tion ; for, his labours being generally unnoticed, or their results unappre- ciated, he is left without much en- couragement to proceed in fresh en- deavours to excel; while his faculties, instead of improving through generous exercise, are often deteriorated hy the lan- guid manner in which they are brought into play.'' (P. 6.) Captain Hall justly observes, that the influence of the commander on men of moderate talents is still more striking, as they stand more in need of a stimulus to duty. If a com- mander has skill enough to enlist the sympathies of those placed under his orders, they will feel insensibly drawn on to make common cause with him, and will afterwards exert themselves strenuously to maintain that degree of importance derived from this im- plied companionship in ability, which they could hardly hope to reach single- handed. . . . The invariable effect of these efforts is to improve the char- acter. Such training will certainly not make a clever man out of a stupid one; but it may often render a dis- contented or useless man of service to himself and the state; and, instead of his continuing a wretched and hope- less being, may convert him into one who is happy and confident of suc- cess. I suspect, however, that no one who has not been an eye-witness of the condition of a ship under the command of an ignorant, trifling, or otherwise inefficient captain, can have any notion of the mischievous effects of his misrule, or rather of his no rule. Perhaps, in the long run, almost every kind of consistent severity is prefer-