A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of EducationGall, James
Philosophy
A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of Education
Gall, James
Education
Few we believe will doubt the general accuracy of the above results in
the cases supposed;--but some may perhaps question, whether they really
do arise from the interference of these two antagonist principles during
the experiment. To shew that this is the real cause of the distress
felt, and the weakness and prostration of mind produced during it, we
have only to institute another experiment which is exactly parallel. Let
us suppose the same person, and for the same limited period, ushered
into the traveller's room in a well frequented hotel, and let us also
suppose, that the very same demand is made imperative, that he shall
observe, and again detail when he retires, all that he sees. Let us also
suppose, that the number of persons here is equally great, and that
their employments are all equally diversified, but that each is familiar
to him; and we will at once see that the difficulty of the task is
really as nothing. A child could accomplish it. His eye would be able to
group the whole in an instant, without effort, and without fatigue. If
he saw one party at supper, another at tea, another group at cards, and
others amusing themselves at draughts and backgammon; one minute instead
of five, would be quite enough to make him master of the whole. On
retiring, he would be able to tell the employment of every group in the
room; and if any of his acquaintances had made part of the number, he
would be able to tell who they were, where they were sitting, and how
they were occupied. In doing all this he would find no difficulty; and
yet the knowledge he has received is entirely new, and so extensive,
that it would take at least ten fold more time to rehearse it, than it
took to acquire it. The entire scene also would be permanently imprinted
by the imagination upon the memory; and the whole, or any part of it,
could be recalled, and reviewed, and rehearsed, at any future period.
Here then are two cases, precisely similar in their nature, and
undertaken by the very same person, where the results are widely
different; and we now see, that the difference arises entirely from the
principle of individuation having prepared the way in the one case,
while it was not allowed to operate in the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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