When we seek for the distinguishing type of the human being--the type for which the slow and careful elaboration of parts is necessary--we find it in the mental, not in the physical, capacity of man. Physical power and the perfection of physical instincts are attained by the lower animals in a higher degree than by man. It is only when we observe the uses and education of which the physical powers are susceptible, and the development of which the mental powers are capable, that we perceive the immense superiority of the human race, and recognise the type--viz., the true nature of man, towards the attainment of which all the elaborate processes of growth are directed. The more carefully we examine the intellectual growth of the lower animals, tracing the reflex movements and instinctive actions of the invertebrata, through the intelligent mental operations of the dog or the elephant, the more clearly we perceive the distinguishing type of Man. This type is that union of truth and good which we name Reason. Reason is the clear perception of the true relation of things, and the love of their harmonious relations. It includes judgment, conscience--all the higher intellectual and moral qualities. Reason, with the Will to execute its dictates, is the distinguishing type of man. It is towards this end that his faculties tend; in this consists his peculiarity, his charter of existence. Any failure to reach this end, is as much an arrest of development as is a case of spina bifida, or the imperfect closure of the heart’s ventricles. We cannot judge of the Nature of man, without the clear recognition of this distinctive type, and it is impossible to establish sound methods of education, without constantly keeping in view, both the true nature of man and the steps by which it must be reached. These steps--_i.e._, the method by which man grows towards his distinctive type in creation--constitute the fundamental question in the present inquiry. One distinguishing feature of human growth is its comparative slowness. No animal is so helpless during its infancy, none remains so long in a state of complete dependence on its parents. During the first few years, the child is quite unable either to procure its own food, or to keep itself from accidents, and it attains neither its complete bodily nor mental development, until it is over twenty years of age. We find this slow growth of faculties to be an essential condition of their excellence. It is observed to be a law of organized existence that the higher the degree of development to be reached, the slower are the processes through which it is attained, and the longer is its period of dependence on parental aid.