ESSAYS ON PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. INTRODUCTION. On Genius and on the Choice of a Profession. "THOSE, who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not "often obtained upon easier terms. But to the "particular species of excellence men are directed, "not by an ascendant planet, or predominant "humour, but by the first book which they read, some early conversation which they heard, or "some accident which excited ardour and emu"lation." This opinion was not one of those, which Dr. Johnson defended in conversation merely for the sake of victory, but one by which he abided on reflection, and which he seems anxious to inculcate in his writings: not content with expressing it thus decidedly in his Life of B Pope, he repeats it in still stronger terms in the 66 "In the window of his mother's room lay Spencer's Fairy Queen, in which Cowley took very early delight to read, till by feeling the "charms of verse, he became, as he relates, ir"recoverably a poet. Such are the accidents, "which, sometimes remembered, and perhaps "sometimes forgotten, produce that particular "designation of mind and propensity for some "certain science or employment, which is com"monly called genius. The true genius is a mind "of large general powers, accidentally determined "to some particular direction." Whether the circumstances which are likely to form the taste occur by chance, or result from design, the effect on the mind would probably be similar. If, instead of Cowley's chancing to find the Fairy Queen on the window-seat of his mother's room, it had been put into his hands by his mother or any of his friends, it would have given him the same pleasure, and would have equally tended to prepossess him in favour of poetry. If such slight circumstances in childhood have decided youth to a particular pursuit, with how much more certainty might we expect that education, which is a continued series of motives directed to one purpose, should form the taste and habits to any employment or profession? If it were an established fact, that there really exists such a thing as natural genius, parents would do wisely to wait till its indications appear, and they should let their children choose their own profes sions, in consequence of their predominating inelinations. But if there be any doubt of the actual exist ence of peculiar genius, and if, on the contrary, there is reason to believe, that all the faculties of the mind can be directed by circumstances to any particular object, prudent parents would de cide as early as possible what the professions of their children are to be, and would trust securely to the power of education. In this point of view it becomes necessary to examine the long-contested question concerning genius, not merely as a subject of curious speculation, but of immediate practical utility. That all human beings are naturally equal in their capacities, is not asserted by any, even of those authors who deny the existence of peculiar genius; a difference in the power of attention, arising from the vivacity of the perceptions of pleasure or pain, and a difference in the acuteness or strength of the organs of the senses, must be admitted. Some children have peculiar delicacy of ear; others superior quickness and accuracy of eye; these are most likely, as far as natural disposition is concerned, to succeed as painters, those as musicians. The child who has well-formed limbs, and great bodily agility, is better calculated This to be a dancer, than one of a heavy, clumsy make, and of a dull spirit; and that some young people, from their naturally robust constitutions, are better suited than others of feeble health, to endure the fatigue of active professions, no reasonable person will deny. It is also admitted, that, even at an early age, some children show more memory, and some more imagination, than others. difference is frequently attributed to a superiority or inferiority in particular organs of the mind. It has been allowed by some French anatomists, that different systems of nerves have been traced to distinct parts of the medullary substance of the brain; thus countenancing the belief, that the brain itself has different organs, appropriate to the different faculties of the understanding. Other persons deny the existence of such separate organs, and attribute all these intellectual varieties to an original difference in the vivacity of the perceptions of pleasure and pain. It is scarcely possible, and fortunately it is immaterial to our present business, to decide between them. To whichever cause this original difference be ascribed, it is by no means sufficient to account for the amazing superiority, or inferiority, which appears between the capacity of one individual and another, after education is completed. Infant prodigies are exceptions: there are dwarfs and giants in the intellectual as in the material world; but their stature never rises or descends to that of the inhabitants of Brobdignag, or Lilliput. Here is nothing that should prevent a wise parent from determining early on the profession of his child; for call it natural vivacity, call it natural genius, the predisposition is of so inconsiderable an amount, that it cannot reasonably influence the decision. But the popular partisans of natural genius go far beyond all these nice metaphysicians, and boldly assert, that there is a natural predominant propensity in the mind for certain pursuits, arising from natural superiority in some particular faculty of the understanding. The statements of these partizans are so vague, that it is impossible to follow them. The inaccuracy of common biography conspires with the ignorance of facts to increase the difficulty, and to support this species of empiricism. Biographers often begin by informing the world, that unfortunately nothing is known of the early education of the subjects of their memoirs; but that these eminent persons followed the bent of their mind, or the impulse of their genius; that this was done in opposition to the wishes of friends, by whom they had been destined to a line of life unsuited to their natural turn. Sometimes we are told, that the peculiar genius did not break out till late in life, and would never perhaps have been discovered, but for certain happy accidents; that. the persons in question had not been distinguished. |