Recent Discussions Concerning Liberal Education [pp. 585-616]

1867.] Liberal E~ucation. 587
ferent sides of the subject, which are set forth with various
power and skill in the volumes and pamphlets above mentioned.
The massive volume of Prof. Youmans, plausible in its confident pretensions, and the vast weight of its alleged authorities;
the far abler argument of Dr. Bigelow against the present
prominence of classical study in liberal education; the still
abler argument of J. S. Mill on the other side, and in behalf of
a well-balanced, rounded culture, that have appeared since our
former article, have given a progress, a public interest, and a
many-sided character to the discussion, which we cannot properly overlook or ignore.
The first of these volumes, entitled the "Culture demanded
by Modern Life," is a compilation of Essays, Lectures, and
fragmentary extracts from various eminent scientists and educators, British and American, with introductory and concluding
articles by the editor, Prof. Youmans. So far as the editor's
own deliverances are concerned, they are bold even to audacity
in the sweeping revolutions they propose. They go the full
length of extirpating classical studies from liberal education,
attenuating the mathematical course, and filling the vacuum
with studies in physical science. lle founds the chief argu.
ment for this revolution on Materialism, the advocacy of which
forms the lending feature alike of his introductory and his
concluding essays, even more than the educational innovations
which he proposes to build upon it. It is quite aside of our
present purpose to discuss Materialism. We discover nothing
new in Prof. Youmans' arguments to establish this grovelling
the~ory. lle simply adduces some of the familiar facts which
evince the powerful reciprocal influence of mind and body, and
the special implication of tbe0 various forms of mental action
with affections of the nervous and cerebral organisms. Some
facts of this sort, which have long been among the commonplaces, not only of science, but of ordinary intelligence and
information, he parades with all the emphasis and pomp of new
discoveries. lle complains, that, in the past, philosophers have
studied the mind as if it were an entity distinct from the body,
and hence ha&e failed to reach any valuable results. lle even
tortures Sir William llamilton's rhetorical extravaganza, when
the latter quotes Lessing's famous avowal of a preference for