Letter. 18 - Knowledge and Notions. Results of each

Summary

H. G. A. to H. M.

It appears to me that men for the most part have no clear notion of the nature of science, or of the laws of action and thought; but nature in general, and the nature of man in particular, seems to them to be a species of conjuring. But the true physiologist studies the laws of matter, and the whole process of development, disentangling himself from all spiritual and metaphysical dogma, and will take into consideration all the circumstances which influence the man from childhood to the grave. He will observe the conditions of the parents before the child is born, or even conceived; and back through many generations, noting those conditions and tendencies which more particularly descend, and are impressed on the constitution, even to the third and fourth generation. He will observe the condition of the mother during the period of gestation, and the influences by which she has been surrounded; and after the child is born, he will watch the treatment of the infant, and the gradual development of its instincts and powers, and the acquiring of names to things, which Hobbes considers to be the basis of the understanding. He will note how the child is trained to good or to evil how its passions are stimulated and directed; and will observe how it is excited to anger and vengeance, often at a very early period, and even against inanimate objects; and whether it be pampered and trained to vanity and pride, concealment, terror, superstition, selfishness, and falsehood; what it acquires by the force of example, and what is owing to its peculiar constitution; how evil circumstances will subdue a good tendency, and how a good natural disposition will triumph over evil influences.