AMERICAN

ANNALS OF EDUCATION

AND INSTRUCTION.

JANUARY, 1834.

VISIBLE ILLUSTRATION OF BENEVOLENCE. (With a view of the New England Asylum for the Blind.) THERE is a depth, and strength, in the impressions produced upon the mind through the medium of the eye, which surpasses all that is discovered in the influence of the other senses. it is, we know not that any have pretended to explain. But the fact, we believe, none have doubted; and on this principle have been founded the multiplied methods of visible illustration, adopted in the instruction of children.

The

Why

But the truth of the principle is not less certain in adult age. great public works which have traced the name of Napoleon in the memory of our race, in characters which centuries cannot obliterate, inspire more awe and admiration, than volumes of history, or scores of panegyrics. The traveller, who has seen the Bridge of Jena or the Column of the Place Vendome, or the Road of Mount Simplon, has perceptions, and sensations, if I may so speak, of the greatness and energy of the mind that conceived these works, which can never be known by those who only read of them.

The question has occurred to us - Why may we not employ this principle to aid the cause of benevolence? We never pass the noble edifice presented to the Institution for the Blind, once the abode of wealth and luxury and now devoted to the protection and redemption of the unfortunate, without an involuntary act of homage to the individual who conceived and executed this noble act of beneficence-without an earnest wish,

6

Madden on the Infirmities of Genius.

[Jan.

tention; and the same neglect which produces the horrors' in a genius, may render any, but an idiot, a wretched dyspeptic.

The interest of this subject, and the work before us, is, therefore, by no means confined to the literary world. All who are ever 'liable to thought,' or who are capable of deep feeling, are concerned. In this day of intense activity, the politician, and the man of business, the zealous Christian, and the active doer of good, the advocates of improvement and reform, all need to understand the influence of the mind upon the body, and the dangers of excessive activity even in the noblest and most important sphere of hurran efforts. To none, perhaps, is this subject more important, than to parents and teachers, who feel the high responsibility, and the immense difficulty of their task; and to no others can we hope to gain access. We have long felt it desirable to say something, which should aid them in preserving and directing their own energy, and in avoiding that ruin of health, and that abridgment of life, which have too often been the result of faithful efforts in education. The work before us is an opportune aid; but we are painfully hurried on by the recollection, that the mere introduction of the subject, has consumed most of the stolen time, and the almost exhausted power of attention, which they have to devote to us.

Madden is a traveller, and a man of science. In the work before us he has described the infirmities of studious men, as presented in the examples of some of the most eminent authors, and traced the connection between the defects of the mind, and the diseases of the body.

The first question which suggests itself on this subject, is the effect of literary pursuits on the duration of life, and in order to throw some light on this subject, Mr Madden has formed tables of the longevity of twenty eminent men in each of the various walks of literature. A summary of the whole presents the following aggregate number of years for each class, and the average for each individual of the class.

When we recollect that these are among the most laborious and voluminous authors, and that their average age is 66, we think it cannot be inferred that literary labor is, on the whole, more unfavorable to longevity, than any other of the sedentary occupations, in our artificial state of society.