The Massachusetts teacher Volume 3 - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850 Excerpt: ...and perfect expression; and the more perfect the representation is the more definite will be the ideas conveyed, and the more exact will be the mental processes by which these signs of thought are comprehended. The classical languages are doubtless the most perfect that have ever been written or spoken; they stand forth among the monuments of the past, the imperishable embodiment of the genius and culture of ages. It follows, therefore, that the study of these perfect forms of thought will mould the mind of the student to habits of the same exactness. It is no objection to this study, that it strengthens the memory more perfectly than any other exercise; yet this is not the only, or the most important result. It begins with the memory of mere words; but every word becomes a living germ, implanting in the mind a new idea, or awakening a new relation of thought, From the knowledge of words, the student proceeds to the construction and analysis of sentences and the more complicated forms of connected discourse, weighing carefully each word in itself, and in its associated relations, with every change and peculiarity of form and arrangement, until the thought of the author, so far as language has expressed it, is fully possessed. This constant balancing of the nice distinctions which constitute the perfection of the language, assigning to each its real and relative significance, is equally salutary as a means of accuracy and of discipline. The result of this process is scarcely less authoritative than a pure demonstration; the discipline of mind is much more perfect. In the one case, we advance by successive intuitions, excluding at each step every possibility of doubt until the conclusion is attained; in the other, we proceed by a more complicated course, invo...