Nathan Allen

“ In the selection and arrangement of studies very little attention is paid to the peculiar nature or operations of the various faculties of the mind, or the distinct laws that govern their development and uses. For illustration, instead of educing, drawing out and training, all the mental faculties in their natural order and in harmony, each in proportion to its nature or importance, the memory is almost the only faculty appealed to in every stage of education; and this is so crammed and so stuffed that frequently but little of the knowledge obtained can be used advantageously. ”

“ If man is created a free moral agent, accountable for all his acts, the law providing for the propagating of the species should certainly be of such a character that he can clearly understand its nature and sanctions. ”

“ If this change in mental development applied only to an individual here and there, its effects on society would not be so marked or injurious; but, when the great majority of persons are affected by it, the results become far more extensive and serious in their character.
Again: the family constitutes the foundation or groundwork of all society, and, when properly established, is the most powerful agency in the world for human improvement. This institution must have its bases and supplies in the social and domestic affections, guided by the intellect and controlled by the moral sentiments. ”

“ The changes in organization are directly and most intimately connected with hereditary influences. The effects of such changes through the laws of inheritance are so great and far-reaching that they can not be described or measured. Judging from a physiological stand-point, the introduction of this foreign element into New England, instead of proving a blessing, may result in one of the greatest misfortunes that ever befell any race or people. ”

“ Nowhere else in society is a radical reform needed more than in our educational systems. Inasmuch as the laws of the body lie at the foundation of all proper culture, they should receive the first consideration. ”

“ When our educators become thoroughly convinced that physical development as a part of education is an absolute necessity—that a strict observance of the laws of physiology and hygiene is indispensable to the highest mental culture—then we shall have vital and radical changes in our educational system ”

“ Again, arguments in favor of a general law of increase may be deduced from three other important points in physiology. Where do we find the highest measure or the most perfect health? It is in this same normal standard of physiology, and the nearest approaches to it. In some respects the human body resembles a complicated machine: the more perfect the structure, and the more nicely adjusted are all the parts of the machinery, the less likely is any one part to get out of order. ”

“ Again, whenever physical standards of human excellence or models of the best specimens of the race have been sought or adduced, they have exhibited this harmonious development. The Apollo Belvedere and the Venus de' Medici represent a beautiful symmetrical organization; and, the nearer all parts of the body approximate to this standard, the greater is the attraction and the more beautiful the form. ”

“ For twenty or thirty years there has been a steady decline in the marriage-rate. There are powerful influences, starting partly from internal sources and partly from external agencies, which threaten the permanency and best interests of the family. If the laws of the human system can be so changed or violated as to defeat its primary objects, this institution must suffer and decay. There is a normal and healthy organization of the body as well as of the brain, which favors married life and the family relations. ”

“ The cause of this loss of population can not arise from any external condition or agents, but from some law growing out of and governing the physical system. It is well known that certain diseases, resulting from licentiousness and intemperance, have been brought by foreigners to these islands, causing a physical degeneracy in the people. So powerful and far reaching are the effects of these diseases that neither the family, nor education, nor Christianity, can eradicate them. The law of propagation has been violated to such an extent that it threatens the extinction of that people. ”

“ We believe this same principle not only harmonizes with, but is nothing more nor less than a great general law of increase, based upon the perfectionism of all organization and harmony of function; and what are denominated "laws of variation" may be explained by the laws of hereditary descent. When we take into consideration the fact that the true law of propagation is based upon a perfect standard in nature, all changes or deviations from that standard or model result from what are properly called laws of inheritance. ”

“ In other words, if the organization is carried by successive generations to an extreme, that is, to a high nervous temperament—a predominance of the brain and nervous system—or, on the other hand, to a lymphatic temperament—a predominance of the mere animal nature—it operates unfavorably upon the increase of progeny. Accordingly, in the highest states of refinement, culture, and civilization of a people, the tendency has always been to run out in offspring ”

“ However powerful may be the effect of climate, food, and other external agents upon the application or working of this law, whether to impede, thwart, or modify its operation, the law must exist, we believe, in the body itself, and in a great measure control it. The various changes to which the human body is subjected, can not happen by chance or accident; neither can the causes be dissimilar or contradictory in different nations and races; neither can they radically change or vary from one generation to another. ”

“ Formerly, in the rural districts of New England, there were few families having only one, two, or three children, and in case there were none it was so rare as to attract particular attention, and was considered by many a great calamity. But what a contrast is found in the present state of society! In the great majority of our American families only one, two, or three children are now found, and in very many families not one. ”

“ It should be borne in mind that when the harmony or balance of organization in the body is materially changed—that is, certain parts obtain an extreme development, while the functions of others become very much weakened—a similar change and derangement of action apply to the brain. ”

“ In this way the brain does not work so naturally or healthily as it ought, and a vast amount of time, labor, and expense, is wasted—nay, worse than wasted. From this forced and unnatural process there often results not only a want of harmony and complete development of all parts of the brain, but an excessive development of the nervous temperament, and not unfrequently an irritability and morbidness which are hard to bear and difficult to overcome. ”

“ The system or mode of treating, in education, all children as though their organizations were precisely alike, is based upon a false and unnatural theory. Great injury, in a variety of ways, results from this wrong treatment; in fact, injuries are thus inflicted upon the sensitive organizations and susceptible minds of young children, from which they never recover. That many of our most independent and clearheaded educators themselves express so much dissatisfaction with the working and results of our schools, affords evidence that something is wrong in the present system. ”

“ In 1830, when the first census was taken—which was ten years after the American missionaries commenced their labors—the population was 130,000, but by the last census there were only about 40,000, one third as many as fifty years ago. In the mean time religious institutions have been introduced, education has become general, and the family as an institution has been established. All the elements of a Christian civilization have been thoroughly established, but still the population has been steadily decreasing at the rate of about one thousand each year. ”

“ During the last century the colonists of New England, made up mostly of English stock, multiplied rapidly. So great was their natural increase that they doubled in numbers in less than twenty-five years. Malthus regarded them as the best specimens, in this respect, of any people or race, and based upon facts from this source his great principle of population. But a most surprising change has taken place within one hundred years with this same people. From records carefully kept, it appears that the average number of children to each family has decreased with every generation ”

“ Formerly no attention, or scarcely any, was paid by school boards and teachers, in the matter of education, to the condition of the body or the development of the brain, and even at the present day very little is paid them, compared with what should be given to those great physical laws which underlie all mental culture. The lives of a multitude of children and youth are sacrificed every year in this Commonwealth by violating the laws of physiology and hygiene, through mistaken or wrong methods of mental training ”

“ The law of maternity is already violated to such an extent that it is questionable whether half our New England women can properly nurse their offspring. There is a general law in nature that "supply and demand" go together and are co-equal, and if one fails the other is endangered. ”

“ It is based upon a perfect development of all the organs of the human body, so that there shall be a perfect harmony in the performance of all their respective functions. It presupposes that other conditions are favorable, such as the age, the union, and the adaptation of the married parties—provided no natural laws are violated or interfered with—there will uniformly be found with such an organization, not only the greatest number of children, but they will be endowed with the highest amount of physical vigor, strength, and health. ”

“ As we contemplate the great improvements made in education for the last thirty or forty years, and are surprised that educators were content to tolerate the state of things then existing, so will the next generation, when still greater and more radical changes shall have been introduced, look back with astonishment at this generation, and wonder that it was so well satisfied with its own methods. ”

“ Among no other civilized people is there such a breaking up of the family. Why should it occur here, among a people so highly educated and moral? Some attribute it to changes in legislation, but the primary causes of the evil existed before, and will continue, in spite of any changes in legislation. Its outward developments may by this means be checked, but the evil is not cured. The primary causes of these anomalous developments have, we believe, a broad and deep foundation in physical organization. ”

“ But, from another point of view, the loss may have had a more decided and lasting influence, that is, in its permanent effect upon physical and mental development. The better the principles of physiology are understood the more we discover what a powerful influence physical organization has upon the character of a people. The permanent prosperity of any community depends far more upon the laws of inheritance than is generally supposed. ”

“ Maine has the largest number of any State engaged in agriculture—about one third of her whole population—and she at the same time possesses the greatest amount of territory to cultivate. New Hampshire has half as many engaged in agriculture as in all other occupations; Connecticut has one fourth, and Rhode Island only one tenth. The whole number in New England engaged in agriculture was 301,765, and in other pursuits, 1,268,116—more than four times as many. ”

“ What are some of the effects of this change in domestic life? No kind of exercise in the world is so well calculated to develop all parts of the body in the female, and promote good health, as house-work. No study or employment whatever can fit the young girl so well for housekeeping as practical training in such duties.
In this way home and the family are pretty sure to secure a strong attachment. By these means all parts of the body are harmoniously developed; a sound constitution, good health, and long life, are secured. ”