ESSAY

ON

PRACTICAL AND SPECULATIVE ABILITY.

In the intercourse of the world every one must have observed two kinds of talent, so distinct from each other as to admit of different appellations, although frequently united in the same person. One has reference exclusively to the operations of the mind, and may be called speculative ability; the other has reference to the application of knowledge, or to action, and may be called practical ability. Speculative ability may be seen in the composition of a poem, the solution of a problem, the formation

of a chain of reasoning, or the invention of a story. In these performances nothing is required but an exertion of the mental powers: they are purely internal operations, and although they may be assisted by the employment of external means, it would be possible to carry them on without it.

Practical ability may be seen in every department of active life. It consists in the dexterous application of means for the attainment of ends. The term may be extended to every sort of skill, whether exerted in important or trivial matters; but it is here meant to designate, not so much any technical dexterity, or that which a man evinces in the employment of his physical powers on inanimate objects, as that higher skill by which he directs the talents and passions of his fellow-creatures to the accomplishment of his purposes, and seizes the opportunities of action presented by successive events; and which enables him to conduct himself with propriety and success, in any circumstances into which he may be thrown.

The two kinds of ability here pointed out must exist more or less in every individual, but they are often combined in very unequal proportions. A high degree of speculative, is frequently found in conjunction with a low degree of practical ability, and conversely, the practical talents are sometimes superior to the speculative. Men, who have exhibited the greatest powers of mind in their writings, have been found altogether inefficient in active life, and incapable of availing themselves of their own wisdom. With comprehensive views and a capacity for profound reasoning on human affairs, they have felt bewildered in actual emergencies: keen and close observers of the characters, the failings, and the accomplishments of others, they have not had the power of conforming their own conduct to their theoretical standard of excellence. Giants in the closet, they have proved but children in the world. This destitution of practical talent in men of fine intellect often excites the wonder of the crowd. They seem to expect

that he, who has shown powers of mind bespeaking an almost all-comprehensive intelligence, and who has perhaps poured a flood of light on the path of action to be pursued by others, should, as a matter of course, be able to achieve any enterprize and master any difficulties himself. Such expectations, however, are unreasonable and ill-founded. Excellence in one thing does not necessarily confer excellence in all, or even in things requiring the exercise of the same faculties. Both practical and speculative ability are no doubt modifications of mental power; but one, on that account, by no means implies the other, any more than dexterity in reefing a sail involves the art of leaping a five-barred gate, though they are both instances of physical skill.

It would be just as reasonable, indeed, to expect that a good sailor should be necessarily a clever horseman, as that a man of fine speculative powers should in consequence be also a man of practical talent. The want of tical ability then, in such a man, may arise

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simply from an exclusive attention to pro cesses purely mental. Where the mind is entirely absorbed by the relations of science, or where its powers are habitually concentrated on its own creations, it is perfectly natural that the arts of active life should not be acquired. To a man so occupied, common objects and occurrences have little interest, and it is with effort that he commands his attention sufficiently to avoid egregious mistakes, and to gain a passable dexterity in things which all the world are expected to know and to perform. The understanding, moreover, that is accustomed to pursue a re gular and connected train of ideas, becomes in some measure incapacitated for those quick and versatile movements which are learned in the commerce of the world, and are indispensable to those who act a part in it. Deep thinking and practical talents require indeed habits of mind so essentially dissimilar, that while a man is striving after the one he will be unavoidably in danger of losing the other.