Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-06-12


Turner Hall at the close of the pre- sent
school term.
On motion Board adjourned.
CT NINMANN, Clerk.
Mind ana Brain VS.. Our System of
| Higher Education.
| Physiology rendered the theory untenable
| it had always been believed that mind and
brain were to separate individual entities,
| Independent of each other. except as the
latter acted AS the medium through which
the workings of the former were made mani
fest; but in the light of new dIscoverie we
can see how erroneous the old time belief
was and now know that The two organs So
called, are so far As mental action is con-
| cerned, inseparable, each wholly dependent
on the other. On the conditions of the
nerve cells in the brain depends altogether
the working ability of the mind, and the
powers OF the latter are strong when he
cells and hb-es of the former are well de-
veloped and nourished. and feeble where
they are undeveloped or overworked. Those
who have in charge the education of the
young, generally overlook these facts when
framing their Courses of Study" and
think only of the mind, forgetting its in
innate relations with the physical organiza.
ton called the brain: Still they have con-
FRI Of hot in ho
tant period of its development, which is in
youth. Their desire seems to be to fiji the
mind of the pupil with as many facts as
possible, and that in proportion to the pow
err Of the latter to receive them, regardless
of the after effects Anatomists know that
the brain attains its foil size at the age of
years, and although the cells do not pos
sess the power Of retaining knowledge and
the intercellular substance of transmitting
nerve force as in later yeara, still they have
relatively more advanced Development
than has the muscular system of child of
tie same age. This also accounts for the
great prevalence and fatality of nervous
diseases among children. The brain of q
child is in fact delicate complicated piece
machinery, many of whose parts are slower
in attaining development than others, and
all of which need careful systematic train
ing, and that by one who understands their
mechanism, and who can clearly forsee
and prevent undue growth in any part, and
who can also guard against activity of func-
tion which will in the end permanently in
jure the whole structure. The growth and
nutrition of the central nervous system,
like that of other organs OF the body is in
creased by active employment, but unlike
the muscular system, the brain can be goad-
ed on to work long after its real power has
become exhausted, that Is after the retro
grade changes in its structure which have
been taking place with great rapidity dur
ing exercise, overbalance the building up
process. This may be done apparently with
IMMUNITY for time, but the consequences
are in the end, serious and frequently ire
mediable. Those who believe in the old
pernicious custom of early rising, know
that although their minds are clear and
their bodies supple in the morning, their
elasticity is gone in the afternoon, and
sense of languor prevails the whole system.
Children who show an unusual amount of
precocity in their youth, and whose rapid
mental development is encouraged, very
frequently in after life, are distanced by
those who were billiards when compared
with them in childhood. Precocity is gain
ed at the cost of feeble maturity and early
decay. The child who in the morning of
life, runs at too rapid a rate, is soon COM
PEELED to slacken his pace, and in the after
noon crippled in the race, enfeeble by
mental overwork, is compelled to stand
aside and allow those who were once, and
if his training had been judicions. always
would have remained his interiors, to win
the prize for which he had striven, and
which he would ihave easily gained if his
! mental training had been conducted in &C
cordance with the laws of nature. Thus it
is that many teachers materially and per-
manently injure their pupils by stimulating
their minds to act with more vigor than
they can with safety be compelled too, and
by endeavoring to call out those latent capa-
cities which should lie dormant ntil ma
turity Mental overwork in youth is as
certainly followed by mental exhaustion, as
sunrise is followed by sunset, and this
mental exhaustion in turn reacts on the
whole body, and the youth whose brain has
been over stimulated, loses not only his
| vivacity and his mental vigor, but also his
muscular and assmilative powers and be-
comes complete wreck. The danger from
wrong training or over stimulation is so
much greater in that the consequences do
not often appear at once, but the young
Sfn6apt NAV for wars m IN with b;o uorC