Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1878-01-23
The Evils OF Crammlng,

q
fchools and at home, IL sufficiently
serious to show that the reckless course
pursued IN many instances ought TO
he loudly protested against As We
write, four cases come 20 our know
ledge OF girls sci iously injured by this
folly and unintentonal wckedness,
In one, the brain IL utterly unable 10
bear the burden put upon II, aud the
pupil II removed from school In q
highly exciiable slaleI In another
eplleplic fits have followed tho host Of
subjects pressed upon tho scholars In
the third, the symptoms OF brain fog
have become so obvious that the
amount of schooling has been greatly
reduced and IN fourth, fits have
been induced and complete prostation
OF brain has followed, These cases
are merely illustrations Of u class,
coming to hand in one day, familiar
to most physicians The enormous
number Of subjects which are forced
into the curriculum OF some schools
and aro required by some professional
examinations, confuse and distract the
mind, and by lowering its healthy
tone often unfit 1t for the world, While
insanity may not directly result irors
this sluiling, and very likely will not,
exciting causes OF mental disorder oc'
curing in later life may upset brain
which, had it been subjected to more
moderate pressure, would have escaped
unsca:hed. Training in its highest
sense is forgotten in tho multiplicity
OF subjects, originality is stunted and
Individual thirst OF knowledge over.
laid by crowd Of novel theories
based upon yet improved statements
Mr.. Brudcncll Carter, in his Influence
Of Education and Training in Pre-
venting Diseases Of the Nervous Sys
TEN, speaks Of Il large public school 4
in London, from which boys of 10 to I
- years of age carry hume tasks ,
which would occupy them till near ,
midnight, and Of which the rules and ,
laws OF study are so arranged as to !
preclude the possibility of sufficient !
recreation. The teacher in a high /
school says that the host of subjects il
on which parents insist instruction y
being given to their children is simply e
preposterous, and disastrous alike to il
health and to real study progress in f
necessary branches of knowledge. k
The other day we met an examiner in b
the street with roll of papers con- a
sisting of answers to questions, He O
deplored the fashion of the day the D
of subjects crammed within Il
a few years of growing life; the char D
acter of the questions which were fire. p
quently asked; and the requiring b
student to master, scientific theories u
md crude speculalions which they il
would have to unlearn in year or W
,wo. lie sincerely pitied the untortu. IL
,ate student. During the last year or
,wo the public have been startled by
he suicides which have occurred on If
he part of young men preparing for -
examination at the University OF Lon 10
Ion, and the press has spoken out &c
trongly on the subject. Notwith- M
landing this, the authorities appear tie
o be disposed to increase instead of i
finnish the s!riugency of some Of III
he examinations. The Lancet has 81
ecently protested against this course r.
n regard to the preliminary scientific WI
4. D. of the London University, and ma
oints out that the average of candi- to
ates who fail at this examination is Of
lready about 40 per cent, and that til
1ese include many Of the best STU ye
ents This further raising of the n
andard will it is maintained, make bi
'rious addition to the labors of the ne
dustrious student who desires the
I. D. degree. Whether this particu- 49,,
r instance is or is not fair example, r.
e must say, judging from others, Ar Ar
at it seems to be thought that the -:
'bic capacity Of the British skull un. Wv
'rgoes an extraordinary increase every C Wv
W years, and that therefore tor our y w
'ung students more subjects must be ~,
lded to I'll up the additional space. ~:
'Macmillan's Magazine. %. s
Petersons Magazine for February is lac
ready on our table, aud more than ed
aintains its popularity. We thought Sc,
Q steel eDgravlngs, in the January
mber, could not be excelled. but the