The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-01-07

| During two days OF Christmas week there
was gathered within the hospltable walls OF
| Columbia College n notable group OF investi-
gators From every leading university in the
| land came men whose lifo work It is TO observe
| the workings OF the human mind. to trace the
| subtle ties which bind i'm preston. memory.
| and act, imagination, feeling and will All
| the way from Plato to Kant stretches a long
| line OF men Of genius who have sought to ex-
| plore the heights and depths OF human fac
ulty. have classified it's powers. speculated
upon its limitations. and remarked the helps
and hlndrnpoes OF Inheritance and nurture.
In direct observation so thoroughly have these
great masters done their work that their mod
ern successors are little moro than cleaners in
the field. Yet in bringing observation to an
instrumental basis. In artincialY creating new
conditions for experiment. the psychologists OF
the nineteenth century have revolutlonlzed
the science OF mind TO the old question.
what? is now added. How much7 That an
i'm preston takes time to register itself and
further time to induce action was familiar to
astronomers n hundred years ago To-day
the personal equation" in responding to
sight or sound Is ascertain ed to the housandth
OF second and the speed of thought is found
to be no more than that OF the quickest eI-
press trains Whereas IL has been known for
aRss that some m en- rem m Der better what they
hear than what they see. and that other mon
are In the opposite case. the experimenter to-
day. armed with n few printed words which he
shows or repeats. can at once detect whether
the eye or the ear is the more open door to the
brain. and by how much they differ in hos
pitality. In somewhat the same fashion the
facility which is born OF practice Is told of in
percentages. with an incidental word OF value
for ambitions we'll and Ill founded. When two
studies bear q close organic tie as history and
geography or Latin and Spanish. It has long
been observed that they can be pursued
tog ether with much saving OF time and labor
Precisely what the economy Is comes out In
comparisons which amply Justify taking down
tho fences which have so long and wastefully
hampered the cultivator OF young minds.
In a series OF preliminary tests Prof Scrip
turo OF Yale University has found reason to
believe that In acquiring the subatantives OF
a foreign tongue there is a threefold access
sion OF facility when pictures accompany the
words That numbers can usually be remem-
bered longer than names 10 held to be due to
the moro easy picturtuR OF u numeral. which is
also tho symbol for q word than Of word.
which is q word only. In the same line OF in
vestigatlon 1t is abundantly proved that whom
a child sees and handles the things 1t names
It arrives at an understanding Of them other
wise impossible. In the best German
teaching children are brought to tn
alphabet only when six months OF object
lessons have prepared them to attach true
meanings to simple words. For like good rea-
sons President q. Stanley Hall Of Clark Uni
versity estimates that In a visit OF a fow days
to the country q city child receives as much
benefit as In two terms at school. In his lit
tie book on Tho Contents Of Children's Minds
on Entering school," he cites children who
supposed that wool grew on hens. and hams
grew on trees. while from the accident OF size
in pictorial illustration another child mag
ined a COW. with Its hide. meat. horns. and
hoofs. to be no bigger than mouse. Thunder
was taken to be God rolling barrels about or
having Goals run in. Clearly any teacher who
assumes that his pupils know what they do
not know Is building instruction on sand.
In the light OF the new spirit OF in quiry abroad
among tho teachers OF teachers II begins to
look as II the charge OF stupidity that may, in
time coming. be laid upon man or woman shall
be shifted to the shoulders OF the educator
who. In the plastic years OF childhood. neg
lected to draw out dormant faculty by the right
kind OF appeal A boz with q wretched mem
ory for participates and irregular verbs may be
deft enough IL Jaw and plane arc put into his
hands. and girl who at first shows little tai
ent In drawing may develop a more valuable
gift In designing new and pretty patterns
All OF this has direct bearing on the prime
question OF education. which Is. How can tho
most and best be made out OF this particular
boy or girl? When an All-round test Of faculty
has brought out tho strong and weak points
OF child there can be Intelligent choice OF the
life work and preparation for It, with cultiva-
ton. too. OF that versatility which is most de-
sirable in this day Of the constant dispossss-
sion Of the handicratts by tho all-conauerinR
inventor And where bread and butter are
not the chief consideration. the moro various
the work man or woman can do the better. |
for the fuller Of resource will be the life.
Fortunately children's minds can receive
the new survey here Indicated by appliances
which are simple and cheap. which can be
readily understood and used by any teacher |
worthy the name. In this field, In bringing to
the machine drill OF the schools somewhat Of
adaptation to Tommy Jones and Mary Smith.
there lies an i'm mense possibility for progresA |
The chief asset OF America is not its wheat |
farms. coal mines. or pine forests but the |
boys and girls whose minds aud wills are every |
day being developed or stunted by the men |
and women whose wards they are.
Apart from this special department. In the |
field OF advanced psychological experiment |
the United states now shares with Germany |
the leadership OF the world. Tho American
genius for devising and applying refined in
struments OF measurement has won new
laurels in the psyche logical laboratories Of
Columbia College, Of Clark Harvard. and Yale
Universities.
Moved by a tendency as old as human nature
to ovsrrate as much OF experience as can be
reduced to square and compass some Of the
younger explorers OF the mind are disposed TO
lay too much stress on tho deliverances OF their
electric clocks and recorders. This was evil
dent at the Columbia College meeting when
an enthusiastic constructor OF apparatus dwelt
with pardonable satisfaction on his being able
TO measure as little as the ten-thousandth Of q
second. In comment one OF the elders OF the
company remarked that while it is well
to keep ones thsodollts polished and
leyslled. it will not do TO
forget that after all It is employed in
little more than drifting |
clouds. Uncounted thousands of telegraph
operators hear the hum OF Morse characters as
they repeat themselves from the paner strip TO
which thsy have been committed. To the ears |
OF Edison The hum bears the hint OF the phono-
graph-not hint to perish still born, as so
many good suggR stions do, hut au idea which |
enters mind able and persistent enough 10