The Portland daily press., 1895-07-10

speakers, that there should be no disap-
pointment, but he was obliged to an
nounce that Gen. Francis A. Walker, presi-
dent of the Boston School of Technology
was not present to address them that
morning according to program. He then
read a letter from Gen. Walker, stating
his acceptance of the Einvitaiton to speak
be present unless something unexpected
should happen. A letter received from
Gen. Walker few days ago stated that
he had been obliged to give up the trip to
Portland, having decided to accompany a
party of friends to Alaska.
By way of comment Pres Stetson said !:
sit is matter of great relief to me to
be assured that he has gone to a cool
place -
He then introduced DR.. Parmenter, sec.
retary of the Institute who would read
Gen. Walkers paper, the title of which
was ''The Relation of Manual Training
to Certain Mental Defects
GEN. WALKERS PAPER.
The full title of my paper is manual
Training as an agent in the diagnosis
and treatment of certain mental defects -
but that statement eXaggerateS the impor-
tance of the paper, since what I shall
have to say on the subject is merely in
the nature of suggestion and inquiry.
have, in fact no results to announce; no
formed cOnluSionS, even, to express. My
mind has been drawn within the last few
years to certain phenomena which appear
to intimate the probability, first that
mental defects, seriously interfering with
progress in study and with success in the
affairs Of life, may exist without being
suspected by parents, teachers, or play
and schoolmates; secondly, that such de-
fects do in fact exist far more frequently
than. is popularly supposed. Brought to
these conclusions, it has seemed to
me that manual training-or the practice
OF the mechanic arts as means OF instruc-
tlon-while useful in the case of students
of normal minds and of the best abilities,
may have an additional and most impor-
tant use as an agent, first for discovering,
and then for treating, these defects Let
me ask your attention, somewhat at
length. to incidents which have suggested
the probability that parent and teacher
and play or school mate have often to do
with wholly unsupported defects of men
tai constitution and organization.
A few years ago l was called upon to
act as the chairman of committee to ex
anime candidates for West Point in one
of the congressional districts of Massa-
chusetts. The thirteen candidates were
subjected to the usual examination for
physical soundness; and all satisfactorily
passed the test When we came, however,
to the test of color blindness, young
man whom | had remarked as one of the
most spirited, intelligent and fine-looking
OF the group, advanced to the table and
threw the skeins of colored worsteds into
groups so absurd as to seem actually i'm
possible. One moment sufficed to show
that he was wholly out of the competition
and entirely ineligible for military ser
vice. Here was young man, evidently
of more than usual intelligence and
ability, who had gone to the age of seven
teen or eighteen without any suspicion
on his own part that he had not the nor
NAL sense respecting color. Ills parents
and and the other members of his family
from childhood had been accustomed to
observe him in his dealings inside the
house with colored objects; his playmates
had doubtless ON countless occasions made
reference to the color of objects; and yet
he had gone through all this, day after