The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-11
PATHOLOGY I'm
CHILD CULTURE
Views About Curing Infantile
Mental and Moral Disorders.
Opportunities for the Establishment
of a New and Honorable Pro-
fessiOn for Women.

| MISTER wizard Salu 10 reporter re-
| Gently:
There is little or no provision made
for mental maladies, and scarcely any
j thing has been done to straighten out
mental deformities in the growing
child. We have been content to con-
slider all such cases spoiled children,
spoiled by training, spoiled by illness,
spoiled by whatever means, but as such
delivered, over to the discipline of fire
as the only possibility of reformation.
| Why should there not be a profession
among women which would bear the
same relation to children's mental and
moral development and cure as the
| profession of trained nurse does to
| physical culture and the treatment of
| disease? Kindergarten training does
| to a certain extent offer preparation
/ for such a calling, but it needs to be
amplified to cover not only the best
methods for the development of chill
dren, healthy and sound in mind and
| body, but also for the treatment of
mental and moral disturbances caused
| by bodily ailment or faulty upbringing.
I'm the system Of kindergarten train
| ing with which / am the best acquaint-
ed, namely, that of the Pestaiozzi-Froe-
bel Haus, of Berlin. there is a prac-
! teal course in psychology and hygiene,
but most of the other lectures bear di-
rectly on the explanation of different
pedagogical theories, and the applica-
| ton Of the kindergarten ideas of educa-
ton. While this curriculum suffices
for work in a kindergarten of healthy
children, it will easily be seen that it
falls short of supplying the demands
which would be made on pathological
kindergarten, for that is what the fol-
lowers of this new profession would be.
Adhering to their belief that the child
must be developed through his own eX-
ertions that he must learn by doing,
retaining their faith in constructive
education, these kindergartners must
increase their knowledge, TO keep pace
with thir possibilities.
Besides thorough practical and theo-
retical teaching in psychology, they
should be given courses in physiology,
that they may understand the natural
functions of the body and its normal
condition and should receive the med
ical training of a hospital nurse, that
they may forestall illness and keep
their charges, as ldI DIS III liltlI DBNtA
lies in a healthy condition. This course
would also enable them, as is possible
in many cases, to locate and alleviate
physical discomfort which affects the
Child's mind and temper and frequently
accounts for mental symptoms which
we cannot otherwise explain. In order
that abnormalites Of mind may be i'm
mediately recognized and receive their
proper treatment pathology should be
carefully studied and the best methods
for treating mental diseases thorough
ly investigated.
This enumeration of studies may give
the impression that training of this
kind will not greatly differ from that
of a medical nurse, but these various
courses are considered simply as an eX-
tension of kindergarten training. which
must remain the foundation for this
calling one reason for this is that the
aim of the kindergarten is harmon
iCus development mental, moral and
physical. She does not attempt to force
superior intelligence or remarkable
goodness but strives only to make
child's existence normally the cooper
alton of the physical and spiritual func-
tions with natural surroundings. Let
her become equipped. as l have out
lined. by such d degree of the knowl-
edge of pathology as Will enable her TO
meet diseased as well as normal con-
ditions. and place the child absolutely
in her care, even allowing her, if neces-
sarry, to take it from the parents in
case ne atmosphere of the home him
ders its recovery.
MIR. Brockway, in the Elmira Re
formatory. has adopted plan which,
whether consciously or not, is based
on kindergarten principles In his
treatment of criminals he takes into
consideration the fact that in them
criminal tendencies are developed at
the expense Of their better possibilities.
Instead, therefore, of bending all his
energies toward the uprooting or sup
preston of their evil qualities, his
method is, by lectures in science and
literature. debates on religion and eth
les. to educate the neglected intellect
ual and moral facilities until the GRIM
inal impulse has. of necessity, fallen
into the background.
THE Kindergarten. with natural de-
veIopment as her ideal, would adopt
the same methods in her treatment of
children suffering from the spoiled
malady, for the condition of some chill
dren amounts to nothing less than
maiady. and often a severe one. 1t is
true that home remedies have in many
cases restored children to their proper
balance. To say, however, on this ac-
count that their previous condition was
not pathological would be as illogical
as to claim that an attack of indiges-
ton, cured by catnip tea, was not a
case of illness which if allowed to con-
tinue might. easily result in serious
complaint.
Because a physician has not been
called does not prove that there is no
physical disturbance Parents are for
tunate enough to have in cases of
bodily illness some one into whose care
they can confidently resign their chill
dren. In the case of the mental and
moral deformites of the chemically
spoiled child, which are not touched
by specialists of mental disease, the
parents ability to support any ex-
pense for the restoration of their chill
dren must only torture them, for there
is at present no profession prepared to
offer them the help they so ardently
desire and so greatly need"
WOman's Worldwide influence.