The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-24
A CHILD'S HEALTHY SOUL.
CONCLUSIONS REACHED BY AN EMIL
NENT FRENCH SPECIALIST.

When Children Are High Tempered,
COwnrdIy, Melancholy and I'm
truthful 1t shows Diseased Com
ditiOn of the Brain and Can BE
| Best Treated by Expanding the
Brain Cells With Blood and Thus
Creating IntrnctiOn.
| New York, June 22.-Dr. Maurice de
Fleury. a famous French physician, nerve
| specialist and author of The Medicine
of the Mind etc, who has done much
| toward improving the care for the childs
| body, is no less solicitous and wise for
its soul He does not attempt to teach
anatomy, but by a few simple diagrams
| shows how the brain, the instrument of
the SOUL works Figure / shows the ge-
ography of a half of the brain, the local
lzations of the various activities and the
| spots which control the required nerves.
If V, for instance, is destroyed by acct
dent or disease, you become blind, be-
cause the optic nerve runs here. Look at
! Figure g. These cells do the work of the
| brain, receiving impressions and sending
| out the messages to the muscles which
result in acts. Ordinarily the action and
| reaction are automatic. Strike a child
| and he strikes again. Let him see a fruit
! and instinctively he puts his hand out to
/ grasp il. Another important function OF
| the cells is that they retain a trace of
! these sensations, and this is memory. We
! have not one memory, as many think
! but 10O10,0 0 memories stored up in the
! brain cells. In addition TO these two facul-
| ties of changing sensation into movement
| and preserving images there is till an
! other that of mutual contact When the
cells are full of blood and active they ex-
! pand and touch neighboring cells, thus
! bringing about interaction. When fatigued
I or shriveled they draw up and live only
| apart 1t is this extending of the fibers
| of one dell TO another which plays an i'm
portant part in the proper action of the
individual. If the child is well trained,
if the images of right and duty have been
| implanted by it's teachers and parents,
and if its brain is in a healthy condition,
| the impulse to seize a green apple will
| be restrained by the fibers running from
! the judgment cells, and it will exercise
the valuable quality of self-restraint,
| These points are necessary to an under
| standing of the method by which the child
can be cured of his mental diseases for
they are diseases The gray matter of
the brain is the medium through which
| the cells and fbers are made active. By
its healthy condition The activity of SEN
! satiOn, action, memory and comparison of
| sensation is made possible AT the ages
of or A years these comparisons, gener-
! aliZations, IDEAS begin to be formed. II is
/ easy to see that Intelligence depends on
the number and healthy condition of these
| hberS and cells, and the brain must be well
| nourished at all costs Now its faculties
of attention, will and judgment begin to
play their part in the child's life. The
| personality of the child is the total of all
| or
gentle. which he has inherited, and of all
the images which he has received since
birth, every second of his life. The child
| is then worth whatever he gets from
mother and father as developed or con-
trnlled by education. The value of train
| ing is now clear.
What to Do with High-Tempered
Children.
It is necessary for the child to learn that
1t can not do wrong with imDunty. That
it hurts itself by every display of passion,
and accomplishes nothing The severe
measures taken with such children gem
| orally lack wisdom, coolness and calm
ness. and do no good. The fact is that
his anger is nothing more than the over
excitement of a nervous system by con-
tagion. They gather this contaglon at a
very early age, rejecting surrounding
conditions most faithfully. Terrorzing
the child does no good: it has in some
cases brought on idlocy. We look 90 much
to our comfor, not to their benefit. Our
| harshness may give us peace, but what
does il accomplish for the child. In these
moments of anger it may be noted that
generally punishments and blows have lit
tie effect. 1t is a nervous hypert ension
which must run its course, once started.
Raising a nervous child nervously is the
worst of crimes. To calm an angry child
cries, menaces and blows are Of little
value, they only excite it further Take
the child before mirror and show him
how ugly he looks or throw a little cold
water over him, either with a cup or from
a siphon. If done calmly The shock of the