The times., 1901-04-30
TOO LITTLE KNOWN OF MAN
Dr.. Macdonald Urges the Study OF
Human Beings.
More Attention Given to Animals
and Frogs Than tn PeoPie-isesuits
of observations in Public Schools.
characteristics of the Two Races.


DR.. Arthur Macdonald, specialist in the
Bureau of Education, speaking OF the
present tendency toward chiid-study re-
Gently declared that more was known
about the insane, the criminal, of ami
mails even the frog, than of the normal
man.
I'VE are in great need of knowledge
concerning human beings. The greatest
of all studies is that of man himself as
he is today. a scientific investigation OF
man must be based primarily upon the in
dividual who is the unit of the social or
ganism.
IF we are ever TO have sufficient def
mite knowledge of living human beings
that may become a science, it can only
be done by the careful study of large
numbers of individuals. The more thor
ough the study and the larger the num-
ber, the more useful such investigation
can be made to society.
"As in machinery we must first repair
the little wheels out of gear, so in So
ciety we must first study the criminal
crank insane. inebriate or pauper who
can seriously injure both individual and
community. Thus a worthless crank, by
killing a prominent citizen, can paralyze
the community The injury from such
action is often beyond calculation. We
pay out millions to catch, try. and care
for criminals but give very little to study
the causes that lead to crime.
THE study of man, to be OF most utility,
must be directed first to the causes of
crime, paupersm. alcoholism and other
forms of abnormality. To do this the in
dividuals themselves must be studied. AS
the seeds of evil are usually sown in
childhood and youth, it is here that all in
vestigation should commence for there is
little hope of making the world better if
we do not seek the causes of social evils
at their beginnings.
while the study of children has been
gradually growing in Importance and in
terest, it is only as yet at its beginning
We do not know whether there are mental
and physical characteristics by which we
might distinguish criminal children from
other children. II is difficult to tell wheth-
er such characteristics come more from the
child's nature or from its surroundings.
If crime is mostly due to the environment,
as is generally believed, and If this could
be determined in the case of each child,
there would be much more probability of
lessenging crime, for ii is possible TO
change the childs surrounding, but not its
nature.
IF we could know whether there were
mental and physical characteristics pecu-
liar to unruly children IN school and Grim
inal children in reformatories or to dull
school pupils and feeble-minded children,
characteristics distinguishing such chill
dren from the normal child, we might fore
see dangers to these children, and thus
protect many from temptations and con-
ditions that otherwise would ruin them.
1adc oar of1iN no Fpd
by patient scientific study of large num-
bers of children of all classes.
There has been much investigation of
school children, but as the subject is in its
experimental stage and methods are new,
criticism has naturally been aroused This
is the history of all new lines of enquiry
that take up the humanities Some i'm
agine that the children might be harmed
by instruments used upon them, or their
rights interfered with, but nothing could
be farther from the truth. The study Of
children is simply to gain knowledge about
them, and if knowledge is power, 1t will be
power for their good
Rigid methods of research, which have
been confined mostly to the sciences,
should be applied to man. 1t is only re-
Gently that more exact methods have been
used in the investigation of the mind. OPP
position
| the ultra conservative people, who are
usually opposed TO ali new things, but
from extreme doctrinaires. The day has
come when opinion, theory, or speculation
must give way to first t-hand knowledge.
| The value of opinion depends upon such
| knowledge, an ounce Of which is worth
| pound of theory. Much of this opposition
| also may be due to the mistaken idea that
psycho-physicai studies tend to material
| ism, or are liable TO undermine morality
| and religion; but such unfounded opposi-
| tion is gradually ceasing, and where it
| does exist, 1t is due either 70 ignorance or
to mistakes that may often occur in the
| introduction of new methods.
There is very general representation
| from all States among the residents OF
| Washington. Conclusions concerning the
| children, therefore, may be more applica-
| bic to cur country as a whole. We give
some results from our study of 20,000 chill
! dren IN the public schools:
LAS circumference Of head increases
mental ability increases.
| "Col0red girls have larger circumference
| of head at all ages than white girls.
Boys have greater circumference Of
| head than girls; yet girls are superior to
| boys in their studies but girls show high
| er percentages Of average ability and so
| less variability, indicating less power of
adaptation. This is interpreted by some
| to be a defect from an evolutionary point
| Of view.
"In white children brightness increases
| with age in most studies. In colored chill
| dren the reverse is the case. Duh children
are the most unruly and unruly children
| are the dullest.
Mixture of nationalities does not seem
| to be favorable 10 the development of
mental ability in the offspring.
THE pubertaI period Of superiority Of
| girls over boys In height, sitting height,
| and weight is nearly year longer In the
| laboring classes than In the nCu-labOring
| professional and mercantile classes.
| Children with abn0rmalities are infe-
| rior in height, sitting height, and weight
| and circumference of head to children in
| general. Abnormalities are most fire.
| quent and puberty.
| ''Interest in these results may be ad-
| mitted, but their utility questioned. 1t
! may be asked. what special object there
| is in finding that the breadth Of a child S
| face increases much more rapidly than
| the breadth and length Of it's head, or
| that frst-born children are physically su-
! perior to later born, etc. We think that
| such data can be made useful, but let us
| suppose they are not useful at present
| Much money has been given and great
| interest manifested for the discovery Of
| new chemical elements or the search for
| found art galleries at great expense.
| These things may not all be Immediately
| useful Indeed the highest art spurns
| even the idea Of utility; and yet when II
is proposed 70 study a child thoroughly to
| Gain an insight into its nature to find the
| causes Of its defects, so that we may pro
| tect Il and help il to become good clu-
| zen the utilitarian cry is heard. The time
| has come when ii is important to study
| a child with as much exactnesS as we in
| vestigate the chemical elements OF a stone
ar measure the mountains on the moon.
| IF facts about children, whether i'm
| mediateiy useful or not. are important we
| desire to ask what is important in life.
THE SEED DISTRIBUTION.