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diff --git a/24727-h/24727-h.htm b/24727-h/24727-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbbfa98 --- /dev/null +++ b/24727-h/24727-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12927 @@ +<!-- saved from url=(0022)http://internet.e-mail --> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Spontaneous Activity in Education", + by Maria Montessori. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; } + + p.main {font-style: normal; font-size: 100%; text-indent: 0em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-family: serif} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 95%;} + + .totoc {position: absolute; left: 2em; font-size: 70%; + text-align: right;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 2em; font-size: 70%; + text-align: right;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .tdr {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + .tdc {text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;} + .tdl {text-align: left; padding-left: .25em;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {float:left; text-align: left;} + .fnanchor {font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size: 90%;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Spontaneous Activity in Education, by Maria Montessori + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Spontaneous Activity in Education + +Author: Maria Montessori + +Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24727] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY IN EDUCATION *** + + + + +Produced by Alicia Williams, David T. Jones and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h2><i>THE</i></h2> +<h2><i>ADVANCED MONTESSORI METHOD</i></h2> +<h2>*</h2> +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<h1>SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY<br /> +IN EDUCATION</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MARIA MONTESSORI</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF "THE MONTESSORI METHOD," "PEDAGOGICAL<br /> +ANTHROPOLOGY," ETC.</h4> + +<h5>TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY</h5> +<h4>FLORENCE SIMMONDS</h4> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/logo.png" alt="logo" title="" /></div> + +<h4>NEW YORK</h4> +<h4>FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY</h4> +<h4>PUBLISHERS</h4> + +<h5><i>Copyright, 1917, by</i></h5> +<h5><span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span></h5> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<h5><i>All rights reserved, including that of translation into +foreign languages</i>.</h5> + +<br /> +<h6>Printed in the U.S.A.</h6> +<br /><br /> + +<h3><a name="toc" id="toc">CONTENTS</a></h3> + +<table width="100%" border="0" summary="TOC"> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#I"><b>CHAPTER I</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">a survey of the child's life</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Laws of the child's psychical life paralleled by those of its physical.</b></td> +<td class="tdr"><span class="smcap">PAGE</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_1" class="indexlink">Current objections to a system + of education based upon "liberty"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">1</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_2" class="indexlink">Hygiene has freed the infant +from straps and swaddling clothes and left it free to develop</a></td> +<td class="tdr">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_5" class="indexlink">Education must leave the soul + free to develop</a></td> +<td class="tdr">5</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_9" class="indexlink">Principle of liberty in education + not a principle of abandonment</a></td> +<td class="tdr">9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The liberty accorded the child of to-day is purely physical.<br /> + Civil rights of the child in the twentieth century.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_10" class="indexlink">Removal of perils of disease a + step toward physical liberation</a></td> +<td class="tdr">10</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_11" class="indexlink">Supplying the child's physical + needs is not sufficient</a></td> +<td class="tdr">11</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_12" class="indexlink">Child's social rights overlooked + in the administration of orphan asylums</a></td> +<td class="tdr">12</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_13" class="indexlink">Poor child's health and property + confiscated in the custom of wet nursing</a></td> +<td class="tdr">13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_16" class="indexlink">We recognize justice only for + those who can defend themselves</a></td> +<td class="tdr">16</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>How we receive the infants that come into the world.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_17" class="indexlink">Home has no furnishings adapted + to their small size</a></td> +<td class="tdr">17</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_18" class="indexlink">Society prepares a mockery for + their reception in the shape of useless toys</a></td> +<td class="tdr">18</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_20" class="indexlink">Child not allowed to act for + himself</a></td> +<td class="tdr">20</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_21" class="indexlink">Constant interruption of his + activities prevents psychical growth</a></td> +<td class="tdr">21</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_23" class="indexlink">Bodily health suffers from + spiritual neglect</a></td> +<td class="tdr">23</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>With man the life of the body depends on the life of the spirit.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_24" class="indexlink">Reflex action of the emotions + on the body functions</a></td> +<td class="tdr">24</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_26" class="indexlink">Child's body requires joy as + much as food and air</a></td> +<td class="tdr">26</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#II"><b>CHAPTER II</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">a survey of modern education</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The precepts which govern moral education and instruction.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_28" class="indexlink">Child expected to acquire virtues + by imitation, instead of development</a></td> +<td class="tdr">28</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_29" class="indexlink">Domination of the child's will + the basis of education</a></td> +<td class="tdr">29</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>It is the teacher who forms the child's mind. How he teaches.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_30" class="indexlink">Teacher's path beset with + difficulties under the present system</a></td> +<td class="tdr">30</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_33" class="indexlink">Advanced experts prepare the + schemata of instruction</a></td> +<td class="tdr">33</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_33" class="indexlink">Some outlines of "model lessons" + used in the schools</a></td> +<td class="tdr">33</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_42" class="indexlink">Comparison of a "model lesson" + for sense development with the Montessori method</a></td> +<td class="tdr">42</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_44" class="indexlink">Experimental psychology, not + speculative psychology, the basis of Montessori teaching</a></td> +<td class="tdr">44</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_46" class="indexlink">False conceptions of the "art of + the teacher" illustrated by model lessons</a></td> +<td class="tdr">46</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Positive science makes its appearance in the schools</b></td> +<td class="tdr">50</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Discoveries of medicine: distortions and diseases</b></td> +<td class="tdr">50</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Science has not fulfilled its mission in its dealings with children.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_52" class="indexlink">Diseases of school children + treated, causes left undisturbed</a></td> +<td class="tdr">52</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Discoveries of experimental psychology: overwork; nervous exhaustion</b></td> +<td class="tdr">57</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Science is confronted by a mass of unsolved problems.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_60" class="indexlink">Laws governing fatigue still + unknown</a></td> +<td class="tdr">60</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_62" class="indexlink">Toxines produced by fatigue + and their antitoxins</a></td> +<td class="tdr">62</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_62" class="indexlink">Joy in work the only preventative + of fatigue</a></td> +<td class="tdr">62</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_64" class="indexlink">Real experimental science, which + shall liberate the child, not yet born</a></td> +<td class="tdr">64</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#III"><b>CHAPTER III</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">my contribution to experimental science</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The organization of the psychical life begins with the +characteristic phenomenon of attention.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_67" class="indexlink">Incident which led Dr. Montessori + to define her method</a></td> +<td class="tdr">67</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Psychical development is organized by the aid of external +stimuli, which may be determined experimentally.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_69" class="indexlink">Tendency to develop his latent + powers exists in the child's nature</a></td> +<td class="tdr">69</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_72" class="indexlink">Environment should contain the + means of auto-education</a></td> +<td class="tdr">72</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>External stimuli may be determined in quality and quantity.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_74" class="indexlink">Educative material used should + contain in itself the <i>control of error</i></a></td> +<td class="tdr">74</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_77" class="indexlink">Quantity of material determined + by the advent of abstraction in pupil</a></td> +<td class="tdr">77</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_79" class="indexlink">Relation of stimuli to the age + of the pupil</a></td> +<td class="tdr">79</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Material of development is necessary only as a starting point.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_81" class="indexlink">Corresponds to the terra + firma from which the aeroplane takes flight and to which it returns + to rest</a></td> +<td class="tdr">81</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_82" class="indexlink">Establishing of internal order, + or "discipline"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">82</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_83" class="indexlink">Psychical growth requires + constantly new and more complex material</a></td> +<td class="tdr">83</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_85" class="indexlink">Difference between materials + of auto-education and the didactic material of the schools</a></td> +<td class="tdr">85</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Psychical truths.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_87" class="indexlink">"Discipline" the first external + sign of a psychical reaction to the material</a></td> +<td class="tdr">87</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_88" class="indexlink">Initial disorder in Montessori + schools</a></td> +<td class="tdr">88</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_89" class="indexlink">Psychical progress not systematic + but "explosive in nature"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">89</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_91" class="indexlink">Birth of individuality</a></td> +<td class="tdr">91</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_93" class="indexlink">Intellectual crises are + accompanied by emotion</a></td> +<td class="tdr">93</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_96" class="indexlink">Older child beginning in + system, chooses materials in inverse order</a></td> +<td class="tdr">96</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_97" class="indexlink">Course of psychical phenomena + explained by diagrams</a></td> +<td class="tdr">97</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_110" class="indexlink">Tests of Binet and Simon + arbitrary and superficial</a></td> +<td class="tdr">110</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_110" class="indexlink">Problems of psychical + measurement</a></td> +<td class="tdr">110</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_114" class="indexlink">Observing the child's moral + nature</a></td> +<td class="tdr">114</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_115" class="indexlink">Transformation of a "violent" + child and of a "spying" child in a Montessori school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">115</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_121" class="indexlink">Polarization of the internal + personality</a></td> +<td class="tdr">121</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Guide to psychological observation.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_122" class="indexlink">Work</a></td> +<td class="tdr">122</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_123" class="indexlink">Conduct</a></td> +<td class="tdr">123</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_123" class="indexlink">Obedience</a></td> +<td class="tdr">123</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#IV"><b>CHAPTER IV</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">the preparation of the + teacher</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_125" class="indexlink">The school is the laboratory of + experimental psychology</a></td> +<td class="tdr">125</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_128" class="indexlink">Qualities the new type of + teacher must possess</a></td> +<td class="tdr">128</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#V"><b>CHAPTER V</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">environment</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_142" class="indexlink">Physical hygiene in the + school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">142</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_143" class="indexlink">The requirements of psychical + hygiene</a></td> +<td class="tdr">143</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Free movement.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_148" class="indexlink">Misconceptions of physical + freedom</a></td> +<td class="tdr">148</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_149" class="indexlink">Action without an aim + fatigues</a></td> +<td class="tdr">149</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_150" class="indexlink">Work of "preservation" rather + than "production" suitable to children</a></td> +<td class="tdr">150</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#VI"><b>CHAPTER VI</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">attention</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_153" class="indexlink">Awakens in answer to an impulse + of "spiritual hunger"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">153</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_155" class="indexlink">Attention cannot be artificially + maintained by teacher</a></td> +<td class="tdr">155</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_157" class="indexlink"><i>Liberty</i> the experimental + condition necessary for studying phenomena of attention</a></td> +<td class="tdr">157</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_158" class="indexlink">Child's perception of an internal + development makes the exercise pleasant and induces him to prolong it</a></td> +<td class="tdr">158</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_158" class="indexlink">External stimuli powerless + without an answering internal force</a></td> +<td class="tdr">158</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_161" class="indexlink">A natural internal force + directs psychical formation</a></td> +<td class="tdr">161</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_161" class="indexlink">New pedagogy provides + nourishment for internal needs</a></td> +<td class="tdr">161</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_162" class="indexlink">Organization of knowledge + in the child's mind</a></td> +<td class="tdr">162</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_165" class="indexlink">Teacher directs, but does not + interrupt phenomena of attention</a></td> +<td class="tdr">165</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_166" class="indexlink">Material offered should + correspond to psychical needs</a></td> +<td class="tdr">166</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#VII"><b>CHAPTER VII</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">will</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_170" class="indexlink">Its relation to attention</a></td> +<td class="tdr">170</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_170" class="indexlink">Manifested in action and + inhibition</a></td> +<td class="tdr">170</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_173" class="indexlink">Opposite activities of the + will must combine to form the personality</a></td> +<td class="tdr">173</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_174" class="indexlink">Powers of the will established + by exercise, not by subjection</a></td> +<td class="tdr">174</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_178" class="indexlink">Persistence in effort the true + foundation of will</a></td> +<td class="tdr">178</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_180" class="indexlink">Decision the highest function + of the will</a></td> +<td class="tdr">180</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_185" class="indexlink">Development of will depends on + order and clarity of ideas</a></td> +<td class="tdr">185</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_185" class="indexlink">Power of choice, which precedes + decision, should be strengthened</a></td> +<td class="tdr">185</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_187" class="indexlink">Need of exercise for the will + paralleled with need of muscular exercise</a></td> +<td class="tdr">187</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_189" class="indexlink">Fallacy of educating the child's + will by "breaking it"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">189</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_190" class="indexlink">"Character" the result of + established will, not of emulation</a></td> +<td class="tdr">190</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">intelligence</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_195" class="indexlink">Liberating the child means + leaving him to "his own intelligence"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">195</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_196" class="indexlink">How the intelligence of the + child differs from the instincts of animals</a></td> +<td class="tdr">196</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_197" class="indexlink">Intelligence the actual means + of formation of the inner life</a></td> +<td class="tdr">197</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_198" class="indexlink">Hygiene of intelligence</a></td> +<td class="tdr">198</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_200" class="indexlink">Intelligence awakens and sets + in motion the central nervous mechanisms</a></td> +<td class="tdr">200</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_201" class="indexlink">In an age of speed, man has + not accelerated himself</a></td> +<td class="tdr">201</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_202" class="indexlink">Swift reactions an external + manifestation of intelligence</a></td> +<td class="tdr">202</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_202" class="indexlink">Ability to <i>distinguish</i> + and <i>arrange</i> the characteristic sign of intelligence</a></td> +<td class="tdr">202</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_203" class="indexlink">Montessori "sensory exercises" + make it possible for the child to distinguish and classify</a></td> +<td class="tdr">203</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_207" class="indexlink">The Montessori child is sensitive + to the objects of his environment</a></td> +<td class="tdr">207</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_207" class="indexlink">Educational methods in use do not + help the child to distinguish</a></td> +<td class="tdr">207</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_209" class="indexlink">Power of <i>association</i> depends + on ability to distinguish dominant characteristics</a></td> +<td class="tdr">209</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_211" class="indexlink">Individuality revealed in + association by similarity</a></td> +<td class="tdr">211</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_212" class="indexlink">By means of attention and + internal will the intelligence accomplishes the work of association</a></td> +<td class="tdr">212</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_213" class="indexlink"><i>Judgment</i> and + <i>reasoning</i> depend on ability to distinguish</a></td> +<td class="tdr">213</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_214" class="indexlink">Activities of association + and selection lead to individual habits of thought</a></td> +<td class="tdr">214</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_214" class="indexlink">Importance of acquiring + ability to reason for oneself</a></td> +<td class="tdr">214</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_222" class="indexlink">Genius the possession of maximum + powers of association by similarity</a></td> +<td class="tdr">222</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_227" class="indexlink">Genius of errors in association + and reasoning which have impeded science</a></td> +<td class="tdr">227</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_233" class="indexlink">The consciousness can only accept + truths for which it is "expectant"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">233</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_239" class="indexlink">The intelligence has its peculiar + perils, from which it should be guarded</a></td> +<td class="tdr">239</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#IX"><b>CHAPTER IX</b></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">imagination</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The creative imagination of science is based upon truth.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_241" class="indexlink">Imagination based on reality + differs from that based on speculation</a></td> +<td class="tdr">241</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_243" class="indexlink">Speculative imagination akin + to original sin</a></td> +<td class="tdr">243</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_244" class="indexlink">Education should direct + imagination into creative channels</a></td> +<td class="tdr">244</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Truth is also the basis of artistic imagination.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_245" class="indexlink">All imagination based + on sense impressions</a></td> +<td class="tdr">245</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_246" class="indexlink">Non-seasonal + impressions—spiritual truths</a></td> +<td class="tdr">246</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_248" class="indexlink">Education in sense perception + strengthens imagination</a></td> +<td class="tdr">248</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_252" class="indexlink">Perfection in art dependent on + approximation to truth</a></td> +<td class="tdr">252</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_254" class="indexlink">Exercise of the intelligence + aids imagination</a></td> +<td class="tdr">254</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Imagination in children.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_255" class="indexlink">Immature and therefore concerned + with unrealities</a></td> +<td class="tdr">255</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_255" class="indexlink">Should be helped to overcome + immaturity of thought</a></td> +<td class="tdr">255</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_258" class="indexlink">False methods develop + <i>credulity</i>, akin to insanity</a></td> +<td class="tdr">258</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_263" class="indexlink">Period of credulity in the + child prolonged for the amusement of the adult</a></td> +<td class="tdr">263</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_264" class="indexlink">"Living among real possessions" + the cure for illusions</a></td> +<td class="tdr">264</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Fable and religion.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_266" class="indexlink">Religion not the product + of fantasy</a></td> +<td class="tdr">266</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_267" class="indexlink">Fable in schools does not + prepare for religious teaching</a></td> +<td class="tdr">267</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The education of the imagination in schools for older children.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_269" class="indexlink">Environment and method + oppressive</a></td> +<td class="tdr">269</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_270" class="indexlink">"Composition" introduced to + foster imagination</a></td> +<td class="tdr">270</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_271" class="indexlink">How composition is "taught"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">271</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_275" class="indexlink">Imagination cannot be forced</a></td> +<td class="tdr">275</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The moral question.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_275" class="indexlink">Contributions of positive + science to morality</a></td> +<td class="tdr">275</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_285" class="indexlink">Science raises society to + level of Christian standards</a></td> +<td class="tdr">285</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_288" class="indexlink">Parents' failure to teach + sex morality</a></td> +<td class="tdr">288</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_291" class="indexlink">Probable effects of experimental + psychology in field of morals</a></td> +<td class="tdr">291</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_292" class="indexlink">Experimental psychology should + be directed to the schools</a></td> +<td class="tdr">292</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_292" class="indexlink">Progress of medicine and its + relation to new psychology</a></td> +<td class="tdr">292</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_295" class="indexlink">Childish naughtiness a + parental misconception</a></td> +<td class="tdr">295</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_297" class="indexlink">Infant life different from + the adult</a></td> +<td class="tdr">297</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_299" class="indexlink">Hindering the child's + development a moral question for the adult</a></td> +<td class="tdr">299</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_300" class="indexlink">Need of the child "to touch + and to act"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">300</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_302" class="indexlink">How the adult prevents him + from learning by doing</a></td> +<td class="tdr">302</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_305" class="indexlink">Conceptions of good and bad + conduct in the school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">305</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_306" class="indexlink">Mutual aid a high crime in + the school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">306</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_309" class="indexlink">Surveillance for vicious habits + originating in the school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">309</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_310" class="indexlink">Developing the "social + sentiment" in the school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">310</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_311" class="indexlink">"A moral with every lesson" + the teacher's aim</a></td> +<td class="tdr">311</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_312" class="indexlink">Injurious system of prizes and + punishments the school's mainstay</a></td> +<td class="tdr">312</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_315" class="indexlink">The fallacy of "emulation"</a></td> +<td class="tdr">315</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_321" class="indexlink">Necessity of reforming the + school</a></td> +<td class="tdr">321</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_323" class="indexlink">Good conduct dependent on + satisfaction of intellectual needs</a></td> +<td class="tdr">323</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_325" class="indexlink">Mere sensory education + inadequate</a></td> +<td class="tdr">325</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_326" class="indexlink">Love, the preservative + force of life</a></td> +<td class="tdr">326</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_329" class="indexlink">Christianity teaches + necessity of mutual love</a></td> +<td class="tdr">329</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The education of the moral sense.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_331" class="indexlink">Moral education must have + basis of feeling</a></td> +<td class="tdr">331</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_331" class="indexlink">Adult the stimulus by which + child's feeling is exercised</a></td> +<td class="tdr">331</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_332" class="indexlink">How and when the adult should + offer affection</a></td> +<td class="tdr">332</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The essence of moral education.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_336" class="indexlink">Importance of perfecting + spiritual sensibility</a></td> +<td class="tdr">336</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_336" class="indexlink">Necessity of properly organized + environment</a></td> +<td class="tdr">336</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_336" class="indexlink">Helping the child distinguish + between right and wrong</a></td> +<td class="tdr">336</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_337" class="indexlink">"Internal sense" of right + and wrong</a></td> +<td class="tdr">337</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_340" class="indexlink">Moral conscience capable + of development</a></td> +<td class="tdr">340</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Our insensibility.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_343" class="indexlink">Virtuous person and criminal + not detected by contact</a></td> +<td class="tdr">343</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_345" class="indexlink">The War as an example of moral + insensibility</a></td> +<td class="tdr">345</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_345" class="indexlink">Insensibility distinguished + from death of the soul</a></td> +<td class="tdr">345</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_346" class="indexlink">Spiritually, man must either + ascend or die</a></td> +<td class="tdr">346</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>Morality and religion.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_347" class="indexlink">Conversion, the sudden + establishing of moral order</a></td> +<td class="tdr">347</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_349" class="indexlink">The spirit enslaved by + sentiments hostile to love</a></td> +<td class="tdr">349</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><b>The religious sentiment in children.</b></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_351" class="indexlink">Crises of conscience and + spontaneous religious feeling</a></td> +<td class="tdr">351</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#Page_352" class="indexlink">Some original observations + by Dr. Montessori</a></td> +<td class="tdr">352</td> +</tr> +</table> +<br /><br /><br /> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY<br /> +IN EDUCATION</h2> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I">I</a></h3> + +<h3>A SURVEY OF THE CHILD'S LIFE</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p><b>The general laws which govern the child's psychical health have their +parallel in those of its physical health</b>.—Many persons who have asked +me to continue my methods of education for very young children on +lines that would make them suitable for those over seven years of age, +have expressed a doubt whether this would be possible.</p> + +<p>The difficulties they put forward are mainly of a moral order.</p> + +<p>Should not the child now begin to respect the will of others rather +than his own? Should he not some day brace himself to a real effort, +compelling him to carry out a necessary, rather than a chosen, task? +Finally, should he not learn self-sacrifice, since man's life is not a +life of ease and enjoyment?</p> + +<p>Some, taking certain practical items of elementary education, which +present themselves even at the age of six, and must be seriously +envisaged at seven, urge their objection in this form: Now we are face +to face with the ugly specter of arithmetical tables, the arid mental +gymnastics exacted by grammar. What do you propose? Would you abolish +all this, or do you admit that the child must inevitably bow to these +necessities?</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +<p>It is obvious that the whole of the argument revolves round the +interpretation of that "liberty" which is the avowed basis of the +system of education advocated by me.</p> + +<p>Perhaps in a short time all these objections will provoke a smile, and +I shall be asked to suppress them, together with my commentary on +them, in future editions of this work. But at the present time they +have a right to exist, and to be dealt with, although indeed it is not +very easy to give a direct, clear and convincing answer to them, +because this entails the raising of questions on which everybody has +firmly rooted convictions.</p> + +<p>A parallel may perhaps serve to save us a good deal of the work. +Indirectly, these questions have been answered already by the progress +made in the treatment of infants under the guidance of hygiene. How +were they treated formerly? Many, no doubt, can still remember certain +practises that were regarded as indispensable by the masses. An infant +had to be strapped and swaddled, or its legs would grow crooked; the +ligament under its tongue had to be slit, to ensure its speaking +eventually; it was important that it should always wear a cap to keep +its ears from protruding; the position of a recumbent baby was so +arranged as not to cause permanent deformity of the tender skull; and +good mothers stroked and pinched the little noses of their nurslings +to make them grow long and sharp instead of round and snub, and put +little gold earrings through the lobes of their ears very soon after +birth "to improve their eyesight." Such practises may be already +forgotten in some countries; but in others they obtain to this day. +Who does not remember the various devices for helping a baby to walk? +Even in the first months after birth, at a period of life when the +nervous system is not completely developed, and it is impossible for +the infant to coordinate its movements, mothers wasted several +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +half-hours of the day "teaching baby to walk." Holding the little +creature by the body, they watched the aimless movements of the tiny +feet, and deluded themselves with the belief that the child was +already making an effort to walk; and because it does actually by +degrees begin to arch its feet and move its legs more boldly, the +mother attributed its progress to her instruction. When finally the +movement had been almost established—though not the equilibrium, and +the resulting power to stand on the feet—mothers made use of certain +straps with which they held up the baby's body, and thus made it walk +on the ground with themselves; or, when they had no time to spare, +they put the baby into a kind of bell-shaped basket, the broad base of +which prevented it from turning over; they tied the infant into this, +hanging its arms outside, its body being supported by the upper edge +of the basket; thus the child, though it could not rise on its feet, +<i>advanced</i>, moving its legs, and was said to be <i>walking</i>.</p> + +<p>Other relics of a very recent past are a species of convex crowns +which were put round the heads of babies when they were considered +capable of rising to their feet, and were accordingly emancipated from +the basket. The child, suddenly left to himself after being accustomed +hitherto to supports comparable to the crutches of the cripple, fell +perpetually, and the crown was a protection to the head, which would +otherwise have been injured.</p> + +<p>What were the revelations of Science, when it entered upon the scene +for the salvation of the child? It certainly offered no perfected +methods for straightening the noses and the ears, nor did it enlighten +mothers as to methods of teaching babies to walk immediately after +birth. No. It proclaimed first of all that Nature itself will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +determine the shape of heads, noses, and ears; that man will speak +without having the membrane of the tongue cut; and further, that legs +will grow straight and that the function of walking will come +naturally, and requires no intervention.</p> + +<p>Hence it follows that we should leave as much as possible to Nature; +and the more the babe is left free to develop, the more rapidly and +perfectly will he achieve his proper proportions and higher functions. +Thus swaddling bands are abolished, and the "utmost tranquillity in a +restful position" is recommended. The infant, with its legs perfectly +free, will be left lying full length, and not jogged up and down to +"amuse" it, as many persons imagine they are doing by this device. It +will not be forced to walk before it is time. When this time comes, it +will raise itself and walk spontaneously.</p> + +<p>In these days nearly all mothers are convinced of this, and vendors of +swaddling-bands, straps, and baskets have practically disappeared.</p> + +<p>As a result, babies have straighter legs and walk better and earlier +than formerly.</p> + +<p>This is an established fact, and a most comforting one; for what a +constant anxiety it must have been to believe that the straightness of +a child's legs, and the shape of its nose, ears, and head were the +direct results of our care! What a responsibility, to which every one +must have felt unequal! And what a relief to say: "Nature will think +of that. I will leave my baby free, and watch him grow in beauty; I +will be a quiescent spectator of the miracle."</p> + +<p>Something analogous has been happening with regard to the inner life +of the child. We are beset by such anxieties as these: it is necessary +to form character, to develop the intelligence, to aid the unfolding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +and ordering of the emotions. And we ask ourselves how we are to do +this. Here and there we touch the soul of the child, or we constrain +it by special restrictions, much as mothers used to press the noses of +their babies or strap down their ears. And we conceal our anxiety +beneath a certain mediocre success, for it is a fact that men do grow +up possessing character, intelligence and feeling. But when all these +things are lacking, we are vanquished. What are we to do then? Who +will give character to a degenerate, intelligence to an idiot, human +emotions to a moral maniac?</p> + +<p>If it were really true that men acquired all such qualities by these +fitful manipulations of their souls, it would suffice to apply a +little more energy to the process when these souls are evidently +feeble. But this is not sufficient.</p> + +<p>Then we are no more the creators of spiritual than of physical forms.</p> + +<p>It is Nature, "creation," which regulates all these things. If we are +convinced of this, we must admit as a principle the necessity of "not +introducing obstacles to natural development"; and instead of having +to deal with many separate problems—such as, what are the best aids +to the development of character, intelligence and feeling?—one single +problem will present itself as the basis of all education: How are we +to give the child freedom?</p> + +<p>In according this freedom we must take account of principles analogous +to those laid down by science for the forms and functions of the body +during its period of growth; it is a freedom in which the head, the +nose, and the ears will attain the highest beauty, and the gait the +utmost perfection possible to the congenital powers of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +individual. Thus here again liberty, the sole means, will lead to the +maximum development of character, intelligence and sentiment; and will +give to us, the educators, peace, and the possibility of contemplating +the miracle of growth.</p> + +<p>This liberty will further deliver us from the painful weight of a +fictitious responsibility and a dangerous illusion.</p> + +<p>Woe to us, when we believe ourselves responsible for matters that do +not concern us, and delude ourselves with the idea that we are +perfecting things that will perfect themselves quite independently of +us! For then we are like lunatics; and the profound question arises: +What, then, is our true mission, our true responsibility? If we are +deceiving ourselves, what is indeed the truth? And what sins of +omission and of commission must be laid to our charge? If, like +Chanticleer, we believe that the sun rises in the morning because the +cock has crowed, what duties shall we find when we come to our senses? +Who has been left destitute, because we ourselves have forgotten "to +eat our true bread"?</p> + +<p>The history of the "physical redemption" of the infant has a sequel +for us which is highly instructive.</p> + +<p>Hygiene has not been confined to the task of anthropological +demonstration, such as that which not only made generally known, but +convinced every one, that the body develops spontaneously; because, in +reality, the question of infant welfare was not concerned with the +more or less perfect forms of the body. The real infantile question +which called for the intervention of science was the alarming +mortality among infants.</p> + +<p>It certainly seems strange in these days to consider this fact: that, +at the period when infantile diseases made the greatest ravages, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +people were not nearly so much concerned with infantile mortality as +with the shape of the nose or the straightness of the legs, while the +real question—literally a question of life and death—passed +unobserved. There must be many persons who, like myself, have heard +such dialogues as this: "I have had great experience in the care of +children; I have had nine." "And how many of them are living?" "Two." +And nevertheless this mother was looked upon as an authority!</p> + +<p>Statistics of mortality reveal figures so high that the phenomenon may +justly be called the "Slaughter of the Innocents." The famous graph of +Lexis, which is not confined to one country or another, but deals with +the general averages of human mortality, reveals the fact that this +terrible death-rate is of universal occurrence among all peoples. This +must be attributed to two different factors. One is undoubtedly the +characteristic feebleness of infancy; the other the absence of +protection for this feebleness, an absence that had become general +among all peoples. Good-will was not lacking, nor parental affection; +the fault lay hidden in an unknown cause, in a lack of protection +against a dire peril of which men were quite unconscious. It is now a +matter of common knowledge that infectious diseases, especially those +of intestinal origin, are those most destructive to infant life. +Intestinal disorders which impede nutrition, and produce toxins at an +age when the delicate tissues are most sensitive to them, were +responsible for nearly the entire death-roll. These were aggravated by +the errors habitually committed by those in charge of infants. These +errors were a lack of cleanliness which would astound us nowadays, and +a complete absence of any sort of rule concerning infant diet. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +soiled napkins which were wrapped round the baby under its swaddling +bands would be dried in the sun again and again, and replaced on the +infant without being washed. No care was taken to wash the mother's +breast or the baby's mouth, in spite of fermentation so pronounced as +to cause local disorder. Suckling of infants was carried out quite +irregularly; the cries of the child were the sole guide whereby its +feeding times, whether by night or day, were determined; and the more +it suffered from indigestion and the resulting pains, the more +frequently was it fed, to the constant aggravation of its sufferings. +Who in those days might not have seen mothers carrying in their arms +babies flushed with fever, perpetually thrusting the nipple into the +little howling mouth in the hope of quieting it? And yet those mothers +were full of self-sacrifice and of maternal anguish!</p> + +<p>Science laid down simple rules; it enjoined the utmost possible +cleanliness, and formulated a principle so self-evident that it seems +astounding people should not have recognized it for themselves: that +the smallest infant, like ourselves, should have regular meals, and +should only take fresh nourishment when it has digested what has been +given before; and hence that it should be suckled only at intervals of +so many hours, according to the months of its age and the +modifications of physical function in its development. No infant +should ever be given crusts of bread to suck, as is often done by +mothers, especially among the lower orders, to still its crying, +because particles of bread might be swallowed, which the child is yet +incapable of digesting.</p> + +<p>The mothers' anxiety then was: what are we to do when the baby cries? +They found to their astonishment after a time that their babies cried +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +a great deal less, or indeed not at all; they even saw infants only a +week old spending the two hours' intervals between successive meals +calm and rosy, with wide-open eyes, so silent that they gave no sign +of life, like Nature in her moments of solemn immobility. Why indeed +should they cry continually? Those cries were the sign of a state of +things which must be translated by these words: suffering and death.</p> + +<p>And for these wailing little ones the world did nothing. They were +strapped up in swaddling clothes, and very often handed over to a +young child incapable of responsibility; they had neither a room nor a +bed of their own.</p> + +<p>It was Science which came to the rescue and created nurseries, +cradles, rooms for babies, suitable clothes for them, alimentary +substances specially prepared for them by great industries devoted to +the hygienic sustenance of infants after weaning, and medical +specialists for their ailments; in short, an entirely new world, +clean, intelligent, and full of amenity. The baby has become the new +man who has conquered his own right to live, and thus has caused a +sphere to be created for him. And in direct proportion to the +diffusion of the laws of infantile hygiene, infant mortality has +decreased.</p> + +<p>So then, when we say that in like manner the baby should be left at +liberty spiritually, because creative Nature can also fashion its +spirit better than we can, we do not mean that it should be neglected +and abandoned.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, looking around us, we shall perceive that though we cannot +directly mold its individual forms of character, intelligence, and +feeling, there is nevertheless a whole category of duties and +solicitudes which we have neglected: and that on these <i>the life or +death</i> of the spirit depends.</p> + +<p>The principle of <i>liberty</i> is not therefore a principle of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +<i>abandonment</i>, but rather one which, by leading us from illusions to +reality, will guide us to the most positive and efficacious "care of +the child."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>The liberty accorded to the child of to-day is purely physical. Civil +rights of the child in the twentieth century</b>.—Hygiene has brought +liberty into the physical life of the infant. Such material facts as +the abolition of swaddling bands, open-air life, the prolongation of +sleep till the infant wakes of its own accord, etc., are the most +evident and tangible proof of this. But these are merely means for the +attainment of liberty. A far more important measure of liberation has +been the removal of the perils of disease and death which beset the +child at the outset of life's journey. Not only did infants survive in +very much greater numbers as soon as the obstacles of certain +fundamental errors were swept away, but it was at once apparent that +there was an improvement in their development. Was it really hygiene +which helped them to increase in weight, stature, and beauty, and +improved their material development? Hygiene did not accomplish quite +all this. Who, as the Gospel says, can by taking thought add one cubit +to his stature? Hygiene merely delivered the child from the obstacles +that impeded its growth. External restraints checked material +development and all the natural evolution of life; hygiene burst these +bonds. And every one felt that a liberation had been effected; every +one repeated in view of the accomplished fact: children should be +free. The direct correspondence between "conditions of physical life +fulfilled" and "liberty acquired" is now universally and intuitively +recognized. Thus the infant is treated like a young plant. Children +to-day enjoy the rights which from time immemorial have been accorded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +to the vegetables of a well-kept garden. Good food, oxygen, suitable +temperature, the careful elimination of parasites that produce +disease; yes, henceforth we may say that the son of a prince will be +tended with as much care as the finest rose-tree of a villa.</p> + +<p>The old comparison of a child to a flower is the reality to which we +now aspire; though even this is a privilege reserved for the more +fortunate children. But let us beware of so grave an error. The babe +is a man. That which suffices for a plant cannot be sufficient for +him. Consider the depth of misery into which a paralyzed man has sunk +when we say of him: "He merely vegetates; as a man, he is dead," and +lament that there is nothing but his body left.</p> + +<p>The infant as a <i>man</i>—such is the figure we ought to keep in view. We +must behold him amidst our tumultuous human society and see how with +heroic vigor he aspires to life.</p> + +<p>What are the rights of children? Let us consider them for a moment as +a social class, as a class of workers, for as a fact they are laboring +to produce men. They are the future generation. They work, undergoing +the fatigues of physical and spiritual growth. They continue the work +carried on for a few months by their mothers, but their task is a more +laborious, complex, and difficult one. When they are born they possess +nothing but potentialities; they have to do everything in a world +which, as even adults admit, is full of difficulties. What is done to +help these frail pilgrims in an unknown world? They are born more +fragile and helpless than an animal, and in a few years they have to +become men, to be units in a highly complicated organized society, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +built up by the secular effort of innumerable generations. At a +period in which civilization, that is, the possibility of right +living, is based upon rights energetically acquired and consecrated by +laws, what rights has he who comes among us without strength and +without thought? Like the infant Moses lying in the ark of bulrushes +on the waters of the Nile he represents the future of the chosen +people; but will some princess passing by perchance see him?</p> + +<p>To chance, to luck, to affection, to all these we entrust the child; +and it would seem that the Biblical chastisement of the Egyptian +oppressor, the death of the first-born, is to be unceasingly renewed.</p> + +<p>Let us see how social justice receives the infant when he enters the +world. We are living in the twentieth century; in many of the +so-called civilized nations orphan asylums and wet nurses are still +recognized <i>institutions</i>. What is an orphan asylum? It is a place of +sequestration, a dark and terrible prison, where only too often the +prisoner finds death, as in those medieval dungeons whence the victim +disappeared, leaving no trace. He never sees any who are dear to him. +His family name is cancelled, his goods are confiscated. The greatest +criminal may retain memories of his mother, knows that he has had a +name, and may derive some consolation from his recollections, +comparable to the soothing reflections of one who having become blind +recalls the beauty of colors and the splendor of the sun; but the +foundling is as one born blind. Every malefactor has more rights than +he; and yet who could be more innocent? Even in the days of the most +odious tyranny, the spectacle of oppressed innocence kindled a flame +of justice that sooner or later blazed up into revolution. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +persons imprisoned by tyrants because they had happened to be +witnesses of their crimes, and who were cast into dungeons where +darkness and inaudible suffering were henceforth their unhappy +portion, at least roused the people to proclaim the principle of equal +justice for all. But who will lift up his voice for our foundlings? +Society does not perceive that they too are men; they are indeed only +the "flowers" of humanity. And to save honor and good name, what +society would not with one accord sacrifice more "flowers"?</p> + +<p>The wet nurse is a social custom. A luxurious custom, on the one hand. +Not very long ago, a girl of the middle-and not even the upper +middle-class, who was about to marry, boasted in the following terms +of the domestic comfort promised her by her future husband: "I am to +have a cook, a housemaid, and a wet nurse." On the other hand, the +robust peasant girl who has given birth to a son, looking complacently +at her heavy breasts, thinks: "I shall be able to get a good place as +wet nurse." It is only quite recently that hygiene has cried shame +upon those mothers whose laziness makes them refuse to suckle their +own children; in our times queens and empresses who suckle their +children are still cited admiringly as examples to other mothers. The +<i>maternal duty</i> of suckling her own children prescribed to mothers by +hygienists is based on a physiological principle: the mother's milk +nourishes an infant more perfectly than any other. In spite of this +clear indication, the duty is far from being universally accepted. +Often in our walks we still see a robust mother accompanied by a wet +nurse gorgeously attired in red or blue, with gold and silver +embroideries, carrying a baby. Wealthy mothers have untidily dressed +wet nurses who do not go out with them, who always follow the modern +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +nurse, an expert in infantile hygiene, who keeps the baby "like a +flower."</p> + +<p>And what of the other child?... For every infant who has a double +supply of human milk at his disposal, there is another child who has +none. The wealth in question is not an industrial product. It is +apportioned by Nature with careful precision. For each new life, the +ration of milk. Milk cannot be produced by any means other than the +production of life. Cow-keepers know this well; their good cows are +hygienically reared, and calves are sent to the butcher. Yet what +distress is felt whenever the young of some animal is parted from its +mother! Is it not so in the case of puppies and kittens? When a pet +dog has given birth to a litter so numerous that she cannot suckle +them all, and it is necessary to destroy some of the puppies, what +sincere grief is felt by the mistress of the house, whose own baby is +being suckled by a magnificent wet nurse! Well—the thing which +excites her compassion above all is the eager, whimpering mother, who +does not understand whether she has or has not the strength to suckle +all the shapeless puppies she has borne, but who cannot lose one of +them without despair. The wet nurse is quite another affair; she came +of her own accord to offer her milk for sale. What the other—her own +child—was to do, no one cared.</p> + +<p>Only a clearly defined <i>right</i>, a <i>law</i>, could have protected him, for +society is based on rights. These, it is true, are the rights of +property, which are absolute; steal a loaf, even if you are starving, +and you are a thief. You will be punished by the law and outlawed by +society. The rights of property constitute one of the most formidable +of the social bases. An administrator of landed estate who should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +sell the property belonging to his master, make money out of it for +his own enjoyment, and leave the rightful owner in the direst poverty, +is a criminal difficult to imagine. For who would buy a property +without the signature of the owner? Society is so constituted that +certain crimes would not only be punished if committed, but are almost +impossible to commit. Yet in the case of young infants, this crime is +committed every day, and is not regarded as a crime, but as a luxury. +What can be a more sacred right than that of the baby to his mother's +milk? He might say of this in the words of the Emperor Napoleon: "God +has given it to me." There can be no doubt whatever as to the +legitimacy of his claim; his sole capital, milk, came into the world +with and for him. All his wealth is there: strength to live, to grow, +to acquire vigor are contained in that nourishment. If the defrauded +infant should become weak and rickety, what would become of him, +condemned by poverty to a hard calling? What a claim for damages, what +a question of accident during work with permanent injury resulting +therefrom might be raised if some day the infant could present himself +after the manner of a man before the tribunal of social justice!</p> + +<p>In civilized countries rich mothers have been induced to suckle their +children because hygienists have proved that this is beneficial to the +baby's health, but not because it has been recognized that the "civil +right" of the adult extends to the infant. These mothers consider +countries where the wet nurse is still an institution as less <i>highly +developed</i>, but on the same plane of civilization as their own.</p> + +<p>It may be asked: what if the mother is ill and <i>unable</i> to suckle her +child? In such a case the child of the sick woman is the unfortunate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +one. Why should another have to suffer for his misfortune? However +poverty-stricken individuals may be, we do not allow them to take from +others the wealth that is so urgently needed by them. If in these days +an Emperor could be cured of terrible sufferings by immersion in a +bath of human blood, he could not bleed healthy men for the purpose as +a barbarian Emperor would have done. These are the things that make up +our civilization. This it is which differentiates us from pirates and +cannibals. The rights of the adult are recognized.</p> + +<p>But not the rights of the infant.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> What an implication of baseness +the fact carries with it: we recognize the rights of adults indeed, +but not those of the child! We recognize justice, but only for those +who can protest and defend themselves; and for the rest, we remain +barbarians. Because to-day there may be peoples more or less highly +developed from the hygienic point of view, but they all belong to the +same civilization—a civilization based on the <i>right of the +strongest</i>.</p> + +<p>When we begin seriously to examine the problem of the moral education +of the child, we ought to look around us a little, and survey the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +world we have prepared for him. Are we willing that he should become +like us, unscrupulous in our dealings with the weak? that like us, his +consciousness should harbor ideas of a justice which stops short at +those who make no protests? Are we willing to make him like ourselves +half a civilized man in our dealings with our equals, and half a wild +beast when we encounter the innocent and oppressed?</p> + +<p>If not, then before we offer moral education to the child, let us +imitate the priest who is about to ascend to the altar: he bows his +head in penitence and confesses his own sins before the whole +congregation.</p> + +<p>This outlawed child is like a dislocated arm. Humanity cannot work at +the evolution of its morality until this arm has been put into its +place; and this will also end the pains and the paralysis of the +injured muscles attached to it: women. The social question of the +child is obviously the more complete and profound; it is the question +of our present and of our future.</p> + +<p>If we can reconcile to our conscience deeds of such grave injustice, +not to say crimes, without recognizing them as such, what minor forms +of oppression shall we not readily condone in our dealings with the +child?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>How we receive the infants that come into the world</b>.—Let us look +around. Only of late has any preparation been made to receive this +sublime guest. It is not very long ago that little beds for children +were first made; among all the innumerable tasteless, superfluous, and +extravagant objects of commerce, let us see what things are intended +for the child. No washstands, no sofas, no tables, no brushes. Among +all the many houses, there is not one house for him and his like, and +only rich and fortunate children have even a room of their own, more +or less a place of exile.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> + +<p>Let us imagine ourselves subjected for even a single day to the +miseries to which he is condemned.</p> + +<p>Suppose that we should find ourselves among a race of giants, with +legs immensely long and bodies enormously large in comparison with +ours, and also with powers of rapid movement infinitely greater than +ours, people extraordinarily agile and intelligent compared with +ourselves. We should want to go into their houses; the steps would be +each as high as our knees, and yet we should have to try to mount them +with their owners; we should want to sit down, but the seats would be +almost as high as our shoulders; clambering painfully upon them, we +should at last succeed in perching upon them. We should want to brush +our clothes, but all the clothes-brushes would be so huge that we +could not lay hold of them nor sustain their weight; and a +clothes-brush would be handed to us if we wanted to brush our nails. +We should perhaps be glad to take a bath in one of the washstand +basins; but the weight of these would make it impossible for us to +lift them. If we knew that these giants had been expecting us, we +should be obliged to say: they have made no preparations for receiving +us, or for making our lives among them agreeable. The baby finds all +that he himself needs in the form of playthings made for dolls; rich, +varied and attractive surroundings have not been created for him, but +dolls have houses, sitting-rooms, kitchens and wardrobes; for them all +that the adult possesses is reproduced in miniature. Among all these +things, however, the child cannot live; he can only amuse himself. The +world has been given to him in jest, because no one has yet recognized +him as a living man. He discovers that society has prepared a mockery +for his reception.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> + +<p>That children break their toys is so well known that this act of +destruction of the only things specially manufactured for them is +taken to be a proof of their intelligence. We say: "He destroys it +because he wishes to understand [how things are made];" in reality he +is looking to see if there is anything interesting <i>inside</i> the toys, +because externally they have no interest whatever for him; sometimes +he breaks them up violently, like an angry man. Then, according to us, +he is destroying out of naughtiness.</p> + +<p>It is the tendency of the child actually to live by means of the +things around him; he would like to use a washstand of his own, to +dress himself, really to comb the hair on a living head, to sweep the +floor himself; he too would like to have seats, tables, sofas, +clothes-pegs, and cupboards. What he desires is to work himself, to +aim at some intelligent object, to have comfort in his own life. He +has not only to "behave like a man," but to "construct a man;" such is +the dominant tendency of his nature, of his mission.</p> + +<p>We have seen him in the <i>Case dei Bambini</i> happy and patient, slow and +precise like the most admirable workman, and the most scrupulous +<i>conservator</i> of things. The smallest trifles suffice to make him +happy; it delights him to hang up his clothes on pegs fixed low down +on the walls, within reach of his hands; to open a light door, the +handle of which is proportioned to the size of his hand; to place a +chair, the weight of which is not too great for his arms, quietly and +gracefully. We offer a very simple suggestion: give the child an +environment in which everything is constructed in proportion to +himself, and let him live therein. Then there will develop within the +child that "active life" which has caused so many to marvel, because +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +they see in it not only a simple exercise performed with pleasure, but +the revelation of a spiritual life. In such harmonious surroundings +the young child is seen laying hold of the intellectual life like a +seed which has thrown out a root into the soil, and then growing and +developing by one sole means: long practice in each exercise.</p> + +<p>When we see little children acting thus, intent on their work, slow in +executing it, because of the immaturity of their structure, just as +they walk slowly because their legs are still short, we feel +intuitively that life is being elaborated within them, as a chrysalis +slowly elaborates the butterfly within the cocoon. To impede their +activity would be to do violence to their lives. But what is the usual +method with young children? We all interrupt them without compunction +or consideration, in the manner of masters to slaves who have no human +rights. To show "consideration" to young children as to adults would +even seem ridiculous to many persons. And yet with what severity do we +enjoin children "not to interrupt" us! If the little one is doing +something, eating by himself, for instance, some adult comes and feeds +him; if he is trying to fasten an overall, some adult hastens to dress +him; every one substitutes an alien action to his, brutally, without +the smallest consideration. And yet we ourselves are very sensitive as +to our rights in our own work; it offends us if any one attempts to +supplant us; in the Bible the sentence, "And his place shall another +take" is among the threats to the lost.</p> + +<p>What should we do if we were to become the slaves of a people +incapable of understanding our feelings, a gigantic people, very much +stronger than ourselves? When we were quietly eating our soup, +enjoying it at our leisure (and we know that enjoyment depends upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +being at liberty), suppose a giant appeared and snatching the spoon +from our hand, made us swallow it in such haste that we were almost +choked. Our protest: "For mercy's sake, slowly," would be accompanied +by an oppression of the heart; our digestion would suffer. If again, +thinking of something pleasant, we should be slowly putting on an +overcoat with all the sense of well-being and liberty we enjoy in our +own houses, and some giant should suddenly throw it upon us, and +having dressed us, should in the twinkling of an eye, carry us out to +some distance from the door, we should feel our dignity so wounded, +that all the expected pleasure of the walk would be lost. Our +nutrition does not depend solely on the soup we have swallowed, nor +our well-being upon the physical exercise of walking, but also upon +the liberty with which we do these things. We should feel offended and +rebellious, not at all out of hatred of these giants, but merely from +our recognition of the innate tendency to free functions in all that +pertains to life. It is something within us which man does not +recognize, which God alone knows, a something which manifests itself +imperceptibly to us to the end that we may complete it. It is this +love of freedom which nourishes and gives well-being to our life, even +in its most minute acts. Of this it was said: "Man does not live by +bread alone." How much greater this need must be in young children, in +whom creation is still in action!</p> + +<p>With strife and rebellion they have to defend their own little +conquests of their environment. When they want to exercise their +senses, such as that of touch, for instance, every one condemns them: +"Do not touch!" If they attempt to take something from the kitchen, +some scraps to make a little dish, they are driven away, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +mercilessly sent back to their toys. How often one of those marvelous +moments when their attention is fixed, and that process of +organization which is to develop them begins in their souls, is +roughly interrupted; moments when the spontaneous efforts of the young +child are groping blindly in its surroundings after sustenance for its +intelligence. Do we not all retain an impression of something having +been forever stifled in our lives?</p> + +<p>Without being able to give any definite reason, we feel that something +precious was lost on our life-journey, that we were defrauded and +depreciated. Perhaps at the very moments when we were about to create +ourselves, we were interrupted and persecuted, and our spiritual +organism was left rickety, weak, and inadequate.</p> + +<p>Let us imagine to ourselves certain adults, not mature and stable like +the majority of grown men, but in a state of spiritual auto-creation, +as are men of genius. Let us take the case of a writer under the +influence of poetic inspiration, at the moment when his beneficent and +inspiring work is about to take form for the help of other men. Or +that of the mathematician who perceives the solution of a great +problem, from which will issue new principles beneficial to all +humanity. Or again, that of an artist, whose mind has just conceived +the ideal image which it is necessary to fix upon the canvas lest a +masterpiece be lost to the world. Imagine these men at such +psychological moments, broken in upon by some brutal person shouting +to them to follow him at once, taking them by the hand, or pushing +them out by the shoulders. And for what? The chess-board is set out +for a game. Ah! such men would say, "You could not have done anything +more atrocious! Our inspiration is lost; humanity will be deprived of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +a poem, an artistic masterpiece, a useful discovery, by your folly."</p> + +<p>But the child in like case does not lose some single production; he +loses himself. For his masterpiece, which he is composing in the +recesses of his creative genius, is the new man. The "caprices," the +"naughtinesses," the "mysterious vapors" of little children are +perhaps the occult cry of unhappiness uttered by the misunderstood +soul.</p> + +<p>But it is not only the soul that suffers; the body suffers with it. +For the influence exercised by the spirit on the entire physical +existence is a characteristic of man.</p> + +<p>In an institution for deserted children, there was one extremely ugly +little creature, who had nevertheless greatly endeared himself to a +young woman who had the care of him. This nurse one day told one of +the patronesses that the child was growing very pretty. The lady went +to look at it, but found it very ugly, and thought to herself that +daily habit soon accustoms us to the defects of others. Some time +after this the nurse made the same remark as before, and the lady +good-naturedly paid another visit; impressed by the warmth with which +the young woman spoke of the child, she was touched to think that love +had made the speaker blind. Several months elapsed, and finally the +nurse, with a triumphant air, declared that henceforth no mistake +would be possible, for the child had undoubtedly become "beautiful." +The lady, astounded, had to admit that this was true; the body of the +child had actually been transformed under the influence of a great +affection.</p> + +<p>When we delude ourselves with the idea that we are giving <i>everything</i> +to children by giving them fresh air and food, we are not even giving +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +them this: air and food are not sufficient for the body of man; all +the physiological functions are subject to a higher welfare, wherein +the sole key of all life is to be found. The child's body lives also +by joyousness of soul.</p> + +<p>Physiology itself teaches us these things. A frugal meal taken in the +open air will nourish the body far better than a sumptuous repast in a +close room, where the air is impure, because all the functions of the +body are more active in the open air, and assimilation is more +complete. In like manner a frugal meal eaten in common with beloved +and sympathetic persons is much more nutritious than the food a +humble, harassed secretary would partake at the lordly table of a +capricious master. Liberty in this case is the cry that explains all. +<i>Parva domus sed mea</i> (a little house, but my own), has been quoted +ever since the Roman epoch to indicate which is the most healthful of +houses. Where our lives are oppressed, there can be no health for us, +even though we eat of princely banquets or in splendid buildings.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>With man the life of the body depends on the life of the +spirit</b>.—Physiology gives an exhaustive explanation of the mechanism +of such phenomena. Moral activities have such an exact correspondence +with the functions of the body that it is possible to appreciate by +means of these the various emotional states of grief, anger, +weariness, and pleasure. In <i>grief</i>, for instance, the action of the +heart becomes feebler, as under a paralyzing influence; all the +blood-vessels contract, and the blood circulates more slowly, the +glands no longer secrete their juices normally, and these disturbances +manifest themselves in a pallor of the face, an appearance of +weariness in the drooping body, a mouth parched from lack of saliva, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +indigestion caused by insufficiency of the gastric juice, and cold +hands. If prolonged, grief results in mal-nutrition and consequent +wasting, and predisposes the debilitated body to infectious diseases. +<i>Weariness</i> is like a rapid paralysis of the heart; it may induce +fainting, as expressed in the popular phrase "dead tired"; but a +reflex action will nearly always restore the sufferer, like an +automatic safety-valve; thus a yawn, that is to say, a deep, spasmodic +inspiration, which dilates the pulmonary alveoli, causes the blood to +flow to the heart like a suction pump, and sets it in motion again. In +<i>anger</i> there is a kind of tetanic contraction of all the capillaries, +causing extreme pallor, and the expulsion of an extra quantity of bile +from the liver. <i>Pleasure</i> causes dilatation of the blood-vessels; the +circulation, and consequently all the functions of secretion and +assimilation are facilitated; the face is suffused with color, the +gastric juice and the saliva are perceptible as that healthy appetite +and that watering of the mouth which invite us to supply fresh +nourishment to the body; all the tissues work actively to expel their +toxins, and to assimilate fresh nourishment; the enlarged lungs store +up large quantities of oxygen, which burn up all refuse, leaving no +trace of poisonous germs. It is an injection of health.</p> + +<p>In Italy, where after the abolition of the death penalty the +punishment of solitary confinement was substituted, we have a proof +even more eloquent of the influence of the spirit upon the functions +of the body. With our modern measures of hygiene in prisons, the +prison cell cannot be called a place of torture for the body: it is +merely a place where all spiritual sustenance is withheld. It consists +of a cell with perfectly bare gray walls, opening only into a narrow +strip of ground enclosed by high walls, where the criminal may walk +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +in the fresh air, because the open country is all around him, though +it is hidden from his sight. What is lacking here for the body? It is +provided with food, and a shelter from the weather, it has a bed and a +place where it can take in fresh stores of pure oxygen; the body can +rest, nay more, it can do nothing but rest. The conditions seem almost +ideal for any one who does not wish to do anything, and desires simply +to vegetate. But no sound from without, no human voice ever reaches +the ear of the being here incarcerated; he will never again see a +color or a form. No news from the outer world ever reaches him. Alone +in dense spiritual darkness, he will spend the interminable hours, +days, seasons, and years. Now, experience has shown that these +wretched persons cannot live. They go mad and die. Not only their +minds but their bodies perish after a few years. What causes death? If +such a man were a plant, he would lack nothing, but he requires other +nourishment. Emptiness of the soul is mortal even to the vilest +criminal, for this is a law of human nature. His flesh, his viscera, +his bones perish when deprived of spiritual food, just as an oak-tree +would perish without the nitrates of the earth and the oxygen of the +air. This slow death substituted for violent death was, indeed, +denounced as very great cruelty. To die of hunger in nine days like +Count Ugolino is a more cruel fate than to be burnt to death in half +an hour like Giordano Bruno; but to die of starvation of the spirit in +a term of years is the most cruel of all the punishments hitherto +devised for the castigation of man.</p> + +<p>If a robust and brutal criminal can perish from starvation of the +soul, what will be the fate of the infant if we take no account of his +spiritual needs? His body is fragile, his bones are in process of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +growth, his muscles, overloaded with sugar, cannot yet elaborate their +powers; they can only elaborate themselves; the delicate structure of +his organism requires, it is true, nutriment and oxygen; but if its +functions are to be satisfactorily performed, it requires joy. It is a +joyous spirit which causes "the bones of man to exult."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="II" id="II">II</a></h3> + +<h3>A SURVEY OF MODERN EDUCATION</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> + +<p><b>The precepts which govern moral education and instruction</b>.—Although +the adult relegates the child to an existence among toys, and +inexorably denies him those exercises which would promote his internal +development, he claims that the child should imitate him in the moral +sphere. The adult says to the child: "Do as I do." The child is to +become a man, not by training and development, but by imitation. It is +as if a father were to say in the morning to his little one: "Look at +me, see how tall I am; when I return this evening, I shall expect you +to have grown a foot."</p> + +<p>Education is greatly simplified by this method. If a tale of some +heroic deed is read to the child, and he is told to "become a hero"; +if some moral action is narrated and is concluded with the +recommendation, "be thou virtuous"; if some instance of remarkable +character is noted together with the exhortation, "you too must +acquire a strong character," the child has been put in the way of +becoming a great man!</p> + +<p>If children show themselves discontented and restless, they are told +that they want for nothing, that they are fortunate to have a father +and a mother, and to conclude, they are exhorted thus: "Children, be +happy—a child should always be joyous"; and behold! the mysterious +yearnings of the child are supposed to be satisfied!</p> + +<p>Adults are quite content when they have acted thus. They straighten +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +out the character and the morals of their children as they formerly +straightened their legs by bandaging them.</p> + +<p>True, rebellious children occasionally demonstrate the futility of +such teachings. In these cases a good instructor chooses appropriate +stories showing the baseness of such ingratitude, the dangers of +disobedience, the ugliness of bad temper, to accentuate the defects of +the pupil. It would be just as edifying to discourse to a blind man on +the dangers of blindness, and to a cripple on the difficulties of +walking. The same thing happens in material matters; a music-master +says to a beginner: "Hold your fingers properly; if you do not, you +will never be able to play." A mother will say to a son condemned to +sit bent double all day on school benches, and obliged by the usages +of society to study continually: "Hold yourself gracefully, do not be +so awkward in company, you make me feel ashamed of you."</p> + +<p>If the child were one day to exclaim: "But it is you who prevent me +from developing will and character; when I seem naughty, it is because +I am trying to save myself; how can I help being awkward when I am +sacrificed?" To many this would be a revelation; to many others merely +a "want of respect."</p> + +<p>There is a method by which the child may be brought to achieve the +results which the adult has laid down as desirable; it is a very +simple method. The child must be made to do whatever the adult wishes; +the adult will then be able to lead him to the heights of goodness, +self-sacrifice and strength, and the moral child will be created. To +dominate the child, to bring him into subjection, to make him +obedient—this is the basis of education. If this can be done by any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +means whatever, even by violence, all the rest will follow; and +remember, it is all for the good of the child. The child could not be +molded by any other means. It is the first and principal step in what +is called "educating the will of the child," one which will henceforth +enable the adult to speak of himself as Virgil speaks of God.</p> + +<p>After this first step the adult will examine himself to see what are +the things he finds most difficult, and these he will exact from the +child <i>in time</i>, that the child may accustom himself to the necessary +difficulties of man's life. But very often the adult also imposes +conditions which he himself <i>has not the fortitude to accept</i> even +partially ... as, for instance, the task of listening motionless for +three or four hours every day, during a course of years, to a dull, +wearisome lecturer.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>It is the teacher who forms the child's mind. How he teaches</b>.—The +same conception governs the school: it is the teacher who must form +the pupil; the development of the child's intelligence and culture are +in his hands. He has a truly formidable task and a tremendous +responsibility. The problems that present themselves to him are +innumerable and acute; they form as it were a hedge of thorns +separating him from his pupils. What must first of all be devised, to +win the attention of his pupils, so that he may be able to introduce +into their minds all that seems to him necessary? How is he to offer +them an idea in such a manner that they will retain it in their +memories? To this end, it is essential that he should have a knowledge +of psychology, the precise manner in which physical phenomena are +produced, the laws governing memory, the psychical mechanism by means +of which ideas are formed, the laws governing the association of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +ideas, by means of which very gradually ideas proceed to the most +sublime activities, impelling the child to reason. It is he who, +knowing all these things, must build up and enrich the mind. And this +is no easy matter, because, in addition to this difficult work, there +is always the difficulty of difficulties, that of inducing the child +to lend himself to all this endeavor, and to second the master, and +not show himself recalcitrant to the efforts made on his behalf. For +this reason the <i>moral</i> education is the point of departure; before +all things, it is necessary to <i>discipline</i> the class. The pupils must +be induced to <i>second</i> the master's efforts, if not by love, then by +force. Failing this point of departure, all education and instruction +would be <i>impossible</i>, and the school <i>useless</i>.</p> + +<p>Another difficulty is that of economizing the powers of the pupils, +that is to say, utilizing them to the utmost without wasting them. How +much rest is necessary? How long should any particular work be carried +on? Perhaps ten minutes' rest may be necessary after the first +three-quarters of an hour of occupation; but after another +three-quarters of an hour, a pause of fifteen minutes may be required, +and so on throughout the day; finally, a quarter of an hour's rest may +be needed after ten minutes' occupation. But what instruction is best +adapted to the powers of a child during the various hours of the day? +Is it best to begin with mathematics or with dictation? At what hours +will the child be most inclined to exercise his powers of imagination, +at 9 in the morning or at 11?</p> + +<p>Other anxieties must assail a perfect teacher! How should he write on +the blackboard so that the children seated at a distance may see? for +if they do not see his work is of no avail. And how much light shall +fall upon the blackboard, in order that all may see clearly the white +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +characters on the black surface? Of what size should be the script +specially chosen by the master to suit distant vision? This is a +serious matter, because if the child, obliged by discipline to look +and learn from a distance, should put too great a strain upon his +powers of visual accommodation, he may in time become short-sighted; +then the teacher would have manufactured a blind person. A serious +matter indeed!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>What consideration has ever been given to the state of anxiety of such +a teacher? To get some idea of his anxiety we may think of a young +wife about to become a mother, who should set herself such problems as +the following: how can I create an infant, if I know nothing of +anatomy; how can I form its skeleton? I must study the structure of +the bones carefully. I must then learn how the muscles are attached; +but how will it be possible to put the brain into a closed box? And +must the little heart go on beating continually until death? Is it +possible that it will not weary?</p> + +<p>In like fashion, she might ponder thus over her new-born babe: it is +evident that he will not be able to walk if he does not first of all +understand the laws of equilibrium; if he is left to himself, he will +not be able to understand these till he is twenty; I must therefore +prepare to teach him these laws prematurely in order that he may be +able to walk as quickly as possible.</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster is the person who builds up the intelligence of the +pupil; the intelligence of the pupil increases in direct proportion to +the efforts of the teacher; in other words, he knows just what the +master has made him know and understands neither more nor less than +the master has made him understand. When an inspector visits a school +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +and questions the pupils he turns to the master, and if he is +satisfied says: "Well done, teacher!" For the result is indubitably +the work of the master; the discipline by which he has fixed the +attention of his pupils, even to the psychical mechanism which has +guided him in his teaching, all is due to him. God enters the school +as a symbol in the crucifix, but the creator is the teacher.</p> + +<p>A good deal of help is given to teachers in their superhuman task. +There is a kind of division of labor, by virtue of which more advanced +experts prepare the schemata of instruction; basing them upon +psychology, if the teaching is on a scientific plan, or on the +principles laid down by one of the great pedagogists such as Herbart, +for example; moreover, the sciences, such as hygiene and experimental +psychology, are further invoked to overcome many practical +difficulties and to help in the arrangement of schoolrooms, the +drawing up of the curriculum, time-tables, etc.</p> + +<p>Here, for instance, are notes for lessons on a psychological basis, +that is to say, lessons which take account of the proper <i>order of +succession</i> in which the psychical activities should develop in the +mind of the child; by exercises of this kind, the pupil will not only +learn, but will develop his intelligence in accordance with the laws +governing its formation.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Object Lesson</span></h3> + +<p>A Candle: <i>Education of the sensory and perceptive faculties</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Sight</i>.—White, solid.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +<p><i>Touch</i>.—Greasy, smooth.</p> + +<p><i>Nomenclature</i>.—Parts of the candle: wick, surface, extremity, edges, +upper part, lower part, middle part. The candles we use are made of +<i>wax</i> mixed with <i>stearine</i>. Stearine is made of the fat of oxen and +sheep and pigs. Hence they are called stearine candles. There are also +<i>wax</i> candles. These are yellowish and less greasy. Wax is produced by +bees. There are also tallow candles; these are very greasy and have a +disgreeable smell when burning.</p> + +<p><i>Memory</i>.—Have you ever seen a candle-factory? Have you ever seen a +bee-hive? Of what are the cells of the honeycomb made? When do you +light a candle? Have you ever carried a lighted candle carelessly? Did +not this cause a disaster?</p> + +<p><i>Imagination</i>.—Draw the outline of a candle on the blackboard.</p> + +<p><i>Comparison, association, abstraction</i>.—Similarity and difference in +candles of stearine, wax, and tallow.</p> + +<p><i>Judgment and reasoning</i>.—Are candles useful? Were they more useful +formerly, or now that we have gas and electric light?</p> + +<p><i>Sentiments</i>.—Children are greatly pleased by a visit to a +candle-factory. It is indeed very agreeable to see how candles used by +so many people are made. When we can satisfy our desire for +instruction we feel pleasure and contentment.</p> + +<p><i>Volition</i>.—What should we do with the fat of pigs if we did not know +how to make it into stearine? What should we do with wax if we did not +know how to utilize it? Man is able to work and to transform many +products into useful substances and objects. Work is our life. Blessed +be the workers! Let us also love work and devote ourselves diligently +thereto.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +<p>(N.B.—The children are all to listen without moving.) Any kind of +lesson may be based on the same psychical plan, even a moral lesson. +For instance:</p> + +<p><i>Moral education derived from the observation of actions</i>.</p> + +<p>(N.B.—The actions are all invented and narrated.)</p> + +<p><i>Agreeable manners. Incident</i>.—"Is it true, Miss, that the village +church is more than a kilometer from here? My mother has ordered me to +go there. I thought I had arrived, and I was so pleased. I have come a +long way, and I am so very, very tired." "Indeed," replied the girl, +who was standing at the gate of her home, "you are still a kilometer +and a half from the church. But come through my gate, and take the +short cut I will show you through my fields. You will get to the +church in five minutes." What an amiable girl!</p> + +<p><i>Successive relations of cause and effect</i>.—The village girl showed +amenity to the little traveler. The latter reached the church quickly, +was saved much fatigue, and felt great relief.</p> + +<p><i>Memory</i>.—Have you always been pleasant to your companions? Have you +always been ready to lend a comrade anything he has asked for? Have +you always thanked those who have done you favors in an agreeable +manner?</p> + +<p><i>Comparison, association, abstraction</i>.—Comparison between an +agreeable child and a boorish one.</p> + +<p><i>Judgment, reasoning</i>.—Why is it necessary to be courteous to all? Is +it sufficient to give help solely to show oneself to be amiable?</p> + +<p><i>Sentiments</i>.—He who is amiable has a soul rich in sweetness and +suavity. What sympathy he evokes in all! The disagreeable person is +irritated by trifles. He excites disgust and fear in others. He who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +is affable shows love to his neighbor.</p> + +<p><i>Volition</i>.—Children, accustom yourselves to be pleasant to every +one. You should be pleasant when you are conferring some favor, +otherwise the favor will seem irksome. When you want something, do you +ask for it arrogantly? If so, it will be easier to say no than yes to +you. On the other hand, if you ask politely for something, will it not +be difficult to refuse you?</p> + +<p>It will perhaps be more interesting to follow a lesson actually given, +and accepted as a model for teachers in general. I therefore reproduce +one of the lessons which gained a prize at a competition of teachers +held in Italy.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> In this, according to the subject or theme, only one +primary psychical activity was to be dealt with: viz. sensory +perception. (The compositions were distinguished not by the names of +the authors, but by mottoes.)</p> + +<p><i>Motto</i>.—Things are the first and best teachers.</p> + +<p>I set myself the following limits:</p> + +<p><i>To give an idea of icy cold in contrast to that of heat</i>. [This would +be amply sufficient in itself, for these ideas are not grains to pick +up one after the other, but sublime psychical facts of great +complexity, and, consequently, very difficult to assimilate.]</p> + +<p><i>Combine with the idea to be imparted, the cultivation of a sense of +compassion and pity for the very poor</i>, to whom winter brings such +severe suffering; a feeling I have already tried many times to arouse.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +<p>The above is for my own guidance; what follows is for the children.</p> + +<p>"Children, how comfortable we are here! Everything is clean; +everything is in order; I am so fond of you; you are so fond of me. +Isn't this true, children?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—I am, I am. Me too (correct).</p> + +<p>Tell me, Gino, are you cold? You said no at once. Well, no, you are +right; we are really very cozy here. There, in that corner (I point) +there is a thing which gives out much ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Heat. It is the stove.</p> + +<p>But outside, where there is no stove, over there, towards the horizon +(the children are to a certain extent familiar with this word), there +is no warmth.</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—It's cold there (an answer due to the clarity of the laws +of contrast).</p> + +<p>Last night ... while we were asleep, while your mother perhaps was +mending your clothes ... dear mother, how kind she is!... well, last +night, so many, many white flakes fell softly from the sky!...</p> + +<p>Snow, snow! exclaim the children.</p> + +<p>Children! let us say: so many snowflakes fell. How beautiful the snow +is! Let us go and look at it closely.</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Yes, yes, yes, yes.</p> + +<p>It is so beautiful that I see you would all like to take a little. But +perhaps this is not allowed. To whom does the snow belong? (No +answer.) Who bought it? Who made it? You? No. I? No. Your mother? No. +Then did your father buy it? (They look at me in astonishment; these +are really very strange questions.) No, again. Well then, the snow +belongs to every one. And if this is so, we may take a little handful +of it. (Evident signs of joy.) I will hand round the boxes you made +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +yesterday. (These children have not desks with lockers in which they +may put their little works. Using the boxes will be a good way of +demonstrating the utility of their work.) They will do very well to +hold the beautiful snow. (I talk to them as I distribute the boxes, +that their attention may not flag.) I will take mine too, the one I +made with you. It is larger than yours; so which will hold more snow, +mine or yours?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Yours.</p> + +<p>Come then, children. Put a white handful into your boxes. How +delightful!</p> + +<p>(Going.) Just stop a moment; how comfortable we are here! Put one hand +over your face. How warm your face is, and how warm your hand is too! +We shall see whether your hands will still be so warm after you have +touched the snow.</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—They will be cold.</p> + +<p>Yes, indeed. (Going out.) How beautiful it is! It fell down from +above. The sky has given the earth a beautiful dress, all ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—White.</p> + +<p>At this juncture my children, accustomed to that principle of +healthful, ordered liberty which is the main factor in the formation +of character, touch and gather up the snow; some of them break the +pure surface with little drawings. I let them. I wait a minute, then I +make as it were a sudden assault upon their attention:</p> + +<p>Children, I too will take a little snow, but together with all of you. +Stop. Stand up. Look well at me. Let us take away a little strip of +the great cloak. Let us put it in our boxes. That's right. +(Re-entering the schoolroom.) Oh! how cold it is! The children who are +not well wrapped up are the coldest. Poor little things! And those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +who haven't that thing full of burning coal in their houses!</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—The stove.</p> + +<p>How cold they will be! Come now, quickly; all to your places. Put the +boxes on the desk. How cold the snow is! Did you notice how cold it +made your hands, which were quite warm?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—My hand is cold! Mine too! Etc.</p> + +<p>In the courtyard, I saw Caroline take a little snow, and then suddenly +let it fall; she was not strong enough to bear such cold. But then she +tried again, and the second time she did not drop it.</p> + +<p><i>Child</i>.—I didn't. I putted it (correct) quickly into my box.</p> + +<p>Children, when the cold is as great as the cold of the snow, it is +called <i>frost</i>. Say that, Guido. What is the word? Now you, Giannina. +And the snow which is so cold is ... what? Who can guess?</p> + +<p><i>A child</i>.—Frozen.</p> + +<p>Say: the snow is <i>frozen</i>.</p> + +<p>We came indoors, because it is frosty outside, and inside it is ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Warm.</p> + +<p>But we brought with us a frozen thing which is called ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Snow.</p> + +<p>What is it the stove gives us? <i>Do you remember?</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Heat.</p> + +<p>I want Maria to tell me. And now, Peppino.</p> + +<p>Do you know, our mouths also give out heat. Open yours. Not too much! +Hold up one hand in front of it, the right hand. Breathe on it as I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +am doing. Let us breathe again; now let us send our breath outwards, +as I am doing. Again ... again ... again. That's right. Now feel. You +see your mouth too gives out a little ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Heat.</p> + +<p>Now let us try putting a little snow into it. A little piece like +this. Oh! the heat of the mouth is escaping, it has already gone at +the icy touch of the snow.</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Our mouths are cold now.</p> + +<p>Yes, that's right. They are very, very cold, so cold that they are +what we call ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Freezing.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Giuseppe doesn't know. He didn't say it with the others. Say +it again, that he may say it with you. Again. That will do. Bravo, +Giuseppe. So our mouths were ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Freezing.</p> + +<p>Let us eat another little piece of snow. The snow turns to water in +our mouths, because it is made of water only. Now bread is made of +water too, but not <i>only</i> of water. What does the baker want to make +the dough for bread?...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Flour.</p> + +<p>And what else?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Salt.</p> + +<p>And what else?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Yeast.</p> + +<p>I see Luigi is still eating snow, and Alfonso too, and Pierino. Do you +like it?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Yes, Signora.</p> + +<p>Do you like it?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Yes, Signora. Me too, me too (correct).</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +<p>Well, eat a little more, but not much, it might make you ill. It is so +freezing (I repeat this word very often, because it expresses the idea +I am trying to convey).</p> + +<p>When it snows it is so very cold, and just think that there are many +children, many people, who are not warmly dressed and have no stoves; +they are very poor. They suffer very much, and some of them die; poor +people! How fortunate we are, on the other hand! We have so many +garments (they have learned this word) to cover ourselves with; we +have a stove at home and one at school, to warm us. How lucky we are!</p> + +<p><i>A child</i>.—I have no stove at home.</p> + +<p>I know you have not, Emilio, and I am very sorry. Children, you must +be kind to Emilio and Giuseppina, because they are very ...</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—Poor.</p> + +<p>Have you eaten it all?</p> + +<p><i>Children</i>.—No, Signora.</p> + +<p>Now let us go into the courtyard and throw away the rest of the snow. +Then we will put the boxes on this table to dry. And to-morrow I will +show you a pretty picture of country covered with snow. Come along; +bring your boxes, and when you have emptied them put them back where I +told you."</p> + +<p>I intend to repeat this lesson in another form, combining others with +it, and referring in it to other ideas, which bear a relation to that +here set forth.</p> + +<p>As everything in the physical and moral world is one and indivisible, +bound together in closest union, human development is gravely impeded +by the presentment of isolated educational facts in a desultory +manner, because it is impossible to disconnect things united by a +sacred and eternal law.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +<p>In the above "model" lesson, it is claimed that only two perceptions +are dealt with, those of cold and heat, and that the child has been +allowed a good deal of liberty, but of a judicious kind.</p> + +<p>Now it would be exceedingly difficult to limit the perceptions +strictly to two, especially when dealing with persons placed in an +environment abounding in stimuli, who have already stored up a whole +chaos of images. But such being the object in view, it is necessary to +eliminate as far as possible all other perceptions, to arrest those +two, and so to polarize attention on them that all other images shall +be obscured in the field of consciousness. This would be the +scientific method tending to isolate perceptions; and it is in fact +the practical method adopted by us in our education of the senses. In +the case of cold and heat, the child is "prepared" by the isolation of +the particular sense in question; he is placed blindfolded in a silent +place, to the end that thermic stimuli alone may reach him. In front +of the child are placed two objects perfectly identical in all +characteristics perceptible to the muscular tactile sense: of the same +dimensions, the same shape, the same degree of smoothness, the same +resistance to pressure; for instance, two india-rubber bags, filled +with the same quantity of water, and perfectly dry on the outside. The +sole difference is the temperature of the water in the two bags; in +the hot one, the water would be at a temperature of sixty degrees +centigrade; in the cold, at ten degrees centigrade. After directing +the child's attention to the object, his hand is drawn over the hot +bag, and then over the cold one; while his hand is on the hot bag the +teacher says: It is hot! While he feels the cold one he is told: It +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +is cold. And the lesson is finished. It has consisted merely of two +words, and of a long preparation designed to ensure that as far as +possible, the two sensations corresponding to these two words shall be +the only ones that reach the child. The other senses, sight and +hearing, were protected against stimuli; and there was no perceptible +difference in the objects offered to the touch save that of +temperature. Thus it becomes approximately probable that the child +will achieve the perception of two sensations exclusively.</p> + +<p>And what about the liberty of the child, we shall be asked?</p> + +<p>Well, we admit that every lesson infringes the liberty of the child, +and for this reason we allow it to last only for a few seconds: just +the time to pronounce the two words: hot, cold; but this is effected +under the influence of the preparation, which by first isolating the +sense makes, as it were, a darkness in the consciousness, and then +projects only two images into it. As if from the screen before a magic +lantern, the child receives his psychical acquisitions, or rather they +are like seeds falling on a fertile soil; and it is in the subsequent +free choice, and the repetition of the exercise, as in the subsequent +activity, spontaneous, associative, and reproductive, that the child +will be left "free." He receives, rather than a lesson, a determinate +impression of contact with the external world; it is the clear, +scientific, pre-determined character of this contact which +distinguishes it from the mass of indeterminate contacts which the +child is continually receiving from his surroundings. The multiplicity +of such indeterminate contacts will create chaos within the mind of +the child; pre-determined contacts will, on the other hand, initiate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +order therein, because with the help of the technique of isolation, +they will begin to make him distinguish one thing from another.</p> + +<p>The technique of our lessons is governed by experimental psychology. +And this trend, without doubt, is in contrast to that of the past, +which was governed by speculative psychology, on which the whole of +the educational methods commonly in use in schools has hitherto been +based.</p> + +<p>It was Herbart who used the philosophical psychology of his day as a +guiding principle to reduce pedagogic rules to a system. From his +individual experience he believed he could deduce a universal method +of developing the mind, and be made this the psychological basis of +methods of teaching. The German pedagogist, whose methods are now, +thanks to Credaro, formerly Professor of Pedagogy at the University of +Rome, and afterward Minister of Education, adopted for elementary +education throughout Italy, gave a unique type of lesson on the four +well-known periods (the formal steps): clarity, association, system, +method. These may be explained approximately as follows: presentation +of an object and its analytical examination (clarity); judgment and +comparison with other surrounding objects or with mnemonic images +(association); definition of the object deduced from preceding +judgments (system); new principles derived from the idea which is thus +deepened, and which will lead to practical application of a moral +order (method).</p> + +<p>The teacher must guide the child's mind on these lines in every kind +of teaching; he must, however, never substitute his own intelligence +for that of the child, but rather make the child himself think, and +induce him to exercise his own activity. For instance, in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +association period, the master must not say: "Look at such and such +an object, and at such and such another; see how much alike they are, +etc...." He should ask the pupil: "What do you see when you look +around? Is there not something which is like, etc.?" Again, in the +definition period, the master should not say: "A bird is a vertebrate +animal covered with feathers; it has two limbs which have been +transformed into wings," but by rapid questions, corrections, and +analogies, he should induce the child to find the precise definition +for himself. If the mental process of Herbart's four periods is to +come naturally, it would be essential that great interest in the +object should exist; it is interest which would keep the mind amused, +or, as the famous pedagogist would say, plunged in the idea, and would +maintain it in a system nevertheless embracing multilateral ideas; and +hence it is necessary that "interest" should be awakened and should +persist in all instruction. It is well known that a pupil of Herbart's +must, to this end, supplement Herbart's four periods by a prior +period, that of interest; linking all new knowledge to the old, "going +from the known to the unknown," because what is absolutely new can +awake no interest.</p> + +<p>"To make oneself interesting artificially," that is, interesting to +those who have no interest in us, is indeed a very difficult task; and +to arrest the attention hour after hour, and year after year, not of +one, but of a multitude of persons who have nothing in common with us, +not even years, is indeed a superhuman undertaking. Yet this is the +task of the teacher, or, as he would say, his "art": to make this +assembly of children whom he has reduced to immobility by discipline +follow him with their minds, understand what he says, and learn; an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +internal action, which he cannot govern, as he governs the position +of their bodies, but which he must win by making himself interesting, +and by maintaining this interest. "The art of tuition," says Ardigo, +"consists mainly of this: to know up to what point and in what manner +one can maintain the interest of pupils. The most skilful teachers are +those who never fatigue one fraction of the pupil's brain, but act in +such a manner that his attention, turning now here, now there, may +rest itself and, gaining strength, return to the principal argument of +the discourse with renewed vigor."</p> + +<p>A much more laborious art is that which leads the child to find by +means of its own mental processes, not what it would naturally find, +but what the teacher desires, although he does not say what he desires; +he urges on the child to associate his ideas "spontaneously"—as the +teacher associates them—and even succeeds in making the child compose +definitions with the exact words he himself has fixed upon, without +having revealed them. Such a thing would seem the result of some +occult science, a kind of conjuring trick. Nevertheless, such methods +have been and still are in use, and in some cases they form the sole +art of the teacher.</p> + +<p>When in 1862 Tolstoy was making his tours of inspection in the schools +of Germany, he was struck by this method of tuition, and among the +pedagogic writings describing his school, Iasnaja Poliana, he +reproduces a lesson which deserves to be recorded, although perhaps it +would no longer be possible to find an example of such a lesson in any +German school.</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 26em;" class="smcap">Iasnaja Poliana, 1862.</span><br /> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Calm and confident, the professor is seated in the class-room; the +instruments are ready; little tables with the letters, a book with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +the picture of a fish. The master looks at his pupils; he knows +beforehand all they are to understand; he knows of what their souls +consist, and various other things he has learned in the seminary.</p> + +<p>He opens the book and shows the fish. "Dear children, what is this?" +The poor children are delighted to see the fish, unless indeed they +already know from other pupils with what sauce it is to be served up. +In any case, they answer: "It is a fish." "No," replies the professor +(all this is not an invention nor a satire, but an exact account of +what I have seen without exception in all the best schools in Germany, +and in those English schools which have adopted this method of +teaching). "No," says the professor. "Now what is it you do see?" The +children are silent. It must not be forgotten that they are obliged to +remain seated and quiet, each one in his place, and that they are not +to move. "Well, what do you see?" "A book," says the most stupid child +in the class. Meanwhile, the more intelligent children have been +asking themselves over and over again what it is they do see; they +feel they cannot guess what the teacher wants, and that they will have +to answer that this fish is not a fish, but something the name of +which is unknown to them. "Yes, yes," says the master, eagerly, "very +good indeed, a book. And what else?" The intelligent ones guess, and +say joyfully and proudly: "Letters." "No, no, not at all!" says the +teacher, disappointed; "you must think before you speak." Again all +the intelligent ones lapse into mournful silence; they do not even try +to guess; they think of the teacher's spectacles, and wonder why he +does not take them off instead of looking over the top of them: "Come +then; what is there in the book?" All are silent. "Well, what is this +thing?" "A fish," says a bold spirit "Yes, a fish. But is it a live +fish?" "No, it is not alive." "Quite right. Then is it dead?" "No." +"Right. Then what is this fish?" "A picture." "Just so. Very good!" +All the children repeat: "It is a picture," and they think that is +all. Not at all. They have to say that it is a picture which +represents a fish. By the same method the master induces the children +to say that it is a picture which represents a fish. He imagines that +he is exercising the reasoning faculties of his pupils, and it never +seems to enter his head that if it is his duty to teach children to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +say in these exact words, "it is a book with a picture of a fish," it +would be much simpler to repeat this strange formula and make his +pupils learn it by heart.</p></div> + +<p>As a pendant to this old-fashioned lesson witnessed by Tolstoy in an +elementary school in Germany, we may cite the following lesson +recently set forth by a distinguished French pedagogist and +philosopher, whose text-books are classics in the schools of his own +country and in those of many foreign lands, and are also in use in the +teachers' training colleges in Italy. As the sub-title on the +title-page informs us, it is one of a series of "lessons designed to +mold teachers and citizens who shall be conscious of their duties, and +useful to families, to their fatherland, and to humanity." +<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> We are +therefore in the ambit of secondary schools. The lesson we cite is a +practical application of the principle of giving lessons by means of +interrogation (Socratic method), and deals with a moral theme: rights.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"You boys have never mistaken your companion Paul for this table or +this tree?—Oh, no!—Why?—Because the table and the tree are +inanimate and insensible, whereas Paul lives and feels.—Good. If you +strike the table it will feel nothing and you will not hurt it; but +have you any right to destroy it?—No, we should be destroying +something belonging to others.—Then what is it you respect in the +table? the inanimate and insensible wood, or the property of the +person to whom it belongs?—The property of the person to whom it +belongs.—Have you any right to strike Paul?—No, because we should +hurt him and he would suffer.—What is it you respect in him? the +property of another, or Paul himself?—Paul himself.—Then you cannot +strike him, nor shut him up, nor deprive him of food?—No. The police +would arrest us if we did.—Ah! ah! you are afraid of the police. But +is it only this which prevents you from hurting Paul?—Oh! no, Sir. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +It is because we love Paul and do not want to make him suffer, and +because we have no right to do so.—You think then that you owe +respect to Paul in his life and his feelings, because life and feeling +are things to respect?—Yes, sir.</p> + +<p>Are these all you have to respect in Paul? Let us enquire; think +well.—His books, his clothes, his satchel, the luncheon in it.—Well. +What do you mean?—We must not tear his books, soil his clothes or his +satchel, or eat his luncheon.—Why?—Because these things are his and +we have no right to take things belonging to others.—What is the act +of taking things that belong to others called?—Theft.—Why is theft +forbidden?—Because if we steal we shall go to prison.—Fear of the +police again! But is this the chief reason why we must not steal?—No, +Sir, but because we ought to respect the property as well as the +persons of others.—Very good. Property is an extension of human +personality and must be respected as such.</p> + +<p>And is this all? Is there nothing more to respect in Paul than his +body, his books and his copy-books? Do you not see anything else? Can +you not think of anything more? I will give you a hint: Paul is an +industrious pupil, an honest, good-natured companion; you are all fond +of him, and he deserves your affection. What do we call the esteem we +all feel for him, the good opinion we have of him?—Honor ... +reputation.—Well, this honor, this reputation, Paul acquired by good +conduct and good manners. These are things which belong to him.—Yes, +Sir; we have no right to rob him of them.—Very good; but what do we +call this kind of theft, that is, the theft of honor and reputation? +And first of all, how can we steal them? Can we take them and put them +in our pockets?—No, but we can speak evil of him.—How?—We could say +that he had done harm to one of his companions ... that he had stolen +apples from a neighboring orchard ... that he had spoken ill of +another.—That is so. But how could you rob him of honor and +reputation by speaking thus?—Sir, people would no longer believe him +if they had a bad opinion of him; he would be beaten, scolded, and +left to himself.—Then if you speak evil of Paul, and what you say is +false, do you give him pleasure?—No, Sir, we should cause him pain, +and do him a wrong, which would be very odious and wicked of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +us.—Yes, boys, this lying with intent to injure would be odious and +wicked, and it is called calumny. I will explain later that evil +speaking differs from calumny or slander in that what is said is not +untrue, and I will point out the terrible consequences of evil +speaking and slander.</p> + +<p>Now let us sum up what we have said: Paul is a living and sensitive +creature. We ought not to cause him suffering, to rob him, or to +slander him; we ought to respect him. The honorable things in Paul +constitute rights, and make him a moral person. The obligation laid +upon us to respect these rights is called <i>duty</i>. The obligation and +the duty of respecting the rights of others is also called <i>justice</i>. +<i>Justice</i> is derived from two Latin words (<i>in jure stare</i>), meaning: +to keep oneself in the right.</p> + +<p>The duties of justice enumerated by us are to be summed up thus: Not +to kill ... not to cause suffering ... not to steal ... not to +slander. Always reflect upon the words you say in which "Not" is +followed by a verb in the imperative infinitive. What does that mean?</p> + +<p>An obligation, a command, a prohibition.—Go on, explain. The +obligation of respect ... the command to respect rights ... the +prohibition of stealing. How may all these things be summed up? <i>In +doing no evil</i>.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Positive science makes its appearance in the schools</b>.—Positive +science was invited to enter into schools as into a chaos where it was +necessary to separate light from darkness, a place of disaster where +prompt succor was essential.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Discoveries of medicine: distortions and diseases</b>.—The first science, +indeed, to penetrate into the school was medicine, which organized a +special hygiene for the occasion, a kind of Red Cross service. The +most interesting part of the hygiene that penetrates into schools was +that which diagnosed and described the "diseases of school children," +that is to say, the maladies contracted solely as a result of study in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +school. The most prevalent of these maladies are spinal curvature and +myopia. The first is caused by excessive sitting, and by the injurious +position of the shoulders in writing. The second arises from the fact +that in the spot where the child has to remain seated, there is not +sufficient light for him to see clearly; or this spot is too far from +the blackboard, or from the places where the child has to read, and +the prolonged effort of accommodation induces myopia. Other minor +generalized maladies were also described: an organic debility so +widely diffused that hygiene prescribed as an ideal treatment a +gratuitous distribution of cod-liver oil or of reconstituent remedies +in general to all pupils. Anemia, liver complaints, and neurasthenia +were also studied as school diseases.</p> + +<p>Thus a new field was opened to hygiene in connection with the most +fertile source of professional disease, and reading and writing were +carefully studied in relation to pedagogical methods, and in relation +to spinal curvature and defective refraction of the eyes.</p> + +<p>The figure of the child, that victim of unsuitable and +disproportionate work, was not hereby brought into strong relief, as +might have been expected, by the aid of medicine, but a new branch of +"legal medicine" came into being. It was, indeed, medicine which drew +attention to the diseases and deaths of the victims in orphan asylums, +victims of artificial or irrational feeding, in conjunction with wet +nursing; it was medicine which passed in review one by one all those +individual cases which proclaim this legal fact: children have no +civil rights. Medicine now entered into another sphere where the +victims were not "cases," but the generality, the child-population in +its entirety; and now it is the law itself which imposes duties upon +them, and condemns them <i>en masse</i> to labor for many years in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +manner which entails physical torture. If a branch of legal medicine +has arisen in connection with criminals, how is it that none should +ever have arisen in connection with the innocent?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Science has not fulfilled its mission in its dealings with +children</b>.—Medicine has confined itself to the treatment of diseases +artificially produced. It has diagnosed a cause of disease and left +this cause undisturbed, content merely to alleviate the resultant +evils befalling a multitude of victims. It has not taken up the +attitude proper to its great and dignified rôle of "protector" of +life; it has merely come forward, like the Red Cross Service during +war, to heal the wounded and alleviate the condition of the suffering; +it has not considered that the authority it enjoys as the guardian of +health would enable it to utter the supreme cry of peace, putting an +end to a war so dangerous, unjust, and inhuman.</p> + +<p>As, in its struggle against microbes, it was the standard-bearer in +the most glorious of victories over death, so, fighting directly +against the causes of the impoverishment of generations, it might have +aspired to bear the banner of protector of posterity. Instead of this, +it confined itself to the elaboration of a branch of study that mimics +science: school hygiene; thus making itself the accomplice of a social +wrong.</p> + +<p>Let us glance into a recent treatise of school hygiene, which merely +sums up the ideas and the work of the world at large:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"We will briefly indicate the conditions favorable to the development +of spinal curvature. The age when the malady usually appears is that +of second infancy, hence its name of spinal curvature of the +adolescent; spinal curvature caused by rickets, which appears in early +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +childhood, is rarer, and is of less direct interest to us here. The +commonest cause, and that on which our attention should be primarily +concentrated, is the vicious attitude adopted by the majority of our +pupils during their school work; this cause is so universal that we +may call spinal curvature the professional disease of the pupil. +Doctor Legendre, in a formula which may be judged over-severe, though +unhappily it is only too well-founded, said of our schools that they +are factories for the production of the deformed and the myopic.</p> + +<p>"The main cause of myopia is to be found in the very conditions under +which children are gathered together in schools: insufficiency of +light, the over-small type common in school-books, the frequent use of +the blackboard, on which the teacher is not always careful to make the +size of the characters he traces proportionate to the distance at +which they have to be read, are so many causes of ocular fatigue. The +visual keenness of a given eye, says Doctor Leprince, decreases +rapidly when the intensity of the light falls below a certain limit. +The pupil, working with insufficient light, repairs the defective +keenness of which this is the cause, by increasing the visual angle +under which the details of the object he is looking at appear to him; +in other words, <i>he brings that object inordinately close to him</i>.</p> + +<p>"The time necessary to recognize a given letter increases greatly, +when the limit of visual acuteness has been reached. Therefore, +insufficient light would tend to make work slower, unless the pupil +increased acuteness by approaching the object more closely. Thus +myopia constitutes a positive adaptation to the defective conditions +of work, enabling the pupil to work more rapidly." +<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +<p>It would seem therefore natural to say: let the child find himself a +better lighted place; if the blackboard is at some distance from him, +let him come nearer to it; if the insufficient light retards his work, +let him go more slowly; if the questions at issue are such harmless +things as changing a place, advancing a step or two, taking a few +minutes longer over a task—what tyrant on earth would deny such a +small favor, and condemn the suppliant to blindness?</p> + +<p>Such a tyrant is the teacher, who aspires to win the affection of his +victims by means of moral exhortations.</p> + +<p>It would be so simple to allow children, when tired of sitting, to +rise, and when tired of writing, to desist, and then their bones would +not be twisted. Who can look on unmoved at the spectacle of children +whose vertebral column is being deformed by using desks, just as in +the Middle Ages the instep was deformed by the torture of the boot. +And on what grounds is this odious torture judged to be necessary?</p> + +<p>Because a man has substituted himself for God, desiring to form the +minds of children in his own image and likeness; and this cannot be +done without subjecting a free creature to torture. This is the only +reason.</p> + +<p>We will now quote the remedies by means of which a so-called science +proposes to counteract spinal curvature in school-children. It has +determined the exact position in which a child may remain seated and +at work for a long period of time without injury to the vertebræ.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"The child, seated at the table, should have his feet planted flat +upon the ground, or upon a foot-rest. The legs should be at +right-angles to the thighs, as should the thighs be to the trunk, save +for a slight inclination of the bench itself. The trunk should be in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +such a position that there will be no lateral inclination of the +vertebral column, the arms should be parallel with the sides of the +body, the thorax should not be interfered with by the front edge of +the table, the pelvic basin should be symmetrically supported, the +head slightly bent forward at a distance of thirty centimeters from +the level of the table; the axis of the eyes, remaining parallel with +the front edge of the table, should be horizontal; the forearms, +two-thirds of which should be laid on the table, should rest on it, +but without leaning upon it."</p></div> + +<p>To realize all these conditions, it is necessary that the desk should +be <i>exactly fitted</i> to the proportions of the child; its constituent +parts should agree with those of the body and limbs of the scholar.</p> + +<p>The following are the measurements which Dufessel considered +indispensable in the fashioning of a desk suitable for children:</p> + +<p>1. Height.</p> + +<p>2. The length of the leg, taken from below the knee, when the child is +seated with the legs at right-angles to the thighs, and the feet flat +on the ground. This measurement gives the required height of the seat +from the foot-rest.</p> + +<p>3. The diameter of the body from front to back, taken from the +sternum; this, with five centimeters added to it, gives the proper +distance from the reading-desk to the back of the seat.</p> + +<p>4. The length of the femur, two-thirds of which represent the depth of +the seat.</p> + +<p>5. Finally, the height of the epigastric cavity above the seat, +augmented by a few centimeters, indicates the height of the +reading-desk.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +<p>We may add that in view of the rapid growth of the child, these +measurements should be taken twice in the course of the school year, +and children should be made to change places in accordance with these +measurements.</p> + +<p>There is a little crustacean which, coming naked into the world, +chooses an empty shell and adapts itself thereto; when it grows larger +and the shell becomes too tight, it sallies forth and takes up its +abode in a larger one. This the creature does of its own accord, +without a savant to measure it or a teacher to choose a new shell for +it. But to us and to scientists, a child is inferior to this lowly +invertebrate!</p> + +<p>The difficulty of keeping forty or fifty children motionless for hours +in the prescribed hygienic attitude, and of finding desks exactly +adapted to these growing bodies, makes this remedy impracticable, so +hunchbacks continue among us. The problem remains unsolved.</p> + +<p>Hence it has been deemed more practical to establish a kind of +orthopædic institution within the building itself in certain model +schools in Rome. It consists of a costly and elaborate apparatus, to +which the pupils come in turn to be suspended by the head after the +method adopted in medicine to combat spinal curvature in Pott's +disease (tuberculosis of the vertebral column) and rickets.</p> + +<p>Healthy children, as well as the unsound, suffer by these +applications; but on the other hand, the results afford encouraging +statistics. If this hanging treatment be initiated regularly at the +age of six years it strikes a perfect balance with the injury caused +by prolonged deterioration induced by school desks, and children are +delivered from spinal disease.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Discoveries of experimental psychology: overwork; nervous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +exhaustion</b>.—Hygiene, making its way into the school, discovered +scholar's spinal curvature and scholar's myopia; experimental +psychology discovered the exhaustion due to overwork, and studied the +<i>fatigue</i> of the scholar. It followed in the beaten track of +medicine—that is to say, it sought to alleviate the ills it had +diagnosed, and instituted a branch of science the title of which is +not very clearly defined as yet, for some call it experimental +psychology applied to the school, others Scientific Pedagogy.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to remember that experimental psychology was +established in 1860 by Fechner, who was a physicist accustomed to +experiment on <i>things</i>, not on living creatures, and who merely +adapted the methods employed in physics to psychical measurements, +thus founding psycho-physics. The instruments specially invented for +esthesiometric measurements were of extreme precision; but the results +obtained showed such variations that by mathematical law they could +not be attributed to "errors of measurement," but were obviously due +to "errors of method." Indeed, for the measurement of liquids it is +necessary to have an instrument different from that which we use in +measuring solids, although we are still in the domain of physics; we +cannot measure a stuff by the quart, nor wine by the yard; how much +more then must the methods of measuring physical substances and +spiritual energy differ?</p> + +<p>After psycho-physics, psycho-physiology was introduced by Wundt. +Wundt, being a physiologist, applied the methods of study proper to +physiological functions to psychical study. He did not make the exact +metrical instrument his aim; but he measured nervous reactions exactly +in <i>time</i>. Fechner's primitive researches made it possible to produce +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +instruments so exact that they can measure the sound made by a drop of +water falling from the height of a meter, while Wundt's researches +have resulted in chronometers which can measure the thousandth part of +a second. But the spirit did not correspond to the exactness of +research—the results showed by their oscillations that nothing was +being measured—that the object to be measured escaped. It will +suffice to mention that in measuring the nervous currents in rate of +transmission of impulse along the nerves and also in the ganglion +cells of the spinal marrow, Exner arrived at a rapidity of eight +meters, and Bloch at a rapidity of 194 meters, in the same unit of +time.</p> + +<p>In spite of this startling contrast between the precision of the means +of research and the huge variations in the results, which were shown +by mathematical law to be absurd, experimental psychology carried on +extensive studies, under the illusion that it rested upon a +mathematical basis.</p> + +<p>It is from this science that a branch has been detached with which to +penetrate into the school, for the purpose of giving spiritual help to +the scholar, and fresh vigor to pedagogy.</p> + +<p>Methods of research are no longer merely those antiquated +psycho-physical and psycho-physiological methods formerly in favor; +experimental psychology, henceforth emancipated from its origins, has +developed independently. It now relies on purely psychological tests +for its researches, and although it does not exclude the methods +adopted in the laboratory, and the use of such accurate and +trustworthy instruments as the esthesiometer and the ergograph, the +school itself has become the chief field of experiment.</p> + +<p>For example: one of the most familiar tests of attention is to give a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +printed page to be read over, with directions to strike out every <i>a</i> +on the page; the time taken to complete this task is measured by +chronometer.</p> + +<p>Counting aloud from one to a hundred, and at the same time carrying on +arithmetical operations in writing, is a measure of the distribution +of the attention, provided the time taken be calculated by the +chronometer, and all errors be noted. To make several persons perform +similar exercises at the same time enables us to study comparative +individual activities. In schools, exercises in dictation which have +been previously determined, may be given to a group of scholars, care +being taken to note the time occupied in performing the exercise and +to compare the errors. This is also an easy and practical means of +obtaining collective results.</p> + +<p>These experiments all psychologists agree should be carried out +without interrupting the usual routine of the school. They are to be +regarded as an addition, an <i>extra</i>, and may be summed up as a means +of scientific research, throwing light upon the regular psychical +conditions of school studies.</p> + +<p>The principal results of such experiments have been: the multiplicity +of mistakes made, and the difficulty of fixing attention; that is to +say, they reveal the weariness, the degree of fatigue, in children.</p> + +<p>This gave the alarm! Old-fashioned pedagogy was concerned solely with +what children ought to do. The idea that their nervous energies might +be impaired was first called into being by the warning note of +science.</p> + +<p>Researches into the causes of fatigue became more and more frequent, +and coupled with such researches was the less immediate enquiry as to +how fatigue could be "combated" or "alleviated." All the factors +relating to the question were studied: age, sex, the degree of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +intelligence, the type of individual, the influence of the seasons, +the influence of the various times of the day, of the various days of +the week, of habit, intervals of relaxation, interest, variety of +work, the position of the body, and, finally, position in reference to +the cardinal points.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Science is confronted by a mass of unsolved problems</b>.—The outcome of +all these researches is a growing mass of unsolved problems. It has +not been established whether males are more easily fatigued than +females; whether the intelligent are more subject to fatigue than the +unintelligent. With regard to the individual type, Tissié's conclusion +seems to be the most noteworthy: "Each individual becomes fatigued or +not according to his degree of will." In connection with the seasons +it appears that fatigue increases from the first to the last day of +school, but it is uncertain whether this is due to the influence of +the seasons, or whether, as Schuyten affirms, the scholar's gradual +exhaustion is due to the scholastic system. With regard to the time of +day, "it is still a question whether the fatigue produced is less when +the pupil works spontaneously, but this problem is a difficult one to +solve." The days of the week when fatigue is least evident are Monday +and Friday, but researches made in this connection are not definitive; +as to habit, intervals of rest, interest: "in connection with these +factors which are antagonistic to fatigue, it has been questioned +whether they actually diminish fatigue, or merely cloak it, but no +decision has been reached." A great variety of interesting researches +have been made into the question of change of work with identical +results—namely, that frequent change of work causes greater fatigue +than continuous work of one kind, and that a sudden interruption is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +more fatiguing than persistence. The following experiment (quoted by +Claparède) was made by Schultze: one day the girls were required to +add up figures for twenty-five minutes, and then to copy out passages +for another twenty-five minutes. Another day they performed the same +work, but it was differently divided; they had to add for fifty +minutes and to copy for another fifty minutes. Now these last tests +gave results infinitely superior to the first. And yet it is well +known that, in spite of such results, constant interruption and change +of work are commonly practised in schools, as part of a scientific +plan for combating fatigue.</p> + +<p>One of the researches directly relating to schools is that of the +ponogenic co-efficient of the various subjects of instruction, that is +to say, of the degrees of fatigue induced by these. Wagner is of +opinion <i>a priori</i> that one hundred, the maximum co-efficient, must be +assigned to mathematics; in this case, we should get the following +ponogenic co-efficients in schools, for each subject:</p> + +<table summary="marks" border="0" width="50%"> +<tr> +<td>Mathematics</td> +<td class="tdr">100</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Latin</td> +<td class="tdr">91</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Greek</td> +<td class="tdr">90</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Gymnastics</td> +<td class="tdr">90</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>History and Geography</td> +<td class="tdr">85</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>French and German</td> +<td class="tdr">82</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Natural History</td> +<td class="tdr">80</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Drawing, Religion</td> +<td class="tdr">77</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>We may note the arbitrary and surprising manner in which such results +are established; nevertheless, in the name of "experimental science" +it is possible to make such deductions as the following:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"It would be interesting to enquire if the order of the ponogenic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +co-efficients varies with the age of the children, which would enable +us to know on the one hand when the brain is best fitted for the study +of any particular subject and when therefore it would be most +judicious to make it predominate in the program; on the other hand, it +would help us in the arrangement of the daily time-table; we should +take, if possible, the most fatiguing subjects at the beginning of the +day" (Claparède, <i>op. cit.</i>).</p></div> + +<p>Another order of recent researches is that made into the toxines +produced by fatigue; Weichardt succeeded in isolating these toxines, +and in fabricating anti-toxines with which he experimented +successfully on rats. The experiments were also repeated in a clinic. +With regard to the appearance of the toxines, it was found that they +were abundantly produced during the performance of "wearisome" work, +whereas there were only traces of them to be found when the work was +"interesting."</p> + +<p>Throughout this science so packed with researches which give as their +result unsolved problems, we perceive that not one of the factors +taken into consideration can alleviate fatigue; interruption and +change of work merely aggravate it. The one means by which <i>surménage</i> +(exhaustion due to overwork) can be eliminated is to make work +pleasant and interesting, to give joy in work rather than pain.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"The necessity of making education and instruction attractive has been +propounded by all pedagogists worthy of the name, such as Fénelon, +Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Spencer," says Claparède, "but it +is still unrecognized in the everyday practise of the schools" (<i>op. +cit.</i>).</p> + +<p>"By common consent, the first duty of the educator is that of doing no +harm: first do no harm, a precept also accepted in the practise of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +medicine. To obey it to the letter is, indeed, <i>impossible, because +every method of scholastic education is in some way prejudicial to the +normal development of the child</i>. But the educator will seek to +<i>alleviate the injury which instruction necessarily entails</i>" (<i>op. +cit.</i>).</p></div> + +<p>This is indeed cold comfort, after all these studies and researches! A +confession that problems have arisen at every step, and that not a +single one has been solved! Indeed, underlying all this is the +<i>problem of problems</i>: how to make that place attractive and joyous +where hitherto the body has been tortured and contorted, and the blood +poisoned by weariness! It is impossible to educate without doing harm; +but we must do harm that will give pleasure! This is truly an +embarrassing position! And this is why an interminable string of notes +of interrogation serves as the decorative motive of this new science, +which might be more appropriately styled: <i>ignorabimus</i>.</p> + +<p>And it is for this reason that the considerations indicated by hygiene +and psychology now tend to do away altogether with the sum total of +irreparable evils, "commuting the sentence," that is to say, +abbreviating hours of study, cutting down the curriculum, avoiding +written exercises. Thus a new specter, that of ignorance, and +henceforth the abandonment of the child for the greater part of the +day, present themselves as a substitute for the specter of +destruction. Meanwhile our epoch demands an intensive care of the new +generation, and the preparation of a culture ever vaster and more +complex.</p> + +<p>True, it would appear that to-day a way of escape may be offered by +the discovery of the anti-toxine for fatigue. "Just think!" exclaims +Claparède, "a serum against fatigue. How valuable this would be!" From +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +this point of view, I should say that the ponogenic co-efficients +might find a more practical and rational application than that of the +revelation of "programs"; indeed these co-efficients indicating the +production of toxines would appear destined to determine the dose of +anti-toxine necessary to nullify the evil effects resulting from each +different subject of instruction. In the not far distant future, when +these auxiliary sciences of the school and pedagogy shall have made +due progress, we shall perhaps see, side by side with the orthopædic +ward, a physio-chemical clinic, where every evening the pupils, as +they leave the beneficent suspensory apparatus which counteracts +injury to their skeletons, may enter with a kind of ponogenic +prescription regulated by the teaching they have undergone, and +receive an injection which will deliver them from the poisonous +effects of fatigue!</p> + +<p>This reads like an irony of the worst kind, perhaps; but this is not +the case. Where the orthopædic institution is already an accomplished +fact, we may very soon see the chemical clinic established. If a +problem of liberty is to be solved with machines, and if a problem of +justice is to be regarded from the chemical point of view, similar +consequences will be the logical end of sciences developed upon such +errors.</p> + +<p>It is obvious that a real experimental science, which shall guide +education and deliver the child from slavery, is not yet born; when it +appears, it will be to the so-called "sciences" that have sprung up in +connection with the diseases of martyred childhood as chemistry to +alchemy, and as positive medicine to the empirical medicine of bygone +centuries.</p> + +<p>I think it will be of interest here to record the impressions of a +person who, leaving the field of mathematics, entered upon the study +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +of biology and experimental psychology.</p> + +<p>It is an account of a young English engineer, who had evidently +mistaken his vocation, and who, after studying my method for two +years, returned to the universities of his own great country as a +student of biology.</p> + +<p>This is his opinion of experimental psychology:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>In psychology we are studying the most modern experimental researches. +At present we are engaged upon Thought and Imagination. I must confess +that I do not find this course very illuminating, though I agree that +it is necessary to know something of these researches. In modern +psychology there is nothing at all adequate to the subject of our +method. These investigators seem to me like persons looking at a tree, +and noting the most obvious of its external forms: the shape of a +leaf, a stem, etc., doing all this with great gravity and using very +precise language (perhaps believing that this constitutes science), +but often confusing the function of <i>definition</i> with that of +<i>description</i>.</p> + +<p>In this manner descriptions of wonderful and fascinating things are +reduced to arid definitions, in order to be clothed in their science, +and thus are rendered powerless to inspire thought. They never +meditate; they read a great deal; they think in mental images which no +more represent facts than a diagram on the blackboard represents a +living organ; and these images differ among different psychologists, +but their language is always the same. They do all this believing they +are making progress, and instead of training their pupils to observe +for themselves without prejudice, they instil their own prejudices +into the minds of the students, cramming them with definitions and +descriptions of the strangest and most amorphous kind, which +effectually prevent them from thinking for themselves.</p> + +<p>But within the tree there is the fundamental structure which they have +not begun to examine, though the revelation of this would explain all +the external data. The details would diminish in importance; all these +details issuing from a single root might be classified in the simplest +manner. This "science" reminds me of that antiquated lore which dealt +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +with the constellations, when the laws of planetary motion were not +yet known, and the so-called science confined itself to descriptions +of the "Great Bear," the "Crab," the "Goat," etc.</p> + +<p>I detest those dryasdusts who, unaware of their own ignorance, write +enormous arid tomes with an air of great majesty, as if they were +revealing absolute knowledge, books that lie heavy on the minds of the +students, making them dry as their teachers. But the students seem to +me to care only about passing their examinations and to have no +thought of discovering new knowledge; and the professors "serve" them +to this end. Thus we are all in a state of servitude due to a mistaken +system of education, which calls loudly for reform.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="III" id="III">III</a></h3> + +<h3>MY CONTRIBUTION TO EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> + +<p><b>The organization of psychical life begins with the characteristic +phenomenon of attention</b>.—My experimental work with little children +from three to six years old has been, in fact, a practical +contribution to research which has for its aim the discovery of the +treatment required by the soul of the child, a treatment analogous to +that which hygiene prescribes for its body.</p> + +<p>I think, therefore, that it is essential to record the fundamental +fact which led me to define my method.</p> + +<p>I was making my first essays in applying the principles and part of +the material I had used for many years previously in the education of +deficient children, to the normal children of the San Lorenzo quarter +in Rome, when I happened to notice a little girl of about three years +old deeply absorbed in a set of solid insets, removing the wooden +cylinders from their respective holes and replacing them. The +expression on the child's face was one of such concentrated attention +that it seemed to me an extraordinary manifestation; up to this time +none of the children had ever shown such fixity of interest in an +object; and my belief in the characteristic instability of attention +in young children, who flit incessantly from one thing to another, +made me peculiarly alive to the phenomenon.</p> + +<p>I watched the child intently without disturbing her at first, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +began to count how many times she repeated the exercise; then, seeing +that she was continuing for a long time, I picked up the little +armchair in which she was seated, and placed chair and child upon the +table; the little creature hastily caught up her case of insets, laid +it across the arms of her chair, and gathering the cylinders into her +lap, set to work again. Then I called upon all the children to sing; +they sang, but the little girl continued undisturbed, repeating her +exercise even after the short song had come to an end. I counted +forty-four repetitions; when at last she ceased, it was quite +independently of any surrounding stimuli which might have distracted +her, and she looked round with a satisfied air, almost as if awaking +from a refreshing nap.</p> + +<p>I think my never-to-be-forgotten impression was that experienced by +one who has made a discovery.</p> + +<p>This phenomenon gradually became common among the children: it may +therefore be recorded as a constant reaction occurring in connection +with certain external conditions, which may be determined. And each +time that such a polarisation of attention took place, the child began +to be completely transformed, to become calmer, more intelligent, and +more expansive; it showed extraordinary spiritual qualities, recalling +the phenomena of a higher consciousness, such as those of conversion.</p> + +<p>It was as if in a saturated solution, a point of crystallization had +formed, round which the whole chaotic and fluctuating mass united, +producing a crystal of wonderful forms. Thus, when the phenomenon of +the polarisation of attention had taken place, all that was disorderly +and fluctuating in the consciousness of the child seemed to be +organizing itself into a spiritual creation, the surprising +characteristics of which are reproduced in every individual.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +<p>It made one think of the <i>life of man</i> which may remain diffused among +a multiplicity of things, in an inferior state of chaos, until some +special thing attracts it intensely and fixes it; and then man is +revealed unto himself, he feels that he has begun to live.</p> + +<p>This spiritual phenomenon which may co-involve the entire +consciousness of the adult, is therefore only one of the constant +elements of the phenomena of "internal formation." It occurs as the +normal beginning of the inner life of children, and accompanies its +development in such a manner as to become accessible to research, as +an experimental fact.</p> + +<p>It was thus that the soul of the child gave its revelations, and under +their guidance a method exemplifying spiritual liberty was evolved.</p> + +<p>The story of this initiatory episode soon spread throughout the world, +and at first it seemed like the story of a miracle. Then by degrees, +as experiments were made among the most diverse races, the simple and +evident principles of this spiritual "treatment" were manifested.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Psychical development is organized by the aid of external stimuli, +which may be determined experimentally</b>.—The contribution I have made +to the education of young children tends, in fact, to <i>specify</i> by +means of the revelations due to experiment, the form of liberty in +internal development.</p> + +<p>It would not be possible to conceive liberty of development, if by its +very nature the child were not capable of a spontaneous organic +development, if the tendency to develop his energies (expansion of +latent powers), the conquest of the means necessary to a harmonious +innate development, did not already exist. In order to expand, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +child, left at liberty to exercise his activities, ought to find in +his surroundings something <i>organized</i> in direct relation to his +internal organization which is developing itself by natural laws, just +as the free insect finds in the form and qualities of flowers a direct +correspondence between form and sustenance. The insect is undoubtedly +free when, seeking the nectar which nourishes it, it is in reality +helping the reproduction of the plant. There is nothing more marvelous +in nature than the correspondence between the organs of these two +orders of beings destined to such a providential cooperation.</p> + +<p>The secret of the free development of the child consists, therefore, +in organizing for him the means necessary for his internal +nourishment, means corresponding to a primitive impulse of the child, +comparable to that which makes the new-born infant capable of sucking +milk from the breast, which by its external form and elaborated +sustenance, corresponds perfectly to the requirements of the infant.</p> + +<p>It is in the satisfaction of this primitive impulse, this internal +hunger, that the child's personality begins to organize itself and +reveal its characteristics; just as the new-born infant, in nourishing +itself, organizes its body and its natural movements.</p> + +<p>We must not therefore set ourselves the educational problem of seeking +means whereby to organize the internal personality of the child and +develop his characteristics; the sole problem is that of offering the +child the necessary nourishment.</p> + +<p>It is by this means that the child develops an organized and complex +activity which, while it responds to a primitive impulse, exercises +the intelligence and develops qualities we consider lofty, and which +we supposed were foreign to the nature of the young child, such as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +patience and perseverance in work, and in the moral order, obedience, +gentleness, affection, politeness, serenity; qualities we are +accustomed to divide into different categories, and as to which, +hitherto, we have cherished the illusion that it was our task to +develop them gradually by our direct interposition, although in +practise we have never known by what means to do so successfully.</p> + +<p>In order that the phenomenon should come to pass it is <i>necessary</i> +that the spontaneous development of the child should be accorded +<i>perfect liberty</i>; that is to say, that its calm and peaceful +expansion should not be disturbed by the intervention of an untimely +and disturbing influence; just as the body of the new-born infant +should be left in peace to assimilate its nourishment and grow +properly.</p> + +<p>In such an attitude ought we to await the <i>miracles</i> of the inner +life, its expansions and also its unforeseen and surprising +explosions; just as the intelligent mother, only giving her baby +nourishment and rest, contemplates it, seeing it <i>grow</i>, and awaits +the manifestations of nature: the first tooth, the first word, and +finally the action by which the baby will one day rise to his feet and +walk.</p> + +<p>But to ensure the psychical phenomena of growth, we must prepare the +"environment" in a definite manner, and from this environment offer +the child the external means directly necessary for him.</p> + +<p>This is the <i>positive</i> fact which my experiment has rendered concrete. +Hitherto the liberty of the child has been vaguely discussed; no +clearly defined limit has been established between liberty and +abandonment. We were told: "Liberty has its limits," "Liberty must be +properly understood." But a special method indicating "how liberty +should be interpreted, and what is the intuitive <i>quid</i> which ought +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +to co-exist with it," had not been determined.</p> + +<p>The establishment of such a method should open up a new path to all +education.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It is therefore necessary that the environment should contain the +means of auto-education. These means cannot be "taken at random"; they +represent the result of an experimental study which cannot be +undertaken by all, because a scientific preparation is necessary for +such delicate work; besides, like all experimental study, it is +laborious, prolonged, and exact. Many years of research are required, +before the means really <i>necessary</i> for <i>psychical development</i> can be +set forth. Those educationalists who leave the great question of the +liberty of the pupil to the good sense or to the preparation of the +master are very far from solving the problem of liberty. The greatest +scientist, or the person most fitted by nature to teach, could never +of himself discover such, because, to preparation and natural gifts, +the further factor of <i>time</i> must be added—the long period of +preparatory experiment. Therefore a <i>science</i> which has already +<i>provided the means</i> for self-education must exist beforehand. To-day, +he who speaks of liberty in the schools ought at the same time to +exhibit objects—approximating to a scientific apparatus—which will +make such liberty possible.</p> + +<p>The scientific instrument must be constructed upon a basis of +<i>exactitude</i>. Just as the lenses of the physicist are constructed in +accordance with the laws of the refraction of light, so the pedagogic +instrument should be based on the <i>psychical manifestations</i> of the +child.</p> + +<p>Such an instrument may be compared to a systematized "mental test." It +is not, however, established upon a basis of external measurement, for +the purpose of estimating the amount of instantaneous psychical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +reaction which it produces; it is, on the contrary, a stimulus which +is itself determined by the psychical reactions it is capable of +producing and maintaining permanently. It is the psychical reaction, +therefore, that in this case determines and establishes the systematic +"mental test." The psychical reaction which constitutes the sole basis +of comparison in the determination of the tests, is a <i>polarization of +the attention</i>, and <i>the repetition of the actions</i> related to it. +When a stimulus corresponds in this manner to the "reflex +personality," it serves, not to <i>measure</i> but to <i>maintain</i> a lively +reaction; it is therefore a stimulus to the "internal formation." +Indeed, upon such activity, awakened and maintained, the accompanying +organism initiates its internal elaborations in relation to the +stimuli.</p> + +<p>This does not penetrate into the ancient ambit of pedagogy as a +science that <i>measures</i> the personality, as the experimental +psychology introduced in schools has hitherto done, but as a science +that <i>transforms</i> the personality, and is therefore capable of taking +its stand as a true and real pedagogy. Whereas the ancient pedagogy in +all its various interpretations started from the conception of a +"receptive personality"—one, that is to say, which was to receive +instructions and to be passively formed, this scientific departure +starts from the conception of an <i>active</i> personality—reflex and +associative—developing itself by a series of reactions induced by +systematic stimuli which have been determined by experiment. This new +pedagogy accordingly belongs to the series of modern sciences, and not +to antique speculations, although it is not directly based on the +purely metric studies of "positive psychology." But the "method," +which informs it—namely, experiment, observation, evidence or proof, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +the recognition of new phenomena, their reproduction and utilization, +undoubtedly place it among the experimental sciences.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>External stimuli may be determined in quality and quantity</b>.—Nothing +can be more interesting than such experiments. By their means external +stimuli may be determined with the greatest precision, both as regards +quality and quantity. For instance, very small objects of various +geometric forms will only attract the fugitive attention of a child of +three years old; but by increasing the dimensions gradually, we arrive +at the limit of size when these objects will fix the attention; then +such objects excite an activity which becomes permanent, and the +resulting exercise becomes a factor of development. The experiment is +repeated with a number of children, and thus the dimensions of a +series of objects are established.</p> + +<p>It is the same with colors and with every kind of <i>quality</i>. In order +that a quality should be felt to such a degree as to fix the +attention, a certain extension and a certain intensity of the stimulus +are necessary, which may be <i>determined</i> by the degree of psychical +reaction shown by the child; as, for instance, the minimum chromatic +extension sufficient to attract the attention to the colored tablets, +etc. Quality, therefore, is determined by a psychical experiment +demonstrating the activity it produces in a child, who will continue +the exercise with the same object for a long time, thus elaborating a +phenomenon of internal development, of self-formation.</p> + +<p>Among the characteristics of the objects, one must be pointed out, +which demands the highest degree of activity in the intelligence: they +contain in themselves <i>control of error</i>.</p> + +<p>To make the process one of self-education, it is not enough that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +stimulus should call forth activity, it must also direct it. The child +should not only persist for a long time in an exercise; he must +persist without making mistakes. All the physical or intrinsic +qualities of the objects should be determined, not only by the +immediate reaction of attention they provoke in the child, but also by +their possession of this fundamental characteristic, the control of +error, that is to say the power of evoking the effective collaboration +of the highest activities (comparison, judgment). For instance, one of +the first objects which attract the attention of the child of three +years old, the solid insets (a series of cylinders of various +dimensions to be placed in or taken out of a block with corresponding +holes) contains the most mechanical control, because if a single +mistake be made in placing the cylinders, one of these must be left +out at the end of the exercise. Hence a mistake is an obstacle only to +be overcome by correction, for without it the exercise cannot be +completed. On the other hand, the correction is so easy that the child +makes it himself. The little problem suddenly presenting itself to the +child, almost like the unexpected object of a jack-in-the-box, has +"interested" him.</p> + +<p>It is, however, noteworthy that the "problem" thus presented is not in +itself the stimulus to interest; it is not that which incites to the +repetition of the act—to the progress of the child. What interests +the child is the sensation, not only of placing the objects but of +acquiring a new power of perception, enabling him to recognize the +difference of dimension in the cylinders, a difference which he did +not at first notice. The <i>problem</i> presents itself solely in +connection with the <i>error</i>, it does not accompany the normal process +of development. An interest stimulated merely by <i>curiosity</i>, by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +"problem," would not be that formative interest which wells up from +the needs of life itself, and therefore directs the building up of the +spiritual personality. If it were only the problem which should lead +the soul to find itself, order might be dissipated by it, as by any +other external cause which tends to <i>seduce</i> life into false paths. I +lay, perhaps, excessive stress upon this point, in answer to very +important objections and observations that have been made to me.</p> + +<p>Indeed in the second series of objects designed to educate the eye to +appreciate dimensions, the control of error is not mechanical, but +psychological; the child himself, whose eye has been educated to +recognize differences of dimension, will see the error, provided the +objects be of a certain size and attractively colored. It is for this +reason that the next objects contain, so to say, the control of error +in their own size and in their bright colors. A control of error of a +totally different kind, and of a much higher order, is that offered by +the material of the arithmetical frame, in which the control will +consist in the comparison of the child's own work with that of a +model, a comparison which denotes a remarkably intelligent effort of +will on the part of the child, and places him thenceforth in the true +conditions of conscious auto-education. But, however slight the +control of error may be, and in spite of the fact that this diverges +more and more from an external mechanism, to rely upon the internal +activities which are gradually developing, it always depends, like all +the qualities of the objects, upon the fundamental reaction of the +child, who accords it prolonged attention, and repeats the exercises.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the experimental criterion is different, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +determining the <i>quantity of the objects</i>. When the instruments have +been constructed with great precision, they provoke a spontaneous +exercise so coordinated and so harmonious with the facts of internal +development, that at a certain point a new psychical picture, a +species of higher plane in the complex development, is revealed.</p> + +<p>The child turns away spontaneously from the material, not with any +signs of fatigue, but rather as if impelled by fresh energies, and his +mind is capable of abstractions. At this stage of development, the +child turns his attention to the external world, and observes it with +an order which is the order formed in his mind during the period of +the preceding development; he begins spontaneously to make a series of +careful and logical comparisons which represent a veritable +spontaneous acquisition of "knowledge." This is the period henceforth +to be known as the period of "discoveries," discoveries which evoke +enthusiasm and joy in the child.</p> + +<p>This more elevated level of development is extremely fruitful in its +last ascent It is essential that the child's attention should not be +directed to the objects when the delicate phenomenon of abstraction +begins. For instance, the teacher who invites the child to continue +his operations with the material at such a moment, will retard his +spontaneous development and place an obstacle in his way. If the +enthusiasm which leads the child to rise to greater heights and +experience so many intellectual emotions be extinguished, a path of +progress has been closed. Now the same error may be committed by an +<i>excessive quantity</i> of the educative material; this may dissipate the +attention, render the exercises with the objects mechanical, and cause +the child to pass by his psychological moment of ascent without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +perceiving it and seizing it. Moreover, such objects are then futile, +and, by their futility, "the child may lose his soul."</p> + +<p>The thing to be exactly determined is: what is <i>necessary</i> and +<i>sufficient</i> as a response to the internal needs of a life in process +of development, that is, of upward progression, of <i>ascent</i>? Now in +determining the "quantity" we must be guided by the expression and at +the same time by the active manifestations of the child. Those +children who have long been occupied with these determined objects, +showing every sign of absorbed attention, will, all of a sudden, begin +to rise gradually and insensibly, like an aeroplane when it completes +its short journey upon the ground. Their apparent indifference to the +objects is revealed in its true essence by the intense and radiant +expression of the face, which is animated by the liveliest joy. The +child may seem to be doing nothing, but this will only be for a +moment; very soon he will speak, and so will reveal what is happening +within him, and then his ebullient activity will carry him along in a +series of explorations and discoveries. He is saved.</p> + +<p>Now take the case of other children in whom the same primitive +phenomenon is taking place, but who are surrounded by too great a +profusion of objects. At the moment of maturity they are seen to be +caught, obstructed, almost palpably entangled in the toils that bind +them to earth. A diminution of the absorbed attention bestowed upon +the new objects, instability, and consequently fatigue, manifest +themselves in an obvious extinction of internal activity. The child's +bearing deteriorates, he indulges in loud, empty laughter, rude +actions, and indolence. He demands "other objects," and then again +other objects, because he has remained imprisoned "in the vicious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +circle of vanities," and is no longer sensible to anything but the +desire to alleviate his weariness. Like the adult who during a chaotic +life commits kindred errors, he becomes undisciplined, feeble, and "in +peril of perdition." If some one does not help him by wresting from +him the futile objects, and pointing out his heaven to him, he will +hardly have the energy to save himself.</p> + +<p>These two extreme types will give an idea of the criteria by which we +experimentally determine the quantity of the material necessary for +development.</p> + +<p>Over-abundance debilitates and retards progress; this has been proved +again and again by my collaborators.</p> + +<p>If, on the other hand, the material be insufficient, and the primary +auto-exercise incapable of leading the child on to that <i>maturity</i> +which causes him to ascend, there will be no explosion of that +spontaneous phenomenon of abstraction which is the second stage of an +auto-education advancing in infinite progression. The same fundamental +phenomenon of absorbed and prolonged attention which leads to +repetition of the acts, guides us in determining the stimuli suitable +to the <i>age</i> of the child. A stimulus which will cause a child of +three years old to repeat an act forty times in succession, may only +be repeated ten times by a child of six; the object which arouses the +interest of a child of three no longer interests a child of six. +Nevertheless the child of six is capable of fixing his attention for a +much longer period than a child of three, when the stimulus is suited +to his activities; if, indeed, a little child of three may achieve as +his maximum the repetition of an act forty times in succession, the +child of six is capable of repeating two hundred times an act which +interests him. If the maximum period of continuous work on the same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +object may be half an hour for the child of three, it may be over two +hours for the child of six.</p> + +<p>Hence, to establish systematic tests for a certain purpose, such as +that of preparing children to write, without taking their ages into +account, is valueless. For example, my system of writing is based upon +the direct preparation of the movements which physiologically concur +to produce writing: <i>i.e.</i> manipulation of the instrument of writing +and the tracing of the letters of the alphabet. The children, filling +in the contours of the insets with innumerable parallel strokes in the +one case, and touching the sand-paper letters in the other, fix the +two muscular mechanisms so perfectly, that the final result is an +"explosion" of "spontaneous writing" extraordinarily uniform in all +the children—because, as if all molded to a common form, they have +fixed the necessary movements by touching the same alphabet, and +therefore reproduce its forms faithfully. To bring this about, to +establish a real motor-mechanism, it is essential that the exercise +should be repeated over and over again. Now the children who take most +interest in filling in the figures with parallel strokes, and, above +all, in touching the letters, are, at most, between four and five +years old. If we offer the same material to a child of six he will not +touch the letters often enough, and he will always write imperfectly, +in comparison with the child who has begun the exercise at a suitable +age. This applies also to all the other details of the system. It is +therefore possible to determine experimentally, with, I believe, a +precision not hitherto attained, what is the mental attitude of the +child at various ages, and hence, if the fitting material for +development be offered, what will be the average level of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +intellectual development according to age.</p> + +<p>Here we have an indication of the possibility of <i>determining</i> the +means of development so exactly as to establish a true correspondence +between internal needs and external stimuli, just as actual as the +correspondence which exists between the insect and the flower.</p> + +<p>He who has all this material ready to his hand has an easy task in +bringing about the natural development of the psychic life of the +child. With such objects at his disposal, every teacher may realize +the ideal of <i>liberty in the school</i>.</p> + +<p>This long, occult experiment—suggested to me, as I have already said, +by Itard and Séguin—is, in fact, my initial contribution to +education.</p> + +<p>All this preparatory work has served for the determination of the +method now well known, but it is also the key to its continuation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>The material of development is necessary only as a starting point</b>.—In +the organization of the external means of development, there remains a +material impress of the internal development, and of that which the +soul needs in its progress, during its course, and in its flights. The +material part does not contain the impress of the whole soul, any more +than the impress of the foot is the impress of the whole body; the +aviation-ground is not the sphere of action proper to the aeroplane, +but it is the part of <i>terra-firma</i> necessary for flight, and it is +also the resting-place, the refuge, the <i>hangar</i> to which the +aeroplane must always return. Thus in psychical formation there is a +necessary material part from which the spirit rises, and where it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +should find repose, refuge, and a point of support, Without this it +could not grow and rise "freely."</p> + +<p>In order that it may be a true support it ought "to reproduce its +forms" and contain them in the part corresponding to the peculiar +functions of the material aid. Thus, for instance, in the first period +of the psychical life, the material corresponds to the primitive +exercises of the senses—it is in quality and quantity determined by +the sensory needs given by nature—and permits an exercise of the +activities sufficient to <i>mature</i> a superior psychical state of +observation and abstraction. <i>Vice versa</i>, nothing corresponds in the +material to the subsequent career which the childish spirit +accomplishes with such delight and with so much acquisition of +knowledge. But we then see the spirit eager for higher kinds of +exercise—and now we witness the same primitive phenomenon of +attention, which will exercise itself henceforth upon the alphabet and +arithmetical material, repeating in a more complex form methodical +exercises of the intelligence by linking auditory images with the +visible and motor images of the spoken and written word; and in the +positive study of quantities, proportions, and number. The same +concomitant phenomena of "patience" and "perseverance" then manifest +themselves, together with those of vivacity, activity, and joy, +characteristic of the spirit when the internal energies have found +their <i>keyboard</i>, the gymnasium in which they exercise themselves +freely and tranquilly.</p> + +<p>And the spirit, organized in this manner under the guidance of an +order which corresponds to its natural order, becomes <i>fortified</i>, +grows <i>vigorously</i>, and manifests itself in the <i>equilibrium</i>, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +<i>serenity</i>, the self-control which produce the wonderful <i>discipline</i> +characteristic of the behavior of our children.</p> + +<p>The external material, then, should present itself to the psychical +requirements of the child as a staircase which helps him to ascend, +step by step, and on the steps of this staircase there will of +necessity be disposed the means of <i>culture</i>, and of the higher +<i>formation</i>. Therefore the psychical exercises require new material, +and this, if it is to fulfil its purpose, must contain new and more +complex forms of objects capable of fixing the attention, of making +the intelligence ripen in the continual exercise of its own energies, +and of producing those phenomena of persistence in application and of +patience to which will be added elasticity, psychical equilibrium, and +the capacity for abstraction and spontaneous creation. Thus, in the +subsequent development of the children, we see them applying +themselves to those exercises of the memory which seem to us most +arid, because a desire has been born in them, not only to retain the +images they encounter in the world, but also to "acquire knowledge +rapidly" by a determined effort. An example of this is seen in the +surprising yet common phenomenon of committing the multiplication +table to memory, whereas the memorizing of poems and prose extracts, +although this is sometimes a passion, causes us no surprise.</p> + +<p>Very interesting again, is the <i>detachment</i> the child shows at a +certain point from the aids to arithmetical calculation; at a certain +stage of maturity he desires to "reason in the abstract" and make +"abstract calculations with numbers," as if obeying an internal +impulse which seeks to liberate the soul from every material bond and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +at the same time to effect an economy of time. Hereupon we see +children of eight years old become eager and precocious calculators.</p> + +<p>Children thus launched upon the enterprises of self-education acquire +a remarkable "sensibility" as to their own internal needs. Just as the +new-born infant whose food is rationally regulated, is silent and +tranquil during the two hours of digestion and assimilation, and cries +out the moment the hour for a fresh meal has struck, so do these +children "ask for help," ask for "new materials," new "forms of work," +as soon as they have accomplished their mysterious phenomena of +internal maturation, and ask for them <i>determinately</i>, indicating +<i>their most immediate need</i>, just as one in physical want would be +able to state distinctly whether he were hungry, thirsty, or sleepy. A +child, in like manner, asks for reading, or grammatical exercises, or +means for observing Nature. His sensibility manifests itself in a +lucid and intense desire, to which the teacher has only to respond.</p> + +<p>It is evident that some <i>external</i> basis is necessary in the +progressive development of such phenomena, and that the teacher, who +is to respond to the requests of the child in conscious evolution, +cannot do so adequately by haphazard means; he must be guided by +conditions previously determined by experience. In other words, those +external means already alluded to several times, that <i>staircase</i>, the +steps of which lead the soul upwards, must have been already +<i>established by experience</i>, just as all the preceding means of the +first development of the infant were established.</p> + +<p>The construction of the ascending stairway, of the external means of +support for the soul in process of evolution, is gradually amplified, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +like an inverted cone, the apex of which touches the very beginnings +of psychical life, resting upon that primitive impulse which attracts +the child of two and a half to the sensory stimuli, just as hunger +leads the new-born infant to perform the wonderful complex action of +sucking. And as these external means multiply, they are complicated +more and more by the growing psychical needs of the child, and +comprise within themselves the principles of culture.</p> + +<p>The highest external organization is not based solely upon +psychological necessities, but also upon those factors which take into +account the cultural aspect itself. Each subject of study, as, for +instance, arithmetic, grammar, geometry, natural science, music, +literature, should be presented by means of external objects upon a +well-defined systematic plan. The essentially psychological character +of the preliminary work must now be supplemented by the collaboration +of specialists in each subject, in order to ensure the establishment +of that aggregate of means necessary and sufficient to incite to +auto-education.</p> + +<p>This is the experimental preparatory work, which establishes those +means of development, those external <i>impressions</i>, necessary to +unfold the inner life, and an <i>exact</i> correspondence to the psychical +needs of <i>formation</i> is essential in their construction.</p> + +<p>Up to a certain point, they might correspond with the so-called +didactic or objective material of the old methods. Their significance, +however, is profoundly different. The objective material of the old +schools was an aid to the teacher, in making his explanations +comprehensible to a collective class listening passively to him. The +objects were related solely <i>to the things to be explained</i>, and these +were chosen at random, that is to say, without any scientific +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +criterion of their relation to the psychical needs of the child.</p> + +<p>Here, on the other hand, <i>the means of development</i> are experimentally +determined with reference to the psychical evolution of the child; and +their aim is not to give mere instruction; they represent the means +which induce a spontaneous interpretation of the internal energies.</p> + +<p>The external material is then offered, and <i>left freely</i> to the +natural individual energies of the children. They choose the objects +they prefer; and such preference is dictated by the internal needs of +"psychical growth." Each child occupies himself with each object +chosen for as long as he wishes; and this desire corresponds to the +needs of the intimate maturation of the spirit, a process which +demands persevering and prolonged exercise. No guide, no teacher can +divine the intimate need of each pupil, and the time of maturation +necessary to each; but only leave the child <i>free</i>, and all this will +be revealed to us under the guidance of nature.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Psychical truths</b>.—It is necessary to adopt a scientific point of view +in order to interpret the facts that reveal themselves in children +when they are developed upon this system, and to divest oneself +completely of the old scholastic conception according to which the +progress of the child is assessed according to his proficiency in the +various subjects of study. Here, almost like the naturalist, it is +essential to observe the development of certain phenomena of life. It +is true that we prepare special "external conditions"; but the +psychical effects are directly bound up with the spontaneous +development of the internal activity of the child.</p> + +<p>Hence there is no direct correspondence between teacher and child; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +instruction is certainly not a cause of the effects observed. It is +the objects of the method which, as "re-agents," provoke special +psychical reactions; these may be summed up as an awakening, as an +organization of the personality. Discipline, as the first result of an +order establishing itself within, is the principal phenomenon to be +looked for as the "external sign" of an internal process that has been +initiated.</p> + +<p>During the first days when a new school is opened, we may consider a +certain initial disorder as characteristic, especially if the teacher +is making her first experiment, and consequently is handicapped by her +over-sanguine expectations. The immediate response of the child to the +material does not take place; the teacher is perhaps discomfited by +the fact that the children do not throw themselves, as she had hoped, +upon the objects, choosing them according to their individual taste. +If, indeed, the pupils are very poor children, this phenomenon does +nearly always happen at once; but if they are well-to-do children, +already sated by the variety of their possessions, and by the most +costly toys, they are very rarely attracted at first by the stimuli +presented to them. This naturally leads to disorder when the mistress +makes a kind of chain of that "liberty" she is to respect, and a dogma +of the correlation existing between the stimulus and the childish +soul. Experienced teachers, on the other hand, understand better that +<i>liberty</i> begins when the <i>life</i> that must be developed in the child +is initiated, and they possess a tact which greatly facilitates +orientation in the initial period.</p> + +<p>However, an experience under the most difficult conditions, as between +a teacher making her first experiment, and a class of wealthy +children, is more instructive, and gives us a clearer picture of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +fundamental psychical phenomenon, which may be compared to the order +which springs up out of chaos.</p> + +<p>I quote, in this connection, various descriptions, some of which +already have been published, among them that given by Miss George, of +her first school in the United States, and that of Mlle. Dufresne in +England.</p> + +<p>The initial disorder is eloquently set forth by Miss George: "They +(the children) at first snatched the objects out of each other's +hands; if I tried to show an object to any particular pupil, the +others dropped what they themselves were holding and gathered +aimlessly and noisily round us. When I had finished explaining the +nature of an object, all the children snatched at it and quarreled for +its possession. The children showed no interest in the material: they +passed from one object to another without persevering in the use of +any.... One of the children was so incapable of keeping still that he +could not remain seated long enough to run his fingers round one of +the little circular objects we give the children. In many cases, the +movements of the children were quite aimless, they ran round the room +without any apparent object. During these movements, they made no +attempt to respect the objects about them; indeed, they stumbled +against the table, upset the chairs and stepped upon the material; +sometimes they began an occupation at one spot, and then ran off in +another direction; they took up the objects and cast them aside +capriciously."</p> + +<p>Miss Dufresne describes the initial disorder of her first attempt as +follows: "I must confess that the first four weeks were disheartening; +the children could not settle to a task for more than a few moments; +they showed no perseverance, no initiative; at times they followed one +another like a flock of lambs; when one child took up an object, all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +the others wanted to imitate him, sometimes they rolled on the floor +and overturned the chairs."</p> + +<p>From an experiment with rich children here in Rome, we get the +following laconic description: "The greatest difficulty was the +question of discipline. The children showed a complete lack of +attraction to their work, and seemed disinclined to begin upon it."</p> + +<p>These persons, who were all working independently, are all agreed +later in their accounts of the initiation of order: the phenomenon is +identical; at a given moment, a child begins to show an intense +interest in one of the exercises. It is by no means necessary that it +should be that exercise pertaining to the object determined as the +first series; it may be any other object that fixes the attention of +the child so deeply; the important factor is not the external object, +but the internal action of the soul, responding to a stimulus, and +arrested by it.</p> + +<p>Now when a child once shows this deep interest in any one of the +objects we present to him as something answering to his psychical +needs, he goes on to show a like interest in all the objects, and +begins to develop activities as by a natural phenomenon. When once the +initiation has taken place, it leads to progression which goes on +steadily, and develops of its own accord. Moreover, the phenomenon is +not that of the slow and gradual progression that might be produced by +a measured and systematic external action; rather it has the +"explosive" character of unsuspected facts that establish themselves +suddenly, and make us think of the crises of physiological life, so +characteristic in the period of growth. Thus it is from one day to +another that the baby cuts a tooth, from one day to another that he +utters his first word, from one day to another that he takes his first +step; and when the first tooth has been cut, the whole set of teeth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +will come; when the first word has been uttered, language will be +developed; when the first step has been taken, the power of walking +has been established once for all.</p> + +<p>Similar crises occur in the first achievement of psychic order, which +is the beginning of progressive evolution in the inner life.</p> + +<p>I quote the following sentences from Miss George's description of the +advent of discipline:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"In a few days that nebulous mass of whirling particles—the +disorderly children—began to take definite form. The children seemed +to begin to find their own way; in many of the objects they had at +first despised as silly playthings, they began to discover a novel +interest, and, as a result of this new interest, they began to act as +independent individuals." Miss George's subsequent expression is: +"They became extremely individual." "Thus it came to pass that an +object of absorbing interest to one child had not the slightest +attraction for another; the children were strongly differentiated in +their manifestations of attention...." "The battle is only +definitively won, when the child discovers some particular object +which spontaneously excites great interest in him. Sometimes this +enthusiasm awakens unexpectedly, or with curious rapidity."</p> + +<p>"On one occasion I had tried a child with nearly all the objects of +the series without exciting the smallest spark of interest; then I +casually showed him the two tablets of red and blue colors, and called +his attention to the difference of tint. He seized them at once with a +kind of thirstiness, and learned five different colors in a single +lesson; during the following days he took nearly all the objects of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +the series which he had at first despised, and little by little +mastered them all.</p> + +<p>"A child who at first had very little power of concentrating his +attention, found an outlet from this state of chaos by means of one of +the most complex objects of the material, the so-called length-rods; +he played with these continually for a whole week and learned to count +and make simple additions. He then began to turn to the cylinders and +the insets, the simpler objects, and showed interest in every part of +the system.</p> + +<p>"Directly the children find their objects interesting, their +disorderliness disappears at once; their mental restlessness is at an +end, and they amuse themselves with the blocks, the colors, etc."</p></div> + +<p>It is very interesting to follow Miss George again in her description +of the special qualities that develop after such a phenomenon. She +illustrates the birth of individuality by a pretty anecdote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"There were two sisters, one of three years old, the other of five. +The child of three could hardly be said to exist as an individual, so +minutely did she imitate her elder sister; for example, the elder +child had a blue pencil and the little one was not happy till she too +had a blue pencil; when the elder sister ate bread and butter, +whatever the little one had of a different kind, she would touch +nothing but bread and butter, and so on. This child took no interest +in anything in the school, but merely followed her sister, imitating +everything she did. One day the little one became interested in the +pink cubes, built up the tower with the liveliest interest, repeated +the exercise several times, and completely forgot her sister. The +older girl was so astonished at this, that she called her little +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +sister and said to her: 'How is it that while I am filling in a circle +you are building the tower?' From that day the younger child became a +personality; she began to develop independently, and was no longer +merely the shadow or reflection of her sister."</p></div> + +<p>These interesting facts concerning the spontaneous development of +qualities which hitherto were non-existent in the individual, and +which exploded <i>after</i> the fundamental phenomenon—of intense and +prolonged interest in a task—had manifested itself, have been +confirmed by repeated experiments in a great variety of places made by +persons who had had no sort of communication one with another.</p> + +<p>Thus, for instance, Miss Dufresne speaks of a little girl of four +years old, who seemed quite incapable of carrying a glass of water +even only half full, without spilling it; so much so that she turned +away from such a task, knowing she could not accomplish it. One day +she became absorbed in work with one or other of the objects, and +after this, she began to carry glasses of water with the greatest +ease; and as some of her companions were now painting with +water-colors, it became her great delight to carry water to them all +without spilling a single drop.</p> + +<p>Another most significant fact is related by Miss Barton, an Australian +teacher. Among her pupils was a little girl who had not yet developed +articulate speech, and only gave utterance to inarticulate sounds; her +parents had had her examined by a doctor to find out if she were +normal; the doctor declared the child to be perfectly normal, and +considered that though she had not as yet developed speech, she would +do so in time. This child became interested in the solid insets, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +amused herself for a long time taking the cylinders out of the +cavities and putting them back in their places; and after repeating +the work with intense interest, she ran to the teacher, saying: "Come +and see!"</p> + +<p>A phenomenon of constant occurrence when the children begin to be +interested in the work and to develop themselves is the lively joy +which seems to possess them. Certain psychologists would say, it is +the "sentimental note" corresponding to the intellectual acquisition; +a physiologist, making an exact comparison, might affirm that joy is +the indication of internal growth, just as an increase in weight is +the indication of bodily growth.</p> + +<p>The children themselves seem to have the "sensation" of their +spiritual growth, a consciousness of the acquisitions they are making +by thus amplifying their own personalities; they demonstrate with +joyous effusion the higher process which is beginning within them. +"All the children," says Miss George, "show that pride we ourselves +experience when we have really produced something novel. They skip +round me, and throw their arms about my neck, when they have learned +to do some simple thing, saying: 'I did it all alone, you did not +think I could have done that; I did it better to-day than yesterday,'"</p> + +<p>It is after these manifestations that a true discipline is +established, the most obvious results of which are closely related to +what we will call "respect for the work of others and consideration +for the rights of others." Henceforward a child no longer attempts to +take away another's work; even if he covet it, he waits patiently +until the object is free; and very often a child becomes interested in +watching a companion at work on some object he would like to use +himself. Afterwards, when discipline has been established by these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +internal processes, it will happen all at once that a child will work +quite independently of the others, almost as if to develop his own +personality; but no "moral isolation" results from such work; on the +contrary, there is a mutual respect and affection between the +children, a sentiment which unites instead of separating; and hence is +born that complex discipline which, moreover, contains within itself +the sentiment that must accompany the order of a community.</p> + +<p>Miss Dufresne says: "After the Christmas holidays, when school began +again, there was a great change in the class. It seemed that +discipline was establishing itself, without any effort on my part. The +children appeared to be too much absorbed in their work to indulge in +any of the disorderly actions which had marked their conduct in the +beginning. They went spontaneously to the cupboards to choose the +objects which had bored them formerly. They took the geometrical +insets, the graduated cylinders, and began to touch the outlines of +the wooden forms with their fingers; the younger children showed a +preference for the buttoning and lacing frames; they took one after +the other without any signs of fatigue, and seemed delighted with the +new objects. An atmosphere of industry pervaded the schoolroom. The +children who had hitherto chosen objects on the impulse of the moment, +henceforth manifested a desire for some sort of rule, a personal and +internal rule; they concentrated their efforts on their task, working +accurately and methodically, and showing real satisfaction in +surmounting difficulties. This precision in work produced an immediate +effect on their characters. They became capable of controlling their +nerves."</p> + +<p>The instance which struck Miss Dufresne most was that of a little boy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +of four and a half, who at first had seemed very nervous and excitable +and had disturbed the whole class: "The imagination of this child had +been developed in an extraordinary manner, so that when an object was +given to him, he took no notice of the actual form of the object, but +personified it, and further personified himself, talking perpetually, +pretending to be some one else, and seeming incapable of fixing his +attention upon the objects. While his mind was in this chaotic state +he was unable to perform any precise action; he could not, for +instance, button a single button.... All at once a miracle seemed to +take place within him. I noted the great change in him with +astonishment. He took one of the exercises as his favorite task, then +went on to choose all the others in succession, and thus calmed his +nerves."</p> + +<p>I will choose from various individual studies made by two mistresses +of a Children's House at Rome for well-to-do children, those of two +children of very different characters. One of these children came to +the school too late, when he was too old, and had already developed in +another environment. The other is a little creature of the normal age +for entrance to the Children's Houses. The older child (a boy of five) +had already been to a Froebelian Kindergarten, where he was considered +very troublesome because of his restlessness. "For the first few days +he was a torment to us, because he wanted to work, but could not +settle to any occupation. He said of everything: 'This is a game,' and +ran about the class-room, or annoyed his companions. At last he began +to take an interest in drawing." Although normally drawing comes +<i>after</i> the sensory exercises, he was left at liberty to do what he +wished; the teachers rightly thought that it would be useless to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +insist that the child should apply himself to a different task. +Indeed, this child, having passed the age when the primary materials +answer to the psychical needs of childhood, was for the first time +attracted by an exercise of a higher order, that of drawing. "Whereas +at first the child had passed from one occupation to another, and had +even taken up the letters of the alphabet, but had never settled to +work with any one of the objects, now suddenly discipline was +established. We do not know exactly at what moment the change took +place, but discipline was maintained and perfected, and reached a +higher level in proportion to the growing interest of the child in +every kind of occupation. Interest having been primarily aroused by +drawing, the child spontaneously went on to the rods used in the +teaching of length, then to placing the plane geometric insets, and so +gradually worked through all the earlier sensory stimuli which the +teacher had passed over." Thus we see that the older child chooses the +objects in inverse order, proceeding almost methodically from the most +difficult to the elementary.</p> + +<p>The other child of three was also quite undisciplined. The teachers +were beginning to despair of producing order in this case, when the +child began to take an interest in the solid insets and in one of the +frames. Thereupon he worked steadily and ceased to disturb his +companions.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In our "Children's Houses" for poor children in Rome, directed by +Signorina Maccheroni, it was possible to make more methodical +observations, and these were represented by diagrams, in order to +demonstrate the course of the phenomena more clearly.</p> + +<p>The transverse line A B represents the quiescent state; the phenomena +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +of order (work) are represented above; those of disorder below. When a +child has become calm after the first strong attraction to a task, a +permanent state of order may be established in him. At this stage the +conditions most favorable to work may be studied.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Primitive Curve of Ordered Work</span></h3> + +<p>This is the manner in which it develops; individual type of a morning +of disciplined work.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus097.png" width="454" height="130" +alt="curve of ordered work" title="" /></div> + +<p>The child keeps still for a while, and then chooses some task he finds +easy, such as arranging the colors in gradation; he continues working +at this for a time, but not for very long; he passes on to some more +complicated task, such as that of composing words with the movable +letters, and perseveres with this for a long time (about half an +hour). At this stage he ceases working, walks about the room, and +appears less calm; to a superficial observer he would seem to show +signs of fatigue. But after a few minutes he undertakes some much more +difficult work, and becomes so deeply absorbed in this, that he shows +us he has reached the acme of his activity (additions and writing down +the results). When this work is finished, his activity comes to an end +in all serenity; he contemplates his handiwork for a long time, then +approaches the teacher, and begins to confide in her.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the child is that of a person who is rested, +satisfied, and uplifted.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +<p>The apparent fatigue of the child between the first and second period +of work is interesting; at that moment the aspect of the child is not +calm and happy as at the end of the curve; indeed, he shows signs of +agitation, moves about, and walks, but does not disturb the others. It +may be said that he is in search of the maximum satisfaction for his +interest, and is preparing for his "great work."</p> + +<p>But, on the other hand, when <i>the cycle is completed</i>, the child +detaches himself from his internal concentration; refreshed and +satisfied, he experiences the higher social impulses, such as desiring +to make confidences and to hold intimate communion with other souls.</p> + +<p>A similar process became in time the general process in a class of +disciplined children. Signorina Maccheroni sums up this complex +phenomenon as follows:</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Whole Class at Work</span></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus098.png" width="454" height="113" +alt="whole class at work" title="" /></div> + +<p>In the first period of the morning, up to about 10 a.m., the +occupation chosen is generally an easy and familiar task.</p> + +<p>At 10 o'clock there is a great commotion; the children are restless, +they neither work nor go in quest of materials. The onlooker gets an +impression of a <i>tired</i> class, about to become disorderly. After a few +minutes the most perfect order reigns once more; the children are +promptly absorbed in work again; they have chosen new and more +difficult occupations.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +<p>When this work ceases, the children are gentle, calm, and happy.</p> + +<p>If in the period of "false fatigue" at 10 a.m. an inexperienced +teacher, interpreting the phenomenon of suspension or preparation for +the culminating work as disorder, intervenes, calling the children to +her, and making them rest, etc., their restlessness persists, and the +subsequent work is not undertaken. The children do not become calm: +they remain in an abnormal state. In other words, if they are +interrupted in their cycle, they lose all the characteristics +connected with <i>an internal process regularly and completely carried +out</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The single curve of individual orderly work is not general, nor +strictly constant in the type described. But it may be considered as +the average type of work in the level of order achieved. It will be +interesting, first of all, to consider the curve of children in whom +<i>order has not yet been established</i>. Poor children hardly ever show +themselves to be in such a state of utter confusion as rich ones; they +are <i>always</i> more or less attracted by the objects, and respond to +them with a certain interest from the very first moment. Such +interest, however, is at first superficial. They are attracted mainly +by curiosity, by a desire to handle "pretty things." They amuse +themselves for some time, it is true, with single objects, changing +and selecting them, but without developing any deep interest. The +characteristic of this period, which may be altogether lacking in a +class of well-to-do children, is that of <i>alternations of disorder</i>. +The following diagram represents this period.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +<h3>INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES</h3> + +<h4>STAGE PRECEDING THE EVOLUTION OF ORDER</h4> + +<h4><i>Individual curve of a poor child</i></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus100a.png" width="454" height="130" +alt="Individual curve of a poor child" title="" /></div> + +<p>The various curves of work are to be found below the line of +quiescence, in state of disorder. It was only when the children were +called to order collectively that this child was still, unless it was +rising towards work; in this case, however, it did not persevere, and +the curve drops suddenly below. It should be noted that in the +irregular course of this diagram we may trace a period of easy work +preceding a period of difficult work (frame, plane insets) and between +these two the maximum decline into disorder.</p> + + +<h3>CURVE OF WORK</h3> + +<h4>OF A VERY POOR CHILD, ALMOST ENTIRELY<br /> +NEGLECTED BY ITS PARENTS, AND VERY<br /> +TURBULENT</h4> + +<h4><i>Period of Disorder</i></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/illus100b.png" width="550" height="99" +alt="Period of Disorder" title="" /></div> + +<p>The child in question (O) seemed to have a tendency to learn from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +others; he ran away from work or was attracted by it only for a brief +moment; and seemed incapable of receiving direct teaching. If any +attempt was made to teach him something, he grimaced and ran away. He +wandered about, disturbing his companions, and seemed quite +intractable; but he listened attentively to the lessons the teacher +gave to the other children.</p> + +<h4><i>Advance towards Order</i></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus101.png" width="454" height="137" +alt="Advance towards Order" title="" /></div> + +<p>When he began to work, after having learned how to do so, he +persevered, and the normal process is apparent in the diagram; that is +to say, preliminary work, a pause (during which the child relapsed +slightly and momentarily into his habit of disturbing his companions), +then the curve of great application, and of final repose (during +which, however, he again relapsed into his characteristic defect). The +summits of the diagram show not only interest in the work, but a +marked kindliness; the child was not only calm, but seemed full of +beatitude and gentleness; when at the height of his labors he +frequently looked round at his companions, and blew little kisses to +them on his fingers, but without relaxing his attention. It seemed as +if a fount of love were gushing up from the fulness of his internal +satisfaction, from the depths of a soul that had appeared at first so +rough and uncouth.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +<h4><span class="smcap">Curve of Work of a Weakly Child</span></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus102.png" width="454" height="63" +alt="Curve of Work of a Weakly Child" title="" /></div> + +<p>The diagram is made up of curves that fall upon the line of +quiescence; unity of curve is lacking, hence unity of effort. The +culminating point of work is reached after a preliminary task of an +easier kind; and the supreme task (color) is briefly resumed, after +the great impetus has been exhausted. The phase of rest is not clearly +defined; the child turns to a very easy task (solid insets). A certain +feebleness of character seems to manifest itself in the half-hearted +mental processes. The child makes many successive efforts to rise; but +he can neither make the decisive, vigorous effort, nor come to a +definite decision to cease working. The child is calm, but his state +of calm has no variations; he is neither lively, nor serene, nor does +he show strong affectionate impulses.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Course of Progress</span></h3> + +<p>When the whole class is disciplined, the course of development of the +internal activities may be observed.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered that the material of development affords +graduated exercises passing from the most rudimentary sensory +exercises to exercises in writing, calculating, and reading. The +children are free to choose the exercises they prefer; but of course, +as the teacher initiates them in each exercise, they only choose the +objects they know how to use. The teacher, observing them, sees when +the child is sufficiently matured for more advanced exercises, and +introduces them to him, or perhaps the child begins them for himself, +after watching other children more advanced.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +<p>We must bear such conditions in mind in order to follow "progress" in +work.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus103.png" width="454" height="202" +alt="stages of greatest development" title="" /></div> + +<p>The two curves represent stages of greatest development as compared +with the primary curve of orderly work. The stage of unrest between +the easy and the more difficult work tends to disappear; the child +seems more <i>sure of himself</i>; he goes more directly and readily to the +choice of his culminating exercise.</p> + +<p>Consequently, two successive phases of uninterrupted work are left; +one may be called the <i>phase of preparation</i>, the other the <i>phase of +serious work</i>. The phase of preparation lasts a very short time, the +<i>serious work</i> is of much longer duration; it is noteworthy that the +period of <i>rest</i>, with its characteristic air of <i>comfort</i> and +<i>serenity</i>, sets in after the <i>maximum effort has spontaneously spent +itself</i>. On the other hand, it happens invariably that any external +interruption of the effort causes the child to show signs of fatigue +(restlessness), or to become inattentive.</p> + +<p>In the first curve, the initial work consists of two easy tasks, +carried on for a short time, and from these the child passes directly +to the serious work. The finale is a spell of rest full of thought; +the child ceases to work, but contemplates his finished task for a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +long time in silence; before preparing to put it away, or, after +having contemplated his own work, he goes quietly to watch that of the +others.</p> + +<p>In the second curve there is a very noticeable parallelism with the +line of repose; the child pursues his labors almost uniformly, and the +sole difference between the initial work and the serious work is in +their different duration. The contemplative period becomes henceforth +an obvious "period of internal work," almost a period of +"assimilation" or "internal maturation." Observation of the work of +others becomes increasingly frequent, as if it were a spontaneous +"comparative" study between the child himself and his companions; or +as if an active interest in the contemplation of the external +surroundings were developing: the period of discovery. We may say that +<i>the child studies himself in his own productions and puts himself +into communion with his companions and his environment</i>.</p> + +<p>At this stage the completion of an entire cycle will exercise an +influence more and more far-reaching on the personality of the child. +Not only is he spurred on to a work of intimate concentration +immediately after his culminating effort; he preserves a permanent +attitude of thought, of internal equilibrium, of sustained interest in +his environment. He becomes a personality who has reached a higher +degree of evolution. This is the period when the child begins to be +"master of himself" and enters upon that characteristic phenomenon I +have called the "phenomenon of obedience." He <i>can obey</i>, that is, he +can control his actions, and therefore can direct them in accordance +with the desires of another person. He can break off a piece of work +when interrupted, without becoming disorderly or showing symptoms of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +fatigue. Moreover, work has become his habitual attitude, and the +child can no longer bear to be idle. When, for instance, we call some +of the children who are in this stage to the lessons for teachers, in +which they are to serve as the "subjects of study," they lend +themselves with ready docility to that which we ask of them, they +submit to the measurements of height, heads, etc., and they perform +the exercises we suggest, responding always with <i>interest</i>, and not +merely with resignation, as if they were conscious of collaborating +with us. But when they have to <i>wait</i>, seated on one side till they +are called forward, they cannot sit idle; they work at something. +Inactivity has become intolerable to them. Very often, while I am +giving the lesson, the children take the lacing or tying frames, or +cover the floor with words made with the movable letters; and where +this is feasible, some of the children will draw or paint in these +moments of waiting.</p> + +<p>All these things have now become expressions of intelligent activity, +which form part of their psychical organism.</p> + +<p>But to ensure the continuance of this attitude and of the development +of personality it is essential that <i>some real task</i> should be +performed each day; for it is from the completed cycle of an activity, +from methodical concentration, that the child develops equilibrium, +elasticity, adaptability, and the resulting power to perform the +higher actions, such as those which are termed acts of obedience. This +makes one think of the method prescribed by the Catholic religion for +the preservation of the forces of spiritual life: that is, a period of +"spiritual concentration," which opens up the possibility of acquiring +"moral powers." It is from methodical "meditation" that moral +personality must draw its powers of solidification, without which the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +"inner man," incoherent and unbalanced, fails to possess itself and +dispose of itself for noble ends.</p> + +<p>Children have always need of the period of concentration, and serious +work from which they derive the capacity for final development.</p> + +<p>The following diagram represents a very lofty stage of childish +development:</p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Superior Stage</span></h4> +<h4><i>Average type</i></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus106a.png" width="454" height="93" +alt="superior stage--average type" title="" /></div> + +<p>Even the preparatory work is now of a higher kind: as soon as the +child comes into school, he will choose, for instance, the letters of +the alphabet, or will write, then (his strenuous work) he will read. +For recreation he will choose an intelligent pastime, such as looking +at illustrated books.</p> + +<p>All his intellectual occupations are of a higher order, as are also +his moral attributes (obedience, serenity, perseverance).</p> + +<p>Taking the line of quiescence as a level of development, it follows +that the level has become higher.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus106b.png" width="454" height="115" +alt="logo" title="" /></div> + +<p>In a superior stage, the line of work tends to become straight, +parallel to the line of quiescence.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +<p>Meanwhile it has been established that it is possible to determine +<i>degrees of development</i>, or <i>averages</i> of internal development, by +means of which individual variations may be studied. In the primordial +type the characteristics are <i>disorderly conduct</i>, and <i>incapacity to +concentrate attention</i>; in such a case there is no real line of work, +and the main part of the diagram remains below the line of quiescence. +For the type in which the phenomenon of permanent concentration of +attention on a task has manifested itself, the average characteristic +diagram of normal orderly work of the first degree is now established: +<i>i. e. preliminary</i> work followed by a period of restlessness, and +then <i>strenuous work</i> followed by a state of repose.</p> + +<p>Afterwards we distinguish a second degree, where the average is +characterized by the disappearance of the period of unrest, and the +strenuous work is brought to a close in contemplation; this is the +stage of discoveries, of generalized observation, of obedience; work +has become a habit.</p> + +<p>This is followed by a general elevation, to be recognized by the +choice of higher preliminary work; disciplined behavior has become a +habit.</p> + +<p>During this progression the diagram of work tends to become straight, +and parallel to the line of quiescence.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +<h4><span class="smcap">A Recapitulatory Table of Development</span></h4> +<h4><i>Diagrams of average developments</i></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus107.png" width="454" height="101" +alt="Diagrams of average developments" title="" /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus108.png" width="454" height="318" +alt="Diagrams of average developments" title="" /></div> + +<p>The rise in the level of the plane is related to the qualities of more +advanced intellectual work; and the straightening of the line is +related to qualities of internal <i>construction</i> and of the +<i>organization of the personality</i>; qualities which would be considered +of a <i>moral order</i>, such as serenity, discipline, self-mastery as +manifested in obedience and in the various activities of the child.</p> + +<p>When work has become a habit, the intellectual level rises rapidly, +and organized order causes good conduct to become a <i>habit</i>. Children +then work with order, perseverance, and discipline, persistently and +naturally; the permanent, calm, and vivifying work of the physical +organism resembles the respiratory rhythm.</p> + +<p>The pivot, the medium of this construction of the personality, is +working in freedom, in accordance with the natural wants of the inner +life; thus <i>freedom in intellectual work</i> is found to be the <i>basis of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +internal discipline</i>. The great achievement of the "Children's +Houses" (<i>Case dei Bambini</i>) is to produce <i>disciplined children</i>.</p> + +<p>It is this internal organization which gives them a special "type," or +character, the type or character <i>required</i> to continue the free +exercise of activities for the <i>conquests of culture</i> in successive +stages.</p> + +<p>The elementary school period presents itself insensibly as a +continuation of the "Children's Houses." In these, <i>behavior is a +habit</i> superposed on and fused with the earlier <i>habit of work</i>. +Henceforth it will be sufficient to present the material of further +culture, and the child, gradually exercising himself upon it, will +pass from one intellectual stage of culture to another.</p> + +<p>The difference shown in the successive ages arises from an +intellectual interest which is no longer merely the impulse to +exercise oneself by repetition of the exercises, but is a higher +interest directed to the work itself, and tending to complete an +external work, or to complete a branch of knowledge as a whole. Thus +the child creates and seeks for things organized in themselves; for +instance, he desires to compose a design by means of combinations of +geometrical figures with the metal insets, and devotes himself to this +work with the greatest intensity until he has completed it. Again, we +see a child occupied for seven or eight consecutive days with the same +work. Another child becomes interested in the potentialities of +numbers or in the arithmetical frame, and perseveres with the same +work for days, until his knowledge of it has matured.</p> + +<p>Upon a basis of interior order produced by internal organization, the +mind then builds up its castle with the same leisurely calm with which +a living organism grows spontaneously after birth.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +<p>We can give but a primary idea at present of the <i>practical +possibility</i> of determining <i>average levels</i> of interior development +according to age. We shall further require many perfect experiments, +in which homogeneous children, completely suitable environment, and +trained teachers will afford adequate material for observation. Then +students will be able to undertake a scientific work, which will +perhaps be characterized by a precision superior even to that with +which it is at present possible to measure the body, and give the +mathematical averages of growth.</p> + +<p>We must consider, however, that the indications available to-day +represent a long, systematic toil, and that they rest upon the still +greater labor of finding external material means for natural +development.</p> + +<p>This will give some idea of the difficulty of scientific researches, +which many still believe it possible to make by means of arbitrary and +superficial tests such as those of Binet and Simon!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The study of the child cannot be accomplished by an "instantaneous" +process; his characteristics can only be illustrated cinematographically.</p> + +<p>"External means," organized in accordance with the needs of psychical +life, are of fundamental importance; for how is it possible to judge +of individual differences in the acquisition of internal order, in the +ascent to abstraction, in the progressive stages of intellectual +development, in the achievement of discipline, without the existence +of pre-determined and unvarying external means which, like so many +points of support, lead the child in process of formation towards his +goal?</p> + +<p>In order to determine <i>individual differences</i> logically, there must +be a <i>constant work or aim</i>; and this is the external means on which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +each personality builds itself up. When the external support is the +same, and corresponds in general to the psychical needs of a given +age, a difference of internal construction is <i>due to the individual +himself</i>. On the other hand, if the means were different, the +variations in reaction might be attributed to differences in the +means.</p> + +<p>Finally, it is obvious that in all scientific research, the +<i>instrument of measurement</i> must be fixed. But each <i>thing to be +measured</i> requires a special instrument, and the constant instrument +in psychical measurement should be "the method of education."</p> + +<p>A series of formulæ, such as the Binet-Simon tests, can neither +measure anything, nor give even an approximate idea of intellectual +levels of intelligence according to age; as to the children who +respond, whence is their response derived? How far is this due to the +intrinsic activity of the individual, and how far to the action of +environment? And if the portion due to environment be ignored, who can +determine what intrinsic psychical value should be given to the +response?</p> + +<p>In each personality we must recognize two parts: one is the +individual, natural, spontaneous activity by means of which elements +may be taken from the environment wherewith the personality may be +elaborated internally, constructed and augmented, and hence +<i>characterized</i>; another part is the external instrument with which +all this may be done. For instance, a child who at the age of four can +recognize sixty-four colors, shows that he possesses remarkable +activity in the perception of colors, and in the arrangement of them +in gradation in his mind, etc.; but he also shows that he has had the +means to accomplish this achievement; he has had, for instance, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +sixty-four color-tablets, with which he has been able to practise at +his leisure and undisturbed, as long as was necessary for such +assimilation.</p> + +<p>The psychical factor P is the sum of two factors, one internal, the +other external:</p> + +<h4>P = I + E</h4> + +<p>of these the unknown, non-directly measurable factor I may be +indicated by X:</p> + +<h4>P = X + E</h4> + +<p>If we were to compare two children, one of whom has had at his +disposal the sixty-four colors in the conditions described above, and +another who has been left to himself in poor surroundings, where gray +and brown tints prevail, and who seems dull and unobservant, etc., we +should find a very remarkable psychical difference. Such a difference +is not, however, intrinsic; it might well be that, subjected to the +same conditions as the first child, the second would recognize the +sixty-four colors. The judgment we should give in such a case would be +based upon an external factor, not upon internal potentialities. We +should really be appraising two different environments, not two +different individuals.</p> + +<p>To enable us to judge of individual differences, it would be necessary +for the two children to have had <i>the same means of development</i>. In +this case, if at the same age they were not equally capable of +distinguishing the sixty-four colors, but if, for instance, one of the +two could recognize only thirty of these, a true individual psychical +difference would be apparent. One of the tests proposed by one of the +greatest authorities on experimental psychology in Italy, to determine +the intellectual level of sub-normal (backward or deficient) +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +children, was to make a child pick out the largest and the smallest +cube in a series. This choice, in common with nearly all the tests +proposed for the same purpose, we considered quite independently of +the influence of <i>culture</i> and <i>education</i>; and it was appreciated as +the expression of an intimate, personal activity of the intelligence +itself. But if one of the deficient children I had educated on my +method had been subjected to the test, he would, in virtue of a long +sensory training, have chosen the largest and the smallest cube very +much more easily than the children selected by the psychologist from +his special schools; and my deficient child might even have been not +only younger, but even more backward intellectually than the other. +The test would therefore have measured the different methods of +education, whereas the psychical differences between the two children, +really existent by reason of age or of intellectual attainment, would +have remained absolutely obscure.</p> + +<p>Man is a fusion of personality and education, and education includes +the series of experiences he undergoes during his life. The two things +cannot be separated in the individual: intelligence without +acquirement is an abstraction. That which holds good of all living +beings: that the individual cannot be divorced from his environment, +is more profoundly true in its application to psychical life, because +the content of environment, constituting the means of auto-experience +which evolves man, is an essential part of him, and, indeed, is the +individual himself. Nevertheless, we all know that the psychical +individual is not his environment, but a life in himself.</p> + +<p>Given the formula</p> + +<h4>P = X + E</h4> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +<p>in which X is the internal and intrinsic part peculiar to the +individual life, it may be said that every individual has his X. But +in order to <i>approach</i> to direct knowledge of X, it is essential to +know P and E.</p> + +<p>He who carries out an examination, or supposes himself to be +performing a "psychical measurement" by dwelling on psychical results, +is in reality measuring a mixture of two unknown quantities, one of +which, being external to the individual, nullifies the results of +research.</p> + +<p>Hence, to study individual differences in isolated activities, such as +the perception of colors, musical sounds, the letters of the alphabet; +or the capacity for observation of surroundings and the detection of +errors; or coordination of movements, language, etc., it is essential +to have first determined a <i>constant</i> element: the means of +development offered by environment.</p> + +<p>Here a simple and clearly defined difference between pedagogy and +psychology manifests itself: pedagogy determines experimentally the +means of development and the method of applying them while respecting +the internal or personal liberty of the individual; psychology studies +average reactions or individual reactions in the species or the +individual. But the two things are two aspects of a single fact, which +is the development of man; the individual and the environment are the +two factors X and E of the same product: the psychical entity.</p> + +<p>Isolated psychical researches of a moral order must also, if they are +to be of any real value, be based upon prolonged observation, <i>after +the internal activities have become orderly</i>; because it is easy to +make errors of judgment in a chaos. In clinical psychiatry or in +criminal pathology, when we speak of "keeping a subject under +observation" for purposes of diagnosis, we mean placing him in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +special surroundings, under hygienic and disciplinary conditions, +etc., and observing him for some time in such an environment. Such a +process has a value still more extensive and profound in the case of +normal individuals in process of evolution. In such a case it is +necessary not only to offer orderly external surroundings, but to +reduce the chaotic internal world of the child to order, and, after +this, to observe him for a considerable time.</p> + +<p>We may offer as an illustration the following observations made upon +two of the most interesting children who attended our schools. They +were admitted into the training school for teachers during my last +International Course in Rome.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Aspects of the Two Children</span></h4> + +<h4><i>During the period they were retained as subjects for<br /> anthropological +observation in the class-room<br /> for teachers</i></h4> + +<p>There was a considerable clamor among the students; some were talking, +some laughing. In the center of the room stood a pedometer. The +behavior of the two children was almost identical. They were sitting +apart quietly, working at the lacing frames which they had gone +spontaneously to fetch from a neighboring room; they did not look up +at the noise, nor join in the laughter. Their attitude was that of +persons at work and anxious not to lose any time. When invited by a +single gesture to come and be measured, they obeyed in a wonderful +manner, leaving off work at once, and moving with smiles, as if +fascinated; they evidently felt pleasure in obeying, and an internal +delight which came from the consciousness of being able to work, and +of being ready to leave something that they liked doing, at a summons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +to something of a higher order. They arranged themselves very +carefully on the pedometer to be measured; when any modification was +necessary in the position of the body, it sufficed to murmur a word in +their ears and the almost imperceptible movement required was made +with the utmost exactitude; they could control their voluntary +movements and direct them; they were able to translate the words they +heard into actions: <i>this enabled them</i> to obey, and this constituted +for them a fascinating internal conquest. When the measuring was over, +nothing was said; they waited expectantly for a moment, then gave an +intelligent glance and a smile, which was, as it were, their greeting; +they had understood, and they returned voluntarily to their corner to +take up their frames and resume their work. Presently they were wanted +again, and the same actions were repeated.</p> + +<p>When we think that children of their age (about four and a half), when +left to themselves, will roam about, upsetting objects almost +unconsciously, and requiring either some one to submit to their +caprices, or to call them roughly to order, we shall recognize the +internal perfection achieved in these two little ones, who have +arrived at that stage of development in which work has become a +<i>habit</i>, and obedience a fascinating acquisition.</p> + +<p>The anthropometric measurements had shown that one of the children, +<i>O</i>, was normal in measurement (weight, stature, length of torso) and +the other, <i>A</i>, below the normal measurements.</p> + +<p>Here are some notes made by the teacher on the conduct of these two +children when they were in the state of disorder, or undisciplined:</p> + +<p><i>O</i>: violent, turbulent, spiteful to his companions, never applies to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +anything, but looks on at what the others are doing and then +interrupts them; or listens to the individual lessons given by the +teacher with a scornful and cynical expression. The father of the +child says that at home he is violent, overbearing, and intractable.</p> + +<p><i>A</i>: is quiet. But he has almost a mania for spying on his companions, +and pointing out to the teacher every little action that might be +considered wrong or incorrect.</p> + +<p>Both of the children are very poor. <i>O</i> is almost entirely neglected +by his family.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>Later judgment</i> the teacher was enabled to form of these two children +after they had reduced themselves to order by means of work:</p> + +<p><i>O</i>: all the turbulence shown by <i>O</i> in his home resolved itself into +a struggle for bread; the father, who was very poor, but also +neglectful, denied the child bread; the child did not resign himself, +did not cry, but struggled constantly, with all the means at his +disposal, in order to obtain his portion of bread. When the teacher +asked the father why he denied the child bread, he replied: "Because, +when he has eaten it, he asks for more."</p> + +<p>In school, this child ran from group to group, from lesson to lesson, +disturbing the others and passing over everything, because he was +struggling to win his spiritual food after the same fashion.</p> + +<p>He is a child who has an overpowering will to live: self-preservation +seems to be his most strongly developed tendency.</p> + +<p>When his life was assured, the child became not only gentle, but +remarkable for his sweetness and delicacy of feeling. He was the child +who, in his joy when he had learned or completed some task, looked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +round lovingly at his companions, and blew little kisses to them from +his fingers. Whereas for the other children who had entered into the +phase of order or discipline, the teacher's note is: "work," for <i>O</i> +the note is: "work and kindness."</p> + +<p>Before the daily hot meal was instituted, the children used to bring +their own luncheons, which varied very much; two or three of the +children were very generously provided, and had meat, fruit, etc. <i>O</i> +was seated next to one of these. The table was set, and <i>O</i> had +nothing to put upon his plate but the piece of bread he had so +strenuously acquired; he glanced at his neighbor as if to regulate +himself by the time the latter would take over his meal, but with no +trace of envy; on the contrary, with great dignity he tried to eat his +piece of bread very slowly, in order that he might not finish before +the other, and thus make it evident that he had nothing more to eat +while the other was still busy. He nibbled his bread slowly and +seriously.</p> + +<p>What a sense of his own dignity—subduing the desires of an appetite +exposed to temptation—existed in this child, together with his sense +of the fundamental needs of his own life, by which he was impelled to +struggle and to conquer what was "necessary." And there was further +that exquisite sensibility, which manifested itself in the +affectionate expression of his mobile face, and in the effusion of a +general tenderness which looked for no return.</p> + +<p>A very remarkable thing was that this child, whom we might have +expected to find ill-nourished, gave normal anthropological +measurements and weight for his age. Born in poverty and neglect, he +had defended himself; the normality of his body was due to an heroic +effort.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +<p><i>A</i>: this child was always calm and quiet; he very soon entered upon +the phase of active, ordered, willing and thorough work. He applied +himself with intense earnestness and perseverance. He would be the +type of the clever, well-behaved child of the ordinary school. Very +often he came to school without any food. His <i>goodness</i> had a +<i>positive</i> character which became a mortal danger to himself; he +accepted mal-nutrition without revolt; he profited greatly by the +means of psychical life that were offered him, but he would never have +been able to conquer them for himself. His goodness continued to be of +the same type after as before the period of order; he showed neither +agitation nor expansion. His anthropological measurements, which were +below the normal, already indicated that he had started on life's +pilgrimage with the gait of the victim; he belonged to the company of +those "who must be saved by others."</p> + +<p>The characteristic moral trait was "espionage." The teacher, when +observing him, noticed that the child did not work simply like the +others, but came to her very frequently to know if what he was doing +was well or ill done. And this not only during his work with the +materials, but also in reference to every act of a moral nature he +accomplished; his great preoccupation seemed to be to know whether he +was doing right or wrong. Then he endeavored to do right with the most +scrupulous exactitude. With regard to his spying tendencies, the +teacher noted the child never showed any animosity towards his +companions; he watched them attentively, and then proceeded to say of +them as he would say of himself: So and so did this; was it right or +wrong? The child was then careful to avoid what had been pronounced +"wrong" in others.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +<p>What appeared to be his spying proclivities were, in fact, a +manifestation of the problem that dominated his childish conscience: +the problem of right and wrong. The limited experience of his own life +did not suffice him; he wanted to benefit by the experience of all the +others in order to learn what things were right and what were wrong; +almost as if the one feeling that absorbed him was the desire to do +right and avoid wrong, and as if this were his sole aspiration. The +case of this child recalls a popular superstition expressed in such +terms as "too good to live." The child <i>A</i> seemed destined for the +fate thus suggested. The needs of the body did not greatly concern +him, and he seemed equally indifferent to those of the mind; goodness +was the mainspring of his being. If society does not note such +dispositions, and assume the special protection of such frail lives, +children of this type go forward to premature death like angels gazing +heavenwards.</p> + +<p>These two accounts, due to Signorina Maccheroni's observation, correct +a superficial judgment which, in an ordinary school, would have become +a permanent record of character: the one child would have been branded +as <i>violent</i>, the other as a <i>spy</i>.</p> + +<p>If we call that science which led to the translation of these words +into <i>hero</i> and <i>angel</i>, and touched so many hearts in the vicinity of +these two children, when they had been interpreted by their wonderful +instructress, we shall be able to assert that "the judgment of love is +the judgment of knowledge." The mercy of Christ in judging is here +illustrated.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Psychical action," then, starts from a principle which may be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +translated thus: "that the child lives." All the rest comes as a +consequence.</p> + +<p>This action of fundamental life manifests itself as a <i>polarization</i> +of the internal personality: almost at a point of crystallization, +around which, provided there be homogeneous material and an +undisturbed environment, <i>the definitive form composes itself</i>.</p> + +<p>This initial action is a task <i>repeated</i> with a special intensity of +attention.</p> + +<p>In my "biographical chart," therefore, I do not give a long formula of +analytical studies, but I give a "guide to psychological +observations," founded upon the synthetical conception which I have +sought to illustrate. Those who have not been <i>initiated</i> into this +method of observation will gain no light from such a guide, which lies +entirely outside the conceptions of psychological study now obtaining +in connection with the observation of pupils. But those who have been +initiated will understand it without the aid of illustration.</p> + +<p>Our teachers have also a terminology by means of which they understand +each other, without having recourse to the ordinary expressions, which +do not convey an exact idea of the action they see in process of +development. Thus they never say: The child is developing, or +progressing, the child is good or naughty, etc. The only phraseology +they use is: The child <i>is becoming disciplined</i> or <i>is not becoming +disciplined</i>. It is internal order that they await; and on this +principle of being or not being, all or nothing depends.</p> + +<p>This evokes a much deeper conception than that of "growth." To say +that a living creature <i>grows</i> is to make a very superficial +statement, seeing that he grows indeed, <i>but in virtue of the fact</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +that, within, an orderly and regular disposition of substances is in +progress.</p> + +<p>When, for instance, the embryo of an animal is formed, it grows; but +any one who has observed it internally must have been struck by a fact +much more marvelous than that of the visible external "growth." A +wonderful internal grouping of the cells takes place; some form, as it +were, a leaf which folds over and makes the intestines, others +separate to form the nervous system, one group isolates and +specializes itself to make the liver, and thus an organization of +parts, more and more pronounced, together with a minute +differentiation of each individual arrangement of the cells, is +carried on. The future functions of the body all depend upon the +possibility of the cells so establishing themselves.</p> + +<p>The important point is, not that the embryo <i>grows</i>, but that it +<i>coordinates</i>. "Growth" comes through and by order, which also makes +life possible. An embryo which grows without coordinating its internal +organs is not vital. Here we have not only the impulse, but the +mystery of life. The evolution of internal order is the essential +condition for the realization of vital existence in a life which +possesses the impulse to exist.</p> + +<p>Now the sum of the phenomena indicated in the "guide to psychological +observation" actually represents the evolution of spiritual <i>order</i> in +the child.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Guide to psychological observation</b>. <span class="smcap">Work</span>.—Note when a +child begins to occupy himself for any length of time upon a task.</p> + +<p>What the task is and how long he continues working at it (slowness in +completing it and repetition of the same exercise).</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +<p>His individual peculiarities in applying himself to particular tasks.</p> + +<p>To what tasks he applies himself during the same day, and with how +much perseverance.</p> + +<p>If he has periods of spontaneous industry, and for how many days these +periods continue.</p> + +<p>How he manifests a desire to progress.</p> + +<p>What tasks he chooses in their sequence, working at them steadily.</p> + +<p>Persistence in a task in spite of stimuli in his environment which +would tend to distract his attention.</p> + +<p>If after deliberate interruption he resumes the task from which his +attention was distracted.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Conduct</span>.—Note the state of order or disorder in the acts of the +child.</p> + +<p>His disorderly actions.</p> + +<p>Note if changes of behavior take place during the development of the +phenomena of work.</p> + +<p>Note whether during the establishment of ordered actions there are:</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">crises of joy;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">intervals of serenity;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">manifestations of affection.</span></p> + +<p>The part the child takes in the development of his companions.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Obedience</span>.—Note if the child responds to the summons when he is +called.</p> + +<p>Note if and when the child begins to take part in the work of others +with an intelligent effort.</p> + +<p>Note when obedience to a summons becomes regular.</p> + +<p>Note when obedience to orders becomes established.</p> + +<p>Note when the child obeys eagerly and joyously.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +<p>Note the relation of the various phenomena of obedience in their +degrees</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">(<i>a</i>) to the development of work;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">(<i>b</i>) to changes of conduct.</span><br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV">IV</a></h3> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +<h3>THE PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p>The possibility of observing the developments of the psychical life of +the child as natural phenomena and experimental reactions transforms +the <i>school itself in action</i> into a kind of scientific laboratory for +the psycho-genetic study of man. It will become—perhaps in the near +future—the experimental field <i>par excellence</i> of the psychologist. +To prepare such a school as perfectly as possible, is therefore not +only to prepare "a better method for the education of children," but +also to prepare the materials for a renovated science. Every one now +knows that students of natural science require in their laboratories +an organization directed to the <i>preparation</i> of the material to be +observed. To observe a simple cell in movement, it is necessary to +have a hollow glass slide with cavity for the hanging drop; to have +ready "fresh solutions" in which the living cells may be immersed, to +ensure their continued vitality; to have ready soils for cultures, +etc. For all these ends there are special avocations, those of the +so-called "preparers," who are not the assistants or helpers of the +professor, but <i>employés</i> who were at one time upper servants, and +then become superior workmen. At the present day they are, however, +nearly always themselves scientific graduates. For, indeed, their task +is a most delicate one; they must possess biological, physical, and +chemical knowledge, and the more thoroughly they are "prepared" by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +culture analogous to that of the masters of research themselves, the +more rapid and secure is the march of science.</p> + +<p>It is strange to think that among all these laboratories of natural +science, only that of "experimental psychology" has judged it possible +to dispense with an organization for the preparation of the subjects +to be observed. If to-day a psychologist were told to arrange the work +of his preparer, he would take this to mean the preparation of his +"instruments," thus adopting more or less the standard of laboratories +of <i>physics</i>.</p> + +<p>But the idea of preparing the living being which produces the +phenomenon would not enter his mind; and yet, if merely to observe a +cell, a living microbe, the scientist needs a "preparer," how much +greater must be the necessity for such an assistant when the subject +to be observed is man!</p> + +<p>Psychologists consider that they can prepare their "subjects" by +arresting their attention with a word, and explaining to them how they +are to proceed in order to respond to the experiment; any unknown +person met by chance in the laboratory will serve their purpose. In +short, the psychologist of to-day behaves somewhat like the child who +catches a butterfly in flight, observes it for a second and then lets +it fly away again; not like the biologist who takes care that his +preparations are properly carried out in a scientific laboratory.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the picture of psychological development, even +though it be incomplete, which is shown to us in our experiments, +demonstrates the subtlety with which it is necessary to present to the +child the means of his development and, above all, to respect his +liberty; conditions which are essential to ensure that psychical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +phenomena be revealed and may constitute a true "material for +observation"; all this demands a special environment, and the +preparation of a practical staff, forming a whole infinitely superior +in complexity and in organization to the ordinary natural science +laboratories. Such a laboratory can only be the most perfect school, +organized according to scientific methods, where the teacher is a +person answering to the "preparer" graduate.</p> + +<p>True, all schools would not achieve this lofty scientific ideal. But +it is indisputable that schools and teachers should all be directing +their efforts towards the domain of the experimental sciences. The +psychical salvation of children is based upon the means and the +liberty to live, and these should become another of the "natural +rights" accorded to the new generations; established as a social and +philosophic conception, it should supersede the present "obligation to +provide instruction," which is a burden not only on State economy but +also on the vigor of posterity. If the psychical phenomena of the +children in the national schools do not tend to enrich psychology, +they become ends in themselves, just as the beauty of Nature is an end +in itself.</p> + +<p>The new school, indeed, must not be created for the service of a +science, but for the service of living humanity; and teachers will be +able to rejoice in the contemplation of lives unfolding under their +eyes, without sharing the spectacle with science, wrapped in a holy +egoism which will exalt their spirits as does every intimate contact +with living souls.</p> + +<p>It is unquestionable that with this method of education the +preparation of the teacher must be made <i>ex novo</i>, and that the +personality and social importance of the instructress will be +transformed thereby.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +<p>Even after the first desultory experiments hitherto made, a new type +of mistress has been evolved; instead of facility in speech, she has +to acquire the power of silence; instead of teaching, she has to +observe; instead of the proud dignity of one who claims to be +infallible, she assumes the vesture of humility.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>This transformation has a parallel in that undergone by the university +professor, when the positive sciences began to play their part in the +world. What a difference between the dignified old-world professor, +draped in a robe often ermine-trimmed, seated on his high chair as on +a throne, and speaking so authoritatively that students were not only +bound to believe all he said, but to swear <i>in verbo magistri</i>, and +the professor of to-day, who leaves the high places to the students +that they may be able to see, reserving for himself the lowest +station, on the bare floor; while the students are all seated, he +alone stands, often clad in a gray linen blouse like a workman.</p> + +<p>The students know that they will be on the way to the highest degree +of progress when they are capable of "verifying" the theses of the +professor—nay, more, of giving a further impetus to science, and +inscribing their own names among those quoted as having contributed to +its wealth or having discovered new truths.</p> + +<p>Dignity and hierarchy in these schools have been superseded by +interest in the chemical or physical or natural phenomena to be +produced; and in presence of this all the rest disappears. The whole +arrangement of the laboratory is subject to the same purpose; if the +phenomenon requires light, all the walls are of glass; if darkness be +necessary, the laboratory is so constructed that it may be transformed +into a <i>camera obscura</i>. The one thing of importance is the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +production of the phenomenon, be this a bad smell or a perfume, an +electric spark or the colors of Geissler's tubes, a resonance with +Helmholtz's reverberators, or the geometrical arrangement of fine dust +on a metallic plate in vibration; the shape of a leaf or the +contraction of a frog's muscle; the study of the blind spot in the eye +or the rhythm of cardiac pulsation; all is equal and all is included; +the eager and absorbing quest is the quest of truth. It is this which +the new generation demands from science, not the oratorical art of the +professor, the noble gesture, the quip that lightens the weight of the +discourse, the lively peroration of the carefully elaborated harangue, +and all those expedients which were once developed by a special art +for the express purpose of capturing the attention. It is passion for +knowledge rather than attention which now animates our young people, +who often come out of university halls remembering neither the voice +nor the appearance of their professor.</p> + +<p>But this does not connote the absence of love and respect for the +master. Only, the veneration a modern student feels in the depths of +his heart for the great scientist and benefactor of humanity, who +stands before him unassumingly dressed in a linen blouse, differs +essentially from the fear tempered by ridicule which the gown and wig +once inspired.</p> + +<p>The transformation of schools and teachers must now proceed on the +same lines.</p> + +<p>When in a school everything revolves around a fundamental fact, and +this fact is a natural phenomenon, the school will have entered the +orbit of science. Then the teacher must assume those "characteristics" +which are necessary in the presence of science.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +<p>Among its devotees we find "characteristics" independent of the +content of thought; in short, physicists, chemists, astronomers, +botanists, and zoologists, though their content of knowledge is +entirely different, are nevertheless all students of the positive +sciences, and have characteristics which differentiate them from the +metaphysicians of the past. These characteristics are related, not to +the content, but to the method of the sciences. If, therefore, +pedagogy is to take its place among the sciences, it must be +characterized by its method; and the teacher must prepare herself, not +by means of the content, but by means of the method.</p> + +<p>In short, she should be distinguished by <i>quality</i> even more than by +<i>culture</i>.</p> + +<p>The fundamental quality is the capacity for "observation"; a quality +so important that the positive sciences were also called "sciences of +observation," a term which was changed into "experimental sciences" +for those in which observation is combined with experiment. Now it is +obvious that the possession of senses and of knowledge is not +sufficient to enable a person to observe; it is a habit which must be +developed by <i>practise</i>. When an attempt is made to show untrained +persons stellar phenomena by means of the telescope, or the details of +a cell under the microscope, however much the demonstrator may try to +explain by word of mouth what ought to be seen, the layman cannot see +it. When persons who are convinced of the great discovery made by De +Vries go to his laboratory to observe the mutations in the varied +minute plants of the Ænothera, he often explains in vain the +infinitesimal yet essential differences, denoting, indeed, a new +species, among seedlings which have hardly germinated. It is well +known that when a new discovery is to be explained to the public, it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +is necessary to set forth the coarser details; the uninitiated cannot +take in those minute details which constituted the real essence of the +discovery. And this, because they are unable to observe.</p> + +<p>To observe it is necessary to be "trained," and this is the true way +of approach to science. For if phenomena cannot be <i>seen</i> it is as if +they did not exist, while, on the other hand, the <i>soul of the +scientist</i> is entirely possessed by a passionate interest in what he +sees. He who has been "trained" to see, begins to feel interest, and +such interest is the motive-power which creates the spirit of the +scientist. As in the little child internal <i>coordination</i> is the point +of crystallization round which the entire psychical form will +coalesce, so in the teacher interest in the phenomenon observed will +be the center round which her complete new personality will form +spontaneously.</p> + +<p>The quality of observation comprises various minor qualities, such as +<i>patience</i>. In comparison with the scientist, the untrained person not +only appears to be a blind man who can see neither with the naked eye +nor with the help of lenses; he appears as an "impatient" person.</p> + +<p>If the astronomer has not already got his telescope in focus, the +layman cannot wait until he has done so; while the scientist would be +performing this task without even perceiving that he was carrying out +a long and patient process, the layman would be fuming, and thinking, +in great perturbation: "What am I doing here? I cannot waste time like +this." When microscopists expect visits from a lay public, they +prepare a long row of microscopes already in focus, because they know +that their visitors will wish to see "at once" and "quickly," and that +they will wish to see "a great deal."</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +<p>We can easily imagine a scientist whose contributions to the work of +the laboratory are of the highest order, who holds chairs and +possesses civil dignities and honors of every sort, amiably consenting +to show a lady a cellular tissue under the microscope. As if it were +the most natural thing in the world, he would proceed as follows, with +solemn and serene gravity. He would cut off a minute portion of a +piece of tissue preserved in spirit, and would carefully clean the +slide on which the subject was to be placed and the slide that was to +cover it; he would clean again the lenses of the microscope, focus the +preparation, and make ready to explain. But undoubtedly the lady all +this time will have been on the point of saying a hundred times: +"Excuse me, Professor, but really ... I have an engagement ... I have +a great deal to do...." When she has looked without seeing anything, +her lamentations are bitter: "What a lot of time I have wasted!" And +yet she has nothing to do, and fritters away all her time! What she +lacks is not time but patience. He who is impatient cannot appraise +things properly; he can only appreciate his own impulses and his own +satisfactions. He reckons time solely by his own activity. That which +satisfies him may be absolutely empty, valueless, nugatory; no matter, +its value lies in the satisfaction it gives him; and if it gives him +satisfaction, it cannot be said to be a waste of time. But what he +cannot endure, and what impresses him as a loss of time is a tension +of the nerves, a moment of self-control, an interval of waiting +without an immediate result There is, indeed, a popular Italian +proverb: <i>aspettare e non venire è una cosa da morire</i> (to wait for +what does not come is a killing business). These impatient persons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +are like those busybodies who always make off when there is really +work to be done.</p> + +<p>A thorough <i>education</i> is indeed necessary to overcome this attitude; +we must master and control our own wills, if we would bring ourselves +into relation with the external world and appreciate its values. +Without this preparation we cannot give due weight to the minute +things from which science draws its conclusions.</p> + +<p>The capacity for sustained and accurate application to a task the +object of which is apparently of very small importance, is indeed a +most valuable asset to him who hopes to advance in science. Let us +call to mind what a physicist does to place an instrument absolutely +level; how patiently he turns first one screw and then another, tries +again and again, slowly and carefully: and to what end? to procure an +absolutely horizontal direction for a surface. When this measure of +comparison is established in hard metal, how carefully it must be +preserved to ensure that the oscillations of temperature shall not +modify the length even in the most infinitesimal degree; for this +would be fatal to the scientific use of the instrument in measuring +horizontals. And yet how slight a thing in itself is involved! the +preservation of a measure! When the great chemist wishes to find out +whether <i>traces</i> of a substance can give a reaction he seems to be +playing with his phials like a little boy; he takes a retort and fills +it with the substance he wishes to study, and then empties it; +afterwards he fills it with water, and watches for the reaction; the +reaction takes place; then again he empties the retort, fills it anew +with water, and sees whether there is a further reaction. Thus he +establishes the degree of dilution in which the substance will leave +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +traces. In this case the minimum is the important thing; it was to +find this imperceptible, negligible minimum that the great man acted +like a child.</p> + +<p>This attitude of <i>humility</i> is an element of patience. In all things +the scientist is humble: from the external action of descending from +his professional throne to work standing at a little table, from the +taking off of his robes to don the workman's blouse, from having laid +aside the dignity of one who states an authoritative and indisputable +truth to assume the position of one who is seeking the truth together +with his pupils, and inviting them to verify it, to the end not that +they should learn a doctrine but that they should be spurred to +activity by the truth—from all this, down to the tasks he carries out +in his laboratory. He considers nothing too small to absorb all his +powers, to claim his entire attention, to occupy all his time. Even +when social honors are heaped upon him, he maintains the same +attitude, which is to him the only true honor, the real source of his +greatness. A microbe, an excretion, anything, may interest the man of +science, even though he be a senator or a Minister of State. The +example of Cincinnatus is not to be compared with that of the modern +scientist, for these workers surpass Cincinnatus immeasurably, in +their power of bringing glory and salvation to humanity.</p> + +<p>But the highest form of humility in men of science is their ready +self-abnegation, not only in externals, but even in spiritual things, +such as a cherished ideal, convictions that have germinated in their +minds. Confronted with truth, the man of science has no +pre-conceptions; he is ready to renounce all those cherished ideas of +his own that may diverge therefrom. Thus, gradually, he purifies +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +himself from error, and keeps his mind always fresh, always clear, +naked as the Truth with which he desires to blend in a sublime union.</p> + +<p>Is not this, perhaps, the reason why the specialist in infantile +diseases has at present a social dignity and authority far superior to +those of a schoolmaster? Yet the specialist merely seeks for truth +among the excretions of the child's diseased body; but the master +veils its soul with errors.</p> + +<p>But how would it be if the master should seek the truth in the soul of +the child? What an incomparable dignity would be his! To raise himself +to this height, however, he would have to be initiated into the ways +of humility, of self-abnegation, of patience; and to destroy the pride +which is built on the void of vanity. After this he, too, might put on +the spiritual vesture of the scientist, saying to the people: What did +you see in the other true sciences? Reeds shaken by the wind? Men +clothed in soft raiment? No, you saw prophets; but I am more than a +prophet; I am he who crieth in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of +the Lord, make His paths straight.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>More, indeed, than the other men of science; for they must always +remain extraneous to the object of their study: electric energy, +chemical energy, the life of microbes, the stars, are all things +diverse and remote from the scientist. But the object of the +schoolmaster is man himself; the psychical manifestations of children +evoke something more in him than <i>interest in the phenomenon</i>; he +obtains from them the revelation of himself, and his emotions vibrate +at the contact of other souls like his own. All life may be his +portion, not merely a part of life. Then those <i>virtues</i>, such as +<i>humility</i> and <i>patience</i>, which spring up in the man of science +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +within the limitations of the external aims he has fixed for himself, +may here enfold the entire soul. Then it will no longer be a question +of the "patience of the man of science," or the "humility of the man +of science," but of the virtues of man in all their plenitude.</p> + +<p>That spiritual expansion of the man of science which is, as it were, +compressed into a tube, like rays of light passing through the +cylinders of the telescope, may here be diffused on the horizon like +the dazzling splendor of the sun. The so-called virtues are the +<i>necessary means, the methods of existence</i> by which we attain to +truth; but the delight of the scientist in his work must vary in +proportion as this truth is manifested in a physical force, a +protozoan, or the soul of man. The one name seems scarcely suitable +for the two forms. We understand at once that, in comparison with the +<i>schoolmaster</i>, the scientist must be to some extent a limited and +arid being. The nobility of his spirit is lofty as man, but its +dimensions are those of a brute force or an inferior life.</p> + +<p>The spiritual life of man may blend with the virtues of the man of +science only when the student and the subject of study can be fused +together. Then science may become a wellspring of wisdom, and true +positive science may become one with the true knowledge of the saints. +There is a real mechanism of correspondence between the virtues of the +man of science and the virtues of the saints; it is by means of +humility and patience that the scientist puts himself in contact with +material nature; and it is by means of humility and patience that the +saint puts himself in contact with the spiritual nature of things, and +as a consequence, mainly with man. The scientist is virtuous only +within the limits of his material contacts; the saint is "all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +compact" of such virtue; his sacrifices and his enjoyments are alike +illimitable. The scientist is a seer within the limits of his field of +observation; the saint is a spiritual seer, but he also <i>sees</i> +material things and their laws more clearly than other men, and +invests them with spirit.</p> + +<p>The modern scientist knows that every living thing is marvelous, and +that the simplest and most primitive most readily reveal natural laws +which help us to interpret the most complicated beings. St. Francis +indeed knew this: "Come closer, O my sister," he said to the +grasshopper chirping beneath the fig-tree near the window of his cell; +"the smaller the creature the more perfectly does it reveal the power +and goodness of the Creator."</p> + +<p>Each tiny thing is worthy of the scientist's minute attention; he +counts the articulations which make up the claws of an insect, and +knows the veinings of its most delicate wings; he finds interesting +details where the ordinary eye would not linger for a moment. St. +Francis also observed these things, but they awoke in him a feeling of +spiritual joy and called forth a hymn of praise: "Who, who gave me +these little fairy feet, furnished with healthy and flexible little +bones, to enable me to spring swiftly from branch to branch, from twig +to twig? Who further gave me eyes, <i>crystal globes that revolve</i> and +see before and behind, to spy out all my enemies, the predatory kite, +the black crow, the greedy goose? And he gave me wings, <i>delicate +tissues of gold and green and blue</i>, which reflect the color of the +skies and of my trees."</p> + +<p>The vision of the teacher should be at once precise like that of the +scientist, and spiritual like that of the saint. The preparation for +science and the preparation for sanctity should form a new soul, for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +the attitude of the teacher should be at once positive, scientific, +and spiritual.</p> + +<p>Positive and scientific, because she has an <i>exact</i> task to perform, +and it is necessary that she should put herself into immediate +relation with the truth, by means of rigorous observation, that she +should strip off all illusions, all the idle creations of the fancy, +that she should distinguish truth from falsehood unerringly, that, in +fact, she should follow the example of the scientist, who takes +account of every minute particle of matter, every elementary and +embryonic form of life, but eliminates all optical delusions, all the +confusion which impurities and foreign substances might introduce into +the search for truth. To achieve such an attitude <i>long practise is +necessary, and a wide observation of life</i> under the guidance of the +biological sciences.</p> + +<p>Spiritual, because it is to man that his powers of observation are to +be applied, and because the characteristics of the creature who is to +be his particular subject of observation are spiritual.</p> + +<p>I would therefore initiate teachers into the observation of the most +simple forms of living things, with all those aids which science +gives; I would make them microscopists; I would give them a knowledge +of the cultivation of plants and train them to observe their +physiology; I would direct their observation to insects, and would +make them study the general laws of biology. And I would not have them +concerned with theory alone, but would encourage them to work +independently in laboratories and in the bosom of free Nature.</p> + +<p>This complex program of observation must not exclude the physical +aspects of the child. Thus the direct and immediate preparation for a +higher task should be the knowledge of the physical needs of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +child, from birth to the age when psychical life is beginning to +develop in his organization and becomes susceptible to treatment. By +this I do not mean merely a theoretical course of anatomy, physiology, +and hygiene; but a "practise" among little children, which aims at +following their development closely, and foresees all their physical +needs. The teacher, in other words, should prepare herself according +to the methods of the biological sciences, entering with simplicity +and objectivity into the very domain in which students of the natural +sciences and of medicine are initiated, when they make their first +experiments in the laboratory, before penetrating into the more +profound problems of life related to their special study. In like +manner those young men, who in our universities are destined to study +vast and complex sciences, must in the beginning undertake the quiet +and restful work of preparing an infusion, or the section of a +rose-stalk, and thus experience, as they observe through the +microscope, that emotion born of wonder, which awakens the +consciousness and attracts it to the mysteries of life with a +passionate enthusiasm. It was thus that we, accustomed hitherto to +read in school only ponderous and arid printed books, felt that the +book of Nature was opening before our spirit, infinite in its +possibilities of creation and of miracle, and responding to all our +latent and uncomprehended aspirations.</p> + +<p>This should also be the book of the new teacher, the primer that +should mold her for her mission of directing infant life. Such a +preparation should generate in her consciousness a conception of life +capable of transforming her, of calling forth in her a special +"activity," an "aptitude" which shall make her efficient for her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +task. She should become a providential "force," a maternal "force."</p> + +<p>But all this is but a part of the "preparation." The teacher must not +remain thus on the threshold of life, like those scientists who are +destined to observe plants and animals, and who are accordingly +satisfied with what morphology and physiology can offer. Nor is it her +mission to remain intent upon "derangements in the functions of the +body," like the medical specialist in infantile disease, who is +content with pathology. She must recognize that the methods of those +sciences are limited. When she chants her introit and sets foot upon +those steps which in the temple of life ascend to the spiritual +tabernacle, she should look upwards, and feel that among the adoring +host in the vast temple of science, she is a priestess.</p> + +<p>Her sphere is to be vaster and more splendid; she is about to observe +"the inner life of man." The arid field which is limited to the +marvels of organic matter will not suffice for her; all the spiritual +fruits of the history of humanity and of religion will be necessary +for her nourishment. The lofty manifestations of art, of love, of +holiness, are the characteristic manifestations of that life which she +is not only about to observe but to serve, and which is her "own +life"; not a thing strange to her, and therefore cold and arid; but +the intimate life she has in common with all men, the true and only +real life of Man.</p> + +<p>The scientific laboratory, the field of Nature where the teacher will +be initiated into "the observation of the phenomena of the inner life" +should be the school in which free children develop with the help of +material designed to bring about development. When she feels herself, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +aflame with interest, "seeing" the spiritual phenomena of the child, +and experiences a serene joy and an insatiable eagerness in observing +them, then she will know that she is "initiated."</p> + +<p>Then she will begin to become a "teacher."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="V" id="V">V</a></h3> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +<h3>ENVIRONMENT</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p>Not only must the teacher be transformed, but the school environment +must be changed. The introduction of the "material of development" +into an ordinary school cannot constitute the entire external +renovation. The school should become the place where the child may +live in freedom, and this freedom must not be solely the intimate, +spiritual liberty of internal growth. The entire organism of the +child, from his physiological, vegetative part to his motor activity, +ought to find in school "the best conditions for development." This +includes all that physical hygiene has already put forward as aids to +the life of the child. No place would be better adapted than these +schools to establish and popularize reform in the clothing of +children, which should meet the requirements of cleanliness and of a +simplicity facilitating freedom of movement, while it should be so +made as to enable children to dress themselves. No better place could +be found to carry out and popularize infant hygiene in its relation to +nutrition. It would be a work of social regeneration to convince the +public of the economy they might effect by such practises, to show +them that elegance and propriety in themselves cost nothing—nay, +more, that they demand simplicity and moderation, and therefore +exclude all that superfluity which is so expensive.</p> + +<p>The above applies more especially to schools which, like the original +"Children's Houses," might be instituted in the very buildings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +inhabited by the parents of the pupils.</p> + +<p>Certain special requirements must be recognized in the rooms of a free +school: psychical hygiene must play its part here as physical hygiene +has already done. The great increase in the dimensions of modern +class-rooms was dictated by physical hygiene; the ambient air space is +measured by "cubature" in relation to the physical needs of +respiration; and for the same reason, lavatories were multiplied, and +bathrooms were installed; physical hygiene further decreed the +introduction of concrete floors and washable dadoes, of central +heating, and in many cases of meals, while gardens or broad terraces +are already looked upon as essentials for the physical well-being of +the child. Wide windows already admit the light freely, and gymnasia +with spacious halls and a variety of complex and costly apparatus were +established. Finally, the most complicated desks, sometimes veritable +machines of wood and iron, with foot-rests, seats, and desks revolving +automatically, in order to preclude alike the movements of the child +and the distortions arising from immobility, are the economically +disastrous contribution of a false principle of "school-hygiene." In +the modern school, the uniform whiteness and the washable quality of +every object denote the triumph of an epoch in which the campaign +against microbes would seem to be the sole key to human life.</p> + +<p>Psychical hygiene now presents itself on the threshold of the school +with its new precepts, precepts which economically are certainly no +more onerous than those entailed by the first triumphant entry of +physical hygiene.</p> + +<p>They require, however, that schoolrooms be enlarged, not in deference +to the laws of respiration, for central heating, which makes it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +possible to keep windows open, renders calculations based on cubic +measure negligible; but because space is necessary for the liberty of +movement which should be allowed to the child. However, as the child's +walking exercise will not be taken indoors, this increase of space +will be sufficient if it permits free movement among the furniture. +Still, if an ideal perfection is to be achieved, we may say that the +"psychical" class-room should be twice as large as the "physical" +class-room. We all know the sense of comfort of which we are conscious +when a good half of the floor space in a room is unencumbered; this +seems to offer us the agreeable possibility of <i>moving</i> about freely. +This sensation of well-being is more intimate than the possibility of +breathing offered to us in a room of medium size crowded with +furniture.</p> + +<p>Scantiness of furniture is certainly a powerful factor in hygiene; +here physical and psychical hygiene are at one. In our schools we +recommend the use of "light" furniture, which is correspondingly +simple, and economical in the extreme. If it be washable, so much the +better, especially as the children will then "learn to wash it," thus +performing a pleasing and very instructive exercise. But what is above +all essential is, that it should be "artistically beautiful." In this +case beauty is not produced by superfluity or luxury, but by grace and +harmony of line and color, combined with that absolute simplicity +necessitated by the lightness of the furniture. Just as the modern +dress of children is more elegant than that of the past, and at the +same time infinitely simpler and more economical, so is this +furniture.</p> + +<p>In a "Children's House" in the country, at Palidano, built to +commemorate the Marchese Carlo Guerrieri Gonzaga, we initiated the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +study of "artistic" furnishing. It is well known that every little +corner of Italy is a storehouse of local art, and there is no province +which in bygone times did not contain graceful and convenient objects, +due to a combination of practical sense and artistic instinct. Nearly +all these treasures are now being dispersed, and the very memory of +them is dying out, under the tyranny of the stupid and uniform +"hygienic" fashions of our day. It was therefore a delightful +undertaking on the part of Maria Maraini to make careful inquiries +into the rustic local art of the past, and to give it new life by +reproducing, in the furniture of the "Children's Houses," the forms +and colors of tables, chairs, sideboards, and pottery, the designs of +textiles and the characteristic decorative motives to be met with in +old country-houses. This revival of rustic art will bring back into +use objects used by the poor in ages less wealthy than ours, and +meanwhile may be a revelation in "economy." If, instead of school +benches, such simple and graceful objects were manufactured, even this +school furniture would show how beauty may be evolved from ugliness by +eliminating superfluous material; for beauty is a question, not of +material, but of inspiration. Hence we must not look to richness of +material, but to refinement of spirit for these practical reforms.</p> + +<p>If similar studies should be made some day upon the rustic art of all +the Italian provinces, each of which has its special artistic +traditions, "types of furniture" might arise which would in themselves +do much to elevate the taste and refine the habits. They would bring +to the enlightenment of the world an "educational mode," because the +time-honored artistic feeling of a people with a very ancient +civilization would breathe new life into those moderns who seemed to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +be suffocating under the obsession of physical hygiene, and to be +actuated solely by a despairing effort to combat disease.</p> + +<p>We should witness the humanization of art, rising amidst the ugliness +and darkness of those who have accustomed themselves to think only of +death. Indeed, the "hygienic houses" of to-day, with their bare walls, +and white washable furniture, look like hospitals; while the schools +seem veritable tombs, with their desks ranged in rows like black +catafalques—black, merely because they have to be of the same color +as ink to hide the stains which are looked upon as a necessity, just +as certain sins and certain crimes are still considered to be +inevitable in the world; the alternative of avoiding them has never +occurred to any one. Class-rooms have black desks, and bare, gray +walls, more devoid of ornament than those of a mortuary chamber; this +is to the end that the starved and famishing spirit of the child may +"accept" the indigestible intellectual food which the teacher bestows +upon it. In other words, every distracting element has to be removed +from the environment, so that the teacher, by his oratorical art, and +with the help of his laborious expedients, may succeed in fixing the +rebellious attention of his pupils on himself. On the other hand, the +spiritual school puts no limits to the beauty of its environment, save +economical limits. No ornament can distract a child really absorbed in +his task; on the contrary, beauty both promotes concentration of +thought and offers refreshment to the tired spirit. Indeed, the +churches, which are <i>par excellence</i> places of meditation and of +repose for the life of the soul, have called upon the highest +inspirations of genius to gather every beauty within their precincts.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +<p>Such words may seem strange; but if we wish to keep in touch with the +principles of science, we may say that the place best adapted to the +life of man is an artistic environment; and that, therefore, if we +want the school to become "a laboratory for the observation of human +life," we must gather within it things of <i>beauty</i>, just as the +laboratory of the bacteriologist must be furnished with stoves and +soils for the culture of bacilli.</p> + +<p>Furniture for children, their tables and chairs, should be light, not +only that they may be easily carried about by childish arms, but +because their very fragility is of educational value. The same +consideration leads us to give children china plates and glass +drinking-vessels, for these objects become the <i>denouncers</i> of rough, +disorderly, and undisciplined movements. Thus the child is led to +correct himself, and he accordingly trains himself not to knock +against, overturn, and break things; softening his movements more and +more, he gradually becomes their perfectly free and self-possessed +director. In the same way the child will accustom himself to do his +utmost <i>not to soil</i> the gay and pretty things which enliven his +surroundings. Thus he makes progress in his own perfection, or, in +other words, it is thus he achieves the perfect coordination of his +voluntary movements. It is the same process by which, having enjoyed +silence and music, he will do all in his power to avoid discordant +noises, which have become unpleasant to his educated ear.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, when a child comes into collision a hundred times +with an enormously heavy iron-bound desk, which a porter would have +difficulty in moving; when he makes thousands of invisible ink-stains +on a black bench; when he lets a metal plate fall to the ground a +hundred times without breaking it, he remains immersed in his sea of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +defects without perceiving them; his environment meanwhile is so +constructed as to hide and therefore to encourage his errors, with +Mephistophelean hypocrisy.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Free movement</b>.—It is now a hygienic principle universally accepted +that children require movement. Thus, when we speak of "free +children," we generally imply that they are free to move, that is, to +run and jump. No mother nowadays fails to agree with the children's +doctor that her child should go into parks and meadows, and move about +freely in the open air.</p> + +<p>When we talk of liberty for children in school, some such conception +of physical liberty as this rises at once in the mind. We imagine the +free child making perilous leaps over the desks, or dashing madly +against the walls; his "liberty of movement" seems necessarily to +imply the idea of "a wide space," and accordingly we suppose that, if +confined to the narrow limits of a room, it would inevitably become a +conflict between violence and obstacles, a disorder incompatible with +discipline and work.</p> + +<p>But in the laws of "psychical hygiene," "liberty of movement" is not +limited to a conception so primitive as that of merely "animated +bodily liberty." We might, indeed, say of a puppy or a kitten what we +say of children: that they should be free to run and jump, and that +they should be able to do so, as in fact they often do, in a park or a +field, with and like the children. If, however, we wish to apply the +same conception of motor liberty to our treatment of a bird, we should +make certain arrangements for it; we should place within its reach the +branch of a tree, or crossed sticks which would afford foothold for +its claws, since these are not designed to be spread out on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +ground like the feet of creeping things, but are adapted to gripping a +stick. We know that a bird "left free to move" over a vast, +illimitable plain would be miserable.</p> + +<p>How then is it that we never think thus: if it be necessary to prepare +different environments for a bird and a reptile in order to ensure +their liberty of movement, must it not be a mistake to provide the +same form of liberty for our children as that proper to cats and dogs? +Children, indeed, when left to themselves to take exercise, show +impatience, and are prone to quarrel and cry; older children feel it +necessary to invent something whereby they may conceal from themselves +the intolerable boredom and humiliation of walking for walking's sake, +and running for running's sake. They try to find some object for their +exertions; the younger children play pranks. The activity of children +thus left to themselves has rarely a good result; it does not aid +development, save as regards the physical advantage of general +nutrition, that is, of the vegetative life. Their movements become +ungraceful; they invent unseemly capers, walk with a staggering gait, +fall easily, and break things. They are evidently quite unlike the +free kitten, so full of grace, so fascinating in its movements, +tending to perfect its action by the light jumping and running which +are natural to it. In the motor instinct of the child there appears to +be no grace, no natural impulse towards perfection. Hence we must +conclude that the movement which suffices for the cat does not suffice +for the child, and that if the nature of the child is different, his +path of liberty must also be different.</p> + +<p>If the child has no "intelligent aim" in his movements, he is without +internal guidance, thus movement tires him. Many men feel the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +dreadful emptiness of being compelled to "move without an object." One +of the cruel punishments invented for the chastisement of slaves was +to make them dig deep holes in the earth and fill them up again +repeatedly, in other words, to make them work without an object.</p> + +<p>Experiments on fatigue have shown that work with an intelligent object +is far less fatiguing than an equal quantity of aimless work. So much +so, that the psychiatrists of to-day recommend, not "exercise in the +open air," but "work in the open air," to restore the individuality of +the neurasthenic.</p> + +<p>"Reconstructive" work—work, that is to say, which is not the product +of a "mental effort," but tends to the coordination of the +psycho-muscular organism. Such are the activities which are not +directed to the <i>production</i> of objects, but to their <i>preservation</i>, +as, for instance, dusting or washing a little table, sweeping the +floor, laying or clearing the table, cleaning shoes, spreading out a +carpet. These are the tasks performed by a servant to <i>preserve</i> the +objects belonging to his master, work of a very different order to +that of the artificer, who, on the other hand, <i>produced</i> those +objects by an intelligent effort. The two classes of work are +profoundly different. The one is simple; it is a coordinated activity +scarcely higher in degree than the activity required for walking or +jumping; for it merely gives purpose to those simple movements, +whereas <i>productive</i> work entails a preliminary intellectual work of +preparation, and comprises a series of very complicated motor +movements, together with an application of sensory exercises.</p> + +<p>The first is the work suitable for little children, who must +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +"exercise themselves in order to learn to coordinate their movements."</p> + +<p>It consists of the so-called exercises of practical life which +correspond to the psychical principle of "liberty of movement." For +this it will be sufficient to prepare "a suitable environment," just +as we should place the branch of a tree in an aviary, and then to +leave the children to follow their instincts of activity and +imitation. The surrounding objects should be proportioned to the size +and strength of the child: light furniture that he can carry about; +low dressers within reach of his arms; locks that he can easily +manipulate; chests that run on castors; light doors that he can open +and shut readily; clothes-pegs fixed on the walls at a height +convenient for him; brushes his little hand can grasp; pieces of soap +that can lie in the hollow of such a hand; basins so small that the +child is strong enough to empty them; brooms with short, smooth, light +handles; clothes he can easily put on and take off himself; these are +surroundings which invite activity, and among which the child will +gradually perfect his movements without fatigue, acquiring human grace +and dexterity, just as the little kitten acquires its graceful +movement and feline dexterity solely under the guidance of instinct.</p> + +<p>The field thus opened to the free activity of the child will enable +him to exercise himself and to form himself as a man. It is not +movement for its own sake that he will derive from these exercises, +but a powerful co-efficient in the complex formation of his +personality. His social sentiments in the relations he forms with +other free and active children, his collaborators in a kind of +household designed to protect and aid their development; the sense of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +dignity acquired by the child who learns to satisfy himself in +surroundings he himself preserves and dominates—these are the +co-efficients of humanity which accompany "liberty of movement." From +his consciousness of this development of his personality the child +derives the impulse to persist in these tasks, the industry to perform +them, the intelligent joy he shows in their completion. In such an +environment he undoubtedly <i>works himself</i> and fortifies his spiritual +being, just as when his body is bathed in fresh air and his limbs move +freely in the meadows, he works at the growth of his physical organism +and strengthens it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI">VI</a></h3> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +<h3>ATTENTION</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p>The phenomenon to be expected from the little child, when he is placed +in an environment favorable to his spiritual growth, is this: that +suddenly the child will fix his attention upon an object, will use it +for the purpose for which it was constructed, and will <i>continue</i> to +repeat the same exercise indefinitely. One will repeat an exercise +twenty times, another forty times, and yet another two hundred times; +but this is the first phenomenon to be expected, as initiatory to +those acts with which spiritual growth is bound up.</p> + +<p>That which moves the child to this manifestation of activity is +evidently a primitive internal impulse, almost a vague sense of +spiritual hunger; and it is the impulse to satisfy this hunger which +then actually directs the consciousness of the child to the determined +object and leads it gradually to a primordial, but complex and +repeated exercise of the intelligence in comparing, judging, deciding +upon an act, and correcting an error. When the child, occupied with +the solid insets, places and displaces the ten little cylinders in +their respective places thirty or forty times consecutively; and, +having made a mistake, sets himself a problem and solves it, he +becomes more and more interested, and tries the experiment again and +again; he prolongs a complex exercise of his psychical activities +which makes way for an internal development.</p> + +<p>It is probably the internal perception of this development which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +makes the exercise pleasing, and induces prolonged application to the +same task. To quench thirst, it is not sufficient to see or to sip +water; the thirsty man must drink his fill: that is to say, must take +in the quantity his organism requires; so, to satisfy this kind of +psychical hunger and thirst, it is not sufficient to see things +cursorily, much less "to hear them described"; it is necessary to +possess them and to use them to the full for the satisfaction of the +needs of the inner life.</p> + +<p>This fact stands revealed as the basis of all psychical construction, +and the sole secret of education. The external object is the gymnasium +on which the spirit exercises itself, and such "internal" exercises +are primarily "in themselves" the end and aim of action. Hence the +solid insets are not intended to give the child a knowledge of +dimensions, nor are the plane insets designed to give him a conception +of forms; the purpose of these, as of all the other objects, is to +make the child exercise his activities. The fact that the child really +acquires by these means definite knowledge, the recollection of which +is vivid in proportion to the fixity and intensity of his attention, +is a necessary result; and, indeed, it is precisely the sensory +knowledge of dimensions, forms and colors, etc., thus acquired, which +makes the continuation of such internal exercises in fields +progressively vaster and higher, a possible achievement.</p> + +<p>Hitherto, all psychologists have agreed that instability of attention +is the characteristic of little children of three or four years old; +attracted by everything they see, they pass from object to object, +unable to concentrate on any; and generally the difficulty of fixing +the attention of children is the stumbling-block of their education, +William James speaks of "that extreme mobility of the attention with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +which we are all familiar in children, and which makes their first +lessons such rough affairs.... The reflex and passive character of the +attention ... which makes the child seem to belong less to himself +than to every object which happens to catch his notice, is the first +thing which the teacher must overcome.... The faculty of voluntarily +bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again is the very +root of judgment, character and will.... An education which should +improve this faculty would be <i>the</i> education <i>par excellence</i>."</p> + +<p>Thus man, acting by himself alone, never successfully arrests and +fixes that <i>inquiring</i> attention which wanders from object to object.</p> + +<p>In fact, in our experiment the attention of the little child was not +artificially maintained by a teacher; it was an object which fixed +that attention, as if it corresponded to some internal impulse; an +impulse which evidently was directed solely to the things "necessary" +for its development. In the same manner, those complex coordinated +movements achieved by a new-born infant in the act of sucking, are +limited to the first and unconscious need of nutrition; they are not a +conscious acquisition directed to a purpose.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the conscious acquisition directed to a definite purpose would +be impossible in the movements of a new-born infant's mouth, as also +in the first movements of the child's spirit.</p> + +<p>Therefore it is essential that the external stimulus which first +presents itself should be verily the breast and the milk of the +spirit, and then only shall we behold that surprising phenomenon of a +little face concentrated in an intensity of attention.</p> + +<p>Behold a child of three years old capable of repeating the same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +exercise fifty times in succession; many persons are moving about +beside him; some one is playing the piano; children are singing in +chorus; but nothing distracts the little child from his profound +concentration. Just so does the suckling keep hold of the mother's +breast, uninterrupted by external incidents, and desists only when he +is satisfied.</p> + +<p>Only Nature accomplishes such miracles.</p> + +<p>If, then, psychical manifestations have their root in Nature, it was +necessary, in order to understand and help Nature, to study it in its +initial periods, those which are the simplest, and the only ones +capable of revealing truths which would serve as guides for the +interpretation of later and more complex manifestations. This, indeed, +many psychologists have done; but, applying the analytical methods of +experimental psychology, they did not start from that point whence the +biological sciences derive their knowledge of life: that is, the +<i>liberty</i> of the living creatures they desire to observe. If Fabre had +not made use of insects, while leaving them free to carry out their +natural manifestations, and observing them without allowing his +presence to interfere in any way with their functions; if he had +caught insects, had taken them into his study, and subjected them to +experiment, he would not have been able to reveal the marvels of +insect life.</p> + +<p>If bacteriologists had not instituted, as a method of research, an +environment similar to that which is natural to microbes, both as +regards nutritive substances and conditions of temperature, etc., to +the end that they "might live freely" and thus manifest their +characteristics; if they had confined themselves to fixing the germs +of a disease under the microscope, the science which to-day saves the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +lives of innumerable men and protects whole nations from epidemics +would not exist.</p> + +<p>Freedom to live is the true basis for every method of observation +applied to living creatures.</p> + +<p><i>Liberty</i> is the experimental condition for studying the phenomena of +the child's attention. It will be enough to remember that the stimuli +of infant attention, being mainly sensory, have a powerful +physiological concomitant of "accommodation" in the organs of sense; +an accommodation, physiologically incomplete in the young child, which +requires to develop itself according to Nature. An object not adapted +to become a useful stimulus to the powers of accommodation in process +of development would not only be incapable of sustaining attention as +a psychical fact, but would also, as a physiological fact, weary or +actually injure the organs of accommodation such as the eye and ear. +But the child who <i>chooses</i> the objects, and perseveres in their use +with the utmost intensity of attention, as shown in the muscular +contractions which give mimetic expression to his face, evidently +experiences <i>pleasure</i>, and pleasure is an indication of healthy +functional activity; it always accompanies exercises which are useful +to the organs of the body.</p> + +<p>Attention also requires a <i>preparation</i> of the ideative centers in +relation to the external object for which it is to be demanded: in +other words, an internal, psychical "adaptation." The cerebral centers +should be excited in their turn by an internal process, when an +external stimulus acts. Thus, for instance, any one who is expecting a +person, sees him arriving from a considerable distance; not only +because the person presents himself to the senses, but because he was +"expected." The distant figure claimed attention because the cerebral +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +centers were already excited to that end. By means of similar +activities a hunter is conscious of the slightest sound made by game +in woods. In short, two forces act upon the cerebral cell, as upon a +closed door: the external sensory force which knocks, and the internal +force which says: Open. If the internal force does not open, it is in +vain that the external stimulus knocks at the door. And then the +strongest stimuli may pass unheeded. The absent-minded man may step +into a chasm. The man who is absorbed in a task may be deaf to a band +playing in the street.</p> + +<p>The central action that constitutes attention is the factor of the +greatest psychological and philosophic value, and the one which has +always represented the maximum among the practical values in pedagogy. +The whole art of teachers has consisted, in substance, in preparing +the attention of the child to make it <i>expectant</i> of their +instruction, and in securing the cooperation of those internal forces +which should "open the door" when they "knock." And as the thing which +is quite unknown, or that which is inaccessible to the understanding, +can awaken no interest, the fundamentals of the art of teaching were +to go gradually from the known to the unknown, from the easy to the +difficult. It is the preexistent "known" which excites expectation and +<i>opens the door</i> to the novel "unknown"; and it is the already present +"easy work" which opens new ways for penetration, and puts the +attention into a state of expectation.</p> + +<p>Thus, according to the conceptions of pedagogy, it should be possible +to "prepare good offices for oneself," the cooperation of the +psychical concomitants of the attention. Everything would depend on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +skilful manipulation between the known and the unknown and similar +things: the clever teacher would be like the great military +strategist, who prepares the plan of a battle upon a table; and man +would be able to <i>direct man</i>, leading him wheresoever he pleases.</p> + +<p>This, moreover, has long been the materialistic principle which +governs psychology. According to Herbert Spencer, the mind is at +first, as it were, an indifferent day, on which external impressions +"rain," leaving traces more or less profound. "Experiences" are, +according to him and the English empiricists, the constructive factors +of the mind even in its highest activities. Man is what experience has +made him; hence, in education, by preparing a suitable structure of +experiences, it is possible to <i>build up the man</i>. A conception not +less materialistic than that which presented itself for a moment +before the marvelous progress of organic chemistry, when the series of +syntheses succeeded that of analyses. It was then believed that a +species of albumen might be manufactured synthetically, and as albumen +is the organic basis of the cells, and as the human ovum is nothing +but a cell, man himself might one day be manufactured on the chemist's +table. The conception of man as the creator of man was quickly +discredited in the material domain; but the psychical <i>homunculus</i> +still persists among the practical conceptions of pedagogy.</p> + +<p>No chemical synthesis could put into the cell, apparently nothing more +than a simple clot of nucleated protoplasm, that <i>activity sine +matter</i>, that potential vital force, that mysterious factor which +causes a cell to develop into man.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +<p>And the elusive attention of children would seem to tell us that the +psychical man is subject to analogous laws of auto-creation.</p> + +<p>The most modern school of spiritualistic psychologists, to which +William James belonged, recognized, in the concomitant of attention, a +fact bound up with the nature of the subject, a "spiritual force," one +of the "mysterious factors of life."</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">"... From whence his intellect</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Deduced its primal notices of thought,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Man therefore knows not; or his appetites</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Their first affection; such In you as zeal</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In bees to gather honey."</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation, Dante's <i>Purgatorio</i>, Canto XVIII.)</span></p> + +<p>There is in man a special attitude to external things, which forms +part of his nature, and determines its character. The internal +activities act as cause; they do not react and exist as the <i>effect</i> +of external factors. Our attention is not arrested by all things +indifferently, but by those which are congenial to our tastes. The +things which are useful to our inner life are those which arouse our +interest. Our internal world is created upon a selection from the +external world, acquired for and in harmony with our internal +activities. The painter will see a preponderance of colors in the +world, the musician will be attracted by sounds. It is the quality of +our attention which reveals ourselves, and we manifest ourselves +externally by our aptitudes; it is not our attention which creates us. +The individual character, the internal form, the difference between +one man and another, are also obvious among men who have lived in the +same environment, but who from that environment have taken only what +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +was necessary for each. The "experiences" with which each constructs +his <i>ego</i> in relation to the external world do not form a <i>chaos</i>, but +are <i>directed</i> by his intimate individual aptitudes.</p> + +<p>If there were any doubt as to the natural force which directs +psychical formation, our experiences with little children would +furnish a decisive proof. No teacher could procure such phenomena of +attention by any artifices; they have evidently an internal origin. +The power of concentration shown by little children from three to four +years old have no counterpart save in the annals of genius. These +little ones seem to reproduce the infancy of men possessing an +extraordinary power of attention, such as Archimedes, who was slain +while bending over his circles, from which rumors of the taking of +Syracuse had failed to distract him; or Newton, who, absorbed in his +studies, forgot to eat; or Vittorio Alfieri, who, when writing a poem, +heard nothing of the noisy wedding procession which was passing with +shouts and clamor before his windows.</p> + +<p>Now, these characteristics of the attention of genius could not be +evoked by an "interesting" teacher, however subtle his art; nor could +any accumulation of passive experiences become such an accumulator of +psychical energies.</p> + +<p>If there be a spiritual force working within the child, by which he +may open the door of his attention, the problem which necessarily +presents itself is a problem of <i>liberty</i>, rather than a problem of +pedagogic art effecting the construction of his mind. The bestowal of +the nourishment suitable to psychical needs, by means of the external +objects, and readiness to respect liberty of development in the most +perfect manner possible, are the foundations which, from a logical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +point of view, should be laid down for the construction of a new +pedagogy.</p> + +<p>It is no longer a question of attempting to create the homunculus, +like the chemists of the nineteenth century; but rather of taking the +lantern of Diogenes and going in search of the man. A science should +establish <i>by means of experiments</i> what is necessary to the +primordial psychical requirements of the child; and then we shall +witness the development of complex vital phenomena, in which the +intelligence, the will, and the character develop together, just as +the brain, the stomach, and the muscles of the rationally nourished +child develop together.</p> + +<p>Together with the first psychical exercises, the first coordinated +cognitions will be fixed in the child's mind, and the <i>known</i> will +begin to exist in him, providing the first germs of an intellectual +interest, supplementing his instinctive interest. When this takes +place, a state of things begins to establish itself which has some +analogy with that mechanism of attention which the pedagogists of +to-day take as the basis of the art of teaching. The transition from +the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex, from the +easy to the difficult, is reproduced, from a certain point of view; +but with special characteristics.</p> + +<p>The progression <i>from the known to the unknown</i> does not proceed from +object to object, as would be assumed by the master who does not bring +about the development of ideas from a center, but merely unites them +in a chain, without any definite object, allowing the mind to wander +aimlessly, though bound to himself. Here, on the other hand, the known +establishes itself in the child as a <i>complex system</i> of ideas, which +system was actively constructed by the child himself during a series +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +of psychical processes, representing in themselves an internal +<i>formation</i>, a psychical growth.</p> + +<p>To bring about such a progress we must offer the child a systematic, +complex material, corresponding to his natural instincts. Thus, for +instance, by means of our sensory apparatus we offer the child a +series of objects capable of drawing his instinctive attention to +colors, forms, and sounds, to tactile and baric qualities, etc., and +the child, by means of the characteristically prolonged exercises with +each object, begins to organize his psychical personality, but at the +same time acquires a clear and orderly knowledge of things.</p> + +<p>Thenceforth all external objects, for the reason that they have forms, +dimensions, colors, qualities of smoothness, weight, hardness, etc., +are no longer foreign to the mind. There is something in the +consciousness of the child which prepares him to <i>expect</i> these +things, and invites him to receive them with interest.</p> + +<p>When the child has added a cognition to the primitive impulse which +directs his attention to external things, he has acquired other +relations with the world, other forms of interest; these are no longer +merely those primitive ones which are bound up with a species of +primordial instinct, but have become a discerning interest, based upon +the conquests of the intelligence.</p> + +<p>It is true that all these new conquests are fundamentally and +profoundly based upon the <i>psychical needs</i> of the individual; but the +intellectual element has now been added, transforming an impulse into +a conscious and voluntary quest.</p> + +<p>The old pedagogic conception, which assumed that to call the attention +of the child to the unknown it is necessary to connect it with the +known, because it is thus that his interest may be won for the new +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +knowledge to be imparted, grasped but a single detail of the complex +phenomenon we now witness after our experiments.</p> + +<p>If the <i>known</i> is to represent a new source of interest directed +towards the unknown, it is essential that it should itself have been +acquired in accordance with the tendency of nature; then preceding +knowledge will lend interest to objects of ever-increasing complexity +and of lofty significance. The culture thus created ensures the +possibility of an indefinite <i>continuation</i> in the successive +evolution of such formative phenomena.</p> + +<p>Moreover, this culture itself creates <i>order</i> in the mind: when the +teacher, giving her plain and simple lesson, says: This is long, this +is short, this is red, this is yellow, etc., she fixes with a single +word the clearly marked order of the sensations, classifies, and +"catalogues" them. And each impression is perfectly distinct from the +other, and has its own determined place in the mind, which may be +recalled by a word; thenceforth, new acquisitions will not be thrown +aside or mixed together chaotically, but will be duly deposited in +their proper places, side by side with previous acquisitions of the +same kind, like books in a well-arranged library.</p> + +<p>Thus the mind not only has within itself the propulsive force required +to increase its knowledge, but also an established order, which will +be steadily maintained throughout its successive and illimitable +enrichment by new material; and as it grows and gains strength, it +retains its "equilibrium." These continual exercises in <i>comparison</i>, +<i>judgment</i>, and <i>choice</i> carried out among the objects, further tend +to place the internal acquisitions so logically into relation one with +another, that the results are a singular <i>facility</i> and <i>accuracy</i> of +reasoning power, and a remarkable <i>quickness</i> of comprehension: the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +law of "the minimum of effort" is truly carried out as it is +everywhere where order and activity reign.</p> + +<p>The internal coordination, like physiological adaptation, establishes +itself as a result of the spontaneity of the exercises; the free +development of a personality which grows and organizes itself is that +which determines such an internal condition, just as in the body of +the embryo the heart, in process of development, makes a place for +itself in the space of the diastinum between the lungs, and the +diaphragm assumes its arched form as a result of pulmonary dilation.</p> + +<p>The teacher directs these phenomena; but, in so doing, she is careful +to avoid calling the child's attention to herself, since the whole +future depends upon his concentration. Her art consists in +understanding and in avoiding interference with natural phenomena.</p> + +<p>That which has been clearly demonstrated as regards the nutrition of +the new-born infant and the first coordinated activities of the spirit +will be repeated at every period of life, with the necessary +modifications induced by the increased complexity of the phenomena.</p> + +<p>Continuing the parallel with physical nutrition, let us consider the +growing infant which has cut its teeth, developed its gastric juice, +and so gradually requires a more complicated diet, until we come to +the adult man, nourishing himself by means of all the complications of +modern kitchen and table; to keep himself in health, he should eat +<i>only</i> the things which correspond to the intimate needs of his +organism; and if he introduces over-rich or unusual, unsuitable or +poisonous substances, the result will be impoverishment, +self-poisoning, a "malady." Now it was the study of the child's +nutrition during the period of suckling and during the first years of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +life which created alimentary hygiene, not only for the child but for +the adult, and pointed out the perils to which all were alike exposed +during the epoch when infantile hygiene was unknown.</p> + +<p>There is a singular parallel in psychical life: the man will have an +infinitely more complex life than the child; but for him, too, there +should always be a correspondence between the needs of his nature and +the manner in which his spirit is nourished. A <i>rule</i> of internal life +will always promote the health of the man.</p> + +<p>Turning to attention, the primitive fact of correspondence between +nature and stimulus which is the fundamental of life should prevail, +however modified, when dealing with older children, and should remain +the basis of education.</p> + +<p>I am prepared for the objections of "experts." Children must be +accustomed to pay attention to everything, even to things which are +distasteful to them, because practical life demands such efforts.</p> + +<p>The objection is based on a prejudice analogous to that which at one +time made good fathers of families say: "Children should be accustomed +to eat everything." In just the same way, moral training is put +outside its rightful sphere—a fatal confusion. When ideas of this +order, now happily obsolete, obtained, fathers would allow their +children to fast all day, if they refused a dish they disliked at the +mid-day meal, forbidding them anything but the rejected portion, which +became ever colder and more disgusting, until at last hunger weakened +the child's will and destroyed his caprice, and the plateful of cold +food was swallowed. Thus, argued such a father, in the various +circumstances in which he may be placed throughout his life, my son +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +will be ready to eat whatever comes to hand, and will not be greedy +and capricious. In those days also, sweets were forbidden to children +(whose organisms require sugar, because the muscles consume a great +deal of this during growth), in order to teach them to overcome +greediness, and an easy and convenient method of correcting naughty +children was to "send them to bed without any supper."</p> + +<p>Very similar methods are now adopted by those who insist that children +should pay attention to things they dislike, in order to accustom them +to the necessities of life. But as in the case of psychical +nourishment hunger is never brought to bear upon the "cold and +distasteful viands," the indigestible and heavy food weakens and +poisons the unwilling recipient.</p> + +<p>Not thus shall we prepare the robust spirit, ready for all the +difficult eventualities of life. The boy who swallowed the cold soup +and went fasting to bed was the one whose body developed badly, who +was too weak to resist infection when he encountered it, and fell ill; +and morally it was he who, having a store of unsatisfied appetites +within him, looked upon it as the greatest joy of his liberty, when he +became an adult, to eat and drink to excess. How unlike was he to the +boy of to-day, who, rationally fed and made robust of body, becomes +the <i>abstemious</i> man, who eats to live in health, and combats +alcoholism and excessive and injurious feeding; the modern man, who +can defend himself by so many means against infectious diseases, and +who is so ready for effort that, without any compulsion, he braves the +arduous exertion of sport, and attempts and carries out great +enterprises, such as the discovery of the Poles and the ascent of +lofty mountains.</p> + +<p>So, too, the man capable of braving the icy wastes of moral conflict, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +of undertaking spiritual ascents, will be he whose will is strong, +whose spirit is well balanced, whose decisions are prompt and +stedfast.</p> + +<p>And the more a man's inner life shall have grown <i>normally</i>, +organizing itself in accordance with the provident laws of nature, and +forming an individuality, the more richly will he be endowed with a +strong will and a well-balanced mind. To be ready for a struggle, it +is not necessary to have struggled from one's birth, but it is +necessary to be strong. He who is strong is ready; no hero was a hero +before he had performed his heroic deed. The trials life has in store +for us are unforeseen, unexpected; no one can prepare us directly to +meet them; it is only a vigorous soul that can be prepared for +everything.</p> + +<p>When a living being is in process of evolution, it is essential to +provide for the special requirements of the moment, in order to ensure +its normal development. The fœtus must be nourished with blood; the +new-born infant with milk. If during its intra-uterine life the +fœtus should lack blood rich in albuminous substances and oxygen, +or if poisonous substances should be introduced into its tissues, the +living being will not develop normally, and no after-care will +strengthen the man evolved from this impoverished source. Should the +infant lack sufficient milk, the mal-nutrition of the initial stage of +life condemns him to a permanent state of inferiority. The suckling +"prepares himself to walk" by lying stretched out, and spending long, +quiet hours in sleep. It is by sucking that the babe begins his +teething. So, too, the fledgling in the nest does not prepare for +flight by flying, but remains motionless in the little warm shell +where its food is provided. The preparations for life are indirect.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +<p>The prelude to such phenomena of Nature as the majestic flight of +birds, the ferocity of wild beasts, the song of the nightingale, the +variegated beauty of the butterfly's wings, is the preparation in the +secret places of a nest or a den, or in the motionless intimacy of the +cocoon. Omnipotent Nature asks only peace for the creature in process +of formation. All the rest she gives herself.</p> + +<p>Then the childish spirit should also find a warm nest where its +nutrition is secure, and after this we should await the revelations of +its development.</p> + +<p>It is essential, therefore, to offer objects which correspond to its +formative tendencies, in order to obtain the result which education +makes its goal: the development of the latent forces in man with the +minimum of strain and all possible fulness.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII">VII</a></h3> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +<h3>WILL</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p>When the child chooses from among a considerable number of objects the +one he prefers, when he moves to go and take it from the sideboard, +and then replaces it, or consents to give it up to a companion; when +he waits until one of the pieces of the apparatus he wishes to use is +laid aside by the child who has it in his hand at the moment; when he +persists for a long time and with earnest attention in the same +exercise, correcting the mistakes which the didactic material reveals +to him; when, in the silence-exercise, he retains all his impulses, +all his movements, and then, rising when his name is called, controls +these movements carefully to avoid making a noise with his feet or +knocking against the furniture, he performs so many acts of the +"will." It may be said that in him the exercise of the will is +continuous; nay, that the factor which really acts and persists among +his aptitudes is the will, which is built up on the internal +fundamental fact of a prolonged attention.</p> + +<p>Let us analyze some of the co-efficients of will.</p> + +<p>The whole external expression of the will is contained in <i>movement</i>: +whatever action man performs, whether he walks, works, speaks or +writes, opens his eyes to look, or closes them to shut out a scene, he +acts by "motion." An act of the will may also be directed to the +restriction of movement: to restrain the disorderly movements of +anger; not to give way to the impulse which urges us to snatch a +desirable object from the hand of another, are voluntary actions. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +Therefore the will is not a simple impulse towards movement, but the +intelligent direction of movements.</p> + +<p>There can be no manifestation of the will without completed action; he +who thinks of performing a good action, but leaves it undone; he who +desires to atone for an offense, but takes no step to do so; he who +proposes to go out, to pay a call, or to write a letter, but goes no +farther in the matter, does not accomplish an exercise of the will. To +think and to wish is not enough. It is action which counts. "The way +to Hell is paved with good intentions."</p> + +<p>The life of volition is the life of action. Now all our actions +represent a resultant of the forces of impulse and inhibition, and by +constant repetition of actions this resultant may become almost +habitual and unconscious. Such is the case, for instance, with regard +to all those customary actions, the sum of which constitute "the +behavior of a well-bred person." Our impulse might be to pay a certain +visit, but we know that we might disturb our friend, that it is not +her day for receiving, and we refrain; we may be comfortably seated in +a corner of the drawing-room, but a venerable person enters, and we +rise to our feet; we are not much attracted by this lady, but +nevertheless we also bow or shake her hand; the sweetmeat to which our +neighbor helps herself is just the one we desired, but we are careful +to give no sign of this. All the movements of our body are not merely +those dictated by impulse or weariness; they are the correct +expression of what we consider decorous. Without impulses we could +take no part in social life; on the other hand, without inhibitions we +could not correct, direct, and utilize our impulses.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +<p>This reciprocal equilibrium between opposite motor forces is the +result of prolonged exercises, of <i>ancient habits</i> within us; we no +longer have any sense of effort in performing these, we no longer +require the support of reason and knowledge to accomplish them; these +acts have almost become reflex. And yet the acts in question are by no +means reflex actions; it is not Nature but habit which produces all +this. We know well how the person who has not been brought up to +observe certain rules, but has been hastily instructed in the +knowledge of them, will too often be guilty of blunders and lapses, +because he is obliged to "perform" there and then all the necessary +coordination of voluntary acts, and there and then direct them under +the vigilant and immediate control of the consciousness; and such a +perpetual effort cannot certainly compete with the "habit" of +distinguished manners. The will stores up its prolonged efforts +outside the consciousness, or at its extreme margin, and leaves the +consciousness itself unencumbered to make new acquisitions and further +efforts. Thus we cease to consider as <i>evidences of will</i> those habits +in which we nevertheless see the consciousness, as it were, hanging +over and watchful of each act, that it may accord with the perfect +rule of an external code of manners. An educated man who acts thus is +merely a man <i>in himself</i>, merely a man of "healthy mind."</p> + +<p>It is, in fact, only disease which can disintegrate the personality +organized upon its adaptations, and induce a man of society to cease +to act in a becoming manner; it is well known that a neurasthenic +subject who begins to show the first symptoms of paranoia, may at +first seem to be merely one who fails in good breeding.</p> + +<p>But he, on the other hand, who remains within the limits of good +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +breeding, is nothing more than a <i>normal man</i>. We will not venture to +call him "a man of will"; the consciousness of such a man is always +being put to the test, and the mechanisms stored up in the margin of +consciousness no longer possess a "volitive value."</p> + +<p>But the child is making his first trial of arms, and his personality +is a very different thing from that just described. In comparison with +the adult, he is an unbalanced creature, almost invariably the prey of +his own impulses and sometimes subject to the most obstinate +inhibitions. The two opposite activities of the will have not yet +combined to form the new personality. The psychical embryo has still +the two elements separate. The great essential is that this +"combination," this "adaptation," should take place and establish +itself as a supporting girdle at the margin of consciousness. Hence it +is necessary to induce active exercise as soon as possible, since this +is essential to such a degree of development. The aim in view is not +to make the child a little precocious "gentleman," but to induce him +to exercise his powers of volition, and to bring about as soon as +possible the reciprocal contact of impulses with inhibitions. It is +this "construction" itself which is necessary, not the result which +may be achieved externally by means of this construction.</p> + +<p>It is, in fact, merely a means to an end: and the end is that the +child should act together with other children, and practise the +gymnastics of the will in the daily habits of life. The child who is +absorbed in some task, inhibits all movements which do not conduce to +the accomplishment of this work; he makes a selection among the +muscular coordinations of which he is capable, persists in them, and +thus begins to make such coordinations permanent. This is a very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +different matter to the disorderly movements of a child giving way to +uncoordinated impulses. When he begins to respect the work of others; +when he waits patiently for the object he desires instead of snatching +it from the hand of another; when he can walk about without knocking +against his companions, without stamping on their feet, without +overturning the table—then he is organizing his powers of volition, +and bringing impulses and inhibitions into equilibrium. Such an +attitude prepares the way for the habits of social life. It would be +impossible to bring about such a result by keeping children +motionless, seated side by side; under such conditions "relations +between children" cannot be established, and infantile social life +does not develop.</p> + +<p>It is by means of free intercourse, of real practise which obliges +each one to adapt his own limits to the limits of others, that social +"habits" may be established. Dissertations on what ought to be done +will never bring about the construction of the will; to make a child +acquire graceful movements, it will not suffice to inculcate "ideas of +politeness" and of "rights and duties." If this were so, it would +suffice to give a minute description of the movements of the hand +necessary in playing the piano, to enable an attentive pupil to +execute a sonata by Beethoven. In all such matters the "formation" is +the essential factor; the powers of will are established by exercise.</p> + +<p>In education, it is of very great value to organize all the mechanism +useful in the production of personality at an early stage. Just as +<i>movement</i>, the <i>gymnastics</i> of children, is necessary, because, as is +well known, muscles which are not exercised become incapable of +performing the variety of movements of which the muscular system is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +capable, so an analogous system of gymnastics is necessary to maintain +the activity of the psychical life.</p> + +<p>The uneducated organism may be easily directed towards subsequent +deficiencies; he who is weak of muscle is inclined to remain +motionless, and so to perish, when an action is necessary to overcome +danger. Thus the child who is weak of will, who is "hypobulic" or +"abulic," will readily adapt himself to a school where all the +children are kept seated and motionless, listening, or pretending to +listen. Many children of this kind, however, end in the hospital for +nervous disorders and have the following notes on their school +reports: "Conduct excellent; no progress in studies." Of such children +some teachers confine themselves to such a remark as: "They are so +good," and by this they tend to protect them from any intervention, +and leave them to sink undisturbed into the weakness which threatens +to engulf them like a quicksand. Other children, whose natural +impulses are strong, are noted merely as creators of disorder, and are +set down as "naughty." If we enquire into the nature of their +naughtiness, we shall be told almost invariably that "they will never +keep still." These turbulent spirits are further stigmatized as +"aggressive to their companions," and their aggressions are nearly +always of this kind: they try by every possible means to rouse their +companions from their quiescence, and draw them into an association. +There are also children in whom the inhibitory powers are dominant; +their timidity is extreme: they sometimes seem as if they cannot make +up their minds to answer a question; they will do so after some +external stimulus, but in a very low voice, and will then burst into +tears.</p> + +<p>The necessary gymnastic in all these three cases is free action. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +constant and interesting movement of others is the best of incitements +to the abulic; motion directed into the channel of orderly exercise +develops the inhibitory powers of the too impulsive child, and the +child who is too much in subjection to his inhibitory powers, when +liberated from the bondage of surveillance, and free to act privately +on his own initiative—in other words, when he is removed from all +external inducements to exercise inhibition, is able to find an +equilibrium between the two opposite volitional forces. This is indeed +the way of salvation for all men: that wherein the weak gain strength +that wherein the strong attain perfection.</p> + +<p>The want of balance as between impulse and inhibition is not only a +familiar and interesting fact in pathology; it is further met with, +though in a minor degree, among <i>normal</i> persons, just as frequently +as deficiencies of education are to be met with in the external social +sphere.</p> + +<p>Impulse leads criminals to commit evil actions against other men; but +how often normal persons have to regret thoughtless acts and nervous +outbursts which have sad consequences to themselves! For the most part +the normal impulsive person harms himself only, compromises his +career, and is unable to bring his talents to fruition; he suffers +from a conscious servitude, as from a misfortune from which he might +perhaps have been saved.</p> + +<p>He who is pathologically the victim of his own powers of inhibition is +certainly the more unhappy sufferer; he remains immobile and silent; +but internally he longs to move. A thousand impulses which can find no +outlet torture the soul which aspires to art, to work; and eloquent +speech on his own misfortunes would fain flow from his lips to implore +help from a physician, or comfort from some lofty soul; but his lips +are sealed. He feels the horrible oppression of one buried alive. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +how many normal persons suffer from something of the same kind! On +some propitious occasion in their lives they ought to have come +forward and shown their worth, but they were unable to do so. A +thousand times they have thought that a sincere expression of feeling +might have straightened out a difficult situation; but the heart has +closed and the lips have remained mute. How passionately they have +longed to speak to some noble soul who would have understood them, +illuminated and comforted them! But when they have been face to face +with this person, they have been unable to speak a word. The +longed-for individual encouraged them, questioned them, urged them to +express themselves, but the sole response to the invitation was an +internal anguish. Speak! Speak! said impulse in the depths of their +consciousness; but inhibition was inexorable as a resistless material +force.</p> + +<p>It is in the education of the will by means of free exercises wherein +the impulses balance the inhibitions that the cure of such subjects +might be found, provided such a cure could be undertaken at the age +when the will is in process of formation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Such an equilibrium established as a mechanism at the margin of +consciousness, which makes a man of the world "correct" in his +conduct, is by no means that which constitutes the "person of will." +It has been said above that the consciousness remains free for other +voluntary requirements. The most refined and aristocratic lady might +nevertheless be a person "without will" and "without character," +although she might have acquired the most rigorous mechanisms +productive of a mechanical will directed solely to external objects.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +<p>There is a voluntary fundamental quality upon which not only are the +superficial relations between man and man based, but on which the very +edifice of society is erected. This quality is known as "continuity." +The social structure is founded upon the fact that men can work +steadily and produce within certain average limits on which the +economic equilibrium of a people is constructed. The social relations +which are the basis of the reproduction of the species are founded +upon the continuous union of parents in marriage. The family and +productive work: these are the two pivots of society; they rest upon +the greatest volitive quality: constancy, or persistence.</p> + +<p>This quality is really the exponent of the uninterrupted concord of +the inner personality. Without it, a life would be a series of +episodes, a chaos; it would be like a body disintegrated into its +cells, rather than an organism which persists throughout the mutations +of its own material. This fundamental quality, when it embraces the +sentiment of the individual and the direction of his ideation, that is +to say, his whole personality, is what we have called <i>character</i>. The +man of character is the persistent man, the man who is faithful to his +own word, his own convictions, his own affections.</p> + +<p>Now the sum of these various manifestations of constancy has an +exponent of immense social value: persistence in work.</p> + +<p>The degenerate, even before he gave way to criminal impulse, before he +betrayed the inconstancy of his affections, before he broke his word, +before he made havoc of all the convictions that ennoble the soul of +man, had a certain stigma which marked him as one lost and +disintegrated: this was laziness, incapacity to persist in work. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +Directly an honest and well-behaved man begins to suffer from +brain-disease, before he shows any violent impulses, disorder in +conduct, or signs of delirium, he has a premonitory symptom: he can no +longer apply himself to work. Among the masses, it is justly thought +that a girl will make a good wife when she is industrious, and a man +is said to be an honest fellow and one who can offer good prospects to +the girl who is to be his wife, when he is a good workman. This +<i>goodness</i> is not a matter of ability; it implies steadiness, +perseverance. For instance, a pseudo-artist of great skill in +producing small artistic objects, but lacking the will to work, would +not be considered a good match. Every one knows that he is not only +incapable of economic production, but that he is a suspicious and +dangerous character, that he might become a bad husband, a bad father, +a bad citizen. On the other hand, the humblest artisan who "works" +undoubtedly contains within himself all the elements which make for +happiness and security in life. This unquestionably was the meaning of +the great Roman encomium: "She stayed indoors and spun the wool," that +is to say, she was a woman of character, a worthy companion for the +conquerors of the world.</p> + +<p>Now the little child who manifests perseverance in his work as the +first constructive act of his psychical life, and upon this act builds +up internal order, equilibrium, and the growth of personality, +demonstrates, almost as in a splendid revelation, the true manner in +which man renders himself valuable to the community. The little child +who persists in his exercises, concentrated and absorbed, is obviously +elaborating the constant man, the man of character, the man who will +find in himself all human values, crowning that unique fundamental +manifestation: persistence in work. Whatever task the child may +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +choose it will be all the same, provided he persists in it. For what +is valuable is not the work itself, but the work as a means for the +construction of the psychic man.</p> + +<p>He who interrupts the children in their occupations in order to make +them learn some pre-determined thing; he who makes them cease the +study of arithmetic to pass on to that of geography and the like, +thinking it is important to direct their culture, confuses the means +with the end and destroys the man for a vanity. That which it is +necessary to direct is not the culture of man, but the man himself.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>If persistence be the true foundation of the will, we nevertheless +recognize <i>decision</i> as the act of the will <i>par excellence</i>. In order +to accomplish any conscious act whatever, it is necessary that we +should decide. Now a <i>decision</i> is always the result of a <i>choice</i>. If +we have several hats, we must decide which one we will put on when we +go out; it may not in the least matter whether it be the brown hat or +the gray, but we must choose one of them. For such a choice we must +have our motives, whether they be in favor of the gray or the brown; +but finally one of the motives will prevail and the choice will be +made. Obviously, the habit of taking a hat and going out will +facilitate our choice; we are almost unconscious which of the motives +stirred and struggled within us. It is the question of a minute and +leaves no impression of effort. Our knowledge as to which hat will be +suitable for the morning or the afternoon, for the theater or for +sport, saves us from any mental conflict.</p> + +<p>But this will not be the case if, for instance, we are about to spend +a certain sum of money on a present. What shall we buy among the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +various objects from which it will be possible to choose? If we have +no very definite knowledge of the things, our task may become an +anxiety. We should like to choose something artistic, but we do not +know much about art, and we fear to be deceived and so to cut a sorry +figure; we know not what is customary and have no idea whether a piece +of lace or a silver bowl would be suitable. We then feel the need of +some one to enlighten us as to all these unknown details, and we go to +ask advice. It does not, however, follow that we shall take the advice +we receive. To tell the truth, the advice was to deal with our +ignorance; we required an aid to knowledge rather than an incitement +to an effort of the will. Volition is something which we jealously +reserve for ourselves, and is a very different matter from the +knowledge indispensable to a decision. The choice which we make after +the advice of one or more persons will bear our own impress, it will +be the decision of our <i>ego</i>.</p> + +<p>The choice which the mistress of a house will make to prepare a dinner +for guests is of the same nature; but there she has a perfect +knowledge of the subject, and good taste, and the decision will be +made with pleasure and without any extraneous aid.</p> + +<p>But who does not know that in every case this making a decision is an +<i>internal labor</i>, a genuine effort; so much so that persons of feeble +will try to avoid it, as a thing irksome to them. If possible, the +mistress of the house will leave the decisions to the cook, and to a +dressmaker all the arguments necessary to make one of the many motives +that come into play in the choice of a gown prevail over the rest; the +dressmaker, seeing that a decision will only be reached after long +hesitation, will say at a certain moment: Choose this which suits you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +so well, and the lady will agree, more to evade the effort of a +decision than because the garment pleases her. Our entire life is a +continual exercise of decisions. When we go out of the house after +having locked the door, we have a clear consciousness of this act, a +certainty that the house is well protected, and we <i>decide</i> to step +out and walk away from it.</p> + +<p>The stronger we are in such exercises, the more independent we shall +be of others. Clarity of ideas, the mechanism of the habit of +decision, give us a sense of liberty. The heaviest chain, which may +bind us in a humiliating form of slavery, is an incapacity to make our +own decisions, and the consequent need to refer to others; the fear of +making "a mistake," the sense of groping in the dark, of having to +bear the consequences of an error we are not certain to recognize, +makes us run behind another person like a dog on a chain. Finally, we +shall fall into an extremity of dependence; we shall no longer be able +to despatch a letter or buy a pocket-handkerchief without asking +advice.</p> + +<p>But when an actual conflict arises in such a consciousness, and the +decision has to be instantaneous, irresolution is the portion of one +whose weakness has placed him in subjection to another stronger will, +and then we behold a subjection which has almost imperceptibly become +an incubus: the victim has taken the first step towards an abyss where +the feeble in will run the risk of perdition. Thus the more the young +are placed in subjection, without power to exercise their own wills, +the more easily do they fall a prey to the perils of which the world +is full.</p> + +<p>That which gives strength to resist is not the <i>moral vision</i>, it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +the <i>exercise of will-power</i>; and this exercise is to be found in the +routine of life itself. The mother of a family, much occupied in her +mission of domestic work, and accustomed to decide in all matters +pertaining to the daily round, is more likely to gain the victory in +the event of moral conflict than a childless woman who lives in an +enervating atmosphere of domestic idleness, and has accustomed herself +to accept her husband's will as her own. Yet both of these women might +have the same moral vision. The first-mentioned, if left a widow, +might make herself conversant with business and carry on the +undertaking managed by her husband; but the second in like +circumstances would require tutelage, and would run every risk of +disaster. To ensure moral salvation, it is primarily necessary to +<i>depend</i> on oneself, because in the moment of peril we are <i>alone</i>. +And strength is not to be acquired instantaneously. He who knows that +he will have to fight, prepares himself for boxing and dueling by +strength and skill; he does not sit still with folded hands, because +he knows that he will then either be lost or he will have to depend, +like the shadow of a body, on some one to protect him step by step +throughout his life, which in practise is impossible.</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">One single moment served to conquer us,</span><br /> + +<p>says Francesca, in Dante's <i>Inferno</i>.</p> + +<p>Temptation, if it is not to conquer, must not fall like a bomb against +another bomb of instantaneous moral explosions, but against the strong +walls of an impregnable fortress strongly built up, stone by stone, +beginning at that distant day when the foundations were first laid. +Persistent work, clarity of ideas, the habit of sifting conflicting +motives in the consciousness, even in the minutest actions of life, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +decisions taken every moment on the smallest things, the gradual +master over one's actions, the power of self-direction increasing by +degrees in the sum of successively repeated acts, these are the stout +little stones on which the strong structure of personality is built +up. This may then be inhabited by morality, as by a princess who lives +among the embattled towers and moats of a medieval fortress that is in +a perpetual state of defense, always under arms, but with every +probability of remaining the "lady," the "<i>châtelaine</i>." If to "build +up the house" which morality will inhabit, some mastery of the body is +also necessary, such as abstinence from alcohol, which is the chief +example of poison taken from without and tending to weaken, and +movement in the open air, which facilitates material recuperation by +freeing us from the poisons which we ourselves manufacture and which +weaken us, how much more essential must be the continual exercise of +the will as a vivifying means of psychical recuperation?</p> + +<p>Our little children are constructing their own wills when, by a +process of self-education, they put in motion complex internal +activities of comparison and judgment, and in this wise make their +intellectual acquisitions with order and clarity; this is a kind of +"knowledge" capable of preparing children to form their own decisions, +and one which makes them independent of the suggestions of others; +they can then <i>decide</i> in every act of their daily life; they decide +to take or not to take; they decide to accompany the rhythm of a song +with movement; they decide to check every motor impulse when they +desire silence. The <i>constant work</i> which builds up their personality +is all set in motion by <i>decisions</i>; and this takes the place of the +primitive state of <i>chaos</i>, in which, on the other hand, <i>actions</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +were the outcome of <i>impulses</i>. A voluntary life develops gradually +within them; and doubt and timidity disappear, together with the +darkness of the primitive mental confusion.</p> + +<p>Such a development of the will would be impossible if, instead of +allowing order and clarity to mature in the mind, we should seek to +encumber it with chaotic ideas, or with stores of lessons learnt by +heart, and then prevent children from making decisions by deciding +everything for them. Teachers who adopt these methods are justified in +saying that "a child ought not to have a will of his own," and in +teaching him that "there is no such plant as 'I will.'" Indeed, they +prevent the infantine will from developing. Under such conditions +children are conscious of a power which inhibits all their actions; +they become timid, and have no courage to undertake anything without +the help and consent of the person on whom they depend entirely. "What +color are these cherries?" a lady once asked a child, who knew quite +well that they were red. But the timid, nervous child, doubtful as to +whether it would be right or wrong to answer, murmured: "I will ask my +teacher."</p> + +<p>The volitive mechanism which prepares for decision is one of the most +important mechanisms of the will; it is valuable in itself, and should +be established and strengthened in itself. Pathology illustrates it +for us apart from the other factor of the will, and thus places it +before our eyes as a pillar of the great vault which supports the +human personality. The so-called "mania of doubt" is one of the most +frequent phases in the degenerative forms of psychopathy, and +sometimes precedes certain obsessions, which urge the sufferer on +irresistibly to the commission of immoral or harmful acts. But there +may also be a mania of doubt simple and genuine, which is confined to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +the impossibility of taking a decision, and which produces a serious +state of distress, though it induces no moral lapses, and may even +arise from a moral scruple. In a hospital for nervous disorders I once +encountered a characteristic case of the "mania of doubt" which had a +moral basis. The patient was a man whose business it was to go round +to houses collecting refuse; he was seized with misgivings lest some +useful object should have accidentally fallen into the rubbish-baskets, +and that he would be suspected of appropriating it. Hereupon the +unhappy man, just when he was about to go off with his load, climbed +all the stairs again, and knocked again at all the doors, asking +whether something valuable might not perhaps have chanced to be in the +baskets. Going away after assurances to the contrary, he would return +and knock again, and so on. In vain he applied to the doctor for some +means of strengthening his will. We told him repeatedly that there was +nothing of any value in the baskets, that he might be quite easy on +this point, and carry on his business without any preoccupations. Then +a gleam of hope shone in his eyes. "I may be quite easy!" he repeated, +going away. In a minute he was back again. "Then I may really be +easy?" In vain we reassured him. "Yes, indeed, quite easy." His wife +led him away, but from the window we saw the man stop at a certain +point in the street, struggle with her, and come back in great +agitation. Once more he appeared at the door to ask: "I may be quite +easy then?"</p> + +<p>But how often normal persons harbor in their minds the germs of such a +mania! Here, for instance, is a person who is going out; he locks the +door and shakes it; but when he has gone a few steps he is assailed by +doubt: did he fasten the door? He knows that he did, he perfectly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +remembers having shaken it, but an irresistible impulse makes him go +back to see if the door is really fastened. There are children who, +before getting into bed at night, always look under it to see if there +are any animals there—cats, for instance; they see there are none, +and quite understand there are none. Nevertheless, after a while they +get out again "to see if there is anything." These germs are carried +about enclosed like tubercular bacilli in some tiny lymphatic gland; +the whole organism is weak. But the mischief is hidden and causes no +uneasiness, just as the pallor of the face may be concealed for a time +by rouge.</p> + +<p>If we consider that the will must manifest itself in actions which the +body must carry out effectively, we shall understand that a formative +exercise is necessary to develop it by means of its mechanisms.</p> + +<p>There is a perfect parallel between the formation of the will and the +coordination of movement of its physiological structure, the striated +muscles. It is evident that exercise is necessary to establish +precision in our movements. We know that we cannot learn to dance +without preliminary exercises, that we cannot play the piano without +practising the movements of the hand; but prior to this, the +fundamental coordination of movements, that is to say, ambulation and +prehension, must have already been established from infancy. It is not +yet so evident to us that similar gradual preparations are necessary +to develop the will.</p> + +<p>In the purely physiological functions of the muscular apparatus, our +voluntary muscles do not all act in the same manner, but rather in two +opposite senses; some, for instance, serve to thrust the arm out from +the body, others to draw it near; some serve to bend, others to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +straighten the knee; they are, that is to say, "antagonistic" in their +action. Every movement of the body is the result of a combination +between antagonistic muscles, in which now one, now the other prevails +in a kind of collaboration by which the greatest diversity of +movements is made possible to us: movements energetic, graceful, +elegant. It is thus we are enabled to establish not only a noble +attitude of the body, but a delightful motor correspondence with +musical rhythm.</p> + +<p>To bring about this intimate combination between antagonistic forces, +all that is necessary is exercise in movement. True, we can <i>educate</i> +movement; but this only after the natural coordination has already +taken place; then we can "provoke" special movements as in sporting +games, dances, etc., which movements must, however, be repeatedly +executed by the performer himself in order to produce in him the +possibility of new combinations of movement. Not only in the case of +movements of grace and agility, but also in those of strength, it is +necessary that the performer himself should act repeatedly. The will +certainly comes into play here: the performer wishes to devote himself +to sport, or to dancing, or to the arts of self-defense, to compete in +matches, etc.... but in order to <i>will</i> this it is necessary that he +should have practised continually, thus making ready the apparatus on +which the volitive act will finally depend, and to which it will issue +its commands. Movement is always voluntary, both when the first +movements established by "muscular coordination" take place, and when +exercises designed to produce fresh combinations of movements (skill) +follow each other—as, in short, when the will acts like a commander +whose orders are carried out by a well organized, disciplined, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +highly skilled army. Voluntary action, in respect of its "powers," +increases in degree as its dependent muscles perfect themselves and so +achieve the necessary conditions for seconding its efforts.</p> + +<p>It would certainly never occur to any one that in order to educate the +voluntary motility of a child, it would be well first of all to keep +it absolutely motionless, covering its limbs with cement (I will not +say fracturing them!) until the muscles become atrophied and almost +paralyzed; and then, when this result had been attained, that it would +suffice to read to the child wonderful stories of clowns, acrobats and +champion boxers and wrestlers, to fire him by such examples, and to +inspire in him an ardent desire to emulate them. It is obvious that +such a proceeding would be an inconceivable absurdity.</p> + +<p>And yet we do something of the same kind when, in order to educate the +child's "will," we first of all attempt to annihilate it, or, as we +say, "break" it, and thus hamper the development of every factor of +the will, substituting ourselves for the child in everything. It is by +<i>our</i> will that we keep him motionless, or make him act; it is we who +choose and decide for him. And after all this we are content to teach +him that "to will is to do" (<i>volere è potere</i>). And we present to his +fancy, in the guise of fabulous tales, stories of heroic men, giants +of will, under the illusion that by committing their deeds to memory a +vigorous feeling of emulation will be aroused and will complete the +miracle.</p> + +<p>When I was a child, attending the first classes of the elementary +schools, there was a kind teacher who was very fond of us. Of course, +she kept us captive and motionless on our seats, and talked +incessantly herself, though she looked pale and exhausted. Her fixed +idea was to make us learn by heart the lives of famous women, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +more especially "heroines," in order to incite us to imitate them; she +made us study an immense number of biographies; in order to +demonstrate to us all the possibilities of becoming illustrious and +also to convince us that it was not beyond our powers to be heroines, +since these were so numerous. The exhortation which accompanied these +narratives was always the same: "You, too, should try to become +famous; would not you, too, like to be famous?" "Oh, no!" I answered +one day, drily; "I shall never do so. I care too much for the children +of the future to add yet another biography to the list."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The unanimous reports of the educationists from all parts of the world +who attended the last pedagogic and psychological international +congresses lamented the "lack of character" in the young as +constituting a great danger to the race. But it is not that character +is lacking in the race; it is that school distorts the body and +weakens the spirit. All that is needed is an act of liberation; and +the latent forces of man will then develop.</p> + +<p>The manner in which we are to make use of our strong will is a higher +question, which, however, can rest only upon one basis: that the will +exists—that is, has been developed, and has become strong. One of the +examples usually given to our children, to teach them to admire +strength of will, is that of Vittorio Alfieri, who began to educate +himself late in life, overcoming the drudgery of the rudiments by a +great effort. He, who had hitherto been a man of the world, set to +work to study the Latin grammar, and persevered until he became a man +of letters, and, in virtue of his ardent genius, one of our greatest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +poets. The phrase by which he explained his transformation is just the +phrase every child in Italy has heard quoted by his teachers: "I +willed, perpetually I willed, with all my strength I willed."</p> + +<p>Now, before he made the great "decision," Vittorio Alfieri was the +victim of a capricious society lady whom he loved. Alfieri felt that +he was ruining himself by remaining the slave of his passion; an +internal impulse urged him to raise himself; he felt the great man +latent within him, full of powers not yet developed, but potential and +expansive; he would fain have turned them to account, responded to +their inner call, and dedicated himself to them; but then a scented +note from the lady would summon him to join her in her box at the +play, and the evening would be wasted. The power this lady exercised +over him overcame his own will, which would gladly have resisted. +Nevertheless, the rage and weariness he endured as he sat through the +silly performances at the theater caused him such acute suffering that +at last he felt that he hated the fascinating lady.</p> + +<p>His determination took a material form: he resolved to create an +<i>insurmountable</i> obstacle between himself and her; he accordingly cut +off the thick plait of hair which adorned his head, the badge of +gentle birth, without which he would have been ashamed to leave the +house; then he had himself bound with ropes to his armchair, where he +spent several days in such agitation that he was unable even to read a +line; it was only the material impossibility of moving, and the +thought of cutting a ridiculous figure, which kept him there, in spite +of the impulse to hasten to the beloved one.</p> + +<p>It was thus that he "willed, willed perpetually, with all his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +strength," and so left the man within him free to expand; it was thus +he saved himself from futility and perdition and worked for his own +immortality.</p> + +<p>And it is something of the same sort that we desire to bring about in +our children by the education of the will; we wish them to learn to +save themselves from the vanities that destroy man, and concentrate on +work which causes the inner life to expand, and leads to great +undertakings; we wish them to work for their own immortality.</p> + +<p>This loving and anxious desire inclines us to draw them along shielded +by us. But is there not within the child himself a power which enables +him to save himself? The child loves us with all his heart and follows +us with all the devotion of which his little soul is capable; +nevertheless he has something within himself which governs his inner +life: it is the force of his own expansion. It is this force, for +instance, which leads him to touch things in order to become +acquainted with them, and we say to him, "Do not touch"; he moves +about to establish his equilibrium, and we tell him to "keep still"; +he questions us to acquire knowledge, and we reply, "Do not be +tiresome." We relegate him to a place at our side, vanquished and +subdued, with a few tiresome playthings, like an Alfieri in the box at +the theater. He might well think: Why does she, whom I love so dearly, +want to annihilate me? Why does she wish to oppress me with her +caprices? It is caprice which makes her prevent me from developing the +expansive forces within me, and relegate me to a place among vain and +wearisome things, merely because I love her.</p> + +<p>Thus, to save himself, the child should be a strong spirit, like +Vittorio Alfieri; but too often he cannot.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +<p>We do not perceive that the child is a victim and that we are +annihilating him; and then we demand <i>everything</i> from his <i>nullity</i> +by a <i>fiat</i>, by an act of our omnipotence. We want the adult man, but +without allowing him to grow.</p> + +<p>Many will think, when they read the story of Vittorio Alfieri, that +they would have wished something more in their sons; they would have +wished it to be unnecessary to set up material obstacles against +temptation, such as the cutting off of the hair and the binding to the +armchair with ropes; and would have hoped that a spiritual force would +have sufficed to resist it. Like one of our great poets who, singing +of the Roman Lucrezia, reproves her for having killed herself; since +she ought to have died of grief at the outrage, had she been even more +virtuous than she was.</p> + +<p>Now that father with the spiritual ideals would not, in all +probability, ask himself what he himself had done to enable his son to +become strong and rise to the level of spiritual aid. Very likely he +is a father who did his utmost to break the will of his son and make +him submissive to his own will. No earthly father can make the spirit +rise to such heights; this can only be accomplished by the mysterious +voice which speaks within the heart of the man in the silence. A voice +which is strident because it is raised against the laws of Nature, +like the voice of the father who wishes to subdue another creature to +himself, disturbs that "silence" where, in peace and liberty, the +divine works are being accomplished. Without the "strong man" all is +vain.</p> + +<p>It is recorded that a priest once presented to Saint Teresa a young +girl who wished to become a Carmelite nun, and who, according to him, +had angelic qualities. Saint Teresa, accepting the neophyte, replied: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +"See, my father, our Lord has given this maiden devotion, but she has +no judgment, and never will have any; and she will always be a burden +to us."</p> + +<p>One of the greatest of contemporary theologians, who during the +proceedings to obtain the canonisation of Joan of Arc had made a +profound study of her personality, says, in reference to the +suggestion that she was simply the instrument of divine inspiration: +"Let no one deceive himself. Joan of Arc was no blind and passive +instrument of a supernatural power. The liberator of France <i>had +entire command of her personality</i>; she gave proof of this by her +independent action, both in decisions and in deeds."</p> + +<p>I believe that the work of the educator consists primarily in +protecting the powers and directing them without disturbing them in +their expansion; and in the bringing of man into contact with the +spirit which is within him and which should operate through him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="VIII" id="VIII">VIII</a></h3> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +<h3>INTELLIGENCE</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p>Let us pause a moment to consider what is the "key" by means of which +we may bring about the realization of the liberty of the child; that +key which sets in motion the mechanisms essential to education.</p> + +<p>The child who is "free to move about," and who perfects himself by so +doing, is he who has an "intelligent object" in his movements; the +child who is free to develop his inner personality, who perseveres in +a task for a considerable time, and organizes himself upon such a +fundamental phenomenon, is sustained and guided by an intelligent +purpose. Without this his persistence in work, his inner formation, +and his progress would not be possible. When we refrain from guiding +the subjugated child step by step, when, liberating the child from our +personal influence, we place him in an environment suited to him and +in contact with the means of development, we leave him confidently to +"his own intelligence." His motor activity will then direct itself to +definite actions: he will wash his hands and face, sweep the room, +dust the furniture, change his clothes, spread the rugs, lay the +table, cultivate plants, and take care of animals. He will choose the +tasks conducive to his development and persist in them, attracted and +guided by his interest towards a sensory material which leads him to +distinguish one thing from another, to select, to reason, to correct +himself; and the acquirements thus made are not only "a cause of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +internal growth" but a strong propulsive force to further progress. +Thus, passing from simple objects to objects of ever increasing +complexity, he becomes possessed of a culture; moreover, he organizes +his character by means of the internal order which forms itself within +him, and by the skill which he acquires.</p> + +<p>Therefore, when we leave the child to himself, we leave him to his +intelligence, not, as is commonly supposed, "to his instincts," +meaning by the word "instincts" those designated as animal instincts. +We are so accustomed to; treat children like dogs and other domestic +animals, that a "free child" makes us think of a dog, barking, +jumping, and stealing dainties. And so accustomed are we to regard as +manifestations of evil instincts the <i>rebellions</i> of the child treated +as a beast, his obscure protests and desperations, or the protective +devices he has to invent to save himself from such a humiliating +situation, that, by way of elevating him, we first compare him to +plants and flowers, and then actually try to keep him as far as +possible in the state of physical immobility of vegetables, subjecting +him to the same sensations, reducing him to slavery. But he never +becomes the "plant with angelic perfume" we would fain believe him to +be; rather do signs of corruption gradually manifest themselves as his +"human substance" mortifies and dies.</p> + +<p>But when we leave the child "free as a man" in the palestra of his own +intelligence, his type changes entirely. It is of this type we must +form new conceptions in discussing the question of "liberty."</p> + +<p>That of intelligence should also, I believe, be the key to the problem +of the social liberty of man. We have heard much talk of late years, +of a very superficial kind, concerning "liberty of thought." The issue +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +being obscured by prejudices akin to those prevalent concerning +children, it has been supposed that man would be "liberated" were he +"abandoned" to his own thoughts. But was he capable of "thinking"? Was +not the epoch of such "freedom" also that of cerebral neurasthenia? +Was it not also that epoch when laws for extending social rights to +illiterates were under discussion?</p> + +<p>Now let us take an example: if we told a sick person to choose between +disease and health, would this make him free to do so? If we offer an +uneducated peasant good and bad paper money, leaving him "free to +choose" which he will take, and he chooses the bad notes, he is not +free, he is cheated; if he chooses the good, he is not free, he is +lucky. He will be free when he has sufficient knowledge not only to +distinguish the good from the bad, but to understand the social +utility of each. It is the giving of this "internal formation" which +makes a man free, irrespective of a "social sanction" which is merely +an external conquest of liberty. If the liberty of man were such a +simple problem, we should only need to pass a law, enabling the blind +to see and the deaf to hear, in order to restore "poor humanity" to +health.</p> + +<p>Our honesty ought to make us recognize one day that the fundamental +rights of man are those of his own "formation," free from obstacles, +free from slavery, and free to draw from his environment the means +required for his development. In short, it is in education that we +shall find the fundamental solution of the social problems connected +with "personality."</p> + +<p>Deeply instructive is the revelation made to us by the children, that +"the intelligence" is the key which reveals the secrets of their +formation, and is the actual means of their internal construction.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +<p>The hygiene of the intelligence thus assumes cardinal importance. When +intelligence is recognized as the means of formation, the pivot of +life itself, it can no longer be exhausted for dubious ends, or +oppressed and suffocated without discernment.</p> + +<p>At a not-far-distant day, the intelligence of children must become the +object of treatment much wiser and more elaborate than that which we +now bestow on their bodies, to adjuncts of which, such as teeth, +nails, and hair, we devote costly and laborious processes. When we +reflect that a mother who is perfectly conscious of the dangers and +remedies connected with the hair of her child, can oppress and enslave +his intelligence quite unknowingly, we are at once obliged to admit +that the new road leading to civilization must needs be a long one, if +such contrasts in our attitude to the superfluities and the essentials +of life are still possible at the present day.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>What is intelligence? Without rising to the heights of the definitions +given by the philosophers, we may, for the moment, consider the sum of +those reflex and associative or reproductive activities which enable +the mind to construct itself, putting it into relation with the +environment. According to Bain, the consciousness of difference is the +beginning of every intellectual exercise; the first step of the mind +is appreciation of "distinction." The bases of its perceptive +functions towards the external world are the "sensations." To collect +facts and distinguish between them is the initial process in +intellectual construction.</p> + +<p>Let us try to infuse a little more precision and clarity into the +analysis of intelligence.</p> + +<p>The first characteristic which presents itself to us as an indication +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +of intellectual development is related to <i>time</i>. The masses are so +much alive to this primitive characteristic, that the popular +expression "quick" is synonymous with intelligent. To be rapid in +reacting to a stimulus, in the association of ideas, in the capacity +of formulating a judgment—this is the most obvious external +manifestation of intelligence. This "quickness" is certainly related +to the capacity for receiving impressions from the environment, +elaborating images, and externalizing the internal results. All these +activities may be developed by means of an exercise comparable to a +system of mental "gymnastics" to collect numerous sensations, to put +them constantly in relation one with another, to deduce judgments +therefrom, to acquire the habit of manifesting these freely, all this +ought, as the psychologists would say, to render the conductive +channels and the associative channels more and more permeable, and the +"period of reaction" ever briefer. As in intelligent muscular +movement, the repetition of the act not only renders it more perfect +in itself, but more rapid in execution. An intelligent child at school +is not only one who understands, but one who understands quickly. On +the other hand, one who learns the same things, but who takes a longer +time in so doing, say two years instead of one, is <i>slow</i>. Of a +"quick" child, the people say that "nothing escapes him"; his +attention is always on the alert, and he is ready to receive every +kind of stimulus: as a sensitive scale will show the slightest +variation in weight, so the sensitive brain will respond to the +slightest appeal. It is Equally rapid in its associative processes: +"He understands in a flash" is a familiar saying to indicate accurate +conception.</p> + +<p>Now an exercise which "puts in motion" the intellectual mechanisms +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +can only be an "auto-exercise." It is impossible that another person, +exercising himself in our stead, should make us acquire skill.</p> + +<p>The sensory exercises arouse and intensify the central activities in +our children. When, sense and stimulus duly isolated, the child has +clear perceptions in his consciousness; when sensations of heat, cold, +roughness, smoothness, weight, and lightness, when a sound, an +isolated noise, are perceived by him, when, in almost complete +silence, he closes his eyes and waits for a voice to murmur a word, it +is as if the external world had knocked at the door of his soul, +awakening its activities. And further, when the multitudinous +sensations are all contained in the richness of the environment, the +two react harmoniously one upon the other, intensifying the activities +that have been awakened: this is exemplified in the case of the child +absorbed in coloring his designs, who will choose the most beautiful +tints while music is being played, or in that of another who, +contemplating the gay and gracious environment of the school and the +flowering plants, will sing his song to perfection.</p> + +<p>The first characteristic which manifests itself in our children, after +their process of auto-education has been initiated, is that their +reactions become ever more ready and more rapid: a sensory stimulus +which might before have passed unobserved or might have roused a +languid interest, is vividly perceived. The relation between things is +easily recognized, and thus errors in their use are quickly detected, +judged, and corrected. By means of the sensory gymnastics the child +carries out just this primordial and fundamental exercise of the +intelligence, which <i>awakens and sets in motion</i> the central nervous +mechanisms.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +<p>When we see these external manifestations of our quick and active +children—sensitive to the slightest call, ready to run swiftly +towards us without relaxing the attention they give to their own +movements and to all the external objects they encounter—and compare +them with the torpid children in the ordinary schools—clumsy in their +movements, indifferent to stimuli, incapable of spontaneous +association of ideas—we are led to think of the civilization of our +own days as compared with that of olden times. The civil environment +of bygone years, as compared with our own, was more leisurely: we have +learnt how to save time. The stage-coach was once the means of +transport, whereas now we travel in motor-cars and even in aeroplanes; +the voice was the medium of speech from a distance, whereas now we +speak through the telephone; men killed each other one by one, whereas +now they kill each other <i>en masse</i>. All this makes us realize that +our civilization is not based upon "respect for life" and "respect for +the soul," but rather is it based upon "respect for time." It is +solely in an external sense that civilization has pursued its course. +It has become more rapid, it has set in motion <i>machinery</i>.</p> + +<p>But man has not had the same preparation to keep up with it: +individuals have not <i>accelerated</i> themselves methodically; the +children of this bewildering environment are not new men, more active, +readier, more intelligent. The transformed human personality has not +yet arisen ready to meet all eventualities and to utilize for his own +benefit the external conquests of his environment. Torpid man saves +time and money in this civilization; but his soul remains defrauded +and oppressed.</p> + +<p>If he does not rise to the task of reforming himself in harmony with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +the new world he has created, he runs the risk of being some day +overthrown and crushed by it.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The swift reactions occurring among our children are not merely an +external manifestation of the intelligence. They are related not only +to the <i>exercise</i>, but also to the <i>order</i> which has been established +within: and it is this intimate work of rearrangement which is in +itself a more exact indication of intellectual formation.</p> + +<p>Order is, in short, the true key to rapidity of reaction. In a chaotic +mind, the recognition of a sensation is no less difficult than the +elaboration of a reasoned discourse. In all things, social as well as +others, it is organization and order which make it possible to proceed +rapidly.</p> + +<p>"To be able to distinguish" is the characteristic sign of +intelligence: to <i>distinguish</i> is to arrange and also, in life, it is +to prepare for "creation."</p> + +<p>Creation finds its expansion in <i>order</i>. We find this conception in +the Genesis of Scripture. God did not begin to create without +preparation; and this preparation was the introduction of order into +chaos. "And God divided the light from the darkness. And he said: Let +the waters be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land +appear." The consciousness may possess a rich and varied content; but +when there is <i>mental confusion</i>, the intelligence does not appear. +Its appearance is exactly like the kindling of a light which makes it +possible to distinguish things clearly: "Let there be light."</p> + +<p>Thus we may justly say that to help the development of the +intelligence is to help to put the images of the consciousness in +order.</p> + +<p>We ought to think of the mental state of the little child of three +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +years old, who has already looked upon a world. How often he has +fallen asleep utterly weary from having seen so many things. It has +not occurred to any one that for him to walk is, in fact, to work; +that seeing and hearing, when the organs are not as yet accommodated, +so that he is obliged to be perpetually correcting the errors of his +senses, and verifying with his hand what he cannot as yet appraise +correctly with his eye, is a great exertion. Hence the little one who +is over-taxed by stimuli, in places where these abound, cries or falls +asleep.</p> + +<p>The little child of three years old carries within him a heavy +<i>chaos</i>.</p> + +<p>He is like a man who has accumulated an immense quantity of books, +piled up without any order, and who asks himself "What shall I do with +them?" When will he be able to arrange them in such fashion as to +enable him to say: "I possess a library"?</p> + +<p>By means of our so-called "sensory exercises" we make it possible for +the child to <i>distinguish</i> and to <i>classify</i>. Our sensory material, in +fact, analyses and represents the attributes of things: dimensions, +forms, colors, smoothness or roughness of surface, weight, +temperature, flavor, noise, sounds. It is the qualities of the +objects, not the objects themselves which are important; although +these qualities, isolated one from the other, are themselves +represented by objects. For the attributes long, short, thick, thin, +large, small, red, yellow, green, hot, cold, heavy, light, rough, +smooth, scented, noisy, resonant, we have a like number of +corresponding "objects" arranged in graduated series. This gradation +is important for the establishment of order; indeed, the attributes of +the objects differ not only in quality, but also in quantity. They may +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +be more or less high or more or less low, more or less thick or more +or less thin; the sounds have various tones; the colors have various +degrees of intensity; the shapes may resemble each other in varying +degrees; the states of roughness and smoothness are by no means +absolute.</p> + +<p>The material for the education of the senses lends itself to the +purpose of distinguishing between these things. First of all it +enables the child to ascertain the <i>identity</i> of two stimuli by means +of numerous exercises in matching and fitting. Afterwards <i>difference</i> +is appreciated when the lessons direct the child's attention to the +external objects of a series: light, dark, long, short.</p> + +<p>At last he begins to distinguish the <i>degrees of the various +attributes</i>, arranging a series of objects in gradation, such as the +tablets which show the various degrees of intensity of the same +chromatic tone; the bells which produce the notes of an octave, the +objects which represent length in decimal proportions, or thickness in +centimetric proportions, etc.</p> + +<p>These exercises, which are so attractive to children, are, as we have +seen, repeated by them indefinitely. The teacher puts the seal upon +each acquisition with a word; thus the classification is complete, and +finally has its schedule: that is, it becomes possible to recall the +attribute and its <i>image</i> by a name.</p> + +<p>Now as we have no possible means of distinguishing things other than +by their attributes, the classification of these entails a fundamental +order of arrangement comprehending everything. Henceforth the world is +no longer a chaos for the child; his mind bears some resemblance to +the orderly shelves of a library or a rich museum; each object is in +its place, in its proper category. And each acquisition he makes will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +be no longer merely "stored," but duly "allocated." This primitive +order will never be disturbed, but only enriched by fresh material.</p> + +<p>Thus the child, having acquired the power of distinguishing one thing +from another, has laid the foundations of the intelligence. It is +unnecessary to repeat what an internal impulse the acquired order +contributes towards the seeking after objects in the environment; +henceforth the child "recognizes" the objects which surround him. When +he discovers with so much emotion that the sky is blue, that his hand +is smooth, that the window is rectangular, he does not in reality +discover sky, nor hand, nor window, but he discovers their position in +the order of his mind by arrangement of his ideas. And this determines +a stable equilibrium in the internal personality, which produces calm, +strength, and the possibility of fresh conquests, just as the muscles +which have coordinated their functions enable the body to maintain its +equilibrium, and to acquire that stability and security which +facilitate all movements. This order conduces to an economy of time +and strength; like a well-arranged museum, it saves the time and +strength of inquirers. The child can therefore perform a greater +quantity of work without fatigue, and can react to stimuli in a +briefer space of time.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>To be able to distinguish, classify, and catalogue external things on +the basis of a secure order already established in the mind—this is +at once intelligence and culture. This is, indeed, the popular +conception; when an educated person can recognize an author by his +style, or the characteristics of the literary compositions of a +period, he is pronounced "versed (<i>intelligente</i>) in literature." In +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +the same way we say of one who can recognize a painter by the manner +in which he lays his colors on the canvas, or fix the period of a +sculptor from the fragment of a bas-relief, that he is "versed +(<i>intelligente</i>) in art." The scientist is of the same type. He is +able to observe things, and to give due value even to their minutest +details; hence the differences between the characteristics of things +are clearly perceived and classified. The scientist distinguishes +objects in accordance with the orderly content of his mind. A +seedling, a microbe, an animal or the remains of an animal, are not +enigmas to him, though in themselves they may be strange to him. We +may say the same of the chemist, the physicist, the geologist, the +archæologist.</p> + +<p>It is not the accumulation of a direct knowledge of things which forms +the man of letters, the scientist, and the connoisseur; it is the +prepared order established in the mind which is to receive such +knowledge. On the other hand, the uncultivated person has only the +direct knowledge of objects; such a person may be a lady who spends a +great part of the night reading books, or a gardener who spends his +life making material distinctions between the plants in his garden. +The knowledge of such uncultured minds is not only disorderly, but it +is confined to the objects with which it comes into direct contact, +whereas the knowledge of the scientist is infinite, because, +possessing the power of classifying the attributes of things, he can +recognize them all, and determine now the class, now the +relationships, now the origins of each; facts much more profound than +the actual things could of themselves reveal.</p> + +<p>Now our children, after the manner of the connoisseur of art and the +man of science, recognize objects in the external world by means of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +their attributes and classify them; hence they are sensitive to all +objects; everything possesses a value for them. Uncultured children, +on the other hand, pass blind and deaf close to things, just as an +ignorant man passes by a work of art or listens to a performance of +classical music without recognition or enjoyment.</p> + +<p>The educational methods now in use proceed on lines exactly the +reverse of ours; having first abolished spontaneous activity, they +present objects with their accumulation of attributes directly to the +child, calling attention to each attribute, and hoping that from all +this mass the mind of the child will be able to abstract the +attributes themselves, without any guidance or order. Thus they create +in a passive being an artificial chaos, more limited than that which +the natural world would offer.</p> + +<p>The "objective" method now in use, which consists in presenting an +object and noting all its attributes—that is, describing it, is +nothing but a "sensory" variation on the customary mnemonic method; +instead of describing an absent object, a present object is described; +instead of the imagination alone working to effect its reconstruction, +the senses intervene; this is done so that the distinctive qualities +of the object itself should be better remembered. The passive mind +receives images, which are limited to the objects presented; and which +are "stored up" without any order. As a fact, every object may have +infinite attributes; and if, as often happens in object-lessons, the +origins and ultimate ends of the object itself are included among +these attributes, the mind has literally to range throughout the +universe. If, for instance, in an object lesson on coffee, which I +heard given in a Kindergarten school, the object is described and the +attention of the children directed to its size, its color, its shape, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +its aroma, its flavor, its temperature; and then if the teacher goes +on to describe the plant and the manner in which the substance was +brought to Europe across the ocean, and, finally, lighting a +spirit-lamp, boils the water, grinds the berries and prepares the +beverage, the mind has been led to wander in infinite spaces, but the +subject has not been exhausted. For it would be possible to go on to +describe the exciting effects of coffee, caffeine, which is extracted +from the berry, and many other things. Such an analysis would spread +like spilt oil until finally dispersed, and the outcome would be of no +use in any way. If, indeed, we should ask a child so instructed: "What +is coffee, then?" he might well reply: "It is such a long story that I +cannot remember it." A notion so vague (I cannot certainly say so +complete!) fatigues and encumbers the mind and can never transform +itself into a dynamic excitation of similar associations. The efforts +the child makes will be, at the most, efforts of memory to recall the +history of coffee. If associations are formed in his mind, they will +be inferior associations of contiguity: his mind will wander from the +teacher who is speaking to the ocean that was traversed, to the +dining-table at home on which coffee appears in cups every day; in +other words, it will stray aimlessly as does the idle mind when it +"allows itself" to wander from the continuity of its passive +associations.</p> + +<p>In this kind of <i>reverie</i> to which the minds of children give +themselves up, there is no sign of internal activity, far less of any +individual difference. Children subjected to the object-lesson system +always remain purely receptive beings; or, if we prefer to put it so, +storehouses in which new objects are continually deposited.</p> + +<p>No activity is thus aroused and directed towards the object, in order +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +to recognize its qualities in such a manner that the child himself +forms an idea of it; nor can the possibility of connecting other +objects with the first by their common characteristics arise in his +mind. For in what particular does any object resemble the others? In +its use?</p> + +<p>When we associate the images of different objects by similarity, we +should extract from the whole the qualities which the objects +themselves have in common. If, for instance, we say that two +rectangular tablets are alike, we have first extracted from the +numerous qualities of these tablets such facts as that they are of +wood, that they are polished, smooth, colored, of the same +temperature, etc., the quality relating to their <i>shape</i>. They are +alike in <i>shape</i>. This may suggest a long series of objects: the top +of the table, the window, etc.; but before such a result as this can +be achieved, it is necessary that the mind should first be capable of +abstracting from the numerous attributes of these objects the quality +of <i>rectangular shape</i>. The work of the mind in this quest must +necessarily be <i>active</i>; it analyzes the object, extracts a determined +attribute therefrom, and under the guidance of this determined +attribute makes a synthesis associating many objects by the same +medium of connection. If this capacity for the selecting of single +attributes among all those proper to the object be not acquired, +association by means of similarity, synthesis, and all the higher work +of the intelligence becomes impossible. Moreover, this is intellectual +work in reality, because the essential quality of the intelligence is +not to "photograph" objects, and "keep them one upon the other" like +the pages of an album, or juxtaposed like the stones in a pavement. +Such a labor of mere "deposit" is an outrage on the intellectual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +nature. The intelligence, with its characteristic orderliness and +power of discrimination, is capable of distinguishing and extracting +the dominant characteristics of objects, and it is upon these that it +proceeds to build up its internal structures.</p> + +<p>Now our children, whose minds are thus ordered in relation to the +classification of attributes by the pedagogic aid they have received, +are led, not only to observe objects according to all the attributes +they have analyzed, but also to distinguish identities, differences, +and resemblances; and this work renders the extraction of one of the +qualities corresponding to one of the sensory groups which have been +considered apart, easy and spontaneous. That is to say, it will be +easy for the child thus to recognize the various qualities of an +object, to note, for instance, that certain objects are alike in form, +or alike in color; because "forms" and "colors" have already been +grouped into very distinctive categories, and they therefore recall +series of objects by similarity. This classification of attributes is +a kind of loadstone; it is an attractive force of a determined group +of qualities; and the objects which have this quality are attracted +thereto and united one with another; this is association by +similitude, almost of a mechanical kind. Books are of the shape of +prisms, one of our children might say; and such a pronouncement would +be the conclusion arrived at by a very complex mental process, were it +not that prismatic forms already existed as a well-defined series in +his mind, attracting to itself all the surrounding objects which +possess the same character. Thus the whiteness of sheets of paper, +interrupted by dark signs, may be attracted, by the colors +systematized in the mind, into a synthetic whole, which might make +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +the child say: Books are sheets of white printed paper.</p> + +<p>It is in this <i>active</i> work that individual differences may manifest +themselves. What will be the group of attributes which will attract +similar objects? And what will be the prevailing characteristic chosen +for the purpose of association by similarity? One child will note that +a curtain is light green; another that the same curtain is light in +weight; one will be struck by the whiteness of a hand, another by the +smoothness of its skin. For one child the window will be a rectangle; +to another it is something through which the blue of the sky may be +seen. The choice of prevailing characteristics made by children +becomes a "natural selection" harmonizing with their own innate +tendencies.</p> + +<p>In like manner, a scientist will choose the characters <i>most useful</i> +to his associations. An anthropologist may choose the shape of the +head to distinguish the human races, and another might choose the +cutaneous pigment—either will serve the purpose. Each anthropologist +may have the most accurate knowledge of the external characteristics +of men; but the important matter consists in finding a characteristic +which will serve as a basis for classification: that is to say, a +characteristic on which it will be possible to group numerous +characteristics in the order of similitude. Purely practical persons +would consider man from the utilitarian rather than from the +scientific point of view; a maker of hats would single out the +dimensions of the head from among other human characteristics; an +orator would consider man from the point of view of his susceptibility +to the spoken word. But <i>selection</i> is the fundamental necessity which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +enables us to realize things; to emerge from the vague into the +practical, from aimless contemplation into the sphere of action.</p> + +<p>Every created thing in existence is characterized by the fact that it +has <i>limitations</i>. Our own psycho-sensory organization is founded upon +a selection. What are the functions of the senses, but to respond to a +determined series of vibrations and to no others? Thus the eye limits +light and the ear sounds. In forming the contents of the mind the +first step is, therefore, a selection, necessarily and materially +limited. Nevertheless, the mind imposes still further limits on the +selection possible to the senses, fashioning it upon the activity of +internal choice. Thus attention is fixed upon determined objects and +not upon all objects; and the volition <i>chooses</i> the actions which are +really to be performed from among a multitude of possible actions.</p> + +<p>It is in like fashion that the lofty work of the intelligence is +accomplished; by an analogous action of attention and internal will, +it abstracts the dominant characteristics of things, and thus succeeds +in associating their images, and keeping them in the foreground of +consciousness. It ceases to consider an immense amount of ballast +which would render its context formless and confused. Every superior +mind distinguishes the essential form from the superfluous, rejecting +the latter, and thus it is enabled to achieve its characteristic, +clear, delicate, and vital activities. It is capable of extracting +that which is useful to its creative life, and thus finds in the +cosmos the means of salvation. Without this characteristic activity, +the intelligence cannot construct itself; it would be like an +attention that wanders from thing to thing without ever fixing upon +any one of them, and like a will that can never decide upon any +definite action.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +<p>"It is possible to suppose," says James, "that a God could, without +impairing his activity, simultaneously behold all the minutest +portions of the world. But if our human attention should be thus +dissipated, we should merely contemplate all things vacuously, without +ever finding occasion to do any particular act."</p> + +<p>It is one of the marvelous phenomena of life that it is impossible to +realize anything, without determining limits; that mysterious law +which ordains that every living being has its "form" and "stature," +unlike the minerals, which are indefinite in form and dimensions, is +repeated in the psychical life. Its development, its auto-creation, is +nothing but a determination even more precise, a progressive +"concentration"; it is thus that from the primitive chaos our internal +characteristic form is gradually shaped and chiselled.</p> + +<p>The capacity for forming a conception of a thing, for judging and +reasoning, has always this foundation. When, after having noted the +usual qualities of a column, we abstract the general truth that the +column is a support, this synthetic idea is based upon a selected +quality. Thus in the judgment we may pronounce: columns are +cylindrical, we have abstracted one quality from among the many others +we could have adduced, as, columns are cold, they are hard, they are a +composition of carbonate of lime, etc. It is only the capacity for +such a selection which makes reasoning possible. When, for example, in +the demonstration of the theorem of Pythagoras, children handle the +various pieces of the metal insets, they should start from the point +at which they become aware that a rectangle is equal to the rhomb, and +a square is equal to the same rhomb. It is the perception of this +truth which makes it possible to go on to the following reasoning: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +therefore the square and the rectangle are equal to each other. If it +had not been possible to determine this attribute, the mind could not +have arrived at any conclusion. The mind has succeeded in discovering +an attribute common to two dissimilar figures; and it is this +discovery which may lead to a series of conclusions by means of which +the theorem of Pythagoras will be finally demonstrated.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now, as in the case of will, decision presupposes a methodical +exercise of the impulsive and inhibitory forces, only to be performed +by the individual himself, until habits have been established, so in +case of the intelligence, the individual must exercise himself in his +activities of association and selection, guided and aided by external +means, until he has developed, by the definitive elimination of +certain ideas and the choice of others, "mental habits" characteristic +of the individual, characteristic of the "type." Because, underlying +all the internal activities the mind can construct, there is, as the +phenomena of attention show us, the individual tendency, the "nature."</p> + +<p>There is, undoubtedly, a fundamental difference between understanding +and learning the reasoning of others, and being able "to reason," +between learning how an artist may see the external world according to +his prevailing interest in color, harmony, and form, and actually +seeing the external world about a fulcrum which sustains one's own +æsthetical creation. In the mind of one who "learns the things of +others" we may find, as in a sack of old clothes hanging over the +shoulders of a hawker, solutions of the problems of Euclid, together +with the images of Raphael's works, ideas of history and geography, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +and rules of style, huddled together with a like indifference and a +like sensation of "weight." While, on the other hand, he who uses all +these things for his own life, is like the person who is assisted in +attaining his own welfare, his own relief, his own comfort by those +same objects which are merely burdens when in the sack of the hawker. +Such objects are, however, no longer huddled together without order +and without purpose in a closed bag, but set out in the spacious rooms +of a well-ordered house. The mind which constructs may contain a great +deal more than that mind in which pieces of knowledge are heaped up as +in the bag; and in that mind, as in the house, the objects are clearly +divided one from another, harmoniously arranged, and distinctive in +their uses.</p> + +<p>Between "understanding" because another person seeks to impress upon +us the explanation of a thing by speech, and "understanding" the thing +of ourselves, there is an immeasurable distance; the two are +comparable to the impression made in soft wax, which will subsequently +be effaced and replaced by other impressions, and the form chiselled +in the marble by an artist, as his creation. He who understands of +himself has an unforeseen impression; he feels that his consciousness +has been liberated, and something luminous shines forth within him. +Understanding, then, is not a matter of indifference; it is the +beginning of <i>something</i>; sometimes it is the beginning of a life +which renews itself within us. Perhaps no emotion is more fruitful for +man than the intellectual emotion. He who makes a discovery rich in +results certainly enjoys the greatest of human felicities; but even he +who merely "understands" gets a lofty enjoyment which will rise +superior to and overcome the most acute suffering. Indeed, he who is +oppressed by a misfortune, if he can be brought to differentiate his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +own case from that of another, or to see a reason for his affliction, +experiences relief, and a "sense of salvation." Amidst the confused +darkness in which he was plunged, a consoling ray of intellectual +light has reached him. The difficult matter, indeed, is to find the +way of escape in the hour of darkness. When we reflect that a dog may +die of grief on the grave of his master, and that a mother can survive +on the grave of her only son, we see at once that it is the light of +<i>reason</i> which makes the difference between the two. The dog <i>cannot +reason on the matter</i>; it may die because no light can penetrate the +darkness of its intelligence to overcome the depression of its grief.</p> + +<p>But the thought of a universal justice, the living memory of the lost +one which remains to us, saves the human being. And by degrees, not +forgetfulness, which alone can save the animal, but the connection +which the intelligence establishes with the universe, restores calm to +the suffering soul. Such comfort could never be derived from the dry +lesson of a professor, from memorizing the theory of a savant who is +not in sympathy with the state of our soul. When we say, "to give +ourselves a reason," "to derive strength from a principle," we imply +that the ever-inquiring intelligence should be left at liberty to +perform its work of reconstruction and salvation.</p> + +<p>Now if intelligence in "comprehending" may actually prove our +salvation when in danger of death, what a source of enjoyment it +should prove to man!</p> + +<p>When we talk of "the opening of the mind," we mean a creative +phenomenon, which is not the weak result of an impression violently +made from without. The opening of the mind is the <i>active +comprehension</i> which accompanies great emotions, and which is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +therefore felt as a spiritual event.</p> + +<p>I once knew a motherless girl, who was so much depressed by the arid +teaching of her school, that she had become almost incapable of study +and even of understanding the things which were taught her. Her life +of solitude, lacking in natural affection, was a further aggravation +of her mental fatigue. Her father decided that she should live for a +year or two in the open country like a little savage; he then brought +her back to town, and placed her under the private direction of a +number of "professors." The girl studied and learned, but remained +passive and weary. Every now and then her father would say: "Is your +mind opening again?" and the girl always replied: "I do not know. What +do you mean?" Owing to a curious coincidence in my life, this girl was +confided to my sole care; and it was thus that I, when I was still a +medical student, made my first pedagogic experiment, upon which I +cannot linger now, though it would be worthy of interest. One day we +were together and when she was at work on organic chemistry, she broke +off, and looking at me with beaming eyes, said: "Here it is now! I +<i>do</i> understand!" She then got up and went away, calling out aloud: +"Father, father! My mind has opened!" I, not then knowing the girl's +history, was astonished and agitated. She had taken her father's hand, +and was saying: "Now I can tell you, yes, yes; I did not know what it +meant before; my mind has opened." The joy of father and daughter and +their union at that moment made me think of the joys and wellsprings +of life which we destroy by enslaving the intelligence.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +<p>Indeed, every intellectual conquest is a wellspring of joy to our free +children. This is the "pleasure" to which they are now most +susceptible, and which makes them scorn lower pleasures; it is after +having tasted of this that; our little ones despise sweetmeats, toys, +and vanities.</p> + +<p>It is this which makes them sublime to the eyes of those who +contemplate them.</p> + +<p>Their pleasure is that lofty pleasure which distinguish man from the +brute, and can save us even from the desolation of grief and darkness.</p> + +<p>When it is made a reproach to our method that it seeks to promote the +"pleasure" of the child, and that this is immoral, it is the child and +not the method which is insulted. For the essence of this reproach is +the calumny against the child, who is considered by all as on a level +with the beasts, and whose "pleasure" is supposed to lie solely in +gluttony and idleness, and worse. But none of these could keep the +child's "pleasure" alive for hours and days and years. It is only when +he has laid hold on "humane pleasure" that he persists in it, and +lives with a joy which is comparable to that of the young girl who ran +to her father to proclaim the end of the darkness in which she had +languished for years.</p> + +<p>May it not perhaps be that those "crises," which are to-day but the +intellectual illuminations of genius when it discovers a truth, +represent a natural phenomenon of psychical life? May not the +manifestation of the genius be but the manifestation of a "vigorous +life," saved from perils by its exceptional individuality, and +therefore itself alone capable of revealing the true nature of man? +His type would then be the common one, and all men, in a greater or +less degree, would seem to be of the same "species." The paths the +child follows in the active "construction" of his individuality are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +indeed identical with those followed by the genius. His +characteristics are absorbed attention, a profound concentration which +isolates him from all the stimuli of his environment, and corresponds +in intensity and duration to the development of spiritual activities. +As in genius, this concentration is not without results, but is the +source of intellectual crises, of rapid internal developments, and, +above all, of an "external activity" which expresses itself in work.</p> + +<p>We may say, then, that the genius is the man who has burst his bonds +asunder, who has maintained his liberty, and who has upheld before the +eyes of the multitude the standard of the humanity conquered by him.</p> + +<p>Nearly all the manifestations of those men who liberated themselves +from the external bondage of their times are to be noted in our +children. Such, for instance, is that sublime "spiritual obedience," +at present still unknown to the majority of mankind, with the +exception of monks, who, however, often recognize it only in theory, +and contemplate it only in the examples given by the saints; such +again are those means necessary to the construction of a strong +internal life which form part of the preparation for the cloistered +life in the methodical "meditations" of those about to enter upon it. +No persons, with the exception of monks, practise meditation. We can +hardly distinguish meditation from methods for "learning" +intellectually. We know, for example, that to read a great number of +books consecutively, dissipates our powers and our capacity for +thought; and that to learn a piece of poetry by heart means to repeat +it until it is engraven on our minds: and that all this is not +"meditation."</p> + +<p>He who commits a verse of Dante to memory and he who meditates upon a +verse of the gospel, performs a totally different task. The canto +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +will "adorn" the mind on which it is impressed for a certain time, +without leaving any lasting trace upon it. The verse which has been +the subject of meditation will have a transforming and edifying +effect. He who meditates clears his mind as far as possible of every +other image, and tries to concentrate upon the subject of meditation +in such a manner that all the internal activities will be polarised +thereby: or, as the monks say, "all the powers of the mind."</p> + +<p>The expected result of the meditation is "an internal fruit of +strength"; the soul is strengthened and unified, it becomes active; it +can then act upon the seed around which it has concentrated and cause +it to become fruitful.</p> + +<p>Now the method chosen by our children in following their natural +development is "meditation," for in no other way would they be led to +linger so long over each individual task, and so to derive a gradual +internal maturation therefrom. The aim of the children who persevere +in their work with an object, is certainly not to "learn"; they are +drawn to it by the needs of their inner life, which must be organized +and developed by its means. In this manner they imitate and carry on +their "growth." This is the habit by which they gradually coordinate +and enrich their intelligence. As they meditate, they enter upon that +path of progress which will continue without end.</p> + +<p>It is after an exercise of meditation on the objects that our children +become capable of enjoying "the silence exercise"; and then, having +been rendered delicately susceptible to impressions, they try to make +no noise when they move, to refrain from awkward actions, because they +are enjoying the fruit of the "concentration" of the spirit.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +<p>It is thus that their personality is unified and strengthened. The +exercise which serves as the means to this end is designed gradually +to perfect the accuracy with which they perceive the external world, +observing, reasoning, and correcting the errors of the senses in a +sustained and spontaneous activity. It is they who act, they who +choose the objects, they who persevere in their work, they who seek to +win from their environment the possibility of concentrating their +minds upon it. Each one of them moves in obedience to the motor power +within him. They are not disturbed by a teacher, by a being obviously +superior to themselves, who intimidates the shrinking poverty of those +who are beginning life by her lofty intellectual riches, who darkens +rather than illuminates, who wearies rather than refreshes; but they +live in peace with her who, almost a priestess, is yet a servant. As +in some ideal convent, humility, simplicity, and work make up the +environment where he who meditates will some day feel within himself +the clearness of vision, the intuition, almost the sensibility, which +make one ready to receive the truth.</p> + +<p>To a different end, but by the same road, amidst the silence, the +simplicity, and the humility of the monastery, the spirit prepares +itself to receive the faith at the outset of life.</p> + +<p>Many years ago, when I first received the impression that our children +revealed general principles of life which in practise we are only +privileged to encounter among the intellectual and spiritual <i>élite</i> +of society, and that for this reason they were at the same time the +revealers of a form of unconscious oppression which weighed down +humanity, deforming the inner life, I spoke at length upon the matter +to an intellectual lady, who was much interested in my "theories," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +and very anxious that I should make them the subject of an elaborate +philosophical treatise; but she could not bring herself to accept the +idea that it was a question of an experimental process. When I spoke +of the children, she showed some impatience: "Oh, yes, I quite +understand all about these children; in intelligence they are so many +geniuses, and in goodness so many angels." But when, after some +persuasion, I succeeded in making her come and <i>see</i> for herself, she +took my hands and looked earnestly in my face: "Have you never +thought," she asked, "that you may die at any moment?... Write at +once, anyhow, in all haste, as you would write a will, a simple +description of the facts, that you may not carry away this secret with +you to the grave."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, I was in excellent health.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>If we examine the mental labors of men of genius to whom we owe +discoveries which have opened new paths to thought, and have given us +new sources of well-being and social progress, we shall have to admit +that in themselves they cannot be described as extraordinary +processes, inaccessible to mediocrity. "Genius coincides with the +possession in a very high degree of the power of association by +similarity. This is the essential quality of genius," says Bain. Even +at the "central point" of discovery, it is only by accurate +observation and a very simple process of reasoning, of which most +persons would consider themselves capable, that the discovery is made. +At most it is due to a marshalling of "evidences" which, however, +passed unnoticed by all but the discoverer.</p> + +<p>We may say that genius has the faculty of isolating a fact in the +consciousness, and of so distinguishing it from all others that it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +as if a single ray of light should fall upon a diamond in a dark room. +This single idea, then, causes a complete revolution in the +consciousness, and is capable of constructing something infinitely +great and precious for all humanity.</p> + +<p>But it is the intense significance of ordinary things, and not the +abnormal, which is the main factor; it is the isolation in a +homogeneous field, not the intrinsic value of the thing, which +determines the marvelous phenomenon. Perhaps within countless +thousands of chaotic perceptions the gem had existed, stored up amidst +a multitude of useless and cumbrous objects, and had never succeeded +in arresting attention; meanwhile inertia continued to allow new +objects to penetrate continually within the distended and impotent +walls. After a discovery, many will perceive that they themselves held +the same truth within them; but in this case it is not the truth +itself that has value, but the man who is capable of appreciating it +and bringing it into relation with action.</p> + +<p>But very often it is not the case that the newly discovered truth +already exists in the chaos of obscure consciousness; and then the new +light, simple though it be, can find no way by which to penetrate into +the mind.</p> + +<p>It is rejected as something strange and fallacious; and a certain +lapse of time is necessary, a certain coordination of the +intelligence, to enable the "novelty" to enter. Yet some day it will +be considered clear as crystal. It was not the "nature" of man which +shrank from it, but his "errors." These errors not only make man +incapable of production, but are in themselves hostile to receptivity. +Thus it often happens that the pioneers of salvation are persecuted by +a sort of unconscious ingratitude, which is the fruit of spiritual +darkness.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +<p>What was the argument of Christopher Columbus? He thought: "If the +earth is really round, he who starts from a certain point and advances +steadily, will return to the point of departure." This was the <i>sum</i> +of the intellectual work which enriched mankind with a new world.</p> + +<p>That a great continent should have lain in the track of Columbus, and +that he should have encountered this and not death, was the destiny +due to the chance of environment. The environment sometimes rewards +"small reasonings" of this kind in a surprising manner.</p> + +<p>It was certainly not a great labor of human intelligence which brought +about these great results; it was the triumph of this idea over the +whole consciousness, and the heroic courage of the man, which gave it +its value. The great difficulty, for the man who had conceived the +idea, was to persevere until he could persuade others to help him in +his enterprise, to give him ships and followers. It was the <i>faith</i> +and not the <i>idea</i> of Columbus which triumphed.</p> + +<p>That simple and logical reasoning kindled within him something +infinitely more precious than intelligence, and enabled a single man +of humble origin, and almost uneducated, to present a world to a +queen.</p> + +<p>We are told that Alessandro Volta's wife was ill with fever, and that +he, in accordance with the practise of his day, was preparing the +usual febrifuge, a broth of skinned frogs; it was a rainy day, and +when he hung up the dead frogs on the iron bar of the window, he +noticed that their legs contracted. "If dead muscles contract, it must +mean that some external force has penetrated them." This was the +simple argument of the "genius," the "great discoverer." And seeking +this force, Volta, by means of his piles, was able to wrest from the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +earth electricity, which is, literally as well as figuratively, the +"gleam" of an immense progress. Laying due weight upon a little fact, +such as that of a dead being having moved, considering it soberly +without any fanciful additions, and fixing the mind upon the resulting +problem: Why does it move?—such was the lengthy process by which one +of the greatest conquests of civilization was achieved.</p> + +<p>Akin to this was Galileo's discovery, when, standing in Pisa +Cathedral, he watched the oscillations of a hanging lamp. He observed +that the oscillations were all completed in the same space of time, +and the isochronism of the pendulum was the beginning of the +measurement of time for all men, and of the measurement of worlds for +the astronomer.</p> + +<p>How simple, too, is the story of Newton, who felt an apple fall upon +him as he lay under a tree, and thought to himself: "Why did that +apple fall?" Such was the simple origin of the theory of the gravity +of bodies, and that of universal gravitation.</p> + +<p>When we study of the life of Papin, we marvel at the culture which +placed him on a level with the most learned men of his times: as +physician, physiologist, and mathematician, he was distinguished and +honored by the universities of England and Germany. Nevertheless, what +gave him his value to humanity, and hence his greatness, was the fact +that his attention had been arrested by the sight of the lid of a +saucepan of boiling water raised by the steam. "Steam is a force which +could lift a piston as it lifts the cover of a saucepan, and become +the motor power of a machine." Papin's famous saucepan is a kind of +magic wand in the history of mankind, which thenceforth began to work +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +and travel without fatigue. How wonderful are such stories of great +discoveries arising from humble beginnings, and working miracles +throughout the world!</p> + +<p>These, in their origins, resemble those living creatures, born of two +imperceptible microscopic cells, the fusion of which inevitably tends +to the creation of complex lives. To perceive exactly and to connect +the things perceived logically is the work of the highest +intelligence. But this work is characterized by a peculiar power of +attention, which causes the mind to dwell upon a subject in a species +of meditation, the characteristic mark of genius; the outcome is an +internal life <i>rich in activities</i>, just as the germinative cells are +the fruit of internal existences. It would seem that such mentalities +are distinguished from those of the ordinary type, not by their form, +but by their "force." It is the vigorous life from which those two +small intellectual sparks arise, which makes them so marvelous. If +they had not sprung from strong, independent personalities, capable of +persistent effort and heroic self-sacrifice, those little intellectual +works would have remained as things inert and negligible. Hence all +that strengthens the spiritual man may lead him in the footsteps of +the genius.</p> + +<p>Thus, as regards the intelligence in itself, the work it has to +accomplish is a small matter, but it is clearly defined, and stripped +of superfluous complications. Simplicity is the guide to discovery; +simplicity which, like truth, should be naked. Very little is +necessary; but this little must constitute a powerful unity; the rest +is vanity.</p> + +<p>And the greater this vanity, that is to say, the futile encumbrance of +the mind, the more will the light of the spirit be darkened and its +forces dissipated, making it difficult or impossible not only to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +reason and act, but even to perceive reality, to see.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It would be interesting to make a rapid survey of those collective +individual errors by which the progress of a new discovery of a simple +kind, offering relief to suffering humanity, has been impeded; errors +which have even caused persistent denial of the existence of obvious +facts, merely because these were not generally known.</p> + +<p>Let us consider for a moment the discovery of the cause of malaria. +This discovery, due to the Englishman, Ross, in connection with birds, +and to the Italian, Grassi, in connection with man, consists in having +found out that the plasmodium of malaria, which produces the malady, +is inoculated in man and in the various animals subject to it, by a +special kind of mosquito. Let us inquire what was the state of science +prior to this discovery. In 1880 Laveran had described an animal +micro-organism, which preyed upon the red corpuscles of the blood, +producing an attack of fever with the cycle of its existence. +Subsequent studies confirmed and elucidated this fact, and the +<i>plasmodium malariae</i> became a matter of common knowledge. It was +known that animal micro-organisms, unlike vegetable micro-organisms, +after a cycle of life in which reproduction takes place by +scission—that is, by subdivision of a single body into several other +bodies equal to the first, give place to <i>sexual forms</i>, masculine and +feminine, which are separate, and incapable of scission, but are +designed for <i>fusion into one another</i>, after which the organism +recommences its cycle of scissions until it again reaches the sexual +forms.</p> + +<p>Laveran had found that in the blood of sufferers who recover +spontaneously from malarial fever there are a great number of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +corpuscles which have no longer the rounded forms of the plasmodia, +but are crescent-shaped and rayed. He took these to be transformations +of the plasmodia, "modified in form" and "incapable of producing +disease," and pronounced them to be "degenerate" organisms, almost as +if they had been deformed and exhausted by the "excess of work" they +had previously performed. These organisms were described as "Laveran's +degenerative forms." After the discovery of the transmission of +malaria in 1900, Laveran's "degenerative forms" were recognized as the +sexual individuals of the reproductive cycle: individuals which were +incapable of conjugation in the blood of man, and could only produce +new organisms in the body of the mosquito. We may well wonder: Why did +not Laveran simply recognize those sexual forms, and why did he not +seek for the period of conjugation in the plasmodia, which were animal +micro-organisms? If he had borne in mind the complete cycle of the +protozoa, he would have recognized them. But evidently Morel's +theories of the degeneration of man had made a much livelier +impression on his imagination; and his leap from these remote theories +to his interpretation of the plasmodia seemed an achievement of +"genius." It may be said that this "feat of genius," this visionary +generalization, prevented Laveran from seeing the truth. A form of +<i>arrogance</i> and <i>levity</i> is apparent in such errors.</p> + +<p>Moreover, we are astonished by something still more serious: how came +it that hundreds and thousands of students throughout the world +accepted Laveran's error with their eyes shut, that not one among so +many took into consideration on his own account the cycle of the +protozoa, and that not one was sufficiently independent to set about +studying the phenomenon for himself? What is this mental form of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +inertia? and why does it produce itself in man? All these disciples, +heedless of the problem presented to their minds by the sexual form of +the plasmodium, left it alone, although it had not yet been solved, +and certainly had no intuition of the fame, the progress in science, +and the benefit to humanity which would have been the outcome, had the +problem constituted an obstacle which had arrested their attention, +saying: "Solve me."</p> + +<p>They passed on indifferently, commending Laveran's "effort of genius," +repeating with him: They are degenerate forms. A futile effort, which +only increased a crowd of persons who had resigned their own +individuality all unconsciously.</p> + +<p>Another biological acquisition was the assurance that the circulatory +system of the blood is a closed system of vessels, and that the +enclosing epithelium is not permeable by non-incisive solid bodies +such as vegetable microbes, and still less by rounded protozoa, which +are much larger than microbes and soft in substance. This well-known +and clearly demonstrated fact ought to have suggested a problem to the +minds of students: How do the protozoa of malaria enter the +circulatory current of the blood? But ever since the days of +Hippocrates, Pliny, Celsius and Galen it had been held that this fever +was caused by the "poisonous atmosphere" of marsh lands, the bad air +of the morning and the evening, so much so that even a few years +before the discovery of the real cause of malaria, eucalyptus trees +were planted in the belief that they would filter and disinfect the +air. How was it that no one asked himself how it was possible that the +plasmodia could enter the <i>current of the blood</i> from the <i>air</i>? What +was the species of torpor which took possession of the intelligence of +persons who had specialized in intellectual work? Here was a colossal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +<i>sum</i> of intelligence, without any individuality.</p> + +<p>Until Ross discovered that birds are inoculated with malaria by a +particular kind of mosquito.</p> + +<p>And then, behold! we have at last the fundamental argument from which +the knowledge of the truth sprang forth: "If birds are inoculated with +malaria by mosquitoes, then the same thing must happen to man."</p> + +<p>A simple argument, which sped like an arrow to the final discovery. +Nothing seemed more <i>incredible</i> than the fact that in the malarial +regions good air and fertile soil were to be found, that it was +possible to breathe that air morning and evening and remain in perfect +health, so long as one was not bitten by mosquitoes, and that the +innumerable peasants who were wasted by malarial anemia would be saved +and restored if they protected themselves by mosquito-netting. But +after the first stupefaction, when men were convinced of the facts, +there was an outcry from all the intelligent: How was it possible that +we did not find it out before? Was not the cycle of the protozoa a +well-known fact? Did not every one declare that the system of +circulation was closed and impervious to micro-organisms? Was it not +natural to think that only a blood-sucking insect could innoculate it?</p> + +<p>How many students <i>felt</i> that glory had passed close to them, and were +amazed and saddened by the knowledge, like the disciples of Emmäus, +who said to each other when the Master disappeared before they +recognized Him: "Did not our hearts burn within us when He spoke and +expounded the Scriptures to us?"</p> + +<p>Many must have thought: We worked so laboriously only to encumber our +minds, and yet but one thing was needful: we should have been humble +and simple, but independent. Instead, we filled our souls with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +darkness, and the ray that would have made us see, could not penetrate +to us.</p> + +<p>Let us take some grosser errors. As far back as the days of the Greek +civilization it was known empirically that "stones can fall from the +sky." Falls of aërolites are recorded in the most ancient Chinese +chronicles. In the Middle Ages and in modern times intimations of the +fall of aërolites have increased in frequency. Remarkable facts are +indeed recorded in history in connection with similar phenomena: the +meteorite which fell in 1492 served the Emperor Maximilian I of +Germany as a pretext to excite Christendom to a war against the Turks. +Nevertheless, the phenomenon was not admitted by men of science until +the eighteenth century. One of the largest meteorites on record was +that which fell near Agram in 1751; it weighed about forty +kilogrammes, and was deposited and catalogued in the court +mineralogical museum at Vienna. This is what Stütz, a German savant, +had to say on the subject in 1790: "Those ignorant of natural history +may believe that iron has fallen from the sky, and even educated men +in Germany may have believed this in 1751, taking into account the +universal ignorance then prevalent as to natural history and physics; +but in our times it would be unpardonable to admit even the +plausibility of such fables."</p> + +<p>In the same year 1790, an aërolite weighing ten kilogrammes fell in +Gascony. It was observed by a large number of persons, and an official +report, signed by three hundred witnesses, was sent to the Academy of +Paris. The reply was that "it had been very amusing to receive a legal +document dealing with such an absurdity." +<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +<p>When, a few years later, Chladni of Wittenberg, the founder of +scientific acoustics, began to admit the phenomenon and to believe in +the existence of aërolites, he was stigmatized as "a man who was +ignorant of every law and who did not consider the damage he was doing +in the moral world"; and one savant declared that "if he had himself +seen iron fall from the sky at his own feet, he would not have +believed it."</p> + +<p>This was incredulity greater than that of St Thomas, who said: "Unless +I can touch I will not believe." Here were pieces of iron weighing ten +and forty kilogrammes, which could be touched, but the savant said: +"Even if I touch them, I will not believe."</p> + +<p>It is, therefore, not enough <i>to see in order to believe</i>; we must +<i>believe in order to see</i>. It is faith which leads to sight, not sight +which produces faith. When the blind man in the gospel uttered the +anxious cry: "Make me to see," he asked for "faith," because he knew +that it is possible to have eyes and not to see.</p> + +<p>The fact of being insensible to evidence is little considered in +psychology, much less is it taken into account in pedagogic laws. And +yet many similar facts, though of an inferior psychological order, are +notorious, as, for instance, that stimuli will appeal in vain to the +senses, if the internal cooperation of attention be lacking. A +thousand experiences of this kind enter in to make up the sum of +common knowledge. It is not enough that an object should be before our +eyes to make us see it; it is necessary that we should fix our +attention upon it; an internal process, preparing us to receive the +impression of the stimulus, is essential.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +<p>In a loftier and purely spiritual sphere something of the same kind +takes place: an idea cannot enter triumphantly into the consciousness, +if it is not accompanied by a preparation of faith. Lacking this, it +may knock violently and brutally, with clamorous insistence, without +being able to penetrate. It is necessary that the field of +consciousness should be not only free, but "expectant." He who is +bewildered by a chaos of ideas cannot accept a truth which arrives +unexpectedly in the unprepared field.</p> + +<p>This fact is not only analogous to other psychical facts of less +importance, such as that of sensory perception in relation to +attention; it is also analogous to the spiritual facts which are so +well known in the field of religion. In vain will a fact, however +remarkable, be explained or even <i>demonstrated</i> where there is no +<i>faith</i>; it is not evidence but faith which opens the mind to truth. +The very senses are useless as a medium if the internal activity does +not open the doors to receive it. When the most striking miracles of +Christ are related in the gospel, the narrative always concludes with: +"And <i>many</i> of those who saw, believed." The parable of the invitation +to the feast, to which those who were absorbed in their own affairs +could not respond, seems to indicate a fact similar to this +intellectual fact, that the "preoccupations" of complicated +pre-existing ideas prevent the new and obvious truth that presents +itself, from entering in. It is for this reason that we need the +Precursor to make ready for the Messiah. And for this reason the +Messiah, and also new ideas, are readily received by the "simple," by +those who are not "laden with heavy preoccupations," but have +preserved the natural characteristics of the spirit: to be pure and +always "expectant."</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +<p>When in 1628 Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood, +physiology was almost unknown, and medicine was in the full tide of +empiricism. It is well known that the Faculty of Medicine of Paris +refused to believe in circulation, in <i>spite of</i> experiments, and that +it persecuted and calumniated Harvey. "That which pleases me in my +son," said Diafoirus, "and in which he follows my example, is, that he +remains faithful to the opinions of our ancient teachers, and that he +has always refused either to <i>understand</i> or to <i>listen</i> to the +arguments and experiments of the pretended discoveries of our century, +especially as regards the circulation of the blood."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The history of the discovery of germinative foliations in the +embryonic development of vertebrates forms one of the most impressive +of human documents. In 1700 the theory of <i>pre-formation</i> was +vigorously upheld amongst the many ideas relating to generation: that +is to say, it was believed that the germs contained little organisms +completely formed which would eventually unfold and increase the parts +of infinitesimal dimensions which were packed one within the other. +This theory applied to every living creature, animal, vegetable, and +human. It had led, by its own logical development, to the more +far-reaching theory of "mutual inclusion"—that is, the doctrine that, +as all living organisms are <i>pre-formed</i>, they must of necessity all +have existed from the Creation, the one included, or wrapped up, in +the other. All humanity must have lain in the ovaries of Eve. When in +1690 Leuwenhoek discovered spermatozoa by the aid of the microscope, +the idea was evolved that each male cell contained a complete +microscopic man, the <i>homunculus</i>; and then it was announced that not +Eve, but Adam had contained all humanity within himself. Hence the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +two contradictory theories which in the eighteenth century kept their +adherents sharply divided, the theories of the ovulists and those of +the animalculists, and the dispute seemed to offer little hope of a +possible decision. The names of famous scientists and philosophers +were associated with these dissensions, those, for instance, of +Spallanzani and of Liebnitz, who applied the principles of generation +even to the soul. "Thus I should think," said Liebnitz, "that the +souls which will one day become human souls, were present in the germ; +that they have always existed as organized bodies in their progenitors +from Adam onwards—that is, from the beginning of things." +<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>Haller, the ovulist, who had great authority as a physiologist, in a +famous work, <i>Elementa physiologiae</i>, upheld the principle vigorously: +"<i>Nulla est epigenesis. Nulla in corpore animale pars ante aliam facta +est et omnes simul creatae existunt</i>" (nothing is created anew, no +part of the human body is made before any other part, all are created +at the same time). Making a calculation based on Biblical cosmogony of +the number of human beings who were packed in the ovaries of Eve, he +reckons them at two hundred thousand millions. Such was the state of +thought when in 1759 K. F. Wolff published some of his studies in the +work <i>Theoria generationis</i>, where he maintained, on the strength of +experiments and microscopic observations made on the embryos of fowls, +that new organisms are not pre-formed, but that they create themselves +entirely, starting from nothing—that is, from a microscopic cell, +simple as are all primitive cells. He described the simple process by +which the real evolution of individuals is brought about: from a +single cell, by division, two, and then four and then eight, are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +formed, and so on. And the cells thus germinated divide themselves +into two or three tiny folds of "primitive folioles" from which all +the organs are evolved, beginning with the alimentary canal. "This +assertion," says Wolff "is not a fanciful theory; it is a description +of facts collected by means of the most trustworthy observations."</p> + +<p>All the scientists of his day knew and made use of the microscope; all +might have taken an egg, that is, the embryo of a fowl, as a subject +for observation; they were not indifferent to the problem of +individual genesis, but in their case it had merely excited the most +complex efforts of the imagination, and had divided them into +factions, as adversaries in a battle of thought. Could any one of them +attempt to experiment and observe save at the risk of destroying +himself together with his adversaries, as Samson destroyed himself +with the Philistines? The possibility that there might be some truth +in what had been seen and described, and that it might recur, should +indeed have induced some one to venture upon a road which, if it +proved to be the right one, would have been a glorious path to a +future of discoveries and distinctions. But no. A dense fog obscured +all minds, and the dazzling truth could not pierce it; thus all +progress in embryology was precluded.</p> + +<p>Fifty years had passed, and Wolff, poor and persecuted, had died at +Petrograd, an exile from his native land, when Pander and Ernest von +Baer grappled anew with the theory of "blastodermic foliation." Then +the scientific world <i>perceived</i> the truth and accepted the evidence, +inaugurating those studies in embryology which shed so much luster on +the nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>Why was it necessary that fifty years should elapse before men could +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +see what was evident? What had happened in these fifty years? The work +of Wolff, dead and forgotten, can have had no influence whatever. The +fact was merely that men saw <i>subsequently</i> what it had been +previously <i>impossible for them to see</i>. A kind of internal maturity +must have come about in them, by virtue of which their spiritual eyes +were opened, and they saw. When <i>those eyes were closed</i>, evidence was +useless. Fifty years earlier, a direct attack would have spent itself +on insuperable obstacles; but with the lapse of time the subject +presented itself, and was simply and universally accepted, not only +without a struggle, but without any excitement.</p> + +<p>This fact might be arguable in relation to the internal maturation of +the masses; but it is beyond question in its relation to the +individual. When an obvious truth cannot be seen, we must retire, and +leave the individual to mature. A struggle "to bring about perception +of evidence" would be bitter and exhausting. But when maturity comes, +we shall find the seer filled with enthusiasm, and bearing fruit like +the vines of the Land of Promise.</p> + +<p>When in 1859 Charles Darwin expounded the theory of evolution in his +book, "The Origin of Species," he recognized the great influence it +had had upon the thought of his day, for he wrote in his note-book: +"My theory will lead to a philosophy." His conception of the struggle +for life and of the natural selection of characteristics, so widely +adopted by the thinkers of his day, popularized the principles of +Lamarck as to the casual formation of new characteristics in a species +by adaptation to environment; Darwin's conception carried these +principles along with it—and almost fused them in its own content. +These principles, excluding both creation and its finalities, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +implicitly denied the immortality of the soul. The effect of such a +revolution may be imagined; for many centuries the soul had been the +<i>object of life</i>, and when the fundamental faith of existence was +shaken, the life of the conscience itself was convulsed. It may be +supposed that there was an anxious search for contradictions in the +destructive theory, if on no other grounds than that of the instinct +to preserve ancient beliefs, which lies deeply rooted in the human +race.</p> + +<p>But let us take into consideration the two revolutionary principles +which so greatly impressed and fired the consciousness of the +university students of several generations. One principle was: "There +can be no function without an organ." The other principle which +created much enthusiasm among studious youths was: "The function +creates the organ." What! There is no function without an organ, nor +can the function even <i>exist without</i> the organ; and yet, on the other +hand, the function without the organ can exist so vigorously as to +<i>create</i>? No such glaring and tangible contradiction had ever existed +in any theory.</p> + +<p>And it cannot be said that Darwinism and the principles of Lamarck +were hastily studied and confused in a varied series of philosophical +theories, for Darwinism had isolated itself as a victorious idea which +drives out all other ideas, as the light of day disperses the darkness +of night. And students dwelt upon it, anxious to construct a new +morality and a new conscience; therefore these two principles were not +studied coldly and languidly. Moreover, they <i>penetrated together</i> +into the consciousness and excited enthusiasm <i>each on its own +account</i>; on such a triumphant contradiction it was proposed to +destroy a world and create another.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +<p>The final conclusion of thought, then, was this: "We are mere beasts, +there is no substantial difference between the animals and ourselves; +we are apes, but our more remote ancestors were earthworms." With what +ardor did professors from their chairs analyze the psychology of men, +to prove that, try as we may, we can find nothing in ourselves which +we do not share with animals, and with what enthusiasm did their +pupils applaud them! When professors of psychiatry removed the brains +of pigeons and monkeys by vivisection, and, after curing the +creatures, exhibited them at international psychological congresses, +devoting the most sincere attention to the study of their psychical +reactions, observing the attitudes of their bodies, their activity of +perception, and similar things—all really believed that an animal +without a brain could throw light upon the psychology of man!</p> + +<p>When we think that this was the epoch of <i>positivism</i>—that is to say, +of those who could not believe without touching, we are profoundly +impressed by this reflection: The intelligence, then, is threatened by +dangers, like the spirit. It may be obscured, it may contain a +contradiction, an "error," without perceiving it, and as a result of a +single unnoticed error it may rush into a species of delirium, a +mortal aberration. Like the spirit, then, it has its way of salvation, +and it <i>needs to be sustained</i> lest it should perish. The support it +requires is <i>not that of the senses</i>. Like the spirit, it needs a +continual purification, which, like the fish of Tobias, heals the eyes +of their blindness. That "self-care" which the hygiene of to-day +prescribes for the body, and which makes us spend so much time even on +cleaning and polishing our nails, should be extended to the inner man, +that this may preserve its health and its integrity.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +<p>This should be the object of "the education of the intelligence." To +educate the intelligence is to save it from its peculiar perils of +disease and death; it is to "purge it of its offenses." We shall not +educate the intelligence if we weary it by making it learn things. +This is patent in these days of ours, when the victims of nervous +disorders and lunacy abound, and when, even among those who are +considered healthy, the material consequences of madness may explode, +threatening the whole of humanity with ruin.</p> + +<p>Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire "to make +him learn things," but by the endeavor always to keep burning within +him that light which is called the intelligence. If to this end we +must consecrate ourselves as did the vestals of old, it will be a work +worthy of so great a result.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="IX" id="IX">IX</a></h3> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +<h3>IMAGINATION</h3> +<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span> + +<p><b>The creative imagination of science is based upon truth</b>.—If, a +century ago, some one had told the men who were traveling in +stage-coaches and using oil-lamps that some day New York would blaze +with light at midnight; that men would ask for succor in mid-ocean and +that their message would be understood on land, that their flight in +the air would surpass that of the eagle—our good forefathers would +have smiled incredulously. Their imaginations would never have been +able to conceive these things. To them, modern men would have seemed +almost like men of another species.</p> + +<p>This is because the imagination of modern men is based upon the +positive researches of science, whereas the men of past ages allowed +their minds to wander in the world of unreality.</p> + +<p>This single fact has changed the face of the world.</p> + +<p>When man loses himself in mere speculations, his environment will +remain unchanged, but when imagination starts from contact with +reality, thought begins to construct works by means of which the +external world becomes transformed; almost as if the thought of man +had assumed a marvelous power: the power to create.</p> + +<p>It is thus we imagine the thought of God; all creation is the divine +thought, which has the property of realizing itself. God thought: and +behold! light, the order of creation, living things, appeared.</p> + +<p>Modern man by the method of positive science seems to have found the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +secret trace of thought which puts him in the divine path, which gives +him the revelation of his true nature, as indicated in the words of +Scripture: "Let us make man in our image and likeness."</p> + +<p>Thus human intelligence said: "Let there be light"—and there was a +magic effulgence which comes and goes at a touch. "Let man fly in the +air and rise far above all the birds of creation"—and it was so. "Let +the voices of shipwrecked mariners travel mysteriously and without +sound, and reach distant places"—and it was so. "Let things multiply, +plants in their varieties, so that all men may have the means of life +more abundantly"—and it was so.</p> + +<p>The imagination has created when it has started from creation: that +is, when it has first taken in existing truth. Only then has it +accomplished marvelous things.</p> + +<p>Like the tiny bird which hid under the wing of an eagle about to soar, +and when it had been thus borne up to an immense height, disengaged +itself from the eagle and began to fly still higher by its own +efforts—so too is man, who at first holds fast to Nature, attaches +himself to her by means of the most severe speculations, and with her +soars aloft in search of truth; then he disengages himself from her, +and his imagination creates over and above Nature herself. In this +manner man seems to reflect divine attributes; the marvelous and +miraculous issue from him in such grandiose form that the man of the +past, the wren without the eagle, could not even have conceived it.</p> + +<p>Original sin is an allegory of this eternal story, of the man <i>who +wished to act for himself</i>, to substitute himself for God, to +emancipate himself from Him, and to create. Whereupon he fell into +impotence, slavery and misery.</p> + +<p>The mind that works by itself, independently of truth, works in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +void. Its creative power is a <i>means</i> for working upon <i>reality</i>. But +it confuses the means with the end, it is lost.</p> + +<p>This kind of <i>sin</i> of the intelligence, so akin to original sin, the +sin of confounding the means with the end, recurs in every form as a +"force of inertia" which pervades the psychical life. Thus man +confounds the means, which is simpler, easier and more comprehensible, +with the end in many of his functions. Thus, for example, when +nutrition is made a pretext for gluttony, and the appetite an end in +itself, the body, instead of renewing itself in health and purity, is +poisoned. Again, when in the reproduction of species the sexual +emotion becomes an end in itself rather than a means for the renewal +of life, degeneration and sterility result. Man is guilty of a like +sin against the intelligence when he employs his creative activity of +thought for its own sake, without basing it upon truth; by so doing he +creates an unreal world, full of error, and destroys the possibility +of creating in reality, like a god, producing external works.</p> + +<p>Thus positive science represents to us the "redemption" of thought; +its purification from original sin, a return to the <i>natural laws</i> of +psychical energy. Scientists are like those men of the Bible story +who, after Israel had come out of Egypt, were permitted to explore the +Land of Promise, and who came back with such a huge cluster of grapes +that it took two men to carry it, and the people saw it with +amazement.</p> + +<p>So have the scientists of to-day penetrated into the Promised Land of +truth, where lies the secret which enables man to scrutinize Nature; +and they have come out therefrom, bearing marvelous fruits for all men +to see. The secret is a simple one: it consists of an exact method +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +based on observation, prudence, and patience. All men might be +allowed to share the secret, for indeed such virtues correspond to the +"occult," intimate needs of their spiritual life.</p> + +<p>It may be asked: Why should only explorers enter in, while the people +remain outside, passively enjoying the fruits of their labors?</p> + +<p>Is it because the method of positive science, which puts man in the +way of knowing the truth, of gathering up realities—and hence of +building up his own imagination thereupon—is a monopoly, the +privilege of the chosen few?</p> + +<p>That method which denotes the redemption of the intelligence ought to +be the method by which all new humanity is molded—the formative +method of the new generation.</p> + +<p>In the Bible story, the explorers were the messengers, and the +witnesses to the existence of the Promised Land, into which the whole +people was to enter. And so it is here: all men should come under the +influence of the scientific method; and every child should be able to +experiment at first hand, to observe, and to put himself in contact +with reality. Thus the flights of the imagination will start from a +higher plane henceforth, and the intelligence will be directed into +its natural channels of creation.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Truth is also the basis of artistic imagination</b>.—The work of the +intelligence is not limited to the exact observation and the simple, +logical reasoning upon which great scientific discoveries may be +founded. There is a more exalted work, confronting which none can say, +as in the presence of certain scientific discoveries; "I also might +have been able to do this."</p> + +<p>Dante, Milton, Goethe, Raphael, Wagner, are mighty mysteries, miracles +of intelligence, which cannot be classed with the simple processes of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +observation and reasoning. Nevertheless, every man has his share of +artistic imagination, he has the instinct to create the beautiful with +his mind; and from this instinct duly developed come all the vast +treasures of art, scattered almost like crumbs of gold wherever there +was an intensity of civil life, wherever the intelligence had time to +mature in peace. In every province which has preserved traces of +ancient peoples we find local artistic types of work, of furniture, of +poetic songs and popular music. This multiform creation of the inner +man, then, enfolds him and protects his spirit in its intellectual +needs, just as the iridescent shell encloses the mollusc.</p> + +<p>In addition to the work of observing material reality, there is a +creative work which lifts man up from earth and transports him into a +higher world which every soul may attain, within its individual +limits.</p> + +<p>Yet no one can say that man <i>creates</i> artistic products out of +nothing. What is called <i>creation</i> is in reality a composition, a +construction raised upon a <i>primitive material</i> of the mind, which +must be collected from the environment by means of the senses. This is +the general principle summed up in the ancient axiom: <i>Nihil est in +intellectu quod prius non fuerit in sensa</i> (There is nothing in the +intellect which was not first in the senses). We are unable to +"imagine" things which do not actually present themselves to our +senses; even language would be lacking to us to explain things lying +beyond those customary limits by which our consciousness is bounded. +The imagination of Michelangelo was unable to picture God otherwise +than as a venerable old man with a white beard. When we try to imagine +the eternal torments of hell, we talk of fire; we think of Paradise as +a place of light. Those born blind and deaf can form no definite idea +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +of sensations they have never been able to perceive. It is well known +that persons blind from their birth imagine colors by comparing them +to sounds: for instance, they imagine red as the sound of a trumpet, +blue as the sweet music of the violin. The deaf, when they read +descriptions of delicious music, imagine the classic beauty of a +painted picture. The temperaments of poets and artists are +pre-eminently sensorial. And all the senses do not contribute in equal +measure to give a type to the individual imagination; but certain +senses are often predominant. Musicians are auditive, and are inclined +to describe the world from the sounds it conveys to them; the warbling +of the nightingale in the silence of a wood; the patter of the rain in +the solitude of the country-side, may be as springs of inspiration for +great musical composers; and some of them, describing a tract of +country, will dwell only on its silences and noises. Others again, +whose susceptibilities are predominantly visual, are impressed by the +forms and colors of things. Or it may be the motion, the flexuosity, +the impetus of things; the tactile impressions of softness and +harshness, which make up the descriptive content of imaginative types +in whom the tactile and muscular sensations predominate.</p> + +<p>There are persons who have had non-sensorial impressions, and they are +persons whose spiritual life was of very great intensity. They have +<i>internal impressions</i> which cannot be accounted fruits of the +imagination, but must be accepted as realities simply perceived. That +they are realities is affirmed not only by the introspection of normal +subjects, but by the effect upon their internal personality. "The +revelations vouchsafed by God," says Saint Teresa, "are distinguished +by the great spiritual benefits with which they enrich the soul; they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +are accompanied by light, discernment, and wisdom." But if such +persons wish to describe these impressions which do not penetrate by +means of the senses, they are obliged to borrow the language of +sensorial impression. "I heard a voice," says the Blessed Raymond of +Capua, "which was not in the air, and which pronounced words that +reached my spirit, but not my ear; nevertheless I understood it more +distinctly than if it had come to me from an external voice. I could +not reproduce this voice, if I can call that a voice which had no +sound. This voice formed words and presented them to my spirit." The +Life of Saint Teresa abounds in similar descriptions, in which she +tries to convey, by the inappropriate language of the senses, what she +saw, not with her eyes, but with her soul.</p> + +<p>The difference between these internal impressions, which occur in +others as well as in saints (and certainly do not constitute +saintliness), and the hallucinations of the insane, is clearly marked. +In the madman, an excitement of the cerebral cortex reproduces old +images deposited by the sensorial memory, which project themselves +into the external world whence they were taken, with external +sensorial characteristics; so that the sufferer really believes that +he sees his phantasms with his actual eyes, and that he hears the +voices which persecute him; he is the victim of a pathological +condition; the whole personality reveals signs of his organic +decadence, the concomitants of his psychical disintegration.</p> + +<p>Setting aside, then, direct spiritual impressions of very rare +occurrence, not to be looked upon even as aids to sanctity, +impressions which may form suitable subjects of study for specialists +such as teleologists or the members of the English Society of +Psychical Research, but which do not enter into educational +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +conceptions, there remains for our consideration but a single material +of construction for intellectual activities: that of the senses.</p> + +<p>Imagination can have only a sensory basis.</p> + +<p>The sensory education which prepares for the accurate perception of +all the differential details in the qualities of things, is therefore +the foundation of the observation of things and of phenomena which +present themselves to our senses; and with this it helps us to collect +from the external world the material for the imagination.</p> + +<p>Imaginative creation has no mere vague sensory support; that is to +say, it is not the unbridled divagation of the fancy among images of +light, color, sounds and impressions; but it is a construction firmly +allied to reality; and the more it holds fast to the forms of the +external created world, the loftier will the value of its internal +creations be. Even in imagining an unreal and superhuman world, the +imagination must be contained within limits which recall those of +reality. Man creates, but on the model of that divine creation in +which he is materially and spiritually immersed.</p> + +<p>In literary works of the highest order, such as the <i>Divina Commedia</i>, +we admire the continual recurrence to the mind of the supreme poet of +material and tangible things which illustrate by comparison the things +imagined:</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 15em;">As doves</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">By fond desire invited, on wide wings</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And firm to their sweet nest returning home,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Cleave the air, wafted by their will along;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thus issued from that troop where Dido ranks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">They, through the ill air speeding.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation of Dante's <i>Inferno</i>, Canto V.)</span></p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">And as a man with difficult short breath</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Forespent with toiling, 'scaped from sea to shore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Turns to the perilous wide waste, and stands</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">At gaze; e'en so my spirit, that yet fail'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Struggling with terror, turn'd to view the straits</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That none hath passed and lived.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation of Dante's <i>Inferno</i>, Canto I.)</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">As sheep that step from forth their fold by one</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Or pairs, or three at once; meanwhile the rest</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Stand fearfully, bending the eye and nose</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To ground, and what the foremost does, that do.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The others, gathering round her if she stops,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Simple and quiet, nor the cause discern;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">So saw I moving to advance the first</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Who of that fortunate crew were at the head,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Of modest mien, and graceful in their gait.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation of Dante's <i>Purgatorio</i>, Canto III.)</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">As though translucent and smooth glass or wave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Clear and unmoved, and flowing not so deep</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">As that its bed is dark, the shape returns</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">So faint of our impictured lineaments</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That on white forehead set, a pearl as strong</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Comes to the eye; such saw I many a face</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">All stretch'd to speak.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation of Dante's <i>Paradiso</i>, Canto III.)</span></p> + +<p>Dante's metaphors are profuse and marvelous, but every lofty writer +and every great orator perpetually links the fruits of the imagination +with the observation of fact; and then we say that he is a genius, +full of imagination and knowledge, and that his thought is clear and +vital.</p> + +<p>"As a pack of hounds, after vainly pursuing a hare, returns in +mortification to the master with hanging heads and drooping tails, so +on that tumultuous night did the mercenaries return to Don Rodrigo's +stronghold" (Manzoni, <i>I promessi Sposi</i>).</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +<p>Imagery is confined to actual figures; and it is this measure and this +<i>form</i> which give power to the creations of the mind. The imaginative +writer should possess a rich store of perceptive observations, and the +more accurate and perfect these are, the more vigorous will be the +form he creates. The insane talk of fantastic things, but we do not +therefore say that they have a great deal of "imagination"; there is a +vast gulf between the delirious confusion of thought and the +metaphorical eloquence of the imagination. In the first case there is +a total incapacity to perceive actual things correctly, and also to +construct organically with the intelligence; in the second, the two +things are co-existent as forms closely bound up one with the other.</p> + +<p>The value of imaginative speech is determined by these conditions: +that the images used should be <i>original</i>, that their author should +himself link together the actual and the created images, his own skill +making him susceptible to their just and harmonious association. If he +repeats or imitates the images of others, he achieves nothing. Hence +it is necessary that every artist should be an observer; and so, +speaking of the generality of intelligences, it may be said that in +order to develop the imagination it is necessary for every one first +of all to put himself in contact with reality.</p> + +<p>The same thing holds good in art. The artist "imagines" his figure; he +does not copy it, he "creates" it. But this creation is in fact the +<i>fruit</i> of the mind which is rooted in the observation of reality. The +painter and the sculptor are, <i>par excellence</i>, types of visual +susceptibility to the forms and colors of their environment, capable +of perceiving its harmonies and contrasts; and it is by refining his +powers of observation that the artist finally perfects himself and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +succeeds in creating a masterpiece. The immortal art of Greece was +above all an art based on observation; the scanty clothing which was +the fashion of his day enabled the Greek artist to contemplate the +human form freely; and the exquisite sensibility of his eye enabled +him to distinguish the beautiful body from that which lacked harmony, +until under the impulse of genius, he was able to create the ideal +figure, conceived by the fusion of individual beauties chosen from +details in the sensorial storehouse of the mind. The artist, when he +creates certainly does not compose by putting together the parts which +are to form the whole as in a mosaic; in the ardor of inspiration he +sees the complete <i>new figure</i>, born of his genius; but details he has +accumulated have served to nourish it, as the blood nourishes the new +man in the bosom of his mother.</p> + +<p>Raphael continually visited the Trastevere, a popular quarter where +the most beautiful women in Rome were to be found, in order to seek +the type of a Madonna. It was here he became acquainted with the +Fornarina and his models. But when he painted the Madonna he +reproduced "the image of his soul." We are told that Michelangelo +would spend entire evenings gazing into space; and when they asked him +at what he was gazing, he replied: "I see a dome." It was after this +form, so marvelously created within him, that the famous cupola of St. +Peter's in Rome was fashioned. But it could never have been born, even +in the mind of Michelangelo, if his architectural studies had not +prepared the material for it.</p> + +<p>No genius has ever been able to create the absolutely new. We have +only to think of certain forms much used in art, and heavy and +grotesque as the human fancy which is incapable of rising above the +earth. It seems to me amazing that the figure of the winged angel +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +should still persist, and that no artist should have yet improved upon +it. To represent a being more diaphanous than man, and without +corporeal weight, we have robust beings whose backs are furnished with +colossal wings covered with heavy feathers. Strange indeed is this +fusion in a single creature of such incompatible natural features as +hair and feathers, and this attribution to a human being of six +limbs—arms, legs and wings, as to an insect. This "strange +conception" continues to be so materialized, not certainly as an +artistic idea, but as the result of poverty of language. Indeed, we +talk of angels "flying" because our language is human and earthly, and +we cannot imagine the attributes of angels. Few indeed are the artists +who in pictures of the Annunciation represent the Angel as a luminous, +delicate, and evanescent figure.</p> + +<p>The more perfect the approximation to truth, the more perfect is art.</p> + +<p>When, for instance, in a drawing-room, some one pays us a compliment, +if this is founded upon one of our real qualities, and touches it +closely, we feel legitimate satisfaction, because what has been said +is relevant, and we may conclude that the person <i>has observed us</i> and +feels a sincere admiration for us. We accordingly think of such a +person: He is subtle and intellectual; and we feel disposed to +reciprocate his friendliness. But if the compliment praises us for +qualities we do not possess, or distorts or exaggerates our true +attributes, we think with disgust: What a coarse creature! and feel +even more coldly to him than before.</p> + +<p>Dante's sublime sonnet must certainly have touched the heart of +Beatrice profoundly:</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">My lady looks so gentle and so pure</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">When yielding salutation by the way,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That the tongue trembles and has nought to say,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And still, amid the praise she hears secure,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">She walks with humbleness for her array;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Seeming a creature sent from Heaven, to stay</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">On earth, and show a miracle made sure.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">She is so pleasant in the eyes of men</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That through the sight the inmost heart doth gain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A sweetness which needs proof to know it by;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And from between her lips there seems to move</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A soothing essence that is full of love,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Saying for ever to the spirit: "Sigh!"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Rossetti's translation, Dante's <i>Vita nuova</i>, §</span><span class="smcap">XXVI</span>.)</p> + +<p>A very different impression must have been made on the self-respect +and delicate sensibility of a feminine soul by this other sonnet, +which is clumsy and bombastic because it is full of inappropriate and +exaggerated metaphors:</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Your salutation and your glances bright</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Deal death to him who greets you on your way;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Love my assailant, heedless of my plight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Cares nought if what he does shall heal or slay.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Straight to the mark his arrow flew apace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Piercing my heart and cleaving it in twain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">I was as one who sees Death face to face;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">No word I spake—so great my burning pain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">As through the window of the lordly tower</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The missile hurtles, shattering all within,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">So did the arrow enter through my eye;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Bereft of life and spirit in that hour</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">I stood there, to a man of brass akin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That mocks with semblance of humanity.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Guinizelli, 1300.)</span><br /></p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +<p>If, then, the true basis of the imagination is reality, and its +perception is related to exactness of observation, it is necessary to +prepare children to perceive the things in their environment exactly, +in order to secure for them the material required by the imagination. +Further, the exercise of the intelligence, reasoning within sharply +defined limits, and distinguishing one thing from another, prepares a +cement for imaginative constructions; because these are the more +beautiful the more closely they are united to a form, and the more +logical they are in the association of individual images. The fancy +which exaggerates and invents coarsely does not put the child on the +right road.</p> + +<p>A true preparation digs the beds where the waters which well up from +intellectual creation will flow in smiling or majestic rivers, without +overflowing and so destroying the beauty of internal order.</p> + +<p>In the matter of causing the springing up of these rushing waters of +internal creation we are powerless. "Never to obstruct the spontaneous +outburst of an activity, even though it springs forth like the humble +trickle of some almost invisible source," and "to wait"—this is our +task. Why should we delude ourselves with the idea that we can "create +an intelligence," we who can do nothing but "observe and await" the +blade of grass which is sprouting, the microbe which is dividing +itself?</p> + +<p>We must consider that creative imagination must rise like an +illuminated palace, on dark foundations deeply imbedded in the rock, +if it is to be anything but a house of cards, an illusion, an error; +and the salvation of the intelligence is "to be able to plant the feet +on firm ground."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Imagination in children</b>.—It is a very common belief that the young +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +child is characterized by a vivid imagination, and therefore a special +education should be adopted to cultivate this special gift of nature.</p> + +<p>His mentality differs from ours; he escapes from our strongly marked +and restricted limits, and loves to wander in the fascinating worlds +of unreality, a tendency which is also characteristic of savage +peoples.</p> + +<p>This childish characteristic, however, gave rise to the generalization +of a materialistic idea now discredited: "Ontogenesis sums up +philogenesis": that is, the life of the individual reproduces the life +of the species; just as the life of man reproduces the life of +civilization, so in young children we find the psychical +characteristics of savages. Hence the child, like the savage, is +attracted by the fantastic, the supernatural, and the unreal.</p> + +<p>Instead of indulging in such flights of scientific fancy as these, it +would be much simpler to declare that an organism as yet immature, +like that of the child, has remote affinities with mentalities less +mature than our own, like those of savages. But even if we refrain +from interfering with the belief of those who interpret childish +mentality as "a savage state," we may point out that as, in any case, +this savage state is transient, and must be superseded, education +<i>should help the child</i> to overcome it; it should not <i>develop the +savage state</i>, nor <i>keep</i> the child therein.</p> + +<p>All the forms of imperfect development we encounter in the child have +some resemblance to corresponding characteristics in the savage; for +instance, in language, poverty of expression, the existence only of +concrete terms, and the generalization of words, by means of which a +single word serves several purposes and indicates several objects, the +absence of inflections in verbs, causing the child to use only the +infinitive. But no one would maintain that "for this reason" we ought +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +to restrict the child artificially to such primitive language, to +enable him to pass through his prehistoric period easily.</p> + +<p>And if some peoples remain permanently in a state of imagination in +which unrealities predominate, our child, on the contrary, belongs to +a people for whom the delights of the mind are to be found in the +great works of art, and the civilizing constructions of science, and +in those products of the higher imagination which represent the +environment in which the intelligence of our child is destined to form +itself. It is natural that in the hazy period of his mental +development the child should be attracted by fantastic ideas; but this +must not make us forget that he is to be our continuator, and for that +reason should be superior to us; and the least we ought to give him to +this end is the maximum at our disposal.</p> + +<p>A form of imagination supposed to be "proper" to childhood, and almost +universally recognized as creative imagination, is that spontaneous +work of the infant mind by which children attribute desirable +characteristics to objects which do not possess them.</p> + +<p>Who has not seen a child riding upon and whipping his father's +walking-stick, as if he were mounted upon a real horse? There we have +a proof of "imagination" in the child! What pleasure it gives to +children to construct a splendid coach with chairs and armchairs; and +while some recline inside, looking out with delight at an imaginary +landscape, or bowing to an applauding crowd, other children, perched +on the backs of chairs, beat the air as if they were whipping fiery +horses. Here is another proof of "imagination."</p> + +<p>But if we observe rich children, who own quiet ponies, and drive out +habitually in carriages and motor-cars, we shall find that they look +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +with a touch of contempt at the child who is running about whipping a +stick in great excitement; they would be astonished to see the delight +of children who imagine themselves to be drawn along by stationary +armchairs. They would say of such children: "They are very poor; they +act thus because they have no horses or carriages." An adult resigns +himself to his lot; a child creates an illusion. But this is not a +proof of imagination, it is a proof of an unsatisfied desire; it is +not an activity bound up with gifts of nature; it is a manifestation +of conscious, sensitive poverty. No one, we may be sure, will say that +in order to educate a rich child we should take away his pony and give +him a stick. Nor is it necessary to prevent the poor child from being +content with his stick. If a poor man, a beggar, had nothing but dry +bread to eat, and if he placed himself by the grated window of a rich +underground kitchen because when he smelt its savory odors he imagined +himself to be eating excellent dishes together with his bread, who +could prevent him? But no one would say that in order to develop the +imaginative activity of the fortunate persons for whom the actual +dishes were destined, it would be well to take away their meat and +give them bread and fragrance.</p> + +<p>A poor mother who was devoted to her little child offered him the +piece of bread which was all she had to give in this manner: she +divided it into two portions, and gave them to him in succession, +saying: "This is the bread, this is the meat." The child was quite +content. But no mother would deprive her child of food in order to +develop his imagination in this way.</p> + +<p>And yet I was once seriously asked by some one if it would be +injurious to give a piano to a child who was continually practising +with his fingers upon the table, as if he were playing the piano. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +"And why should it be injurious?" I asked. "Because, if I do so, he +will learn music, it is true, but his imagination will no longer be +exercised, and I do not know which would be best for him."</p> + +<p>Some of Froebel's games are based upon similar beliefs. A wooden brick +is given to a child with the words: "This is a horse." Bricks are then +arranged in a certain order, and he is told: "This is the stable; now +let us put the horse into the stable." Then the bricks are differently +arranged: "This is a tower, this is the village church, etc." In such +exercises the objects (bricks) lend themselves to illusion less +readily than a stick used as a horse, which the child can at least +bestride and beat, moving along the while. The building of towers and +churches with horses brings the mental confusion of the child to its +culmination. Moreover, in this case it is not the child who "imagines +spontaneously" and works with his brains, for at the moment he is +required to see that which the teacher suggests. And it is impossible +to know whether the child really thinks that the stable has become a +church, or whether his attention has wandered elsewhere. He would, of +course, like to move, but he cannot, because he is obliged to +contemplate the kind of cinematograph of which the teacher speaks in +the series of images she suggests, though they exist only in the shape +of pieces of wood all of the same size.</p> + +<p>What is it that is thus being cultivated in these immature minds? What +do we find akin to this in the adult world which will enable us to +understand for what definitive forms we prepare the mind by such a +method of education? There are, indeed, men who really take a tree for +a throne, and issue royal commands: some believe themselves to be God, +for "false perceptions," or the graver form, "illusions," are the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +beginning of false reasoning, and the concomitants of delirium. The +insane produce nothing, nor can those children, condemned to the +immobility of an education which tends to <i>develop</i> their innocent +manifestations of unsatisfied desires into mania, produce anything +either for themselves or others.</p> + +<p>We, however, suppose that we are developing the imagination of +children by making them accept fantastic things as realities. Thus, +for instance, in Latin countries, Christmas is personified by an ugly +woman, the <i>Befana</i>, who comes through the walls and down the +chimneys, bringing toys for the good children, and leaving only lumps +of coal for the naughty ones. In Anglo-Saxon countries, on the other +hand, Christmas is an old man covered with snow who carries a huge +basket containing toys for children, and who really enters their +houses by night. But how can the <i>imagination</i> of children be +developed by what is, on the contrary, the fruit of <i>our</i> imagination? +It is we who imagine, not they; they <i>believe</i>, they do not imagine. +Credulity is, indeed, a characteristic of immature minds which lack +experience and knowledge of realities, and are as yet devoid of that +intelligence which distinguishes the true from the false, the +beautiful from the ugly, the possible from the impossible.</p> + +<p>Is it, then, <i>credulity</i> we wish to develop in our children, merely +because they show themselves to be credulous at an age when they are +naturally ignorant and immature? Of course, credulity may exist in +adults; but it exists in <i>contrast</i> with <i>intelligence</i>, and is +neither its foundation nor its fruit. It is in periods of intellectual +darkness that credulity germinates; and we are proud to have outlived +these epochs. We speak of credulity as a mark of the uncivilized.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +<p>Here is a piquant anecdote of the seventeenth century. The Pont Neuf +in Paris was the main highway for foot-passengers, and a meeting-place +for loungers. Many mountebanks and charlatans mingled with the crowd. +There was one of these charlatans who was making a fortune; he sold an +ointment from China which enlarged the eyes, decreased the size of the +mouth, lengthened noses that were too short, and shortened those that +were too long, De Sartine, Chief of the Police, called up this +charlatan to have him imprisoned, and said to him:</p> + +<p>"Mariolo, how do you manage to attract so many people and gain so much +money?"</p> + +<p>"Sir," replied the other, "how many persons, do you suppose, cross the +bridge in one day?"</p> + +<p>"From ten to twelve thousand," replied de Sartine.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, how many intelligent persons do you suppose there are +among them?"</p> + +<p>"A hundred," replied the official.</p> + +<p>"That's a liberal allowance," said the charlatan, "but let us leave it +at that. I will rely on the other nine thousand nine hundred for my +living."</p> + +<p>The situation has so far changed between those days and our own that +there are now more intelligent and fewer credulous persons. Education, +therefore, should not be directed to credulity but to intelligence. He +who bases education on credulity builds upon sand.</p> + +<p>I know of an incident which is perhaps reproduced in our society +thousands of times. Two girls of noble family had been educated in a +convent, where, to safeguard them from the seductions and vanities of +the life for which they were destined, the nuns had persuaded them +that the world is full of deceit, and that if, when people praise us, +we could conceal ourselves and listen to what they say when we have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +disappeared, we should hear very chastening things. When they were of +an age to be presented in Society, the two youthful princesses made +their first appearance at an evening reception, to which their mother +had invited a great many guests. All lavished praises on the charming +young girls. In the drawing-room there was an alcove concealed by a +large curtain. Curious to hear what would be said of them when they +disappeared, the two agreed to slip out and hide behind the curtain. +Scarcely had the attractive objects of the general admiration vanished +when the praises which had been kept within due bounds in their +presence, were redoubled. The two girls told me that they experienced +an indescribable revulsion of feeling at the moment; they thought that +everything the nuns had made them believe was false; they renounced +religion there and then, and made up their minds to throw themselves +into the pleasures of society. "We afterwards had to reconstruct our +lives ourselves, embrace the truths of religion afresh, and understand +for ourselves the emptiness of social brilliance."</p> + +<p>Credulity gradually disappears with experience, and as the mind +matures: <i>instruction</i> helps towards this end. In nations as in +persons, the evolution of civilization and of souls tends to diminish +credulity; <i>knowledge</i>, as is commonly said, dispels the <i>darkness</i> of +ignorance. In the void which is ignorance, the fancy easily wanders, +just because it lacks the support which would enable it to rise to a +higher level. Thus the Pillars of Hercules disappeared when the +Straits of Gibraltar became the gates of the oceans; and no Columbus +could now persuade the Red Indians, whom the great American spirit of +democracy receives into its civilizing schools, that the heavens are +obedient to him, darkening the sun at his command; for eclipses are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +phenomena as well known to them as to the white races.</p> + +<p>Is this illusory imagination, based upon credulity, a thing we ought +to "develop" in children? We certainly have no wish to see it persist; +in fact, where we are told that a child "no longer believes in +fairy-tales," we rejoice. We say then: "He is no longer a baby." This +is what <i>should</i> happen and we await it: the day will come when he +will no longer believe these stories. But if this maturation takes +place, we ought to ask ourselves: "What have <i>we</i> done to help it? +What support did we offer to this frail mind to enable it to grow +straight and strong?" The child overcomes his difficulties <i>in spite</i> +of our endeavor to keep him in ignorance and illusion. The child +overcomes himself and us. He goes where his internal force of +development and maturation lead him. He might, however, say to us: +"How much you have made us suffer! The work of raising ourselves was +hard enough already, and you oppressed us." Would not such conduct be +much as if we compressed the gums to prevent the teeth from coming, +because it is characteristic of babies to be toothless, or prevented +the little body from standing erect, because at first the +characteristic of the infant is that it does not rise to its feet? +Indeed, we do something of the same sort when we deliberately prolong +the poverty and inaccuracy of childish speech; instead of helping the +child by making him listen intently to the distinct enunciation of +speech sounds, and watch the movements of the mouth, we adopt <i>his</i> +rudimentary language, and repeat the primordial sounds he utters, +lisping and perverting the consonants in the manner habitual to those +making first efforts to articulate words. Thus we prolong a formative +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +period full of difficulty and exertion for the child, thrusting him +back into the fatiguing infant state.</p> + +<p>And we are behaving in exactly the same manner to-day with regard to +the so-called education of the imagination.</p> + +<p>We are amused by the illusions, the ignorance, and the errors of the +immature mind, just as at no very remote date we were amused to see an +infant <i>laugh</i> when it was tossed up and down, a proceeding now +condemned by infantile hygiene as wrong and dangerous in the extreme. +In short, it is <i>we</i> who are amused by the Christmas festivities and +the credulity of the child. If we confess the truth, we must admit +that we are somewhat like the fine lady who took a superficial +interest in a hospital for poor children, but who kept on declaring: +"If there were to be no more sick children, I should be quite +unhappy." We, too, might say: "If the credulity of children were to +cease, a great pleasure would be taken from our lives."</p> + +<p>It is one of the careless errors of our day to arrest artificially a +stage of development for our amusement; as in the ancient courts the +bodily growth of certain victims was arrested to make them dwarfs and +the pastime of the king. Such a statement may seem severe, but it +rests on an actual fact. We are unconscious of it, it is true; yet we +speak of it continually when we say among ourselves with lofty scorn +of the age of immaturity: "Really, we are not children." If we would +refrain from prolonging the child's immaturity in order to be able to +contemplate his inferior state in immobility, and would, on the +contrary, allow free growth admiring the marvels of his progression +ever on the road of higher conquests, we should say of him, with +Christ: "He who would be perfect must become as a little child."</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +<p>If what is called infant imagination is the product of "immaturity" of +the mind, combined with the poverty in which we leave the child and +the ignorance in which he finds himself, the first thing to do is to +enrich his life by an environment in which he will become the owner of +something, and to enrich his mind by knowledge and experience based on +reality. And having given him these, we must allow him to <i>mature</i> in +<i>liberty</i>. It is from freedom of development that we may expect the +manifestations of his imagination.</p> + +<p>To enrich the child, who is the poorest among us, because he has +nothing and is the slave of all—this is our first duty towards him. +It will be said: Must we, then, give horses, carriages, and pianos to +all children? By no means. Remedies are never direct when a complex +life is in question. The child who has nothing is the one who dreams +of things the most impossible of attainment. The destitute dream of +millions, the oppressed of a throne. But he who possesses something +attaches himself to that which he possesses to preserve and increase +it reasonably.</p> + +<p>A person without employment will dream of becoming a prince; but a +teacher in a school dreams of becoming a head master. Thus the child +who has a "house" of his own, who possesses brooms, rubbers, pottery, +soap, dressing-tables and furniture, is happy in the care of all these +things. His desires are moderated, and the peace he derives from them +opens up a life of expansion to his internal creative activities.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It is "living among real possessions of his own" which calms the +child, and assuages those desires which consume his precious powers in +the vanity of illusion. Such a result is not to be achieved by +<i>imagining</i> that he is living among possessions of his own. Some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +teachers in charge of a model orphanage once said to me: "We too make +our children perform the exercises of practical life which you +describe; come and see." I went. Some of the authorities were also +present, and a university professor of pedagogy.</p> + +<p>Some children seated at a little table with playthings were laying the +table for a doll's meal; their faces were quite without expression. I +looked in amazement at the persons who had invited me; they seemed +quite satisfied; they evidently thought that there was no difference +between laying a table in play and laying it for an actual meal; for +them imaginary life and real life were the same thing. May not this +subtle form of error be instilled in infancy and afterwards persist as +a mental attitude? It was perhaps this error which caused a famous +Italian pedagogist to say to me: "Liberty a new thing? Pray read +Comenius—you will find that it was already discussed in his times." I +replied: "Yes, many talk of it, but the liberty I mean is a form of +liberty actually realized." He seemed not to understand the +difference. I ought to have asked: "Do you not believe that there is +any difference between him who talks of millions and him who possesses +them?"</p> + +<p>To be contented with the imaginary, and to live as if what we imagine +actually existed; to run after illusion, and "not to recognize" +reality, is a thing so common that scarcely is it apprehended, and the +cry of alarm raised: "Awake to truth, O man!" when the consciousness +becomes aware of a kind of gnawing parasite which has wormed itself +subtly into our intelligence.</p> + +<p>The power to imagine always exists, whether or not it has a solid +basis on which to rest and materials with which to build; but when it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +does not elaborate from reality and truth, instead of raising a divine +structure it forms incrustations which compress the intelligence and +prevent the light from penetrating thereto.</p> + +<p>How much time and strength man has lost and is losing by this error! +Just as vice, which is an exercise of function without purpose, wastes +the body until it becomes diseased, so imagination unsustained by +truth consumes the intelligence until it assumes characteristics akin +to the mental characteristics of the insane.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Fable and religion</b>.—I have frequently heard it said that the +education of the imagination on a basis of fancy prepares the soul of +the child for religious education; and that an education based on +"reality," as in this method we would adopt, is too arid, and tends to +dry up the founts of spiritual life. Such reasoning, however, will not +be accepted by religious persons. They know well that faith and fable +are "as the poles apart," since fable is in itself a thing without +faith, and faith is the very sentiment of truth, which should +accompany man even unto death. Religion is not a product of fantastic +imagination, it is the greatest of realities, the one truth to the +religious man. It is the fount and basis of his life. The man without +religion is not, certainly, a person without imagination, but rather +one who lacks internal equilibrium; compared with the religious man he +is less calm, less strong in adversity; not only this, but he is more +unsettled in his own ideas. He is weaker and more unhappy; and it is +in vain that he catches at imagination to create a world for himself +outside reality. Something within him cries aloud in the words of +David: "My soul is a-thirst for God." And if he hopes to reach the +goal of his real life by the help of imagination alone, he may feel +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +his feet giving way among quicksands at a supreme moment of effort.</p> + +<p>When an apostle seeks to win a soul to religion, where man may plant +his faltering feet on a rock, he appeals to understanding, not to +imagination, for he knows that his task is not to create something, +but to call aloud to that which is slumbering in the depths of the +heart. He knows that he must shake off the torpor from a feeble life +as he would shake the snow from a living body buried in a drift, not +build up a puppet of ice which will melt under the rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>It is true that fantastic imagination penetrates religion, but in the +guise of error. In the Middle Ages, for instance, epidemics were +ascribed with great simplicity, to a direct act of divine +chastisement; to-day they are attributed to the direct action of +microbes. Papin's steam machines suggested diabolical intervention. +But these are precisely the kind of prejudices which, like all +fantasies, swarm in the void of ignorance.</p> + +<p>All religion is not thus constructed like a fantastic castle erected +on a basis of ignorance. Otherwise we should see savage peoples +religious and civilized peoples without religion; whereas savages have +a frail and fantastic religion, mainly constructed upon the terror +inspired by the mysterious activities of Nature, and civilized peoples +have a positive religion, which becomes stronger as it becomes purer, +while the science of truth, penetrating into Nature, serves to exalt +and illustrate its mysteries.</p> + +<p>And, above all, to-day, when there is a movement in favor of +eliminating religion altogether from the school, can we propose to +introduce it by cultivating <i>fable</i>? It is such a simple matter to +open the door directly to religion itself and allow its radiance to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +penetrate, warming and invigorating life.</p> + +<p>But it should enter like the sun into creation, not like the Befana +from the chimney-top.</p> + +<p>Fable could prepare to some extent for pagan religion, which split up +the divinity into innumerable minor gods, symbolizing the external +world; this, being apprehended by the senses, may lend itself to +illusion; but fable could certainly never prepare for Christianity, +which brings God into contact with the inner life of man, "one and +indivisible," and teaches the laws of a life which is "felt" by men. +If the positive sciences be extraneous to religion, it cannot be said +that it is the study of reality in itself which alienates us +therefrom. Hitherto the positive sciences have studied the "external +world" in its analytical details, and if they could have made a +"sympathetic," religion that religion might be the pagan creed. +Indeed, so far science has brought a very perceptive breath of +paganism among us. But when it shall have succeeded in <i>penetrating +the inner man</i>, and there making manifest the laws of life and the +realities of existence, a great Christian light will surely shine upon +men; and maybe children, like the angels over Bethlehem, will sing the +hymn invoking peace between science and faith.</p> + +<p>Saint John in the desert "made straight the way of the Lord" and +purged men of the grossest errors. And thus a method which gives +internal equilibrium and disperses the grossest errors which suffocate +the spiritual energies, makes ready for the reception of truth and the +recognition of the "way of life."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>The education of the imagination in schools for older children</b>.—What +is the method adopted in the ordinary elementary schools for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +education of the imagination?</p> + +<p>The school is, in most cases, a bare, naked place where the gray color +of the walls and the white muslin curtains over the windows preclude +any alleviation for the senses. The object of this depressing +environment is to prevent the distraction of the scholar's attention +by stimuli, and concentrate it upon the teacher who speaks. The +children, seated, listen motionless hour after hour. When they draw, +they have to reproduce another drawing exactly. When they move, it is +in obedience to an order given by another person. Their personalities +are appraised solely by the standard of passive obedience; the +education of their wills consists of the methodical renunciation of +volition.</p> + +<p>"Our usual pedagogy," said Claparède, "oppresses children with a mass +of information which can never help them to direct their conduct; we +make them listen when they have no desire to hear; speak, write, +narrate, compose and discourse when they have nothing to say; we make +them observe when they have no curiosity, reason when they have no +desire to discover anything. We incite them to efforts which are +supposed to be voluntary without the preliminary acquiescence of their +<i>ego</i> in the task imposed, that inner consensus which alone gives +moral value to submission to duty."</p> + +<p>The children thus reduced to slavery use their eyes to read, their +hands to write, their ears to hear what the teacher says. Their +bodies, indeed, are stationary; but their minds are unable to dwell +upon anything. They must be continually exerting themselves to run +after the mind of the teacher, who, in his turn, is urged on by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +program drawn up at random, and which is certainly regardless of +childish tendencies. The mind has to pass from thing to thing. Images +fugitive and uncertain as dreams appear from time to time before the +eyes of the child. The teacher draws a triangle on the blackboard and +then erases it; it was a momentary vision represented as an +abstraction; those children have never held a concrete triangle in +their hands; they have to remember, by an effort, a contour around +which abstract geometrical calculations will presently gather thickly; +such a figure will never achieve anything within them; it will not be +<i>felt</i>, combined with others, it will never be an inspiration. It is +the same with everything else. The object would seem to be fatigue for +its own sake, that fatigue which has engrossed almost the sum of +effort of experimental psychology.</p> + +<p>In this environment, where free exercise is prohibited, as also the +choice of work, and meditation, where every sentiment is oppressed, +and from which every external stimulus which might enrich the +intelligence with spontaneous acquisitions is eliminated, an attempt +is made to excite the imagination by giving "compositions" to be +written. This means that the child has to <i>produce</i> without having the +necessary material; to give, without possessing; achieve internal +activities which he is prevented from developing. And <i>production</i> is +to come from the <i>exercise of production</i>; "constant practise in +composition" is to develop the imagination; from the sterility of the +void the most complex products of the intelligence are to be evolved!</p> + +<p>It is well known that "composition" represents the great difficulty of +our schools. All teachers have declared that children are "poor in +ideas," that they have "disorderly minds," that they are "absolutely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +without originality." The examination in written composition has +always been the most painful of all; every one knows the expression of +the child who hears the title of an obligatory theme dictated; and who +in a few hours must hand in a written composition, a product of the +imagination; it is with anguish, with oppression of the heart, with +cold hands and eyes anxiously interrogating the clock in terror of the +fleeting hour, under the distrustful surveillance of a teacher who for +the occasion is transformed into a spy-warder like those in penal +prisons, that he undergoes his torture to the end. Woe to him if he +does not hand in his composition! He will be ruined, for this is the +principal test, the one in which he is <i>free</i> to manifest his own +worth, to give the true individual fruit by which others will measure +his intelligence. It is in this way that our young generations often +find neurasthenia and even suicide. Scholars cannot answer as did the +greatest poet of our times, Carducci, when he was requested to write +an ode on the occasion of the death of a personage: "It is +inspiration, not an occasion, which would make me write an ode."</p> + +<p>It is interesting to study the methods by which, in "modern schools," +where some elements of psychical hygiene have penetrated, attempts are +made to help the pupils by diminishing their exhausting effort and +leading them on gradually to composition. Composition (we must pass +over the contradiction in terms for the moment) is "taught." The +teacher gives collective lessons in composition, just as she would +explain arithmetic: this is called "collective oral composition."</p> + +<p>We will allow specialists in this method to speak, giving a passage +containing a preparation of teachers for such lessons:</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +<h4><span class="smcap">Method to be followed in the Manner of<br /> +indicating the Theme</span></h4> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Let us take, by way of illustration, the following brief narrative, +which consists of three phases: 1. Ernesto did not know his lesson; +2. The teacher scolded the child severely; 3. Ernesto wept and promised +to do better. If we indicate the narrative by the words: 'Ernesto did +not know his lesson' (first fact, cause), the pupil will go on easily +to the effect, consisting of the two other phases which, logically and +in chronological order, follow the cause. If, on the other hand, we +give as the theme the indication corresponding to the second phase: +'The teacher scolded the child,' we oblige the pupil to go back to the +cause and to make the third phase follow upon the second. We place the +pupil in a more difficult position if we give as the theme: 'Ernesto +wept and promised to do better,' since he will then be obliged to go +back to the second and thence to the first phase.</p> + +<p>"Hence the first phase in every brief narrative ought to serve to +indicate the theme.</p> + +<p>"<i>Method</i>. The teacher should write the theme on the blackboard, and +invite the pupils to think of (not to say) a possible consequence of +the fact indicated in the theme. The teacher must let it be understood +that the pupils are to work independently, without the help of +suggestion. Let us see:</p> + +<p>"<i>Luisa threw a piece of wool into the fire</i> (theme). Think of a +possible consequence, say what happened in consequence.</p> + +<p>"<i>The wool caused a bad smell</i>. Very good. You repeat the narrative:</p> + +<p>"<i>Luisa threw a piece of wool into the fire. The wool caused a bad +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +smell</i>. Can any one add another little thought, another possible +consequence?</p> + +<p>"<i>The teacher reproved Luisa. A pupil opened the window</i>. The teacher +repeats the exercise using the themes A. B. C. and causing the result +arrived at with the collaboration of the scholars to be written in +their copy-books.</p> + +<p>"A theme may be proposed and the pupils may be left free to develop it +without any further explanations.</p> + +<p>Theme A.—<i>Luisa threw a piece of wool into the fire</i>. (The wool +caused a bad smell. The teacher reproved Luisa. A companion opened the +window to allow the bad odor to escape.)</p> + +<p>Theme B.—<i>Ernesto upset the ink on the floor</i>. (The floor was +stained. The teacher reproved the child. Ernesto promised to be more +careful.)</p> + +<p>Theme C.—<i>Elisa read the story well</i>. (The teacher praised her and +gave her a good mark. Elisa was very much pleased.)</p> + +<p>Theme D.—<i>Mario made a blot on his copy-book</i>. (The teacher did not +correct his exercise; she scolded him. The boy went home crying.)</p> + +<p>"After all this collective practise the teacher gives a free theme +such as the following: 'Maria knew her lesson well.' In developing it, +the children are expected to follow the above examples: that is to +say, they are to indicate in two sentences the logical effects of such +a cause (the teacher gave her ten marks and praised her; then she told +her to persevere in her industry)."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Sometimes the teaching has a psychological purport rather than a +logical one. In such a case the "little thoughts" are not linked +together as cause and effect, but by the display of psychical +activities in three spheres: "knowing, feeling, and willing." +Examples:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Amelia made me smell some ammonia (fact perceived).—</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +<p>What a horrible smell! (sentiment).—I will not smell it again +(volition).</p> + +<p>Gigi pulled my hair (fact perceived).—It hurt me (sentiment). I +pulled my companion's hand away quickly (volition) (<i>I Diritti della +Scuola</i>, Year xiv, No. 16, p. 232).</p></div> + +<p>With methods such as these it is obvious that every possibility of +inspiration and creation will be destroyed. The child has to follow +phrase by phrase what the teacher indicates; thus every spark of +aptitude for original composition is quenched. Not only does the child +remain <i>empty of material</i> wherewith to create, as in the past, but +the very capacity for creation disappears, so that if, to-morrow, +material should be formed in his mind, he would no longer have the +impulse to utilize it, and his thought would be fettered by his school +routine.</p> + +<p>Intellectual education carried on by the teacher on such a system +makes one think of a chauffeur who should shut up the motor of an +automobile and try to propel it by the strength of his arms. He would +in this case be a porter, and the automobile a useless machine. When, +on the other hand, the motor is open, the internal force moves the car +and the chauffeur only has to guide it that it may go safely along the +street, not run into obstacles or rush into ditches, and not injure +any one upon its course.</p> + +<p>This <i>guidance</i> is the only thing necessary; but the real progression +is due solely to the internal impulse, which no one can create.</p> + +<p>It was thus that the first Italian literary Renascence came about, +when the "new sweet style" arose with Dante as the spontaneous +expression of feeling:</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">"Count of me but as one</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Who am the scribe of Love, that when he breathes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Take up my pen and as he dictates, write."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation, <i>Purgatorio</i>, Canto XXIV.)</span><br /> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +<p>The child must create his interior life before he can express +anything; he must take spontaneously from the external world +constructive material in order to "compose"; he must exercise his +intelligence freely before he can be ready to find the logical +connection between things. We ought to offer the child that which is +necessary for his internal life, and leave him free to produce. +Perhaps it would not then be impossible to meet a child running with +sparkling eyes to write a letter, or walking and meditating as he +cultivates a nascent inspiration.</p> + +<p>We ought to tend and nourish the internal child, and <i>await</i> his +manifestations. If imaginative creation comes late, it will be because +the intelligence is not sufficiently mature to create until late; and +we should no more force it with a fiction than we would put a false +mustache on a child because otherwise he will not have one till he is +twenty.</p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Moral Question</span></h4> + +<p>When we said, to begin with, that positive science had only given the +"reform" of physical life, together with the modern rules of hygiene, +as its contribution to society, we were unjust to positive science. It +has considered not only physical life, but moral life.</p> + +<p>It is enough to think of those studies in bacteriology which refer to +the vehicles of infectious maladies in the environment, in order to +recognize therefrom a primary token of the important place which is +assigned to the community of human interests, and this is now affirmed +with an emphasis never before displayed. Microbes multiply chiefly in +damp and dirty places; underfed people are more prone to illness than +others, and so are those who are overtired. Therefore illness and +early death must be the heritage of the poor who, underfed and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +overtired, live in damp and dirty places? No. It is a question of +vehicles. Microbes spread in all directions from the sources of +infection, by means of dust, insects and all the usual objects of +life, in fact by all the means of transport. They exist in +inconceivable and fabulous numbers; and every sick person is an almost +incredible source of illness and death. One single person would +suffice to contaminate the whole of Europe.</p> + +<p>The means of transport allow microbes to cross oceans and continents +in every sense. We need only observe the transatlantic lines, and +those of the railways of the world, in order to realize the lines of +communication between the maladies which afflict humanity in all the +places of the earth. We need only study the industrial changes of +matter in order to follow in detail the daily path of the microbes, +which put all classes of society into intimate communication. The rich +lady wears linen on her person which comes from the hands of the poor, +and is constantly in their keeping; she cannot put food into her mouth +unless it is offered to her by the poor who have handled it over and +over again.</p> + +<p>The air which is breathed by the rich may contain in its dust the +desiccated germs which a consumptive workman has scattered on the +ground. There is no way of escape. Statistics prove this: the death +rate from infectious diseases is tremendously high in all countries, +among both rich and poor, although the poor die in a double proportion +to the rich. How can we deliver ourselves from this scourge? Only on +condition that there be no more sources of infection, that is to say, +that there be no longer unhealthful places in the world, and no +underfed people constrained to work beyond their strength. The only +way by which the individual may escape is that by which all humanity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +may be saved. This is a great principle, which seems to ring like a +trumpet call: Men, help one another, or you will die.</p> + +<p>It is a fact that science has inaugurated "works of sanitation" as its +practical contribution to the fight against mortality; towns have been +opened out, water has been laid on, houses have been built for the +poor, and labor has been protected. All the environment tends to +ameliorate the "conditions of life" of the population. No works of +charity, no expression of love or of pity, has ever been able to do so +much. Science has shown us that those works which were called +"charitable," and were looked upon merely as a moral virtue, +represented the first step, although a restricted and insufficient +one, towards the real salvation of the health of humanity. It was that +which had to be done in order to fight against death. But, in order to +reach the goal, such work should be universal, and should constitute a +"reformation" of society. Then it becomes "social progress," when +there will be no benefactors or benefited, but merely humanity which +has increased its own well-being. This principle: All men are +brothers; let them love and help one another, and let not the right +hand know what the left hand doeth, will have been translated into +practise.</p> + +<p>In sentimental times, poverty was a stimulus to which the rich man +reacted. The poor did not really tend to educate the rich man's +feelings. If, in those times, the poor man had said, "Give me +necessities, or thou shalt die," the rich man would have been +indignant. He was very far from realizing that the poor man was his +brother, with whom he shared his rights, as well as the danger of +death.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +<p>To-day science has put things on a different footing. It has +"realized" that charity benefits both rich and poor, and has +constituted a principle of civilization that which formerly was a +"moral principle" entrusted to sentiment.</p> + +<p>In the case of morals, too, hygiene has penetrated, and has given +individual rules of life. It is through hygiene that debauchery has +become less common, that those epicurean feasts which were celebrated +in ancient times are replaced to-day by hygienic meals, the value of +which consists in the wise proportion between the needs of the body +and the food which is prepared. Wine and alcohol are rejected by the +rich more than by the poor. We eat in order to keep ourselves in good +health, and therefore without excess and without poison. This is what +the ancient morality preached when it fought against the vice of +gluttony and proclaimed fasting and abstinence to be virtues. No one +in those times could have imagined that the day would come when +millionaires would voluntarily substitute lemonade for wine, and that +great banquets would disappear entirely, leaving only the accounts of +them as a "curiosity" of the past. Nay, more: none of these modern +ascetics are proud of their virtue, they seem to respond with +simplicity to the gospel precept:</p> + +<p>"When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance ... but +anoint thine head, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy +Father which seeth in secret."</p> + +<p>If one of the ancient preachers could talk to these ascetics, he would +also be much edified by their conversation. What has become of those +pleasantries which formed "life" and "delight" and "gaiety" in the +time of Marguerite of Valois? The tales of Boccaccio could not now be +discussed in English society, or in any modern aristocratic society +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +even of much lower social rank than that which surrounded Marguerite +of Valois. Nowadays people are afraid of uttering an incorrect word, +even of hinting at the most innocent functions of the body, or of +naming those parts of their clothing which come in contact with the +skin. They only talk about elevated things, and only those people who +instruct us are looked upon as brilliant conversationalists; those +who, in speaking of their travels, tell us about the customs of the +people, or who, speaking of politics, tell us of the current +situation. Excessive laughter, jokes, and violent gestures are not +permitted. Every one keeps his limbs quiet, even avoiding those +vivacious and inoffensive gestures which are the natural accompaniment +of conversation; the tone of voice is so modulated as to be scarcely +audible. The ancient preacher would say, "These people have carried +out St. Paul's exhortation to an exaggerated degree: 'But fornication +and all uncleanness, let it not once be named among you, as becometh +saints; neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are +not convenient.'"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>And among these evolutions of manners we find that it is once more +hygiene which, making itself the guide of fashion, has by degrees +simplified clothes, done away with pomatum and rouge, abolished +crinolines, modified stays and shoes, caused long-trained dresses to +disappear from the streets, and has introduced uniformity in clothing. +If a man who lived in ancient times were to appear among us, he would +ask: "Why are the people doing penance? I see men without any +ornaments and with their hair cut short; and women who, with an +edifying renunciation of vanity, go along the street without wigs and +without patches on their faces, with their hair simply knotted up; I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +see countesses dressed in inexpensive costumes, in simple, dark, +monastic dresses, almost like those of the poor. The carriages are +dark, like funeral cars, and the servants wear mourning livery. +Carnival no longer enlivens the streets. Every one goes about silently +and gravely."</p> + +<p>Who could ever have persuaded the people of old times, who used to +preach against excessive vanity, that such a picture as this does not +represent a time of penance, but ordinary daily life?</p> + +<p>These modern people, on their side, are far from thinking that they +are condemned to a life of suffering; on the contrary, they look back +with horror on the society of the past; they would never go back to +those days when men were enslaved by grand dresses and by rouge, +poisoning themselves with debauchery and dying of infectious diseases. +They have freed themselves from a great many useless bonds and have +realized a higher enjoyment of life. All the comfort which makes life +so delicious to-day would have been an incomprehensible secret to the +nobility of past centuries. It is the secret of life.</p> + +<p>Possibly, at one time, monks and those who were living in the world +thought of each other in a similar way. Those who had renounced the +bondage of the world and all its vanities possessed a secret of life +which was full of hitherto unknown delights, and they looked with +horror upon the so-called pleasure of their century; while those +unconscious men who were slaves from the tops of their be-wigged heads +to their feet compressed in narrow boots, called the ways of death +"life and enjoyment."</p> + +<p>Positive science has made yet another contribution penetrating +directly into the sphere of morality. By statistic methods of +sociology the social problems of immorality and crime have been opened +up, and external facts have been studied; and criminal anthropology +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +has revealed the "inferior types" who by hereditary taint are those +who have a predisposition to all the moral infection of their +surroundings. Morel's theories concerning degeneration and the +resulting theories of Lombroso concerning criminals have undoubtedly +brought light into this chaos, wherein opinion as to human goodness +and wickedness was divided. Forms of "degeneration" are chiefly rooted +in the nervous system, and all the abnormal personalities produced +thereby "deviate" from the ordinary type. They have a different +intelligence and different morality. False perceptions, false +reasoning, illusions, anomalies of the will such as impulses, +irresolutions, and crazes, the deficient moral sense on which the +abnormal intelligence builds up systematic delusions, which are +interpreted as philosophical principles, place these persons in a +category apart as extra-social beings.</p> + +<p>The general nervous weakness and the wandering intelligence which +preclude an interest in work make of these persons individuals +incapable of production, who therefore try to live upon the +productions of others. This fundamental fact, which tends to unite a +dislike of productive labor with impulses towards rapine, causes them +to make use of all those surrounding causes which prepare the external +means for crime. These men are "bad." But if we observe more closely +we see that it is not wickedness with which we have to deal but morbid +conditions and social errors. If such be the case, these bad men, who +from no fault of their own were born in these unhappy conditions, and +who are driven to perdition by society, are really "victims." Their +whole history, when closely investigated, reveals this fact. They are +hunted and neglected from babyhood. Incapable of making themselves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +beloved owing to mental deficiency, volitive disorders, to the +anomaly of the affections and also to lack of physical attraction, +they pass from maternal persecution to that of the school, and finally +to that of society, bringing on themselves every kind of punishment.</p> + +<p>The first picture which Morel drew of these "dead ones of the race" +was an impressive one. According to his original theory, containing a +synthesis which, if not very exact, yet sums up the phenomenon with +comprehensive clearness, when a cause of degeneration acts upon a man, +he may have defective children, whose deficiency increases in the two +or three following generations, until it is extinguished in the final +sterility of exceedingly debased individuals. According to Morel, +madmen, criminals, epileptics and idiots form the sad series in this +extinction of man. The man who dies leaving strong descendants, does +not really die, but is renewed in them, youth succeeding to age. It is +only the degenerate who dies, for his kind is "extinguished," the few +miserable generations whom he produces represent a "living agony." +This "dying species," which lives among the healthy, exhibiting its +weakness, its delusions, its convulsions, irritability and egoism, is +finally driven into those tombs of the living, lunatic asylums and +prisons.</p> + +<p>What a living picture, and what a warning to man! One "fault" may be a +mortal one to him, for, like the Biblical curse, it transmits itself +to generations, and leads to eternal perdition.</p> + +<p>How terrible it is to think of punishment falling on the innocent head +of a child! and how evident it is that our present life is not +everything, but that it has a continuation, when we shall reap the +true rewards or the true punishments of our existence. The choice lies +to a great extent in our own hands. Shall we have a beautiful, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +healthy, prolific son, or a deformed, unhealthy, barren son, incapable +of loving and understanding us? The hygiene of generation is the most +important part of moral hygiene. If the salvation of the individual +life can only be obtained by caring for the hygienic life of the whole +of humanity, it is only by rigorously following the laws of health and +the laws of life that the salvation of the species can be obtained. +Alcoholism, all poisons, overwork, constitutional maladies, +dissipation of nervous force, vice, and idleness, are all <i>causes</i> of +degeneration. It was science which went on preaching these things for +the salvation of mankind, and by these means propagating virtue. But +above all, it inculcated the great principle of "pardon," which +hitherto had been one of the mysteries of religious morality.</p> + +<p>A few years ago, no one, however pitiful and generous, could have +looked upon the delinquent with the same justice and pity as science +has done. It has pointed out that we are <i>all</i> responsible for this +victim of social causes, that we must all accuse ourselves of the sins +committed by the inferior individual, and exert ourselves for his +regeneration by all the means in our power. It was only the saints who +had an intuition of this truth, when they offered their merits for all +men in common and accepted responsibility for the offenses of all. +"You will hold yourselves accountable," said St. John Chrysostom, "not +only for your own salvation, but for universal salvation; he who prays +must take upon himself the burden of the interests of the whole human +race."</p> + +<p>It is certain that if a Tages had cleansed our whole race of its +deformities, and if an analogous morality had rendered us indifferent +to the illnesses, weaknesses, and sufferings of humanity, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +regenerative science would not have been able to arise. It is only by +recognizing the effects that we can go back to the unhealthy causes, +and save humanity from danger. The <i>causes</i> of death are as invisible +and intangible as microbes; man may drink poison when he thinks he is +drinking nectar. Woe to us if the diseased and degenerate did not +exhibit themselves to us as an advance guard, to testify to the +unconscious errors which threaten us with perdition. Science does not +exactly limit itself to tending the sick, like the <i>personnel</i> of a +hospital, but it penetrated by that goodly door, and made its way in a +contrary direction towards a normal humanity, unconscious of its +danger. The ultimate result of science is not the care of the sick but +universal health. We owe the hygienic "comfort" which ensures our +health, and diminishes general mortality to so great an extent, to the +fact that sick people were collected together and tended.</p> + +<p>The promise of regeneration given us by eugenics, which offers us the +universal hope of a more flourishing and happier generation than that +of the past has been made possible because we mercifully collect all +the feeble-minded, the epileptics and the unhealthy. It was to this we +had to look in order to find the roads which lead to health, and +arrive at the gates of a better world.</p> + +<p>When Christ showed the way of salvation to men He pointed to those who +were rejected by society, in whom the obvious effects of evil could be +seen, because the causes of evil are too subtle, and are not always +directly visible: "You hear with your ears and do not understand; you +behold with your eyes and do not see."</p> + +<p>But, on the other hand, the extreme consequences are obvious, and it +is enough that the "will" of man should agree to gather them in +charitably and without repugnance in order to obtain salvation. St. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +Matthew says that at the Last Judgment those who are lost will be +separated from those who are saved, and that the King will call the +latter to his right hand, saying, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, +inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. +For I was an-hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave +me drink ... I was naked and ye clothed me.... I was in prison, and ye +came unto me." "And when," replied the just, "saw we thee, O Lord, +an-hungered or thirsty or naked? When saw we thee sick or in prison +and came unto thee?" and the King shall answer and say unto them, +"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye +have done it unto me." Then shall he say also unto them on the left +hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire ... for I was +an-hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no +drink ... sick and in prison and ye visited me not." Then shall they +answer him, saying, "When saw we thee an-hungered, or a-thirst, or a +stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto +thee?" Then shall he answer them, saying, "Inasmuch as ye did it not +to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."</p> + +<p>This is the fundamental difference between heathen and Christian +morality; between intellectual Greek philosophy and practical modern +science; between the æsthetic ideal and the ideal of "life."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Positive science, therefore, has made us realize a part of +Christianity. We might almost say that the monastic orders practically +represented, throughout the centuries and the different civilizations, +the only form of life which is really life—that which science has +revealed to-day.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +<p>They alone, at a period of disorderly excess, had a dietary which +begins to be generally recognized as hygienic; they ate coarse bread, +fresh fruit, milk fresh from the cow, many vegetables, little meat, at +frugal but regular repasts. Withdrawing from the polluted air of +crowded cities, they chose large, spacious houses in the open country +or, at any rate, rather isolated—if possible, standing on a height. +Their luxury was not heavy, padded furniture but large grounds where +it was possible to live in the open air. Loose clothing, comfortable +sandals, or bare feet, woolen gowns, physical exercise, agricultural +work, traveling, made them almost the precursors of the modern life of +sport. Every convent spread benefactions all around—received the +poor, tended the sick, as if to show that this freer and more +privileged life was but a phase, which must necessarily be accompanied +by help to humanity. They represented the social and intellectual +<i>élite</i>; it was the Benedictines who preserved manuscripts and +treasured the arts; it was the followers of Saint Bernard who +practised agriculture, and it was the sons of Saint Francis who +preached peace.</p> + +<p>Or it might be said that modern society, guided by positive study of +the laws of life and of the means of saving it, has encountered the +religious laws which reveal the paths of life; and realizes a form of +civilization which recalls and, in some ways, reproduces the ancient +oases of the spirit.</p> + +<p>If, however, we were to risk a parallel between modern society and a +convent, what kind of convent would the former be?</p> + +<p>Here is a monastery where the brethren eat according to rule, wear +hygienic clothing, are correct in their language, never indulge in +noisy quarrels, have all their interests in life in common, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +dispense their charities coldly, as if they were a custom or an +obligation of their order; they meditate on eternal life, on +salvation, and rewards and punishments in a future life, but without +being touched by these thoughts. The real truth is that they have lost +their faith, and that they do not love one another; ambition, anger, +envy and even hatred, drive away internal peace; and corruption begins +to filter in under these other sins; a sign of a deeper decadence now +begins to show itself, for chastity has been lost. That which is, <i>par +excellence</i>, the standard of Christianity, the sign of respect for +life, the consecration of the purity which leads to eternal life, has +been overthrown together with faith. The love of man is not compatible +with the excesses of the beast. It is through purity that an ardent +love to all mankind, and comprehension of others, and intuition of +truth, arise like a perfume. It is that ardent fire called charity or +love, which keeps life kindled, and gives value to all things. "Though +I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to +be burned," says St Paul, "and have not charity, it profiteth me +nothing. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all +mysteries and all knowledge, and have not charity, I am nothing. +Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not +charity, I am became as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Cor. +xiii.).</p> + +<p>In "degenerate" convents the greatest and most elevated acquirements, +and the highest level of perfection reached, are lost; just as a +person punished by degradation first loses the last and highest +acquisitions, and only keeps the lower.</p> + +<p>In social convents, on the other hand, the ultimate attainment has not +yet been reached; that is the difference and the contrast. The social +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +elevation towards Christianity is only on its first steps. Love is +lacking, and thence chastity; and all this is absent owing to the arid +void left by the absence of faith, and the oppression of spiritual +life. Positive science has not yet touched the inner man, and the +social environment does not therefore realize, in its "force of +universal civilization," the loftier human acquisitions.</p> + +<p>When we occupy ourselves with the "moral education" of our children, +we ought to ask ourselves if we really love them and if we are sincere +in our wishes for their "morality."</p> + +<p>Let us be practical. Fathers and mothers, what can you hope for from +your children? The European war is far less dangerous to their bodies +than the spiritual risks which they run. We must imagine a much +greater war, a universal one, to which all young men are called, and +where the survivors are pointed out as absolutely exceptional. +Therefore you are educating your sons for death. What, then, is the +use of troubling so much about them? Is it not useless to take care of +their soft hair, and their rosy nails, and the fresh and bewitching +beauty of their vigorous little bodies, if they are to die before +long?</p> + +<p>Ah! all those who love children must fight in this deadly war, and +struggle for peace:</p> + +<p>The creed which Mme. de Héricourt sets forth in her book, "<i>La Femme +Affranchie</i>," about the time of the French Revolution, is very +eloquent.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Mothers, you admonish your children, saying, 'Do not tell lies, +because this is unworthy of a person who respects himself. Do not +steal: would you like it if people stole your things? It is a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +dishonest thing to do. Do not oppress those of your companions who are +weaker than yourself, and do not be rude to them, for that would be a +cowardly act.' These are excellent principles. But when the child has +become a young man his mother says, 'He must sow his wild oats.' And +sowing his wild oats means that he must perforce be a seducer, an +adulterer, and a frequenter of brothels. What? Is this mother, who +told her boy not to tell lies, the same person who permits him now +that he is a man, to betray a woman like herself? And, although she +taught her child not to steal another child's toy, she thinks it +lawful for her son to rob a woman like herself of her life and her +honor. And she who advised him never to oppress the weak, now permits +him to range himself among the oppressors of a human being whom +society has made into a slave."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>These mothers acquiesce in the degrading fact which perverts all +humanity. There is a strong social movement to-day against the white +slave traffic; and at the same time the science of eugenics has arisen +which tends to protect the health of posterity.</p> + +<p>These are excellent things. But the question which lies at the root of +all these questions is a spiritual question. It is not the white +slaves who are the "lost" human beings; they are the victims of a +universal act of perdition and slavery. If such a grave spiritual +danger is hanging over us, what external hygiene can save us, unless +it is preceded by a direct struggle against this danger? The really +"lost" are those who persist in a state of death, without perceiving +it.</p> + +<p>If any one perceives the danger, he may by this mere fact find himself +in the way of salvation. The so-called white slaves, held in scorn by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +society and oppressed by punishment, cry vengeance in the sight of the +universe, and cover mankind with shame; but they are not the really +lost—they are not the only slaves. He who is lost is the innocent, +well-educated young man who, without remorse, unconscious of his own +degradation, takes advantage of a human being who is made a slave for +him, and, moreover, covers her with contempt, without hearing the +voice of conscience which admonishes him: "Why beholdest thou the mote +which is in thy brother's eye? Cast out the beam which is in thine own +eye." This man, who seeks, perhaps, to protect his own body from +disastrous consequences, although very often it is not possible to +escape them, and therefore risks, for nothing, suicide of his own +person and of his species; and who only cares to seek a social +position for himself and an honored family—this is the man who is +really lost in darkness, and reduced to slavery.</p> + +<p>And his mother is also a slave, for she cannot follow her son, whom +she brought up with so much care for his body, and who cared for his +moral good with all the passionate love of her heart; she is a slave, +when her son is forced away from her, to go perhaps to death or to the +ruin of his physical health, and to descend into moral degradation, +while she can do nothing but watch him, silent and immovable. She +excuses herself sadly, saying that her dignity and purity forbid her +to follow her son in these paths. It is as if she were to say, "There +is my son, wounded and bleeding; but I cannot follow him, because the +road is muddy, and I might dirty my boots." Where is the heart of a +true mother? How can maternal sentiment fall so low? "She only is +dignified and pure," cries Madame de Héricourt, "who is capable of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +bringing up her son in such a way that he will never have anything +shameful to confess to his mother."</p> + +<p>The mother who has lost all her authority is herself lost.</p> + +<p>Maternal dignity, on the other hand, is great and powerful. Behold in +ancient times the Roman matron, Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus! +Having heard that her son, a traitor to his country, was coming to +attack Rome at the head of an alien army, she went bravely out from +the protecting walls of the city, advanced towards the powerful leader +through the hostile host, and asked him, "Art thou my son, or art thou +a traitor?" At those words Coriolanus renounced his unworthy +undertaking.</p> + +<p>In the same way, in these days, the true mother should pass beyond the +walls of prejudice and the frontiers of slavery, and have sufficient +dignity to be able to confront her son, saying to him: "Thou wilt not +be a traitor to humanity!"</p> + +<p>What pressure can have been brought to bear on a woman to have made +her lose the sacred right of saving her son? and what can have so +weakened affection as to lead a youth to despise the maternal +authority in order to make himself a young man?</p> + +<p>It is this death of the soul and not external facts which pronounce +our sentence.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>If positive science, which has limited itself to the study of the +external causes of maladies, or the causes of degeneration, and has +confined itself to the inculcation of physical hygiene—that is to +say, the protection of material life—has contributed so largely to +morality, how much more may we hope for moral elevation from a +positive science which concentrates upon the protection of the "inner +life" of man?</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +<p>And if the first part, scrupulously following the truth by exact +research, has arrived at the social realization of Christian +principles, we may presume that its continuation, conducted with the +same loyalty and exactitude of research, will in like manner succeed +in filling up the voids which still exist in modern civilization.</p> + +<p>This is, I believe, the clearest and most direct reply to those who +ask what can be hoped for in the morality and religion of the new +generations, from our "pover-ositive" method of education.</p> + +<p>If experimental medicine, by going back to the causes of diseases, has +succeeded in solving the problems which concern health, an +experimental science which concentrates upon the study of normal man's +psychical activities should lead to the discovery of the superior laws +of life and of the health of mankind.</p> + +<p>This science has not yet been established, and awaits its +investigators; but we may foresee that if universal hygiene, which +gives humanity a guide to physical life, has come from medical +research, then this new science should produce a hygiene which will +give to all men practical guidance in moral life.</p> + +<p>And if positive medicine arose in the hospitals, where sick people +were collected by private and public generosity, with charitable +intentions and under the guidance of empiricism, this science should, +above all, concentrate and find its experiences in schools: that is to +say, in the places where all children are gathered together for their +social elevation, and with the empirical guidance of education.</p> + +<p>What was the elevated note of scientific medicine which gradually +superseded the empirical method? While empirical medicine believed in +blood-letting and blistering, scientific medicine elevated and +illustrated the ancient principle which had been forgotten, and which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +contained all the new wisdom in a synthesis: the medicinal force of +nature, <i>vis medicatrix naturæ</i>. A natural power of fighting and +conquering illness exists in the living organism, and it is to this +that we must look in order to construct rational medicine; he who +believes that the doctor and the medicine cure the sick is an +empiricist; but he who knows that it is "only the organism" that can +produce the cure, and that therefore we must protect and assist the +force which nature gives for our salvation, is a scientist.</p> + +<p>Now the sum of treatments necessary to protect the natural forces of +defense and reorganization in positive medicine, are much more minute +and are diffused in much vaster fields than the old empiricism.</p> + +<p>The great number of specialists who replace the single type of doctor +of the last century, is sufficient to emphasize the enormous +difference in practise which the new tendency involves.</p> + +<p>It is interesting also to give a glance at the progress which has been +made in medicine; it has begun to cure diseases; and thence it has +gone on to discover the laws of normal physical life, and to show the +healthy how to preserve their health. When it reached this point it +found that the same measures which are necessary for preserving health +are the best for curing disease; because it is the same source of life +which gives health and the <i>vis medicatrix naturæ</i>. Thus, for example, +the rational diet of to-day is not only a hygienic measure which all +should adopt in order to keep themselves in health, but the most +important factor in the cure of illness. Dietetics, whether for the +victims of gout, pellagra, fever, tuberculosis, or diabetes, is of +primary importance; lithia salts, caffeine, and creosote are useless +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +in comparison. The modern tendency is to reject these poisonous +remedies altogether, and to substitute the natural remedies of rest, +medical gymnastics, hydropathic treatment, and, above all, climatic +treatment. Psychiatry and neuropathology have introduced the treatment +of work: that is, a course of orderly intelligent activity, to give +occupation to individuals who begin to show signs of mental failure. +By degrees, as progress is made in this direction, the conception of +"natural healing" will triumph—the ever clearer conception, that is +to say, of the forces which sustain life.</p> + +<p>It is only Nature which can do everything, and if the doctor is to +become useful he must follow in her footsteps and serve her with +increasing fidelity.</p> + +<p>It is natural that investigation should lead to attempts at +interpreting these forces upon which health depends, and these studies +of "immunity" have been the most brilliant, widely diffused and +scientific of all medical studies.</p> + +<p>When Metchnikoff believed he had discovered that the leucocytes in the +blood absorb and digest microbes and thus save man from infection, it +seemed as if a ray of clear and simple light had illuminated all the +mystery. But no sooner was his theory promulgated than it was +demolished by the successive studies in which it was subjected to a +destructive criticism, because the leucocytes are not always able to +absorb living microbes; certain "conditions" of the organism are +requisite in order that they may have this power, and so the knotty +point was merely shifted. Moreover, it is not the actual microbes +which cause disease, but their toxines. Thus the theories of toxines +seemed to be the true guide for researches; but then we entered into a +sea of complications, and it is obvious that only "aspects" and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +"attributes" of immunity are accessible to us, but that the substance, +the last word, underlying all those aspects which research has +revealed is: mystery.</p> + +<p>For this reason, there is silence to-day as to questions of immunity; +that which was once familiar as a popular idea remains among the +obscure studies which not even the students of the university should +approach.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, it is "impossible" that the medical science founded upon +natural forces should develop, unless the imperative necessity be +recognized of studying the mystery of life which conceals its source, +but continually expands its forces.</p> + +<p>The invisible but real source of health and healing is always there, +at the climax of all efforts; and the palpitating energy which springs +inexhaustibly therefrom is the only reality which makes evident this +revival of the living. This medical science and this mystery cannot +but form a unity.</p> + +<p>It is probable that this will be brought about by that science which +studies the health and the maladies of the soul. If this should +discover that the soul, too, is corruptible, subject to disease and +death, that it has its laws of health and its <i>vis medicatrix naturæ</i>, +treatments tending to respect and aid this precious force of life +should multiply immeasurably; and at the same time the mysterious +source whence it gushes should impose itself on modern medicine, as +the question of immunity has done. Then life, morality and religion +will be indissolubly united.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Let us now turn to children of two and a half and three years old, who +touch everything, but especially those objects which they evidently +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +prefer, the most simple objects, as, for example, a square block of +paper, a square inkstand, or a round, shiny bell. All things which +"are not meant for them."</p> + +<p>Then the mother comes and takes them away; half caressing, and at the +same time tapping the little hands, she calls out, "Don't touch! +naughty!" I once was present at one of these many family scenes, which +pass unnoticed. The father, who was a doctor, was sitting at the +writing-table; the mother was holding in her arms a very small child, +who was stretching out its little hands to the various objects upon +the table. The doctor said, "That child is incorrigibly naughty, +although it is so young. However much its mother and I try to cure it +of this fault of touching my things, we never succeed." "Naughty! +naughty!" repeated the mother, holding its little hands tightly, while +the child threw itself back, howling, and throwing its feet about as +if it wished to kick.</p> + +<p>When children are three or four years older, the struggle becomes more +severe: they want to <i>do</i> things. Those who observe them carefully +discover that they have some "tendency." They wish to imitate what +their mother does, if their mother is a housewife. They willingly +follow her into the kitchen, they wish to share her work, to touch her +things, and they try furtively to knead and cook and wash clothes, and +sweep the floor. The mother feels wearied by them; she keeps on +repeating, "Be quiet; leave it alone. Don't tease me. Go away." Then +the child makes a great noise, throws himself on the ground, and +kicks; but then he begins again to do as much as he can without being +seen, as quickly as possible; and by trying to wash things in a hurry, +gives himself a bath; trying to conceal some contraband ragout, he +makes the floor dirty. The mother's anger, cries, and reproofs +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +increase; and the child reacts with naughtiness and tears; but begins +again almost at once.</p> + +<p>Where the mother does not do her own work, the child, if intelligent, +is still more unfortunate. He looks for something which he cannot +find, and cries for no reason, he flies into a passion for which no +one can account; some fathers lament this, almost with despair. "My +child is very intelligent, but so naughty! nothing will satisfy him. +It is no use to buy toys for him, he is really overdone with them; +nothing is of any use."</p> + +<p>The mother asks anxiously, "What do you advise me to do when the child +is naughty? and when he gets into passions? He is so naughty, he never +keeps still; I cannot contend with him any more."</p> + +<p>It is rare to hear a mother say, "My baby is good—it is always +asleep." Who has not heard some poor mother shout in a threatening +voice to the crying babe in her arms, "Be quiet, be quiet, I tell +you!" and then, naturally the child is frightened, and redoubles its +cries.</p> + +<p>This is the first contest of the man who enters the world: he has to +struggle with his parents, with those who have given him life. And +this occurs because his infant life is "different" from that of his +parents; the child has to form himself, whereas his parents are +already formed. The child must move about a great deal, to coordinate +his movements, which are not yet under control; the parents, on the +other hand, have their voluntary mobility organized, and can control +their movements; perhaps also they are often tired after their work. +The child's senses are not yet fully developed; his powers of +accommodation are insufficient, and need help from touching and +feeling, in order to take account of objects as well as of spaces; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +and his eyes are rectified by the experience of his hands. The +parents, on the contrary, have developed senses, and have already +corrected the primitive illusions of these; their powers of +accommodation are perfect, if they have not spoilt them by abuse; in +every way cerebral activity leads the senses to receive an exact +impression; they have no need to touch. Children are anxious to get +knowledge of the external world; their parents know it too well +already.</p> + +<p>Therefore they do not understand each other.</p> + +<p>Parents want their children to do as they do, and any diversity is +called "naughtiness." Think of the mother who drags her child along +with her; he has to run while she walks; his legs are short, while +hers are long; weak, while hers are strong, he has to bear the weight +of his body and his disproportionately large head, while the mother +has a head and body which are proportionally lighter and smaller. The +child is tired and stands and cries, and the mother exclaims, "Come +on, you naughty little thing! I won't have any nonsense. Do you want +me to carry you, lazybones? No, I won't give in to you."</p> + +<p>Or again, we see mothers who, when their children sit down on the +ground—or lay themselves flat on their stomachs with their feet in +the air, and support themselves on their elbows, while they look round +them, call out, "Off the ground! You are making yourself dirty, +naughty child."</p> + +<p>All this may be translated in this way: "The child is different from +the adult. The formation of his body is such that his head and his +body are enormously large in comparison with his small, slender legs, +because they are the part which will grow most. Hence the child cannot +endure walking, and prefers to lie at full length, which is the most +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +healthy position for him. He has a wonderful tendency towards +development; he gets his first ideas of external life and assists his +senses of sight and hearing by touching, in order to realize the forms +of objects and distance. He moves continually, because he must +coordinate and adapt his mobility. Hence he moves a great deal, walks +very little, throws himself on the ground, and touches everything, and +these are signs that he is alive, and that he is growing." No—all +this is looked upon as naughtiness.</p> + +<p>This is evidently not a moral question. We do not seek for means to +correct these depraved tendencies of the man who is but just born. No, +it is not a moral question. It is, however, a question of life.</p> + +<p>The child seeks to live and we want to hinder him. In that sense it +does become a moral question, as regards ourselves, since we have +begun to examine those errors on our part which do harm, and infringe +the rights of others. Moreover, our own egotism is concealed beneath +our errors of treatment; what we really resent in the child is that he +gives us trouble; we struggle against him in order to protect our own +comfort, our own liberty. How often at the bottom of our hearts we +have felt that we have been unjust, but have stifled this impression. +The little rebel does not accuse us or bear us malice. On the +contrary; just as he persists in his "naughtinesses" which are forms +of life, so does he persist in loving us, in forgiving us everything, +in forgetting our offenses, in longing to be with us, to embrace us, +to sit upon our knees, to fall asleep on our bosom. This, too, is a +form of life. And we, if we are tired or satiated, repulse him, +masking this excess of selfishness under a hypocritical pretense of +concern for the child himself: "Don't be so silly!" Insult and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +calumny are always on our lips in the eternal refrain: "Naughty, +naughty." And yet the figure of the child might stand for that of +perfect goodness, which "thinketh no evil, delighteth not in iniquity, +beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things." As to +us—no, we cannot always say as much of ourselves.</p> + +<p>If the struggle between the adult and the child could be brought to an +end in "peace," and the adult, accepting the conditions of infant +life, would seek to help the child, the former would be able to +advance towards one of the most sublime enjoyments which Nature can +bestow: that of following the natural development of the child, and +seeing the man evolved. If the opening rosebud has become a +commonplace of poetry, how much greater is the poetry of the infant +soul in its manifestations? Now this ineffable gift which was placed +beside us, in order that the miracle might accompany us and comfort +us, we trample under foot in our wrath, blaspheming as if demented.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When the child desires to touch and to act, in spite of "punishments +of every kind," he persists in exercises necessary "to his +development," and displays a strength of will in the matter against +which we are often powerless; he shows the same persistence as in +breathing, in crying when he is hungry, and in raising himself when he +wants to walk. Thus the child turns to external objects which respond +to his needs: if he finds them, he displays his powers in muscular or +sensory exercises, and then he is joyous; and if he does not find +them, he is restless as when his desires are unsatisfied. Toys are too +light to satisfy arms which require to make the efforts necessary in +lifting and moving objects; they are too complex to satisfy senses +which need to analyze a single sensation. They are vanity, and in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +themselves they represent simulacra and parodies of actual life. And +yet they form the world of our children, in which they are constrained +to "consume" their potential powers in a continuous exasperation, +which incites them to destroy things.</p> + +<p>Happily, children do not hear the pronouncement of the common formula, +that children have an "instinct" for destruction. Nor are they +familiar with the other axiom which contradicts this: That the +instinct of "property," in other words, selfishness, is strongly +developed in them. On the contrary, the child has merely the +overpowering instinct to "grow," and therefore to raise and to perfect +himself; in every period of life he seeks instinctively to prepare +himself for the next period. This fact is very much more +comprehensible than the strange instincts we calumniously attribute to +him.</p> + +<p>Just try the experiment of allowing children to act for themselves; +they are at once "transformed." In the Guerrieri Gonzaga Children's +House, it sufficed to provide a comb, to transform the naughtiest, +most rebellious of the children, the one whom the teacher designated +as in need of "taming," into a lively and attractive little girl, who +combed the hair of her companions most carefully, with evident +delight. We had only to say to an awkward, lethargic child, who came +forward holding out her arms to have her sleeves pulled down for her: +"Do it yourself," and there was a flash of intelligence in her eyes, +her weary face was lighted up by an expression of satisfied pride and +amazement, and she began to pull down her sleeves with positive +delight. When these children were given a little basin and a piece of +soap, how carefully they emptied and replaced the receptacle, fearing +to break it, and how caressingly they handled the soap, laying it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +down very gently! It seemed as if the task had been confided to a +mechanism of moving figures, with an accompaniment of music: the +figures were the children, the music was their own joy.</p> + +<p>These children, occupied in dressing, cleaning, washing, combing, +cleansing, and arranging their environment, work <i>themselves</i>. As a +result, they love useful objects so much that they will preserve a +piece of paper for years, and instead of knocking against furniture, +and breaking objects, they perfect their movements.</p> + +<p>But we place ourselves beside these lives which are hastening +triumphantly to their salvation, and seek to bind them to ourselves, +in spite of the struggle which has begun and the fear we have already +provoked. We approach them gently and seductively; and because when a +child breaks things he is obviously grieved, and therefore would +endeavor to correct and perfect his movements, we spare him this +grief, which would be in the nature of "an act of repentance on the +part of the muscles which have transgressed," and give him unbreakable +objects: plates, basins, and drinking vessels made of metal, toys made +of stuff, woolly bears, india-rubber dolls. Henceforth his "errors" +will be concealed. Every error of the muscles will pass unnoticed by +the child: he will no longer feel the pain of evil-doing, repentance, +an effort to perfect himself. He will be able to sink into error; +behold him, clumsy, heavy, without expression in his face, a stuffed +bear in his arms! He is now bound fast to vanity and error, and has +lost all consciousness thereof.</p> + +<p>The adult hems him in ever more closely: he does everything for the +child, dresses him, even feeds him. But the child's desire is not to +be dressed and materially nourished: his deep desire is to "do," to +exercise his own powers intelligently, and thus to rise to his higher +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +level. With what subtle insinuations does the adult seek to confound +him! You are exerting yourself and why? That you may be washed? That +you may put on your pinafore? You can have all this done for you +without any effort. You will find it all done with greater perfection +and ease. Without moving a finger you shall have a hundred times more +done for you than you could accomplish for yourself, even with all the +exertion of which you are capable. You need not even put the bread +into your mouth, you shall be spared even this trouble, and you will +take in nourishment all the more copiously.</p> + +<p>The devil was less cruel when he tempted Christ in the wilderness, +showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. "All +these things will I give Thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." +But the child has not the power to answer like Christ: "Get thee +hence, Satan; for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, +and Him only shalt thou serve." The child ought to obey God, who has +prescribed that his nature shall demand action; and that he should +conquer his world as he has conquered life, to the end that he may +elevate himself and not to the end that he may acquire external +splendor and comfort. When tempted, however, he cannot resist. He ends +by possessing the objects, the pretty, ready-made things; his soul +makes no progress; he loses sight of the goal. Behold the child +clumsy, unsteady, inept, enslaved! Those incapable muscles encase a +captive soul. He is oppressed far more by this fatal inertia than by +the physical contests which initiated his relations with the adult. +Often he has fits of rage like the sinner; he bites the bear that he +cannot break, cries desperately when he is washed and has his hair +combed, rebels and struggles when he is dressed. The only movements +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +allowed by the devil are those of anger. But gradually he sinks into +the depression of impotence. Adults say: "Children are ungrateful; +they have none of the higher feelings as yet; they care only for their +own pleasure."</p> + +<p>Who has not seen patient mothers and nurses, "bearing" from morning +till night the humors of four or five discontented children, who are +screaming and playing pranks with their metal plates and rag dolls? +They seem to say: "Children are like this," and a benevolent +compassion takes the place of the natural reaction of impatience. Of +such persons we say: "How good they are! how patient they are!"</p> + +<p>But the devil, too, is patient after this fashion: he too can +contemplate the agonies and impotent rebellions of the souls which are +in his power, which are prostrate among vanities, oppressed by a great +quantity of means, the ends of which they have lost, souls in which +the consciousness of sin is extinguished, and which are gradually +sinking into an abyss of mortal error. He is patient in contemplating +them, in supporting their cries—and he too offers them bears and +rubber dolls, and feeds them, stuffing them, that is to say, with new +vanities which mask their errors, and nourish their bodies.</p> + +<p>He who, seized with doubt, should ask concerning these mothers and +nurses: "Are they really good?" might get an idea from the reply of +Christ: "None is good save God," that is, the Creator. Goodness is the +attribute of God. He who creates is good, only creation is good. Hence +he only is good who helps creation to achieve its ends.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now we come to the school. Conceptions of goodness and naughtiness +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +must be very definite here, for when a teacher has to leave the +class-room, she calls one of the children, who, during her absence, is +charged to write the names of the "Good" and the "Naughty" in two +columns on the blackboard under these headings. The child, however, +who is called out is quite capable of judging, for nothing is easier +than to distinguish between goodness and naughtiness in schools. The +good are those who are quiet and motionless; the naughty are those who +talk and move. The results of the classification are not very serious. +The teacher gives good or bad "conduct marks." The consequences are +not disastrous; they are, so to speak, akin to the social judgments +passed upon men whose conduct is appraised as good or bad. This does +not affect society, and the judgment entails neither honors nor +imprisonment. It is merely a pronouncement. But "esteem" and even +"honor" depend upon it, things which have a high moral value. In +school "good conduct" means inertia, and "bad conduct" means activity. +The "esteem" of the head mistress, of the teacher and of +schoolfellows, the whole "moral" part, in fact, of the system of +rewards and punishments, depend upon these appreciations. As in +society, they require no "judicial qualifications," no "authority" in +those who form them; they are based on something that "all" can see +and judge; they are the true moral judgment of the environment; +indeed, any one of the children themselves, or even the class-room +attendant, may write the list on the blackboard. There is, in fact, +nothing mysterious or philosophical in conduct; it is the sum of acts +committed, the facts of life itself, accessible to all, which +determine it. And all can see it and pronounce upon it.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, there are much more serious acts, the consequences +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +of which affect the community and touch those principles of justice on +which all are entitled to rely; they therefore require "authoritative +judgments" against which there is no appeal; a kind of Supreme Court +hastily convoked.</p> + +<p>When in an examination the children, seated side by side, have there +and then to give samples of what they have learnt, that is, to hand in +that veritable legal document, an evidence visible and accessible to +all judgments, the written task, be it dictation, composition or +problem; if then one child helps another, he is not merely naughty, +but wicked, for he has not only displayed activity, but activity for +the benefit of another. The punishment may be very serious: the +annulment of the examination, which may sometimes mean the loss of a +whole year's schooling, the repetition of that year's course. A child +who can help another is kind; well, he may be punished by having to +pass the examination again, several months later, or even by having to +go back for a whole year of his life and begin over again. There are +many cases of this kind: the family of this kind-hearted child may +have been very poor, and the child may have been making a great effort +to come out well, and so to be able soon to help his family by his own +childish work; who knows how his comprehension of this family +condition may touch the heart of a child? He may have seen in his +bewildered schoolfellow another poor boy in like circumstances. How +often some quarrel in his home, or insufficient food, may have caused +him to lie in bed, sleepless and excited, for hours? In the morning +his mind was confused. Perhaps his unfortunate schoolfellow had been +in like case just on the eve of the examinations.</p> + +<p>It is essential to understand certain situations: the mother at home +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +counts the days of each school year that passes, because to her these +are so many days sacrificed; she is certainly following her boy at the +examination with a heart full of anxiety; her face at the window when +the child comes in sight asks, when he is yet afar: "How did it go?" +This picture was perhaps present in the heart of the good-natured +child when he helped his comrade.</p> + +<p>He might, of course, keep all this to himself, perfect his own work, +or hand it in first. For justice decrees that the time spent on the +work should be counted by the minute, almost as by the chronometers of +psychological experiment. Justice is rigorous. On the paper handed in +by the child the teacher writes the hour: handed in at 10.32, handed +in at 11.5. If two papers are about equal in merit, so that it can +hardly be said from the contents which is the better of the two, +though both are superior to all the rest, a difficult case arises: it +must be decided which is to be the first. It is a matter of great +weight, because the prize is in question. When there is a doubt, the +hour decides. One paper was handed in at 10.30, the other at 10.35. +The one handed in at 10.30 is pronounced the first, because the writer +was able to do work of equal merit in five minutes less than his +rival. On what may not a prize sometimes depend! Hence a diligent +child must be very careful in his preparations for an examination; the +two in question were equally clever and equally quick; but one had +taken care to have good pens and flowing ink, and the other had not. +Thus his negligence cost him the prize. It is true that the parents +and not the children provide the pens. In strict justice all should +have the same pens, but here we enter into a sea of scruples which +might obscure justice. No, justice must be rigorous, but without +scruples. Now the clever child who helped his companion lost time, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +and so by this alone he lost part of his merit; he therefore +"sacrificed" himself for a comrade.</p> + +<p>No considerations, no extenuating circumstances will be allowed to +mitigate the punishment. Family conditions, the mother ... nothing can +avail against the canceling of an examination. Even in the case of +great criminals extenuating circumstances are admitted in mitigation +of punishment. But school is another matter; here we have to deal with +definite facts: there has been an infiltration of one mind into +another, and we are no longer able to judge the children individually +by their work. Moreover, the examination is the individual test. If +the canceling occurs at the final examination, the culprit must go +through the year again, and when a year is repeated it is the entire +year. It is not as with convicts, where months and weeks are taken +into account. Here the unit of measurement is the school year. And +then there is another point to consider in the case of convicts: their +crimes may have been induced by irresistible forces and conditions, +driving them to do evil.... But who is there who cannot refrain from +doing good? To do good is certainly not an irresistible impulse!</p> + +<p>However, to obviate such inconvenient impulses, school educates +children to refrain from mutual aid throughout the year. It goes even +farther: it directly prevents the children from communicating one with +another. What a chase it is! The clever, practical teacher adopts +regular strategic tactics, and is familiar with all the child's +devices in this covert and deceitful contest. Children are "capable of +anything" to support one another and communicate one with another. If +"prompting" when one child is repeating a lesson might reach the +teacher's ear, we find a companion sitting in front of him with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +open book fastened to his shoulders, where the other is able to read +it. Or if the wily teacher makes the patient come out from among the +desks in order to prevent him from receiving any help, his companions +may make signs to him, perhaps by means of the deaf-and-dumb alphabet. +Then we find the teacher using the blackboard as a pretext for turning +the pupil with his face to the wall, the while she keeps her burning +eyes fixed on the class. Thus the patient is isolated. "Nothing +escapes" a clever teacher; she is capable of surprising a rolled-up +note slipped by one child under the desk of another; and of +confiscating a piece of blotting-paper which two children interchange +on the pretext of using it, when they have written upon it.</p> + +<p>For this reason properly constructed desks should be open in front, +because otherwise it is so easy to pass things under them; whereas +with desks which are not only hygienic but "moral," such subterfuges +would be difficult to carry out.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Indeed, these desks which are open in front also facilitate +surveillance of the scholars from the moral point of view; because, +always seated, placed side by side without any possibility of +spiritual communion, their heads dazed by the continuous vociferation +of the teacher, these children very often contract vicious habits, +such as onanism, which originate in the school itself. These are less +openly discussed than spinal curvature, myopia, and exhaustion from +overwork, but the evil has long been recognized, even before science +entered upon the scene to make a study of the maladies engendered by +school conditions. The sedentary habit impedes circulation in the +pelvic basin, and induces stagnation of the blood; moreover, what +other outlet is provided for the nervous energies? And the evil +spreads in an alarming manner.</p> + +<p>"But open desks make subterfuges impossible. All moral devices for +combating abuses flourish in the school. In the schools in Rome, for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +example, order and surveillance are so perfect that children are not +even allowed to go to the lavatory. It is well known what disorder was +caused by this 'question of the lavatory.' If a child became tired of +sitting still or listening to the teacher, he asked leave to go out: +he was capable of remaining shut up in the lavatory for a considerable +time, in order to raise his spirits a little in a place he preferred +to that he had just left, for pupils are not allowed to linger in the +corridors; the attendants are always on the watch. But these visits to +the lavatory had become such an abuse that it was decided to take +remedial measures. To-day the physiological time is reckoned more or +less exactly, and at a stated hour the whole of the pupils, +accompanied by the teacher, marching in line two by two, like soldiers +drilling, proceed to the lavatories. The children of the first file +enter in succession and the others halt, but continue to mark time; as +by degrees the children come out of the lavatory, they form in file +again, and begin once more to mark time together with their +companions. The movement seems, indeed, appropriate to the occasion. +We will say nothing of the state in which the last children in the +file of forty or fifty (who did not go in as a pretence, since the +'physiological time' had been reckoned) will find the lavatory; nor +will we ask what has become of hygiene. Let us look at the exterior of +the lavatories; they have little doors with a large space above and a +large space below; thus modesty, and at the same time morality, are +safeguarded; within, nothing but the proper duty can be performed. The +more modern lavatories in schools, however, are made without seats; +with an aperture in the ground to obviate contact and ensure hygiene: +the uncomfortable position prevents a longer sojourn than is +necessary. It appears that this is the best practical method for +installations of this kind in common lodging-houses, casual wards, and +schools."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>School is the place where the "social sentiment" is developed; it is +the child's society. As a fact, it is not the school in itself, nor +the intercourse of the scholars, but the education given in the manner +described above which is designed to develop this sentiment. Hence +when my method became known, although I had spoken therein of places +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +where children live together agreeably and work, I was asked in a +critical tone: "And how will the social sentiment be developed if each +child works independently?" We must therefore conclude that this +system of regimentation in which the children do everything at the +same moment, even to visiting the lavatory, is supposed to develop the +social sentiment. The society of the child is therefore the antithesis +of adult society, where sociability implies a free and well-bred +interchange of courtesies and mutual aid, although each individual +attends to his own business; in the society of the child it implies +identity of physical attitudes and uniformity of collective actions, +together with a total disregard of all pleasant and courteous +relations; mutual help which is a virtue in adult society, is here +considered the gravest fault, the worst offense against discipline.</p> + +<p>Modern methods of instruction recommend the teacher to conclude every +lesson with a moral, like the classic fables. Whether the lesson +treats of birds, butter, or triangles, it must always end by pointing +a moral. "The teacher must miss no opportunity," says the pedagogist; +"moralization is the true aim of the school."</p> + +<p>"Mutual aid" is the burden of the pedagogistic refrain, for the +<i>leitmotif</i> of all moralities, not excepting that of the school, is +"to love one another." To exhort children to help one another and show +mutual affection the teacher perhaps adopts a psychological method in +three periods distinguishing perception, association, and volition; or +she may adopt the method of cause in its relation to effect; this is +left to her discretion; but she must always keep her class in a state +of "discipline" and "goodness," for these are its essential +constituents.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +<p>But the factor which affords the most substantial support to the +educative organism of the school is the system of prizes and +punishments.</p> + +<p>Pedagogists make this the main feature of their treatment. All admit +more or less the need of some external stimulus to induce +school-children to study and behave well, although some are of opinion +that it would be well to instil into the child the love of good for +its own sake, and that a sense of duty rather than the fear of +punishment should deter from evil. This opinion is generally +recognized as lofty, but impracticable. To imagine that the child +could be stimulated to work merely by a desire to do his duty is a +"pedagogic absurdity"; nor is it credible that a child could persevere +in the paths of industry and good conduct merely with a view to a +distant end, such as the fine social position he might some day win +for himself in the world by means of study. Some direct stimulus, some +immediate token of approval, is necessary. True, it has been deemed +advisable to make punishments less rigorous and the bestowal of prizes +less ostentatious, and such modifications have now become general. +Indeed, those fustigations and corporal punishments which not very +long ago were usual in prisons, lunatic asylums, and schools have been +abandoned in schools; the penalties of to-day are slight: bad marks, +reproofs, unfavorable reports to the family, suspension of attendance. +The ceremonial prize-giving is also a thing of the past, the solemn +function at which the scholars mounted the platform as in triumph to +receive their prizes from the hands of the noblest and most +distinguished persons of the neighborhood, who accompanied the +presentation with amiable words of encouragement while the public, +consisting mainly of proud and agitated parents, murmured their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +approval and admiration. All these superfluities have been abolished; +the prize, the object, is simply handed to the winner in an ante-room +of the school.</p> + +<p>The important matter is that the child shall receive the object he has +deserved. The medals, too, with which pupils were formerly able to +adorn their breasts, are now abolished; the prize is a book, a useful +object. A sense of the practical has found its way even into our +schools. Perhaps the good children will presently be rewarded by the +presentation of a piece of soap, or the material for an apron, in a +<i>tête-a-tête</i> between giver and recipient.</p> + +<p>But a prize there must needs be.</p> + +<p>However, throughout all the discussions of the pedagogists and the +evolutions of punishments and prizes, no one has dreamt of asking +himself what is the good which is rewarded, and what the evil which is +punished, or whether, before urging children on to an undertaking, it +would not be well to cast a glance at the undertaking itself, and +judge of its value.</p> + +<p>At last positive studies on the school question have shed sufficient +light to enable us to construct a new base for the old question. Is it +well to allure children by a prize, to incite them to exhaust their +nervous systems and injure their eyesight? And is it well to check +them by means of punishments, when, urged by an overpowering instinct +of self-preservation, they seek to avoid these perils? At last we all +know that the prize-winners of the elementary schools are the mediocre +pupils of the high school; that the prize-winners of the high school +are the exhausted students of the academies; and that those who gain +prizes throughout their school career are those who are most easily +vanquished in the battle of life.</p> + +<p>Knowing this, is it well to stimulate on the one hand and to repress +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +on the other, to the end that children may remain in this ruinous +condition? Are not the perils of school life already serious enough, +without adding stimuli to induce them to throw themselves into these +perils with all their energies? A number of deeply interesting +comparative studies have been made of late on clever and stupid +school-children, those who gain prizes and those who incur punishment. +Certain anthropologists, somewhat ingenious in matters of science, +have studied the question in such good faith that they have even +proposed to inquire whether the more brilliant prize-winners show +evidences of morphological superiority, congenital marks of a natural +privilege, a brain more highly developed than that of mediocrity. On +the contrary, anthropological notes reveal their physical inferiority, +i.e. their low stature and their remarkably narrow chest measurements. +Their heads are in no way distinguished from those of less clever +scholars; many of them wear spectacles.</p> + +<p>Thus we get a clearer picture of the life of a child who diligently +performs all his tasks with a dread of making mistakes which may +become positive anguish; who learns all his lessons, thus of necessity +depriving himself of a walk, a saunter, an hour of rest. Obsessed by +anxiety to be the first, or even stimulated by illusions of a future +more brilliant than that of his companions, exhilarated by the praises +and prizes which make him believe himself to be "one of the hopes of +his country," and the "solace of his parents," he rushes forward to +future impotence, as if dazed by a fairy vision. His careless +companions, on the other hand, have well-developed chests, and are the +merriest boys in the class.</p> + +<p>Other types of clever pupils are those who are helped at home by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +tutors, or educated mothers who devote themselves to their +advancement; while other types of dull pupils, often punished, are +poor children who are not made welcome in their homes, but are left to +themselves, sometimes in the streets; or who are already working for +their bread in the early hours of the morning, before coming to +school. In an inquiry I made, the children who were praised and passed +without examination were in the category of those who brought a good +luncheon with them; the children at the bottom of the class, who +incurred punishments, were those who brought no provisions, or only a +piece of bread.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that the above is an exhaustive enumeration of +the causes which contribute to the deceptive phenomenon connected with +prizes and punishments; but it is obvious that a clearly defined road +has been marked out which should lead us to comprehension of the +facts.</p> + +<p>Prizes and punishments are not merely final episodes, they are +exponents of the moral organization of the school. Just as the +annulment of the examination of a pupil who has helped a companion is +but the extreme instance of "an education" which tends to isolate the +individual in his egotism; so the prize and the punishment are the +extreme incidents of the constant principle on which the organism of +the school is based: emulation. The principle is that children, seeing +others cleverer than themselves, who get high marks, praises and +prizes, will be stimulated to imitate these, to do better, to overtake +their companions. Thus what may be described as a kind of mechanism is +evolved, which uplifts the whole school, not merely towards work, but +towards effort. It is the moral purpose to accustom children to +"suffer."</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +<p>Let us take an example of such emulation. When the observant doctor +entered the school, his attention was directed to the organs of sense, +and he found many slightly deaf children among the pupils. Hearing +less than the others, they appeared less intelligent, and as a +"punishment" they had been relegated to the desks at the very back of +the schoolroom. They were often set to repeat because they had never +learnt to write "from dictation," and made incredible and unpardonable +mistakes. Emulation and punishment had alike proved powerless; not +even when they were placed as far as possible from the teacher did +these deaf children improve! There were also lively children, who were +repeatedly punished to induce them to keep still, and who were vainly +exhorted to imitate companions whose conduct was exemplary. A large +number of children suffering from adenoids, who consequently breathed +through their mouths, and were incapable of fixing their attention, +got bad marks and punishments because they were never attentive; +meanwhile this defect of the open mouth was vainly combated by the +kind and careful teacher, who multiplied moral tales concerning the +ugliness of children who keep their mouths open, and, terrible to +relate, even sit with their fingers in their mouths!</p> + +<p>Many of the lazy children, who would not do the gymnastic exercises +like the rest, who made pretexts for stopping and thus set a bad +example, were found to be suffering from heart affections, anemia, or +liver complaints. Yet one of the most brilliant examples of emulation +is that of the gymnastic competitions, competitions in endurance and +competitions in speed. The children are encouraged to continue the +exercise as long as possible; or to cover the ground in the shortest +possible time; here effort is the basis of the exercise. Now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +anthropological study has revealed the fact that there are two +principal types of constitution: one in which the chest predominates, +the other in which the legs predominate. When the chest is well +developed and the lungs and heart strong, endurance is more natural +than agility; the opposite holds good of the other type, in which, by +reason of the length of the legs and the slightness of the chest, +agility prevails. No emulation can change one type into the other. +Morphological study of the child, whose body is transformed in +successive ages, should be the basis for the organization of gymnastic +exercises, and not emulation. That which has its origin in the body, +as constitution or disease, should be considered in the body. No +miracle can be performed by the sentiment of emulation.</p> + +<p>This prejudice in favor of emulation is so deeply rooted that when, in +1898, I began my campaign in Italy to procure the formation of +separate classes for deficient children in connection with the +elementary schools, the principle of emulation was urged against me: +the deficient children would no longer be helped by the example of the +clever, industrious children; and when these weaklings had been +deprived of the stimulus of emulation, they would accomplish +absolutely nothing.</p> + +<p>But emulation can only avail among equals. When "competitions" take +place, "champions" are chosen. To a deficient child, the example of a +clever companion is merely humiliating; his inferiority, his impotence +are perpetually cast in his teeth by the victorious career of his +comrade. He becomes more and more discouraged as the zealous teacher +scolds and punishes him for his weakness and points out the radiant +example offered by the strong. What would give him a ray of light, a +glimpse of hope, would be for him to see the possibility of doing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +something within the limits of his own powers which might nevertheless +have a value of its own; to penetrate into some sphere where he too +might compete with some one and be encouraged. Then he would be like +others, he would be exhilarated and comforted; and the feeble flower +within him might expand. He has infinitely greater need of +encouragement, solace, and external stimuli to excite him to activity +than the normal child.</p> + +<p>And what happens to the normal child, the clever boy, who serves as an +example to his inferiors? Whom does he emulate? Who carries him along +that he may ascend? If all need to be drawn upwards in order to climb, +who is to draw him who stands above all? This time the question is out +of place. In his case, the impulse will be retrograde. Here we have +the thrice happy type of him who competes with his inferiors! This +makes me think of a description given by Voisin of a competition +arranged by one of the idiots in his asylum. This boy, who was very +tall, selected all the shortest and youngest of the idiots, and +challenged them to a race; he always came in first and was delighted. +Such an example is not, however, peculiar to Voisin's asylum; it is +the <i>moral attitude</i> of all who are ambitious, but idle, and are +anxious to outshine others without too much fatigue, without +perfecting themselves, counting much on the phenomena of contrast. +Thus we find a fluent orator seeking to be preceded by an unskilful +speaker; and pretty girls who have not the means to adorn themselves +and thus set off their beauty, are fond of going about with their +plainer friends.</p> + +<p>I have read an amusing fable, which was evidently a parody of this +phenomenon. There was once a king who had such a long nose that it was +positively ridiculous. When a neighboring king proposed to visit him, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +he was much perturbed, being ashamed to exhibit his defect to a +neighboring people. Then the prime minister thought of an expedient, +and propounded this practical plan to the king: "Your Majesty, on this +occasion let your noble court retire; I will search throughout the +kingdom for the men with the most prominent noses, and for the time +they shall constitute your court." This was done; and such noses +appeared on the scene that that of the king seemed quite normal in +comparison. Thus the august colleague noticed that the court was +remarkable for its noses, but did not perceive that the king had a +nose of abnormal length.</p> + +<p>These stories of the competition between idiots and the court of noses +make us smile; but the normal competitions between our children are +not matters for mirth. The healthy children who, when side by side +with the deaf, the sickly, and the deficient are only conscious of +their superiority; the fortunate children who have the help of +educated mothers and are brought into contact with poor, unhappy, +neglected children, merely feel that they are examples to these; +well-fed children refreshed by a long sleep in comfortable beds, +placed side by side with little busy workers who get up before sunrise +to sell newspapers, or deliver milk, and arrive at school already +tired, imagine themselves to be superior to these, and to serve as a +"stimulus" to them "to do better"—all these normal children are on +the wrong moral track. They are being misled into an unconscious +acceptance of injustice. They are being deceived. They are not better, +they are only more fortunate than their companions; their kindly +hearts should be led to recognize the truth; to pity the, sickly, to +console the unfortunate, to admire the heroes. It is not their fault +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +if, instead of all this, vanity, ambition, and error spring up in +their hearts.</p> + +<p>It is true that the teacher makes an attempt to educate their hearts +aright, reminding them of ailing, unfortunate, and heroic children by +means of moral stories which all learn without distinction in the same +manner. She lays stress upon incidents illustrating the good feeling +of mankind. Yet no one ever considers that the ailing, the +unfortunate, and the heroic are all there among them, since all +children go to school; but they cannot communicate with each other and +recognize each other; and thus these subjects who are actually present +are distinguished only as the ones who receive all the scoldings, +punishments, and humiliations while their more fortunate companions +lord it over them arrogantly as their examples, gaining prizes and +praise, but losing their own souls in the process.</p> + +<p>In this moral confusion, where man "loses sight of God," as in hell, +what strong spirit is stimulated to develop all his precious +activities and cultivate his own heart? All are lost, the strong as +well as the weak; few indeed are those who possess an individual +instinct capable of saving them, who do not succumb to the temptations +of prizes, threats of punishment, to the continual suggestions of +emulation and of fraudulent rivalry, and who come out with their +powers still intact and their hearts pure, sensible of the great facts +of humanity. Those who pass through the ordeal untouched by its empty +glories and persecutions, and set forth on the path of a productive +life which attains to beauty and goodness by internal energy and is +susceptible to truth—these are they whom we hail as men of genius, as +benefactors of the human race.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +<p>When we come to analyze good and evil positively, we feel that in +<i>reality</i> much of the "evil" we theoretically deplore in individuals +may be resolved into external causes. The depravity of the masses +resolves itself into the combined effects of pauperism and +drunkenness; crime into degeneration; the faults of children and +scholars arise from the darkness of prejudice. But as these causes are +not absolute and immutable, but are related to transitory states which +may be altered, the ancient philosophic conception of evil resolves +itself partially into so many social questions and actions. To give +work and combat the drink habit—this it is which contributes largely +to morality by removing so many causes of evil. To undertake the +regeneration and education of the degenerate, is to combat crime, and +therefore to promote morality.</p> + +<p>Thus, if in schools the dense darkness of prejudice is the cause of +innumerable moral ills, to reform the school by the help of natural +principles will be the first step towards its moralization.</p> + +<p>It is in this direction, then, that we must face the great question, +not by analytical examination of the system of prizes and punishments, +of the principle of emulation, of the most opportune and practical +manner of inculcating moral principles, nor by the creation of new +decalogues. That which we have hitherto regarded so lightly as a +didactic problem is, on the contrary, a great and veritable social +question.</p> + +<p>When a moral problem is limited to the <i>effects</i> of preventable +causes, it is merely apparent. Thus, for instance, let us imagine for +a moment a populous quarter, where pauperism is rampant and the poor +will fight for a piece of bread; where dirt, drinking-shops and civic +neglect degrade the inhabitants; where all, men and women alike, give +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +way readily to vice. Our sole impression of such people at the moment +is: "What wicked people!" On the other hand, let us take the modern +quarter of an industrious city, where the houses of the people are +hygienic, where the workpeople receive a fair remuneration for their +labor, where popular theaters, conducted with a true sense of art, +have taken the place of public-houses, and let us enter one of the +restaurants where workpeople are enjoying their food in a quiet, +civilized fashion; we should be inclined to say: "What good people!" +But have they really become good? Those who ameliorated their social +conditions were the good people. But the individuals who have +benefited by their exertions "live better"; they are not, strictly +speaking, "more meritorious" in the moral sense.</p> + +<p>If they were, we should only need to imagine a society in which the +economic problem had been solved, to behold men who have become +"moral" solely in virtue of having been born in a different age. It is +obvious that the moral question is a very different one; it is a +question of life, a question of "nature," and one which cannot be +solved by external eventualities. Men may be more or less fortunate, +they may be born in more or less civilized surroundings, but they will +always be men confronted by a "moral question," which goes down deeper +than fortune or civilization.</p> + +<p>It is very easy to be convinced that the so-called "naughtiness" of +children is the expression of a "struggle for spiritual existence"; +they want to make the men within them live, and we try to hinder them; +we offer them the poisons of darkness and error. They fight for their +spiritual bread as the poor fight for material bread; and degrade +themselves by falling victims to our seductions just as the poor +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +degrade themselves by succumbing to the fascination of alcohol; and in +this struggle and this degradation children have revealed themselves +as the "poor" and "needy," neglected and destitute. None has ever +demonstrated more clearly than they that "man does not live by bread +alone," and that the "question of bread" is not the real "question of +man." All the suffering, all the struggles, all the claims of society +in the past with regard to bodily needs are repeated here with amazing +clarity in connection with spiritual needs. Children want to grow, to +perfect themselves, to nourish their intelligence, to develop their +internal energies, to form their characters and to these ends they +need to be liberated from slavery, and to conquer "the means of life." +It is not enough to nourish their bodies: they are hungry for +intellectual food; the clothes which protect their limbs from the cold +are not enough for children: they demand the garments of strength and +the ornaments of grace to protect and adorn the spirit. Why have we +adults stifled these wants till we have almost come to believe that +the economic question is the true solution of the problem of human +life? And why have we never imagined that, even after such a solution, +strife, anger, despair, and degradation might reappear as a result of +higher desires left unsatisfied? Such strife, anger, despair and +degradation we encounter continually in the children of to-day, who +are nevertheless well fed, well clothed and well warmed, in accordance +with the standards of perfected physical hygiene.</p> + +<p>To respond to the intellectual needs of man in such a manner as to +satisfy them is to make an important contribution to morality. Indeed +our children, when they have been able to occupy themselves freely +with intelligent work, and have also been free to respond to their +internal wants, to occupy themselves for a long time with chosen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +stimuli, to perform abstract operations when they were sufficiently +mature, to concentrate their minds in meditation, have shown that +order and serenity have been evolved within them; and after this, +grace of movement, the capacity for enjoyment of the beautiful, +sensibility to music, and finally, amenity in their relations to each +other, have sprung up like a jet of water from an internal fount.</p> + +<p>All this has been a work of "liberation." We have not made our +children moral by any special means; we have not taught them to +"overcome their caprices" and to sit quietly at work; we have not +inculcated calm and order by exhorting them to follow the examples of +others, and explaining how necessary order is to man; we have not +lectured them on mutual courtesy, to instil the respect due to the +work of others, and the patience with which they should wait in order +not to infringe the rights of others. There has been none of all this; +we have merely set the child free, and helped him to "live." It is +<i>he</i> who has taught <i>us</i> "how" the child lives, and what other needs +he has besides his material wants.</p> + +<p>Thereupon an activity formerly unknown among little children, together +with the virtues of industry, perseverance and patience, manifested +themselves amidst crises of joy, in an atmosphere of habitual +serenity. These children had entered upon the paths of peace. An +obstacle hitherto opposed to nature had been removed.</p> + +<p>And just as men satisfied by nourishing food and removed from the +dangers of poisons, have grown calmer, and have shown themselves +capable of preferring the higher pleasures to base and degrading +indulgence, so the child, his internal needs satisfied, has entered +the sphere of serenity and has shown his tendency to ascend.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +<p>All this, however, has not touched the roots of the moral question; +but it has stripped and purged it of all the dross that encumbered it. +The more fully a man's wants are satisfied, the happier he is; but he +is not already "full of merit," as we divine that a man gifted with a +lofty moral sense ought really to be. Rather have we deprived man of +his merits; "goodness" has disappeared as well as "wickedness" at the +advent of social reform. When we discovered that many forms of +goodness were forms of good fortune, and many forms of evil-doing were +forms of misfortune, we left man absolutely naked, stripped bare by +truth. He must then take up his real life at its roots and "acquire +merit." At this point he will begin to be born anew morally, emerging +from the pure and essential chrysalis of the "hygienically" living +man.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>If the whole structure of our educative method starts from an act of +concentrated attention to a sensory stimulus, and builds itself up on +the education of the senses, limiting itself to this, it would +evidently not take the whole man into consideration. For if man does +not live by material bread alone, neither does he live solely by +intellectual bread.</p> + +<p>The stimuli of the environment are not only the objects, but also the +persons, with whom our relations are not merely sensory. In fact, we +are not content to admire in them that beauty to which the Greeks were +so sensitive, or to listen to their speech or their song. The true +relations between man and man, though they are initiated by means of +the senses, are established in sympathy.</p> + +<p>The "moral sense" of which positive science speaks is to a great +extent the sense of sympathy with our fellows, the comprehension of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +their sorrows, the sentiment of justice: the lack of these sentiments +convulses normal life. We cannot become moral by committing codes and +their applications to memory, for memory might fail us a thousand +times, and the slightest passion might overcome us; criminals, in +fact, even when they are most astute and wary students of codes, often +violate them; while normal persons, although entirely ignorant of the +laws, never transgress them, owing to "an internal sense which guides +them."</p> + +<p>Positive science includes in the term "moral sense" something complex +which is, at the same time, sensibility to public opinion, to law, and +to religion; and multiplying it thus, it does not clearly define in +what "moral sense" consists. We talk of it intuitively; each one has +within himself something that "responds" to the appellation; and by +this internal response he must understand and decide in what this +"moral sense" consists. But religion is simple and precise: it calls +this internal sense which lies at the root of life, Love. Social laws +do not enter into this any more than does the entire universe. Love is +the contact between the soul and God; and when this exists, all the +rest is vanity. Good springs therefrom naturally, as sunbeams radiate +from the sun. Creation itself has been given in charge of this +wellspring of love, and it is love which maintains it, as the +contribution of the creature to the provident forces of nature.</p> + +<p>Those biological studies which seek to probe the secrets of nature +have also recognized love as the key of life. Scientists have at last +perceived, after much research, this most evident fact: that it is +love which preserves the animal species, and not the "struggle for +existence." In fact, the struggle for existence tends to destroy; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +as regards survival, this is not the exclusive privilege of the +"fittest," as was at first supposed. But existence is indeed bound up +with love. Indeed, the individuals who struggle and conquer are +adults; but who is it that protects the new-born creature and infant +life in process of formation? If a hard and horny covering is the +natural protection of his species, he does not possess it; if it is +strength of muscle, he is weak; if it is tusks, he is without them; if +it is agility, he cannot yet move; if it is fecundity, he is not yet +mature. Therefore, all species should have become extinct, for there +is none so strong but that he once was weak; and there is no infancy +which is not more feeble than any adult life. It is love which +protects all this weakness, and explains "survival." Maternal love, +indeed, is studied to-day with the deepest attention by our scientists +as a natural phenomenon. If the struggle for existence presented to us +a uniform picture of destruction, the phenomena of maternal love are +to-day revealed to us in the richest and most fascinating forms, which +almost represent the occult and sentimental aspect of the marvelous +varieties of forms in nature. It is seen at last to be one of the +"fundamental characteristics of the species," which should be +recognized by all students.</p> + +<p>Even insects, which Fabre has described with such a wealth of detail, +small and remote as they are from ourselves, exhibit wonderful +phenomena of maternal love. One of the first articles published by a +naturalist on these phenomena, <i>La Psychologie d'une Araignée</i> (The +Psychology of a Spider) might serve as the motive of a drama. The +spider, as is well known, makes a bag of threads, which she generally +attaches to the backs of leaves, and in it she deposits and preserves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +her eggs; she gets into it herself together with the eggs, to protect +the treasure of the species. If the bag should be broken at any point, +the spider promptly repairs it. By way of experiment, a spider was +taken out of the bag, and kept at a distance for twenty days. What is +a spider? A few cubic millimetres of a dark, flabby substance without +brain or heart, whose life is so short that twenty days constitute a +very long interval for it; but this small creature never relaxed her +efforts to escape, and her agitation never abated; finally, when she +was liberated at the end of the twenty days, she fled to the bag, hid +herself in it, and repaired the walls. Where was all this love and +memory concentrated? This mother-spider was then removed from the +nest, and another spider was introduced, which at once adopted the +offspring, acted the mother, defended the nest from attack, and +repaired the walls if they were damaged. There must therefore be a +maternal instinct in the species, independent of actual maternity. But +when the real mother approached the adopted bag, not only did the +foster-mother make no attempt to defend it, but she fled and gave up +her place. By what phenomenon of telepathy did the visitor concealed +in the bag feel the maternal power approaching? The following was the +end of the experiment: the little spiders were hatched, and remained +in the bag together with their mother; the experimenter tore the bag +to see what would happen; the little spiders fled in every direction, +but the mother remained crouching on the tattered fragments of the +nest, and died, almost violently, killed by the destruction of her +offspring. Maternal love, therefore, does not require complicated +organs; it needs neither brain, heart, nor senses, and seems almost to +exist without matter; it is the force which life assumes to protect +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +and preserve itself, a force which seems to exist before and to +accompany creation, like that wisdom of which Solomon speaks: "The +Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of +old.... When there were no depths, I was brought forth.... Then I was +by him as a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing +always before him.... Whoso findeth me findeth life."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But long before biologists perceived that love is the powerful force +which protects the species, and explains its survival, religion had +pointed to love as the force which preserves life. In order to live, +it is not enough to be created; the creature must also be loved. This +is the law of nature. "He who loveth not ... abideth in death." When +Moses gave the decalogue which was to guide the Hebrews to salvation, +he preceded it by the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all +thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." When the Pharisees came to +Christ, asking Him to declare the Law, He answered: "Do you not know? +Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"; as if to say: the law is +evident and unique, it is the law of life, and for this reason must +always have existed, from the very beginning of the world. But to St. +Peter, who was to be the head of the new religion, love the transition +from the old to the new order was more fully explained: "Love," said +Christ, "even as I have loved you," that is to say, not as you are +capable of loving, but as I am capable of loving. There is a deep gulf +between the manner in which men are able to love themselves and that +in which Christ can love men. Men often rush headlong to their own +perdition; they are capable of confounding good with evil, life with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +death, food with poison. Little confidence can therefore be felt in +the injunction: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." And it was in truth a +new commandment that Jesus gave, when He said: "Love even as I have +loved you."</p> + +<p>Moses, indeed, had been obliged to supplement the law of love by a +decalogue of practical injunctions: "Honor thy father and mother, Thou +shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false +witness, Thou shalt not covet." Christ, on the other hand taught that +it will be enough if we do not demand measure for measure in love, and +that there will no longer be any need of the support of rules. We must +let the measure overflow; and behold! this in itself opens to man the +door of salvation. "If ye love them which love you, what thank have +ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to +them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do +even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what +thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much +again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for +nothing again, and ye shall be the children of the Highest" (St. Luke +vi, 32-35).</p> + +<p>Set yourselves free from all bonds and all measurements and lay hold +of the one thing needful: to be alive, to feel; this was the +revelation made by Christ when, like Moses, He went up into the +mountain, but without hiding Himself from the people, calling the +crowd indeed to follow Him, and openly expounding all the secrets of +truth: Blessed are those who feel, even if they suffer, for to suffer +is to feel, to live. Blessed are those who weep, blessed are those who +hunger for righteousness, blessed are the persecuted, blessed are +those whose hearts are pure and free from darkness. For he who feels +shall be satisfied; but he who cannot feel is lost; woe to those who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +lie down in comfort, woe to those who are full, woe to those who +laugh—they have lost their "sensibility." And then all is vanity. +What is the use of knowing all the moral laws, and even practising +them, if the heart be dead? It is as if we should whiten the tomb of a +corpse. The moral, self-satisfied man, without a heart, is a tomb.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>The education of the moral sense</b>.—Thus the conception of moral +education, like that of intellectual education, must include a basis +of feeling, and be built up thereupon, if we are not to lead the child +towards illusion, falsity and darkness. The education of the senses, +and liberty to raise the intelligence according to its own laws on the +one hand; the education of feeling, and spiritual liberty to raise +oneself, on the other—these are two analogous conceptions and two +parallel roads.</p> + +<p>Consider our position in relation to children. We are their "stimuli," +by which their feeling, which is developing so delicately, should be +exercised.</p> + +<p>For the intellect, we have the various objects, colors, forms, etc.; +but for the spirit, the objects are ourselves. The pure souls of +children must derive nourishment from us; they should fix themselves +on us with their hearts, as their attention is fixed upon some +favorite stimulus; and by loving us they should exalt themselves in +their intimate spiritual creation.</p> + +<p>When interest leads the child to take the box of colors, and keeps him +absorbed in them, the objects lend themselves passively to his +manipulation, but the colors reflect the luminous rays of the sun, +which then strike the virgin retinæ of eyes not as yet completely +matured and adapted. So, too, when the child's heart turns to us, and +fixes itself, asking nourishment from our souls, we ought to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +always ready, like passive objects, inasmuch as we should never, +through our egotism, fail to respond to the child's needs; we should +respond with all our intimate energies, to reflect upon him the +luminous rays required by his pure soul, as yet unadapted to life.</p> + +<p>We ought not to call him by name, and offer him our affection, +inviting him to accept our help; but, like the material objects which +attract him by their smoothness, their luster, and their varied and +interesting forms, and by ocular demonstration of the means of lofty +intellectual exercise, as in the colored alphabets and the rods which +contain the first secrets of numeration—we, too, should wait; not +coldly, but rather making the child feel that we contain a rich +material which is at his disposal, ready to be taken as soon as he +stretches out his hand to grasp it. Our "response" to the child should +be as full, as prompt and as complete as that of the objects which he +may manipulate, but which at every touch give an upward impetus to the +intellectual life of the child.</p> + +<p>How many persons must have noted that on some occasion when they have +caressed children, the little ones have retreated, as if repelled and +offended; and many must also have remarked that when the affectionate +impulse of a child has been checked, he shrinks into himself, +humiliated, like the mimosa when touched. Now the respect we owe to +the spiritual liberty of the child should manifest itself as follows: +we must never force our caresses on him, greatly as we may be +attracted by his fascinating graces; nor must we ever repel his +outbursts of affection, even when we are not disposed to receive them, +but must respond with sincere and delicate devotion. We are the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +"objects" of his love, the objects by means of which he is organizing +his life. The most perfect teachers and mothers will be those who will +take the didactic material for their model, and imitate this by +filling themselves in every sense with moral riches and being full of +response in every detail; passive in abnegation, yet active as +wellsprings of affection. And if all the sensorial objects combine all +possible vibrations accessible to man—the vibrations of light and +color, as also those of sound and heat, so too should they combine in +themselves all the vibrations of internal sensibility, waiting for the +thirsty soul to choose among them.</p> + +<p>It may be asked: And how shall we make the child love us; how shall we +make the child "feel"?</p> + +<p>If a child could not see colors he would be blind; and no one could +give him sight. And so if the child could not feel, no one could give +him sensibility; but since Nature has united mother and child not only +by the flesh, but even more closely by love, it is indubitable that at +birth the child brings with him not only flesh but love. Now he who +loves, even though it be only a single object, has in himself a sense +which is capable of receiving impressions <i>ad infinitum</i>; he who sees +an object possesses sight, therefore he who sees an object will see. +He who loves a mother or a son, "loves"; that internal sense vibrates, +and certainly not only to the object present to it at the moment.</p> + +<p>Even that poor spider, artificially deposited in the bag of another +mother, adopted and defended the alien eggs, because the spider is +capable of maternal love.</p> + +<p>Therefore the child whom his mother has loved and who was helped by +that love, has that "internal sense" by means of which he is capable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +of love. The "human objects" which present themselves to that sense +have reflections from it.</p> + +<p>We should "wait to be seen" by him; the day will come when, among all +the intellectual objects, the child will perceive our spirit, and will +come to us to take his ease within us. It will be to him a new birth, +akin to that other awakening, when some one of the objects first +attracted him and held him. It is impossible that that day, that +moment, should not arrive. We have performed a delicate work of love +towards the child, presenting to him the means which satisfy his +intellectual needs, without making ourselves felt, keeping ourselves +in the background, but always present and ready to help. We have given +great satisfaction to the child by succoring him; when he needed to +clarify the order of his mind still further by language, we offered +him the names of things, but only these, retiring at once without +asking anything from him, without putting forward anything from +ourselves. We have revealed to him the sounds of the alphabet, the +secret of numbers, we have put him into relation with things but +restricting ourselves to what was useful to him, almost concealing our +body, our breathing, our person.</p> + +<p>When he felt a desire to choose, he never found an obstacle in us; +when he occupied himself for a long time with an exercise, we were +careful to protect the tranquillity of his work, as a mother protects +the refreshing sleep of her babe.</p> + +<p>When he made his first plunge into abstraction, he felt nothing in us +but the echo of his joy.</p> + +<p>The child found us always indefatigable when he called upon us, almost +as if our mission to him were to offer him what he requires, just as +it is the mission of the flower to give perfume without limit or +intermission.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +<p>He found with us a new life, no less sweet than the milk he drew from +his mother's breast, with which his first love was born. Therefore he +will one day become sensitive to this being who lives to make him +live, from whose self-sacrifice his freedom to live and expand is +derived.</p> + +<p>And undoubtedly the day will come when his spirit will become +sensitive to our spirit; and then he will begin to taste that supreme +delight which lies in the intimate contact of soul with soul, and our +voice will no longer be heard by his ear alone. The power to obey us, +to communicate his conquests to us, to share his joys with us, will be +the new element in his life. We shall see the child who suddenly +becomes aware of his companions, and is almost as deeply interested as +we are in their progress and their work. It will be delightful to +witness such a scene as that of four or five children sitting with +spoons arrested over the smoking bowl, and no longer sensible to the +stimulus of hunger because they are absorbed in contemplation of the +efforts of a very little companion who is trying to tuck his napkin +under his chin, and finally succeeds in doing so; and then we shall +see these spectators assume an expression of relief and pride, almost +like that of a father who is present at the triumph of his son. +Children will recompense us in the most amazing manner by their +progress, their spiritual effusions, and their sweet obedience. The +fruit they will cause us to gather will be abundant beyond anything we +can imagine. Thus it comes to pass when the secrets of life are +interpreted. "Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, +pressed down and shaken together, and running over shall men give into +your bosom."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>The essence of moral education</b>.—To keep alive and to perfect +psychical sensibility is the essence of moral education. Around it, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +as in the intellectual education which proceeds from the exercise of +the senses, <i>order</i> establishes itself: the distinction between right +and wrong is perceived. No one can <i>teach</i> this distinction in all its +details to one who cannot see it. But to see the difference and to +know it are not the same thing.</p> + +<p>But in order that "the child may be helped" it is essential that the +environment should be rightly organized, and that good and evil should +be duly differentiated. An environment where the two things are +confused, where good is confounded with apathy and evil with activity, +good with prosperity and evil with misfortune, is not one adapted to +assist the establishment of order in the moral consciousness, much +less is one where acts of flagrant injustice and persecutions occur. +Under such conditions the childish consciousness will become like +water which has been made turbid, and more poisonous than is alcohol +to the life of the fœtus. Order may perhaps be banished for ever, +together with the clarity of the consciousness; and we cannot tell +what may be the consequences to the "moral man." "Whoever shall offend +one of these little ones, it were better for him ... that he were +drowned in the depth of the sea." "If thy hand or thy foot offend +thee, cut it off and cast it from thee."</p> + +<p>However, the properly organized environment is not everything. Even in +intellectual education it was not the spontaneous exercise alone which +refreshed the intelligence; but further, the lessons of the teacher +which confirmed and illuminated the internal order in process of +development. On these occasions she said: "This is red, this is +green." Now she will say: "This is right, this is wrong." And it will +not be unusual to find children like the one described above, who make +good and evil the center of consciousness, and, placing it above +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +material bread and intellectual nourishment, will propound the +question more vital to them than any other: "What is good? and what is +evil?" But we must not forget that moral lessons should be brief; and +that Moses, the father of the sages, in order to inculcate morality, +not in a child, but in a race, gave ten simple commandments, which to +Christ seemed superfluous. It is true, however, that at the head of +these was the "law" of love; and that Christ substituted for the +Decalogue an amplification of that law, which comprises within itself +all legislations and moral codes.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It is possible that good and evil may be distinguished by means of an +"internal sense," apart from cognitions of morality; and in such a +case, of course, the good and evil in question would be absolute; that +is to say, they would be bound up with life itself and not with +acquired social habits. We always speak of a "voice of conscience" +which teaches us from within to distinguish the two things: good +confers serenity, which is order; enthusiasm, which is strength; evil +is signalized as an anguish which is at times unbearable: remorse, +which is not only darkness and disorder, but fever, a malady of the +soul. It is certain that the laws of society, public opinion, material +well-being, and threats of peril would all be powerless to produce +these various sensations. Often serenity is to be found among the +unfortunate, whereas the remorse of Lady Macbeth, who saw the spot of +blood upon her hand, gnawed at the heart of one who had acquired a +kingdom.</p> + +<p>It is not surprising that there should be an internal sensation which +warns us of perils, and causes us to recognize the circumstances +favorable to life. If science in these days demonstrates that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +means for preserving even material life correspond to the moral +"virtues," we may conclude that we shall be able to divine what is +necessary to life by means of the internal sensibility. Have not the +biological sciences demonstrated an analogous fact? The biometer +applied to man has made it possible to reconstruct the absolutely +average man, that is to say, the man whose body gives average +measurements in every part; and these average measurements have been +found, by means of the statistical and morphological studies of +medicine, to correspond to "normality." Thus the average man would be +a man so perfectly constructed that he has no morphological +predisposition to disease of the organs. When the figure of a man was +reconstructed in accordance with average biometrical proportions, it +was found to correspond in a remarkable manner to the proportions of +Greek statues. This fact helped to give a new interpretation to +"æsthetic sentiment." It was evidently by means of æsthetic feeling +that the eye of the Greek artist was able to extract the average +measurement of every organ, and to construct a marvelous and exact +whole therewith. The "enjoyment" of the artist was his enjoyment of +the "beautiful"; but he felt even more profoundly that which contained +the triumph of life, and distinguished it from the errors of nature, +which predispose to illness. The triumph of creation can give an +intimate pleasure to him who can "feel it"; errors, even slight, will +then be perceived as discords. Æsthetic education is, in short, akin +to the mathematical approximation towards the absolute average; the +more it is possible to approach to the true measure in its extreme +limits, and the closer we can get to this, the more possible does it +become to have an absolute means of comparison for the consideration +of deviations. The great artist is thus able to recognize the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +beautiful in a detail even in the midst of other discordant details; +and the more capable he is of possessing an absolute sense of the +beautiful, the more readily will he perceive any disproportion of +form.</p> + +<p>Something of the same sort may happen in the conscience in relation to +the distinction between good and evil; the more so as the good stands +for real utility in life far more directly than the beautiful, and the +evil may be roughly said to represent danger. Have not animals, +perhaps, an acute instinct of self-preservation, which dictates +infinite details of conduct to them, both for the maintenance of life +and for its protection? Dogs, horses, and cats, and generally +speaking, all domestic animals, do not await the imminent earthquake +quietly and unconsciously, as does man, but become agitated. When the +ice is about to crack, the Esquimaux dogs which draw the sleighs +detach themselves one from the other, as if to avoid falling in; while +man can only observe their amazing instinct with stupefaction. Man has +not by nature these intense instincts; it is by means of intelligence +and the sensibility of his conscience to good and evil that he +constructs his defenses and recognizes his perils. And if this +intelligence of his, which is actually capable of transforming the +world, raises him to such a supreme height above animals, to what a +lofty eminence might he raise himself by developing his moral +consciousness!</p> + +<p>But on the contrary, man to-day is reduced to the point of asking +himself seriously whether animals are not better than he. When man +wishes to exalt himself, he says: "I am faithful as a dog, pure as a +dove, strong as a lion."</p> + +<p>Indeed, animals have always that instinct which is admirable, for it +confers on them a mysterious power; but if man lacks sensibility of +conscience he is inferior to the animals; nothing can then save him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +from excesses; he may rush upon his own ruin, upon havoc and +destruction in a manner that might fill animals with stupefaction and +terror; and if it were in their power they might set themselves to +teach man, that he might become equal to themselves. Men without +conscience are like animals without the instinct of self-preservation; +madmen rushing on destruction.</p> + +<p>What shall it profit man to discover by means of science the law of +physical self-preservation in its most minute details, if he has no +care for that which corresponds in man to the "instinct" of his own +salvation? If an individual has a perfect knowledge of hygienic +feeding, of the manner in which to weigh himself in order to follow +the course of his own health, of bathing and of massage, but should +lose the instinct of humanity and kill a fellow-creature, or take his +own life, what would be the use of all his care? And if he feels +nothing more in his heart? if the void draws him to it, plunging him +into melancholy, what does his well-nourished and well washed body +avail him?</p> + +<p>Good is life; evil is death; the real distinction is as clear as the +words.</p> + +<p>Our moral conscience is, like our intelligence, capable of perfection, +of elevation; this is one of the most fundamental of its differences +from the instincts of animals.</p> + +<p>The sensibility of the conscience may be perfected, like the æsthetic +sense, till it can recognize and at last enjoy "good," up to the very +limits of the absolute, and also until it becomes sensitive to the +very slightest deviations towards evil. He who feels thus is "saved"; +he who feels less must be more vigilant, and do his utmost to preserve +and develop that mysterious and precious sensibility which guides us +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +in distinguishing good from evil. It is one of the most important acts +of life to examine our own consciences methodically, having as our +source of illumination not only a knowledge of moral codes, but of +love. It is only through love that this sensibility can be perfected. +He whose sense has not been educated cannot judge himself. A doctor, +for example, may be perfectly informed as to the symptoms of a +disease, and may know exactly how cardiac sounds and the resistance of +the pulse are affected in diseases of the heart; but if his ear cannot +perceive the sounds, if his hand cannot appreciate the tactile +sensations which give the pulse, of what use is his science to him? +His power of understanding diseases is derived from his senses; and if +this power is lacking, his knowledge in relation to the sick man is +vanity. The same holds good of the diagnosis of our own conscience; if +we are blind and deaf, innumerable symptoms will pass unobserved, and +we shall not know on what to found our judgment. The tedium of futile +undertakings will oppress us from the first moment.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, it is "feeling" which spurs us on towards +perfection.</p> + +<p>There have been persons with an extraordinary power of recognizing +good and evil, just as the Greek artists showed extraordinary powers +of recognizing the normal forms of the body under the guidance of the +æsthetic sense. Saint Teresa tells us that when some worldly person +who was not good approached her, she suffered as if she were inhaling +a bad smell. She explained that of course she did not smell anything +at all, in the material sense; but that she actually suffered, not +merely in imagination; her suffering was a real spiritual distress +which she could not tolerate.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +<p>More interesting still is the following story which refers to the +early Fathers of the Church, who lived in the desert. "We were seated +at the feet of our Bishop," says one of the monks, "listening to and +admiring his holy and salutary teaching. Suddenly there appeared on +the scene the leading 'mime,' the most beautiful of the public dancers +of Antioch, covered with jewels; her bare legs were almost concealed +by pearls and gold; her head and shoulders were uncovered. A throng of +persons accompanied her; the men of the period never wearied of +devouring her with their eyes. An exquisite perfume which exhaled from +her person scented the air we breathed. When she had passed, our +Father, who had looked steadfastly at her, said to us: 'Were you not +fascinated by so much beauty?' We were all silent. 'I,' continued the +Bishop, 'experienced great pleasure in looking at her, for God has +appointed that some day she shall judge us. I see her,' he added, 'as +a soiled and blackened dove; but this dove shall be washed and shall +fly heavenwards, white as snow.' As a fact, this woman returned and +asked to be baptized. 'My name is Pelagia,' she said, 'or such is the +name my parents gave me, but the people of Antioch call me The Pearl, +because of the quantities of jewels with which my sins have adorned +me.' Two days later she gave all her goods to the poor, put on a hair +shirt, and took up her abode in a cell on Monte Oliveto, which she +never left until her death." (Montalembert, <i>Les Moines d'Occident</i>, +vol. 1, p. 86.)</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Our insensibility</b>.—How remote are we from that delicate sensibility +which responds to evil by suffering and to the good perceived in +others as it were miraculously, by a feeling of pleasure! In our +society it is possible for us to live for a long time with a criminal, +to esteem him, press his hand, etc., until he is at last exposed by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +the scandalous discovery of his misdeeds. Then we say: "Who would have +thought it? He always seemed an excellent person."</p> + +<p>And yet it is impossible that the criminal showed no signs, no +perversities of feeling, no heartlessness which should have revealed +him to us from the outset. No one will say that we ought all to become +wonderful æsthetes like the Greek sculptors, or as sensitive as the +saints; but if we admit that it is a barbarous thing to pass by the +beauties of art without perceiving them; that it is the mark of +defective civilization to confound horrible coarseness and monstrosity +with ideal beauty, to be unable to distinguish the strident noise of +the tram-car wheels, or the deafening crash of ill-tuned instruments +from the harmonies of Bellini or Wagner; that each of us would blush +for such insensibility, and would conceal it—how is it we do not +perceive that such obtuseness is habitual to us in moral matters? We +see that we are capable of confusing virtuous persons and criminals, +without any foreboding. How is it that so often in the case of +judicial errors, the voice of the innocent did not resound in our +ears, although his trial was a public one, and we allowed him to +languish in prison for years? How is it that goodness should be so +obscure a thing that we confound it with prosperity? How is it that +those rich men of whom the gospel says "Woe unto you, rich men, for ye +have your reward," can think of "improving the morals" of the poor, +without any examination of their own moral lives or the lives of those +belonging to them? almost as if they believed that the rich are +essentially good and the poor essentially bad.</p> + +<p>If such darkness as this reigned in the intellectual field, we should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +be unable to conceive the form of madness which would present itself +to our eyes. There are confusions in the moral field which it is +impossible to imagine in any other domain of life. If some day the +youth of the nations, more clear-sighted than those of to-day, hear +that the Christmas feast was kept on the battlefields of the European +war, they will understand the origins of the war itself. In such a +situation, David (to whom indeed it would have been inconceivable) +would have accepted the taunt of his enemies as well deserved, when +they asked him: "Where is now thy God?" "We have lost God" would have +been a fitting lamentation. But to celebrate His festival +indifferently under such conditions is to be unconscious of having +lost Him. How long ago did the soul die, and when did the building up +on death begin? What a terrible episode of madness is this monstrous +slaughter, upon which the tree of peace was planted in honor of the +Savior!</p> + +<p>Far indeed are we from the delicate sensibility to evil of Santa +Teresa, or the keenness of spiritual vision which enabled the man of +God to see the white dove beneath the soiled feathers of the sinful +woman. The difference is not as that between the taste of a peasant +and that of an artist, but as that between a corpse and a living man. +It is evident that we have suffered death, albeit we are unconscious +of having died.</p> + +<p>Here, then, and not in hygiene, must we find the secret of our life. +We have something more corruptible than our bodies, a life more +fragile than our physical life; and the peril of darkness hangs over +us. This is the secret of man.</p> + +<p>If man loses the light that leads him on towards a better world, he +falls into an abyss far below all created animals.</p> + +<p>He who loves, therefore, will bestow all his care on these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +wellsprings of life; how frail are the lungs of a new-born infant, how +easily can an unnatural mother deprive him of air and so suffocate +him! Yet what is this easily accomplished act, which nevertheless +destroys a life, in comparison with the infinitely easier and more +deadly act by which we may procure the death of the soul?</p> + +<p>The death of the soul, like that of the body, may be readily +distinguished from a state of insensibility; in vain do we apply a +red-hot iron to a corpse; there is no response.</p> + +<p>He who is alive, however, is not only capable of reacting to a +stimulus very much less intense than a red-hot iron; he who lives and +feels may perfect himself—and this is life.</p> + +<p>It is enough that souls should "feel." How, then, could they live +quietly amidst evil? If under the windows of our house people were +piling up refuse until we felt that the air was being vitiated, could +we bear this without protesting, and insisting on the removal of that +which was causing us to suffer? If, moreover, we had a child, we +should clamor still more loudly, and should even set to work to clear +away the nuisance with our own hands, in our solicitude for his +health. But if the bodies of mother and child lay dead, they would no +longer be conscious of the pestilential air.</p> + +<p>It is characteristic of "life" to purge the environment and the soul +of substances injurious to health. Christ was called "the Lamb that +taketh away the sins of the world," not the Master who preaches, but +He who purifies. And this is the morality that springs from +sensibility: the <i>action</i> of purifying the world, of removing the +obstacles that beset life, of liberating the spirit from the darkness +of death.</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +<p>The merits of which every man feels he owes an account to his +conscience are not such things as having enjoyed music or made a +discovery; he must be able to say what he has done to save and +maintain life.</p> + +<p>These purifying merits, like progress, have no limits.</p> + +<p>"Leave all ties and follow <i>Me</i>," said Christ to those who asked Him +what they should do.</p> + +<p>For man can reinforce his own strength by other powers which will urge +him on upwards towards the infinite; before him who sleeps is the +invisible ladder of Jacob, trodden by angels who call him heavenwards, +that is, towards the supernatural life. Yes, to be <i>more</i> than man. +This is a <i>dream</i> to him who lacks faith; but it is the realizable +goal, the aim of life, to him who has faith.</p> + +<p>To Friedrich Nietzsche, the superman was an idea without practical +consequence, strange and erroneous even when tested by the very +theories of evolution which inspired him. His conception offered no +help in overcoming the ills of humanity; rather was it as a chain +binding man to earth, there to seek means to create of himself the man +superior to himself; and thus leading him astray into egotism, cruelty +and folly.</p> + +<p>But innumerable saints have felt and acted in accordance with their +profession of faith: "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."</p> + +<p>If, as our poet says, man is "the chrysalis destined to become the +angelic butterfly," there is no doubt as to the road he must take: +spiritually, he must either <i>ascend</i> or <i>die</i>.</p> + +<p>Hence it is not the whole of life to obey the laws of hygiene, +physical and psychical; but it is only life which can draw from its +environment the means of its own purification and salvation; that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +life, however, which is supernatural, asks of love and divine light +the strength necessary for its transformation.</p> + +<p>Of a truth, it is not <i>ecstasy</i> which characterizes the saints; it is +the real and victorious struggle of the higher against the lower +nature.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>Morality and religion</b>.—It is well known that in strong religious +impressions, such as the crises of what is called conversion, the +phenomenon is characterized by "an inner light," an "order" which +suddenly establishes itself, and by means of which that which was +before unseen becomes manifest: the distinction between good and evil, +and hence the revelation of oneself. Indeed, the converted, at the +moment when the revelation takes place, seem little concerned with +divinity, or dogmas, or rites; they are persons given over to a +violent commotion, who seem forgetful of all their physical and +intellectual life, and who are absorbed in contemplation of themselves +in relation to a central point of their consciousness, which seems to +be illuminated by some prodigious radiance. The cry of the convert in +the majority of cases is: "I am a sinner!" It seems as if darkness had +fallen away from him, together with all the evil which was corroding, +weakening, and suffocating him, and which at length he saw, when it +was separated from him, terrible, obscure, and full of hideous +dangers. It is this which agitates him, and makes him weep; it is this +which urges him to seek some one who can understand, comfort, and help +him. The converted want help, as do the newly born; they weep and +struggle like men who are born to a new life, and who are restrained +by no human respect, by no restriction. It is their own life they +feel; and the value of their own life seems to them greater than the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +riches and convenience of the whole world. They feel an ecstasy of +relief at having escaped from a great peril; their chief anxiety is +that they may be liberated from the evil that oppresses them. Before +they can take another step forward they are obliged to reconsider the +terrible time when evil was rooted within them, and they felt nothing +of it.</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"And as a man with difficult short breath</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Forespent with toiling, 'scaped from sea to shore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Turns to the perilous wide waste, and stands</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">At gaze; e'en so my spirit that yet fail'd</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Struggling with terror, turn'd to view the straits</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That none hath past and lived."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Carey's translation of Dante's <i>Inferno</i>, Canto I.)</span><br /> + +<p>This evil had held captive all the treasures of the spirit, which, set +free at last, seem to refresh and reanimate the whole world before +their eyes:</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"And what I saw seemed even as a smile.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Irradiating all the universe...."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">(Dante's <i>Paradiso</i>, Canto XXVII.)</span><br /> + +<p>One of the most singular cases of conversion I ever heard described +was the following: A monk, famous for his oratorical gifts, was +preaching in a crowded church to a congregation which was listening to +him with devout admiration. Suddenly he was interrupted by a loud sob, +and a man in the crowd cried aloud, stretching out his hands towards +the pulpit: "I am a great sinner!" The monk, as is usual in such +cases, came to the help of the convert, and received all the +outpourings of that soul, as it stripped itself of the evil which had +been corroding it. Then, curious to know what argument had touched the +heart of this man, he asked him what part of the sermon had specially +borne upon the prodigy. "Ah!" answered the convert, "I never heard a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +single word of what you were saying; I entered the church without +knowing why; at that moment you pointed your finger at me +emphatically. Yes, it is true, I cried, I am a sinner, and I felt as +if a heavy cloak of lead which had been oppressing me had fallen from +my shoulders; then an uncontrollable flood of tears rose from my +heart." Thus no intellectual element played any part in this +conversion; it was not a "conviction," nor even new "knowledge," which +had acted; what had happened was purely a spontaneous phenomenon of +the conscience, which, perhaps after an unconscious preparation, +divided the light from the darkness and initiated the creation of the +new man.</p> + +<p>The convert feels more clearly than any other that evil is an +"obstacle" to a form of enjoyment higher than the loftiest enjoyments +man can taste. He has not only been purified, but his purification has +transformed him. He is like a diamond embedded in dross and mire which +is suddenly separated from the overlying substances, and brought to +the surface, clear and brilliant; it is not only a purified and +magnificent stone; what really transforms it is the sun, which can now +be reflected in it and make it sparkle. This is the unsuspected +splendor which is added to it naturally, and has nothing to do either +with the dross that has been removed, or with the intrinsic qualities +of the gem. The dross not only defiled it, but prevented it from +encountering the rays which should give it its characteristic beauty.</p> + +<p>All devout persons know that evil is a "chain" for us, holding us down +beneath the earth as in a tomb, and that sentiments hostile to love +are so many obstacles which impede our expansion and our free contact +with the divine essence which is within us. The slightest alloy, the +most minute infiltration, suffices to impair our brilliance and to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +cause our ejection from the casket of the elect: a single glance which +judges our brother instead of absolving him, a feeling which hardens +our heart against him, or, finally, the envy which generates devouring +hatred and fury.</p> + +<p>"The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: ... hatred, +variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, +witchcraft, murders." To approach the altar with a heart suffering, be +it ever so slightly, from some seductive stimulus against charity is +vain; it is as if a wounded hare should rush to her form, bearing the +arrow that has pierced her through and through; she goes, not to save +herself, but to die in her form. "Likewise thou, if thou bring thy +gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught +against thee ... go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and +then come and offer thy gift."</p> + +<p>He who forgives an offense does not perform a logical act of justice, +nor does he benefit the person he forgives; hence it is waste of time +to consider whether the offense deserves pardon or not, and whether +the person who committed it needs absolution from us or not. We must +pardon, not from a sense of justice nor for the benefit of the +offender, but for our own sakes; he who forgives has divested himself +of envy and resentment, of all that oppressed and fettered the spirit, +making it powerless to rise. This is why we must forgive: that so we +may burst the bonds which impede our free movement, our ascent. When +we cut the cable of a balloon, we do not consider whether this is just +towards the earth, and whether the cable deserves it; we do it because +it is necessary, to enable the balloon to rise. He who ascends, +moreover, enjoys the marvels of a spectacle which cannot be enjoyed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +on earth. Who would strike a balance between this gain and the +sacrifice of the cable?</p> + +<p>Forgive, and you will feel universal absolution rising to you from the +whole world, in token of your ascent <i>Haec est vera fraternitas, quae +vicit mundi crimina</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>The religious sentiment in children</b>.—But few researches have been +made into the crises of conscience and the spontaneous religious +sentiment of children. It is true that of late years, during the +remarkable religious movement which took place in England, most +surprising instances of religiosity in children occurred; it was after +the little Nelly, aged five, asked for the Eucharist on her death-bed +that Pius X allowed it to be administered to children, irrespective of +their age. But the subject forms a very inconsiderable part of the +positive studies of to-day.</p> + +<p>The solitary study of this kind which has been brought forward in +public congresses on psychology was that which was considered during +the Premier Congrès International de Pédologie, Bruxelles, août, 1911: +<i>Quelques observations sur le développement de l'émotion morale et +religieuse chez un enfant</i>, Ghidionescu, Doct. en Philosophie +(Bucharest). The child who was the subject of observation had received +no religious education whatever. One day he was seen to burst into a +sudden fit of weeping, for no apparent reason. When his mother asked +why he was crying, the child replied: "Because I remember how I saw a +puppy ill-treated two months ago, and at this moment I <i>feel</i> it." A +year and a half later a similar crisis took place. He was looking at +the moon one evening from the window, when he suddenly burst into +tears. "Do not scold me," said the child in great agitation; "while I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +was looking at the moon I felt how often I had grieved you, and I +understood that I had offended God."</p> + +<p>This interesting study reveals successive phases of a spontaneous +phenomenon of moral consciousness: the first was the revelation of the +lively feeling which provoked a fit of weeping two months after the +event which distressed the child: he <i>felt</i> the sufferings of the +cruelly treated puppy. And a long time after this activity of the +conscience had been initiated comes the establishment of order: the +child distinguishes between good and evil actions, and recognizes the +fact that he has incurred the displeasure of his parents; this +displeasure was probably not very serious, indeed it was so slight +that the child had been unconscious of it at the time; but at the +moment when he is purging himself of these trivial impurities he feels +God: "I understood that I had offended God," he said, and he knew well +that he had not offended his parents. Now, no one had ever talked to +him about God, or trained him to examine his conscience.</p> + +<p>During my experience I have had no opportunity of witnessing a similar +cycle of spiritual development. My experiences in religious education +have necessarily been limited hitherto; indeed, in the Children's +House kept by the Franciscan Sisters of the Via Giusti the religious +education was given by the ordinary methods, and it was not possible +to make original studies or observations. On the other hand, the +dominant political party in the municipalities has abolished religion +from the public schools with a sectarian rigor which causes the word +"God" to be feared as bigots fear the word "devil."</p> + +<p>My experience has, therefore, been limited to some of the children I +have received privately in my own house, children belonging to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +non-religious families, who had consequently undergone no religious +influence.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>One of my little pupils was just over seven years old, when a friend +of his family, noticing his intelligence, and knowing that he had been +educated in "freedom," thought he would test him by describing to him +briefly animal evolution according to the principles of Lamarck and +Darwin. The child followed his explanation very attentively and then +asked: "Well, then, man comes from the monkey, and the monkey from +some other animal, and so on; but from whom did the first creature +come?" "The first," answered his friend, "was formed by chance." The +child laughed aloud, and, calling his mother, said excitedly: "Just +listen; what nonsense! Life was formed by chance! That is impossible." +"Then how was life formed?" "It is God," replied the child, with +conviction.</p> + +<p>This same child was prepared, with his mother's consent, for Holy +Communion, together with his sister; a highly educated young priest of +much æsthetic knowledge undertook the task. I was curious to hear what +objections the child had raised; but I was not admitted to his +lessons. I was only present on one occasion, when the course of +instruction was almost at an end. The priest spoke of the reservation +of the wine and of the practical situations in which the celebrant may +find himself during the holy office. I thought such a dissertation +entirely unsuitable for children, and one which was likely to distract +their attention from the end in view; but I saw with amazement that +their faces were turned intently to the altar; they were evidently +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +unfamiliar with such minute explanations, but they were penetrated by +a sentiment which attracted them; the chalice with the divine blood +appealed to these souls ready to receive it, as it did to the innocent +Parsifal. When they made their first Communion, I was convinced that +their souls received the mysteries with the sweetest faith and with +absolute simplicity, as if all that is of God were comprehensible to +them, and only that which denies Him an absurdity. Their spiritual +conquest accompanied them in life.</p> + +<p>A little cousin of these children, who was prepared to receive the +Communion a long time after them, and who had had no religious +training in her own home, said one day, when she was working +enthusiastically in class: "How beautiful the anatomy of a flower is! +I like arithmetic and geometry so much! But religion is the most +beautiful thing of all."</p> + +<p>There was an older child in the school, whose parents, both father and +mother, were positively hostile to religion. This child, although she +showed great interest in the school exercises, was always restless. +Later, when some wonderful children's parties were given in the villa +where she lived, which were arranged with great skill and were +veritable works of art, she became still more restless and cynical, +almost as if she were suffering from some disillusionment. One day she +called an orphan child from Messina, who was one of our children who +had come from the school in the Via Giusti, and took her away into a +quiet corner, asking her to repeat the Lord's Prayer. The orphan +recited it, while the rich child gazed at her eagerly. Then, as if in +obedience to an inspiration, she went to the piano to play; but her +hands trembled; she threw herself on one side, with her elbow on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +keyboard and her head hanging, unable to conceal her agitation any +longer. Her soul was seeking to satisfy its yearning; nothing could +give her peace but the one thing those who loved her wished to +withhold from her. Her heart was still alive and eager: "Like as the +heart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O +God."</p> + +<p>As yet the coarse scoria evolved from darkness, which makes it so +difficult for the adult to embrace the mysteries of the spirit like a +little child, had not formed around her. Later, such mysteries become +incomprehensible; as to Nicodemus, who replied to Christ: "How can a +man be born again? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb?"</p> + +<p>But this rapid survey will suffice to make us understand that the +little child has other needs, in addition to his intellectual wants, +and that long before his intelligence is developed and satisfied, his +pure and open spirit reflects the divine light. He is perhaps the +Parsifal for whom we are waiting, depressed and sick at heart, while +because of the impurity of our hands the dove can no longer descend in +the Holy Grail towards the chalice filled with the blood of Peace.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> +<div class="footnote"> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Of course, +should the child of the wet nurse have died, there can be no question +of an infringement of its rights. But such cases have no relation to +those in which the rich mother requires a nurse for the child she is +unable to suckle herself, owing to pathological reasons.</p> + +<p>I may draw attention to a precautionary measure which has become a law +in Germany: this prohibits the acceptance of a post as wet nurse by a +mother until six months after the birth of her own child. This +interval is considered sufficiently long to guarantee the health of +the infant. Moreover, the special care devoted to artificial feeding +in Germany provides a satisfactory substitute for wet nursing, in the +case of children who are deprived of maternal nourishment. Such laws +and provisions are a first step towards the recognition of the "civil +rights" of poor infants.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> These two +examples are taken from the well-known review, <i>I Diritti della +Scuola</i>, Year xiv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> This was +published in the review, <i>La Voce delle Maestre d'Asilo</i>, +Year viii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +The children are expected to know that the stove gives out heat, by an +effort of <i>memory</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +F. Alengry, <i>Education based upon Psychology and Morality</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +Bronardet and Mosny, <i>Hygiène Scolaire</i>. Boillière, +Paris, 1914, pp. 142, 143, 430, 496.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> +But a great physicist, unable to share <i>amusement</i>, wrote: "It is sad +to see a municipality giving credence to the babble of the vulgar in a +protocol, and to see authentic testimonies to an occurrence which is +obviously impossible."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> +From Haeckel's <i>Anthropogenie</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> +At present some very interesting experiments in religious education +are being carried out in the "Escola Montessori" at Barcelona, under +the direction of the Provincial Deputies of that city.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +The moral question is barely indicated and is not even comprehensively +indicated. Such a work, indeed, represents an experimental +contribution to the education of the intelligence. At present an +experimental study of the moral and religious education of children +has only just been initiated at Barcelona (Spain). A book on this +subject should form a sequel to this volume.</p> + +<p>I cannot foresee whether I and my colleagues will be able to bring +such a heavy task to a successful conclusion.</p></div> + +</div> +</div> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Spontaneous Activity in Education, by +Maria Montessori + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY IN EDUCATION *** + +***** This file should be named 24727-h.htm or 24727-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/2/24727/ + +Produced by Alicia Williams, David T. 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