CONTENTS
FISKE, JOHNThe Part Played by Infancy in the Evolution of Man.Wallace pointed out that when once the intelligence of man became dominant, his body would change but little. Wallace brought up a baby orang-outang which had a period of infantile helplessness much longer than that of a lamb or a calf. The still longer infancy of the human babe was most significant to John Fiske. It showed that the highest nervous development is the slowest. The prolongation of infancy lengthens the period of maternal affection, tends to keep parents and children together, and thus the institution of the family is founded. Progress has been in the direction of bringing out the higher spiritual attributes of man: hence the elemental truth of religion.3SULLY, JAMESThe New Study of Children.Man has the child always with him. The study of the child is now scientific. The unfoldings of an infant mind throw light on the development of the human race. Child-study is necessary if education is to be rightly directed. Children often reticent: sometimes ask strange questions. To understand children, love and knowledge are required. Observation, experiment and their records. Individual cases should be compared on a large scale.21GALTON, FRANCISTwins, Their History as a Criterion of theRelative Powers of Nature and Nurture.Twins alike by nature may as adults be compared to note how far diversity of circumstance has been influential. Twins unlike by nature and educated alike show how far nurture compares with inherited qualities as determining character. Extraordinary cases of resemblance: twins widely separated develop the same disease or mania at the same time. Only illness or accident causes difference between twins alike in early life. Twins originally unlike so remain, although educated alike. Nature vastly stronger than nurture in the making of man.53HUDSON, WILLIAM H.Sight in Savages.Keen observation of cards by a player whose vision otherwise was ordinary. We see what we look for. Sight in savages is trained to detect particular objects,—men, beasts and birds of prey, reptiles, game and the like. Sight in civilized man is just as sharp, but is directed to different objects, the letters of a printed page, for example.79HOLMES, OLIVER W.Mechanism in Thought and Morals.Do we ever think without knowing that we are thinking? Leibnitz long ago said yes. We remember a name by ceasing the conscious search for it. One goes to sleep with a problem in mind, and awakens with the solution clear. The man of genius is inspired he knows not how: the deepest things are not in the consciousness. How Burns composed his poems. An idea planted in a thinker's mind will grow when he is least conscious of growth.95MAUDSLEY, HENRYMemory.Unless the mind retains impressions and can recall them, no development is possible. Acts at first difficult become easy because nerves and muscles remember. Attention is the mother of memory. The more various and intimate the association of ideas the better.115CARPENTER, WILLIAM B.Common Sense.Walking and other common movements of the body become all but automatic. In much the same way mental experiences become organized into judgments which are largely or wholly true. Judgment in mathematics or other sciences demands special training. Grammar is often unconsciously acquired. The intuitions of the practised detective. The desire to do right strengthens the intellect. A wise man trusts to the spontaneities of his mind, just as a rider may trust his horse to find its way home. The human race, like the individual man, grows in common sense, abandons absurd practices and beliefs.131HUXLEY, THOMAS H.A Liberal Education.If we are to win the game of life we must understand and obey its rules. No man wholly uneducated. A liberal education makes the most of body, mind and heart. Education to the poor is of supreme importance: reading and writing are merely the means of education. The classics should be taught in a scientific way. Thorough knowledge of the earth as a centre from which study may proceed. Literature and history are indispensable.151HUXLEY, THOMAS H.Science and Culture.The themes of classical education are less important than those of science. For culture an exclusively scientific education is at least as effectual as an exclusively literary education. New knowledge has so much increased in modern times as to sway daily life. The scientific method is now recognized as the one mode of discerning or discovering truth. What in the past men said about things is vastly less to the point than what can be learned now at first hand. The Greeks looked to Nature, let us also look to Nature and not merely repeat what the Greeks reported. Modern languages, especially English, as means of culture. Science cannot be applied unless its principles are understood. The mastery of these principles is culture. Art and letters, no less than science, are needed for a well-rounded mind.171
Wallace pointed out that when once the intelligence of man became dominant, his body would change but little. Wallace brought up a baby orang-outang which had a period of infantile helplessness much longer than that of a lamb or a calf. The still longer infancy of the human babe was most significant to John Fiske. It showed that the highest nervous development is the slowest. The prolongation of infancy lengthens the period of maternal affection, tends to keep parents and children together, and thus the institution of the family is founded. Progress has been in the direction of bringing out the higher spiritual attributes of man: hence the elemental truth of religion.
Man has the child always with him. The study of the child is now scientific. The unfoldings of an infant mind throw light on the development of the human race. Child-study is necessary if education is to be rightly directed. Children often reticent: sometimes ask strange questions. To understand children, love and knowledge are required. Observation, experiment and their records. Individual cases should be compared on a large scale.
Twins alike by nature may as adults be compared to note how far diversity of circumstance has been influential. Twins unlike by nature and educated alike show how far nurture compares with inherited qualities as determining character. Extraordinary cases of resemblance: twins widely separated develop the same disease or mania at the same time. Only illness or accident causes difference between twins alike in early life. Twins originally unlike so remain, although educated alike. Nature vastly stronger than nurture in the making of man.
Keen observation of cards by a player whose vision otherwise was ordinary. We see what we look for. Sight in savages is trained to detect particular objects,—men, beasts and birds of prey, reptiles, game and the like. Sight in civilized man is just as sharp, but is directed to different objects, the letters of a printed page, for example.
Do we ever think without knowing that we are thinking? Leibnitz long ago said yes. We remember a name by ceasing the conscious search for it. One goes to sleep with a problem in mind, and awakens with the solution clear. The man of genius is inspired he knows not how: the deepest things are not in the consciousness. How Burns composed his poems. An idea planted in a thinker's mind will grow when he is least conscious of growth.
Unless the mind retains impressions and can recall them, no development is possible. Acts at first difficult become easy because nerves and muscles remember. Attention is the mother of memory. The more various and intimate the association of ideas the better.
Walking and other common movements of the body become all but automatic. In much the same way mental experiences become organized into judgments which are largely or wholly true. Judgment in mathematics or other sciences demands special training. Grammar is often unconsciously acquired. The intuitions of the practised detective. The desire to do right strengthens the intellect. A wise man trusts to the spontaneities of his mind, just as a rider may trust his horse to find its way home. The human race, like the individual man, grows in common sense, abandons absurd practices and beliefs.
If we are to win the game of life we must understand and obey its rules. No man wholly uneducated. A liberal education makes the most of body, mind and heart. Education to the poor is of supreme importance: reading and writing are merely the means of education. The classics should be taught in a scientific way. Thorough knowledge of the earth as a centre from which study may proceed. Literature and history are indispensable.
The themes of classical education are less important than those of science. For culture an exclusively scientific education is at least as effectual as an exclusively literary education. New knowledge has so much increased in modern times as to sway daily life. The scientific method is now recognized as the one mode of discerning or discovering truth. What in the past men said about things is vastly less to the point than what can be learned now at first hand. The Greeks looked to Nature, let us also look to Nature and not merely repeat what the Greeks reported. Modern languages, especially English, as means of culture. Science cannot be applied unless its principles are understood. The mastery of these principles is culture. Art and letters, no less than science, are needed for a well-rounded mind.