bearing on child study, numbering over a thousand, which I arranged a few years ago, not I per cent. are metaphysical, properly speaking, and I should say that over 50 per cent. are more physiological than psychological.

It is true that educators never have, and do not even now, realize the closeness of relation of the physical and mental, but whatever sins modern child study may have been guilty of, failure to call attention of teachers to the importance of physical conditions is not one of them. Possibly, however, in emphasizing the need of taking account of defective and abnormal conditions of children, they have not sufficiently emphasized the correlations between physical and mental development in normal children. I think it is true, however, that physiologists generally have failed to appreciate the closeness of relation of bodily structure to nervous structure and function. If Professor Loeb's experiments and theories are substantiated by further investigation, we shall be compelled to look upon the nervous system as chiefly a transmitter of nervous energy from one part of the body to another. We shall not say, as we have been doing, that the hand is controlled by a certain group of nerve cells in the cortex of the brain, but that certain portions of the brain facilitate communication between sense-organs of the hand and other parts of the body and the muscles of the hand concerned in making the proper reaction. We shall not speak of the center controlling the heart, but of the portion of the nervous system that facilitates the transmission of nervous impulses from various parts of the body to the muscles of the heart. In short, we shall look upon the nervous system as a means of communication between every part of the body that may be stimulated and the muscles or glands that need to respond in an appropriate way. On this view the development of every organ and tissue is of direct significance in the development of the nervous system. Every change in every part of the body disturbs the fine equilibrium of the organism and calls for new adjustments. It is not surprising, therefore, that the age of adolescence, when so many marked physical changes are taking place in the structure and function of the body, is a stage of unstable mental equilibrium and variable action. If this view of the nervous system is supported by the physiologists of the future, as I believe it will be in the main, I am sure child-students will not be slow in calling the attention of teachers to its significance, as they have not been in the past in calling attention to what is known of the relation of physical defects to mental abnormalties.

Another point upon which I must beg leave to differ with Dr. Beard is one of application. I agree fully that the nutritive functions are of supreme importance in childhood, and that digestion should not be interfered with by excessive brain activity immediately after eating. His conclusions, however, that the harder part of school work should come after rather than before recess seem to me not justified by the conditions. Most children, especially among the laboring classes, bave had breakfast one or two hours before beginning school work. In the graded schools I think every teacher will agree that pupils are in much better condition for hard work at the opening of school sessions rather than near the close, when tired and hungry. In high schools, however, with only one session a day, where pupils study long on an empty stomach, or one containing two or three hastily swallowed, greasy fried-cakes, doughnuts, or "sinkers," as they are expressively called by the small boy, there is good ground for saying that the sins against physiological laws in the high schools are almost beyond forgiveness.

To finish briefly with all points of difference between Dr. Beard and myself: I see no occasion for "respecting seasonal variations in growth," and doubt whether the physical differences between sexes before ten years of age is sufficient to demand material differences in treatment. I even think it would be well for young girls not only to study as boys do, but also to play more boys' games, that they may develop physically and socially.

On all other points, most of which are much more fundamental than these, I heartily agree with Dr. Beard, and only wish I might more effectively emphasize them. Perhaps

I may best do this by briefly stating some of the differences between the nervous system of children and adults.

1. The nervous system of children is largely unspecialized, yet it is ready for action. Hence, in infants, there is a wonderful variety of aimless movements during all waking moments, and in childhood many more useless movements when trying to attain a definite end than in the case of adults.

2. For many years the child is in a state of very unstable equilibrium; consequently he is in all kinds of moods and has all kinds of interests within a space of time too short for an adult to get comfortably settled in one frame of mind.

3. Associated with this, as either cause or effect, or both, the child is very quickly fatigued by any one kind of activity. He needs frequent short periods of rest or change of occupation. Prolonged activity of one kind is desirable in adults, but utterly impracticable for children.

4. The motor or expressive tendency is much stronger in children than in adults, and consequently they tire of receiving much more quickly than of doing. Fatigue and a disturbance of the natural functions, with consequent lack of interest, stupidity, and confusion of mind, are the natural results of receiving impressions without opportunity or means of reacting to them in an appropriate way. The mental condition of educated adults who take in for hours and do nothing is wholly unnatural and incomprehensible to the child. From the earliest beginnings of nervous systems in the animal kingdom, nerve cells have helped in making an appropriate response to each stimulus as it was received. If education is to prepare for life, and still more if it is to result in living fully each stage of life, provision must be made for children to do something else besides frantically wave their hands every time they receive an idea. It is not that the motor side of a child's nature needs development by itself so that it shall not be exceeded by the sensory. There is nothing gained by equalizing the time devoted to impression and to expression if the processes are carried on separately, for successful living is nothing but making the proper response to each stimulus as it is received.

5. The nervous systems of children are exceedingly plastic, hence children can be taught anything or learn to do anything with almost any degree of accuracy. This ability to adapt itself to environment is the most striking and valuable characteristic of the young of all the higher animals. In man it is most prominent and for the greatest length of time. In our constantly advancing civilization men and women need to preserve this plasticity of the nervous system as long as possible, or they will fall behind in the race of life as customs, processes, and methods change. To this end variety in training is necessary, and only the universally useful activities should be allowed to

become automatic habits.

6. Plastic as is the nervous system, and capable of being molded almost at will, we must not forget that it has a natural order of development as surely as the grain of corn produces leaf, stalk, tassel, and ear with never a reversal of this order. As fast as we learn this natural order we should strive to utilize it in hastening and perfecting the educational process. We shall then work according to the plans of nature, the great architect of the nervous system, in developing the highest type of men and women.⚫

PROFESSOR BEARD.-In my paper I did not mean to assert that child study had been altogether limited to the metaphysical aspect, but that in the books on the subject this side had been overemphasized.

Referring to Professor Kirkpatrick's allusion to an empty stomach, I would say that when the stomach is empty digestion is not over, but that the largest events of digestion take place in the small intestines; so that, even in the case of the laboring man's child, with his early breakfast, the early exercises of the school should be light. The postrecess period is good for hard work because the recess poriod gives chance for large consumption of oxygen.

There is seasonable variation in growth; in spring the curve of height, in autumn the curve of weight, show a marked rise. At these seasons it is more difficult to make a successful impression on the mind of the child than at other times.

I should be the last to deprecate allowing girls all the freedom of motor expression which boys have; but should insist that there are intellectual differences. Not in the playground, but in the schoolroom, should differences on account of sex be made. Both sexes should choose for themselves their lines of work to a larger extent than is done at present.

HOW FAR DOES THE MODERN HIGH SCHOOL FIT THE NATURE AND NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS?

REUBEN POST HALLECK, PRINCIPAL BOYS HIGH SCHOOL, LOUISVILLE, KY. What is the nature of an adolescent? In many respects he is like the boy that has preceded and like the man that follows, but in some he is emphatically different. There seems to be no absolute break in nature, but between barren branches, buds, and full-grown leaves nature shows rapid progressive changes. Adolescence is one of nature's marked progressive changes. By adolescence we mean that period which begins approximately at fourteen and continues for an indefinite period. It is the most wonderful period in human life, the period that takes a child and makes out of him a man. The child is at first receptive and reactive. A flash of light or a noise assails his senses and he reacts. Memory, imagination, and the simpler processes of thought develop. In adolesence there appears a something as new as the spring buds on the branches. A creative spark is added to the mental life, a spark which the breath of education may fan into such a flame that the heavens may become light with the work of resulting poet, artist, or inventor. Roughly speaking, in adolescence creative capacity is added to the simpler mental powers. I do not mean that the adolescent ceases to be receptive. I am sure that the rank and file of men are and always will be more receptive than creative, but I do know that the creative spark alone will bring humanity to its full heritage.

Note that I am to speak of the high-school adolescent, not of adolescents in general. The high-school adolescent represents the fittest survivals of an elimination process that has been active for eight years. I am speaking of the pick of adolescents, of those whose influence will cause the world to progress. I bespeak for the high-school adolescent better treatment, better facilities, better-paid teachers of the broadest education. Some would emasculate the high school for the grades. I would improve the condition of the high-school adolescent, not alone for his sake, but for the sake of the balance of the world, which he is to elevate. It was right that at Valley Forge George Washington should have been better clad and less likely to catch pneumonia than the rank and file of the army, not for his sake, but for the sake of the millions to whom he

was to pass the cup of liberty. It is time that the public school stopped teaching the lie of equality. I know a high-school graduate who managed a factory so well that it employed thousands. When he left it fell into less efficient hands. The wages of the workmen had to be lowered, many were discharged, and their families suffered. He was brought back and the factory prospered. Leaving his welfare out of the question, was it not better for the thousands that this manager should have had an excellent high-school education under the best possible teachers? I am a firm believer in the doctrine of the greatest good to the greatest number. I am, therefore, careful not to urge the necessity of giving the high-school adolescent the most inspiring teachers for his own sake, but for the sake of the many whom he is to benefit.

Adolesence is

By nature an adolescent is akin to the Elizabethans. the Elizabethan age of youth; the age when all things are possible; the age when ships with tons of treasure are returning home from the new western world; the age when newly-discovered climes are proving the wildest dreams realities; the age when the Armada is defeated; the age when Shakespeare sings a new magical birth song. Then shines the light that never was on land or sea. The teacher who cannot enter heart and soul into this new Elizabethan age is unfitted for his task.

What are the needs of the high-school adolescent? First, he needs improved ideals. They will be found to lie at the basis of his improvement in all other lines. If, as the poet says, we needs must love the highest when we see it, how many schools, as part of their definite settled aim, give their students frequent glimpses of the highest in literature, in biography, in history, and, equally important, in contemporary life? Here are four worlds, for the most part new to the adolescent. Alas, that they should still be new to many of his teachers! Every teacher should every year send a ship on a voyage of discovery to these worlds, that she may return home laden with ideals, for there are gold mines of ideals in literature, biography, history, and contemporary events. Because the dreams of the adolescent so far surpass his feeble powers of achievement, he is unusually responsive to those stories and to those heroes that present to him an incarnation of what he would like to be. The shortest distance on earth is the distance from the adolescent's admiration to his imitation. I am not an advocate of promiscuous storytelling for high-school pupils, but every teacher of every high-school subject ought to be able to relate inspiring stories from biography, and to bring to bear on the formation of the ideals of those under them, not only the force of their own examples, but also the examples of the worthy men and women of every age and clime. An adolescent who does not know what hero worship is has not more than half lived. We have too long been feeding high-school adolescents on a disproportionate diet of stones, because we have not known the bread which literature,

biography, history, and contemporary life offer. In their lives there should be nothing

"But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange."

I believe that feminine ideals differ in many ways from masculine ideals. Both kinds of ideals are necessary, and each is equally important. In a well-rounded world there must be developed the power of repression as well as the power of expression, the spirit of conservatism as well as the spirit of radicalism; there must be a fostering of the love of fight as well as a fostering of the love of peace, and there must be assured protection for the weak and vanquished as well as the laurel crown for those to whom strength has brought victory. Both the feminine and the masculine world have, to a certain extent, their own division of labor in the work of life. I protest against that high-school training which endeavors to make girls mannish and boys womanish. The girls and boys often protest, too, by leaving school when that is attempted. Their nature sometimes guides them right. If feminine tastes, emotions, hopes are not appealed to, the girl will be inclined to stop school. In matters of interest as various as reading and sports the tastes of girls differ widely from those of boys. That man who thinks that he can train boys to do everything that girls can just as well as they can do it is a fool.

It seems to me that a crying need in the education of adolescent boys is for more virility, more aggressiveness. Of course a ship with engines powerful enough to force her ahead in the teeth of a gale needs a rudder and good steering apparatus, but she does not require the weakening of those powerful engines. There is a time in the history of most adolescent boys who amount to anything when masculine restlessness and aggressiveness so assert themselves that the inother is sure that this stage in her son's development is "wrong." It would be just as sensible to describe as "wrong" the shedding of the tadpole's tail and the hopping of the resulting frog out on the bank where he can breathe the freer air. So long as there are in this world opposition to wiser plans, selfishness, dishonesty, crime, there must be masculine aggressiveness to deal with. them. Education must develop this quality and hold it in reserve. think of Runnymede, and Bunker Hill, and Gettysburg, and Santiago de Cuba, and I thank God for the masculine virility and aggressiveness that stood a victor on those fields. Our adolescent boy likes this aggressive education, because he springs from a race that today enjoys civil liberty, that today worships God in whatever church it pleases, only because his ancestors were aggressive. He learns to admire the aggres siveness of a Democratic president like Grover Cleveland and of a Republican president like Theodore Roosevelt. Do not be afraid of developing this virility and aggressiveness. It is well to have a gun loaded, but it need not be fired off at all times. This aggressiveness is not anti-social;

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