THE MOTOR ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING. 57 



and natural desire for knowledge, teachers are just becoming 

 able to heed through the newer knowledge of child life and 

 development. 



Heusinger, a name little known, showed his great insight into 

 this matter when he urged teachers to change and adapt their 

 work so as to take advantage of the extreme impulse in children 

 to be busy ; for Heusinger maintained that, considering the great 

 power given to this impulse by Nature, a prominent place in the 

 development of man should be granted to it, and that it is the 

 duty of teachers to give heed to this impulse in which an effective 

 means of instruction is afforded. He set up this impulse to activ- 

 ity as the regulating principle in gaining knowledge, for he as- 

 serted that not only does it lead to a deeper knowledge of the 

 thing itself, but also to a greater appreciation of all that is in con- 

 nection with the thing, and also that it excludes those things 

 which have no relation to the particular object of thought. 



Froebel's apprehension of this truth is shown by his plays and 

 games. 



All these educators apprehended the fact that the most marked 

 characteristic of the child and the youth is physical activity. 

 This activity is due to an energy that must be expended through 

 motor channels. It will perhaps make my contention the clearer 

 if we consider briefly the young infant and examine the first 

 manifestations of this energy and what results therefrom in men- 

 tal development. The activity of a young infant must, I think, 

 be conceded. Its arms and legs move vigorously. These move- 

 ments are not determined by itself, are not controlled by itself. 

 In various ways it often hurts itself by these uncontrolled mo- 

 tions, and in these movements there is at this period no will. 

 These movements which all have recognized are impulsive in 

 their nature that is, they are set on not by any external stimula- 

 tion, but by the accumulation of energy in the cells of the nerv- 

 ous system, and when the cells are filled with nerve force or 

 energy the discharge of this energy is necessary for the growth 

 and develoj^ment of the system ; and so the kickings and twist- 

 ings and strikings and clutchings result. One suggestive point 

 which may be noted here is the fact that when the cells become 

 filled with energy they discharge. No demands are made on them 

 before they are ready to act, for Mother Nature is the babe's wise 

 teacher. 



Closely following the impulsive movements, and indeed ac- 

 companying them, are what are termed reflex movements, which 

 differ from impulsive movements in the fact that they are ini- 

 tiated or started by some external stimulation through some of 

 the avenues of sense. 



All impulsive and reflex movements occur without any pre- 

 voL. L. 7 



