536 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



have been taught to observe the surfaces, edges, angles, etc., of a 

 cube. The word will, therefore, recall only so many memory pic- 

 tures of the cube as the child has acquired. But point out some 

 new quality in the cube, and a new memory picture of the cube is 

 formed in the child's mind. When in future the word cube is 

 spoken the child will have a more complete memory of it in 

 other words, a more complete knowledge of it. The process can 

 be continued until all the qualities of the cube are known to the 

 child, and form parts of its concept or notion of the cube. This 

 notion, or memory, is represented in language by the word cube. 

 The simple ideas or conceptions of its color, shape, weight, hard- 

 ness, go to form the general idea. 



Now, grant that the teacher understands how the visual im- 

 pressions are carried by the eye to a certain center in the brain ; 

 how the tactual are carried by conducting nerves to another cen- 

 ter ; and how the impression of the spoken word is carried by the 

 ear to still another center. Further, he is supposed to know how 

 these centers are connected with each other, so that hearing the 

 word cube spoken recalls the memories of its shape, surfaces, an- 

 gles and edges. 



Armed with such a knowledge of the mechanism of the nerv- 

 ous system as the basis of thought, the teacher has a magic wand 

 in his possession by means of which he can stimulate his pupils, 

 and make what would otherwise be dreary enough work more 

 interesting than a high-class novel or the story of an exciting ad- 

 venture. There will then exist in the teacher's mind a reason for 

 the natural method of teaching by appealing to the child's expe- 

 rience of things, and for showing it the object about which a cer- 

 tain lesson is to take place. The Ding an sich of Kant becomes 

 known inductively, as Spencer and Romanes have shown, through 

 an experience with its qualities. This sort of knowledge does not 

 lead to either the idealism of Berkeley nor the skepticism of 

 Hume, but to a true, scientific psychology as expounded by Wundt 

 and Ribot. 



In the past, and indeed at present, far too much time has been 

 spent in instructing the child by telling it certain facts, and not 

 enough time in teaching the child how to observe for itself. We 

 can not see through other people's eyes, nor is their reasoning our 

 reasoning. The power to repeat certain formula) or to give an- 

 swers to certain questions does not indicate knowledge on the 

 part of the child. The great object of education is to make the 

 individual capable of solving his own problems, of doing his own 

 reasoning, of looking after his own affairs, of performing his 

 duties as a citizen, of improving himself socially and morally, and 

 of earning an honest living. 



Thus it becomes clear that our knowledge is an aggregation of 



