8oo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing. It appears, then, that the entire work in the professional 

 training of teachers consists of an investigation into the laws and 

 principles of mind activity, always followed by the effort to 

 rightly adapt the means of stimulation in the schoolroom (the 

 various subjects of instruction) to attain the full, harmonious, 

 capable development of child-nature. In the normal school this 

 work is usually divided into several branches, which, however, are 

 very vitally related, and which are always arranged in the natu- 

 ral order of sequence. The following is, in general, a very brief 

 outline of the work which is usually attempted in each branch : 



I. Psychology. The professional work is most naturally be- 

 gun by reflection upon the nature of the mind to be educated, en- 

 deavoring to find those laws and principles according to which its 

 normal activity is regulated in order that we may intelligently 

 wield the means of stimulation to secure its most natural and 

 speedy development. There are two methods which may be fol- 

 lowed in this study : The first assumes that the mind is an inert 

 object which can be abstracted from all concrete cases, and by an 

 analytic process separated into its logical parts. As a result of 

 this treatment we have a formal science of psychology, dealing 

 with the powers and attributes of the so-called faculties of the 

 mind, in the same way that we have a formal science of mathe- 

 matics, physics, and so on, that treat of characteristic subject- 

 matter in a logical way. The second method, which has come to 

 be followed most largely now in our training schools, regards the 

 mind as a growing, developing, assimilating power, and it is 

 sought to become acquainted with it while under these natural 

 conditions of activity. A knowledge of the mental life gained in 

 this latter way will be very different from that acquired by purely 

 formal study where the mind is considered apart from all con- 

 crete instances, and laws and principles are deduced which may , 

 be applicable to it in general, but which have no reference to the 

 peculiar and distinguishing characteristics of specific instances, 

 nor of the manifold modifying conditions under which all activ- 

 ity, as induced by educational agencies, occurs. It should be, and 

 usually is, the aim to lead the prospective teacher to become 

 somewhat familiar with the concrete and developing mind under 

 those conditions which necessarily exist in all school work. It is 

 generally true that those who seek the normal school have not 

 the time nor the breadth of philosophical training and culture 

 to enable them to make the study of formal psychology profit- 

 able, although it would be most valuable for one who could 

 spend years in thought and reflection upon the matter, and who 

 would not need to make practical application at once of the prin- 

 ciples which he had considered. It is coming to be appreciated 

 that while a teacher need not, in order to do most intelligent 



