PARASITIC CULTURE 261 



The study of the development of cortical neurones and association fibers 

 makes it probable that every mental process modifies these nervous ele- 

 ments ; so that education, whatever else it may be, is a matter of devel- 

 oping specific nervous organs through which the mind may work. Thus 

 the study of mathematics means, on the neurological side, the building 

 up of cortical neurones, with their association fibers, which shall con- 

 stitute a mathematical nervous mechanism. So, likewise, the study of 

 Latin or Greek means the building up of nervous structures specifically 

 adapted for those languages. The clinics of nervous and mental path- 

 ology tend to show that this probable process of specialization of brain- 

 structures, parallel with special mental activities, actually takes place. 

 Thus when the centers of the brain having to do with mathematical 

 relations are diseased, the subject may lose the power of perceiving 

 mathematical symbols, or of thinking in them. So, too, when the 

 centers of the brain having to do with language relations are diseased, 

 the subject may lose the power of perceiving words, or of thinking in 

 them. That is to say, the elements of mathematical and linguistic 

 experience and culture may be lost, and meanwhile the other elements 

 of experience and culture remain unimpaired. This would seem to 

 prove that human experience is mediated by specialized nervous organs, 

 and that the culture derived therefrom is special, and not general, in 

 character. In fact, it but confirms the conclusions that all scientific 

 students of nervous organs and of mind must reach, in any compre- 

 hensive interpretation of the facts. 



Here then, is a body of facts and inferences supplied by experi- 

 mental psychology, the histology of the brain, and nervous and mental 

 pathology, which point to the conclusion that so-called " general cul- 

 ture " is not general but specific, that it affects organs and functions 

 appropriate to the particular study pursued, and that to be. of any 

 adequate advantage to the life such organs and functions must continue 

 the activity through which they were developed. There is here, evi- 

 dently, a vast territory of unknown and debatable ground, but the head- 

 lands and mountain peaks stand out more and more clearly for the 

 explorer who approaches the problems of education and life in a scien- 

 tific spirit and with adequate command of scientific facts. It is clear, 

 for example, that those educators who will subject an adolescent girl to 

 five or six years of severe training in higher mathematics, should be 

 peremptorily challenged as to why they do it. They should be asked to 

 show, in terms more specific and modern than most of the vague 

 opinions one commonly hears about " culture," just how the fund of 

 power that is supposed to be generated by mathematical study, is, in 

 fact, generated ; and how it becomes available throughout the girl's sub- 

 sequent life. So, too, these same educators should be asked to give 

 reason why they compel an adolescent boy to spend five or more years 

 upon the study of Latin before they will accredit him as being educated. 



