i6o 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the various influences and modes of training to wliich it subjects 

 children, to establish in them permanent and sufficient inhibitory 

 centers which shall enable them to conform to the various artifi- 

 cial restraints imposed by an advanced civilization. And in the 

 latter, as in the former case, when the inhibitory impression has 



become well established 

 ipf '^ff^'^-^o.f pf^_,, the desire diminishes. 



Each successful resist- 

 ance of temptation ren- 

 ders resistance more 

 easy and certain. 



In the former as well 

 as in the latter case the 

 readiness with which 

 these inhibitory impres- 

 sions are received and 

 retained depends upon 

 the quality of the cerebral tissues, the cells. 



In the lower forms of idiocy, individuals are often seen who 

 never can be taught to refrain from putting their hands into a 

 candle flame, and the well-recognized criminal class is largely 

 composed of individuals whose cerebral tissues are of so inferior 

 an order that permanent and sufficient inhibitory centers can not 

 under any circumstances be so established as to enable them by 

 themselves to conform to the restraints which civilization imposes. 

 Sound and successful training attempts to establish these cen- 

 ters of inhibition, and not to prevent their formation by keep- 

 ing the individual in ig- 

 norance of the conditions cf ''"f ^SLJx!^ cm/ 

 which demand their ex- 

 ercise. When young 

 people with this false 

 training are thrown up- 

 on their own resources, 

 great suffering is almost 

 sure to follow. 



While doubtless in 

 tliis country a large i)ro- 

 portion of the individ- Pi,, 7, 



uals composing the crim- 

 inal class are such by reason of defective brain tissues, it is well- 

 nigh certain that a considerable number might never have entered 

 it if from the start they could have had proper training. 



A thorough musician may get better music from a defective 

 instrument, with whose defects he is familiar, than a poor musi- 

 cian can get out of a perfect instrument. 



