MANUAL TRAINING. 809 



study of the pesthetic principles underlying the sense of propor- 

 tion. An eye trained in this way would be a source of endless 

 delight, a constant finder of new beauties. And back of the eye 

 is the seeing brain whose growth would be in proportion. 



The ear is an equally promising field for training. Think of 

 the world of harmony and music closed forever to those who, like 

 poor Trilby, are tone deaf ! Think of the thousand sounds in Na- 

 ture which are full of meaning to those who have ears and hear ; 

 of the countless shades of meaning conveyed by the human voice 

 to those who are sensitive enough to apprehend ! At present this 

 realm of sound is to most of us a coarse convenience, a quick way 

 of ordering our dinner, and little more. It might be a garden of 

 delight ; and the time to open this garden is in youth, when the 

 tissues are flexible and the life plastic. It is a tragedy that when 

 we might be opening such treasures as these to our boys, we teach 

 them, instead, bookkeeping and interest ! And back of the ear is 

 the hearing brain whose growth would be in proportion. 



There is no sense organ which might not be stimulated by 

 some well-directed training and made to yield its corresponding 

 brain reaction. Even taste need not be omitted. It would be an 

 exercise of serious value to have a boy learn to detect the per- 

 centage of sugar or salt or lemon juice in the glass of water 

 he is drinking, for it would mean the exercise of attention and 

 discrimination. Something might even be done with the nose. 

 Its judgments might be refined and made analytic as well as 

 aesthetic. And, again, back of the tongue and the nose is the 

 tasting and smelling brain, and it is this always that we have 

 in mind. 



In manual training we appeal to touch, and incidentally to 

 sight. But we have scarcely broken ground. The hand could be 

 cultivated to a thousand delicacies of touch which are merely 

 foreshadowed in our present clumsy exercises. Both hand and 

 foot are capable of many movements which would add not only 

 to health and convenience, but also furnish nerve and muscle re- 

 actions of large value. To sum up the present gains, I would say 

 that manual training gives us increased dexterity and greater 

 keenness of observation. Of still greater value is its higher gift, 

 an increased development of the corresponding nerve centers in 

 the brain, and the consequent increase in general intellectual 

 power. 



Here, as the lawyers say, we rest our case. 



If manual training has, as I fully believe that it has, this 

 vastly important psychological import, it is the herald of a 

 coming education. If it has not, then its only value is industrial 

 and utilitarian. It is an artisan movement, useful and in its 

 way Vcxluable, but nothing more. 



VOL. XLTI. 61 



