EDITOR'S TABLE. 



241 



est degree probable tbat sbe inherited 

 an unhealthy brain, which became 

 gradually the seat of positive disease. 

 Dr. Bennett was satisfied of the exist- 

 ence of some form of cerebral malady, 

 but he had great difficulty in assuring 

 the friends of the patient, even in her 

 last days, that it was not a case of mere 

 deception, perversity, and vicious ca- 

 price. 



This example enforces its own les- 

 son. Happily, tumors in the brain are 

 not frequent, though they may be met 

 with at any time. But the delicate and 

 complex organ of thought and feeling 

 is subject to numerous diseases of all 

 grades of intensity, to morbid predis- 

 positions that come down as taints in 

 the ancestral stream, to defective nu- 

 trition, to early perversion and arrest 

 of growth by premature organization, 

 to debility and exhaustion from over- 

 work and lack of necessary rest all of 

 which are liable to disturb the mind 

 and derange the conduct as absolutely 

 as the existence of a tumor buried in its 

 lobes. 



Is there provision for communicating 

 knowledge upon these subjects with any 

 efficiency to teachers, in a single normal 

 school in the land ? While it should be 

 at the foundation of the teacher's prep- 

 aration, it is neglected everywhere. In 

 all other vocations that are studied, the 

 first thing is to get a knowledge of the 

 nature and properties of the material 

 which the student is to be employed 

 upon ; but, strange to say, in the train- 

 ing of teachers this kind of knowledge 

 is practically left out of the curriculum. 



THE PROGRESS OF JOURNALISM. 



We have received, printed on a fly- 

 sheet, the article contributed by Prof. 

 Sumner to Scribner's Magazine, on 

 " What our Boys are reading." It is 

 earnestly commended to the attention 

 of editors in an accompanying circular, 

 signed by Presidents Porter and Wool- 



VOL. XIII. 16 



sey, and other eminent gentlemen of 

 New Haven, and we are glad to have 

 the subject thus weightily presented. 

 Prof. Sumner says that 



" There is a periodical literature designed 

 for boys of from twelve to sixteen years of 

 age, that has been growing up among us 

 within the last few years, until it is widely 

 circulated, and that is of a very pernicious 

 character. The boys' newspapers contain 

 stories, songs, mock-speeches, and negro- 

 minstrel dialogues, and nothing else. The 

 literary material is either intensely stupid, 

 or spiced to the highest degree with sensa- 

 tion. The dialogue is short, sharp, and con- 

 tinuous, is broken by the minimum of de- 

 scription, and by no preaching. . . . The 

 stories are not markedly profane and they 

 are not obscene. They are indescribably 

 vulgar." 



Prof. Sumner gives illustrations of 

 their coarse vulgarity, and points out 

 that the type of character illustrated 

 and applauded is that of the vagabond, 

 the adventurer, the prize-fighter, and 

 the blackguard. It is deplorable that 

 such a style ofliterature should have ap- 

 peared among us, and grown to an ex- 

 tended influence. Familiarity with it 

 cannot fail to be vicious and degrading, 

 and it is well to warn parents and teach- 

 ers of this insidious agency of mischief, 

 to which our youth are exposed. 



Nevertheless, we must be fair to 

 the boys, and remember the examples 

 that are set them by older people. Prof. 

 Sumner observes: " We say nothing of 

 the great harm that is done to boys of 

 that age by the nervous excitement of 

 reading harrowing and sensational sto- 

 ries, because the literature before us 

 only participates in that harm with 

 other literature of far higher preten- 

 sions." But, instead of " saying noth- 

 ing," we think Prof. Sumner should 

 have felt it incumbent upon him to 

 give emphasis to this consideration, and 

 sharply reprobated a system of adult 

 journalism, the imitation of which leads 

 to such corrupting results. For the 

 boys' newspapers are nothing less than 

 imitations of more pretentious news- 



