478 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



into a passion whenever it is thwarted. The indulgent mother 

 to stop the fits of crying, screaming, and outbursts of angry 

 temper too often yields to the child's will, and gradually but 

 surely a weakening in the development of self-control occurs, 

 which has a profound influence upon the development of 

 character; especially is this the case in a child with an inborn 

 unstable temperament. The influence of education on self- 

 control is well illustrated in the lines of Childe Harold where 

 Byron doubtless refers to his own bringing up : 



I have thought 

 Too long and darkly till my brain became, 

 In its own eddy boiling, and o'er- wrought, 

 A whirling gulf of fantasy and flame. 

 And thus untaught in youth to tame, 

 My springs of life were poisoned. 



The emotion of fear is protective ; the instinctive reaction 

 is either flight or concealment ; naturally therefore darkness is 

 associated with this emotion, and it is not surprising that 

 children and savages should have an inborn tendency to fear 

 the dark. Seeing that there is this natural tendency of children 

 to fear darkness, some discretion is required in overcoming the 

 dread of a naturally timid child to sleep inthe dark, and harm 

 may be done by too rigidly applying the principle of forcing 

 it to go to sleep without a light, especially if it has become 

 accustomed to one in its infancy. The habit should be gradually 

 broken, if it has been contracted. Much injury is done to 

 young children by ignorant nurses and servants by frightening 

 them with stories of ghosts and bogeys. Indeed, the tempers 

 and morals of many children have been ruined by mothers leav- 

 ing the care of their children to ignorant and vicious nursemaids. 



Another bad habit which may be contracted by the child 

 in early life is an unnatural desire for sympathy ; too often an 

 only child of indulgent parents, sometimes under the cloak of 

 the possession of a fondly supposed aesthetic or artistic tempera- 

 ment is allowed to contract the habit of unreasonably soliciting 

 sympathy whenever opportunity offers ; and the penalty in 

 later life is paid by the unnatural development of the self- 

 regarding sentiment, a precursor so frequently of functional, 

 nervous, and mental disorders. 



While it is highly desirable to train children to exercise 

 control over the primitive emotions, it is essential that they 



