NATURAL OR SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN EDUCATION 17 



The development of the motor and sensory areas of the brain 

 are in a measure dependent on each other, and that great region 

 in front, which probably functions in all the higher mental pro- 

 cesses, must evidently be hindered in its growth and development 

 if the region back of it is defective. It is impossible to have 

 thought without the material for thought ; and this can, so far 

 as all perceptions of matter are concerned, be derived chiefly, if 

 not wholly, through the sensory and motor areas working to- 

 gether. This furnishes a physiological basis for the discussion 

 of manual training and all kindred subjects. 



These views have received recent confirmation by an exami- 

 nation of the brain of the late celebrated Laura Bridgman, who 

 was defective in all the senses except the tactile and the muscu- 

 lar sense, while absolutely wanting in vision and hearing. Her 

 brain was found much smaller in the sensory areas and its nerv- 

 ous cells few and undersized, owing to disuse, leading to atrophy 

 and failure of development. Experience proves conclusively that 

 all those mental processes on which reflection and judgment 

 depend are in their natural order later of development. Now it is, 

 in my opinion, of great moment to observe in education the nat- 

 ural sequence of development, as any attempt to reverse Nature's 

 order is sure to result in serious harm. We can not bring about 

 in a boy of sixteen a development which should have been begun 

 at five ; and this lies at the very root of the question of science in 

 schools, and all others bearing on education. Some have been 

 wondering what all this has to do with science in schools ; but I 

 hope to show before I conclude that, according to the homely 

 adage, the longest way around is sometimes the shortest way 

 home. 



If my conclusions have thus far been sound, we should be a 

 long way on the road to solving the most important part of any 

 educational problem, viz., the nature of the human brain and 

 mind. The other part of the problem, how best to adapt to the 

 environment, or fit the environment to the mind, is subordinate, 

 though sometimes practically difficult. 



It is plain that we must cultivate the senses, and that at the 

 period when they are most susceptible of it, in early youth ; 

 that to do this we must not neglect the use of the muscles, or 

 more correctly neuro-muscular activities, for muscular move- 

 ment of course implies the co-operation of the central nervous 

 system, including the sensory brain areas. 



The highest aim of science is to reach great general laws like 

 that which marks the triumph of the science of the nineteenth cent- 

 ury, the most important of which is the law of the conservation of 

 energy. But, before any law can be established, a vast number of 

 facts must be gathered. Facts, as regards natural science, mean 



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