SEX-EDUCATION 173 



the mysterious and difficult maturation of 

 brain. 



Taking our own cities of Edinburgh and 

 Aberdeen, as certainly among those of largest 

 proportional educational quantity and en- 

 deavour and surely sometimes even quality, 

 as the world goes though every one knows 

 the tales of boyish adolescent backwardness 

 of men of genius, like Hume and Scott, what 

 of their opportunities of peaceful interior 

 development would they now be allowed in 

 our day ? 



It is, of course, replied to such arguments 

 that genius is uncommon and cannot be 

 provided for. But this is prescientific ; for 

 genius is common until wasted. Every 

 normal adolescent is something of a genius; 

 and our problem is to encourage his spark, 

 not smother it under lessons, dull it with con- 

 straints, or weary it out of use or into evil 

 through long terms of drudgery, weighted by 

 impending crises, and scourged by approach- 

 ing fears ! 



Examine as you will later in college life, or 

 at its close, and correspondingly for ap- 

 prenticeship : but leave these youngsters in 

 their period of metamorphosis far more 

 largely than at present to nature, who never 

 has hastened her Psyche to unfold her wings 

 by shaking up the chrysalis. 



True, our human metamorphosis is in 

 obvious external ways not thus passive, but 

 who yet knows but that some of its finest 

 elements those of the essential Psyche may 

 be ? Consider some of these : conveniently in 

 our modern world take Art and Science. 



