WHEN CHARACTER IS FORMED. 657 



is prepared for the father of the family, whose labor involves only 

 the use of his muscles, and greater thought is taken in providing 

 for his needs than for those of the children. And then so slight 

 attention has been given by most people to the subject of foods 

 for human beings, although many intelligent men pride them- 

 selves in knowing what is best for their horses and cattle, that 

 they do not discriminate between the relative values of different 

 articles. For the most part our tables are thought to be abun- 

 dantly provided for when they are supplied with a large quantity 

 of food, even though this be of a non-nutritive character, consid- 

 ering the special needs of those who are to partake of it. The 

 art of cookery, too, is so little developed among us that even 

 when food has potentially nutritive value it is not infrequently 

 destroyed in the process of preparation, or is rendered so invul- 

 nerable that the stomachs of the children are too feeble to have 

 any effect upon it. Either or all of these conditions are sufficient 

 to keep the brains of many children poorly nourished, and as a 

 consequence such will show evidences of dullness and of the 

 various temperamental disturbances which accompany a lack of 

 proper nerve nutrition.* 



That imperfect nutrition is the cause of much of that emo- 

 tional estrangement in childhood which is called irritability, ugli- 

 ness, viciousness, or something of that sort, has been satisfactorily 

 evidenced to the writer as the result of a number of observations 

 which he has been able to make upon young children. The fol- 

 lowing case is typical of many others : H was a well-formed 



child at birth, and continued to develop normally during her first 

 five months. Throughout this time she slept very well, and for 

 the most part seemed happy and contented. The constant expres- 

 sion on her face showed healthy feeling, and she rarely made a 

 disturbance. At about the fifth month a change seemed to gradu- 

 ally come over her. She did not sleep so well ; the expression on 

 her face showed less happiness and contentment, and by the sixth 

 month she could be called an irritable and peevish child. She 

 who had been previously an especially happy child did not now 

 smile often ; and the things which ordinarily attract children of 

 that age seemed to be of little moment to her. Some member of 

 the family was now kept busy much of the time endeavoring to 

 soothe her troubled spirit. This state of affairs continued until* 

 about the eighth month, when it was decided to make a change in 



in school, requires much more nerve nutrition than one of a phlegmatic temperament who 

 may be leading an easy life at home. Temperament is an important factor in this matter 

 of nutrition. Spencer (op. cit.} has some excellent things to say along this line, pp. 

 214-235. 



* Cf. Warner, op. cit., p. 81 ; Krohn, Child-Study Monthly, vol. i, No. 10, p. 565 

 Holmes, Transactions of the Illinois Society for Child-Study, vol. i, No. 1, p. 205. 

 VOL. LI. 50 



