520 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



state of fatigue, he can see the explanation of the stupid type of in- 

 dividual, in some instances at any rate. 



The effects upon the emotional activities, while not so easily de- 

 tected by experimentation, may yet be readily observed in one's 

 own experiences and in the conduct of persons in his environment. 

 Cowles,* Beard,f and others assure us as physicians that neuras- 

 thenia gives rise to irritability, gloominess, despondency, and sets 

 free a brood of fears and other kindred more or less abnormal feel- 

 ings. Wey,:}: in his studies upon the physical condition of young 

 criminals, has found that in the majority of instances there appears 

 to be some neural defect or deficiency, mostly of the nature of de- 

 pletion, which he believes contributes to alienate the moral feelings 

 of the individual. There is little doubt that viciousness has a physio- 

 logical basis. It is probable that in such a case the highest cerebral 

 regions, through which are transmitted the spiritual activities last 

 developed in the race, becoming incapacitated first by fatigue, are 

 rendered incapable of inhibiting impulses from the lower regions, 

 which manifest themselves in an antisocial way. 



IIL 



It follows from what has gone before that cerebral fatigue is 

 a most important matter to be reckoned with in all the affairs of 

 life, but especially in education, where the foundations for nervous 

 vigor or weakness are being permanently established, and where 

 relatively little can be accomplished in either intellectual or moral 

 training unless the physical instrument of mind be kept in good re- 

 pair. It needs no argument to beget the conviction that we should 

 if possible ascertain what circumstances produce fatigue most fre- 

 quently in the schoolroom, so that they may be ameliorated and 

 their injurious consequences thus avoided. What, then, are the 

 most important causes? It is well to appreciate at the outset that 

 every individual has a certain amount of nervous capital which, 

 when expended, leaves him a bankrupt, and it is of supreme import 

 to him that something should always be kept on the credit side 

 of his account. If we would deal most wisely with a pupil, 

 then, whose activities we are able to direct, we should know just 

 what demands we could make upon his energies without fatiguing 

 him. But we can not hope at the present time and under present 

 conditions to discover with accuracy the fatigue point of each in- 

 dividual, and even if we were able to do so, we would doubtless find 

 it next to impossible to observe it at all times in our teaching, espe- 



* Op. tit., pp. 47 et seq. t Op. tit., pp. 36-117. 



$ Papers in Penology, 1891, pp. 57-69; cf. Collin, also in same, pp. 27, 28; Wright, 

 American Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, vols. ii and iii, pp. 135 et seq. 



