190 NATURE STUDY. 



What has been said heretofore about the characteris- 

 tics or laws of the human mind applies to the child as 

 an individual. The child or man alone on an island, 

 shut off from all intercourse with his fellow-men, would 

 be dependent on his senses for new percepts ; would as- 

 similate these by the process of apperception ; would be 

 most impressed by that in which he was most interested ; 

 would try to picture or imagine what he could not see 

 by modifying and combining what he had seen ; would 

 combine his ideas, to a greater or less extent, in a series 

 or sequence ; and would endeavor, with more or less per- 

 severance and success, to unify his knowledge. His 

 development would be much retarded and limited, how- 

 ever, by the fact that he could not exchange ideas with 

 others, convey his ideas to others, and receive their 

 ideas in return. Man is a social being, and must not 

 merely get and unify ideas, but must impart and ex- 

 change ideas. 



This brings us to the consideration of expression, the 

 process or means by which ideas are conveyed to or 

 received from other minds. By expression is meant not 

 merely language, but any means of conveying or ex- 

 pressing ideas, drawing, painting, moulding, sewing, 

 music, gesture. 



Expression has a threefold object or function: 



First. To clarify, make more clear and orderly, our 

 ideas, by bringing them into consciousness, arranging 

 them in order to be conveyed to others, and forcing us 

 to recognize our own weaknesses, either in perceiving 

 or relating facts. Expression, the attempt to convey 



