6o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



toward the reorganization of the curriculum in our higher institutions 

 of learning. The number and grouping of subjects in the different 

 courses of study now generally followed in most of our schools and 

 colleges represent the selection brought about by the natural develop- 

 ment of an educational system in which the chief aim has been to 

 impart information rather than to supply the means for bringing the 

 functional capacity of each individual brain to its greatest efficiency. 

 To those who have had experience in studying the mental phenomena 

 of individuals, it is apparent that the great number of subjects now 

 crowded into university courses, can only result in giving many of the 

 students mental indigestion. This is one of the reasons why so many 

 young men leave college or the university without, apparently at least, 

 having gained any real intellectual pleasure from the work which they 

 have undertaken. There is an apparent indifference to higher ideals, 

 while the feeling of pleasure which should be associated with normal 

 mental activity is quite lacking, as a result of the surfeiting during the 

 school and college days. The constant effort made by the student to 

 readjust his mental focus upon first one and then another subject 

 dissipates energy, destroys initiative and gives rise to a certain ennui 

 which is one of the first symptoms of fatigue. 



The apparent but not real lack of originality in American students, 

 and their inability to work out problems which require long-continued 

 effort in one direction are referable not to any inefficiency on the part 

 of the student, but are the result of the system of education to which 

 they have unfortunately been subjected and that is quite lacking in 

 discipline. The physiologist early appreciates that under the present 

 curriculum of study in our universities so many subjects are introduced 

 that it is only possible for an individual to acquire information in 

 regard to the great variety of topics, but no time remains for him to be 

 drilled in the mental discipline essential to the formation of good 

 mental habits. Few students are ever given time, even if they have the 

 inclination, to follow Newton's precept of thinking long upon one sub- 

 ject or to imitate Darwin's example of keeping a subject in mind for a 

 number of years without ever losing sight of it. Modern education is 

 undoubtedly defective in depriving the student of the time and the 

 incentive to prolonged meditation, an absolute essential to great 

 achievement. 



In connection with the work of the department referred to, advice 

 could be given in individual cases with the view of correcting func- 

 tional disturbances of the mental activities, such as inattention, anom- 

 alies of the will, and other impediments to education. 



The important part played by slight physical deformities in the 

 development of the personality was clearly shown by a French throat 

 specialist, who years ago made the interesting observation that when- 



