UNIVERSITY REFORMS 6i 



ever there was any obstruction to the drawing in of air through the 

 nasal passages it was extremely difficult for the individual, thus afflicted, 

 to focus his attention for any considerable length of time upon any one 

 subject. Since the days of Krishaber, great numbers of other physical 

 causes have been found which, if not removed, may greatly impair the 

 dynamic power of the attention even if the cause is slight. The general 

 irritability and fretfulness of children with defective vision or en- 

 larged tonsils, the malaise and apparent laziness so frequently a symp- 

 tom of anaemia or neurasthenic states, the emotional outbreaks of 

 temper, the destructiveness, the grimacing and the tics of St. Vitus' 

 dance, the abnormal imagination, the tendency to lying, precocity and 

 self-centeredness in hysteria, are symptoms which, if exaggerated, 

 should be regarded as signs of immediate danger to the individual, but 

 even when less pronounced they often become the danger signals indi- 

 cating a serious but slow degeneration in the mental and moral de- 

 velopment of the child. The important point to be bom in mind in 

 this connection is that an almost inappreciable defect in the mental 

 activity of an individual, if persistent for a long period of years, may 

 ultimately result in profound changes of the entire personality. This 

 is not only true in regard to defects in capacity for attention, but is 

 equally true in regard to the still more important functions of feeling 

 and will. As an example we may cite the popular conception, to which 

 expression is so frequently given, that a young man should not work 

 too hard during his university days. This notion takes no cognizance 

 of the fact that the sloppy mental processes following a protracted 

 period of mental inactivity make it impossible later for the individual 

 to direct his own thoughts. One of the chief lessons taught by modem 

 psychiatry is that the persons the most subject to mental disturbances 

 are those who early in life have failed to form good mental habits. 

 Individuals do not break down as the result of hard work, but failure 

 comes from the inability to adapt their mental processes to the new 

 conditions in which they have frequently been cast and by the sudden 

 strain put upon the brain whose functions have deteriorated through 

 inactivity. The attempt of the indolent to find an intellectual justifi- 

 cation for their sins of omission is in direct opposition to the doctrines 

 of physiology, which teach us that the strength of any organ is in- 

 creased by the proper exercise of its functions. This is a lesson which 

 should be taught to students in our universities, and a few hints should 

 at the same time be given as to the methods of work to be adopted, after 

 which the students should be encouraged to go forward themselves. 



The importance of emphasizing the cultivation of a healthy initia- 

 tive in thought, as well as action, is a subject upon which there is ap- 

 parently little opportunity for disagreement among intelligent persons ; 

 and yet many forces operating at present are antagonistic to the de- 



