General Aims of Nature Study 61 



The proper development of this power of abstrac- 

 tion and generalization is, indeed, the most difficult 

 of all our educational aims. There is danger on both 

 sides that of overdoing observation, on the one hand, 

 and that of overdoing generalization, on the other. 

 Correct generalization requires a sufficient number 

 of accurate data of particular facts. If generalization 

 is overdone, there is danger of ignoring facts and 

 jumping at conclusions. The confidence we place 

 in the opinions of men depends largely on the delib- 

 eration with which they sift their evidence before 

 forming a conclusion. The habit of scrupulously 

 attending to the particulars before a general notion is 

 formed is characteristic of the judicial mind; and it 

 is the same habit which gives weight to the opinions 

 of the man of science. When we notice how prevalent 

 the opposite tendency is that of jumping at conclu- 

 sions, with no sufficient evidence, and when we 

 notice, too, that this is characteristic of youth and 

 the ignorant and untrained, we have reason to believe 

 that there is a physical cause, namely, absence of stable 

 organization of the nervous system. 



The habit of generalizing on insufficient data 

 sometimes assumes a morbid form, that of abnormal 

 introspection. In this form it interferes with obser- 

 vation, often making the subject see particulars in a 

 false, subjective light. Prejudices thus arise which 

 render a normal evolution of the mind impossible. 

 Pupils of this type often seem prematurely old. 



On the whole, generalization is not normal to the 

 young plastic mind. Generalization should become 

 prominent at that period in life when the nervous 

 organization approaches completion. Juvenile phi- 

 losophers are abnormal, because they betray an un- 

 natural precocity of nervous organization, which renders 

 them unable to receive those numerous new impres- 

 sions which would prolong their period of mental 



