CHAPTER iv. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 



"Man can only become human through education. He is nothing except what education makes of 

 him." Kant. 



"He who considers mankind good does not understand the human race. He is naturally brutal and only 

 education can ennoble him." Frederick-the-Gteat. 





Whatever theories may be held concerning the origin and progress, or origin and degen- 

 eration of the human race, there is but one view possible concerning the individual. Begin- 

 ning with a single cell he progresses through various invertebrate and vertebrate stages that 

 characterise the higher mammals and before birth, appears to have reached what may be re- 

 garded as the human plane. An attempt to explain the significance of these various stages by 

 the greatest living biologist will be found in Haeckel's "The L,ast Link.'' In the interpreta- 

 tion of these facts of pre-natal development there must be brought in theory, and where there 

 are theories there will be room for diverse opinion. The scientific interpretation is that, ow- 

 ing to the uniformity of Nature, the individual must be created in the same general manner 

 that the race itself has been and we have here one of the most convincing, as well as most 

 wonderful, evidences of race development. Upon any theory of direct creation of the race 

 this pre-natal development of the individual is without explanation or meaning. 



A. Culture Epoch Theory. The adherents of Ziller's theory of culture epochs main- 

 tain that the development of the child does not cease with birth, but that, so far as the mind is 

 concerned it has only well begun. The "biogenetic law," which necessitates that every indi- 

 vidual shall repeat the history of the group to which it belongs, operates upon the child during 

 its embryonic life. We may as easily believe that there are places and times in the universe 

 where the law of gravitation is suspended, as that this great life law is operative upon the child 

 up to a certain point and then ceases. Theoretically, the child from birth must repeat the 

 history of that portion of the human family to which it belongs. 



It might be argued that each race of people has undergone no development, that they 

 stand to-day practically as they were created. If this were true, which all scientific evidence 

 contradicts, then the infant should be, physically, morally and mentally, an adult, in miniature 

 and there could be no series of culture epochs. Anatomical and psychological studies of 

 children show conclusively that they differ radically from adults. It might be argued further, 

 admitting the law of development, that race development has been of such a nature that it 

 could leave no recognizable impress upon the child. But it has been shown in the preceding 

 chapter that both the body and mind of primitive man differed essentially from that of our 

 civilized man of to-day and those who are investigating the truth of the culture epoch theory 

 have a right to call for the direct evidence as found in the studies of childhood and early adult 

 life. It is no argument against the theory, in general, to maintain that the series of culture 

 stages given in the preceding chapter may have been passed through in a different order by 

 certain races, or that certain stages were entirely omitted. Still less does it matter if it can be 

 shown that certain groups in one stage reached a higher plane in special directions, than cer- 

 tain other groups in a higher stage of culture. These variations in the rate and order of race 

 development should affect, theoretically, only the descendants of those races having such ex- 

 ceptional development. They will be exempt, in no wise, from the general law of life de- 

 velopment, but its effect will differ presumably from that attained in the case of races that 

 have had an essentially different history. 



So far as the truth of the theory of culture epochs is concerned it matters not what im- 

 practical schemes of elementary education have been, or are being founded upon it. It is now 

 desired to bring together in concise form the normal characteristics of the children of our 

 civilized races and to show that, in a general but fundamental manner, they appear to recapit- 



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