424 
or thermodynamics, as the case may be, an ac- 
countant in the theory of errors, a draughtsman in 
projective geometry. By adopting the opposite 
course a very great risk is run; that of stifling 
the speculative instinct of a really gifted pupil. 
Suppose Hertz or Heaviside or Helmholtz had 
been debarred from all but “technical” sources 
of information! No doubt the teacher will oc- 
casionally talk over the heads of half his class; 
but if he does not do this too often no great harm 
is done. And the chance of securing for human- 
ity areal thinker is sucha glorious one that nobody 
who understands the meaning of such a success 
will hesitate for a moment in advancing so far as 
he can, and so far as he dare, from the vulgarity 
of technique to the culture of theory. G. B. M. 
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD HYGIENE. 
(1) Human Behaviour: a First Book in Psychology 
for Teachers. By Prof. S. S. Colvin and Prof. 
W. C. Bagley. Pp. xvi+336. (New York: 
The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan 
and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 4s. 6d. net. 
(2) Inductive versus Deductive Methods of Teach- 
ing: an Experimental Research. By W. H. 
Winch. Pp. 146. (Baltimore, U.S.A.: War- 
wick and York, Inc., 1913.) Price 1.25 dollars. 
(3) How I Kept My Baby Well. By Anna G. 
Noyes. Pp. 193. (Baltimore, U.S.A.: War- 
wick and York, Inc., 1913.) Price 1.25 dollars. 
(4) Minds in Distress. By Dr A. E. Bridger. 
Pp. xi+181. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 
1913.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 
N their text-book on “Human Behaviour,” 
Prof. Colvin and Prof. Bagley have en- 
deavoured to formulate the main principles of 
psychology in terms of conduct. For the im- 
mature and inexperienced teacher they believe that 
a “functional” viewpoint is the more helpful. 
The topics they have selected are those most 
closely related to the practical work of the school- 
room. 
(1) 
Memory, habit, instinct, feeling, emotion, 
attention, economical learning, higher thought- 
processes—these are discussed far more fully than 
is usual in teachers’ text-books. The treatment 
is throughout concrete. Each principle is formu- 
lated with a lucidity that is almost dangerous; and 
enforced with a wealth of illustration that is 
almost too convincing—drawn as it is from class- 
room practice or from everyday life more often than 
from the psychological or educational laboratory. 
Experimental work is by no means ignored. But 
detailed references to it are rare in the text and 
rarer in the bibliography. The “immature and 
inexperienced teacher” might easily gain the im- 
pression that a few simple and uncontrolled ob- 
NO. 2330, VOL. 93] 
NATURE 
[June 25, 1914 
servations, followed by many clear and plausible 
' inferences, are the surest guide to final generalisa- 
' of Educational Psychology Monographs. 
/ model for future observations. 
tions upon the most complex problems of human 
and animal behaviour. Of its class, however, this 
book is undoubtedly one of the best. 
(2) Mr. Winch’s book upon “Inductive versus 
Deductive Methods,” is the second he has con- 
tributed to Professor Whipple’s admirable series 
It is a 
record of a series of experiments, carried out in 
five London schools, to test the relative value of 
the two methods in teaching. When tested upon 
new material, it was found that in all the schools 
the children taught inductively did better than 
those taught deductively. When tested upon the 
old material that formed the medium of what they 
had been taught, the children did. differently in 
different cases. In three of the schools they did 
better when working by the ‘deductive and 
memoriter”’ method. In other cases, especially 
where the children were older, the inductive 
method proved equally successful; and there were 
indications that, when the test was applied after 
a long interval, it was even more successful. The 
subject-matter of the investigation was geometrical 
definition; and although laboratory and ‘intro- 
spective controls were perhaps of necessity omitted, 
in other respects the work may well serve as a 
model for further investigations dealing with other 
subjects of the school curriculum. 
(3) Like the Journal that he edits, Prof. 
Whipple’s series of monographs proposes to in- 
clude problems of child hygiene as well as child 
psychology. Mrs. Noyes’ contribution is the 
story of how she kept her baby well during the 
first two years of its life. As a record of physical 
health during this period, and as a statement of 
the means used to maintain it, her work is more 
complete than any that has yet been published. 
Once more we are presented with an excellent 
With a number of 
records as thorough as this, we should at last 
have a sound basis for a scientific description of 
the physical development of young children. 
(4) Dr. Bridger’s treatment of his subject is of 
a different character. In his book “‘ Minds in Dis- 
tress’ he maintains that the origin of functional 
_nervous diseases depends upon two fundamental 
principles: first, “that mental comfort depends 
upon a state of balance between two main factors,” 
namely, “‘common sense” and ‘new  impres- 
sions”; secondly, “that there are the ‘ masculine ’ 
and the ‘feminine’ types.’’ Loss of balance in 
the “masculine” type results in such disorders as 
neurasthenia; loss of balance in the “feminine ” 
type, in such disorders as hysteria. In a chapter 
on “Mental Formule” he gives, in quantitative 
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; 
d 
