TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 847 



appears to me tliat habit is tlie instrument put into the hands of the educator 

 wherewith to supplement the weak will of the child, and to enable him to make 

 those good and necessary efforts to which human nature is averse. Do a thing a 

 hundred times in succession without lapses, and it becomes as easy to do it as not ; 

 ■do it a thousand times and it becomes your nature, a habit which you must do 

 Tiolence to yourself to break through. 



It is well established that the tissues, as muscular tissue, form themselves 

 according to the modes of action required of them. Hence the importance of not 

 allowing the child in any posture which should lead to malformation or disease. 

 But what we are less prepared to admit is, that new brain-tissue is supposed to 

 ' grow to ' any habit of thought in force during the time of growth — ' thought ' 

 including every exercise of mind and soul. ' The cerebrum of man grows to the 

 modes of thought in which it is habitually exercised,' and, says Professor Huxley, 

 * the possibility of all education is based upon the existence of this power which 

 the nervous system possesses of organising conscious actions with more or less un- 

 conscious or reflex operations.' What follows ? If the very conformation of the 

 child's brain depends in no slight measure upon the habits which his parents per- 

 mit or encourage, and if the habits of the child ensue in the character of the man, 

 then this theory of habit becomes the natural basis of a scientific scheme of educa- 

 tion. In a successful technical training, especially, a groundwork of carefully 

 considered, carefully laid habits is of fundamental importance. Further, it is in 

 the plastic seasons of infancy and early childhood that such foundation can best be 

 laid ; therefore parents are the primal and natural educators, and technical or 

 other advanced education can be attended by great success only so far as the 

 intelligent co-operation of parents is secured. 



But how are parents to be reached ? Is it to be expected that the average 

 parent should make on his own account the enormous educational effort which 

 should enable him to educate his child on rational principles ? It is to be expected 

 of him, and he will do it, provided that the duty be duly and persistently put 

 before him. He may have lost some facility in acquiring new habits, but he has 

 gained in enthusiasm — parental enthusiasm, perhaps, with one exception, the 

 strongest of any. At last, perhaps, the time has come for organised, persistent 

 efforts to bring the principles of a rational, scientific education home to every 

 parent according to his degree — on simpler lines for the young artisan and his 

 wife ; on more scientific for the more highly educated. Associations or other 

 efforts for the further education of parents, made upon principles of self-help, of 

 give and take for mutual improvement, should meet with a ready response : and 

 thus the experience of the most thoughtful in any community would be utilised 

 for the benefit of all. 



Sub- Section F. 



1. The Classification of the Exports of Cotton Piece Goods in Board of 

 Trade Returns. By Frank Hardcastle, M.P. 



This paper is the outcome of an efibrt made last year by the Manchester 

 Chamber of Commerce and the United Bleachers' Association to obtain a new and 

 more discriminating classification of the above exports. 



Hitherto cotton piece goods have been classified as (1) ' unbleached or bleached,' 

 (2) ' printed or dyed,' (3) ' mixed goods, cotton predominating.' Last autumn, 

 however, the Customs and Board of Trade consented to try experimentally for four 

 months at the beginning of this year a new classification — viz., 'unbleached,' 

 ' bleached,' ' printed,' 'dyed or manufactured of dyed yarns,' 'mixed goods, cotton 

 predominating,' and a copy of these experimental returns is given along with the 

 paper. 



"V^Tien sending these returns in manuscript to the Manchester Chamber Mr. 

 Seldon, the head of the Statistical Department of the Customs, expressed grave 



