304 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



Their pupils' dislike marks their want cf success; they themselves are embittered, 

 and their influence is like that of a withering blast upon the vital energy of young 

 plants. All this might have been avoided if the teacher had from the beginning 

 known how children must be treated if they are to be his friends, and how to 

 present the material of instruction in order to stimulate their interest instead of 

 filling them with disgust. 



An experimental pedagogy is therefore an essential. It includes psycho- 

 pedagogy, medico-pedagogy, and the hygiene of teaching. Here we are only 

 concerned with psycho-pedagogy, that is the psychology of the child applied to 

 pedagogy. This science aims at furnishing the educator with a means for diagnosis 

 and prognosis. Is this child intelligent? Is he backward? What are his 

 dominant capacities ? Is his bad work due to idleness, boredom, fatigue, or some 

 passing disturbance ? These are typical problems for diagnosis. 



What career shall this youth follow ? Given his present capacities, can we 

 foretell his future aptitudes ? In what sort of post will he make the best use of 

 his powers ? These are questions which belong to what I have called psycho- 

 prognosis. 



Psycho-pedagogy will also aim at providing the teacher with a right technique. 

 It seeks to answer such questions as, How is judgment developed ? How can 

 over-pressure be avoided ? When should we begin to teach a child to read ? How 

 should the will be trained ? 



It will also embrace other problems which concern particular subjects of 

 instruction — an 'experimental didactic' How should the beginnings of number 

 be taught? What is the right way of teaching modern languages? &c. 



Dr. Schuyten, Paedologist to the City of Antwerp, himself the 

 author of many researches concerning the child at school, has sent the 

 following communication: — 



Paedology is the synthesis of all the sciences which contribute to the exact 

 knowledge of childhood. It draws its data from hygiene, anthropology, 

 physiology, normal and abnormal psychology, psedagogy, and sociology. We 

 have abandoned the idea, still not uncommonly held amongst schoolmasters, that 

 the_ child is not a subject for accurate objective study. We know that his various 

 activities, mental and physical, may be accurately measured, and that when 

 teachers have realised this and have themselves been more scientifically educated, 

 they will be in a position to understand and appreciate the possibilities of the 

 subject. 



We are now in a period of transition, but the surprising number of researches 

 published in recent years already make it possible to indicate certain general lines 

 of work which I may condense as follows : — • 



A. (1) The great development of the biological sciences has shown that the 



experimental investigation of children may give more exact bases 

 for the educational treatment of childhood. 

 (2) It has been shown that the child must be considered as a biological 

 object, obeying the same natural laws as other forms of organic 

 and inorganic matter. Thus scientific investigation is possible and 

 inevitable if we would obtain accurate data for educational 

 procedure. 



B. It is possible at present to determine accurately 



(1) The hygienic conditions for the sound treatment of children (ventila- 

 tion, lighting, warming, &c). 



(2) The physiological bases of nutrition, movement, work, overwork and 



fatigue. 



(3) The anthropometric laws concerning normal and abnormal physical 



development. 



(4) Mental data derived from normal and abnormal children and from 



animals, from which the laws that underlie psychological phenomena 

 may be discovered. 



