L.— EDUCATION. 219 



children. This has, in the past, given rise to much serious misunder- 

 standing as to the real attitude of the child to life. A fertile source of 

 this difficulty is to expect a child to adopt the adult position before the 

 appropriate time in his mental growth has been reached. Long after 

 speech has been acquired, the meaning of a simple expression, in exactly 

 the same words, may convey to the mind of the child something entirely 

 different from the meaning which it conveys to the mind of the adult. 

 Much work in this connection has been carried on in recent years with 

 considerable success. Many attempts have been made to summarise the 

 main points of difference between the two worlds. An account of an 

 effort of considerable merit in this connection is to be found in the final 

 chapter of ' The Growth of the Mind ' entitled ' The World of a Child.' 

 Something more than a summary, however, is needed in a matter of such 

 importance. In the account of the researches of Prof. Jean Piaget and 

 his colleagues in the University of Geneva, as the result of many years of 

 patient and detailed investigation, we are fortunate in having a fairly 

 complete and absorbingly interesting study of this hitherto comparatively 

 unworked field. 



It would be difficult to over-estimate the value to the student of early 

 child life of the records of these researches in ' Language and Thought of 

 the Child,' ' Judgment and Keasoning in the Child,' and the recently 

 published volume on ' The Child's Conception of the World.' The 

 powerful influence of egocentrism in the young child is well known, and 

 the replacement as it wanes by other mental elements is discussed probably 

 with a greater clearness and confidence than in any previous attempt in 

 this direction. 



The published work of the original investigations of Prof, and Mrs. 

 Stern, and that of Prof. Arnold Gesell, are also valuable contributions 

 to our knowledge of this period. 



The astounding progress made in the interval of time under review, in 

 our knowledge of the pre-school child, must be referred to not only for 

 its intrinsic importance, but also because original work at this stage of 

 development has had such a beneficent effect in popularising education, 

 especially in its social implications. In the school we have a sufficiently 

 large number of children for observation, and possibly for experiment. 

 We can generalise and compare group with group. But the pre-school 

 child is a thing apart, and the nursery is the nearest approach to the class- 

 room. On the physical side the pre-school child is within reach of experts. 

 The local doctor, the mother and the nurse or other attendant possess, or 

 should possess, a fair knowledge of childish ailments. On the mental 

 side, however, there is a lamentable deficiency of anything in the nature 

 of expert guidance. The general opinion being that this side of the 

 child's development can safely be neglected until the child goes to school. 



We have already pointed out the folly of such a generalisation. The 

 pre-school period is singularly rich in the opportunity it offers for wise, 

 expert assistance. Parents, however, are now beginning to realise how 

 remarkably clever their young children are, and what native ability they 

 possess of overcoming obstacles which present themselves. The following 

 example recorded by a skilled observer is a case in point : — 



' Age two years and twenty-three days. This is an example of thinking 



