662 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1409. 



Dr. Sydney Robothan" Miller, associate 

 professor of clinical medicine in the Jolins 

 Hopkins Medical School and president of 

 the American Congress of Internal Medicine, 

 has joined the staff of the University of 

 Maryland School of Medicine. 



Dr. W. Magner has accepted the position 

 of director of the pathological department 

 of the University of Toronto. He was for- 

 merly lecturer on pathology in University 

 College, Cork. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE ACQUISITIVE INSTINCT IN CHILDREN AS 

 AN EDUCATIONAL STIMULUS 



The educational value of the collections 

 of various objects which children form has 

 not received the universal recognition which 

 it so well merits. The tendency to form col- 

 lections of such objects as stamps, coins, post 

 cards and bird's eggs has as its basis the in- 

 stinct of acquisition. A child of two years 

 hoards bits of cloth, clothes pins, and buttons 

 without knowing why he does it. The object 

 appeals to the child's senses, that is, the per- 

 ception of the object stimulates his instinc- 

 tive desire for possession. 



Sometimes an epidemic of collecting will 

 arise in a neighborhood as occurred in a 

 suburb of Chicago, a few years ago, when 

 most bo.ys between the ages of eight and four- 

 teen collected the pictures of baseball players 

 coming with certain brands of tobacco. Boys 

 collected the pictures because they saw others 

 doing it, and because of that instinctive cra- 

 ving for things which please the senses. Here 

 rivalry appeared. Boys vied with each other 

 to see who could get the greatest number of 

 pictures, and a value was placed upon them 

 far in excess of their intrinsic worth. 



The desire to collect without a definite 

 purpose other than to see how many objects 

 can be brought together continues into ad- 

 olescence. At the age of twelve or thirteen, 

 however, collections often assume an emo- 

 tional character as those made up of souvenir 

 spoons, theater ticket stubs, or later dance 

 programs. 



Up to this stage the instincts of acquisi- 

 tion, imitation, and emulation have furnished 

 the stimulus for the collective mania, and 

 even in collections of natural objects, reason- 

 ing has not played a basal part. Judgments 

 were formed as to relative value, methods of 

 acquisition, and arrangement of the objects, 

 but as yet the purpose of collecting for 

 systematic arrangement and study has not 

 appeared. 



Consider now the case of the stamp collec- 

 tor who has outgrown the desire for mere 

 numbers. He considers methods of arrang- 

 ment other than size or color, considering 

 country and time of greater moment. He 

 associates designs with historical events, and 

 the portraits with national heroes. He notices 

 the evolution of symbols and designs appear- 

 ing on succeeding issues of stamps, as well 

 as the progress made in printing and engra- 

 ving from the earlier to the more modern 

 representatives. Here is being developed the 

 " scientific attitude of the mind," the expres- 

 sion of that desire to classify, arrange, and 

 correlate fact. The comparing of concepts, 

 of memory images, the formation of judg- 

 ments, and reasoning enter into the mental 

 process, while instinct is eclipsed by thought. 

 Such a collection will furnish many lessons 

 in reasoning; for in solving the problems 

 arising in classification the habit of consistent 

 thinking is materially aided. 



Collections of natural objects as butterflies, 

 shells, and leaves have an especially favorable 

 influence upon the thought habit, but only 

 if the desire to arrange and study systema- 

 tically is present. The classification problems 

 met with are so diverse and require such 

 varied methods of approach that the train- 

 ing received in meeting them necessitates in- 

 tense tliought and a strong purpose. 



It should be remembered, therefore, that a 

 child's mania for collecting is the normal ex- 

 pression of an instinct; that this instinct can 

 be diverted into emotional or intellectual 

 channels; that when diverted intelligently it 

 may be a great factor in the formation of 

 the thought habit, the great purpose in any 

 education. It seems well worth while to con- 



