552 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 199. 



sects, ■whicli were flying lazily southward, pay- 

 ing no attention to the flowers in their way. 

 They were not quite as numerous, however, as 

 the Topeka report makes them out to have 

 heen. Large swarms of this species are not 

 infrequent, being noticed from time to time. 



The report also calls to mind two other in- 

 stances that come under this head. One is a 

 report of a large number of centipedes seen in 

 Nebraska all crawling soutward (?) and noted 

 by the author in Science some years ago. The 

 other was the occurrence at Lincoln, Nebraska, 

 in 1889 or 1890, of a great swarm of Hydrophil- 

 liis (probably triangularis) attracted apparently 

 by the electric lights. They were so numerous 

 that the sound produced by their striking the 

 electric cars resembled the rattle of large hail 

 stones. They came in at the open windows of 

 the cars, greatly annoying the passengers. 

 Along the sidewalk of O Street their mashed 

 bodies were very numerous. Possibly a bushel 

 or more could have been swept up in the dis- 

 tance of a block. The occurrence of the insect 

 in such large numbers is the more remarkable 

 since in the vicinity of Lincoln it had not for- 

 merly been noted as a very common species, 

 ponds and other suitable breeding places not 

 being abundant. Yet the fact that the electric 

 light appeared to form a factor in the concen- 

 trated abundance of the insect seems to indi- 

 cate that the gathering was probably from the 

 country round about, though it does not pre- 

 clude the possibility of a migrating swarm, due 

 possibly to the drying-up of their natural hab- 

 itats. 



F. C. Kenyon. 



Washington, D. C, Octobers, 1898. 



SCIENTIFIC LITER ATUBE. 



SOME RECENT LITERATURE ON CHILD-STUDY. 



There are probably few terms in popular use 

 which are more variously understood than 

 Child-Study. In the minds of some it revives a 

 harrowing scene wherein parents and teachers 

 are observed plying trivial or abstruse questions 

 to their children, or experimenting with them 

 in other ways, in the endeavor to obtain data 

 requested in syllabi and blanks which are be- 

 ing scattered broadcast over the land, having 

 already, as one eminent person is afraid, found 



their way into most homes and school-rooms of 

 the country. When these data are obtained 

 they are hurried oflT to the designers of the 

 syllabi, who tabulate them, presenting the out- 

 come in numerical results which are supposed 

 to constitute the propositions of a presumptive 

 science of Child-Study. To other minds this 

 term denotes a significant movement which has 

 for its purpose the investigation of psychical 

 phenomena occurring in the development of 

 human beings, this work being conceived of as 

 diflferent from the analysis and description of 

 adult consciousness. Those who regard Child- 

 Study from this point of view see that while 

 some of the investigations that are being made, 

 possibly the majority of them, are valueless 

 from a scientific standpoint, yet the heart of 

 the thing is full of vitality and is well able to 

 produce increasing abundance of life in the 

 whole structure. 



To those who have ' syllabi ' and ' Child- 

 Study ' so strongly associated that they cannot 

 be dissevered, this movement will be looked 

 upon as a fad of only temporary interest and of 

 little or no importance. Professor Baldwin, for 

 instance, seems to estimate Child- Study in this 

 way;* for he certainly cannot have in mind the 

 broader reaches of the subject as concerned with 

 the study of human ontogeny, since he would 

 scarcely regard his own numerous contributions 

 thereto, nor would anyone else, as of a faddish, 

 transitory character. It seems likely that 

 others have connected the term simply with 

 the least important aspects, with the froth or 

 eddyings, one might say, of the study of de- 

 velopmental psychology Doubtless its origin 

 and use has led to this confusion, since it has 

 been employed principally by those who have 

 suddenly become infatuated with the study of 

 children, but who have brought to the under- 

 taking meager attainments, and scarcely any 

 first-rate qualifications for rightly conducting 

 the work. In this way much is being offered 

 as contributions to science which in its elabora- 

 tion has not conformed to the rules of scientific 

 procedure. But to some investigators at least 

 this is not an occasion for discouragement, but 

 rather one for rejoicing and congratulation, 

 since all science has been conceived and nour- 



*See Psychological Beview, March, '98, p. 219. 



