410 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE STIMULATION OF THOUGHT. 



ON another page we print a letter 

 from " A Mother," whom we are 

 happy to find interested in the subject 

 of our recent editorial article, " Learn- 

 ing to think." "We are not sure that 

 we can fully meet our correspondent's 

 demand for a series of "questions ar- 

 ranged under certain categories" for 

 the purpose of drawing out thought, 

 seeing that the questions would neces- 

 sarily vary to a great extent with the 

 subject. As we pointed out before, 

 however, what is of chief importance 

 is to keep alive a sense of relation be- 

 tween the particular thing that occu- 

 pies attention for the moment and other 

 things. A vast number of practical er- 

 rors lie in neglecting the category of 

 cause. The question Why ? is one that 

 can hardly be asked too often, provided 

 only it is asked with a sincere desire 

 for information and not in a spirit of 

 evasion or obstruction. Children often 

 ask Why ? simply to gain their own ends, 

 not with any intention of yielding to 

 the reasons given. This spirit, of course, 

 has to be repressed as far as possible, 

 but too much encouragement can not be 

 given to an observing, inquiring dispo- 

 sition. 



Whatever the intellectual task in 

 hand, we should adjust ourselves to it, 

 with the intention of seeing the subject, 

 as far as may be, in its true proportions 

 and complete bearings. We know what 

 it is to sit opposite an object so as to 

 get a good, fair, and square view of it. 

 So with our intellectual tasks : we should 

 shift our position till we feel that we 

 are so situated as to take in all that we 

 can take in of them. Instead of this, 

 however, how common a thing it is for 

 people, old and young, to take but a 

 hasty, angular glance, so to speak, at 

 what they have to deal with, and so fail 



to see its most important and really 

 conspicuous features ! Before questions 

 can be asked to any good purpose, there 

 has to be careful observation ; and be- 

 fore there can be careful observation, 

 the object must be placed in the center 

 of the field of vision. Whatever we see 

 we should try to realize first in its en- 

 tirety, as consisting of such and such 

 related and convergent parts ; and after- 

 ward we should examine it analytically, 

 in order to obtain a better knowledge of 

 the parts, from which may flow a better 

 insight into their relations. It is one 

 thing to know that a key fits a lock, and 

 another to be able to figure to ourselves 

 the wards or compartments in the lock 

 that exactly answer to the pattern of 

 the key. It is one thing to know that a 

 certain action is predicated of a certain 

 subject, and another to understand that 

 the predicated action was a natural 

 product of the attendant circumstances. 

 The habit of classification is one that 

 can be taught with comparative ease to 

 the young; and it is one that gives rise 

 to many useful questions. It continually 

 raises the question, " What is it? " and 

 teaches the habit of going behind first 

 appearances. We can not ask in regard 

 to anything : To what class does it be- 

 long? without also asking: What is it 

 like? What is it unlike? Then, when 

 the class is recognized, there arise ques- 

 tions of relation to other classes, etc., 

 questions of origin, of function, of cause 

 and effect, of purpose, of significance, 

 and many others. To develop our theme 

 fully would be to write an essay on 

 pedagogics. To sum up, we may say that 

 the great desideratum is to establish a 

 healthy action and reaction between the 

 mind and the environing world. Some 

 minds set up this action and reaction, 

 this interchange of impressions and con- 

 ceptions, for themselves; others need 



