

EDUCATION AND CO-ORDINATION OF FUNCTION. 7 



types of work — they have less fineness of movement and of 

 touch, and are only capable of the coarser employments. 

 Their powers of co-ordination are inferior because the centres 

 are less taught. There are many conditions of disease and of 

 abnormality which throw light upon the inter-relationship 

 which exists between the intelligence and the proper activity of 

 some of the cerebral centres, indicating that these may remain 

 inco-ordinate simply because they have not been taught to 

 functionate. Take, for instance, some of those varieties of 

 mental deficiency in young children whose motor centres may be 

 quite developed and potentially active, but they are unable to 

 use them. They cannot walk, often they cannot hold their 

 heads up, and they cannot talk, not because they are unable 

 to move their limbs — they do this in an aimless kind of way, 

 and they utter incoherent sounds. Muscularly they may be 

 very strong. All the sensory channels of education may be 

 open, but their lack of intelligence or of capacity for knowing 

 has rendered them unable to learn to use their centres and to 

 make the movements effective, with the result that there is 

 movement without co-ordination. 

 Illustrative case shown : — 



H. W. — Aged 4. Appeared to be a perfectly bright child until about 

 eighteen months old, when he had an attack of meningitis. Ever since then 

 his intelligence centres have been deficient. He understands Avhat is said to 

 him, and will sometimes perform actions of response. He is very strong in 

 the arms and legs, kicks about vigorously, but is absolutely without power of 

 co-ordination. Show him a toj% he laughs at it and makes aimless move- 

 ments with his hands, but has no power of co-ordination to take hold of it. 



We have another striking example of the fact that in- 

 dividual centres require to be taught to functionate, in the case 

 of the deaf-mute, whose perfectly-developed centres for speech 

 remain inactive because the sense of hearing, through which 

 they normally become educated, is absent. Deaf-mutes have 

 often plenty of intelligence, but never having heard, they are 

 practically ignorant of the existence of sound, and they will 

 explain to you that they cannot imagine what sound is like 



