20 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



also to bear in mind that the essential to knowledge being the 

 individual, i.e., the person or self and his or her capabilities, 

 we must regard many children individually, there being 

 numerous instances of idiosyncracy of intellect, or where some 

 special circumstance, such as the presence of a disease or of a 

 physical disability, makes it necessary for us to vary our methods 

 of inculcating knowledge. 



It is in connection with these latter, the invalid children, 

 that in conclusion I shall say a few words. Some years ago, 

 had my opinion been asked as to whether it was wise or not to 

 attempt to associate the systematic education of invalid 

 children with their medical or surgical treatment, I should have 

 said " no," on the ground that it was better to conserve energy 

 for the processes of repair. Experience, however, has proved 

 that instead of hindering our work as medical men, education 

 has a certain therapeutic value. A good deal of_attention is 

 paid to the sick child, and the greater part of its time, whether 

 in the hospital or at home, is spent in an atmosphere which 

 directs its thoughts to itself and its troubles. The visits of the 

 medical men, the attentions of the nurses, the efforts to amuse 

 and to pass the time all serve to remind the child that it is not 

 as other children are. Suffering from a more or less chronic 

 ailment, there is nothing worse for it than to be deprived of 

 some of the daily occupations which other children have. We 

 constantly observe among these cases that whenever pain is 

 relieved or some local disability, even quite a painless one, is 

 corrected, an immediate brightening up of the intelligence 

 begins to occur. Take for example, a child suffering from 

 spastic paralysis in its legs ; it has not walked perhaps for years, 

 and it often has the appearance of being mentally deficient. 

 When the surgeon corrects the spastic condition and enables the 

 patient to get on to its legs and to learn to use them, th^. 

 intelligence improves and approximates more nearly to the 

 normal, because the deflected and inco-ordinated nervous 



