Nervous tive child ren. Nervous children are full of spontaneous movements, and imagina, often have many strange, disconnected, imaginative, precocious thoughts. In adult life these are wandering, unbidden, wild, ungoverned thoughts, a mass of thoughts, a cloud or rush of thoughts through the brain. In healthy people these are best controlled by things seen and heard. This micro-psychosis is fatiguing, and may result from exhaustion. Instinct gence. Let us consider the conditions commonly called and intelli-instinct and intelligence. Acts due to instinct may be performed at birth; the chick pecks its way through the shell, then it soon pecks crumbs off the ground. The arrangement of nerve-cells in the chick causing these acts exists at birth, and such acts are called signs of instinct because they depend upon congenital arrangements. Intelligence is an after-birth development; the nerve-arrangements for its display are largely built up in the child by the impressions that it receives from without. The congenital mechanism is called instinct, the outcome of impressions produced after birth is called intelligence. many brain properties. Intelligence Intelligence, in as far as it is due to brain action, due to is not due to one property in the brain, but to many properties, vitality, nutrition, the power to stimulate muscular contraction, susceptibility to impressions from without, and chiefly to the facility it possesses for the formation of unions for action among its parts, such being produced by the agency of the senses. Each of such properties is possessed in some degree by other things besides the brain, but the brain alone possesses them all in a high degree. This is the reason for asking you to study Nature's work in other living things beside the child. CHAPTER IV. OBSERVATION AND DESCRIPTION OF FACTS. observe a WHEN you give a description of your observations in How to a child, it is well to commence by stating under what child. circumstances your observations are made, and the previous occupations of the child. Note approximately, or by actual measurement, his height and weight, and the complexion and colour of the hair and eyes. At the same time note the form, proportions and general make of the body. Thus: he may be tall and thin; short, stout, very fat1, or coarsely built and clownish. Much has been written by authors on physiognomy, about the proportions, the size and the form of the head; observe well-made children, and contrast them with the Value of works of less favoured. Study good works of art, and thus train Art. 1 A big fat boy aged 12, in Standard II., the biggest boy in the Cases. class. Looks of low type, with coarsely made lips. Hands both in the "Nervous type posture"; coarse horizontal frontal creases. Some jerky movements of the head, with some irregular movements of the trunk. He was reported in the school as dull, not troubleHe was a big fat boy of low brain-power and mentally dull. 2 A boy age 13, Standard III. Head wide, and lower jaw large, features otherwise normal. Expression good. Horizontal lines on forehead from over-action of the frontal muscles. Weak hand posture with lateral twitching of fingers. Well nourished. Dull and lazy. A boy of low type. some. Both these boys certainly require education, but they may be unfitted for the work of the ordinary standards; probably some form of manual training would be the most suitable for them. The head. Defects. The fea tures. Ears. Mouth. Epicanthus. Skin. Cases. yourselves to know good types of human form, when you see them. As to the head, estimate or measure the circumference, note the height of the vertex above the level of the ears, the position of the greatest transverse diameter, the facial angle and the build of the forehead; it may be high, broad and ample, or low and contracted between the temples. As defects, the head may be too large and flat, with a very projecting forehead due to early rickets; it may have a raised seam down the middle, or it may be lumpy; these are defects. The texture and arrangement of the hair may be worthy of notice, so whether it cease in a sharp line at the forehead, or cover that part as a soft long down. The separate features must be described. The ears should be symmetrical, but one or both may be misshapen, contracted in the rim, or otherwise defective. The mouth may be large or too small', with thick, coarse lips, or they may be thin and well cut. Eyelids sometimes have a vertical fold of skin at the inner angle (epicanthus), like that seen in some of the Japanese races; this is a defect. The cheek-bones may be high and prominent. A good skin is thin, bright and clear, not too pale, and shewing a play of colour, especially if the complexion be fair2. 1 Report on Schools, p. 8. 2 809. A boy 7 years old, Standard I. Epicanthic folds slightly marked, openings between eyelids (palpebral fissures) and the mouth too small. He was a fat boy and shewed no obvious nerve-defects. His work in school was average, but he was known as a boy who would fight in the streets. 609. A girl aged 10, Standard V. head wide and bulging in the upper part. The head was big, fore- ears normal; she was thin. Hands "nervous type of posture," finger twitching. She was mentally very bright, but not perfectly well developed and distinctly nervous. Now turning to the signs of the action of the nervesystem upon the body. The trunk should be erect and symmetrical, well curved and mobile, with the head balanced erect on the top of the spine. A boy aged 10, Standard IV. Head long from back to front (dolicho-cephalic) and lumpy. Upper forehead protuberant without bosses. Palate narrow and high; features good. The muscles in the forehead were over-acting, producing horizontal creases. He was pigeon-breasted from the effects of rickets; thin in the limbs, but not in the face, and of good colour. Teacher said he was a good boy and rather above the average in intelligence. As to the significance of defects of the head and features much information may be gleaned from the Report of observations in schools. Visible defects of the skull were seen in 231 children (boys 166, Defects of girls 65) out of the 5,344 (boys 2,794, girls 2,550) examined. The head. coincidence of “signs of nervousness, nerve-weakness, or defect," "low nutrition" and "mental dulness" as reported is shewn thus: If you want to study examples of badly-måde heads, look for them in the boys' school, where they are most abundant. As to the significance of defects of ears, this defect is to be rated Defects of much lower in value than badly-made heads. In the Report there ears. are 81 cases (boys 64, girls 17) with defective ears. Defect of ears in combination with: "Nerve-signs" in boys 24, girls 5, total 29. "Low nutrition" in boys 17, girls 4, total 21. These conditions, e.g. Nerve-signs, Mental dulness and Low nutrition, In 73 cases presenting other visible defects than those given above we found as follows: Postures and movements. head. Postures and movements are signs of action in the nerve-centres; they are direct outcomes of nerve-currents passing from the centres to the muscles; both classes of signs may be observed in such parts of the body as can move separately. It will assist future descriptions if I Postures of here give some typical postures. There are four principal postures of the head-flexion, a bending forward on the breast;-extension, or bending of the head backward, as in gazing upwards;-rotation to one or other side in a horizontal plane, the head remaining erect, but the face being turned to the right or left;—inclination to one or other side, lowering that ear so that the two do not remain on the same level,-inclination is said to be towards that side on which the ear is lowest. The posture may be compound, the head may be flexed, inclined and rotated to the right, or it may be extended and inclined to the left, etc. The same terms as those here employed for differing positions of the head may be used in describing its movements; it may be flexed, inclined, etc. How to observe the hand. Straight hand. When about to observe the spontaneous postures assumed in the arms, or upper extremities of a child, I ask him to stand up, and explaining what is meant by the palm of the hand, say—" Put out your hands with the palms down, spreading the fingers,”—speaking in a quiet tone, and not shewing my own hands. It is then possible to notice the postures of the body, the head, and the spine, the arms and the hands, as well as the movements of these parts. This action of the child is convenient, leaving the arms and hands free, and ready for observation and description. The typical hand posture seen in health and strength, is the straight extended hand. The fingers are straight with the palm of the hand, and on a level with the fore |