tion greatly to be sought. Thus, when a woman like Miss Farmer devotes her time, strength, and means to a noble work, she is led to understand the meaning of Emerson's wordsthat "things that are for thee gravitate to thee," if the work is to be carried on.

Psychologically speaking, we have a beautiful proof of the truth of the science when we find that all faculties are capable of further development. Our minds increase in activity with use, and Miss Farmer's own life is an exemplification of this fact; for many faculties that are in an active state to-day were comparatively dormant when the Greenacre work was started. For instance, the qualities of Self-esteem, giving independence of mind and power to assume responsibilities, and the faculty of Language, which gives power of expression, have both added largely to her success; while her Spirituality, though always an active faculty, has broadened and expanded in proportion as she has allowed it to be educated through the light of her intellect.

Some may ask, Is there not a selfish interest at heart that promotes such a work? We say, emphatically, no; a selfish thought would crush the work. One must be willing to give one's all, as the greatest of divine healers did, in order to be stripped of every particle of selfishness; and then the soul life is in an attitude to receive divine inspirations and to give them to others.

[NOTE. Some of the discussions arranged during the psychological week at Greenacre, this season, were on "Character, and how to make the best use of our talents." These were conducted by the author of the foregoing "Study"-the daughter of L. N. Fowler and Vice-president of the American Institute of Phrenology, New York. These discussions awakened advanced thoughts on character-study, or the true art of living. Miss Fowler, who has made a thorough study of psychology, looked forward to the time when our boards of education will all possess a phrenological expert, so that a backward child will be encouraged to its fullest

possibilities and a brilliant child will be prevented from developing its powers in advance of bodily health and strength. Then every superintendent will make a short and concise examination of the ability of the children under his or her care when each child enters school. This will be kept in the archives of the school and supplemented every year by a reëxamination, so as to record the progress made in the child's mental development. With the present method much time is wasted before the talents are discovered by individual teachers; but, with the new facilities in mental science explained by Phrenology, the teacher will be able to see the possibilities expected of each pupil. The highest ideals of life and character were encouraged by an explanation of methods for drawing out the talents of each child. In a second discussion Miss Fowler explained the discoveries made recently by scientific experimenters on the various motor areas of the brain, and showed by diagrams where these were located and how influences from the senses were received by the brain through the optic thalamus and sent to the cell or gray matter and afterward despatched through the corpus striatum to the various senses. Another discussion elicited some recent discoveries with regard to the influences wrought upon the brain, and hence the character, through alcohol and other stimuli. It is not generally known that the superior parts of the brain are first influenced by alcoholic stimulation, and that when this is the case the second or middle division of the organ appears at the time more active in yielding a certain excitement of the faculties, namely, Language, Music, Mirthfulness, etc. When a further addition of alcohol is taken this region also is paralyzed and the victim becomes unconscious; but the cerebellum and base of the brain still give life to the individual, who has apparently no activity of the cerebrum. If a still larger quantity of alcohol be taken, affecting both the large and small brain, then consciousness and life cease. It was owing to the fact that so much derangement of mental power is brought about by the influence of alcohol that, from a scientific standpoint, Miss Fowler urged her hearers to consider the importance of these truths. Interesting discussions followed, and the psychological development of a little boy was shown-as an object-lesson to the arguments brought forward.-ED.]

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LABORATORY

SCIENCE.

BY LYMAN C. NEWELL, PH.D.

Science is the investigation, interpretation, and comprehension of truth. It is now studied so extensively in the laboratory that the term "laboratory science" is used in contradistinction to "text-book science." The experimental study of science presents psychological aspects of inestimable value to teachers.

Laboratory work is concrete labor, and hence (1) cannot be shirked mentally, like geometry or history. It also (2) relieves mental fatigue, for it permits harmonious action of the whole body. Finally, it (3) produces the highest grade of reactive conduct, because it furnishes unlimited opportunity for the application of the psychological principle, “no reception without reaction, and no impression without a corresponding expression."

Laboratory work is individual labor, and therefore allows manual and mental freedom. Free hands and free brains are complementary. It likewise eliminates what Emerson calls. "the pain of discovered inferiority," because timid minds have little fear when superior fellow-workers do not hear their blunders.

Experiments stimulate curiosity, and as a result give impulses toward better cognition. Mere curiosity, however, is an unscientific stimulus; hence, the teacher should use laboratory work to replace indiscriminate curiosity in things by philosophic interest in principles. Interest at first is native, and if it ends there has a limited psychical value. All students should aim to secure acquired interest. The law of interest

says that acquired interest can be gained by associating uninteresting things with interesting things. Laboratory science applies the law of interest by constantly presenting uninteresting principles in connection with interesting facts. Electricity, for example, lures the student from fact to principle-from concrete to abstract.

Attention is mutually related to interest. One implies the other. There are two kinds of attention-involuntary and voluntary. The former is common, but the latter is enviably rare. Voluntary attention is essential to complete psychical life, and should be aroused in all students. Many subjects by their very nature preclude its attainment, but laboratory science is peculiarly well fitted to inspire voluntary attention because it permits constant and alluring change. The experimental study of the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere, for example, begets voluntary attention to the functions of the atmosphere in geology, astronomy, meteorology, and physiology.

Laboratory science cultivates the memory, because it attaches new conceptions to concrete facts and connects verbal reproduction with objective work. The fundamental aim of the experimental study of science has always been to secure a philosophic connection between the abstract and the concrete.

Inhibition, or mental arrest, plays an important part in experimental work. If broad fields of consciousness are sown in which both impulse and inhibition guide the mind, then correct judgments follow. Experiments for laboratory use should be so prepared and presented that the students' mental attitude is constantly judicial-i. e., neither impulse nor inhibition should rule, but so interact that the mind will move along the diagonal, not the sides, of the mental parallelogram of forces in the field of consciousness. Constant supervision of students' work will produce minds that habitually eliminate foolish impulse and unwarranted inhibition, and so forces the attention that decisions are based on all available data.

The reign of Law and the unity of Nature constantly confront a student of laboratory science. He sees that "Nature is a great law-governed unit." Many of the simple laws of science, especially physical science, can be verified in the laboratory. Students in constant contact with law learn to set aside the element of chance, accident, or luck. They see the universality of law and submit willingly to its provisions. The conception of unity gradually arises from a consideration of such general laws as the conservation of matter and of energy, and of such general subjects as vibration. The ideas of unity thus gained teach that "fundamentally life is a unit, and we live not unto ourselves but as members of one family."

Science has bestowed upon humanity, as one outcome of its strife with religion and other branches of human thought, a love for truth. Daily conference with truth teaches students not only to tell but to believe the truth, to sift evidence, and to believe what has been demonstrated.

The best results from laboratory science are obtained by the teacher whose own mind is sympathetic, truthful, free, and poised.