under her care, and every two of them had an assistant to do the menial work. The space at my disposal will not permit of a description of Walton Abbey, the beautiful home selected by George Washingotn Singer for this institution. In the midst of a very extensive park surrounded by meadows far away from the turmoil of a town, stands the stately old building with a chapel attached to it, Scotch firs and old oak trees encircle a large old-fashioned garden, and only the many additional buildings and extensions, which proved to be necessary to accommodate our children and the staff, spoils the picturesqueness of the site. The main building, containing a stately old hall, has, in the course of twenty years, been extended to nearly three times its original size, and is now large enough for the requirements of about 150 inmates. The children of all ages, from the suckling to the grown-up boy and girl, all are considered to belong to one great family, and lead a happy life in the midst of unadulterated nature. Contrary to the custom prevalent in orphan schools a certain amount of luxury was allowed in every department from the beginning, as this was the wish of the testator not less than that of the executors of his will. The tiny cots, covered with lace, which serve for the reception of the infant, are as artistic in shape as practical in construction, the walls are covered with old and modern pictures, and the material of furniture and fittings is of the most solid description. I think that this moderate luxury and comfort greatly contributed to the happiness, not only of the growing-up children, but also to the well-being of the nurses and teachers, and thus we have been fortunate in keeping most of our employees for many years, and some of the mothers engaged in 1880 are yet in the service of the institution. Soon after the nurse-girls had left the establishment in the year 1880 the babies became the object of love and admiration, nay, of worship, at the hands of the young mothers, who vied with each other to make them happy. The new nurses shook their heads at the great interest and care bestowed upon the children by the superintendent, the trustees, and particularly by the doctors, who, like myself, noted every movement and every development of the infants with the greatest care. During five years observations were made and registered three times every day, and the nurses soon learnt to carry out the instructions of Drs. Whyte and Borman, who strictly adhered to the plan delineated by the testator. Perhaps this institution is the first one in which the children have received the care of a mother by strangers; we attach great importance to this fact as it is essential for the full success of experiments of this kind. Body and mind must be kept in a healthy condition, which is scarcely possible in the typical orphan school. It was clearly to be seen that the nurses, themselves mothers, felt happy in the execution of their maternal duties, and that their work in due course had become a work of love and devotion. This happy result in later years greatly facilitated our experiments and the often repeated tedious observations. No attempt was made to crush the will of the child, and a free development of the mind was allowed. Qualities and traits of character, good, bad, and indifferent, seemed to us during the first six or seven years not the object of repression or correction, but of observation and study. Our aim was not to train and to coerce, but to ascertain the facts of natural inclinations and habits. In the education or training of the mind which followed later on we saw nothing but a modification and direction of hereditary traits and tendencies, not an attempt at the alteration of innate character. The subduing of the will, the main object of so many educational systems, formed no part of our plan, and in this respect the results prove that we were correct in our expectations and hopes. At the time when we commenced our attractive task we had hardly any psychological work to guide us. Experimental psychology then was in its infancy, and only in isolated cases the child had been studied from this standpoint. In particular the first three years of childhood had not been explored. These years, without doubt, are the most important for the student, because during the early period of life hereditary tendencies are not yet obscured by training and pædagogical influences. Even now, twenty years later, the literature on child-life is very meagre, if compared with the enormous mass of educational publications, which, wanting the fundamental studies of the mind of the child, are problematical and speculative throughout. None are based on the "only source of wisdom," the experiment. Johann Friedrich Herbart nearly a hundred years ago had, in his famous letters, set up a theory of education on psychological principles, but he groped in Kantian darkness, and the spirit of modern science had not entered his mind. Although we must needs appreciate his honest endeavour, we cannot overlook his errors, which mainly result from the insufficient knowledge of the mental development of the child during the first five or six years of his life. Isolated observations of the infant's life we find before 1880 in German, French, and American periodicals, especially concerning the gradual development of the language. Here a booklet by Berthold Sigismund, published in 1856, gives some interesting data, and H. Taine's observations, also Darwin's Biographical Sketch of an Infant and Keber's Zur Philosophie der Kindessprache are valuable. Nor could we overlook Ludwig von Strumpell's Psychologische Pædagogik, describing observations which were made in 1846, and Madame Necker de Saussure's interesting studies, published long before the time when we commenced our experiments. B. Perez's important book, Les trois premières années de l'enfant, was published in 1878. It contains a wealth of information, but records only few actual experiences based on systematic observations. As the pioneer of the new science we may consider W. Preyer, and as its greatest follower in England Prof. James Sully. The results of their studies were published after 1880, the first edition of W. Preyer's Die Seele des Kindes appearing in 1882, and Prof. James Sully's observations were made known to the scientific world after 1884. Thus during the first three years we could not rely on any work or methods of observations made by others, and our work was more difficult than later on, when our own experience and the work of others guided us. As we had then to register and record almost every movement of ninety-five infants, the diaries grew in dimensions in a perplexing way, and it was not easy to sift the material accumulating from day to day and from week to week for a number of years. We felt that only by studying the life of a great number of children in all its phases we should be able to correct the errors which are unavoidable if only one or two infants are observed. But we are far from believing that the result even of many thousands of observations entitles us to generalisations. The important work begun by Preyer, continued with great success by Sully, Baldwin, Perez, and others, can only be completed by further extensive experiments and refined observations. The goal of the work is to arrive at a workable hypothesis of the mental process. The attempts made in this direction are scarce, for the simple reason that child-psychology has been neglected as a science, and experimental psychology has not been known to our forefathers. The process of thinking has never been studied in the proper scientific spirit; our illusions and the pre-conceived idea of the existence of a soul as a separate entity have barred the way. Since we commence to comprehend that to the man of science the "Soul" must be a word like the "Phlogiston" of bygone centuries, until he has ascertained its true nature, we may expect to be able to report progress in the study of Psychology. Naturally the gradual physiological development of the senses formed the principal object of our observations during the first year, while psychological phenomena could only be recorded from the time when the process of thinking started, or rather when it came within the circle of observation. The most difficult part of our work was the exclusion of the influence of the children's nurses on their thoughts and imagination, that is, the exclusion of illusions. Special instructions were given to them, but few grasped the importance of the subject. The frightening of children by imaginary monsters in this respect is on the same level with the narration of fairy tales, and of religious stories and miracles. The mentioning and description of the devil is as much a disturbing element as the depicting of angels, fairy queens, and scenes from the summer-night's dream. How far we have succeeded in excluding disturbing influences, and how far the experiments will be considered reliable, the scientific world will be able to judge from the series of books which, in conjunction with my colleagues, I will publish. As the experiments, in accordance with the testator's wish, are to be continued and repeated for at least another twenty years, I shall be indebted for suggestions of new methods which in each case will be carefully considered. R. DE VILLIERS. DARWIN ON TRIAL AT THE OLD BAILEY. DRAMATIS PERSONE: Mortals: The Lord Mayor of London. The Recorder of London. The Clerk of Arraigns. Alexander Gilbert, prisoner. Sir Richard Bully, Q.C., counsel for the prosecution. Ernest Trunk, counsel for a third party. William Newton Cecil, a scientist. Andrew Slyman, Scotland Yard detective. Gordon Sweetley, Scotland Yard detective. The Rev. Christopher Whitfield, a clergyman. Lizzie Hockey, housekeeper. Psyche Hockey, her daughter. William Jones, family grocer, foreman of the jury. John Brown, baker, juryman. James Smith, oilman, juryman. Elias Short, shoemaker, juryman. Immortals: The ghost of Galileo Galilei. The ghost of Goethe. The ghost of Charles Darwin. Solicitors, Witnesses, Detectives, Ushers, Prison Warders. Scene: The Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey. THE Prisoner, a haggard and worried-looking man of gentlemanly appearance, standing in the dock between two warders. |