CHILD STUDY AS THE BASIS OF PEDAGOGY. 719 
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child’s mind or body. This paper will be confined chiefly to a few 
principles that result from psychological and anthropological studv of 
children. 
The first pedagogical principle settled beyond controversy by this broad 
study of children is that no development is possible without the function- 
ng of the nervous system. This is no barren truism, for it follows that 
che laws which express the development and activity of the nervous 
mechanism must determine pedagogical principles. 
Among these laws, one of prime importance is the following : The 
fundamental is developed before the accessory. This is best seen in the 
development of the motor centers. The centers that control the muscles 
of the trunk, of the shoulders, and of the limbs are developed first ; those 
hat mediate the delicate muscles of the fingers and the vocal organs are 
developed later. The same is true in general. The simple and funda- 
mental processes are first ; the fine, delicate, and complex processes come 
later. 
This law of the child’s nervous system is the basis of a most important 
sducational principle. First the fundamental, then the accessory. This 
applies not only to the various forms of motor training—manual training, 
gymnastics, and the like—but, in general, first a strong, healthy develop- 
ment of the fundamental nervous processes is necessary, then may follow 
more delicate and complex acquisitions. A reversal of this order, the 
imposition of delicate, subtle, and complex occupations in the kindergar- 
ten or the primary schools, may please parents and committees, but it is 
contrary to a law written in the child’s nerve centers. 
Again, all parts of the body do not develop at the same time. Each 
organ has its peculiar nascent period. Moreover, there is a close relation 
between the function of any organ and its development ; and the highest 
degree of skill in the use of an organ can often be acquired only during 
the period of growth. The acquisition of language, for example, is 
probably a case in point. If, during the period that the vocal organs and 
the corresponding nerve centers in the brain are developing, attention is 
given to educating some other part which is not ready for training, two- 
Fold loss is likely to be the result—waste of energy or injury in case of 
the latter, loss of opportunity in case of the former. So, too, if manual 
training be neglected in early life, during the nascent period of the motor 
zenters, great skill can seldom be attained afterward. 
Corresponding to the nascent periods of the motor organs are the 
periods of interest in the child’s mental growth. This year your boy has 
the collecting mania ; next year it will be baseball or the secret language ; 
a third year it will be the debating society ; or he may be hunting or 
stuffing birds and snakes. These interests are sacred. Some of them 
should be turned into new channels; others should be made permanent, 
as a part of character. But, in all cases, the time of interest is the time