Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/91

 PREVENTION OF MENTAL DISEASES 77

cause of a disappointment. The youths are rare who can carry on together the study of languages with history or mathematics, or, if they succeed, it is at cost of great exertion. This is con- stantly observed in the secondary studies. The masters and parents hardly pretend absolutely that the pupils excel at the same time in all branches of instruction. On the contrary, it is necessary, in the course of their studies, to try to discover their bent, in order, as far as possible, to guide them, toward speciali- zation in one kind of studies.

One may object that this is not exactly correct. I readily admit that about the age of fifteen or sixteen years this attitude cannot be rigidly held, and that even later, at the age of twenty years, changes may be produced in the taste or the choice of a career. We cannot stop at these exceptions, regarding chiefly the general truth in the education of youth.

It results from these general considerations, a fortiori, that all nervous persons, or those predisposed to nervousness, ought to be ceaselessly guided in their early youth, as soon as any dis- turbance or irregularity presents itself in the course of their stud- ies and education. The teacher should be informed of the weak sides of those of whom he has charge. Why should there not be impressed on the teacher certain ideas in relation to the dif- ficulties which he may encounter in his mission with children more or less troubled in their nervous systems, or predisposed to this form of disease ? Their number is great, and the advantage to the teacher would be enormous and encouraging.'

Dr. Koch, formerly director of the asylum for the insane at Zwiefalten(Wurtemberg), has urged many times the necessity of special instruction and education for children of arrested intelli- gence, and has proclaimed the necessity of creating special schools for them. In Germany, England, and the United States this idea has found many partisans, and the results obtained thus far seem to promise well for the new system. If it has been impossible to give to these undeveloped children a moral and intellectual restoration so that they can receive instruction and

'The reader who is interested in this question will find more details in my paper on The Treatment of Degenerative Psychoses.