Page:Preparation of the Child for Science.djvu/80



As I shall have to speak of artificial as contrasted with natural movements, of tools (physical and intellectual) which it is natural to use as contrasted with those the use of which is artificial, I must begin by explaining that I entirely recognize the principle 'habit is second nature.' At any given stage of an individual's progress an action is natural to him if he is already so accustomed to it that the whole series of movements necessary for carrying it out follow each other spontaneously at the command of one single effort of will. The principle which I wish to illustrate is that actions which are artificial should be practised in connexion with ideas which are familiar; and new ideas should be learned by means of actions which are natural. E. g. we ought not to try to teach a little girl to cut out a doll's frock as long as she has to stop with the scissors in her hand and think how to open and shut them. We let her learn the series of movements involved in the act of cutting by