Pedagogical Anthropology - English Restoration ## Chapter 09 - The Biographic History of the Pupil and his Antecendents The child, like every other individual, represents an *effect* of multifold causes: he is a product of *heredity* (biological product) and a product of society (social product). The characteristics of his ancestors, their maladies, their vices, their degeneration, live again in the result of the conception which has produced a new individual: and this individual, whether stronger or weaker, must pass through various obstacles in the course of his intrauterine life and his external life. The sufferings and the mistakes of his mother are reflected in him. The maladies which attack him may leave upon him permanent traces. Finally, the social environment receives the child at birth, either as a favoured son or as an unfortunate, and leads him through paths that certainly must influence his complex development. All of the preceding and theoretic parts of this volume which took up each characteristic for separate consideration, have already explained all that it is necessary to know in order to interpret the characteristics present in a given individual, and the more or less remote causes which contributed to them. We may now *apply* our acquired knowledge to individual study, by making investigations into the antecedents of the child and recording his *biographic history*. It forms a parallel to the *clinical history* which is recorded in medicine: and it leads to a diagnosis, or at least to a scientific judgment regarding the child. Although this biographic part is eminently practical, certain principal points of research may be indicated for the purpose of guiding the student. But no one will ever make a successful study of medical pedagogy unless he will *follow* the practical lessons dedicated to the individual study of the scholar, and make a practice of personal observation. In the Pedagogical School of Rome, we provide *subjects*, taken from the elementary schools or from the Asylum School of De Sanctis for defective children. And we read their biographical history in regard to their antecedents, and then make an objective examination of them, frequently extending it to an examination of their sensibility and their psychic conditions and enquiring into their standard of scholarship. From these lessons based upon theory, profitable discussions often result; and they certainly are the most profitable lessons in the course. A biographical history is essentially composed of three parts: the *antecedents*, which comprises an investigation of the facts antedating the individual in question; *the objective examination*, which studies the individual personally; and the *diaries*, *i.e.*, the continued observation of the same individual who has already been studied in regard to himself and his antecedents. The objective examination and the diaries cannot be considered solely in the light of anthropology, because they chiefly require the aid of psychology. But even anthropology makes an ample and important contribution, first, in the form of an objective morphological examination, the vast importance of which has already been shown; secondly, because it gives us a picture of the biologico-social personality which it is necessary to compare with the *reactions* of the subject in question, with his psychic manifestations, his degree of culture, etc.; and upon this comparison depends the chief importance of the individual study of the pupil. Accordingly, in addition to an examination of the individual, anthropology ought to concern itself also with the conditions antedating the individual; therefore, it traces back to the *origins* (antecedents), while psychology reserves for itself the principal task of *following the psychological development* of the subject in his school life (diaries); a task in which it will nevertheless go hand in hand with anthropology since the latter must follow at the same time the physio-morphological development of the subject himself. Accordingly, the gathering of *antecedent* statistics is the task of anthropology. The antecedent statistics may be called the *history of the genesis* of the individual; the manner of collecting them is by means of *enquiries* that are generally made of the child's nearest relations (the mother) or of the teachers who have superintended his previous education. The enquiries are conducted under the guidance of a certain system of which we give the following outline: | anamnesis | biopathological | remote | ascendant | | --------- | --------------- | ------ | --------- | | collateral | | near | mother | conception | | pregnancy | | delivery | | lactation | | child | first development of | dentition | | locomotion | | speech | | maladies incurred | | maternal opinions of child | character | | intelligence | | etc. | | sociological | vocation of parents | | their morality | | their culture | | their care of their children | | school record | opinions of teachers, history of previous schooling. | We may distinguish biopathological antecedents, which have regard to the organism of the child as a living individual; sociological antecedents, having regard to the social environment in which the child has grown up and which contributes to the formation of his psycho-physical personality; and scholastic antecedents or *scholarship*, regarding the previous schooling of the child under examination. The biopathological antecedents are certainly of fundamental importance. They are called *remote* when we refer to the hereditary antecedents of the subject, and *near* when we have reference to his personal antecedents. **Remote Antecedents.**—These include an investigation regarding the ancestors, the brothers and sisters, and the collateral relations. The age of the parents (since we know that too immature or too advanced an age, or a disparity in age between the parents may result in the birth of weak children). Degree of relationship between the parents (since we know that the offspring of parents related to each other may be weak). Maladies incurred by them or prevalent in their families, incidental vices of the parent (since we know that constitutional maladies, such as syphilis, tuberculosis, gout, pellagra, malaria, mental and nervous diseases, etc., *alcoholism* or an irregular life of excesses, may lead to the procreation of degenerates). Furthermore, since it is known that according to the laws of collateral heredity, maladies may reappear in nephews which previously occurred in uncles and not in the parents, information should be sought, so far as possible, from all members of the family. Information regarding the brothers of the subject offers an interest of a very particular kind, because this gives us an insight into the generative capacity of the parents: for instance, if there were abortions, children who died at an early age of convulsions, meningitis, etc., this argues unfavourably for the normality of the subject. **Near Biopathological Antecedents:** *Mother, Child.*—Our inquiries should centre first of all upon the mother, in order to know the conditions of conception, pregnancy, delivery and lactation, in the case of the child under examination, because we know that frequently an error at the time of conception may produce a degenerate or a weakling. For example, a child generated in a state of physical or mental exhaustion—*e.g.*, after a long trip on a bicycle, or after passing an examination—may be born feeble, predisposed to nervous diseases (idiocy, meningitis), just as he may be born abnormal (epilepsy, anomalies of character, criminal tendencies) if generated by the father during an alcoholic excess, or by the mother while suffering from hypochondria, illness, etc. The history of the pregnancy is also of interest: whether it proceeded regularly to the close of the nine months, whether the mother suffered especially from mental anxiety, illness or received any blow on the abdomen. Other causes which may affect the health of the child have reference to birth and to lactation. If the delivery requires an operation, it may, for instance, deform the skull; while a hired wet-nurse, or artificial feeding are more or less apt to cause deterioration in the child. Having completed this first enquiry, we pass on to consider the child itself, from the time of birth onward, lingering especially over its early development and more particularly over the *cutting* *of the teeth*, *learning to walk* and *learning to speak*, which are the three first obstacles to infantile development. The healthy child overcomes them according to normal laws, while the child of tardy development shows the first characteristic anomaly in these three fundamental points of its early existence (tardiness of development, incomplete and defective development, development accompanied by diseases, etc.). Usually a tardiness in the development of the teeth denotes general weakness and more especially skeletal weakness (rachitis, syphilis); tardiness in learning to walk may occur in connection with the above-named causes (weakness of the lower limbs); or with difficulty in attaining an equilibrium (of cerebral origin; witness the case of idiots who, without being paralytic, cannot walk, because they cannot *learn how to walk*); or with paresis, more or less partial or diffused, of the muscles controlling the act of walking (infantile paralysis, Little's disease, etc.). A tardy development of speech is sometimes found together with a notable intellectual development and the child will not begin to speak until he can express thoughts and speak well; but more frequently such delayed development is due to partial *deafness*; or it originates in the association centres of the brain (the idiot child cannot *learn* to speak). It will also be helpful to know whether the child was ever ill. It is very important in this connection to find out whether the child ever suffered from infantile eclampsia in early life (convulsions, or "fits" as the mothers of the lower classes call them). This is an indication of a cerebral malady which leaves behind it permanent alterations of the brain and of its functions. The child may be an idiot, or may belong to one of the various catagories of children who go under the name of defectives; or he may be abnormal in character (cerebroplegic forms). Another important fact to record is nocturnal *enuresis* (loss of urine during sleep subsequent to the normal age); this is considered by some authorities as a pre-epileptic state—that is, a child that suffers such losses may in the future become subject to epilepsy, and quite probably, if studied, will show various anomalies of the nervous system, such, for example, as too deep sleep, slowness of intelligence, etc. Repeated attacks of *infective diseases*, even though they are survived, also denote organic weakness, with facile predisposition to infective agencies—in other words, deficient powers of immunity. Prolonged intestinal maladies or typhus in the early months (denutrition from pathological causes, exhaustive diseases) may, in themselves, be the cause of the child's enfeeblement and its consequent arrest in development. But in the interpretation of such observations, the physician should be the guide and the direct judge. The most salient symptoms in regard to the child—intelligence, conduct, character, endurance, etc.—are, for the most part, expressed with great clearness by the mothers. Prof. De Sanctis, for example, has noted that the mother's first words might serve the purpose of a diagnosis; for instance, the mother says of an idiot child: "he doesn't understand," of a child retarded in development, "he is stupid," of an abnormal child, "he understands but he is bad." Accordingly, Prof. De Sanctis begins his diagnostic researches by registering the *maternal judgments*, because the mother is *struck* by the salient characteristics of her child; and even if she is uneducated she always finds concise and effective phrases to express her judgment. To the end of rendering the research into antecedents surer and more complete so far as regards the personal antecedents of the child, certain anthropological tablets are being introduced to serve as *maternal diaries*. In this way the mothers have a guide for studying their children, and this forms one of the first practical attempts toward the "education of the mothers." Here is a form of chart for keeping a record of the dentition. The significance of the letters is as follows: * *U. r.*: upper right, *i.e.*, the right half of the upper jaw. * *U. l.*: upper left. * *L. r.*: lower right. * *L. l.*: lower left. (The fact must be borne in mind that in * the first dentition there are twenty teeth.) FIRST DENTITION | Teeth | Dates | Observations | | ----- | ----- | ------------ | | of first appearance | of complete development | of shedding | | U. r. 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | 3 | | | | | | 4 | | | | | | 5 | | | | | | U. l. 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | 3 | | | | | | 4 | | | | | | 5 | | | | | | L. r. 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | 3 | | | | | | 4 | | | | | | 5 | | | | | | L. l. 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | | | 3 | | | | | | 4 | | | | | | 5 | | | | | In this way we have an analytical and exact chart of the development of the teeth. Analogous tables are made for the second dentition, for the growth of the stature, for increase in weight, for certain physiological notes, etc. When the first period of growth is ended, the mother's note-books contain annual notes, like the following: YEAR 190.... | Date | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | | ---- | ------- | -------- | ----- | ----- | --- | ---- | ---- | ------ | --------- | ------- | -------- | -------- | | Weight | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stature | | | | | | | | | | | | | Special annual diaries are now employed for keeping a minute record of maladies incurred, symptoms, treatment, etc. These note-books, similar to those hitherto kept by ladies for their house accounts, or for sentimental notes, would be of great service and aid to pedagogic anthropology, even though their use could not be extended to all mothers (the mothers of the proletariat, immoral women, etc., either could not or would not give similar contributions). The institution of "Children's Houses," if more widespread, could easily facilitate the *education* *of the mothers* and the diffusion of "Maternal Note-books" throughout all grades of society. But at most these mother's diaries furnish us only with notes of the near antecedents and not of the remote, which are of extreme importance. **Sociological Antecedents:** *Vocation, Morality, Culture.*—Before all else, in inquiring into the sociological antecedents, it is necessary to know in what sort of an environment the child has grown, and whether it is an environment favorable, or otherwise, to his physical, psychic, intellectual and moral development. This is an exceedingly important matter to determine for the purposes of a clinical history, since the child's moral conduct and the profit derived from study depend to a large extent upon the environment in which the child has grown and lived. To this end inquiries should be made into the economic circumstances of the child's parents, their vocation, moral standards and degree of education, and also into the child's mode of life, whether with the parents or other relations, or with persons not related to him, whether he plays in the street, keeps company with street children, etc. **School Record:** *Judgments of Teachers.*—This is the history of the pupil as made by his teachers, beginning with the first day that he enters school. The judgments of teachers, although not always so precise and so fair as those of mothers, nevertheless have an importance of their own. Inquiry should be made into the child's conduct in school and the profit he derives from his studies. *Illustrative Cases.*—There are, for example, certain families so infected with a degenerative or pathological taint that the remote antecedents are sufficient in themselves to stigmatise the biological condition of an abnormal subject. This may be seen in the genealogy of the Misdea family (taken from Lombroso's work): *Grandfather*: MICHELE MISDEA\ (Not very intelligent, but very active) | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | | - | - | - | - | - | | 1st uncle Guiseppe (imbecile) | 2nd uncle Domenico (eccentric and violent)<br>↓ | 3d uncle Cosimo (quick-tempered killed in a quarrel) | 4th uncle Michele (semi-imbecile) | Misdea the father (alcoholic, spendthrift, married to an hysterical woman, one of whose brotherswas a brigand and another a thief).<br>↓ | | | ↓ | | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | | 1st cousin (idiot) | 2d cousin (madman) | 3d cousin (imbecile) | 4th cousin (imbecile) | ↓ | | | ↓ | | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | | 1st brother Cosimo (obscene, Misdea epileptic, drunkard, convicted of assault).<br>↓ | 2d brother Salvatore | 3d brother (sane) | 4th brother (alcoholic) | 5th brother (incorrigible) | | ↓ | | grandson (obscene) | Similarly extraordinary is the genealogy of Ada Türcker, an alcoholic, thief and vagabond, born in 1740, a large part of whose numerous descendants it has been possible to trace. Out of the 834 individuals derived from this degenerate woman, the lives of no less than 709 have been followed up, and among these are included 143 mendicants, 64 inmates of asylums, 181 prostitutes, 69 criminals, and 7 murderers, who altogether cost the state upward of seven million francs! Besides families like these there are others infected with a pathological taint, in which phthisis and gout alternate with epilepsy and insanity. Then again there are other families in which the pathological taint is scarcely perceptible, as for example, the family of an epileptic child with criminal tendencies, personally studied by me; all the members of this family are long-lived and enjoy good health; the father alone is a sufferer from articular rheumatism. Lastly there are families in which there is no sign of pathological or degenerative weakness; and in such cases we say that there is nothing noteworthy in the genealogy, and the near antecedents assume the highest degree of importance. The study of antecedents not only has a scientific importance, in so far as it contributes to a knowledge of anthropological varieties of mankind (due to adaptation); but it also has an immediate pedagogic importance through its useful application to the school. Lino Ferriani is the first jurist to investigate the antecedents of juvenile delinquents, by gathering notes not only regarding their parents, but also in regard to their own *school standing* (by consulting the teachers in the schools where these juvenile criminals received their education!). I have extracted from his volume on "Precocious and senile delinquency" the following statistics of the physico-moral condition of the parents: | Convicted of crimes against property | 1,237 | | ------------------------------------ | ----- | | Convicted of crimes against the person | 543 | | Addicted to wine | 2,006 | | Women leading meretricious lives | 581 | | Doubtful reputation | 1,500 | | Very bad reputation | 670 | | Good reputation | 210 | | Industrious | 1,888 | | Semi-idle | 4,000 | | Idle | 2,000 | | Sentenced for drunkenness | 1,590 | | Sentenced for offences against public morals | 240 | | Alcoholics | 1,001 | | Confined in lunatic asylums | 48 | | Mothers deflowered before the age of 15 | 1,560 | | Couples separated through fault of the husband | 59 | | Couples separated through fault of the wife | 69 | | Couples separated through fault of both parties | 135 | Among these notes there is a numerical preponderance of *idlers* (the idle and semi-idle: degenerates are weaklings who cannot work and who shun work; their only form of work is crime, which is an attempt to reap the fruit of other people's industry) and alcoholism (addicted to wine, alcoholics, and those sentenced for drunkenness; this also is a stigma of degeneration: weaklings have recourse to alcohol, because it gives them an illusion of strength). Furthermore, the majority show, through crime and prostitution, that they belong to the class of social parasites. In regard to the psycho-physical characteristics of juvenile offenders, Ferriani gives these principal notes: | Nervous | 1,250 | | ------- | ----- | | Habitual liars | 3,000 | | Fond of wine and gluttonous | 2,501 | | Proud of delinquency | 2,700 | | Blasphemers | 3,900 | | Cruel to animals | 2,100 | | Excessive emaciation | 1,648 | | Long hands | 1,650 | | Unreliable workers | 2,195 | | Without interest in life | 1,347 | | Desirous of authority | 1,000 | | Scrofulous | 700 | | Rachitic and syphilitic | 500 | | Vindictive | 842 | | Timid and cowardly | 900 | | Obscene | 900 | | Cruel to parents | 700 | | Cruel to companions | 700 | And now we come to the most interesting part of all, namely, the notes taken by teachers where these children went to school. *Boys.*—Age from ten to twelve years. Characteristic notes on 100 children in regard to bad conduct: | Humiliating poorer companions | 2 | | ----------------------------- | - | | Absolute refusal to obey | 4 | | Corrupting companions | 4 | | Mutilating books of poor companions | 2 | | Spirit of rebellion | 1 | | Malicious and headstrong | 1 | | Resentful of routine | 1 | | Stealing food at expense of companions | 6 | | Abnormally spiteful | 4 | | Impertinent answers | 7 | | Proud of inventing misdeeds | 2 | | Stealing from companions and teacher (school stationary, etc.) | 10 | | Calumniating companions | 6 | | Desire to play the spy | 8 | | Obscene writings in toilet room | 2 | | Obscene writings in copy-books | 6 | | Obscene actions in the school-room | 9 | | Obscene writings on the benches | 3 | | Violence with a weapon (pen-knife) | 2 | | Bullying smaller boys | 12 | | Feigning loss of speech for a month, to avoid reciting lessons | 1 | | Blaspheming | 1 | | Afraid of everything and savagely vindictive | 1 | | Frequently absent from school, to play games of chance | 3 | | Spirit of destruction | 1 | | Spirit of contradiction | 1 | *Girls.*—Age from ten to twelve years. Characteristic notes on 50 children in regard to bad conduct: | Soiling the clothing of their companions | 3 | | ---------------------------------------- | - | | Abnormally spiteful | 2 | | Intense envy | 4 | | Frequent absence from school, to play games of chance | 4 | | Tyranny | 3 | | Immoderate vanity | 2 | | Spirit of rebellion | 1 | | Insolent answers | 1 | | Absolute intolerance of supervision | 1 | | Damaging the school furniture | 2 | | Slandering the teacher | 4 | | Slandering school-mates | 6 | | Theft, limited to pens | 1 | | Lascivious love-letters | 4 | | Constantly speaking ill of her mother | 1 | | Attempts to make school-mates unhappy | 1 | | Unkindness toward animals | 1 | | Unkindness toward old persons | 1 | | Unkindness toward small children | 1 | | Obscene writings in the toilet room | 1 | | Harmful anonymous letters | 1 | | Hatred of beautiful things | 1 | | Spirit of contradiction | 1 | | Corrupting companions | 1 | | Thefts in school | 1 | | Mutilating the clothing of companions | 1 | The prevailing faults among the boys are: theft, obscene actions, tyranny over the weak; and among the girls: slander, extreme envy and lascivious love-letters. If we compare the notes regarding the parents with those relating to the children, we find a connection amounting to that of cause and effect. We might almost say that the phenomenon revealed to us in school through the teachers' notes concerns not so much the pupil himself as his past history. To keep this sort of record of misconduct, so damnatory to the pupils in question, would be worse than useless, if we were unable to trace back their source to the presumable causes which determined them. There is an intimate relation between the environment and the products of that environment. If we should read the notes relating to the children who receive prizes for good conduct, and who are held up as moral examples, we could trace back and find the cause of these notes in a favourable family environment; hence, the qualities which we praise in the child are not a merit peculiar to the child, but are due to causes, of which the pupil himself is merely the fortunate epilogue. And passing from studies taken from works of criminal anthropology to examples contained in works of pedagogic anthropology (these works all being based upon the same scientific standards), I am happy to cite a work which has even earned the praise of Lombroso: *Notes on Infantile Psycho-physiology*, written by Professor Calcagni. Notwithstanding that this book of Menotti Calcagni's is inspired by the most advanced pedagogic conceptions, so that it well deserves to be cited in its entirety with much profit, I shall avail myself only of the part which particularly interests me at the present moment. It is the part containing the data collected and arranged by the author in a series of tables, in the form of a brief clinical history, of each pupil in the class studied by the author. I shall pass over the statistical tables concerning the personal examination of the pupils (anthropological, physiological, etc.), and confine myself to just two tables: one in regard to the examination into the pupil's antecedents (name and surname; day of birth; place of birth; age of father; age of mother; vocation of father; vocation of mother; conditions of home environment, hygienic, economic and moral; conditions of other members of the family; maladies and casualties incurred by the parents before and after the procreation of the child; defects and vices of parents, and details regarding their psychic constitutions; conditions and accidents during pregnancy, birth and puerperal period; illnesses incurred by the child); the other in regard to the pupil's previous school record (name and surname; pupils enrolled at beginning of the year; those transferred to other classes; those promoted without examination; those promoted after examination; those permitted a second trial; those not admitted to examination; those dropped from their class, and for how many different years). I select from these the notes referring to the children *promoted without* *examination* and those *not admitted to examination*; *i.e.*, the privileged ones before whom an obstacle has been withdrawn which the majority must surmount before continuing on their path in life: go forward in peace, you favoured ones! and those who are not even allowed a chance to overcome the obstacle: turn back, you to whom the path of other men is closed! And I read these notes relative to those *promoted without examination*: "Father shoemaker, Mother dress-maker, home orderly, frugal and clean; brothers labourers;"—"F. professor of chemistry, M. housekeeping, condition of environment excellent, brothers studious;"—"F. assistant engineer, M. keeps house, conditions of environment good, deaths in family from acute diseases;"—"F. country tradesman, M. keeps house, conditions of environment excellent, very religious family;"—"F. man of means, M. housekeeping, conditions of environment excellent, brothers studious;"—"F. machinist, M. keeps the house, home somewhat damp because of adjoining garden; much anxiety on the part of the mother regarding the children, because her first husband was a consumptive, and the seven children she had by him all died. Children of second marriage all healthy; but the pupil in question frequently had attacks of fever;"—"F. cab-driver, M. keeps house, economic and moral conditions satisfactory;"—"F. antiquarian, M. keeps house, condition good;"—"F. manager of a lottery office, M. keeps house, economic conditions of the very best, moral conditions good," etc. And here are a few notes on the pupils *not admitted to the examinations*: "Father itinerant vendor, Mother keeps house, home exceedingly dirty, utmost indifference regarding the children and their education. Insufficient nutriment for the mother both before and after the child's birth;"—"F. cobbler, M. wash-woman, poverty, squalor, and indifference, dwelling gloomy and cramped;"—"F. mason, M. dead, dwelling gloomy and unhealthy, through lack of supervision, Giacinto often runs away from home and goes to play on the banks of the Tiber; the mother died of tuberculosis; the father is an alcoholic; the child was brought up by a wet-nurse, etc." To recapitulate: in the case of children promoted without examination there is an absolute prevalence of the most favourable social and biologico-moral conditions, while the opposite holds true of the children excluded from examinations. Finally, in my own modest work on children adjudged to be the highest and the lowest in their classes, I arrived at some very eloquent conclusions. In the case of children who stand at the foot of their class, the prevailing conditions are not only an unhealthy home but an over-crowded one, with ten or twelve persons sleeping in a single room. On the contrary, in the case of the children standing at the head of their class, the homes are for the most part roomy, comfortable, well-aired and hygienic. In regard to nutrition, the children who have the lowest standing are those who go to school without their breakfast and who go from the school to the street without having had their luncheon. Those who stand first, on the contrary, bring with them a luncheon that is sufficient and sometimes over-lavish; and after school, they return home, with the assurance that food, care and comfort await them. The parents of these leaders of their class belong nearly all of them to the liberal professions or the more favoured crafts and trades; consequently the pupils enjoy a more comfortable and respectable environment, a higher standard of culture, a mother who can aid them in their lessons, and who, equally with the father, watches with solicitous care over her children's education. The others, the dullest pupils, go at the close of school into the street, or else—although fortunately very few of them do so—return directly to the wretchedly cramped quarters that they call home. Consequently it is not enough to recognise the fact that in school we have to deal with the more intelligent pupil and the less intelligent, with the moral and the immoral, the highest and the lowest; these are effects, the causes of which it is our duty to discover; and that is what the study of antecedents does for us. Here begins the far-sighted task of the teacher, who no longer praises the pupil who is a product of fortunate causes, nor blames the unfortunate one heavily handicapped by a destiny which is in no way his fault; but he gives to all an affectionate and enlightened care, designed to correct and reform the reprobates and raise them to the level of the chosen few, thus working for the brotherhood and the amelioration of all mankind, and devoting special attention to those that need it most. The study of antecedents is what contributes most to the interpretation of personality. It is needful, however, that it should be sufficiently thorough; and to this end a certain order of interrogation should be followed. Physicians are well acquainted with this order, from the habit they have acquired of taking the antecedents of the patient in their clinical practice; but for making biographic charts for schools, a *guide* is needed for the use of whoever puts the questions. Besides, the biographical history is based on different principles from those of the clinical history (*e.g.*, the moral status of the parents, their degree of culture, etc., which are not taken into consideration, in treating a patient). Consequently, the blank forms of biographic charts contain suggestions that are likely to prove helpful in conducting an inquiry into antecedents. Among such models, I have selected that of Pastorello, because it is one of the most complete, and also because it was compiled by an educator (see page ([420](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46643/46643-h/46643-h.htm#Page_420))). Nevertheless, the inquiry into his antecedents is only a preparation for the scientific study of the pupil in his present state; a study which should *follow* the pupil through his daily life (diaries) and thus constitute his complete *Biographical History*. Having collected the antecedent details, we pass on to the objective anthropological and psychic examination of the pupil: beginning with the anthropological, which it is more important to secure first; since the psychic examination will produce better results after a *prolonged observation of the subject* (diaries, school records). In the anthropological examination it is customary to begin by taking the principal measurements (total stature, sitting stature, weight, thoracic perimeter, perimeter of the head, and its two maximum diameters) which furnish the data needed to give a fundamental idea of the child's physiological constitution and racial type, and to determine the normality of his growth. Many other measurements may be taken (spirometry, dynamometry), according to the custom of the school, and, in private schools, according to the object which the Principal has in view, in the way of contributions to science. For instance, in a school for defectives the examinations as to general sensibility, speech, muscular strength have an importance of the first order, and equally important is the accurate and minute inspection of the different organs, for the purpose of discovering possible malformations. There are various special objects to be attained by gathering anthropological data, and accordingly every school based upon modern scientific principles has its own "Biographical Chart" drawn up according to special forms containing the necessary measurements and observations, and the examiner has only to follow the directions of this guide and to fill in the required information obtained from the individual pupil. INQUIRY INTO ANTECEDENTS IN PASTORELLO'S BIOGRAPHIC CHART | General Information Regarding Pupil's Family | | -------------------------------------------- | | Name And Surname of Parents | Employment | | *Father* | *Father* | | *Mother* | *Mother* | | *What degree of relationship, if any, exists between the parents?* | Ancestry | | | *Father* | | *At what age did the parents contract marriage?*................. | | | | | | *How old were the parents at the time of the child's birth?*..... | *Mother* | | | | | | | | State of Health | Moral and Financial Condition of the Pupil's Family | | *Father* | | | *Mother* | | | *From what diseases have the relatives of the pupil died?* | *Is the family interested in the education of the children?* | | | | | *Have there been any predominant* *diseases in the family?* | | | | | | Education | Family Habits, Eccentricities and Vices | | *Father* | | | *Mother* | | Here, for instance, is the anthropological form used in the great orphan asylum in New York: | NEW YORK JUVENILE ASYLUM<br>Anthropological Examination and Measurements.—*No. of page* | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Date of entrance | Minimum frontal diameter | | Sex | Height of head | | Age | Inspection: cranium | | Date of birth | Face | | Name | Eyes | | Total stature | Ears | | Sitting stature | Gums | | Total spread of arms | Teeth | | Weight | Palate | | Prehensile strength, right hand | Uvula | | Prehensile strength, left hand | Strabismus | | Power of traction | Limbs | | Thorax | Antero-posterior diameter | Body | | Transverse diameter | Genitals | | Maximum circumference of head | Lung | | Maximum antero-posterior diameter | Heart | | Maximum transverse diameter | Special notes | This form has signs of *modernity*: in fact, it concedes the greater part of the research that is to be made in the first objective examination to anthropological observations, limiting the observations of a physiological nature to those of muscular strength—it being well known that all *functions* in general, and especially the *psychic* *functions*, cannot be determined with reliable accuracy except after repeated and prolonged observations. Furthermore, the modern tendency in anthropologic research is revealed by the preference given to measurements of the body in its entirety, giving first place to those of the *bust* and *limbs*, from which the important ratio of their development is obtained (standing and sitting stature, total spread of the arms), and the *weight*. Furthermore, there is a notable *absence of measurements of the face*, measurements which it is the modern tendency to abandon where the subjects of research are children, since in this case they have no physiological or ethnical importance, because the face of the child *varies from year to* *year*, and has no *fixed* index like that of the cranium. A study of the facial measurements might be of importance as contributing to a knowledge of the evolution of the face through successive years; but such knowledge can be obtained, so far as is needed, from "special studies and researches," without making *obligatory* a form of research that is both troublesome and dangerous (the application of pointed instruments to the faces of children). The best method of examining the face is by photographing the full face and the profile at intervals of one year. Accordingly, the biographic form used in the "Children's Houses" contains only questions of an anthropologic nature of importance in relation to growth (see the form of the Biographic Chart of the "Children's Houses," page ([423](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46643/46643-h/46643-h.htm#Page_423))). The greatest importance attaches to the *stature* and *weight*. Indeed, while all the required measurements are taken *once a year* on the occasion of the child's birthday, the total stature and the weight are taken once a month upon the day of that month corresponding to the child's birthday. The numerous other physio-pathological and psychic notes, the examination in regard to speech, etc., are obtained partly from the diaries and partly from the physician, according to the necessities of individual cases. The photograph should complete the examination of the pupil. The methods of observation adopted in the "Children's Houses" represent, I think, the ideal method for the accurate recording of individual characteristics. Since the pedagogical methods there employed are themselves founded upon the "spontaneity" of the manifestations of children, it may be said that they represent the technical and rational means of proceeding to a psychic examination of the child. I cannot linger upon this point, because the question deserves a special investigation; but it must suffice to point out that in order to render biographic charts a necessary adjunct to the management of schools, so as to offer a real aid to the teacher and not to have them mean to her (as happens to-day only too frequently!), "just so much more work," the immediate utility of which is doubtful, it is essential that the *pedagogic methods of instruction* should be changed. So long as a child is required to perform certain definite acts, he will reveal nothing of himself beyond responding, in so far as he is capable, to the requirements of his environment; and any attempt to make psychological deductions from such response would contain profound errors. ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORM Used in the "Children's Houses," in Rome and Milan | *No.* | *Date of Enrollment* | | --- | ------------------ | | *Name and Surname* | *Age* | | *Name of Parents* | *Age*: *M* | *F* | | *Vocation* | | *Hereditary Antecedents* | | | | | | | | *Personal Antecedents* | | | | | | | | Anthropological Notes | | Total stature | Weight | Thoracic circumf. | Essential stature | Index of stature | Ponderal index | Cranium Cir | | Circumf. | a.-p. diam. | Transv. diam. | Cephalic index | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | *Physical constitution* | | *Muscular development* | | *Color of complexion* | | *Color of hair* | | Notes | | | | | Nevertheless, the earlier forms of biographic charts, and even the modern ones *in general use in Italy* (!) frequently contain minute requirements for psychic examination in relation to such points as memory, attention, perception and intelligence. And even less satisfactory are the requirements in the charts regarding the examination for *sensibility*—namely, ability to distinguish colours, sense of touch, smell, etc.; because the pedagogic methods in vogue in school (and this applies to-day to all our schools) make no provision for a rational exercise of the senses, nor for instruction in the nomenclature relating to them. An examination of the senses for the purposes of the biographic chart should at most be limited to a test of their *acuteness*, forming an inquiry analogous to that of *sensibility to pain*. For an inquiry into the power to discriminate between various sensations ceases to be a simple examination of the senses, and becomes a combined test of psychic powers and of the degree of culture attained (the degree to which the senses have been trained). Furthermore, it is well known that a psychical examination demands preparation on the part of the person to be examined, complete repose from all emotion, isolation of the senses, etc., the preparation depending upon the special research which it is desired to make; all of which is absolutely opposed to the *aggressiveness* of the tumultuous examination conducted by an investigator whose chief aim is to fill in the blanks upon the biographic charts. The psychic examination of a pupil is a task to be accomplished slowly, by watching the child's behaviour, in the course of its *daily life* under the eye of an intelligent and trained observer. Nevertheless, it is sometimes necessary, especially in schools for defective children, to form at once a comprehensive first impression of the psychic condition of a given child; it furnishes the observer with a needed point of departure, and abridges the long and difficult task of a psychological study of the pupil, to be made in the course of the ensuing year. In such a case, the biographical form should not contain such general topics as the following: * Memory, * Sense of place and time, * Judgment, * Moral sense, etc., but a series of very simple *questions* to be put by the examiner to the pupil, the replies to which must be recorded *accurately*, without alteration in any manner, but reproducing their incorrectness of speech, their hesitations, etc. In this way such a form of inquiry constitutes not only a first psychical examination, but also a first examination as to defects of speech, which is of much value and reproduces quite exactly the state of the subject at a given moment. On the contrary, the sort of results obtained according to the older method, *e.g.*: * *Memory*, poor; * *Intelligence*, sufficient; * *Attention*, easily aroused, etc.; were practically worthless, especially in absence of any knowledge of the competence of the person who formulated these judgments. Here is an example of a series of questions to be used as a psychic test, prepared by Professor Sante de Sanctis, and included in the Biographic charts of the Asylum-School for Defective Children at Rome: 1. What is your name? 2. How old are you? 3. What is your mamma's name? 4. Have you any brothers? 5. Have you any sisters? 6. What is your father's business? 7. Is your father (or mother) old or young? 8. At what age is one old? 9. How do you know that a man is old? 10. What is this? (a couch in the corridor). 11. What is it for? 12. What is this? (a table). 13. What is it for? 14. Do you always feel well? 15. Are you hungry? 16. When are you hungry? 17. Do you ever dream at night? 18. What do you dream? 19. What time is it now, more or less? 20. What year is it? 21. What month is it? 22. What season of the year? 23. What day of the month is it? 24. What day of the week? 25. Where do you live? 26. Where are you at the present moment? 27. What are these? (two books or two pictures) and which of the two is the larger? 28. Which of these three glasses has the most water in it? 29. Which will weigh the most and which the least of the three? 30. How many persons are there in your home? 31. Is your home large or small? 32. How many rooms are there? 33. Whom do you love most? 34. What would you do if (the person named) were hungry? 35. What would you do if he were very sick? 36. Or if he died? 37. Do you love some playmate, or some friend? Why do you love him? 38. Do you hate anyone? Why? 39. Do you know the meaning of right and wrong? 40. Do you know the meaning of rewards and punishments? Out of all the existing forms of biographic charts I have selected four in their entirety; two are historical: 1. the first form for the individual examination of the pupil ever published in any treatise on pedagogy; and 2. the first form printed in Italy by the city authorities with the intention of having it introduced into the elementary schools. The first of these is the biographic chart proposed by Séguin in his pedagogic treatise relating to the education of idiots (*Traitement moral, hygiene, et éducation* *des idiots*, 1846); the second is the one proposed by Sergi for the communal schools of Rome, and printed by the Commune with the intention (1889), never actually carried out, of introducing it into the schools; at all events, this is the first historic document representing an idea twenty years in advance of the time when the idea itself was destined to begin to be popularised. Here are the two forms in question: **Séguin's Form.**—This follows out all of Séguin's pedagogical ideas, and all of his didactic methods; it is a guide for the physician, and a minute guide for the teacher who intends to adopt the Séguin methods of education. Séguin calls his biographic chart a "Monographic Picture," and divides it into five paragraphs, the fifth of which deals with the pupil's antecedents. Monographic Picture (*Séguin*) I. *Portrait (Objective Morphological Examination)* * Age. * Sex. * Temperament, health. * Illnesses, accessory infirmities. * Detailed configuration of the cranium. * Configuration of the face. * Proportional relation between cranium and face. * Inequality of the two sides of cranium and face. * Hair, skin. * Proportional relation between the trunk and the limbs. * Inequality of the two sides of the trunk and limbs. * General attitude of the body. * Attitude of the head. * Attitude of the trunk. * Attitude of the lower limbs. * Attitude of the upper limbs. * Attitude of the hand and fingers. * Configuration of the organs of speech, and their possible relation to the organs of generation; dentition. * Configuration of the thorax. * State of the vertebral column. * State of the abdomen. II. *Physiological Examination* * Activity, general and applied. * Apparent state of the nervous system. * General irritability of the nervous system. * Irritability of special groups of nerves. * Cries, groans, singing, muttering, etc. * The change which certain stimulants such as cold, heat, electricity, odours, etc., produce upon irritability and sensibility, general or special. * Probable state of the brain. * Voluntary articular flexions. * Locomotion. * Positions, recumbent, seated, standing, walking, ascending, descending. * Running. * Jumping. * Grasping objects. * Dropping objects. * Catching objects. * Throwing objects. * Ability to dress, eat, etc., without aid. * Probable state of the spinal marrow. * Probable state of the organic nerves. * Probable state of the sensory nerves. * Probable state of the motor nerves. * Difference of action between the sensory nerves and the motor nerves. * Inequality of action of the motor nerves and sensory nerves on the two sides of the body. * The muscular system, contractibility of muscles, and condition of sphincter muscles in particular. * Muscular movements. * Voluntary movements. * Automatic movements depending on the condition of the sympathetic nerve. * Automatic movements depending on the state of the central nervous system. * Spasmodic movements. * Coordinated and disassociated movements. * Sense of touch. * Sense of taste. * Sense of smell. * Sense of hearing. * Sense of sight. * Erectility. * The voice, abnormal tones. * Speech. * Assimilative functions. * Unnatural appetites. * Manner of taking food. * Mastication. * Swallowing. * Digestion. * Evacuation of fæces and urine, voluntary or involuntary; other excretions, saliva, nasal mucus, tears, sebaceous humor, sweat, perspiration, etc. * Pulse. * Respiration. * Sleep. III. *Psychic Examination* * Attention. * Sensorial perception. * Intellectual perception. * Deduction. * Coordination. * Inventiveness. * Unrelated memories. * Foresight and forethought. * To what extent are these intellectual operations, when they exist, applied to concrete phenomena, mixed phenomena (*i.e.*, concrete and abstract) and to ideas of a moral nature? * Are the general ideas of time, space, conventional measurements, relative value, intrinsic or arbitrary, understood and applied in actual daily life? * Comparison. * Judgment. * Reflection. * Have the ordinary rudiments, such as the alphabet, reading, writing, drawing, arithmetic, been taught to the pupil or not, and can they be taught in his present state? * Have his attitude toward music and mathematics, enjoyment of singing, irresistible desire to sing, been brought about naturally? * Has he a perception of the physical proportion of bodies, such as colour, form, dimensions, relations between the parts to form a whole? IV. *Examination Regarding Instincts and Sentiments* * Instinct of self-preservation. * Instincts of order, readjustment, * preservation and destruction * of objects. * Aggressiveness, cruelty. * Instinct of assimilation and * possession. * Is the child obedient or * rebellious, respectful or * impertinent, affectionate * or cold, rude or courteous, * grateful, jealous, merry or sad, * proud, vain or indifferent, * courageous or cowardly, timid or * venturesome, circumspect or * thoughtless, credulous or * suspicious? * Has the child a sense of abstract * right and wrong or only in relation * to a small number of acts that * concern himself? * Does the child show spontaneity * an active will—the kind of will * which is the initial cause of all * human actions producing intellectual * or social results? * Has the child only a negative will * associated with instincts and does * he protest energetically against * any extraneous will that tends to * compel the idiot to concern himself * with social or abstract phenomena? * Finally, in what direction and * within what limits has the idiot * passed beyond the boundaries of his * ego in order to enter into physical, * instinctive, intellectual and moral * communication with the phenomena * which surround him? V. *Etiology* * Origin of father and mother. * Their constitution. * Hereditary diseases. * Place of residence at the time of * the child's conception, * gestation, birth and lactation. * Possible causes of idiocy. * Circumstances worthy of note during * conception. * Circumstances worthy of note during * gestation, delivery, lactation. * Serious illnesses of the child * during the first year. * Infirmities and illnesses from the * first year down to the first * symptoms of idiocy. Progress, * retrogression or stationary state * from the child's birth down to the * time of examination. If we realise that this model for a biographic chart was proposed more than one-half a century ago, it makes us marvel at the modern spirit of its concepts: it actually considers the relation between the development *of the trunk and of the limbs*, the *mimic* *attitudes of the body*, the *constitution*, etc., all of which concepts are foreign to the studies of the medical clinics from which Séguin must have drawn his inspiration, since even to the present day the tendency in the clinics is toward purely analytical investigation, with the exception of Professor De Giovanni's clinic. In the model proposed by Sergi, the examination was required to be made twice: first upon the reception of the pupil, and again at his departure with the modifications shown below: BIOGRAPHICAL CHART FOR SCHOOLS (SERGI) Table I.—*Physical Observations* | On entering school | On leaving school | | ------------------ | ----------------- | | Class | Year | Class | Year | | Name.Age.Birthplace.Parentage (father and mother).Vaccination.Stature.Weight.Pulmonary capacity.Muscular force.General state of health.Past illnesses.Anomalies, deformities.Head, horizontal circumferenceHead, maximum length.Head, maximum width.Cephalic index.Face, length.Face, width.Facial index.Hair, colour, form.Eyes, colour.Skin, complexion.Incidental remarks. | Name.Age.Birthplace.Parentage (father and mother).Vaccination.Stature.Weight.Pulmonary capacity.Muscular force.General state of health.Past illnesses.Anomalies, deformities.Head, horizontal circumferenceHead, maximum length.Head, maximum width.Cephalic index.Face, length.Face, width.Facial index.Hair, colour, form.Eyes, colour.Skin, complexion.Incidental remarks. | BIOGRAPHICAL CHART FOR SCHOOLS (SERGI) Table II.—*Psychological Observations* | On entering school | On leaving school | | ------------------ | ----------------- | | Class | Year | Class | Year | | Sight, acuteness, far- or near-sighted.Sense of colour, normal, defective.Hearing, acuteness.Sense of touch, acuteness.Intelligence, quick or slow.Perception, rapid or gradual.Memory, tenacious or short.Attention, easily aroused or not.Speech, rapid or slow.Speech, pronunciation perfect or imperfect.Speech, stammering.Emotional sensibility, dull or easily assumed.Conduct and character at home.Affection for parents.Taciturnity or loquacity.Preferences during free hours.Caprices, eccentricities.Unusual incidental occurrences. | Sight, acuteness, far- or near-sighted.Sense of colour, normal, defective.Hearing, acuteness.Sense of touch, acuteness.Intelligence, quick or slow.Perception, rapid or gradual.Memory, tenacious or short.Attention, easily aroused or not.Attention, how long sustained.Attention, progressive weariness.Speech, rapid or slow.Speech, pronunciation perfect or imperfect.Speech, stammering.Emotional sensibility, dull or easily assumed.Conduct and character in school.Friendships in school.Taciturnity or loquacity.Preference during free hours.Caprices, eccentricities.Unusual incidental occurrences. | The two other biographic charts that deserve specific mention are, unlike the above, charts in actual use, since they have both been recently introduced into practical service. The first, which I reproduce in entirety, is the one adopted by the Commune of Bologna for its schools; the second is the one introduced, for the purpose of studying the inmates, into the government reformatories, of Italy, that have recently been transformed into educational institutions, into which a number of important reforms have been introduced, through the influence of scientific pedagogy—among others, these biographical charts and the anthropological researches connected with them. Biographic chart for elementary schools: | District of | *Year* 191— | | ----------- | --------- | | *Class* | | COMMUNE OF BOLOGNA<br>Office X.—Hygiene<br>*Biographic Chart of the Pupil* | | *Name and Surname* | | *Age* | | *Place of birth and residence* | | *Parents' Place of birth and vocation* | | The Teacher. | | | | State of skin, of the subcutaneous tissue, the muscles, the lymphatic glands | Illnesses incurred during the school year | | Head | horizontal circumference | | | maximum width | | | maximum length | | | Cephalic index | Total number of absences | | Face | height | | | width | | | Facial index | Number of absences on account of illness | | Hair | colour | | | form | | | Eyes | keenness of sight | Profit derived from instruction | | hypermetropia | | | myopia | | | colour sense | | | colour of iris | Conduct and character in school | | Hearing, acuteness | | | Teeth | form | Affection toward parents and school-mates | | number decayed | | | number missing | | | Anomalies of development | Special observations | | Weight of body | at the beginning, | | | at the end of the year | | | Total spread of arms | | | Stature | | | Pulmonary capacity | | | The Physician | the Master | | | | The biographic chart of the reformatories is among the most complete; nevertheless, it is based upon antiquated methods for the study of the individual, including, for instance, the facial index and ignoring that of the stature; and limiting the psychic examination to abstract notes (reflection, attention, etc.). It constitutes, however, an anthropological *record*, for it follows the child throughout his whole residence in the reformatory. What is called, in the chart in question, the moral account, corresponds to our *third subdivision* in biographic histories, in so far as it represents a summary of the daily records. Under this head mention is made of the moral balance, and the notes tell us that it is founded upon "*punishments*" and "*rewards*." In so far as they treat of disciplining children, these notes are not to be taken as a model; they are evidently a relic of antiquated educative methods that have survived amid the efforts of a new scientific movement. There is no mention made of medical treatment bestowed upon the children, who may very often owe their so-called *moral* anomalies to a pathological condition which must frequently be *aggravated* by punishments. It is well known that many normal children have periods of agitation which is manifested by the most various kinds of action (impulsiveness, sexual excesses, rebellion), followed by periods of calm during which the child exhibits the opposite characteristics (industriousness, obedience, etc.). The biographic chart is quite likely to show a record of punishments and rewards corresponding to these contrasted periods; and in this respect it follows antiquated pedagogic methods, which are precisely what need to be reformed under the light of science. An illustration of this is contained in the biographic history of an idiot boy in the asylum of the *Bicêtre*, a report of which is given below: the periodic *anomalies of character* in the boy should be noticed. Many epileptic children do not have convulsions, but exhibit instead anomalies of character which become permanent and are naturally aggravated by fatigue and punishment; and the great majority of such children pass eventually into reformatories. In the forms customarily used for biographic charts, there is liberal provision for daily notes. Accordingly, in the biographic chart of the child in question there are a number of blank pages on which *casual notes* have been entered (diary). Every fact deserving of notice has been entered; facts of a physio-pathological nature, such as illnesses, strength, endurance in running, appetite, outbursts of anger without cause; school-notes regarding the progress attained by the child in school, especially when he has overcome serious difficulties, correction of incidental defects of speech, etc., and notes of a psycho-moral nature regarding acts committed by the child, tending to show the state of his feelings. The master has a general register which may be compared to the *daily entry book* used in book-keeping, and in which all the *notes of the day* are entered. Days and even months frequently pass without any entry being made in regard to some particular child. From this general register the master later draws up individual *summaries* which are then transcribed into the corresponding biographic history of each child. Once in so many years all the measurements and observations are repeated in their entirety (*e.g.*, at the most important periods of growth with especial study of the epoch of puberty). When the child is definitely discharged from the school, a general summary is drawn up; in such a case the *biographic chart* represents that individual's *own personal history*; a human and social document of the highest interest to anyone who wishes to *know himself*, and continue his own self-education! It might serve as a useful guide to a man of intelligence. These registers and biographic charts may be compared to the record of points and the report cards that are in use to-day in the schools. Even the report cards which are obtained through a fatiguing process of *averages* represent a summary of notes taken every day by the teacher (although not every day for *every* pupil). But the report card is of no practical use to the man who wishes to draw up a faithful record of the education he has received that will serve to *guide him through life*. Since there do not yet exist any complete biographic histories relating to normal children, I shall reproduce one of an idiot boy who was received into the great Paris hospital for defectives; this history is interesting because it is the result of the methods of Séguin who was the founder of the anthropological movement in pedagogy; it would be still more interesting if we could offer the complete history of a normal man or of a wayward boy redeemed by education. But let us hope for this in the near future! The summary of the history which I here reproduce does not contain the objective examination of the boy at the time of his reception; because that would only be a repetition of what has already been described, while the part which it now interests us to illustrate is that containing the summaries of the diaries. The antecedents, however, are given because they are indispensable for an understanding of the patient's personality. > ### Summary of the Biographic History of an Idiot Boy > > *Admitted at the Age of 3 Years, and Dismissed at the Age of 17* > > Outline: Father an alcoholic.—Mother subject to migraine.—No consanguinity between the parents. Equality of ages (difference of two years).—A sister died of convulsions.—Conception during an alcoholic excess on the part of the father.—Albuminuria during pregnancy.—The child cried both night and day.—Twitchings of the body and head.—Did he ever have convulsions?—Fits of anger.—At the time of admission, he could neither speak nor walk (July 30, 1881, age 3 years).—The child has involuntary emissions of fæces and urine (is uncleanly). > > *September*, 1884.—The child has learned to walk. > > 1885\.—Development of speech.—The child is beginning to give notice of its natural necessities. > > 1886\.—The child is no longer uncleanly.—The twitchings of head and body and the fits of anger have diminished. > > 1887-1890.—Progressive improvement, with alternate progressive and stationary periods. > > 1891\.—Description of the patient. > > 1892-1897.—Physical and intellectual evolution.—Progress in studies.—Acquirement of a trade.—Results. > > *Remote Antecedents.* (Notes furnished by the mother.)—*Father:* 35 years old, tailor's cutter, large, strong, of calm temperament, a smoker; numerous *excesses of alcoholic beverages*, especially absinthe—as many as eleven a day; venereal excesses; came home intoxicated almost every day; never had convulsions in infancy, nor any nervous shock; suffered only from eczema. No syphilis.—*Father's Family:* Paternal grandfather a mason, sober, died of heart disease. Paternal grandmother, of calm temperament, enjoyed good health. No other information regarding paternal ancestry.—*Mother:* 33 years old, seamstress, good health, regular features; no convulsions in infancy. Menstruated at age of 13 years, married at 20. Suffered from migraine since she was nine years old. These headaches lasted three days and occurred at the menstrual periods, ceasing throughout pregnancy and lactation. The symptoms were: headache, buzzing in the ears, to the point of deafness, and vision of sparks before the eyes. The attacks terminated with vomiting. *Mother's Family:* Father sober and in good health; mother died of influenza. No information regarding either the ascendant or collateral branches; but there seem to have been no other cases of nervous disease in the family. No consanguinity, no disparity in ages. *Brothers* *and Sisters of the Patient:* The mother of D—— had five children; the first, a boy ten years and a half old, intelligent, no convulsions; the second, a girl, died at fourteen months, after having convulsions that continued for eight days; the third, a girl, seven years old, intelligent, no convulsions; the fourth, the patient in question; the fifth, a girl, born after D——'s admission to the asylum; she is intelligent and healthy, no convulsions. > > *Near Antecedents.* The child's mother is convinced that the conception took place during *alcoholic* intoxication. Pregnancy was accompanied by generalised œdema from the fifth month onward, due to albuminuria. No *eclampsia*. No fainting fits, etc. Delivery timely, difficult, but accomplished naturally. The child at birth was strong and not asphyxiated. Was nursed by the mother for the first two months, after which he depended upon hired nurses and artificial feeding (was sent to the country where he was fed chiefly from the bottle). Was returned to the mother at the age of eleven months; could not walk; would eat anything within reach of his hands, coal, excrements. Cried continually, day and night, to the great disturbance of the neighbours. Cut his first tooth at five months; and at the age of three years the first dentition was not yet completed. Has a habit of swaying his body forward and backward; beats his head against the wall, the chairs, etc., and strikes his forehead with his clenched fist. Has habitual constipation. Is extremely affectionate, loves to be caressed. Yet he will bite anyone who approaches him, including his brothers and sisters. It cannot be learned whether when he was staying with the wet-nurse he ever had convulsions. It is certain that he had none after his return to the family. The habit of *onanism* dates from the time of his return from the nurse. Vaccinated at 13 months, slight attack of varioloid at the age of two years; no other infectious diseases. No manifestation of scrofula; no traumatism. > > *Objective Examination of the Patient* (omitted).—The *history* is accompanied by eight photographs of the boy, taken respectively at the ages of 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 15, and 16 years, three of which, namely, those taken at the ages of 6, 11 and 16, are reproduced on page ([278](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46643/46643-h/46643-h.htm#Page_278)). > > ### Diaries > > *July 2.*—He is uncleanly (emissions of fæces and urine). Does not know how to behave at table; when he eats he spills his food over his clothing. Is gluttonous but not voracious; he does not steal the food of his companions, but he protests when he sees food given to others and not to him. Is mistrustful, hides his bread for fear that it will be taken from him; and if any one takes notice of this, he utters a cry of rage. He is affectionate, very timid, jealous, obstinate, grumbling, somewhat sullen, seldom laughs. Although weak, he fights his companions and frequently falls into *fits of* *anger*; then he flings himself on the floor and beats his head against the furniture. He sways his body forward and backward. His *power of speech* is limited to three words: *papa*, *mamma*, and *no*. He is able to make himself understood when he wants anything. > > *August-September.*—Two slight attacks of ophthalmia. The child has now learned to walk. > > *January-March, 1885.*—Otitis (Inflammation of the ear). > > *August.*—The ability to speak is developing progressively. He has begun to give notice of his natural necessities; is seldom uncleanly, so that it is now possible to let him wear trousers. The habit of balancing his body back and forth is tending to disappear. The accesses of anger have become rarer. He is less jealous and plays indiscriminately with his companions. > > *January, 1886.*—The improvement continues. D—— is now very attentive in school. When out walking he takes an interest in the things he sees and asks for explanations. Is doing well in the first gymnastic exercises. Makes a good appearance. > > *March.*—D—— has now become altogether cleanly. Furthermore, he knows how to wash, dress and undress himself alone. At table, can handle his spoon and fork quite properly, but cannot yet manage his knife. Is less gluttonous; his speech is fully developed. Although he cannot keep still in school and constantly changes his position, he has succeeded in learning to know his letters, the different colours, etc., can count up to 50, and can name the greater part of the objects contained in the boxes used for object lessons. The balancing of the body has completely disappeared. D—— has a tendency toward onanism. Accesses of anger an still noted, during which he is very vulgar. > > *December.*—Condition stationary. Misconduct in class, frequent fits of anger, during which he abuses everyone and strikes his smaller comrades. > > *March, 1887.*—D—— is calmer and does better work. Can count up to sixty. His general knowledge has increased. Can tell his age, his name, the name of his parents, what their employment is, where they live, etc. > > *April, 1888.*—The improvement continues. His behavior is better. Has learned the names of materials, of plane surfaces, of solids; can distinguish vowels from consonants. It has been impossible to induce him to trace simple strokes even upon the blackboard. > > *December.*—Is more diligent and has taken a fancy to writing. > > *January-June, 1889.*—Is in the infirmary on account of anal ulcers. > > *December.*—Notable improvement in general knowledge. Has begun to write certain letters in his copybook. > > *December, 1890.*—D——'s conduct is good. He is no longer disorderly; and if at times it is necessary to reprove him, he recognises his fault, cries, and promises to do better. He fears above all that his misconduct will be reported to his mother. Has a fairly accurate notion of right and wrong, is no longer so extremely jealous and shows affection for his comrades. Has learned to write syllables well; is able to copy short paragraphs; can do simple sums in addition; gives clear answers to questions. Walking, running, jumping, going up and down stairs have become easy for him. The child uses his fork and knife at table; chews his food well, does not suffer from any digestive disturbance. Is orderly, and attends to himself in all details of his toilet. > > *April 21, 1891: Objective Examination.*—The child's face has a uniformly ruddy complexion; lips full-blooded; skin smooth, without scars or eruptions, excepting a slight scaliness due to eczema. Two small ganglia in the left submaxillary region, but no others in any other locality. Cranium symmetrical; volume and form normal. Frontal and parietal nodules slightly prominent; occipital nodule quite prominent (pentagonoid cranium). Hair light blonde, abundant, fine, growing low upon the forehead. Posterior vortex normal, forehead wide, but not high. Visage oval; with a slight depression of the nostril and corner of the mouth on the right side; has on the whole an intelligent expression; it is mobile and reflects the moods and feelings natural to boyhood. The superciliary arches are only slightly arched. The eyebrows are chestnut in colour and scanty; the lashes are abundant and long. Iris dark blue; pupils equal in size and react under the influence of light. No functional disturbance, and no lesion in regard to the eyes. Field of vision normal. D—— recognises all the colours. Nose small, and straight, with a pronounced aperture of the nostrils. Zygomata regular, without exaggerated prominences; naso-labial furrows barely indicated. Aperture of mouth very wide and habitually half open. Lips thick and slightly drooping. Tongue normal. Palatine vault distinctly ogival. Tonsils enlarged; the boy is subject to tonsillitis. All these parts show quite a blunted sensibility, which permits of an examination of the pharynx, without causing nausea. Chin rounded, without indentation. Ears long and thick, the outer edge is normal, including the fold of the helix; the ears protrude conspicuously from the cranium and are very peculiar in shape; namely, the upper two-thirds of the external ear form with the lower one-third an obtuse angle of such nature that the *concha* or shell really represents the outline of a very deep and almost hemispherical sea-shell. The lobule is thick, regular, and notably detached. The ear is the seat of frequent attacks of erythema, complicated by swelling. Neck rather short and quite stout; circumference 26 centimetres. The lobes of the thyroid glands are plainly palpable to the touch. > > *Thorax and Abdomen.*—No notable peculiarities. Auscultation and percussion show that the internal organs are normal. Body is hairless. Genital organs are normal. The upper and lower limbs are normal in all their segments. > > *Icthyosis* of the skin on thighs and knees. General sensibility normal; usual physiological reflex actions. > > *Treatment.*—Regular application of the medico-pedagogical method: tonics during the winter; hydrotherapy annually, from the first of April to the first of November. > > *April 24.*—The mother, finding the child much improved, takes him home on leave (March) and later (end of April) requests his dismissal, which is granted reluctantly, in the fear that the boy may lose part of what he has so laboriously gained. > > *May 19, 1892.*—The boy, having become insubordinate and not making satisfactory progress in the public school (to which he was sent, so that he would not be present at the scenes between the mother and the father, who is habitually intoxicated), has been sent back to the asylum. > > *June.*—The physical evolution continues. The child is very timid and sensitive, cannot bear to be reproved and cries when he is corrected. Reads fluently, but without expression. Has begun to write familiar words from dictation. During his absence from the asylum he learned to know the numbers and to do simple examples in addition and subtraction. > > *Treatment:* School work; gymnastics; hydrotherapy. > > *July.*—D—— is at present conducting himself in a way difficult to control; he plays ill-natured jests upon his companions; places needles and tacks in seats; during the assembly he amuses himself by sticking little pins into the backs of the girls who sit in front of him. > > *December.*—The boy is very lazy, and often refuses to read or to do his tasks; he grins and sneers if he is corrected. But he carries out very well all the movements in the lower gymnastic course. Has been sent to the *tailor's work-shop* and seems to have taken a fancy to the trade. > > *April, 1893.*—D—— has become quite reasonable, does good work in school, does not like to be inactive, has ceased to grin and sneer. His writing has improved; his reasoning power is good; he is careful of his clothes to the point of vanity; eats with propriety, has ceased to bolt his food; yet it is still noticed that he has a tendency to appropriate the wine of his companions. > > *June.*—D—— is passing through a bad period; he laughs at everything that is said to him, is very obstinate, annoys his comrades, tears up copy-books, breaks pens, etc. Is careless regarding his clothing; makes a disturbance at night in the dormitory. > > *December.*—Same state. Tries to smoke; is unwilling to do any work; laughs at everybody; dresses with great carelessness; it is necessary to compel him to wash his hands and face. No sign of *puberty*. > > *December, 1894.*—Notable improvement; D—— reads quite readily, writes quite well, recognises all ordinary objects, their use, and their colour; has a conception of time. Is docile, neat, industrious in school work, is attentive to explanations and understands them. In the work-shop he continues to show progress. > > *January-June, 1895.*—The improvement continues; D—— has begun to learn the multiplication table; he is well-mannered and scrupulous in his behaviour; excellent in gymnastics. In the tailor's work-shop he makes marked progress; he has already learned to put together an entire garment by himself, and he knows how to use the machine. From time to time he has periods of indolence; and this happens more often in the work-shop than in the class. > > *Puberty.*—A slight down has begun to appear upon his upper lip. > > *July 8.*—According to the night nurse, D—— had an attack of epilepsy during the night; he never had one before, and he has not had one since. > > *July 10.*—Troubled sleep, nightmare, unintelligible and threatening words. > > *January, 1896.*—Very notable improvement in class. The boy profited above all from the *lessons about natural objects*, in which he takes much interest. From time to time he shows a tendency to dissipation and gambling. Is docile, cleanly, and neat in personal appearance to the point of vanity. The master of the work-shop is very much pleased with him; he works well with the machine. Is doing well in gymnastics and in singing. > > *Puberty.*—His beard has begun to grow even on his cheeks. > > *June.*—Hand-writing, far from improving, seems to be growing worse. On the contrary, it is noticed that he has made progress in arithmetic. Can perform all four primary operations and has begun to solve easy problems. His general knowledge has improved. Has become a good tailor's workman. > > *January-June, 1897.*—The boy prefers the work-shop to the school and for some time the mistake has been made of leaving him wholly in the work-shop. > > *December.*—Same state from point of view of his studies; character docile, conduct good, personal care and neatness satisfactory. Works well and rapidly in the work-shop; can make complete suits of clothing; uses the machine dexterously; is beginning to cut out garments. > > *Puberty* complete, no onanism. The right eyelids are less widely open than the left by nearly a quarter. The patient says that he does not see so well with the right eye as with the left, and cannot distinguish with it even large letters unless they are very near. TABLE OF WEIGHT AND STATURE | Measurements | 1890 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | | ------------ | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | | January | January | July | January | July | January | July | January | July | January | | Weight in kilograms. | 25 | 34.700 | 35.200 | 35 | 37.800 | 39.800 | 44 | 46 | 51 | 53.700 | | Stature in metres. | 1.22 | 1.39 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.50 | 1.53 | 1.58 | 1.61 | 1.66 | 1.69 | MEASUREMENTS OF THE HEAD IN CENTIMETRES | | 1891 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | | --- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | | January | January | January | January | July | January | July | January | July | January | | Maximum horizontal circumference. | 50.2 | 50.2 | 50.2 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 54 | | Anterior semi-circumference. | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 34 | | Distance from the occipito-allantoid articulation to the root of nose. | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 37 | | Maximum antero-posterior diameter. | 17.5 | 17.8 | 17.8 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 19 | | Maximum biauricular diameter. | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 12.2 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 13 | | Maximum biparietal diameter. | 13.5 | 14 | 14 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | | Maximum bitemporal diameter. | — | — | — | — | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 12 | | Medial height of forehead. | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | In the antecedents of this patient, the only suggestions of degeneration are the *alcoholism* of the father and the fact that conception took place in a state of intoxication. The mother's migraine might also be considered as a nervous malady amounting to a family taint, but cannot be held responsible for so grave an abnormality as idiocy. Consequently, it remains beyond doubt that the most interesting antecedent fact to be considered in this case is the *conception* *during alcoholic intoxication*. The individual we are studying is a sick person; this is shown by *ptosis* (drooping eye-lid), the recurrent periods of agitation, the epileptic convulsion in the night detected by the night nurse. It is interesting to observe in the photographs of the child, the alteration of expression between the periods of calm and those of agitation; in the latter the face is asymmetrical and shows contractions in the left facial region, while the right side is paretic; the paresis is also manifested by *ptosis* (drooping lids). During the periods of calm, on the contrary, the left side also is atonic. In the course of the history the differences in the child's conduct in the two states are well described. During the periods of calm, the child is attentive, docile, careful of his dress, timid, and makes progress in his studies; during the periods of agitation he is unstable, rebellious, careless, unkind to his comrades, and makes no progress whatever. At the beginning, there were no periods of calm at all; furthermore, the child had every appearance of being an idiot; medico-pedagogic treatment rendered longer and more frequent, and finally permanent, these periods of calm, during which the child's intellectual redemption became possible. The treatment did not consist solely in the *education of an idiot*, but also in the *cure of a sick child*. "At the time of admission," according to the *observations* in the record, "the diagnosis was *retarded mentality*, and that only in relation to primary instruction, because in regard to matters of common knowledge and manual work, the patient comes very near to a normal lad of average intelligence." Such a surprising *transformation* of an individual is certainly deserving of admiration; but this diligently compiled study is not yet quite completed. As a matter of fact, when the education of D—— was begun, observations regarding types of stature were not yet made; but his photographs show that he was an exaggerated macroscelous type. The trade adopted by D—— which will oblige him to sit with his chest bowed over the machine, or in a kneeling position while he sews, will in all probability drive him straight along the road to tuberculosis, a malady to which his organism has singularly predisposed him. It would be interesting to follow further the history of this patient, who has been transformed from an idiot into a skilful and industrious workman. The society, which under the guidance of science, achieved his difficult redemption, has perhaps at the same time condemned him to death. The modern standards of pedagogical anthropology would have furnished a more far-sighted guidance in the choice of a vocation. Meanwhile, however, this history reported by Thulié is a luminous demonstration of the folly of rewards and punishments; the only forms of intervention during the periods of agitation, which lasted for entire months, during which the boy was continually unruly, impulsive, malicious, reckless, and incapable of work, were tonics, hydrotherapy and kindly treatment. "Punishments" would have cruelly wrecked the life of a human being who was naturally gentle, affectionate, and capable of diligent work and permanent improvement. Something similar ought to be attempted in the reformatories. The boys who are regarded as incorrigible are frequently *sick* boys, with an hereditary degenerative taint, and need to live in a tranquil environment and to receive medical treatment. The biographic charts of the reformatories give no evidence that this educative movement has as yet been understood. They show that *punishments* are still regarded as possessing a corrective efficacy, because the conception that the so-called delinquent children may be a pathological product and a result of disastrous family and social conditions, has not yet penetrated with sufficient clearness. But progress along this path is surely bound to come as a result of the experience which this principle of reform has made possible. The biographic charts have unquestionably laid the foundations of a new edifice in pedagogy. *Scientific Pedagogical Advantages of Biographic Histories:* 1. The biographic chart takes the place of the report cards and records of the relative marks of merit and demerit; for while these records and reports constituted a statement of *effects*, altogether empirical, the biographic chart *investigates the causes* and in this way furnishes pedagogy with a scientific basis. There is no need of further demonstration. The principal consequences of the above indicated progress are two in number. 2. The biographic chart, replacing the earlier classifications, raises the teacher's standard of culture by directing him along a scientific path, associates the teacher's work with that of the physician, and makes the teacher a far-sighted director of the development and perfectioning of the new generations. 3. The biographic chart includes a new educative movement which abolishes rewards and punishments. > On this third point much might be said, since it touches upon one of the fundamental doctrines of pedagogical progress. But since this is not a treatise upon scientific pedagogy, it is necessary to limit the exposition to a few fundamental points. > > In fact, it will be sufficient to speak of cases in which education is most difficult and where the rewards and punishments are unavailing—for these will include all simpler cases. A luminous example is furnished by the education of *new-born infants*. Of all human beings they used to be the most troublesome because of the impossibility of educating them by the old-fashioned methods. They cried at all hours of the day and night, making a slave of the mother or whoever took her place. > > To-day, babies are quiet; it is marvelous to go through the infant ward in the Obstetrical Clinic of Rome; absolute silence reigns there, and yet if we lift up the white curtains of the cribs, we see the little ones lying with their eyes wide open. A deeper knowledge than was formerly had of the *hygiene of* *the child* has enabled us to interpret his needs, and when these are satisfied, the child is tranquil. Bodily cleanliness, liberty of movement, prolonged repose in the crib, and *rational feeding* have obtained this remarkable result of silencing the baby, of rendering it more robust and of liberating the mother from the slavery of her mission. The classic cry of the child in swaddling bands was a protest against the suffering which ignorance imposed upon him. To-day the little one, lying tranquilly in his crib, begins to exercise his senses earlier and more easily, a ray of light strikes him and attracts his attention, and with this his education has begun, while formerly the suffering due to indigestion kept him for a much longer time a stranger to the external world. > > The same thing may be repeated for every year of childhood. Often what we call *naughtiness* on the part of the individual child is *rebellion* against our own mistakes in educating him. The coercive means which we adopt toward children are what destroy their natural tranquility. A healthy child, in his moments of freedom, succeeds in escaping from the toys inflicted upon him by his parents, and in securing some object which arouses the investigating instinct of his mind; a worm, an insect, some pebbles, etc.; he is silent, tranquil and attentive. If the child is not well, or if his mother obliges him to remain seated in a chair, playing with a doll, he becomes restless, cries, or gives way to convulsive outbursts ("bad temper"). The mother believes that educating her child means forcing him to do what is pleasing to her, however far she may be from knowing what the child's real needs are, and unfortunately we must make the same statement regarding the school-teachers! Then, in order to make him yield to coercion, she punishes the child when he rebels and rewards him when he is obedient. By this method we *drive a child by force* along paths that are not natural to him. In the same way, absolute governments employed public entertainments and the gallows, in order to compel the people to act and think according to the will of their sovereign; indeed, they were considered as indispensable means of good government. To-day we have come to realise that such means are more or less adapted to the successful crushing of a people's spirit, but not to governing them well. The reign of *liberty*, which leaves men the opportunity to give expression to their own powers and above all to their own thoughts, is doing away with festivals and executions; and it is not until this is accomplished that men can be really well *governed*. > > Something similar is going to take place in the schools. But here, since the children are incapable of understanding *what they ought to do* for their own best good, science *studies them* in order to assist their natural needs. > > I believe that we must greatly modify our ideas regarding infant psychology, as soon as trained psychologists begin to observe the spontaneous manifestations of children, to the end of encouraging their tendencies. > > Having applied scientific methods in the "Children's Houses," we were amazed at the behaviour of those little children; for instance, they showed contempt for toys, while they loved objects on which they could exercise their free powers of reason. > > *Intellectual exercise is the most pleasing* of all to the small child if he is in good health. Indeed, we already know that children break their toys in order to see how they are made inside; this shows that the exercise of their intellect interests them more than playing with an object that is often irrational. But children are not, as is generally believed, naturally destructive; on the contrary, their instinct is to *preserve*. This is seen in the way in which they save little objects that they have acquired by themselves; and in the "Children's Houses," we have also seen it in the way that they preserve unharmed even the most trivial scrap of paper, although free to tear it up, so long as that scrap of paper helps them to exercise their thoughts. > > Here we see the great difference between the healthy, normal child who employs himself in the way that pleases him, and is attentive and tranquil; and another child who, equally healthy and normal, is obliged to do what other people wish him to do, and is restless, and troublesome and cries. > > To aid the physical development of the child under the guidance of natural laws is to favour his health and his growth; to aid his natural psychic tendencies is to render him more intelligent. > > This principle has been intuitively recognised by all pedagogists, but the practical application of it was not possible, excepting under the guidance of scientific pedagogy, founded upon a direct knowledge of the human individual. > > *To-day it is possible for us to establish a régime of liberty in our schools, and* *consequently it is our duty to do so.* > > Whenever a child exhibits anomalies of character that do not signify rebellion against irrational methods of education, and are not expressions of a struggle for liberty, he represents the unhappy effect of some pathological cause, or of some *social error*, that has only too fatally accomplished its corruptive task. > > This is what the biographic history will reveal! > > As a general rule, a bad child should be taken to see a physician, because it is almost certain that he is a sick child. > > But the *treatment* of such maladies is very often mainly pedagogical; curative pedagogy, however, must absolutely abolish *punishment*. > > We now know as a fact absolutely established in sociology that the fear of punishment, of torture and even of death does not avail to diminish crime, nor the imperious manifestation of human passions. > > Brigandage is not repressed by cutting off heads, but by civilisation in all its forms of industry, intercommunication, etc. > > And this principle is especially true in the case of children; harshness of methods and severity of punishment will not avail to inculcate, and still less to create, goodness. Man is conquered through kindness and gentleness; among all the beatitudes, that of inheriting the earth (*i.e.*, of winning over their fellowmen) is given to the *meek: blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth*. > > We know that hypocrisy, adulation and seduction are criminal means by which man seeks to deceive his fellow men to his own profit; but they are based upon gentleness; it would never occur to anyone to seduce and to conquer hypocritically, with the help of violence. Because the weak point in man, that to which he is most susceptible, is gentleness, praise, caresses. We have seen that the psychic stimulus needed to augment human activity, to arouse an apathetic person to action, and even to produce a condition of flourishing growth in a child, is the pleasant stimulus of kindness and caresses. The mother's caress, like the mother's milk, is a means of stimulating the child to a more complete nutrition and vitality. And the entire category of physiological weaklings, such as the defectives, epileptics and criminals, have a proportionately greater need of such stimulus than normal individuals; consequently, how can coercion ever be expected to restore such unbalanced personalities to their proper equilibrium? Those whom we have been in the habit of oppressing with severity and punishment are the very ones most in need of the stimulus of affection. Indeed, it is only the strong man and the hero who can pass unscathed through persecution; the weak are left broken, down-trodden, or slain. > > *Sursum Corda.*—Always strive to uplift, never to depress. > > A beautiful theory and a humane idea. But is it practicable, and to what extent? In short, what can be done practically, for instance, in the exceedingly difficult case of juvenile delinquents, in order to correct their evil tendencies and save them from their waywardness, without coercion? > > But what are evil tendencies of the mind? With that one phrase we are trying to embrace and ostensibly bind together a quantity of widely different effects. > > The study of the individual should suggest to us the particular method of education required by him. Meanwhile, in regard to the question of juvenile delinquents, a wide road leading straight back to first causes, has been opened by the *pathological* factor. Who, for instance, does not know that the conduct and the sentiments of an individual may become unbalanced through the effects of poison or disease? This takes us at once into the field of nervous or mental pathology: the first symptom of *paralytic dementia* is not the trembling, or alteration of speech, or interruption of certain reflex actions, or muscular weakness, nor the real and actual delirium. The symptom which first manifests itself as an indication of profound disturbance in the personality of the unfortunate victim of this cruel disease is an almost unheralded alteration of the natural character and conduct. The man who hitherto has been a good husband and father, becomes a profligate, spendthrift and gambler; the man who has hitherto been most scrupulous in his language and in his sexual conduct becomes foul-mouthed and obscene; the man who was a kind and affectionate husband becomes violent and aggressive toward his wife. Anyone wishing to consider these preliminary symptoms of paralytic dementia as *evil tendencies of the mind*, would strive in vain with appropriate sermons, reproofs and punishments to make the sick man *repent* and come back to his former state! > > Let us pass on to another example. There is no one who is not aware of the effects of alcohol. There are persons who, when in a state of intoxication, commit actions that are worse than reprehensible, even criminal; actions which the individual himself deplores as soon as the poisonous effects have passed away. Kind-hearted persons go so far as to maltreat their own children, even when they are little babies; they commit violent and degrading acts that often make them shed tears of repentance as soon as they become aware of them. Well, if we should try to make such a person understand, while he is still in a state of intoxication, that his actions are improper, it would be wasted effort. It is better to let the matter pass, or else to give him treatment for his alcoholic condition, which is the cause of his misconduct. > > And passing on to another class of cases, does not everyone know that when people are afflicted with a diseased liver, their character alters, they become jealous, quarrelsome, hypochondriac, melancholy? It would be useless to tell such persons that they were formerly more tractable and morally superior; they are already sufficiently afflicted without having us, who are in good health, aggravate them with our useless preaching. And analogously, it is well known that when hysteria attacks a woman it may transform her from a virtuous and modest person to an unhappy creature, compelled by her physical condition to forget herself and compromise the unquestioned propriety of her past life; or again, it may change her from a gentle soul to an insupportable fury, or it may actually develop into such pronounced delirium as to necessitate her confinement in an insane asylum. In this case also, it is the malady that demands treatment, since it is the sole cause of the sad manifestations of a change in character. > > Now, the pathological cause most frequently associated with criminal manifestations, is undoubtedly epilepsy. Lombroso himself attributed a vast influence to this etiological factor of criminality; and every day this far-sighted intuition of the master is confirmed and made clearer. The epileptic is not always a criminal, nor does the criminal always show the classic convulsive symptoms. There are cases of epilepsy in which the symptoms are attenuated or latent or replaced by different but equivalent symptoms. It is frequently necessary to diagnose an *epileptic character* from impulsive tendencies and from long protracted nocturnal *enuresis* in childhood. De Sanctis has lately been able to prove in his hospital practice that there are many children who have unmistakable epilepsy of the classic type, with violent accesses, but without criminal tendencies; at a certain age the convulsions cease, the patient is apparently cured: but he has become a criminal. On the other hand, there are children with immoral tendencies, destructive, violent, incorrigible; one would say that these were clear cases of predisposition to crime; all at once a genuine epileptic attack occurs, followed by other repeated attacks; the criminal tendencies disappear; the patient is simply an epileptic. In these cases, we have successive forms of epileptic equivalence. In the majority of cases, therefore, the proper course would be to *treat* the patient for epilepsy, as being the cause of the apparent "evil tendencies of mind." And hence one notable side of the great problem of the moral education of juvenile criminals is transformed fundamentally into this other problem: "Can epilepsy be treated and cured?" > > Up to the present, the treatment of epilepsy is a problem. While therapeutics prescribe bromides and warm baths, pedagogy is to-day following a very different course with a combined treatment of hygiene and education. Benedickt, and following him, the principal authorities among medical specialists, are at present condemning the use of depressing bromides, which hide the attacks as an anesthetic hides pain, but do not cure them. The cure, says Benedickt, depends upon hygienic life in the open air in order to absorb the poisons, and upon graded work, provided, however, that the malady is still recent and has not assumed a chronic form. Two principles of much importance: the malady must be of recent occurrence! Consequently, it is only in the *period of childhood* that we can attempt the treatment of the great majority of those predisposed to crime, with any hope of effecting a cure! A declaration of tremendous interest for the defense of society. But the treatment must be *pedagogic*. Accordingly, we have returned to the point of departure. We began by asking: "How are we to educate them"? A course of reasoning led us along this different road, "it is necessary to give them treatment." But the treatment consists in educating them. Well, from all this we can so far extract one unassailable principle; in their education all coercive measures must be absolutely abolished, because nervous and convulsive maladies are most successfully treated with gentleness and quiet; it is evident that all emotion, all fear, all nervous exhaustion, all punishment in short, no matter how mild or just it may be, would seem to be *prohibited* in pedagogic treatment. > > Accordingly, it is necessary to approach the question anew; what is needed is to set the nervous system in order, to calm it, to restore its equilibrium. Benedickt says: this is to be achieved *through work*, rationally measured and graded; hence, manual training, as organised, for example, in the Reformatory of San Michele, constitutes of itself a moral cure; it concurs in readjusting the nervous system by reinforcing it. > > However, we must not generalise over such complex questions; if the pathological factor, and more especially epilepsy, constitutes a great centre of *biologic* *causes* producing individuals predisposed to crime, we cannot conclude that there is a constant correspondence between epilepsy and criminality. But there is no doubt that among these predisposed we shall almost always find some who are suffering from a taint, or from dystrophy, due to tuberculosis or syphilis; in short, the *minus habens*, the physiological proletariat. > > The benefit wrought by education consists not only in contributing to the real and actual cure, as in the case of epilepsy; but also in the corrective, as well as curative, effect upon the personality. The abnormal mentality which generally accompanies degenerate or epileptic conditions requires special methods of education, which in many cases must absolutely exclude all forms of coercion. Mental hygiene, an abundance of psychic stimulus, partly intellectual (chiefly through objective demonstration) and partly moral (in the form of praise and gentle caressing treatment), are indispensable accompaniments of such education. An abnormal mentality almost always accompanies defects of the mind; from the hypochondriac or the epileptic to the imbecile and the idiot, the abnormal mentality builds itself up from inaccurate perceptions, and hence more or less from illusions; a deficiency of reasoning power or a half delirious condition completes the fatal organisation of a mode of thought which renders such an individual unfitted for his environment. We have seen an example of this in the boy whose clinical history was read in class; his perceptions were inexact, consequently colours, odours, and sounds reached him in a manner somewhat different from our perception of them; his mental world must therefore be differently constructed from ours. Defectives frequently pass by objects without obtaining any impression of them, or else transform what impression they do get into a false idea. Even their sensations of touch and pain are different from the normal. Hence, they do not feel as we do, and are often inaccessible to the anguish of pain which refines human nature by sometimes raising it to the point of heroism. And because we have learned through our own sufferings to understand the meaning of pity, altruism and solidarity, these unhappy beings differ from us even in their relation to society. Their scanty powers of logic lead them to fall openly into errors, which provoke vindictive retaliation on our part that tends in the ultimate analysis to isolate these unfit beings from social intercourse. > > To us, their whole conversation is a series of falsehoods, because it does not correspond to what we ourselves see and feel. An understanding between them and us becomes steadily more difficult, in proportion as we continue to perfect ourselves in our individual evolution, while their unhappy state is steadily aggravated through the formidable struggles and persecutions which they meet in an environment to which they are unadaptable. For instance, we saw that one of the boys who has been studied in class, had committed his most reprehensible acts as a result of false logic. "Why do you kill all the pigeons?" "To make them keep still." "Why do you beat your little sister?" "Because she won't work like the others." (The sister in question was only eighteen months old!) Well, he showed in this way that he had learned something from the corrections that he had received. They had punished him so much for being restless, and so much because he did not want to work, that he finally applied his acquired zeal to correcting others in the way that his defective logic dictated. And similarly, after seeing how they weigh objects with a steel-yard—also a form of work—it occurred to him to stick the hook into his little sister, in order to weigh her; and having learned that useful work is paid for in money, which serves to buy the necessities of life, he stole all the money that he could find at home, and gave it to the motormen on the tram-cars, who in his opinion perform the most useful work in the world. > > I once had occasion to study a paranoiac patient in the asylum for the criminal insane, who had spent twenty years in prison before his insanity became so pronounced as to cause his removal from one place of restraint to the other. He had killed his betrothed, out of jealousy, so he said, but he narrated the tragic deed with a fullness of detail and a readiness of phrase—his lurking in ambush, the unfortunate girl's approach, her fall under the blows of the cobbler's knife—that proved the cold-blooded calculation with which the crime was committed. > > This man was convinced that he possessed such oratorical gifts that if he had pleaded his own case in place of his attorney, the persuasive magic of his eloquence would have resulted in his acquittal. The lawyer had advised him not to speak and the prisoner was sentenced to a term of thirty years. The appeal to the Court of Cassation was denied. The result was that in his desperation at the failure of his defence, and more particularly because he had lost the chance of showing his oratorical powers in public, he conceived the idea that the only way by which he could come into court again, and speak for himself, and *force* *them to acquit him*, was to commit another murder. And he actually sprang at his lawyer's throat, armed with a nail, meaning to kill him. Thus we see how paranoiac delirium, and defective reasoning powers, sad evidences of pathological conditions, combined to create the most cynical and repellant of all criminal types. > > Accordingly the *treatment* of the pathological condition, and the education of the *mentality* in children who are thus predisposed, constitute a great work on behalf of the defence of society. > > Well, this is precisely what scientific pedagogy is trying to do, through a rational education of the senses: to correct false perceptions and straighten out the warped and twisted mentality of abnormal children; and little by little, through repetition of the same lessons under different forms, and the establishment of a cooperation of all the senses, the perception of objects tends to approach nearer and nearer to the normal. Meanwhile, hygienic or medical treatment may be used to correct the accompanying physical defects. > > Accordingly, we are able to modify an abnormal personality by means of rational medico-pedagogic treatment; and it is by this means alone, and not through destructive coercion, that we may hope to approach the greatly desired goal. > > Lastly, it is also necessary, in the etiology of crime, to take into consideration the environment, the bad example, the brutality, the absence of affection, all of which are things which might well pervert the mind of even a normal individual; and when such conditions exist, the removal of the transgressor to a different environment where he may have the benefit of physical, intellectual and moral hygiene, may result in completely transforming him. In these sad cases nothing short of the profoundest love will serve to redeem and even transform into a hero the man who has fallen into evil ways through misfortune. > > No one can any longer believe that coercive measures should be added to the cruelty of the environment which oppresses the *transgressor*. If he has gone astray in the midst of sorrow it will be only through consolation that he can be born again to a new life; if he lost the straight path amid arid wastes, nothing short of a purifying and assuaging spiritual water will enable him to recover his path. As a sign of our humanity let us keep a smile upon our lips and our hearts free of all harshness of offense or defense; our weapons are intelligence and love and it is only by these weapons that we can become conquerors. > > But, it may be answered, granted that the education of abnormal persons, and more especially juvenile delinquents, constitutes a complex work in which medicine, a special environment, and the methods of scientific pedagogy contribute harmoniously through diverse ways to the ultimate goal: yet in actual practice how are we to intervene to render docile these rebels whom society itself, with all the forces at its disposal, recognises as dangerous and condemns to isolation? In short, it is argued, a more direct method will be required for their moral education; a clear-cut method to offset that equally direct form consisting of coercion and punishment that are now the consequence of the reprehensible act. Under all the conditions to be considered in regard to the biopathological factors and the social environment, there still remains another element and the most evident of all, namely, the immediate and practical influence exerted directly upon the minds of wayward children. We may say quite truly that beneath the pathological facts and the social injustices, there exists something more profound which, for the sake of simplicity we may call the *soul of humanity*. Something which responds from soul to soul, which may be aroused from the depths of subconsciousness like a surprise, which may be touched and reveal itself in an outburst of affection previously hidden and unsuspected. Unknown profundities of the spirit, that seem to merge into the eternity of the universe itself and unexpectedly produce new forms as in a chemical reaction. And this is what we really mean by "moral education." > > Well, in order to accomplish such a lofty work, we do not need to find a *method*. Method is always more or less mechanical. Here, on the contrary, is the supreme expression of human life—an evocation of the superman. What we need to find is not a method, but a *Master*. > > Séguin, in his glorious treatise on scientific pedagogy, dedicates a chapter to the training of the teacher of defective children. The teacher of abnormal pupils is not an educator, he is a *creator*; he must have *been born* with special gifts, as well as to have perfected himself for this high task. He ought, says Séguin, to be handsome in person, and strong as well, so that he may attract and yet command; his glance should be serene, like that of one who has gained victories through faith and has attained enduring peace; his manner should be imperturbable as that of one not easily persuaded to change his mind. In short, he ought to feel beneath him the solid rock, the foundation of granite on which his feet are planted and his steps assured. From this solid base, he should rise commandingly, like a magician. His voice should be gentle, melodious, and flexible, with bursts of silvery and resounding eloquence, but always without harshness. Séguin describes the methods by which the teacher should educate his own voice, speech and gesture; he should take a course in facial expression and declamation, like a great actor who is preparing to win favor of the select and critical public of the proudest capital. > > For, as a matter of fact, he must attract the minds and souls of human beings who are almost inaccessible, beings who form whole armies in the world, entire peoples, they are so numerous; powerful human armies that threaten society with terrible punishment and bring about cruel executions. > > But the perfect teacher must possess something more than physical beauty and acquired art; he must have the loftiness of a soul ardent for its mission; yet even this may be cultivated and perfected. The teacher must "perfect himself" in his moral nature. There are men, who from the moment they make their appearance, exert a sort of fascination; everyone else becomes silent in their presence. It is almost as though some natural fluid emanated from them and spread to the others, so profoundly does everyone feel the attraction. When such a man speaks, the words seem, as if by magic, to touch the profoundest recesses of the heart. Hypnotists and magicians! Conquerors of souls! Valiant souls themselves; souls with a great mission! > > Well, this is more or less what is demanded of the teacher of abnormal children. He ought to be conscious of his personal dignity and human virtue, and of a sincere love for the children whom it is his task to redeem; his own greatness must overcome their wretchedness. And if he continues to perfect himself and to mount toward the moral altitudes, cultivating at the same time a love for his own mission, he will, as if by magic, become an educator; he will feel that a magic power of suggestion goes forth from him and conquers; the work of redemption will then seem to accomplish itself like a conflagration which has been kindled from some central point and spreads in rolling flames through the dried undergrowth. > > Undoubtedly, the guidance of science is not everything to a teacher; the better part is given him through his own moral perfectionment. 4\. The biographic history completes the individual study of the pupil and prepares for his diagnosis: combining, to this end, the work of the school with that of the home. Sergi, in his memorable work, *First Steps in Scientific Pedagogy*, expresses himself as follows: "*the biographic chart is a methodical* *means for learning to know the body and spirit of the pupil through* *direct observations*.... And, since pupils may be classified according to tendencies, character and intelligence, the master may rationally divide them into various groups, to which he will give varied treatment, according to the direction in which each group shows the greatest need of education.... And he will place himself in closer association with *the pupils' families*, who should communicate to him their earliest observations regarding the physical and psychological nature of their children." As a matter of fact, the anthropological movement, through the inquiries necessitated by the compilation of biographic charts, often proves illuminating to the members of the family, in regard to facts and conditions of which they had hitherto remained ignorant (sexual hygiene); in regard to the view they should take of their own children (those who had been regarded as "bad," and who were really ill), in regard to the way they should watch over them and take care of them, etc. Hence it has made a beginning of the practical application of a pedagogic principal that hitherto has only been abstractly visioned, of coordinating the educative work of the family with that of the school. A pedagogic institution which practically realizes this conception, which was hitherto only a utopian dream of pedagogy, is the "Children's House;" because by having school in the home and by having teachers and mothers living together, it results in harmonizing the environment of the family with that of the school, for the furtherance of the great mission of education. 5\. The biographic chart will furnish everyone with a document capable of guiding him in his own subsequent self-education. Sergi says further in the work above quoted: "The biographic chart should become a *precious document to* *every man*, if the sort of record of which I speak were continued through a series of years, from the kindergartens upward through the entire course of the secondary schools, because it would contain, in compact and methodical form, the history of his physical and mental life, and he would find it of inestimable advantage both in practical life and in his various social relations." 6\. "Lastly, the biographic chart with its gathering of positive data, prepares a great body of scientific material which will be useful, not alone to pedagogy, but also to sociology, medicine, and jurisprudence." And in the same aforesaid work, Sergi adds: "If, for example, we should gather" (under the guidance of his biographic chart) "biographic notes in the city of Rome alone and in the elementary schools for both sexes, we should have for a single year, an average of fifty thousand observations, taken on entering and leaving school; if we could have them throughout the whole course of elementary instruction, the number of observations would amount to two hundred and fifty thousand. "Then we should be able to see *in every social class all the* *individual variations in physical and physiological condition which* *contribute to the development of the intelligence and to the manifestations* *of sentiments which play an active part in practical life.* *And all this would have a value of a sociological character.*" > This conception of Sergi's is precisely one of the scientific aspects of biographic histories that is of the highest importance, provided that they could be recorded in so simple a manner as to render the researches practically possible, and provided, also, that they could be gathered with *a scientific uniformity of* *method* designed to render international researches harmonious. We are certainly still very far removed from the time when international pedagogical congresses will be held for the purpose of establishing a single model form of biographic chart for each of the various grades in school; and also an agreement as to the technical method of taking the anthropological measurements! Before arriving at this point it will be necessary to make many tentative efforts and experiments. > > But a truly scientific sociology, as well as pedagogy, ought to emanate from such a study of *human beings in the course of formation*, because such an enormously large number of observations as could be gathered in school, will reveal to us the biologico-social mechanism through which those activities are formed that are destined to promote the progress of humanity and civilisation (the new generations). > > Medicine and the biological sciences in general entered upon a new era of exceedingly rapid progress when the microscope made possible the study of *histology* and *bacteriology*; well, the researches *in regard to the individual* constitute the histology and bacteriology of social science! When Le Play, in his great work, *Les Ouvriers Européens*, instituted the "family monograph," i.e., the study of household accounts as a basis for "positive sociology," he was considered as the founder of a true social science. Because the true needs of men, the mechanism through which are determined the various personalities that afterward *react upon society* as *creative or destructive* forces, can be discovered only through studying minutely such needs and mechanisms, individual by individual, family by family. If Le Play's method, and consequently *positive social science*, have not as yet made much progress, this is because of the *difficulty of* *penetrating within the family in order to study it*. > > From the bio-psychological point of view, if not from that of the family account book, the biographic chart of the schools is nevertheless a practical means of contributing to social histology; it is a field open to research and one which must be crossed by *every one* of the individuals who constitute society. Furthermore, it constitutes a foundation for social embryogeny; because in the school we may study the *genesis of separate individuals*; the causes which molded their congenital personality, and those which brought about its definitive formation. In the words of Le Play, indorsed by Bodio, this is the only positive material from which the *legislator* may draw his inspiration in order to become a true dispenser of justice to the people and to conduct the far-sighted reforms that are really necessary for the welfare of society. > > Consequently, the anthropologic movement in pedagogy marks an aspect of scientific reform which is universal. > > A direct contribution to pedagogy and at the same time to scientific sociology is given by the biographic charts in the "Children's Houses." Since this is a case of *school within the home*, where the mistress, being domiciled with her scholars, has them under her charge from the age of two or three years, and where there is a permanent resident physician to aid in the compilation of the biographic charts, it is evident that there is a chance of practically applying both the pedagogic plans for studying the pupil, and the social plans of Le Play, who by means of family monographs based upon the family account book, proposed to obtain nothing more nor less than an index of morality, culture, and individual needs! And as a matter of fact, the *manner of spending the* *salary*, the savings, the squanderings, the purpose for which money is spent, whether it is for low vices, or for vanity, or for æsthetic or intellectual pleasures in general, etc., reveal the state of *civilisation and morality* in which people *live*. In the "Children's Houses" such a study of the family is easy because it is revealed of its own accord, since the families are in contact with the school; consequently, these "Children's Houses" may serve to lay a true and practical foundation for *embryogenesis* and social histology. In short, the importance of research regarding the individual goes far beyond the school; it leads the way to every kind of social reform. > > Even medicine, like every other science, is going to build up a firmer scientific basis through the help of the biographic charts of the schools: Professor De Sanctis has drawn up models for examinations, mainly of a medical nature, to be used in his asylum-schools for defectives; and by thus following the development of the pupils, he has succeeded in throwing positive light upon the biopathological mechanism through which an abnormal psychopathic or neuropathic personality develops; while psychiatry or neuropathology formerly recorded nothing more of such an abnormal personality than the episode of the moment at which the adult patient presented himself at the clinic. Even the individual criminal has now come to be studied in relation to his genesis, and jurists who are seeking a scientific basis for their enactments, should not neglect the individual studies that are being compiled in the schools for defectives. The biographic chart introduced into the government reformatories in Italy will also furnish a direct contribution to social histology, in regard to the genesis of criminal personalities. > > Consequently, the reform which has begun with the introduction of an anthropological movement into the school and the establishment of biographic charts, is nothing less than a reform of science as a whole. Medicine, jurisprudence, and sociology as well as pedagogy, are laying new foundations upon it.