Psychology as applied to education

Preface

This book does not attempt to cover the whole field of modern psychology. Its scope is limited to those aspects of the vast subject which form the basis for rational education. It aims not only to present these principles in compact form, but also to show their practical application to the problems of the schoolroom.

This work has "grown up" in the classroom. There is scarcely a sentence in the book that has not been used repeatedly in the author's classes in psychology. The author has found it a good plan in his own teaching of the subject to require every pupil to bring to class a written summary of the previous lesson. At the beginning of each recitation there is a brief review and a few of the pupils read their written summaries. These summaries, besides being brief general statements, should also contain a liberal number of examples and illustrations.

In the recitations, the teacher should insist especially on these two points : (a) numerous and varied illustrations and examples, as it is only through the gate of the concrete that a saving knowledge of anything can ever be reached ; and (b) exact and clear definitions, showing that the pupil has grasped the coordinating principles which underlie the concrete instances. To aid in this work, most chapters have appended a set of exercises that have been found helpful.

iii iv Preface

I cannot close this foreword without acknowledging my obligation to the friends and colleagues who have contributed ideas and inspiration for this work. I must refrain from mentioning names, except those of Miss Isabel Lawrence and Dr. Waite A. Shoemaker, President of the State Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota. Many of the essentials of this book are the result of sixteen years of professional intercourse with the well-poised and trenchant mind of Dr. Shoemaker.

P. M. MAGNUSSON

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

The publishers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor Herbert W. Conn of Wesleyan University and Professor Robert A. Budington of Oberlin College for the use of several illustrations from their "Advanced Physiology and Hygiene."

Part I Analytic Psychology Ohaptxb Fa.gk

I. Introduction 3

Value of Practical Psychology to the Educator, 3. The Subject Matter of Psychology, 5. The Three Aspects of the Mind, 7. The Triangle of Education, 8.

(A). The Intellect

II. Sensation and the Senses 10

Sensation Defined, 10. Classification of the Senses, 11. The Sense of Sight, 12. The Sense of Hearing, 14. The Sense of Touch, 15. The Muscular or Motor Sense, 16. The Sense of Smell, 16. The Sense of Taste, 16. The Temperature Sense, 16. The Organic Senses, 16. Weber's Law, 17. The Spatial Element, 19. The Pedagogy of Sensation, 19. Analysis of the Sensations, 20-21.

III. Perception 24

An Analysis of Perception, 25 . The Element from Past Experience, Apperception, 27. The Sensations as Factors in Perception, 29. The Training of Perception, 34.

IV. Imagination 36

Imagination and Perception, 36. Kinds of Imagination, 37. Practical Value of Imagination, 37. The Training of the Imagination, 38. The Abuse of the Imagination, 40.

V. Memoby 43

The Physical Basis of Memory, 43. Analysis of Memory, 44. Sense Classes of Memory, 45. The Two Kinds of Memory, 47. The Pedagogy of Memory, 50.

vi Contents

CHAPTM FAGl

VI. Conception and Judgment 58

Concepts, their Formation and Application, 63. Class Concepts and Practical Concepts, 54. Symbol and Concept, 66. The Right Kind of Concepts, 58. The Logical Classes of Concepts, 59. Judgment, 60.

VII. Reasoning 62

Inductive Reasoning, 62. Deductive Reasoning, 68. Pedagogy of Reasoning, 69. Summary of Stages of Mental Activity, 72.

VIII. How we Think : Attention 74

Three Phases of the Knowledge-making Activity, 74. Meaning of Term "Attention," 74. Characteristics of Attention, 76. How the Mind acts in Attention, 79. Kinds of Attention, 80. Interest, 82. The Pedagogy of Attention, 83.

IX. How we Think: Analysis and Comparison ... 87 Function of Analysis and Comparison, 87. Pedagogy of Analysis and Comparison, 89.

X. How we Think: Association, ob Synthesis ... 92 Kinds of Association, 92. The Physical Basis of Association, 94. Association an Aspect of Every Mental Activity, 96. The Organization of our Associations, 96.

(B). The Motives and Feelings

XI. Man as a Reacting Organism 98

The Different Kinds of Stimuli, 98. Impulse Defined, 99. Gradation of Motives, 103.

XII. Feelings, Impulses, and their Expression . . . 105 The Relation of Feeling to Impulse, 106. Common Characteristics of Emotions and Impulses, 110. Expression of Impulses and Emotions, 111.

XIII. Feelings and Impulses Classified 118

Classification of Feelings and Impulses, 118. Discussion of Classification, 119.

Contents vii

CHAPTER PAGE

XTV. The Control and Development op Certain Impulses

and Emotions 127

The Emotions of Self-preservation, 127. The Social Emotions and Interests, 132. Fatigue and Industry, 135. Perverted Emotional States, 138. The Hygiene of the Emotions, 140.

XV. Culture .144

The Inner Side of Experience, 144. The Norm, 146. An Analysis of Culture, 147. Means of acquiring Culture, 149.

XVI. Habit 153

The Physical Basis of Habit, 153. The Two Classes of Habits, 154. Function of Habit in the Economy of Life, 155. Laws of Habit, 156. Habit and Age, 160. Habits as Elements in Character, 161.

XVII. Ideals, or Rational Interests 165

Impulse as a Motive for Action, 166. A Higher Motive for Action, Rational Interest, 168.

XVH1. Our Selves . .172

Our Rational Interests, Ideal Selves, 172. Our System of Selves, 173. The Historical Evolution of Ideals, 176. The Development of the Ideal Personality, 178.

XIX. The Will . . .182

Two Classes of Voluntary Action, 182. The Motor Process and the Voluntary Process, 184. General Conspectus of the Active Side of Human Nature, 185. The Education of the Will, 187.

XX The Creation op Ideals 190

The Failure of Abstract Morality, 190. The Best Method of Moral Instruction, 192. The Cultivation of High Ideals, 195.

XXL Character 197

Elements of a Well-developed Character, 197. Summary, 199.

vui Contents

(C). Subconsciousness

OHAPTEK PAGH

XXII. The Subconscious Life 201

The Field of Consciousness, 201. The Tendency to React, 202. The Stream of Thought, 205. Effect of Subconscious Life upon Health and Character, 206. Suggestive Power of Thoughts and Feelings of Others, 212. Summary, 216.

(D). Child Study

XXIII. Childhood . 220

Value of Child Study to the Teacher, 220. The Periods in the Evolution of the Mind, 221. The Two Ages of Childhood, 221. The Child not a Miniature of the Adult, 222. How Children Think, 222. The Child's Impulsive and Emotional Life, 227. Children's Interests and how to appeal to Them, 229. The Ethics of Childhood and of Antiquity, 232. Summary, 236.

XXrV. Early Adolescence and Youth 238

General Characteristics of Early Adolescence, 238. Adolescence the Time for Character Formation, 240. Teaching the Adolescent to know Himself, 243. Summary of Adolescence, 245. Youth, 246. Contrast between Childhood and Youth, 246. Medievalism and the Ethics of Youth, 248. Comparison of Youth and Maturity, 250. The Sphere of Instruction for Youth, 252.

Part II Pedagogical Application Op Psychology

XXV. The Art op Studying 256

Eye, Ear, and Hand, 256. The Proper Attitude for Study, 258. Suggestions in Regard to the Notebook, 261.

XXVI. The Recitation 264

The Purposes of the Recitation, 264. The Test, 264. Drill, 266. Training in Thought, 268. Training in Culture, 270. The Art of Questioning, 271. The Pupils as Critics, 272.

Contents

IX

CHAPTER

XXVII.

PAGE

HOW TO TEACH SCIENCE, AND WHAT SCIENCE TO TEACH

The Double Object of Scientific Study, 274. The Place of Science in the School Curriculum, 276. The Natural Sciences, 277. Mathematics, 279. The Social Sciences, 280. The Sciences of Language, 282. The Teacher and the Pupil, 283.

XXVHI. How to teach an Art 285

A Fallacy of Educational Theory, 285. Education in Science and in Art Contrasted, 287. The Place of the Culture and Arts of Civilization in the School Curriculum, 288. The Intellectual Arts, 289. The Intellectual and ^Esthetic Arts, 290. The iEsthetic Arts, 294. Social Culture, 297.

XXIX. The Pedagogy of Technical Habits .... 300 Physical Education, 300. How Writing should be Taught, 303. Manual Training, Sloyd, 304. Industrial Education, 305. Elementary Agriculture, 308. Domestic Economy, 311. Sewing, 311. Commercial Subjects, 312.

XXX. Educational Eeorganization

The Montessori Method, 314. The Boy Scout Movement, 326. The Eeorganization of the Curriculum, 327. The Function of Education, 330.

Appendix, The Nervous System Index

331 339

PART I PSYCHOLOGY

Introduction

VALUE OF PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY TO THE EDUCATOR

" Education consists in the organizing of resources in the human being, of powers of conduct which shall fit him to his social and physical world, " says William James. Thus, education has a twofold aspect : first, to develop what is in the individual to a harmonious whole, and second, to fit the individual into his place in society. But the individual is a bunch of human nature; and society is a bundle of such bunches of human nature. Hence it is evident that education is throughout a developing, organizing, and harmonizing of human nature.

It follows that psychology is the one indispensable science for him who would educate human beings, whether he be teacher or parent.

And still the paradox is true that probably no study has been more barren of results to the teacher than psychology. Less than a generation ago psychology had the same relation to teaching that the science of formal logic has to thinking. It was too abstract and theoretic to be useful. The subtle, speculative classifications and distinctions of psychology treated as a branch of metaphysics have no practical value to the teacher. Likewise modern laboratory psychology is, when " taken straight," quite indigestible. The scientist who wishes to specialize in psychology requires one kind of instruction, the teacher or parent quite another.

Thus it comes to pass that just as we have agricultural botany, industrial chemistry, and homiletic theology, we have developed an educational psychology. Here we leave ultimate questiomso^jnetagbp 1 " 111 ^!!*^ answered, just as we do in every otner practical science ; not because such questions should not be answered or cannot be answered, but because metaphysics is of theoretic interest only. Here we busy ourselves with the highways of the science, follow the beaten paths, and ignore the byways and the frontier; because happily, as a rule, the useful is the obvious, and the commonplace is the most vital. And everywhere we look at questions primarily from the practical side. Our theoretic interest is only secondary.

The human mind is of practical interest to us as the source and explanation of human behavior. The simplest psychologic view of man is that he is a sensitive organism that reacts. Practical psychology is a study of what stimuli produce what reactions. It is a study of how human nature behaves. It is this practical side of psychology which is the especial interest of this book.

The great instrument of the mind is the nervous system. By means of the nervous system the mind controls the body and receives (through the senses) its knowledge of the material world. To the student of psychology, a knowledge of the nervous system* is invaluable. He should understand the structure of the great center of this system, the brain, and the structure

* See Appendix : The Nervous System.

Introduction 5

of the spinal cord, and should be able to trace the course of a nerve current from its excitation by a stimulus to the producing of a reaction.

Practical psychology is the oldest science in the world and a science that all but hermits must study. Here we shall try to systematize, clarify, and make explicit what the reader has known and practiced all his life.

THE SUBJECT MATTER OF PSYCHOLOGY

" Cogito, ergo sum," " I think, therefore I exist," is the famous dictum of Descartes, which he made the corner stone of his philosophy. The expression has been much criticised. Scarcely any modern thinker is satisfied with it the way it stands ; and still, somehow we cannot escape the grip of it. For, after all, we do know of our own existence in a direct and unqualified way. We are conscious of other objects, but we recognize ourselves as that which is conscious.

When we try to satisfy ourselves as to what consciousness is, we meet with more or less difficulty. It is easy to see that our voluntary acts are expressions of the mind, of consciousness. On the other hand, many of our acts are involuntary and seem to be operated by some mechanism within us, rather than by any conscious effort. It seems almost incredible that the same force loves, decides, imagines, yearns, feels pain and hunger, sends the blood coursing through the veins, digests food, and performs all the various functions of the body.

Yet there is overwhelming testimony to show that the human being is a unit and that it is the same force

— the mind, the self, consciousness — that acts in the highest and lowest processes of the human organism. Every swell of the emotions is recorded in the heartbeat ; a fit of anger may impede and even stop digestion; and the thought of vinegar will stimulate the salivary glands to increased activity. Conversely, dyspepsia causes ill humor; and the presence of a little alcohol in the blood and in the nervous system will, for the time being, change a person's character and morals, thoughts and feelings. All the activities, from the highest reason to the lowest vital functions, are carried on by one and the same entity; there is a continuum all the way from our highest artistic aspirations to that within us which secretes the bile or sends the phagocytes to a wound.

However, only a very small part of our being is known to us by the immediate testimony of consciousness. The field of consciousness is very much like the field of vision. Only an infinitesimally small region is absolutely clear. This clear field is surrounded by a twilight zone of thoughts, feelings, and impulses that are but dimly perceived. The twilight zone gradually darkens as it extends out from the clear center until it is impossible to distinguish it from the absolute night of the absence of consciousness. Thus, because we cannot discover consciousness in a certain function, is no proof that it contains none. That organic functions of the body and reflex actions are expressions of consciousness is proved by the fact that they all respond to suggestion.

The subject matter of psychology is then the whole conscious human being. While, in order to under-

Introduction 7

stand this conscious being, we must analyze it into its various states and processes, we should not lose sight of the fact that it is one force, not a series of separate forces.

THE THREE ASPECTS OF THE MIND

We act, we feel, we think. This is the time-honored division of mental phenomena. Here we must be careful not to allow a materialistic conception to creep in. We must not conceive the mind as three pigeonholes, in one of which there are actions, in the next feelings, and in the last thought. Nor must we conceive the mind asa" three in one " tool, which can be used one moment for thinking and the next for action or feeling. For these are three aspects only of one and the same activity of the same mind. Every act of the mind involves the whole mind, and every act of the mind is motor, intellectual, and sentient. Only in thought may we make an artificial abstraction and think of one aspect apart from the rest. Just as we can easily think of one side of a sheet of paper, so we can think of the aspects of the mind separately. But we cannot carry away one side of a sheet of paper without also taking the opposite side along; nor can we think without feeling and motive, nor act without thought and feeling.

But though it is true that all three aspects of the mind are present in every act, it does not follow that the emphasis falls equally on all three. Thus one state of mind may be full of motive force, but be deficient in thought and feeling, as when a person of strong will persists in athletic practices. In solving, a problem in algebra, intellect predominates and there is but a trace of motive and feeling.

Activity, sensibility, intelligence; to do, to feel, to know ; motives, feelings, thoughts, — these are the three aspects of the mind, consciousness, human nature.

THE TRIANGLE OF EDUCATION

Since every human mind has these three aspects, education to be effective must develop the individual in each of these directions. The educated man is known by his trained and refined sensibilities and the coordination of his activities as well as by his capacity for clear thinking.

The following diagram illustrates the conception of complete education as conceived in this book : —

ART Education

of Activities

Education / \ Education

of A. A of

Thought Feeling

Introduction 9

Exercises and Illustrations

i. (A Hindu example of aspect.) Around the market place are placed mirrors. In every mirror the same market place is seen. But there is a different scene in every mirror.

2. How much shorter the same distance looks from the bottom of the tower than from the top.

3. Expand the following examples of the three aspects of human nature. Tell which is most prominent in each.

a. Boy sees fish. Baits hook, lets down into water. Catch ! Lands the fish. — Young man stands just under the eaves, makes his best bow to somebody. Snow on eaves loosens — falls — between collar and neck. Oh !

c. Singing a hymn.

4. Define the three aspects of the mind.

5. Diagrams that show the importance of viewpoint: —

The world as God knows it: 123456789 The world as you (1) perceive it: 1 2 34-5 6789

What the world is to 9: 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 What 5 realizes of the world: i2345 678»

(A). The Intellect

Chapter II Sensation And The Senses Sensation Defined

By means of the nervous system the mind and the material universe enter into relation. The nervous system is stimulated by external agencies, and the mind in reacting to such stimulation has sensations, feelings, and impulses.

Fundamentally and primarily the mental reaction to a sense stimulus is an impulse to some motor activity.

A certain degree of pleasure or pain accompanies the excitation of every impulse. Hence one aspect of every impulse is a feeling.

Again, if an impulse is far enough up in the light of consciousness, we know we have the impulse and the feeling. This aspect has been called a sensation.

Thus, the reaction of the mind to a sense stimulus has three aspects, and is at the same time an impulse, a feeling, and a sensation.

Considered as a cognitive process the mental reaction, then, may be called a sensation. The same mental event is called a feeling when we are concerned with the pleasure or pain of it, and an impulse when we think of its motor aspect.

A sensation is, then, the intellectual aspect of the reaction of the mind (consciousness) in response to a neural stimulus.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE SENSES

In order to respond perfectly to the stimulations of the external world, man has developed various senses, each of which is equipped with end-organs adapted to the receiving of some special kind of stimulus.

Thus, we have the sense of sight, whose sense organ, the eye, is adapted to the receiving of light waves, the sense of smell, whose sense organ, the nose, is sensitive to gases, and so on.

In the following classification we have differentiated the senses according to the stimuli which they are adapted to receive, and grouped them as to their relative importance in furnishing the mind with data for knowledge.

A. Special Senses.

I. The major special senses : —

1. The sense of sight.

2. The sense of hearing.

3. The sense of touch.

4. The motor sense.

II. The minor special senses : —

1. The sense of smell.

2. The sense of taste.

3. The sense of temperature.

B. Organic Senses. — From these we have such sensations as : pain from a wounded nerve, hunger, thirst, dizziness, feelings of health, energy, and fatigue.

We will consider first the various ways in which the nervous system is stimulated, and the organs for this purpose.

THE SENSE OF SIGHT

The eye is a camera, and the light reflected from the object before it, is focused on the rear wall of the

eye cavity, called the retina, and paints a small inverted image of the scene before the eye. The retina (which means little net) is a network of nerve endings of the optic nerve.

These end-organs of the optic nerve The rods are filled This substance

'efina

Optic

Metre

Diagram of a Section through the Eyeball are curious curved rods and cones, with a substance called visual purple, undergoes chemical decomposition rapidly when struck by light (but is very rapidly secreted again), and the energy of this chemical activity acts as a stimulus to the end-organs of the optic nerve, each one of which sends through its own nerve fiber a distinct current of neural energy to the occipital lobes of the brain. The optic nerves from the two eyes cross, and one branch goes to each occipital lobe, thus forming an X, and hence the name, the optic chiasma, from the Greek letter chi (X). But only half of the fibers from each eye cross to the opposite side, so half of the fibers of each eye go to each occipital lobe. When the neural current arrives at the occipital lobes, some sort of change occurs — chemical or physical, or both — in the gray matter of the cortex at this place. This cerebral

Optic . ner're

At fen Rectus

Diagram showing the Eyes in Position in their Sockets activity in the cortex of the occipital lobes causes a reaction of the mind which is known as the sensation of light.

The Sensation of Light. — Light, like all other sensations, has the attributes of quantity and quality. In quantity (intensity) it may be dim or bright. Its quality is known as color. There are three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. These are primary because they have nothing in common. Different combinations and proportions of these three produce all other colors.

It seems that there are three sets of nerve endings of the optic nerve. One set is most sensitive to the upper reaches of the spectrum (violet), another to the middle (green), and the remaining to the lower end (red). The absence of one of these sets of nerve endings probably accounts for color blindness. Some have therefore held that red, green, and violet are primary colors. This, however, is an indefensible use of the term "primary colors," for green and violet both have the blue element, and red and violet have the red element in common.

THE SENSE OF HEARING

The inner ear is a labyrinthic cavity and is partly filled with a watery liquid. Here are the end-organs of the auditory nerves. The vibrations of physical

sound stimulate these end-organs, and the nerve reacts by sending a neural current to the auditory tract of the cortex of the brain, which is situated a little above and behind the ear. The

Diagram showing Structure of the Ear neural event in

In the lower figure the inner ear is shown nat- ,-, ■,-, , ,

ural size. In the upper figure the external ear is ine aUOltOry tract

shown much too small relatively to the size of the of the COrteX acts internal structures. The oblique shading repre- .

sents bone. A, nerve. &S a Stimulus tO the mind, and the mind responds with the sensation of sound.

The Sensation of Sound. — Sound has intensity and pitch as well as qualities that depend on the combinations of wave systems. Pitch corresponds to color in light. But while there is but one " octave " of light, the ear can distinguish some ten or twelve of sound. So, while the spectrum (since the two ends are nearly alike) may be said to form a circle, the octaves of sound might be represented by a spiral, each ring of the spiral representing an octave.

A tone differs from a noise in that the sound waves for a tone are regular, while those for a noise are irregular.

A full, rich tone is one composed of a fundamental with many overtones, i.e. with weaker thirds, fifths, and octaves above. This corresponds somewhat to soft colors as opposed to "raw" colors, which means pure colors.

THE SENSE OF TOUCH

The organs for this sense are the nerve endings all over the surface of the body. The motor zone (which extends along the fissure of Rolando, that is, about from ear to ear over the top of the head), and the region bordering the motor zone is probably the region for both the touch sense and the motor sense. While the skin and mucous membrane everywhere are furnished with tactile nerve endings, the finger tips are our chief tactile knowledge gatherers. The tactile sensation is that of contact, and its chief qualities are expressed by the adjectives rough, smooth, hard, and soft.

THE MUSCULAR OR MOTOR SENSE

By the pressure on the nerve ending when the muscles contract, we measure the strain on muscles and tendons and the amount of muscular work. Through this sense we know the amount of muscular energy we put forth, and perceive weight and space. The pure sensation may perhaps be called one of strain, tension, or motion.

THE SENSE OF SMELL

The end-organs in the mucous membrane of the nose are sensitive to certain gases. The cortex centers are probably the median lower parts of the temporal lobes. The sensations are known as odors.

THE SENSE OF TASTE

The nerve endings in the papillae of the tongue are sensitive to certain liquids. The brain center is probably in the neighborhood of that for smell. Sensations are known as flavors.

THE TEMPERATURE SENSE

It is quite well established that we have a distinct set of nerve endings sensitive to temperature. The sensations are of heat and of cold. The cortical center is not definitely localized.

THE ORGANIC SENSES

According to the evolutionary theory, all our senses were once organic, and fundamentally so they still remain. That is, they report to the brain the condition of the respective organs in which their nerve endings are located. But, as we shall see under Perception, the mind has in the case of the special sense come to disregard the condition of the organ entirely, and has fixed its attention on the stimulus, to gain information about the external world. Sight no longer gives us any information about the condition of the retina, but we project the sensation out into space. Even in smell, which, like the other minor special senses, is less separated from organic sensations, we refer odors not to the mucous membrane of the nose, but to the " circumambient " air.

Organic Sensations. — Organic sensations give us information about the condition of the organs of the body. We feel pain whenever a nerve is injured, and the quality of the sensation differs with the nature of the injury. A burn smarts differently from a knife wound. Hunger indicates an aching void in the digestive organs ; thirst, a lack of water not only in the digestive organs, but probably also in the blood and lymphatic fluids. Dizziness and seasickness are supposed to be caused by the disturbance of the fluids of the semicircular canals in the inner ear ; the " close air," choking, and yawning sensations, from lack of oxygen in the lungs ; and the feeling of exhaustion, from a scarcity of energy in the system. The cortical center for organic sensations is supposed to be the region immediately posterior to the fissure of Rolando.

WEBER'S LAW

It has been found that the increase necessary in the stimulus to produce a just perceptible increase in the intensity of the sensation is a tolerably constant percentage of the previous stimulus. This percentage differs for each sense. Thus, if a weight of twenty ounces is placed on the hand, the amount necessary to make one feel any increase is one ounce. But if forty ounces are on the hand, two ounces must be added to make the increase noticeable.

The intellectual and feeling element of the reaction complement each other reciprocally. The less pleasure or pain there is, the more discrimination. This comes from the fact that when pleasure or pain engrosses attention, there is no attention left for observing the distinguishing qualities of the reaction. Thus the sensations, when moderate, of the four major special senses are practically void of pleasure and pain, and these sensations are the richest as material for knowledge, and capable of very great discrimination. The minor special senses are rich in feeling but poor in intellectual discrimination. Moderate temperatures occasion no pain and are readily distinguished, but an iron bar cold enough to blister the skin cannot be distinguished, by the sensation caused, from one that is red hot. It should also be noted that the use of an abnormally strong stimulus will be followed by a rapidly and constantly decreasing sensation.

This makes apparent the folly of employing habitually strong stimuli. The consumer of highly seasoned food is actually capable of less delicate taste discriminations than he who is sparing in the use of condiments. The teacher and preacher who shout habitually have themselves to blame that they do not command attention. Even corporal punishment becomes ineffectual when inflicted too frequently. To the normal vision, forest and field are a restful green, and only the comparatively rare flower is of vivid hue. Just think if this were reversed ; if the prairie were bright scarlet with here and there a drab gray or green flower ! A speaker who tries to keep his audience sobbing or laughing all the time soon becomes tiresome.