V] <^ /a ^3 % '^ '•>" "-3" IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (Ml -3) 10 '- - ""IM 3.2 Ii6 I.I if 1^ |M 2.2 M 1.8 Photographic Sciences Corporation % // .-^z Z 6'^ % V 'i?." 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS8U (716) 872-4503 \P MP ^ €P. i/.l s "<> CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bihiiographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D D D □ n n Coloured covers/ Couvarture da couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pellicul^e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relt^ avec d'autres documents Tight binding may causa shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re Mure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la dictorsion le long de la marge int^rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, cas pages n'ont pas iti lilmias. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires; L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'll tui a iti possible de se procurer. Las details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-^tre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiquAs ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages/ D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pelliculdes H Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolordes, tacheties ou piquees □ Pages detached/ Pages ditachees • D Showthrough/ Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ Qualiti in^gale de {'impression □ Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel suppl^mentaire □ Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponibU disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure. etc., cnt dtd film^es i nouveau de facon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ca document est film^ au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 2SX 30X J 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy filmed h«r« has b««n rsproducad thanks to tho ganarosity of: Library of Parliament and the National Library of Canada. L'cxamplaira filmA fut raproduit grica i l« ginAroait* ds: La Bibliothdque du Parlement et la Bibliothk|ue nationale du Canada. Tha imagaa appearing hara ara tha baat quality poaaibia conaidaring tha condition and lagibiiity of tha original copy and in Icaaping with tha filming contract spacificationa. Original copiaa in printad papar eovars ara filmad beginning with tha front eovar and ending on tha last page with a printad or illustrated impres* sion, or the becic cover when appropriate. Ail other original copies sre filmed beginning on the first page with a printad or iiiuatratad imprea- slon, and ending on the laat page with a printad or illustrsted impression. The laat recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain tha symbol «-*> (meaning "CON- T1NUF0 '). or tha symbol ▼ (meening "END"), which* viv ^spiiea. Lee imegea suh^antaa ont *t* reproduitee avac la piua grand soin, compta tenu de la condition et da la nattet* da I'axempieire film*, et en eonformiti avac lee conditiona du contrat da flimage. Lee exempleiree origineux dont la couverture an papier eat imprimte sont fllmte an commandant par la premier plat at an tarminant soit par la damiire page qui comporta une smpreinte d'impreaaion ou dlllustration. soit par la second plat, salon la eaa. Tous lee autrsa axempiaires origineux sont fiimte en commen^ant par la premiere pege qui comporte une amprainte dlmpraeaion ou d'illuatration at 90 terminent par la damlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un dee svmbolee suivants apparaitra sur la damiire image de cheque microViche, seion le caa: le symbols -^^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Mops, plated. .hart$. etc.. may be filmed at different reduction rittioa. Thoaa too large to be entirely included in one expoaura ara filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bottom, aa many framea aa required. The following diagrama illuatrata the method: Lee cartoa, planches, tableeux. etc.. peuvent Atre film^e i dee taux de rMuction diffirents. Loraque le document eet trop grand pour dtre raproduit en un seul clichA. il est film* A partir do Tangle supAriaur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bee, en prenant le nombre d'imegea n^caeaaira. Lee diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithoda. 1 2 3 f ■ • 3 ^ ■ • ^ # ^ ■■ A PROTEST it AGAINST THE OF I \',\ fl i.EDUC ATION, As Injurious to the Mental and Pnysical Organi- zation of Youth, BY HENRY HOWARD, M. D. Medical Superintendent Provincial Lunatic Asijlum, t ST. JOHNS, P. Q. ■>oo t « r ST. JOHNS. " IH£ NEWS " STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 1875. 4- I k t T i PREFACE 4 i I K The first pages ot this little brochure first appear- id in The Canada Medical and Surgical Journal for December, 1874. The views therein set forth have been endorsed by Dr. Fen wick, Editor of the Journal, by Dr. Banes, of Montreal, by Dr. Playton, of Toronto, Editor of the Sanitary Journal, and by ♦^^he Cana- dian Illustrated News, and several other periodicals of high standing. All of the writers have expressed the wish that the article should obtain greater pub- licity than it had in a scientific journal, and that I should take means to place it in the hands of school teachers, and of heads of families. Many friends, in whom I have much confidence, have also insisted that substantial benefit must arise from a wider cir- culation of my essay, as the public, generally speak- ing, being ignorant of or indifferent to the facts I have endeavored to set forth ; and furthermore, when once parents and guardians become aware of the danger of the present "high pressure" system of education, public opinion will not be long in making the desired change. That such may be the happy result, I sincerely hope. If it be I shall be abun- dantly repaid tor any trouble I have gone to. HENRY HOWARD. . t 1 ■ ;, > 'i \ ''> ■ '■, ',''••' ■ '' : ■ ■ ^ ■ ■■ : ^ ■• • ■*■■■ -'"V ?'■ there were in the Dominion of Canada 9,423 persons of unsound mind, and ^hat in the Province of Quebec alone, there were 3,300. All scientific men agree that the question is assuming grave im» portance ; but the difficulty is to see what can be done. I believe the best way to arrive at a sound conclusion would be for those who have the treat- ment and management of the insane to honestly ex* press the views that observation has enabled them to arrive at ; and believing this I have prepared the following remarks, and, as some of my statements may be wilfully misconstrued, I beg at once to state that my only object is the advancement of science, and to do my best to arrest a disease that I consider worse than death. With this object it is necessary that I draw a distinction between the adult and the infantile population. To the first I must appeal to themselves for themselves. For the latter I must appeal to parents and teachers. I fear there would be no use in my speaking of the marriage question, for I believe men and women will continue to do as men and women have ever done, and that is marry for love^ without any thought ot what the offspring of that marriage will be. Well, love, after all, is about the best guide, and certainly no one should marry without love, but I do hold that if it be at all — 6.— possible, a man or woman who haa had insane pa- rents sliould not marry. Insanity is a mental disease produced by some ab- normal state of part or whole of the mental or^'ani- zation ; whether the moral or intellectual faculties, or both. If body and mind are not one, yet so close is the connection between them, that one cannot suf- fer without the other suffering also, therefore, the immediate or exciting causes, and they are many, that produce this disordered state of the mental organization may be either mental or physical. Observation, however, shows that no man can go mad from any amount of mental suffering, unless he has in him an insane neurosis, that is, a pre-disposition, whether hereditary or otherwise, to go mad. It in an established fact, founded upon ob- servation, that in all cases of insanity there is more or less devitalisation of the mental organization ; and again, that all suffering, whether mental or phy- sical, diminishes vital power, or more correctly speaking, vital force. Scientific men liave established the fact that there are no two things in nature exactly alike, not even two blades of grass. We may therefore conclude that there are no two beings in the world whose mental organizations are exactly alike ; indeed it is not very difficult to come to this conclusion, seeing how very few there are who think alike upon any subject, and this is nothing extraordinary, when thinking is so very independent of the will. Every man knovvs how frequently it happens that he thinks of the very thing he does not wish to think of, and that he cannot think of that which he wishes to recall to his mind. - • In this paper I do not mean to speak of insanity from physical causes, such as apoplexy, softening of the brain, head injuries, &c., &c. I will confine myself to the more general cases that have come under mv observation — those that occur from men- tal suffering. . ; .■ ., • Is it possible for a man to know whether or not he has in him an insane neurosis ; and if he has, what precaution can he take to avoid exciting causes. -7.— r ■ ■. '' ' ^ i/ or to bear up against the exciting cause when it conies, independent of any act of his? I think the best rule is, for everv man and woman to believe they have in themselves the insane neurosis. To live as if they had, can do them no harm. Let each and every one avoid prides covetuosnessy lusii anger i gluttony, envy and sloth or idleness. Let all prac- tice humility, liberality, chastity, meekness, tem- perance brotherly-love and diligence. Let them do all they possibly can to preserve good bodily health and a conscience void of offence. If leading such a life does not keep a man from going mad, I do not know what will. But there are those who, even with the observance of these rules, will not stand the storm when it comes upon them. To speak of the infantile population it is necessa- ry to classify according to mental organization. Some children are born into the world of strong, healthy parents, physically strong, and of a mental organization healthy, strong and well balanced, that is, well balanced with regard to intellectual and moral faculties. These are fortunate children, that God and nature has done well for. A child of such a stamp, under ordinary training, becomes a great man, great in the true sense of the word, no matter in what position of life he njay be. Whether states- man, professional man or .mechanic, merchant or farmer, that man will do right, because it is right. He will grow up strong in body and mind. No amount ot mental suffering will break him down. He will never find his wav into a Lunatic Asvlum. Some children are born weak in body and in men- tal organization, but at the same time with the in- tellectual and inoral faculties well balanced. Such a child, having wise parents and teachers, who will attend properly to his physical and mental educa- tion, will have his moral and intellectual faculties well developed, as he will have his physieal force ; and, although never equal to the other, he will, nevertheless, be a great man, and never likely to be- come deranged. But should he be neglected or bad- ly treated in youth, God help him when a heavy ^rial comes on him Tie wont stand very much. — 8.— Next we have the child, perhaps phypically strong, with high inteliectuul and low moral faculties, that is, a badly balanced mental organization. It' his moral education is not well attended to in his youth, and by such education his moral faculties develop- ed, he grows up a bad and dangerous man, aud the more dangerous that he is snuirt and bright. Such a man is easily known by his moral crookedness and egotism. It is such men that we fimi sharpers, swindlers, gan^blers, etc., men who worm themselves into the conridence ol'tamilies, and make their homes desolate. These are men who do not know what honor means. They are me in men, who by detrac- tion destrov the good name of their neighbors, men who are always wishing to make fortunes in a day, and sneer at their betters who are content to do their duty in that state of life to which it has pleased God to call them. These men are generally too clever to be caught in the meshes of the law ; men who, as a rule, are the very curse of society. And when the storm comes on them, not having any strong moral faculties to fall back upon, in the end they break down and becoiue insane. Next we have the child of high moral but low in- tellectual faculities. If such a child gets a fair chanee, his moral faculities will stimulate his intel- lectual, so that he may rank in time, with ordin- ary men. But if his intellectual faculties are not well attended to in his youth, he will grow up a re- ligious fanatic, a "one-idea man." He will try to cram his opinions down everyone's throat. A man that will be willing to be persecuted and made a martyr of ; a regular pest to society, one of those men that O'Connell called a religious fool; he gen- erally ends in becoming a religious maniac, and a trouble to whatever Lunatic Asylum he happens to be admitted into. The next in classification are Imbeciles. These are children of very low mental organization, diti'er- ing, however, in degree. There are some that can, by great perseverance on the part of parents and teachers, be brought to learn much, yet under no circumstances will they ever be of a strong mind. — 9.— and very little trouble at any time will drive thetn into a Lunatic Asylum. It is from tliis class, when neglected in youth and brought up in a state of moral depravity, that our most vile criminals come, and it is an extraordinary I'act that they rarely ever go mad as long as they can carry on their career of crime. It is when aclieck is put upon their crim- inal acts, and tliey are obliged to live according to prison rule, that reason forsakes them. It would appear as if crime itself were the very safety-valve that prevented them from becoming lunatics. It must be remembered what the peculiar class of persons I am speaking of is. I am speaking of the Imbecile, neglected in youth ; one that has never learned any- thing but evil. As a rule these creatures are the children of debauched and drunken parents. Some imbeciles are so verv low in there mental organiza- tions as to approach the idiot. They are not in re- ality idiots, but they are scarcely responsible beings, and should never be at large, but under proper sur- veillance. They are a most dangerous class of beings, as they will gratify their animal passions without any compunction. It is such creatures that com- mit the most revolting crimes, and most horrible murders. '^ ' The next order of classification is the congenital idiot. He is generally, but not always, the otl'spring of imbecile parents. He is a creature so low in his mental organization that it is sometimes hardly possible to teach him how to put food into his mouth ; he will more readily lick it otf the ground like a dog than make any use of his hand. Some- times it would appear as if these idiots appreciated kindness but they are always vicious and treacher- ous. They are in appearance more like the monkey than the man. Fortunately procreation stops with the idiot,for they are both sterile and impotent, female and male. Let it be borne in mind that Lunatics can descend through all the different degrees of im- becility, till they arrive at the state of idiotcy, the only difference betvveen them and the congenital idiot being that one has lost what the other never had. .....■.'>..'. ; .;^ lO."' .1. '/.- ■■.«•■.■ .'i ;;.>,>■,•'■■ ••.■", ' -10.- From the foregoin'^ facts I consider that it is self evident that there can be no general system of edu- tion, either physical or mental, suitable for all child- ren ; consequently I hold that much of ihe increase of insanity and imbecility is due to the present sys- tem of education — I would say the present high-pres- sure, forcing system. Out of four hundred patients admitted into the St. Johns Asylum, over two hundred were at the time of admission imbeciles, w of these I take no account ; of the two hundred lunatics over one hundred and fifty had more or less education, that is, could at least read and write, and many of them were what might be called well educated. Two were first-class educated schoolmasters, both got well but did not return to teaching. A third was educated for a schoolmaster, he got well and went to farming. Then I had four female teachers j two got well, one returned to teaching and is now in an Asylum in Upper Canada, the other is work- ing in her father's house, who is a farmer ; the other two are still in the Asylum, with but little chance of recovery. Then I have had a large num- ber of clerks, half educated; some got well, some did not, and from the history of all these cases I have no doubt that the exc. ting cause of insanity was over working the mental organization, trying to force the mind into obedience to the will ; and I believe it is this forcing of the mind at schools that is destroying the mental organization of so many, and is one of the great causes of insanity. It must be remembered that the mind is always acting quite as independently of the will as the liver, the heart and lungs, and the stomach. The power the will has over the mind is limited. In some organiza- tions the will can direct the mind in a very great de- gree, but not altogether ; in others the will can di- rect the mind in a very small degree. One boy can so direct his Tnind as to commit to memory a page of history in a tew minutes ; such was the power of the late lamented D'Arcy McGee. Another boy by no amount of his will can ever commit much to memory, and the greater his effort the more he tires —11.— 7 '"6 and out his brain, and the less he knows. I wouM ask how can there be a general system of education for such opposite mental organizations? Every man in the world knows how difficult it is sometimes to call to mind the name of a person or place by an act of his will. Every one also knows how difficult it is to keep his mind tixed on any one subject for five or ten nximutes. Certainly by mechanical means we can keep the mind fixed, that is, by employing our hand at any mechanical work ; and perhaps it is because of this that we find so very few mechanics become insane, if they do it is because they break some natural laws, become drunkards, &c., and no man can break any of the natural or moral laws, and not suffer in consequence. There is no difficulty in knowing when a roan or a boy has muscular fati- gue from manual labor or over exercise ; but it is not always easy to know when the mental organiza- tion is fatigued. I think, however> that it can be known ; for example, when a man reads a couple of hundred pages of any book and finds that he remem- bers the first pages better theu the last twenty or thirty, he may be very sure it is time for him to stop; he will retain nothing of what he is reading, and is only injuring his brain. So with a young boy at school, he repeats his lesson to his teachter tolerably w^ell, the teacher is not satisfied, the boy is sent back to study his lesson again ; the second time he repeats it worse than the first, although, poor boy, he has done his best, but his brain was tired, and very probably he is punished tor what was no fault of his. I think the foregoing clearly establishes two facts; firstly, that where children are of such difierent physical and mental organiza- tions, there can be no general system of either phy- sical or mental education applicable to all, in fact, that what is good and wholesome to one is death to the other ; secondly, as in all schools there is a general system of education, the only classification being the ages of the scholars, and it must of necessity follow that our present system of education is injurious to the pliysical and mental growth of the scholars, and consequently that we --12.— have so many of our youth of both sexes growing up weak in body and weak in mind, and that there is such a terrible increase of insanity. There is no doubt that teachers are much to blame for this state of thinfrs ; but then parents are much more blanr.- able. In infantile life mothers as a rule leave their children too much to the care of servants, because they are either too lazy or too fine to take care of them themselves, in fact, because it is not fashion- able. The last thing a child should feel at night is its mother's kiss, and it should go to sleep in look- ing at its mother's loving eyes j but instead of this the child is left to the tender mercy of a servant, who frightens it to sleep that she may have a chat with John, while the fashionable mother is gone off to hear that dear man Mr.Balderdash lecturing upon the Physiology of Man, or some other equally interest* ing ology. Then, as children grow up, they are packed off to boarding-schools— ^/tV^^/y, to get them out ot the way ; secondli/f because it is fashionable i thirdly i because the pride and ignorance of the par- ents are so great, that they fancy because they have money their children must have brains, and must be educated to the highest standard. So children are sacrificed to the laziness, pride and ignorance of the parents. .. Another fault of parents from which the children suffer is that they do not know how to choose the proper teacher and when they have one they don't know how to treat him. They begrudge to pay an educated gentleman as well as they would pay their servants, and treat him with hall the respect, and then, poor souls, they expect the teacher to take an interest in their children, and they expect their children to love and respect the teacher, and in time they find themselves disappointed in both their expectations. Let parents pay a teacher well that he may live as becomes a gentleman, and let them in every other respect treat the teacher as their equal, then they will have some claim upon him, and if he is a true teacher he wil! do justice to their children, and the children will not only love and re* . — 13.-— vere him during their lives, but he will always be to them ** The Master." It is a melancholy fact, from which great evil has resulted, that men and women fancy when they can do nothing else they can teach ; now there never was a greater mistake ; no person, no matter how well educated he may be, can teach, unless he is actually born a teacher ; no act of the will can make a man a teacher, any more than an act of the will can make a man a poet. It is not necessary that all teachers should have the same degree of educa- tion, but all teachers should have the knack, should bo capable of imparting the knowledge they possess, in part or whole, to those they attempt to teach, depending oi course upon the soil they have to sow the seed in, whether it be of a high or low mental organization. A teacher Bhould be naturally of a cheerful, mild, amiable disposition, loving and lova- ble, one that would rule by love and not of fear. I have no faith in obedience to God or man that is given through fear ; cheerful loving obedience is what can be depended upon, and this is impossible with the present system of education. The true teacher will make it his study to know his scholars thoroughly, to know their mental and physical capacity and treat their mental and physical powers accordingly. He will be able to say to parents whether their son is or is not fit for the highest order of education, and thereby prevent many poor boys from losing unnecessary time trying to learn what they never can learn, ending in disappointment and being disgusted with themselves and the world. I have thus endeavored to show that the present system of education is bad, is radically wrong, and is the cause or one of the great causes of the spread of insanity. Some one more capable than I am roust show how that system can be improved. I will merely say there is too much study on the part of the scholars, and too little teaching on the part of the teachers. Ii is all books, books, morning, noon and night ; no end of books. The books that a boy is expected to go through in eight or ten years, he could not go through in thirty. Let all this book . • -. .'•.V. •;' ■ - ••': I '• .•" ■■■KJ^A-'* ■.'■:y I ::i —14.— learning be stopped ; let there be more black-board and chalk, and lecturing from teachers. I believe a child should be taught its alphabet on the black- board, to spell on the black-board, arithmetic on the black-board, geography, history and mathematics all on the black-board, globes and maps, and from the mouth of the teacher ; and instead of sticking every day for a certain time in badly ventilated school rooms, let the master frequently take his boys for a day out into the country, and there in conversation and amusement and good healthy ex- ercise teach his pupils from Nature, lecture to them on the mountains, vales, rivers, trees and rocks. Thus will youths be truly educated ; thus will they grow up strong in body and strong in mind. When the foregoing tirst appeared, as is usual, in such cases, some there were who warmly en- dorsed it, while others disapproved of it in toto. Those of the first-class I have spoken of briefly in the preface ; but of the second class I wish to say a few words more. One individual said the article was " Materialistic." Now some people are so con- stituted, that they take fright at every ♦hing, that is contrary to their own preconceived mions ; and the stereotyped argument they have at hand, is to cry out " Materialism." However I deny that there is^anything materialistic in what I have written. I deny materialism, in the common acceptation of the word, but I recognize the fact that all matter was created by God, and by Him pronounced to be good J therefore all matter is good, and not to be made little of and despised, or degraded. Others again have accused me of *' Radicalism," and " Liberalism." I hardly think there is much of the former about me ; as to the latter I hope I am liberal, in the true sense of the word — too liberal, at all events, to see little children " educated to death," as tiie saying is. * other class have more truly remarked t'lat il ie . jr to demolish, than to build up; that it is earlier to destroy an existing system, tiian to give another in its place — that until I was prepared to substitute an improvement on existing methods, . —15.— I should have said nothing. I admit that there is some force in this argument ; but it is not always the one that pulls down who does build up. Yet both are necessary. I would much rather be the builder, but I did not feel mj'self competent to the task, and said so. Still I threw out a few hints, which I thought might be of use to any one who would take the good work in hand. I will now add a few suggestions more to those I have already given, and hope thereby to enlist some strong hands to join me in effecting the desired reformation. I will premise by stating that my views will not be very popular. They would iiotdofor a cry at the hustings, — the old cry, that' we have had rung in our ears for the last fifty years, " educate the masses no matter how." That would be the popular cry, but I cannot accept it in its entirety. By all means educate every one, but change the system, and begin by not giving the brain more work than the brain is able to bear : or by giving any person an education, that he will not require in his particular calling of life. All men cannot hold the same social positions. The thing is impossi- ble. There must be servants, laborers, farmers, mechanics, mercantile and professional men, — all equally honorable, and equally productive of happiness, and if all will, all may be gentlemen m the true acceptation of the word. Still they do not all hold the same social position, nor do they all by any means, require the same education. I would have them, all educated according to their requirements, to educate all alike, is only to create a competition which in thousands of cases causes disappomtment, misery, crime and lunacy. This is a contrary doctrine, to the old theory that education would diminish crime. Do criminal statistics show that this is true ? No. Is it the fault of educa- tion ? No, it is the fault of the system. The sys- tem of education has been had, an