Insanity: Its Causes and Prevention

by Henry Putnam Stearns

Yet in the education of our little children, we find that both teachers and parents, in their blind ambition to hurry them forward, conspire in imposing tasks of such a character and magnitude as to require longer hours of study than we know to be best for the adult brain.[4]

I believe, however, that the largest mischief does not come from the length of time occupied in confinement and study, great as this may be. A still larger defect in the system lies in the multiplicity of the subjects studied and the lack of sufficient individuality in its administration.

In the graded schools children are parcelled out in numbers ranging from forty to sixty in one room, and put under the charge of one teacher. The system is too purely a mechanical one; all must come in, go out, rise up and sit down, study, and recite in very large classes. There is no room or time for individuality in any department of study, and very little in any recitation. Each one goes on with the whole, or he drops out and back, while the half-exhausted teacher has neither time nor opportunity to bestow the little attention and aid which would often be of so much value.

No teacher can do even half justice to any such number of children, and I presume it is not expected he will. His task appears to be to find that in some way or other the pupil seems to be able to recite his lesson, and if not, that he work at it until he does; and if the unfortunate one fails, see that he goes back to a lower class. Now, doubtless, one or two out of every five of these fifty or sixty children will be able to press on with comparative ease and health through all the studies which all are expected to master, but for the other three or four of the five, there exists a large tendency toward confusion of mind and imperfect knowledge, rather than those clear conceptions and definite understanding which tend to give vigor and strength of brain.

In this respect, I believe the educational process of fifty years ago was better than that of to-day. The teacher had a much smaller number of pupils, and, consequently, had better opportunity to study the peculiarities and tendencies of individual minds: he was better able to appreciate their deficiencies and the consequent needs each had. Fewer books were read, and these of such a character as was adapted to strengthen the memory; fewer subjects were studied, and there was time to more thoroughly understand and fully master them. Facts and processes attained were clear and definite, and there were less confused and half-understood lessons and theories, so that, as the mind became more mature, it went out for larger fields and broader pastures of knowledge.

They, doubtless, did not have much information as to the movements of the heavenly bodies, or of the names of insignificant towns, hamlets, or rivers on the eastern or western coast of Africa. They might not be able to define the boundaries of Kamtchatka, nor give the pluperfect of a large number of irregular verbs; but, on the other hand, their brains were clear and active, and possessed a recipient capacity. They were not crammed or confused by the dim memories of a vast multitude of names or facts which, by no possibility, could have any important bearing on their future lives or fortunes.

Knowledge, to be of much practical value to its possessor, must be clear and definite in the mind. When only partially understood or dimly perceived by the mind, it tends rather to confuse and weaken than invigorate; consequently, during the earlier periods of life, study in our schools should be confined to a comparatively few subjects, and there should be opportunity for the teacher to see that the scholar receives such individual attention as will enable him to fully master the allotted tasks. We must ever bear in mind that the grand object in attending school is, physiologically considered, to make the brain vigorous and stable in its operations, and as little liable to instability and irregular action as possible. Any course of training, during this early formative period of life, which tends to crowd the brain or stimulate it to over-activity, must tend to after-weakness and instability.

This leads me to protest against the modern tendency to continually increase the requirements for entering and continuing in the graded schools of our cities. The number of dates and names, relating as they often do to many different subjects of study, and the amount of writing in a short space of time, tend to mental confusion; and while the number of studies is increased, the time for their acquisition must remain unchanged, so that the scholar is hurried on through or dropped by the way. To avoid this latter result, too great and too protracted mental effort is necessary on the part of some children, while in many cases the results are manifested in a state of mental confusion and uncertainty, or a nervous, hysterical condition.

I have in mind at this writing cases which will illustrate my point. One was that of a young lady of ordinary mental endowments, whose parents usually brought her to me for advice as often as every two or three weeks, because she was nervous, and suffered from frequent and protracted headaches. Inquiry elicited the fact that she was obliged to study during the evening until ten or eleven o’clock to accomplish the tasks which were assigned to her class. It was thought by the parents that this practice was all right, that it evinced faithfulness and ambition, and it was with much difficulty that I could convince either her or her parents that her ill-health was due to the constant violation of the laws of health; that her brain and whole nervous system required longer periods of repose and quiet at her age than it would be likely to need later; that the future of her whole life as a member of society might, and must, in a large degree, depend, not on the grade of the marks she might receive in her daily recitations, but largely on the nervous and physical strength she might be able to build up before she should become twenty-one years of age. This young lady was of a healthy parentage, and inherited a good physique, and with proper habits of life and study would have had excellent health. As it is, her system will not for years, if ever, recover from the effects of her habits of excessive hours of study.

The name of another patient occurs to me: a young man of good parentage, and apparently inheriting a good constitution. He was ambitious in study, and his parents permitted him to do all he might choose to. He entered college at sixteen, standing among the best scholars of his class, but before the end of the first year, began to be troubled with noises in his head and confusion of mind. He was removed from college, and remained out till the end of the year, but partially kept up his studies at home. He entered the sophomore class but was obliged to leave earlier in the course than before. He tried the junior year with a like result, and from this time exhibited more pronounced indications of mental impairment. He travelled both in this country and in Europe; he consulted some of the most eminent physicians, but all to no purpose; the mischief had been too effectually accomplished. The delicate tissues of the brain had been over-strained, and so impaired that when his parents awoke to the gravity of his condition, it was too late to repair the mischief.