CHILD PSYCHOLOGY

the study of brain development during the period of early growth, from infancy to and including adolescence. The study is made from two points of view. First, from the broadly scientific aspect, the ual development of the mind of the infant to that of a youth throws considerable light on the psychological evolution of the human mind d@ g the ages preceding the dawn of history and, presumably, preceding the present physical development of mankind into a thinking animal. Just as the foetus of the human infant a umes a close resemblance to that of the lower animals, rising in grade as it develops, until it finally shows distinctly human characteristics, so it is a umed that after birth its mental development gradually ascends the scale of evolution, from stages analogous to that of lower animals up to that of the intelligent human adult. The second and more recent aspect of child psychology, however, has for its purpose the adaptation of education and training to the requirements of the child. Early educators, such as Froebel and Pestalozzi, realized the nece ity of apectsl study of the workings of the child’s mind in formulating methods of teaching, but it was the American educator, Stanley Hall, who first emphasized the need of enlarging the study beyond the limits of pedagogy. This latter development of child psychology forms the basis of much of the modern tendency toward special treatment of juvenile’ offenders against the law, of delinquent children, backward children, etc. Basically, it emphasizes the point that a child is not a minor image of a man; that, as an example, the power of retrospection comes only after adolescence, A sys~ tematic and scientific study of C psychology also renders obvious the fact that all children are not alike; that they must be cla ified according to their mental characteristics, and that each cla must be dealt with differently.