Norman Democrat--Topic. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, February 4, 1910 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
PROF, STEPHEN
SHELDOIV COLVI1V
PPLI ED
'■SYCM OLOQY
SYCHOLOGY, the
newest of all the
sciences, has been
discovering and re-
lating Its principles
during the
last
ter
century
has
means round all
tarts and Is far from
a complete Interpreta
tlon of 'hose which
has discovered.
ertheless there
aome things that
lias worked out
absolute certalutv
1i
CLIP THIS OUT
Renowned Doctor's Prescription for
Rheumatism and Backache.
"One ounce Syrup Sarsaparilla com-
pound; one ounce Toris compound;
Add these to a half pint of good whis-
key. Take a tablespoonful before each
meal and at bed time; Shake the bot-
tle before using each time." Any drug-
gist has these ingredients in stock or
will quickly get them from his whole-
sale house. This was published previ-
ously and hundreds here have been
cured oy it. Good results show after
the fl.*st few doses. This also acts as
a system buildor, eventually restoring
strength and vitality.
CALLOUS TO CRITICISM.
Tho Husband—As far as I am con-
cerned, you may scold as much as you
like. I am by nature thick skinned.
V ,! U V
~T* y,..
Ztte FXAYJiRS ffiSTfSrrB'XR.TfW GAME Iff T$RMS Op TUB liOVJfriEIfTS THEYMADE
R 771 4
9l (P[v/
A TEST TO DISTINGUISH
VJ*9UA./r J?ROM AUDITORY
irZA^e&Y
-1
•
•
1
A
O
V
i
i
/
ASZT OF TroH-jm-y?
CJZARAC'M&S For? T/:STHTG
VJ&LJAU ,
many others concerning which it is in a position to
make definite hypotheses. The time has now ar-
rived when it is attempting to apply its facts and
principles to the solution of some of the most impor-
tant problems of our dally life.
It is a matter of common knowledge that during the
last few years there has been an ever growing attempt
to cure diseases, both of the mind and of the body,
through the tremendous power of suggestion. Prof.
Munsterberg, in this country and others abroad, through
experiments and practical applications, have conclu-
sively shown that our knowledge of the laws of mind
may be used to relieve human life of some of its great-
est ills. Probably no discovery in physical science prom-
ises to be of as great and lasting benefit to the world
as the discovery of the power of suggestion as a law
governing a large part of the life of every individual.
The time is soon coming when no reputable physician
will dare to practice medicine without some knowledge
of the facts of psycho-therapeusis.
Recently, and very largely under the leadership of
Prof. William Sterm, of the University of Breslau, ex-
tensive investigations have been carried on in regard
to the psychology of testimony. These investigations
have thrown important light upon a vital phase of court
procedure and have shown its great weakness in many
particulars. Soon this new field of applied psychology
will be able to lay down definite laws in the conduct of
the examination of the witness. The time Is not, prob-
ably, far distant when every court will have some officer
attached to it who is an expert in the psychology of tes-
timony and who will bo able to correct many misunder-
standings that are now current in regard to the essen-
tial elements of the wltuesses' report and the extent of
Its belief.
In Zurich Dr. Jung has devised a methed for discov-
ering some of the most Important facts in regard to the
mental makeup of an individual. This procedure he
calls the "dlagnostical association's method." He gives
to the subject to be tested, in succession, a list of 100
words, to which the subject is to respond with the first
association that comes into his mind after the presen-
tation of the original word. The character of the asso-
ciations formed and the time which intervenes between
the presentation of the stimulus word and the response
are important elements In diagnosing the mental con-
dition of the individual and in'discovering essential facts
in his previous history. This method has been used with
marked success in the discovery of crime and it prom-
ises to be of great importance in the diagnosis of nerv-
ous diseases and in the detection of the criminal.
While the application of psychology to the treatment
of diseases, to tho discovery of truth and to the detec-
tion of the criminal is tremendously Important, another
field of its application, while less spectacular and whNe
not calculated to excite immediately so great popular
interest, promises to be of more far-reaching conse-
quence In the regulation of our dally life. This last-
named field is in the psychology of learning and applies
to the work of our entire school system, from the kin-
dergarten through the university. The leader in this
movement is Prof. Meumann, of the University of Halle.
During the last decade Meumann and his pupils have
been attempting to discover the most direct and eco-
nomical methods of the acquisition of knowledge and a
large amount of material has been brought together,
many facts have been established and conclusions of
practical value obtained. It is in this phase of the work
of applied psychology that the University of Illinois is
particularly interested. For the last four years experi-
ments have been carried on under the direction of the
psychological laboratory at Illinois, in regard to deter-
mining some of the most important facts concerning
memory and kindred topics, the thought being that if
the department of psychology were to be of maximum
service to the state in which it is situated and to which
it owes its support, it should be able to show how the
theoretical work of the laboratory can be applied to
the bettering of human conditions.
The agricultural and the engineering experiment sta-
tions at the university have been attempting to give the
practical men of the state information in regard to the
best means c? preventing wastes and of obtaining the
greatest efficiency in the various fields of their endeavor.
A similar attempt is being made by the department of
psychology of the university to show to the schoolmen
of the state how they can save time and how they can
so regulate the environment of the school as to get the
greatest results with the least possible expenditure of
energy.
All knowledge is based fundamentally upon memory
and it is quite obvious that If the most economical meth-
ods of learning are discovered and applied tremendous
wastes in the schoolroom will be saved. It is a striking
fact that most students who come to the university do
not know how to properly memorize their material. They
lose a very large amount of time that might be saved
greatly to their advantage, if they had the simple knowl-
edge of how to go about their work before them. What
is true of the university student is undoubtedly true
even to a greater degree of the pupils In the public
schools. It is clear that if the teachers knew what was
the best method by which the pupil could memorize a
certain material and could train that pupil in such meth-
ods of memory highly beneficial results would be accom-
plished.
Working along this line, some years ago the depart-
ment of psychology at Illinois instituted a series of
experiments to determine as far as possible the exact
facts concerning what is technically know as the idea-
tional types of school children and the relation of these
types to the memorizing of different kinds of material.
By tho ideational type the psychologist understands the
sort of mental imagtyy in which a person thinks—for
example, if a child recalls In imagination a bird he may
do so by having a mental picture of the bird as a vis-
ible object or he may recall the bird in terms of the
song that It sings. It Is further possible that he may
not, In thinking of the bird, see it mentally or recall its
song, but that lie may merely see the word, bird, written
or hear it spoken, or attempt to pronounce it himself.
If he actually sees the bird in his mind's eye he is said
to have concrete visual imagery. If he hears the song
that It sings mentally, he Is said to have concrete audi-
tory imagery. If he sees not the bird but the word, he
is said to have verbal-visionary imagery, and if instead
of seeing the word or hearing it he simply has the men-
tal imagery of pronouncing the word, he is said to have
verbal-motor imagery
It is then possible for the person In his ordinary
thinking to employ either concrete imagery, iu which he
recalls the actual object as presented through some of
his senses or to employ verbal Imagery, In which latter
case he does not recall the object at all, but In which
he recalls the printed symbol for that object either in
visual, auditory or motor terms. It is possible also to
have not only concrete visual and auditory imagery but
to have concrete motor Imagery as weM. A person, for
example, in mentally recalling a foot race, may think
of the runner as he appears ready for the starting sig-
nal, or he may think of the starting signal, or, finally,
he may think of the muscular sensations which come in
running the race. In this iatter case he would think of
the runner in terms of concrete motor imagery.
Probably the football player, In recalling the experi-
ences of the game in which he has taken a part, does
not see the plays as the spectator does from the grand-
stand, but recalls them in terms of the movements
which he makes in executing them.
It doubtless makes a good deal
of difference just what sort of im-
agery the school child uses in
memorizing his material, as to
whether the best results are to
be obtained or not and it is obvi-
ously important that the teacher
should know the character of this
imagery If he is to deal adequate-
ly with the pupil. The results of
the experiments by the depart-
ment of psychology at the Univer-
sity of Illinois clearly indicate
that most children In the begin-
ning grades of the school think
predominantly in terms of ob-
jects seen, that is, they possess
concrete visual imagery and prob-
ably, to a certain extent, also con-
crete auditory and motor imagery
as well. Later on this concreto
form of imagining dies out. They
think in terms of words and tho
actual experience behind these
words becomes dim and obscure.
The whole process Is to make
their learning a thing of books
and not a thing of vital, pulsating
life. Ibis is a great advantage in abstract thinking. It
is, however, a distinct hindrance In appreciation of cul-
ture and art. If we wish to train our children to think
accurately and abstractly we must train them, as tho
schools evidently are now training them, in the direr-
tlon of verbal imagery. If, however, we wish to de-
velop artists, poets, men of letters, inventors and those
with technical skill in the various professions, we must
see to it that this concrete imagery Is not lost; for ir
this loss takes place it will mean tremendous waste and
disaster for many.
The experiments further showed that those children
who thought In visual terms were best able to mem-
orize material with a visual content and that those who
thought in auditory or motor terms were best able to
learn material with an auditory or motor content. This,
of course, means as far as the application of results to
school work Is concerned that the material which the
child learns must be in some way adapted to his Idea-
tional type, if the best results are to bo accomplished.
This, perhaps, is not so vital a fact with the average
child who has many ways, it may be, in which he can
imagine his experience, hut there are always in every
schoolroom numbers of exceptional children who are
very slow to get on In certain fields and who, neverthe-
less are far from being mental defectives. To take a
concrete illustration, there are children who have great
difficulty In learning to read and yet who are often
bright in other school subjects. It is probable that such
children have not developed the type of verbal-visual
imagery. The printed word falls to carry Its proper
significance Such a child, obviously, must be treated
differently from the average Individual. In the first
place, he may be helped in his reading by being in-
structed to spell and pronounce words. The method
of showing him words and having him grasp them as
visual signs will be a hopeless method of procedure in
his case. Further, the child may be aided by a sys-
tematic attempt to strengthen his verbal-visual imagery.
There is ample evidence that children can be trained
In any type of Imagery and It is the business of educa-
tion to see that those who are defective in an essential
type are trained to overcome this defect.
We cannot think for a moment of demanding the
same sort of tiling from tile child whose eyesight Is poor
that we demand from the child of normal visual acuity.
It is just as foolish to expect the child who Is defective
in a certain ideational type to do the work of a normal
child as it Is to expect the child who Is defective In his
visual sensibility to accomplish the same results under
the same conditions that the child of normal senrlhlilty
accomplishes.
Another Important problem which has been under-
taken by the psychological laboratory at the university
is to discover the most advantageous conditions, besides
those relating to the ideational type, under which cer-
tain kinds of school material may be memorized. At
the outset of sucii an investigation the psychologist is
confronted with the difficulty of selecting the sort of
material for memorizing which will be sufficiently uni-
form to be tried on many children and on the snme child
at various times It Is quite evident that if we use the
ordinary materials of the schoolroom, such as the child
has had in ills reading, geography and history room,
that tills material will not bo of the uniformity desired.
It was to nvold this difficulty that the psychologist, Eb-
blnghaus, nearly 25 years ago, tried a memory experi-
ment, In which he used for material nonsense syllables,
that is, certain syllables which could be pronounced and
which yet had no significance; syllables, for example,
like nec-dozhux. Here we have a relatively uniform
material that lias, for the most part, little or no signifi-
cance.
utfnol CHILDSSn
fiprrirtc, .5BRIE3
OF sroN-snnsE SYLLABLES
children In Urbana, Champaign
Bloomington, Danville and in some of
the normal schools of the state have
been tested to determine certain con-
ditions under which tliey learn most
advantageously. One of the questions
asked in these Investigations has been
this: Suppose the child is given some-
thing to learn and is asked to recall it
later on, under what conditions during
the Interval between learning and re-
call will his memory be most, reten-
tive? The data obtained has been so
extensive that it has not been com-
pletely worked over as yet Some
very interesting conclusions, how-
ever, lune been reached -among these
this, that writing serves as a great
distraction and that the child csn re-
call material better when the Interval
is filled with such a strenuous activity
as number work, than when U is
filled with the writing of some famil-
iar phrase, as "My Country, 'tis of
Thee" The greater distracting ten-
dency of writing than of other school
occupations shows Itself particularly
In the lower grades. It has also been
found out that when young children
are required to learn by keeping per-
fectly still they are at a disadvantage.
If you wish to have the child learn un-
der the most disadvantageous condi-
tions, require that child to keep per-
fectly still.
The experiments at the University
of Illinois clearly show that oral com-
position is the most satisfactory meth-
od of developing real power of expres-
sion in young children.
It it is finally determined how th«
Interval between learning and recall can be most ad-
vantageously filled, then the arrangement of the school
program of studies can be worked out on a Wbok*
leal basis and not on the more or less haphazard basis
which seems to be the present plan.
Among other problems in this field of applied psy-
chology which the department has undertaken or pro-
poses to carry out in the near future may be mentioned
the following:
1. What are some of the most advantageous condi-
tions of learning to spell correctly?
2. In learning, is it better to give all of the time to
a study of the subject matter to be learned, or is it bet-
ter to devote a portion of the time In the attempt to
recall material that has already been mastered?
3. Is it better, in learning, to attempt to memorize
tfce material by commencing at the beginning and run-
ning through to the end consecutively and by repeating
tliis process until the whole has been mastered or is It
better to learn a part and then another part, and so on?
4. What method of presentation is more advanta-
geous in learning? By this is meant, specifically, is it
better to present to the child material to learn orally or
visually, and is it better to present the material simul-
taneously or successively—that is, should the whole
thing that he is to learn be given at once or is he to
study one part and then the next and so on?
In considering the first of these problems it may be
said that results at Illinois clearly point to the fact that
the method of teaching children to spell by giving the
word as a whole and not breaking It up Into syllables
is not the psychological method and that the old method
of syllabication with some of its obvious faults had dis-
tinct advantages over some of the extreme methods of
to-day.
Apropos the second problem It is clearly established
by experiments at Illinois that there is great advantage
in not spending the entire period of learning on study-
ing the material presented, but that it is of very great
advantage to spend part of this time in attempting to
recall what has been shown. Train the pupil to look
at the page that he is trying to memorize for a period
and then to turn his gaze away and in his mind's eye
recall the printed matter
It is generally held by investigators that the best
method of memorizing is to learn the material by com-
mencing at the beginning and running through the whole
process to the end The Illinois experiments brought
out this fact, that in such consecutive learning there are
certain parts that are mastered more quickly than oth-
ers and that It is advantageous to first go over the whole
material consecutively until the more easily acquired
material is mastered and then to spend some time in
learning those parts that are more dilllcult and to finally I
relearn the whole consecutively.
Now. in attempting to answer the fourth question,
experiments have been carried on at Illinois which show
rather clearly that the most advantageous way to pre-
sent material to little children Is visually and in sueees-1
sion. The reason for this, in part at least, is becauB*
successive presentation secures better attention than
simultaneous presentation and that the word when seen,
especially if it is difficult, can be better comprehended
than if it is merely heard.
The foregoing account gives a statement of some of
the most typical and important experimental investlga
tions now in progress in the psychological laboratory at
the University of Illinois. As has already been said, the
main emphasis is being placed upon the psychology of
learning, more specifically on technique and economy In
our processes of acquisition At the same time ample
scope is given for the theoretical aspects of the sub
Ject so that tho field in a general way may be covered
and that thosft who wish to obtain higher degrees iu the
subject may find ample opportunity for research iu the
SCRATCHED SO SHE
NOT SLEEP
COULD
"I write to tell you how thankful I
am for the wonderful Cuticura Rem-
edies. My little niece had eczema for
five years and when her mother died
I took care of the child. It was all
over her face and body, also on her
head. She scratched so that she could
not sleep nights. I used Cuticura
Soap to wash her with and then ap-
plied Cuticura Ointment. I did not
use quite half the Cuticura Soap and
Ointment, together with Cuticura Re-
solvent, when you could see a change
and they cured her nicely. Now she
is eleven years old and has never been
bothered with eczema since. My
friends think it is just great the way
the baby was cured by Cuticura. £
send you a picture taken when she was
about 18 months old.
"She was taken with the eczema
when two years old. She was covered
with big sores and her mother had all
the best doctors and tried all kinds of
salves and medicines without effect
until we used Cuticura Remedies. Mrs.
H. Kiernan, G63 Qulncy St., Brooklyn,
N. Y., Sept. 27, 1909."
Fog-Eye's Plaintive Protest.
Fog-Bye Smith of northwest Wy-
oming bore an appalling facade. His
style of beauty was a blight. Depend-
ing upon his horrific exterior, he was
in the habit of trying to awe newcom-
ers. On one occasion, affecting some
displeasure at the manner In which a
pallid stranger watered his liquor, Mr.
Smith announced, frowning, that un
less he detected immediate amend-
ments he would send the neophyte
home in a market basket. "Which I'll
sure tear you up a whole lot," said
Fog-Eye. Half an hour later Mr. Smith
was found groping about on the floor
under the poker table, hunting for his
glass eye, and muttering to himself.
The stranger asked with some evi-
dence of impatience what new line of
sentiments Mr. Smith was now har-
boring. That injured resident, glaring
malevolently from beneath the furni-
ture, replied: "Which I sure do ha*e a
man with no sense of humor."
Certainly Not Present.
It was in one of the colored schools
of Baltimore, and the teacher was
an inexperienced one. There was talk-
ing among the little negroes before
her.
"I want absolute silence," she sakl,
severely.
Still the talking continued.
"I want absolute silence," she re-
peated again.
At the third demand one very small
girl spoke up boldly.
"Assalute Silence ain't hyar," she
said, "She got de toofache."—Lip-
plncott's Magazine.
The Modern Polonius.
"Pay your debts promptly, my son.''
"All right, dad."
"Then when opportunity knocks you
won't be afraid to go to the door."
They Win.
Do you look for a favorable out-
come to your lawsuit?"
"No; but the lawyers do."—Houston
Post.
When one woman has a grudge
against another she tells the neigh-
bors how sorry she feels for the wom-
an's husband.
Using this kind of material, several thousand school direction which interests them most.
IS LANGUAGE OF COMMERCE
English Tongue, Therefore, Seems
Destined to Be the First In Im-
portance.
At the beginning of the eighteenth
century the English language was
spoken by 20,000,000 people. At the
beginning of the twentieth century
that tongue was spoken by 150,000,000
people; and it Is uot extravagant to
predict that English will be the lan-
guage of more than half of the then
existing Caucasian race upon the ad-
vent of the twenty-first century.
An accomplished linguist made re-
mark that if he could court his lady
love he would speak the Italian,
when praying to God he would eraph)y
tho Spanish, when conversing with
friends he would use French, and
when making a trade there was noth-
ing like the English. An that is the
secret of the marvelous expansion of
the use of the English tongue. This
is the age of commerce, and there is a
directness in our language that Is
found in no other ; and candor is the
soul of all legitimate trade.
When the Plantagenets first reigned
in England Chancer was not yet born,
nor did he arrive until the War of the
Roses. He found the Latin the tongue
of polite speech, and even IJacon wrote
his masterpieces in that language.
Elizabeth spoke it. It was the tongue
of the court and of diplomacy and
such it remained until Rupplanted by
the French, which is yet, perhaps, the
language of diplomacy in congresses
of tho "powers."
But this Ir a very different age from
that when Louis XIV. reigned, when
Rollngbroke was a minister, when Vol-
taire was the first man of letters In
the world. It is the age of trade, and
the English tongue has taken its place
as the dominant speech of the
world.
And why not? Shakespeare wrote
It, as "lid Milton. Chatham spoke it,
as did Rurke, Dryden and Pope, Swift
and Addison employed It. It is the
richest language in the world, having
gathered its inexhaustible stores from
every other tongue It could lay hands
on. It is the language of history and
of poetry, of debate, and of eloquent
declamation, but above all it is the
language of commerce, and bargains
are struck by means of It. While the
"first senate of the world" hung on the
splendid periods of "the grand old
man," Chinese merchants were ex-
changing tea for cotton fabrics upou
terms expre
Shakespeare
ed in the "tongue that
spake." — Washington
Virtue of Black Locust.
The tree that gives the best results
with little care after planting is the
black locust. It does well on any
soil, wet or dry. It Is a quick grower
and when planted thick—say six feet
each way—the trees will grow tall
with but little top, and will at the end
of five years be ready for the first
thinning out.
HARD TO DROP
But Many Drop It.
A young Calif wife talks about coffee:
"It was hard to drop Mocha and
Java and give Postum a trial, but my
nerves were so shattered that I was
a nervous wreck and of course that
means all kinds of ails.
"At first I thought bicycle riding
caused It and I gave it up. but iny con
dition remained unchanged. I did not
want to acknowledge coffee caused the
trouble for I was very fond of It. At
that time a friend came to live with
us, and I noticed that after he had
been \lth us a week he would not
drink his cofTee any more. I asked him
the reason. He replied, 'I have not had
a headache since I left off drinking cof-
fee, some months ago, till last week,
when I began again, here at your table.
I don't see how anyone can like coffee,
anyway, after drinkinr Postum!'
"I said nothing, but at once ord ed
a package of Postum. That was five
months ago, and we have drank no
coffee since, except on two occasVns
when we had company, and the Jesuit
each time was that my husband c*uld
not sleep, but lay awake and tossed
and talked half the night. We were
convinced that coffee caused his suffer-
ing, so he returned to l'ostum, con-
vinced that cofTee was an enemy, in-
stead of a friend, and he is troubled
no more with Insomnia.
"I, myself, have gained 8 pounds in
weight, and my nerves have ceased to
quiver. It seems so easy now to quit
coffee that caused our aches and alls
and take up Postum."
Read the little book. "The Road to
Wellvllle," In pkgs. "There's a Reason."
Ever rfiid (hf above Irtterf A
one nppriir# from time to time. They
■ re KrnulBf, true, mid full •!
interest.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Norman Democrat--Topic. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, February 4, 1910, newspaper, February 4, 1910; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc153213/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.