An introduction to child-study / by W.B. Drummond.

  • Drummond, W. B. (William Blackley), 1868-1937
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to child-study / by W.B. Drummond. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    question is that, as science is simply organized knowledge, all that we really know about children is necessarily scien- tific knowledge, or, at least, may be claimed by science as part of its raw material. But the study of children does not belong to any one department of science; still less can it be said to constitute ‘a science’ by itself. On the contrary, in studying children we constantly find it necessary to refer to some of the commonly recognized sciences, and especially to those which are grouped to- gether as the biological. Thus the structure of the child’s body belongs to the science of anatomy, its functions to the science of physiology, the relationship between human and animal structure and function to morphology. The study of human development, whether of the body as a whole or of individual organs, pertains to embryology. The study of the child’s mind is a department of psy- chology. Teachers, and doctors, and sanitarians are all interested in the study of children from their particular points of view. Perhaps by this time the reader may ask, Who is sufficient for these things? Is it really necessary to study all these sciences before one can study a little child? This has not been asserted. But I certainly think that one can scarcely study children scientifically, or appre- ciate the child-study point of view, without some slight training in scientific methods, some measure of the scientific spirit, and some slight knowledge of modern biology. The kind of preliminary training which is likely to be useful to the would-be student of children I shall refer to more at length later. But before doing so let me say that I do not forget that there are plenty of people who know a great deal about children and nothing about science; who look at children from the sympathetic human point
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