But the attention of the teacher and of the commimity
belongs no less to those individual differences which char-
acterize the *^ nervous" child. Diseases like St. Vitus^s
dance or epilepsy will be easily recognized. But the hys-
teric varieties, abnormal irritability, and psychopathic emo-
tionalism may too often be overlooked. There may be
children with unusual talents, yet at the same time with
unusual defects. A lack of self-discipline and self-control
may exist which makes all educational effort in vain.
There is an abnormally quick fatigue, the attention has
no resistance and while the intelligence may be in some
respects brilliant, the memory is undermined by autosug-
gestion and the play of the imagination goes over into un-
truthfulness. Too often the nervous child suffers from the
inheritance of a pathological constitution and the inborn
weakness can never be completely removed. But in almost
every case a carefully adjusted education can save much
which otherwise would be lost. The teacher ought never
to play the r61e of the physician, but the school physician
will never reach his highest eflBciency imless he is helped
by the teacher who has his eyes open for those individual
variations of pupils which are due to diseases in the nerv-
ous system.
