Watson, and others have demonstrated fairly well the advantage of general early training, at least in a formal way of familiarizing us with certain genetic laws and every piece of evidence indicates the special application of such principles to musical training. The thesis put forth in this article is that the earlier the training is begun-other things being equal the greater the chances of success. The first evidence to be offered in support of this theory is in the realm of music proper. Thirty-six of the world's greatest composers and performers were studied through investigation of their biographies and the age at first evidence of formal training tabulated. Upon compiling the figures it was found the average age of beginning the study of music was 64 years (8). While quite young this includes many composers such as Wagner who was not primarily an instrumentalist, Berlioz father of the modern orchestra - who played only guitar, Tchaikowsky and others who were noted more for their gifts of composition. By a careful study of the great instrumentalists such as Mozart, who toured the world with his sister at the age of 9; Bach, the greatest master; Handel, composer of the immortal Messiah; Chopin, the poetic Polish pianist; Franz Liszt, the great Hungarian virtuoso; Beethoven, the marvelous tonal architect of all time; Richard Strauss, one of the greatest of modern masters; and others of equal rank, reveals that they began instrumental study at the average age of 4 years. The second bit of experimental evidence is of quite a different character. Animals were used to determine the relative learning ability at different ages. At Johns Hopkins University (5) four groups of 100 white rats were used in learning what is called a maze experiment--a long circuitious pathway beset by numerous blind alleys through which the rats were induced to run by being starved in advance. The time was taken for each excursion. One group of rats was about 300 days old, representing the beginning of old age, one group 200 days old, representing middle age, another group of mature rats about 65 days and finally a group of The youthful rats 25 days old were run through the maze. young rats learned the maze in approximately three-fourths the time required by the old rats and could perform the feat in almost half the time. Finally the reader has carried on a series of researches (7) which seem to indicate quite definitely that unusual talent in specialized motor ability is not necessarily an accompaniment of rapid and graceful general bodily movement. The results seem to indicate the advantage of early training in such lines of endeavor, for habits formed earlier in life come to be more natural to the organism than those formed later. The conclusions were essentially in harmony with the findings of Binet and Vaschide (1) in Paris who studied a group of artists-pianists who took part in the "Concerts de Colonne," a representative institution of the French capital— and found their superiority to lie more in the direction of control and accuracy rather than in speed of movement. Some common observations will tend to confirm these suggestions since we are well aware of the ease and precision with which a small child learns a language as compared with a grownup. In summarizing, it is quite evident that music, to be able to hold its own as a flourishing art, must "come out of its shell" so to speak and take up the scientific investigation of its problems. Further, some effort must be made to secure more information on vocational guidance in music (10), to select and train those highly gifted, to equip those less gifted for the appreciation of the best music with the necessary skill for amateur performance of standard music and to educate them as intelligent patrons of the art. Since so much depends on the age of the student as to the results of a given amount of training, methods of study and practice should carefully be gone over by scientific procedure to ascertain the most effective methods for use with children of different ages. The results of training at a given age, the materials. to be used, and the methods employed for best results, should be objectively studied. Very little has been done to psychologize methods of pre senting musical information and technique. An analysis of movements to be made by motion pictures, and other recording devices would help to eliminate many unnecessary movements in performances. Divers, runners, and athletes in general have taken advantage of such apparatus and technique with amazing success. Even bricklayers were found by Gilbreth to increase their output more than 200% through the elimination of certain unnecessary movements. Certainly such complicated technique as is employed in music performance needs detailed analysis before vocational guidance tests can be constructed or sound pedagogical advice definitely given. It is not the purpose of this paper to offer a critique of individual methods of instruction used in music, but merely to point out the chaotic condition of instruction as a whole and the danger which threatens music as a result of such anomalies. Some scientific investigation has been done in music, but considering the fruitful work in other fields of pedagogical research, the efforts have been very feeble. In fine, let us not be too optimistic about "common sense" methods of music instruction. "Common sense"- literally interpreted-means merely that which is common experience to the senses of different persons. Details are no more accurately "sensed" by the best of instructors and professors through the regular routine of teaching, than Hertzian waves are sensed by an Alpine herdsman because of a need for long distance communication. Delicate laboratory apparatus will reveal striking errors in any empirical system of teaching as the microscope reveals the teeming millions of organisms invisible to the naked eye. Music is primarily an art, but an art which does not utilize the techniqque of science is doomed to lose the respect of twentieth century thought. REFERENCES 1. Binet and Vaschide, "Graphiques de la musique, L'annè Psychologique." Vol. 21, 1895. 2. Clapp, Phillip Greeley, "Test of a better method to memorize piano music." Musician, May, 1924. 3. Gatewood, Esther, "Place of Music in Education." Musician, June, 1922. 4. Hutson, "Some Measures of the Desires of High School Seniors and Their Parents." School Review, October, 1922. 5. Jennings, Watson, Meyer and Thomas, "Suggestions of Modern Science in Education." McMillan Company, 1918. p. 91. 6. Judd, Charles H., "Psychology of Secondary Education." Ginn and Company, 1927. Chapter 8. 7. Lauer, Alvhh R., "Motility as a Factor in Musical Talent." University of Iowa Thesis, 1925. 8. Lauer, Alvhh R., "Value of Music in Education." School and Society, Vol. 26, p. 666, October 1, 1927. 9. Snedden, David, "Problems of Secondary Education." Houghton Mifflin and Company, New York, 1917. 10. Seashore, C. E., "Psychology of Musical Talent." Silver Burdett and Company. 11. Thorndike, E. L., "Educational Psychology," Vol. I, Chapter 17. 12. Trabue, "Scales for Measuring Judgment of Orchestral Music." Journal of Education, 1923. 13. Thompson, Margaret B., "The Values of Music in Junior High School Education." Teacher's Journal and Abstracts, April, 1927. 14. U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin. 1921, No. 9. "Present Status of Music Instruction in Colleges and High Schools." 15. Windhorst, "Sixth Grade Attainments in Music," University of Iowa Thesis. 16. Symonds, Percival, "Needed Research in the Field of Measurement in Secondary Education." Journal of Educational Research. Sept., 1927, pp. 119-131. Comparative Content of Educational HENRY W. MACK, 235 EAST 49TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. ○ serious thinking men and women life must be given a consistent interpretation, in which the T nature and interests of mankind find real sig nificance and meaning, before they can adequately know the joy of purposive living. To this end the race always has had and always will have its philosophers. Nor is it surprising that society's most highly organized agency of reproduction, formal education, should receive the attention of these philosophers. The Philosophy of Education, as such, has received enough attention to make it feasible to enquire: What is the Philosophy of Education? In seeking an answer to this question we find various replies. To Dr. Dewey philosophy "is the theory of education in its most general phases" and the "Philosophy of Education is . . . only an explicit formulation of the problems of the formation of right mental and moral habitudes in respect to the difficulties of contemporary social life." This makes it the matter of solving social conflicts. To Professor Bode it is a matter of adjustment of the different values, such as the interests of childhood, vocational needs, and the cultivation of "purely intellectual interests," while Dr. Horne would link education up to the nature of reality and ask "what are the implications of education?" Other authors have largely shaded into one or another of these views, though often allowing generously for their own particular interest or prejudice. In the matter of text books there seem to be about ten or fifteen, covering the last twenty-five years, which deal pri |