posite and vast in structure, so infinite in rich adornment, and so manifold in forms derived from distant sources, that to make it over into a scientific system to suit the philological theories of a subsidized coterie of technical linguists is beyond the power of any man or body of men. A distinguished philologist after many years of effort along this line said in the end; "the longer I work after a consistent phonetic system for the English language, the greater the difficulties appear."

It must needs be so. Every word in the language has come to its present spelling for some specific reason, good or bad. In making alterations these reasons must be given a fair hearing.

We recognize a very slow and natural modification in progress in English, as in every other living organism, but we do not think that any society can materially accelerate or guide its evolution.

But, although this violent and far-reaching scheme is doomed to failure like its long line of predecessors, from the Emperor Claudius to the middle ages, and from Ormin, in the 12th century, to the present day, it is, nevertheless, capable of much mischief, and as the editor of the Dial well says: "Its chief menace is directed toward our public school systems. These, too often, are under the control of men prone to favor any change that is tagged as a reform. The mischief that can be done, and has been done, by a city board of school trustees, or even by a single school superintendent, is enormous, and we counsel the friends of English undefiled to be everywhere watchful on behalf of their children, lest they be made the victims of a false educational economy."

I have demonstrated that the list of 300 words originated with an unofficial society, lacking in harmony of purpose and method.

I have demonstrated that the purpose of this society is the violent dislocation of the English language, preparatory to its attempted reduction upon an extreme phonetic basis.

I have tried to show that this plan is neither necessary, desirable, nor possible, but that the partial success of the first part of the programme, i. e., the confusion of our present standards of spelling, is to be feared in connection with some public schools, and that there it may cause mischief. I hope that the present discussion may so emphasize this danger as to confirm us all in the determination to turn a deaf ear to the song of the phonetic siren, and even to cast out from the literature of our libraries, the few deformed spellings which have been sporadically adopted, beginning with 'catalog' and 'program.

Let no librarian, even though in charge of a Carnegie library, voluntarily bow his head in servile submission to the threatened curse of a Modern Babel.

A STUDY IN INTERESTS.

By CEPHAS GUILLET, Ph. D.

In order to discover my pupils' state of mind regarding various fields of human interest, I put before them twelve subjects representing a wide range of matters and asked them to rearrange these in the order of their preference for discussion and composition. The pupils (of the Toronto "Technical" High School) were enjoined to state name in full and age. I obtained answers from 319, of whom 151 were girls and 168 boys. There was one boy of eleven years; there were three girls and four boys of twelve; 18 girls and 18 boys of thirteen; 31 girls and 38 boys of fourteen; 36 girls and 35 boys of sixteen; 22 girls and 17 boys of seventeen; 4 girls and 4 boys of eighteen, and 5 girls and 3 boys of from 19 to 23 years of age. On account of the smallness of the numbers, I grouped the ages II, 12 and 13 together, and likewise the ages 18 to 23. To arrive at the position of a subject in the list at a given age of either sex, I added together the numbers indicating its rank given by each pupil of this age and sex, and divided by the number of such pupils: similarly for the boys as a whole and the girls as a whole.

I have plotted curves (not here given) showing how the interest in the different subjects varied from year to year in both sexes. It is striking how entirely opposite and complementary these curves of boys and girls are to each other in nearly every instance. There is almost an entire absence of parallelism. When the interest of the boys in a subject is greatest, that of the girls is least. As the boys' interest wanes, the girls' waxes. There could not be a clearer evidence of the radical difference in the masculine and feminine natures, a difference that is not confined to the body, but extends to the operations of the mind, to the attitude of the soul towards its whole environment.

Below is a table of the amount of sexual difference in interest at each age:

The general increase of sexual difference in interest at the age of fourteen (puberty) is interesting. In certain subjects there is a weakening of the sexual difference at the age of fifteen, i. e., in the sixteenth year, for which I cannot account. Is it because it is a transition period from one kind of interest

in certain subjects to another, which makes this year partake less of the more pronounced differences both of the cruder early youthful interest (the interest of early adolescence) and of the more mature interest of the young man or woman, i. e., of later adolescence? This is particularly apparent in the feminine subjects, myth or legend, novel and great men, and the masculine subjects, industry and invention and history of some science. The earlier sexual difference culminates as a rule in the fifteenth year, i. e., at the age of fourteen. The later sexual difference culminates in most of the subjects in the seventeenth or eighteenth years; but later in three subjects, namely great events, industry and invention, and sports and outings. The number of pupils, however, in these later years (from eighteen on) is very small.

I have made out a chart to show the order and extent in which the twelve subjects appealed to the boys and the girls respectively as a whole. (See page 324.)

It will be observed that there are four subjects for which the girls care very little, namely, Earthquakes and volcanoes, Industry and invention, Plants and animals, and especially the History of some Science. These are all either of a scientific or a practical nature. These subjects are all placed higher in the boys' list: one of them, Industry and Invention, the most practical subject in the list, is placed very much higher, being in fact one of the boys' favorite subjects. The interest in industry and invention exists mainly in the students in the technical science department. The students in the commercial department have evidently little real intellectual interest in commerce: it would seem to be regarded merely as a means of earning a livelihood. The topic, History of some Science, which stands last on both lists, I put before them in order to ascertain to what extent the boys in the science department

4

.I

.2

.3

.4

Chart showing Rank of Subjects according to the interests of
168 Boys

151 Girls

and

of a High School.

.6 Life of some great man (4.62)

456789

Voyage of discovery (4.94)

Great event (5.17)

Sports and outings (5.36)

Life of great man (5.61)

Customs of foreign people (5.95)
Industry or invention (6.05)

Myth or legend (6.39)

were interested in pure science. And I found that whereas Industry and Invention was placed first by the science boys, the History of some Science was placed tenth. The third year science boys, however, while they also put Industry and Invention first, placed the History of some Science third. All this would seem to indicate that the science teacher should begin with practical applications of the physical sciences. But the beauty and the sublimity of the laws of God's universe should never be lost sight of in the myriad applications of them to man's amusement and comfort and advancement.

Of the first five subjects named in the boys' and girls' lists, two are common to both, namely, Life of some great man, and Customs of some foreign people. An interest in great lives and in strange races is evidently strong in all young people of high school age. Advantage should be taken of this hint that nature gives us of the most ready means of enlarging and ennobling the minds of youth.

It would appear, however, from an examination of this chart, that Great men, Foreign Customs, Myth and legend, Novel or story of modern life, and Bible Characters are, to a considerable extent, characteristically feminine subjects, being placed much higher in the girls' list than in the boys'. On the other hand, the three subjects that head the boys' list, namely, Voyage of discovery, Great events, and Sports and outings, are very much lower on the girls' list, coming considerably behind the five subjects that have been mentioned as characteristically feminine. These boys' themes are all of action, and of action in real life; whereas, in the girls' list, imagination, poetry and the ideal are very prominent. Was not Goethe right when he said, "Das ewigweiblich zieht uns hinan"?

When we come to consider the particular historical events that chiefly arouse the interest of these young people of both sexes, we have to confess a certain disappointment. As great events of history, the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar, and the Taking of Quebec, dwarf all others in young Canadians' eyes. The French Revolution, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the War of 1812, the South African War, and the battle of Bannockburn are sufficiently favored to deserve mention. Of the forty events mentioned, twenty-six are wars and revolutions, eight are other political changes, four are reigns (Henry VIII, Mary, Victoria's Jubilee, and Edward VII's Coronation), and two are discoveries, a single vote for each (those of the Portuguese and of Columbus). The events that arouse the widest interest are certainly important: love of country and love of freedom are two of the noblest sentiments of man. But the range of subjects is rather limited, and that "Peace hath