ich he wished all to examine. "You would naturally feel a disposition
to examine it by the touch;" said he, "but you will all see, that by the
time it was touched by sixty individuals, it would be likely to be
injured, if not destroyed. So I concluded to label it, _Tabu_. And it
has occurred to me that this will be a convenient mode of apprising you
generally, that any article had better not be handled. You know we
sometimes have some apparatus exposed, which would be liable to injury
from disturbance, where there are so many persons to touch it. I shall
in such a case, just mention that an article is Tabu, and you will
understand that it is not only not to be _injured_, but not even
_touched_."

A little delicate management of this sort will often have more influence
over young persons, than the most vehement scolding, or the most
watchful and jealous precautions. The Tabu was always most scrupulously
regarded, after this, whenever employed.

20. MENTAL ANALYSIS. Scene; a class in Arithmetic at recitation. The
teacher gives them an example in addition, requesting them when they
have performed it to rise. Some finish it very soon, others are very
slow in accomplishing the work.

"I should like to ascertain," says the teacher, "how great is the
difference of rapidity, with which different members of the class work
in addition. I will give you another example, and then notice by my
watch, the shortest and longest time required to do it."

The result of the experiment was, that some members of the class were
two or three times as long in doing it, as others.

"Perhaps you think," said the teacher, "that this difference is
altogether owing to difference of skill, but it is not. It is mainly
owing to the different methods adopted by various individuals. I am
going to describe some of these, and as I describe them, I wish you
would notice them carefully, and tell me which you practice.

There are then three modes of adding up a column of figures, which I
shall describe."

1. "I shall call the first _counting_. You take the first figure, and
then add the next to it, by counting up regularly. There are three
distinct ways of doing this.

(a.) Counting by your fingers. ("Yes sir.") You take the first
figure,--suppose it is seven, and the one above it, eight. Now you
recollect that to add eight, you must count all the fingers of one hand,
and all but two again. So you say seven--eight, nine, ten, eleven,
twelve, thirt