the subjects
to be observed. If to-day a psychologist were told to arrange the work
of his preparer, he would take this to mean the preparation of his
"instruments," thus adopting more or less the standard of laboratories
of _physics_.

But the idea of preparing the living being which produces the
phenomenon would not enter his mind; and yet, if merely to observe a
cell, a living microbe, the scientist needs a "preparer," how much
greater must be the necessity for such an assistant when the subject
to be observed is man!

Psychologists consider that they can prepare their "subjects" by
arresting their attention with a word, and explaining to them how they
are to proceed in order to respond to the experiment; any unknown
person met by chance in the laboratory will serve their purpose. In
short, the psychologist of to-day behaves somewhat like the child who
catches a butterfly in flight, observes it for a second and then lets
it fly away again; not like the biologist who takes care that his
preparations are properly carried out in a scientific laboratory.

On the other hand, the picture of psychological development, even
though it be incomplete, which is shown to us in our experiments,
demonstrates the subtlety with which it is necessary to present to the
child the means of his development and, above all, to respect his
liberty; conditions which are essential to ensure that psychical
phenomena be revealed and may constitute a true "material for
observation"; all this demands a special environment, and the
preparation of a practical staff, forming a whole infinitely superior
in complexity and in organization to the ordinary natural science
laboratories. Such a laboratory can only be the most perfect school,
organized according to scientific methods, where the teacher is a
person answering to the "preparer" graduate.

True, all schools would not achieve this lofty scientific ideal. But
it is indisputable that schools and teachers should all be directing
their efforts towards the domain of the experimental sciences. The
psychical salvation of children is based upon the means and the
liberty to live, and these should become another of the "natural
rights" accorded to the new generations; established as a social and
philosophic conception, it should supersede the present "obligation to
provide instruction," which is a burden not only on State economy but
also on the vigor of posterity. If the psychical phenomena of the