Pedagogical Anthropology by Maria Montessori (best novels of all time TXT) 📕

These acts and phenomena, being directly related to creation and the eternity of the species, ought to be regarded by men as in the nature of a lofty religious culte, equally, for instance, with that which from the earliest prehistoric times placed the symbol of maternity, the mother and the child, side by side with the scythe, symbol of labour, in places of worship. We cannot admit that love, sung by the poets as a divine sentiment, is the moral exponent of unworthy and shameful acts. It is the error, the perversion of sexual life, the source of degeneration, of degradation and of the death of the species, that makes us keep silent, conceal and blush with shame.

In reality, all this ought to stir us, not to embarrassment and shame, but to a formidable rebellion, a sharp awakening of conscience, a redemption from a state of inferior civilisation.

It was a barbarous sovereign who, in the delusive hope that it would cure him of eczema, caused the throats of little children to be cut, so that he might immerse himself in the warm bath of their blood.

To-day anyone who would sacrifice the lives of children to allay the itching of his own skin, would be in our eyes a monster of criminality.

And yet almost equally criminal are the men of our time, lords, in a barbaric sense, of sexual life; and we silently acquiesce in customs which in the future centuries will perhaps be remembered as a monstrous barbarism.

The whole moral revival which awaits us, revolves around the struggle against the sexual sins. The emancipation of woman, the protection of maternity and of the child, are its most luminous exponents; but no less efficacious evidences of such progress are all the efforts directed against alcoholism and the other vices and diseases which are reflected in their unhappy consequences to posterity. There is just one side of the question that has hitherto been scarcely touched at all, and that is the chastity of man and his responsibility as a father; but even this has already come to be felt as an imperative necessity for progress. In place of reducing other human beings to slavery and prostituting them; instead of betraying them and shattering their lives by seduction and the desertion of their offspring, the man of the future will choose to become chaste. He will feel that otherwise he is dishonoured, morally lost. Man will not be willing to be so weak as to confess himself dragged down to degradation and crime because unable to conquer his own instincts; man who has nothing but victories on the credit side of his history, and who even succeeded in overcoming the greatest of all his irresistible instincts, that of self-preservation, in showing himself capable of going into combat and dying for the ideals of his fatherland.

Man is capable of every great heroism; it was man who found a means of conquering the formidable obstacles of his environment, establishing himself lord of the earth, and laying the foundations of civilisation. He will also teach himself to be chaste, within sufficiently narrow limits to guarantee the dignity of the human race and the health of the species; and in this way he will prescribe the ethics for the centuries of the near future: sexual morality. There are customs and virtues, lofty ethical doctrines that stand in direct accord with the conservation and the progress of life. Bodily cleanliness, temperance in drink, the conquest of personal instincts, human brotherhood in the full extent of the thought, the feeling, and the practice, chastity; all these are just so many forms of the defense of life, both of the individual and of the species. To-day, in hygiene, in pathology and in anthropology, science is showing us the truth through positive proofs, through experiments and statistics. But these virtues which are paths leading to life, are simply being reconfirmed by science; just as they are being little by little attained by civil progress, which prepares their practical elements; but they were always intuitively recognised by the human heart: nothing is older in the ethics of mankind than the principal of brotherhood, of victory over the instincts, of chastity. Only, these virtues, intuitively perceived, could not be universally practised, because universal practice demanded time for preparation. But they survived partly as affirmations of absolute virtue and partly as prophesies of a future age and were considered as constituting the highest good. Just as the æsthetic sense led to the recognition of normality at a time when this scientific concept was very far from being understood as it is to-day; in the same way the ethical and religious sense was able to feel intuitively and to separate from customs and from sentiments belonging to an evanescent form of transitory civilisation or from the temporary racial needs, those others that relate fundamentally to the biological preservation of the individual and the species and the practical attainment of human perfection. And while the medial intellectual man or the artistic genius combines wholly or in part the thoughts of his time, the medial moral or religious man sums up the guiding principles of life which everyone feels profoundly in the depth of his heart; and when he speaks to other men it seems as though he instilled new vigour into the very roots of their existence, and he is believed, when he speaks of a happier future toward which humanity is advancing. If the intellectual genius is almost a reader of contemporaneous thought as it vibrates around him, the religious genius interprets more or less completely and perfectly the universal and eternal spirit of life in humanity.

Accordingly, the medial men incarnate the beautiful, the true, and the good: in other words, the theories of positivism arrive at the selfsame goals as idealism, those of poetry, philosophy and art.

By following the path of observation, we reach a goal analogous to that sought along the path of intuition.

The theory of the medial man constructed fundamentally upon positive bases of measurements and facts, represents the limit[51] of perfection of the human individual associated with the limit of perfection of human society, which is formed in a two-fold way: a close association between all human beings, or the formation of a true social organism (complete hybridism in body; human brotherhood in sentiment), and the steadily progressive emancipation, of every individual member from anxiety concerning the defense of life, in order to enjoy the triumph of the development of life. All that was formerly included under defense will assume collective forms of a high order (repressive justice replaced by more varied forms of prevention: which have for their final goal a widespread education and a gradual amelioration of labour and social conditions); and in this reign of peace there will arise the possibility of developing all the forces of life (biological liberty).

In such a conception, the individual organism depends more and more upon the social organism: just as the cells depend upon the multicellular organism; and we may almost conceive of a new living entity, a super-organism made up of humanity, but in which every component part is allowed the maximum expansion of its personal activity emancipated from all the obstacles that have been successively overcome. This conception of biological liberty, in other words, the triumph of the free and peaceful development of life, through the long series of more or less bitter struggles and defenses of life, constitutes, in my opinion, the very essence of the new pedagogy. And the evolution of modern thought and of the social environment can alone prepare for its advent, perhaps at no distant day.

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[Pg 479]

FOOTNOTES:

[49] Viola, The Laws of Morphological Correlation of the Individual Types.

[50] Cited by Viola.

[51] Limit, in the mathematical sense.

TABLES SUMMARIZING The Mean Proportions of the Body According To Age

Useful for judging of normal development and incidentally for diagnosing forms of infantilism:

Preceded by figures (from Quétélet) giving the growth of stature in man and in woman (it being well known that the stature is the fundamental measurement for forming the aforesaid judgments).

Age Males Females 0 0.496 0.483 1 0.696 0.690 2 0.707 0.780 3 0.860 0.850 4 0.932 0.910 5 0.990 0.974 6 1.046 1.032 7 1.112 1.096 8 1.170 1.139 9 1.227 1.200 10 1.282 1.248 11 1.327 1.275 12 1.359 1.327 13 1.403 1.386 14 1.487 1.447 15 1.559 1.475 16 1.610 1.500 17 1.670 1.544 18 1.700 1.562 19 1.706 1.566 20 1.711 1.570 25 1.722 1.577 30 1.722 1.579 40 1.713 1.555 50 1.674 1.536 60 1.639 1.516 70 1.628 1.514 New-born child Length of body 0.50 m. Weight 3 kg. Maximum cranial circumference 335 mm. Circumference of thorax 350 mm. Index of stature 68 Ponderal index 28.8— Age in years 1 2 3 Stature in metres 0.696 0.797 0.860 Index of stature 65 63 62 Weight in kilograms 10 12 13.21 Ponderal index 30.9 28.7 27.5 Maximum circumference of head in millimetres. 440 471 486 Age in years 4 5 6 Stature in metres 0.932 0.990 1.046 Index of stature 60 59 57 Weight in kilograms 15 16.70 18.04 Ponderal index 26.5 25.8 25.1 Maximum circumference of head in millimetres. 496 503 508 Age in years 7 8 9 Stature in metres 1.112 1.170 1.227 Index of stature 56 55 55 Weight in kilograms 20.16 22.26 24.09 Ponderal index 24.4 24 23.5 Maximum circumference of head in millimetres. 513 519 523 Age in years 10 11 12 Stature in metres 1.282 1.327 1.359 Index of stature 54 53 53 Weight in kilograms 26.12 27.85 31 Ponderal index 23.1 22.8 23.1 Maximum circumference of head in millimetres. 527 531 535 Age in years 13 14 15 Stature in metres 1.403 1.487 1.559 Index of stature 52 52 51 Weight in kilograms 35.32 40.50 46.41 Ponderal index 23.4 23.1 23.1 Maximum circumference of head in millimetres. 539 543 547 Age in years 16 17 18 Stature in metres 1.610 1.670 1.700 Index of stature 51 52 52 Weight in kilograms 53.39 57.40 61.26 Ponderal index 23.4 23.1 23.2 Maximum circumference of head in millimetres. 551 555 561

[Pg 482]
[Pg 483] TABLES OF CALCULATIONS I
Tables For Calculating the Cephalic Index

[Pg 484]
[Pg 485]

CALCULATIONS OF THE CEPHALIC INDEX

Antero-posterior diameters from 160 to 174 mm.; bilateral diameters from 120 to 159 mm.

Bilateral diameters in millimetres Antero-posterior diameters, in millimetres 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 120 75 75 74 74 73 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 69 69 121 76 75 75 74 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 122 76 76 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 123 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 124 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 125 78 78 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 72 126 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 72 127 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 73 73 128 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 129 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 130 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 131 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 76 76 75 132 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 133 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 134 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 135 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 136 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 78 137 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 138 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 139 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 140 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 141 89 88 87 87 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 82 81 142 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 143 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 144 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 145 91 90 90 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 146 91 91 90 90 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 147 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 148 92 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 149 93 93 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 150 94 93 93 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 151 94 94 93 93 92 92 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 152 95 94 94 93 93 92 92 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 153 96 95 94 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 89 89 88 88 154 96 96 95 94 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 155 97 96 96 95 95 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 90 89 156 97 97 96 96 95 95 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 90 157 98 98 97 96 96 95 95 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 158 99 98 98 97 96 96 95 95 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 159 99 99 98 98 97 96 96 95 95 94 94 93 92 92 91

CALCULATIONS OF THE CEPHALIC INDEX

Antero-posterior diameters from 175 to 189 mm.; bilateral diameters from 126 to 164 mm.

Bilateral diameters in millimetres Antero-posterior diameters, in millimetres 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 125 71 71 71 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 66 66 126 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 67 127 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 68 67 128 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 68 68 68 129 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 69 68 130 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 131 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 132 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 133 76 76 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 134 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 135 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 136 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 72 137 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 138 79 78 78 78 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 139 79 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 140 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 74 141 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 142 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 143 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 79 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 144 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 145 83 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 146 83 83 82 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 147 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 79 78 78 148 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 78 149 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 79 79 150 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 151 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 152 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 153 87 87 86 86 85 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 154 88 87 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 155 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 156 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 83 157 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 84 83 158 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 84 159 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 85 84 160 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 86 85 85 161 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 87 86 86 85 162 93 92 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 86 163 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87 86 164 94 93 93 92 92 91 91 90 90 89 89 88 88 87 87

CALCULATIONS OF THE CEPHALIC INDEX

Antero-posterior diameters from 190 to 204 mm.; bilateral diameters from 130 to 169 mm.

Bilateral diameters in millimetres Antero-posterior diameters, in millimetres 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 130 68 68 68 67 67 67 66 66 66 65 65 65 64 64 64 131 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 66 66 66 65 65 65 65 64 132 69 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 67 66 66 66 65 65 65 133 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 66 66 66 66 65 134 71 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 67 66 66 66 135 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 67 67 67 67 66 136 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 67 137 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 68 68 68 67 67 138 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 68 139 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 69 69 69 68 68 140 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 69 141 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 70 70 70 69 69 142 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 70 143 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 71 71 71 70 70 144 76 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 71 145 76 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 72 72 72 71 71 146 77 76 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 72 147 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 73 73 73 72 72 148 78 77 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 73 149 78 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 74 74 74 73 73 150 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 74 151 79 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 75 74 74 152 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 75 153 80 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 76 76 76 75 75 154 81 81 80 80 79 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 155 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 79 78 78 77 77 77 76 76 156 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 76 157 83 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 79 79 78 78 78 77 77 158 83 83 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 79 79 79 78 78 77 159 84 83 83 82 82 82 81 81 80 80 79 79 79 78 78 160 84 84 83 83 82 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 78 161 85 84 84 83 83 83 82 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 79 162 85 85 84 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 79 163 86 85 85 84 84 84 83 83 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 164 86 86 85 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 82 81 81 80 165 87 86 86 85 85 85 84 84 83 83 82 82 82 81 81 166 87 87 86 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 83 82 82 81 167 88 87 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 83 83 83 82 82 168 88 88 87 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 84 83 83 82 169 89 88 88 88 87 87 86 86 85 85 84 84 84 83 83

[Pg 488]
[Pg 489] II
Tables For Calculating the Ponderal Index

[Pg 490]
[Pg 491]

CALCULATIONS OF THE PONDERAL INDEX

Statures from 46 to 60 centimetres; weights from 2 to 16 kilograms

Weight in kilograms Statures in centimetres 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 2 — 27 4 26 8 26 2 25 7 25 2 24 7 24 2 23 8 23 3 22 9 22 5 22 1 21 7 21 4 21 0 2 10 27 8 27 3 26 7 26 1 25 6 25 1 24 6 24 2 23 7 23 3 22 9 22 5 22 1 21 7 21 3 2 20 28 3 27 7 27 1 26 6 26 0 25 5 25 0 24 5 24 1 23 7 23 2 22 8 22 4 22 1 21 7 2 30 28 7 28 1 27 5 26 9 26 4 25 9 25 4 24 9 24 4 24 0 23 6 23 2 22 8 22 4 22 0 2 40 29 1 28 5 27 9 27 3 26 8 26 2 25 7 25 3 24 8 24 3 23 9 23 5 23 1 22 7 22 3 2 50 29 5 28 9 28 3 27 7 27 1 26 6 26 1 25 6 25 1 24 7 24 2 23 8 23 4 23 0 22 6 2 60 29 9 29 3 28 6 28 1 27 5 27 0 26 4 25 9 25 5 25 0 24 6 24 1 23 7 23 3 22 9 2 70 30 3 29 6 29 0 28 4 27 8 27 3 26 8 26 3 25 8 25 3 24 9 24 4 24 0 23 6 23 2 2 80 30 6 30 0 29 4 28 8 28 2 27 6 27 1 26 6 26 1 25 6 25 2 24 7 24 3 23 9 23 5 2 90 31 0 30 3 29 7 29 1 28 5 28 0 27 4 26 9 26 4 25 9 25 5 25 0 24 6 24 2 23 8 3 — 31 3 30 7 30

1 ... 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 ... 96

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