Page:The small library. A guide to the collection and care of books (IA smalllibraryguid00browiala).pdf/24

of eight: 'My dear child, you mustn't take this book to read; it is reserved for boys twelve years old, and might cause you to strain your mental outfit!' If, however, the books were classified in some such order as the following, one could appreciate the attempt to suit literature to its appropriate readers, especially if all children were branded with their mental endowments, after examination in a psychological laboratory:—

The Classification of Child Readers.

A0.	Three-ounce brain child	General
A1.	Three-ounce brain child	plus Philosophical temperament.
A2.	Three-ounce brain child	plus„ PhilosophicalReligious temperament.„
A5.	Three-ounce brain child	plus„ PhilosophicalScientific temperament.„
A6.	Three-ounce brain child	plus„ PhilosophicalMechanical temperament.„
A7.	Three-ounce brain child	plus„ PhilosophicalArtistic temperament.„
A8.	Three-ounce brain child	plus„ PhilosophicalImaginative temperament.„
B0.	Three and a half-ounce brain child	General
B1.	Three and a half-ounce brain child	plus Imaginative temperament.
C2.	Four-ounce brain child	plus„ PhilosophicalReligious temperament.„

This scheme avoids the utterly fallacious theory, codified in American and British catalogues and educational standards, that intelligence goes with age, while it gives abundant scope for psychological diagnosis by those experts in mental physiology