C.L. Morgan,
Psychology for Teachers, p. 186.)

"Arithmetic, if judiciously taught, forms in the pupil habits
of mental attention, argumentative sequence, absolute
accuracy, and satisfaction in truth as a result, that do not
seem to spring equally from the study of any other subject
suitable to this elementary stage of instruction." (Joseph
Payne, Lectures on Education, Vol. I, p. 260.)

"By means of experimental and observational work in science,
not only will his attention be excited, the power of
observation, previously awakened, much strengthened, and the
senses exercised and disciplined, but the very important habit
of doing homage to the authority of facts rather than to the
authority of men, be initiated." (_Ibid_., p. 261.)

The view maintained by these writers is that the mind is made up of
certain elemental powers such as attention, reasoning, observation,
imagination, and the like, each of which acts as a unit. Training any
one of these powers means simply its exercise irrespective of the
material used. The facility gained through this exercise may then be
transferred to other subjects or situations, which are quite different.
The present point of view with regard to this question is very
different, as is shown by the following quotations:

"We may conclude, then, that there is something which may be
called formal discipline, and that it may be more or less
general in character. It consists in the establishment of
habitual reactions that correspond to the form of situations.
These reactions foster adjustments, attitudes, and ideas that
favor the successful dealing with the emergencies that arouse
them. On the other hand, both the form that we can learn to
deal with more effectively, and the reactions that we
associate with it, are definite. There is no general training
of the powers or faculties, so far as we can determine."
(Henderson, 10, p. 307 f.)

"One mental function or activity improves others in so far as
and because they are in part identical with it, because it
contains elements common to them. Addition improves
multiplication because multiplication is largely addition;
knowledge of Latin gives increased ability to learn French
because many of the facts learned in the one case are needed
in the other. The study of geometry may lead a pupil