Fernald and Keller believe that these children had not learned reading, because ordinary methods of teaching neglect the “kinæsthetic links.” Strong motor tendencies were seen in the children, even after they had learned to read fluently. It must be said that this study is one of the most satisfactory so far presented, because it gives precise quantitative measurements, and because the psychological analyses were so well checked up by experimental teaching. Gates followed up the poorest readers, all of average or superior general intelligence, in the Scarborough School, with special training in the visual perception of words, with good results in every case but one. Comment upon the implication of these studies will be postponed until we have considered certain further contributions to the subject, for example Burt’s observations on neurotics. VI. NERVOUS INSTABILITY AND SPECIAL DEFECT IN READING Burt has pointed out what every psychologist who examines school children can confirm, that neurotic children are often deficient in reading, though they may be intelligent. This follows from the psychology of the mechanics of reading. Mastery of these mechanics calls for an ordinary degree of coöperation, adherence to definite directions, power of sustained effort, and fidelity to bare facts. Neurotics are those who are characteristically inferior in these essential qualities, among others. Where impulsive response, negativistic attitude, flightiness, and illusion cause failure, neurotic children fail. Hence many of them never learn to read, except by individual teaching. Under this category, we may consider, also, speech defectives, for speech defects are often symptomatic of nervous instability. Children who stammer or lisp may “turn against” reading, because of the ignominy they fear, in oral reading before their mates. A child who displays a speech defect in oral reading should, for humane reasons, be excused from such reading before the class. General nervous instability naturally tends to failure in any school subject, which demands the qualities of character mentioned above as essential to the mastery of reading. Thus nervous, but intelligent, children may be deficient in reading, spelling, and arithmetic, “the tool subjects,” while making satisfactory progress in “the subject matter courses,” such as history, nature study, or geography, where precise connections in prescribed sequences of relationships need not be formed, in order to succeed.