ABSTRACT
The nervous child is often a child of parents in whom or in whose family there is a history of nervous disease or other ill-health; on the other hand, he may be the descendant of families where great ability or genius predominates. Besides heredity, faulty education may predispose a child to nervousness. In the precocious child, the brain, given to excessive thinking, works harder than the other organs, appropriates a larger amount of nutriment, thereby impoverishing the rest of the organisation and placing it in a condition of inferiority for contending against disease. Precocity is a morbid psychic condition, and those manifesting it often lack vitality and resisting power. It is of the utmost importance that the nervous and precocious child be early recognised as such, and that steps be taken for his protection. In infancy he should lead as simple an existence as possible, and must not be stimulated and exhibited for the amusement of an admiring circle.
