572 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



on influence of examinations on teach- 

 ing, and on the course of experimental, 

 observational and practical studies 

 most suitable for elementary schools, 

 and one on conditions of health in 

 schools. 



A special session of the anthropolog- 

 ical section was devoted to the question 

 of an anthropometric survey of Great 

 Britain and the alleged deterioration 

 of the people. Mr. J. Gray outlined 

 a plan that had been presented to the 

 Privy Council committee according to 

 which the United Kingdom would be 

 divided into 400 districts, in each of 

 which a representative sample of about 

 1,000 adults of each sex would be sub- 

 jected to a large number of measure- 

 ments and observations. The whole of 

 the school children would be measured, 

 because a thousand of each sex for each 

 age interval of one year would be re- 

 quired, which would amount to about 

 the whole of the school population. 

 The survey would be completed once 

 every ten years, and the total number 

 measured in that time would be about 

 800,000 adults and 8,000,000 children. 

 It is much to be hoped that the work 

 of the Bureau of American Ethnology 

 may be enlarged so that a similar sur- 

 vey may be made in the United States. 

 Professor D. J. Cunningham and Dr. 

 F. C. Shrubsall read papers, the latter 

 discussing the relations of the blond 

 and brunette types and the fact that 

 the former tends to disappear in cities. 



Mr. Balfour, who presided over the 

 meeting, remarked that the progeny of 

 every man who won his way from the 

 lowest ranks into the middle class was 

 likely to diminish because of later mar- 

 riages in that class. Hence it seemed 

 that, as the state so contrived educa- 

 tion as to allow this ' rising ' from a 

 lower to upper class, by so much did 

 it do something to diminish the actual 

 quality of the breed. It was, of course, 

 not an argument against the state's 

 attitude towards education in this re- 

 spect; but there was, or seemed to be, 

 no escape from the rather melancholy 

 conclusion that everything done 

 towards opening up careers to those 

 of the lower classes did something 

 towards the deterioration of the race. 

 In a survey such as this, it has of 

 course only been possible to select from 

 the programs and printed abstracts a 

 few topics from the large number which 

 came before the sections. They indi- 

 cate, however, the general subjects now 

 engaging the attention of scientific men 

 and call to mind the names of a few of 

 the leaders of science of Great Britain. 

 It seems that on the whole the more 

 eminent British men of science are 

 more likely to attend the meeting of 

 their general association and to take 

 a part in its proceedings than is the 

 case in this country, and it appears also 

 that Great Britain has, at least in the 

 physical sciences, more eminent men 

 lii an we have. 



