EDITOR'S TABLE. 



273 



upon which the public pedagogue is not only 

 left free, but required, to operate. The mere 

 fact that this obvious measure of individual 

 scrutiny, frojn the health point of view, is 

 omitted, puts the case for the department out 

 of court. 



Dr. Crichton Browne insists that, " in a 

 great number of cases of dullness of intellect, 

 a medical man could at once recognize the 

 physical defects (which are often distinctive 

 enough, although imperceptible except to the 

 medical eye) which accompany mental weak- 

 ness, and would support the judgment of 

 the teachers ; and in many cases of bodily 

 disease and debility he could interefere to 

 protect the children, even against the teach- 

 ers, by preventing scholars who, although 

 quick-witted and eager to learn, are cer- 

 tain to suffer in the process from being 

 unduly pushed forward." The profession 

 will indorse this statement as one of fact, 

 and with that indorsement the dispute 

 ought to end. Dr. Crichton Browne has 

 undoubtedly proved his case. It is not to ' 

 the point whether the victims are many or 

 few, the system extant is radically bad ; and, 

 that being so, the magnitude of the mischief 

 wrought is of secondary importance. The 

 blunder of striving to enforce a uniform code 1 

 ought to be repaired without more ado. It 

 may be strictly true, as Lord Shaftesbury has 

 remarked, that "there does not live on the 

 face of the earth a man who is more opposed 

 to tyranny and oppression than Mr. Mun- 

 della, or any one more earnestly desirous of 

 putting down all over-pressure as regards 

 women and children." Then why, in the 

 name of common sense, does not the vice- 

 president adopt the suggestion made to him, 

 instead of fighting what must needs be a los- 

 ing battle against his own moral and states- 

 manly consciousness of right ? 



Headaches, short-sightedness, neuralgia, 

 and sleeplessness are not normal contingen- 

 cies of youth, either for pupil-teachers or 

 children, yet it is a fact which Dr. Crichton 

 Browne has demonstrated, and which men 

 "engaged in the ordinary practice" among 

 the humbler classes, and who, according to 

 Mr. Fitch, are " able to know something of 

 the children of the poor, their pursuits and 

 their aliments," can substantiate, that these 

 troubles — the direct fruits of over-pressure of 

 work — largely prevail. Nothing can be gained 

 by denying this fact, and certainly a lay in- 

 spector is not the person to contradict an able 

 and experienced practitioner on the subject. 

 Dr. Crichton Browne modestly says : " I can 

 not doubt that many of the facts which I have 

 brought before you in this letter will be dis- 



VOL. XXVI. — 18 



puted, and that many of the principles which 

 I have incidentally laid down will be chal- 

 lenged ; but tlie former admit of verification, 

 and in the latter I shall, I believe, have the 

 support of the medical profession." Wo ac- 

 cept the facts and support the principles. If 

 Mr. Mundella is not satisfied with one of the 

 best professional opinions obtainable, let him 

 appoint a small commission of physicians and 

 surgeons, men of mark, in whom he and the 

 public will have confidence, but who are in 

 no sort of way connected with the public 

 service or the department, and let the issue 

 be left in their hands. It is not for Mr. Mun- 

 della and his lay inspector to impugn the 

 judgment of a qualified physician. The pre- 

 siunption of so doing does not beseem these 

 gentlemen : it goes better with the crass 

 heartlcssness — to use no stronger epithet — of 

 the school manager who, when a wearied mis- 

 tress ventured to sit while teaching her class, 

 ordered all chairs to be removed from the 

 building ! While the administration of our 

 educational system rests in hands like these, 

 there is little hope of success or safety in its 

 operation. For the sake of children and 

 teachers alike, the schools ought at once 

 to be placed under medical supervision. In 

 an able and interesting paper on " The Brain 

 of the School-Child," read before the Social 

 Science Congress at Birmingham, Dr. Fran- 

 cis Warner has insisted on the urgency of the 

 need which exists for medical inspection. 

 We cordially indorse and support his argu- 

 ment. It is the cry of common sense. If the 

 reasonable demand be not met fairly and 

 fully, there can not fail to be disappointment 

 and regret when the inevitable issue of a mis- 

 taken and futile policy is fully worked out. 



TEE ABUSE OF POLITICAL POWER. 



"WniLE Rome was burning, it is said, 

 Nero fiddled. The merry crackle of the 

 flames, the glaring and tossing of the 

 fiery sea, stirred the irresponsible tyrant 

 to mirth as he heard and surveyed it 

 all from his lofty tower. The story 

 may or may not be mythical, but in 

 either case it has its value as helping 

 to complete in our minds the true type 

 of the tyrant. The tyrant is he who 

 uses public power as a private posses- 

 sion — uses it for his own gratification 

 and not as a trust — and who can, there- 

 fore, stand apart in the hour of public 



