HYGIENE AND SCHOOL LIFE. 85 



an irrational punishment that results in mental and physical 

 exhaustion. The task of standing for long periods tends to 

 injure the spine, and the abominable imposition of writing 

 long extracts or committing matter to memory spoils both the 

 handwriting and nature of a child. 



I submit that the most satisfactory means of correcting, as 

 a rule, is by depriving the culprit of privileges or pleasures 

 that are accorded to the better-behaved scholars. A know- 

 ledge of physiology or hygiene would debar a teacher from 

 inflicting any task that would be greater than the child's ability, 

 and would suggest to him that the failure was perhaps rather 

 due to bodily defects or affliction than to vice or carelessness. 



Accidents or Illness. — A teacher should know enough of 

 " first aid " to deal with any of the many casualties that occur 

 in the school-room or play-ground until medical aid arrives, 

 and such articles as bandages, absorbent cotton, smelling salts, 

 etc., should be regularly kept at hand. 



In conclusion, I would again remark that my paper is con- 

 fined to the personal side of school life rather than to the 

 buildings and surroundings within which that life is spent, and 

 the trouble of preparing it will be more than compensated for 

 if the eyes of those w^ho have not had opportunities of studying 

 this very important subject are opened to its many possibilities. 



MIGRATION OF LOCUST BIRDS.— In order to obtain 

 definite evidence in regard to the flights of the White Stork 

 and other migratory birds, European ornithologists have 

 adopted the practice of affixing an inscription around one of 

 the legs. In the annual report of the South African Central 

 Locust Bureau, recently issued, a record is given of seven 

 storks thus marked in Hungary and one in Germany, and 

 afterwards reported from South Africa. One of these was 

 found at Glencoe and one at Polela, in the Province of Natal ; 

 two were found in the Transvaal, at Ermelo and Wolmarans- 

 stad respectively; one was discovered at Morija, Basutoland, 

 one at Cradock, Cape Province, and two in the Orange Free 

 State, viz., at Senekal and at Boshof. 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Chemical, Metallurgical, and Mining Society of South Africa. — 

 Saturday, August 27th : J. Moir, M.A., D.Sc, F.C.S., President, in the chair. 

 — " The" efficiency of labour underground " : T. Johnson. Remarks on 

 the payment and organisation of mine labourers. — " Ventilation and health 

 conditions on the mines of the Witwatersrand " : S. PenlericK. A 

 discussion of the means to be adopted in dealing with and obviating the 

 causes of disease amongst the Witwatersrand miners, due to dust, the spread 

 of tuberculosis, and the effects of the fumes arising from the employment of 

 explosives. The ventilating system installed at the East Rand Proprietary 

 Mines was described. 



Saturday, September 17th : Prof. G. H. Stanley, A.R.S.M., M.I.M.E., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — " The distribution of pulp for Tube Milling " : 

 G. A. Robertson. An illustrated description of an improved method for 

 distributing pulp equally between 10 to 15 tube mills. — "Notes on battery 



