SCHOOL ANTHROPOMETRICS. 695 



■chest ; hair and eye colours ; place or origin of parents and grand- 

 parents, and environmental factors. The question arises, Are all 

 these equally important and profitable in Australia ? It is not 

 possible at this stage to affirm that they are or are not ; we must 

 experiment for ourselves and ascertain the values. In any case we 

 cannot, in the light of recent research, go on comparing ourselves 

 with British or other standards, and deduce any differences favour- 

 able or unfavourable to ourselves as we have done in the past. It 

 is in the future that probably any efforts in this direction of anthro- 

 pometric enquiry will bear fruit. Australia is in a particularly 

 well-favoured position for making very valuable contributions to 

 the development of child-study. 



The adoption of the British Standard, 1908, for Australia and 

 New Zealand, would give us data comparable with the data of other 

 countries. In time we should be able to compare ourselves with the 

 stock from wliich we have sprung, to judge the influence (if any) 

 of climate and other environmental factors on the race, by comparing 

 the sub-tropical North Australia with the south of the continent 

 or Tasmania. In other words to recognise the modifications (if 

 any) which the new environment or Anglo-Celtic mixture of our 

 population is producing. The problem of settling the Northern 

 Territory is particularly inviting to an anthropometric survey, and 

 can only be adequately solved by demonstrating how far the white 

 race can control an unfavourable environment. 



As regards the means of carrying out this enquiry it would 

 seem most practicable to include it in the Medical Inspection 

 Schemes of the States and for the examination of cadets for com- 

 pulsory service under the Defence Scheme. In schools much of 

 the work can be delegated to the teachers if care is taken to 

 instruct them in the need for accuracy, and to stimulate their 

 interest by showing them a practical use for measurements of 

 heights and weights as giving opportunities for problems in 

 arithmetic and for graph work to their pupils. The provision of 

 good standards of colour will enable them to record pigmentation 

 of hair and eyes. Information as to the number of generations a 

 family has been in Australia as collected in Sydney in 1901 and 

 extended in Victoria in 1910 can be best obtained by the plan 

 adopted in some American schools of sending printed circulars to 

 the parents with appropriate questions as to origin of parents, 

 grandparents and environment. 



The method of enhsting the services of the teacher will not 

 involve any great loss of time or interference with school routine, 

 — an aspect wliich the educational authority has to consider when 

 any incursion into a school is imposed — and has the advantage of 

 increasing their knowledge of the cliild's home environment. 



It is necessary that medical inspection shall be extended to 

 aU children and not confined to those that have obvious pathological 

 signs. The primary object of medical inspection is finding out the 

 pathological states, but only a shortsighted policy will not confine 

 it to such narrow limits. An enquiry that does not embrace the 



