ANTHROPOMETRY 49 



photographs taken, and these are permanently 

 displayed in their schools. The whole process 

 interests the boys so much that they are always 

 anxious to know what kind of things will improve 

 their physical development, and what things will 

 harm it. But there are no " anti-cigarette" talks, 

 for instance. "Anti" talks of any kind con- 

 stitute negative teaching, which is excessively bad 

 pedagogy and psychology, and quite without 

 beneficial effect. The "don't" method is an 

 abject failure. The only kind of teaching is a 

 positive teaching. Encourage the children to do 

 something that will indirectly prevent or dis- 

 courage them from doing something that they 

 should not do, and you will find this method as 

 effective as you can desire. So, in the carrying 

 on of this system, such a matter as smoking 

 might be mentioned almost casually, thus: 



"Well, cigarettes will not kill you right off, I 

 dare say, and I suppose they will not immediately 

 make you stone blind, or crazy, or give you con- 

 sumption, or the like. But there is one thing 

 about it: if you do smoke — well, the fellows who 

 don't, will get ahead of you in this competition!" 



To boys that makes a perfectly logical argu- 

 ment. They characteristically like competitions, 

 and they wish very much to win this kind of com- 

 petition. Through such a means any bad habit 

 can be effectively attacked, from such simple 



