22 MAL-NUTRITIOX AND THE TEACHER'S 



In the same way we can compare the variability of those 

 measurements among normal and feeble-minded individuals, 

 and while the feeble-minded have generally the greater 

 variability, the differences are small, the greatest being less 

 than two millimetres. It is thus clear that the conclusions 

 reached by the authors of this careful investigation must be 

 accepted : ' that the absolute size of the palate seems to be 

 the same for feeble-minded as for normal individuals, but 

 that the variability of the feeble-minded is slightly greater 

 than that of the normal.' The differences are so small, 

 however, that they could not have been detected by any 

 examination of the kind carried out by Dr. Warner. 



We have now examined Dr. Warner's treatment of two 

 characters capable of exact quantitative measurement, the 

 size and shape of the head, and the form of the palate ; it 

 has been shown that the necessary measurements were not 

 made, but that Dr. Warner depended on mere impressions 

 instead, and further that the results obtained by him are 

 wholly at variance with those obtained from other investi- 

 gations in which such measurements were carefully made. 

 What weight then can we give to his treatment of characters 

 for which ' purely verbal classification ' had to be employed, 

 to his treatment of ' Nerve Signs ', for instance, some of 

 which he says * entirely baffle description in anatomical 

 terms'.^ 



Of these we can only deal here with one, the estimate 

 made of the intelligence of the children. In the case of the 

 L.C.C. investigation, Mr. Yule can hardly find words strong 

 enough for his condemnation of this important part of the 

 work. In amusing crescendo he objects to the categories 

 under which the intelligence of the children was estimated 

 by the teachers ; he denies that the opinions of the teachers 



^ Report, p. 24. 



