Maxcul 7, 1907 | 
that supple manner which attains its maximum de- 
velopment in the darter, or ‘‘ snake-bird.”’ Having 
so carefully described this feature, it is a little sur- 
prising that the author has permitted his artist to 
reproduce in the plate facing p. 80 the old con- 
ventional restoration of a plesiosaur with its neck 
bent into a swan-like curve, when, from the form of 
the articular surfaces of the vertebrae, it is manifestly 
impossible that such a flexure could have been 
assumed. The power of neck-flexure is evidently a 
specialised feature due to a long process of osteo- 
logical evolution. 
A statement on p. 252 is another thing which the 
author on reflection would probably like to amend. 
It is there stated that the chameleon keeps its tongue 
“rolled up (the only way of pushing its monstrous 
length in his mouth).’’ This is scarcely in accord 
with Dr. Gadow’s explanation of the mechanism. 
‘““The elastic part of the tongue,’’ writes that 
authority, ‘‘is, so to speak, telescoped over the style- 
shaped copula, and the whole apparatus is kept in a 
contracted state like a spring in a tube.” 
Exception may likewise be taken to certain state- 
ments in connection with the fossil vertebrates of 
Patagonia on p. For instance, the author de- 
finitely states that the ‘‘ strange hoofed animals have 
their nearest allies in the hyrax,’’ whereas it is only a 
suggestion that one group of these ungulates might 
have affinity with the hyraxes, and this is discredited 
by Dr. Andrews. Again, although it may be per- 
missible to allude to the megatherium as the megalo- 
there, it is certainly wrong to style it the ‘‘ megalo- 
thera ’’; while to write that the seriema (not siriema) 
had a skull as large as that of a horse displays 
great want of knowledge. 
The author has much of interest to say with regard 
to the nature of feathers and the flight of birds, 
which is one of his favourite subjects, while in the 
final three chapters he takes into consideration the 
minds of men and animals, the struggle for exist- 
ence, and natural selection, including under the later 
heading the evolutionary theories of Darwin, de Vries, 
Mendel, and others. To review these chapters, 
interesting as they are, is, however, unfortunately 
impossible within our allotted space. We must 
accordingly bring this notice to a somewhat abrupt 
close by reiterating our opinion that the author has 
succeeded in producing a very readable and thoughtful 
book, which deserves a large clientéle of readers. 
Ree: 
222. 
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL 
CHILDREN. 
The Health of the School Child. By Dr. W. Leslie 
Mackenzie. Pp. vit+120. (London: Methuen and 
Gos n.d.) Price 2s: Gas 
a3 ie the Education Bill now [last October] before 
Parliament, a clause has been inserted to make 
medical inspection obligatory in all English State- 
aided schools’ (p. vi.) ‘In their Scottish Education 
Bill of last year (1904) the Government included pro- 
vision for the medical examination and supervision of 
NO. 1949, VOL. 75 | 
NATURE 
135 
school-children. ... The examination of school- 
children is, therefore, no longer a question of doubt- 
ful politics... . It has now all but passed into 
” 
the region of administration. . . .’’ (p. 53). 
This stage having at leneth been reached in our 
own country, we can follow Dr. Mackenzie with all 
the more readiness and interest to Wiesbaden, and 
listen to his account of the medical inspection of 
schools as he found it carried on there. In this town, 
he tells us, there are some 10,000 elementary school- 
children who are under the supervision of seven 
specially appointed school doctors, each receiving an 
average stipend of about gol. per annum. The school 
doctor has to examine every child when it enters and 
leaves the school, and during its third, fifth, and 
eighth school years. He rejects those who are unfit 
for school attendance, he notifies defects to the 
parents, and he may give them advice as to treat- 
ment. He visits the school for about an hour every 
fortnight in order to deal with current cases of ill- 
health. 
Dr. Mackenzie describes how, on the occasion of 
| one of his visits, he found the doctor examining thirty- 
five newly-entered children, observing the state of 
their nose, eyes, skin, bones, joints, spine, heart, 
lungs, and the presence or absence of hernia, measur- 
ing the chest, testing their speech, eyesight and 
hearing, and recording these various conditions on 
specially scheduled cards. The doctor ‘‘ seemed to 
be readily welcomed by the teachers, and was some- 
times waited for by the parents, who wished to get 
his personal opinion of the children’’ (p. 1o)—an 
appreciation arguing diligent obedience to the two 
following regulations, which are issued in all Teutonic 
gravity to the school doctors. ‘‘In the filling in of 
the particular form (notifying ill-health to the parent) 
all harshness and rudeness of expression are to be 
avoided’ (p. 94). ‘‘In reference to the teaching, the 
doctor is warned that he should tactfully avoid all 
exposure of a teacher before his class’ (p. 93)! 
But the current of our admiration slackens when 
Dr. Mackenzie tells us that the inspection of the 
thirty-five new children in the above manner occupied 
only an hour and a half. It is difficult to believe 
that an examination of so wide a scope thus rapidly 
conducted can be of great value. Practice, of course, 
brings speed, but not even the greatest expert could 
satisfactorily make such a detailed study of school- 
children, giving an average of less than three minutes 
to each individual. Eyesight and hearing alone could 
hardly be tested in that interval. 
““When one reflects that from twenty to thirty per 
cent. of our school-children in Scotland suffer from 
eye defects needing correction or attention ’’ (p. 81), 
we may reasonably doubt the policy of introducing 
into the United Kingdom this German system of 
school inspection without modification. 
The German system should surely be modified in 
the direction of lightening the doctor’s burden. Inas- 
much as “Dr. Kerr, of the London County Council, 
found that with a little care the teachers were able 
to find out almost all the children that suffered from 
eye defects’ (p. 82), there is no reason why teachers 
should not be trained and required to test periodically 
