74 



NA TURE 



[Nov. 27, 1; 



1000, a decline of i9'o5 per cent." ; that " the main part 

 in this fall was due to diminished mortality from the chief 

 zymotic diseases": that death from other diseases had 

 also declined, " whereas the death-rate from nervous affec- 

 tions remained unaffected," or, possibly, slightly increased. 

 A diminution of 19 per cent, in the death-rate is a great 

 gain, and that this is not to be wholly or mainly attributed 

 to improved sanitary conditions in their dwellings is 

 shown by the fact that the diminution of mortality is much 

 smaller in children under the school age. 1 But the question 

 arises, granted that going to school is in the main favour- 

 able to health, what about these nervous diseases? Is 

 their probable increase the result of increased attendance 

 at school during the last decade ? Dr. Crichton Browne 

 has drawn out and discussed at great length the statistics 

 of lunacy and the mortality from hydrocephalus, cephal- 

 itis, diabetes, nephritis, Bright's disease, uraemia, rheu- 

 matic fever, and rheumatism, and shows that during the 

 live years 1876-80 there was an increase of these diseases. 

 But the remarkable fact comes out that this increase has 

 affected all ages. The increase of death from diseases of 

 the kidneys has been greater among persons of twenty 

 years and upwards, and the increase from inflammation 

 of the brain and its membranes has been greater among 

 children under five years of age than among those who 

 have attended school during the period in question. 



But the statistics of disease would be more valuable 

 than those of death. Unfortunately they scarcely exist. 

 Dr. Crichton Browne has, however, tabulated the results 

 of his inquiries on this subject in eleven London schools. 

 In regard to headache, to which he has naturally paid 

 great attention, he has arrived at the startling conclusion 

 that "as many as 46'i per cent, of the children attending 

 elementary schools suffer from habitual headache." He 

 analyses the nature of these headaches very fully, but to 

 ask a class of children to hold up their hands in response 

 to the question, " How many boys or girls here suffer 

 from headaches often, or now and then ? " is far from 

 being a scientific method of procedure. His tables of 

 comparison between the different Standards seem to me 

 more valuable as evidence. If any real mischief is going 

 on in our schools, it will betray itself in the evil being 

 more apparent among those children who have been 

 longest at school. In the case of short-sightedness, which, 

 from investigations on the Continent, Mr. Brudencll 

 Carter's inquiries at home, and other sources of informa- 

 tion, we know to be a growing malady, the increasing 

 percentage from Standard I. to Standard VI. is very ap- 

 parent from Dr. Browne's table, rising, as it does, from 

 2'5 to 9'2. In the case of headache there is a slight in- 

 crease ; but in the case of sleeplessness and neuralgia 01 

 toothache there is a very marked decrease. No doubt 

 the inquiry is a very complex one, and it is impossible 

 to separate the different factors in the result, but these 

 tables certainly invalidate rather than support the opinion 

 that the nervous systems of the children in our primary 

 schools are being seriously undermined. 



In so important a matter as the health of the rising 

 generation we should welcome any additional knowledge 

 that may be the outcome of this controversy ; but the 

 point of practical importance is how to maintain to the 



1 This matter is discu / Journal for June 1 lad 



utmost the beneficial results of our educational system, 

 and at the same time avoid the danger of over-pressure 

 in individual instances or under specially unfavourable 

 circumstances. 



The provisions of the Mundella Code and the recent 

 Instructions to Her Majesty's Inspectors ought to be fully 

 carried out. In Article 8 of the Code managers are stated to 

 beheld responsible "for the care of the health of individual 

 scholars, who ma)- need to be withheld from examination 

 or relieved from some part of the school work throughout 

 the year." In Article 109 it is stated : " The inspector will 

 also satisfy himself that the teacher has neither with- 

 held scholars improperly from examination, nor unduly 

 pressed those who are dull or delicate in preparation for 

 it at any time of the year ; and that, in classifying them 

 for instruction, regard has been paid to their health, their 

 age, and their mental capacity, as well as to their due 

 progress in learning." The local managers are also con- 

 sidered the best judges of the special circumstances which 

 render it inexpedient to require home lessons. But how 

 are managers to judge of the health of individual 

 children ? The proposal that a monthly record of the 

 height, weight, head and chest girth of all the children 

 should be kept in every school is not likely to be 

 adopted, on account of the enormous additional expense 

 which it would entail ; but it would not seem impractic- 

 able to draw up some simple regulations for teachers or 

 managers which might enable them to detect an anaemic 

 or neurotic condition or the incipient stages of nervous 

 malady. 



A guard ought to be set against those practices which 

 tend to over-pressure. These are pretty well known to 

 practical teachers. The London Board has during the 

 last two or three years taken several steps in this direc- 

 tion. The teachers used to be paid partly from the 

 Government grant, and thus had a pecuniary incentive 

 to press forward the feeble, so as to insure their passing 

 the examination. There were great difficulties in altering 

 these arrangements, but it was accomplished at the close 

 of last year. It is a common practice to prolong the 

 hours of teaching, especially shortly before the inspector's 

 visit ; this was objected to by the London Board four 

 years ago, and now is forbidden. Home lessons are left 

 optional with the teachers and the parents. Improved 

 physical exercises for girls have been introduced. The 

 Education Department has been induced to diminish the 

 excessive requirements of the Code in regard to needle- 

 work. Arrangements also are being made for relieving 

 the pupil-teachers to a large extent from their labours in 

 the schools. 



It is to be hoped that one beneficial result of this dis- 

 cussion will be an increased perception of the necessity 

 of variety in the subjects of instruction. In the words of 

 Mr. E. N. Buxton, Chairman of the London Board, " It 

 is monotony which kills ; indeed, we look to a wholesome 

 variety as a means of welcome relief." Happily the Code 

 now requires "varied and appropriate occupations in infant 

 schools ; " and this is largely insisted on in the recent In- 

 structions to Her Majesty's Inspectors. The dreary mono- 

 tony of the three R's in the 1st Standard and in backward 

 schools should be relieved by object-lessons or other 

 interesting occupations, and literary studies should be 

 balanced by the elements of science as well as by drawing. 



