August 21, 1884] 



NA TURE 



339 



Mr. Paget divides his handbook into two parts, the 

 first relating to the right construction of schools, and the 

 second to their right administration. Under the former 

 head he discusses in succession the questions of the site, 

 soil, and aspect best suited for the erection of schools ; the 

 due provision of light and of air, and the importance of 

 a good supply of water both for drinking and for cleanli- 

 ness. His estimate of the space required for each child 

 appears to be excessive, and to be almost the only feature 

 of" his work which betokens a lack of practical experience, 

 and a striving after an unattainable ideal. It is well 

 known that the minimum space recognised by the 

 Education Department under any conditions as sufficient 

 is eight square feet of area, or eighty cubic feet of internal 

 space for each child ; but in schools built by Boards, or 

 out of funds levied by rates, the Department insists on a 

 larger provision, i.e. ten square feet of area and 1 20 cubic 

 feet. Any one familiar with well-planned Board Schools 

 of a modern type knows well that this space suffices to 

 secure ample room for movement, for change of position 

 for the arrangement and supervision of classes, and 

 for a due supply of air. It will, therefore, be somewhat 

 startling to school managers to learn that in Mr. Paget's 

 opinion this provision is absurdly insufficient, and that 800 

 or even 1,000 cubic feet per scholar would not be too much. 

 Perhaps it is wrong in such a connection to dwell on the 

 question of expense. But when it is considered that the 

 building of a good school, apart from the cost of the site, 

 requires an expenditure of 10/. per head — a great London 

 Board School for, say, 500 boys, 500 girls, and 600 infants, 

 in three stories costing about 16,000/. — it will be easy to 

 compute what would be the charge on the rates if each of 

 the 1,600 children were to be furnished with an area of 

 forty or fifty square feet in a room twenty feet high. The 

 estimate is clearly enormous, and can certainly not have 

 been founded on an observation of the actual dimensions 

 of any school, whether elementary or secondary. Apart, 

 however, from the consideration of expense, it may well 

 be doubted whether such vast space would in any 

 circumstances be needed. For the purposes of teaching 

 and organisation a certain compactness of arrangement 

 is clearly desirable, and the supervision of the head 

 teacher becomes more difficult and less complete in pro- 

 portion to the size of the area over which the work of the 

 school is spread. These are considerations, however, 

 which it would be right to overrule, if on sanitary grounds 

 there were any necessity for such large spaces. But when 

 the ordinary precautions which Mr. Paget suggests for 

 insuring light cheerfulness and ventilation are taken, it 

 is scarcely credible that any such necessity actually exists. 

 Mr. Paget's estimate of the amount of cubic space needed 

 in boarding schools, in cubicles, and dormitories, is not 

 so large in proportion, and is indeed not wholly consistent 

 with the demands he makes for space in a purely day 

 school. Nevertheless, by placing it at 1,200 cubic feet per 

 scholar, he practically condemns the arrangements in 

 almost every boarding school in England ; for the usual 

 requirements are thought to be well fulfilled with exactly 

 half that amount. 



On the extent of the window-space, the provision of 

 fresh air, the right construction and care of offices, the 

 colouring of walls, the admission of light, the right attitude 

 of the scholar, and the distance of his book in reading or 

 writing, and the form of desks, the handbook abounds in 

 judicious and definite suggestion. It is much less full and 

 useful, however, in regard to the fitting of playgrounds, 

 the organisation of games, and recreations generally. 

 Teachers will be disappointed to find how little of 

 practical guidance the book affords as to the best and 

 healthiest forms of recreation, and the proportion which 

 should exist between regulated gymnastics and the free 

 spontaneous exercis's which all boys and many girls can 

 readily discover for themselves. On diet, bathing, sanatoria, 

 and many details which specially concern boarding 



schools, Mr. Paget's advice is especially valuable and 

 complete. His estimate of the time per day which may 

 with full regard to all considerations of health be given to 

 intellectual pursuits, will surprise some of his medical 

 brethren who have been complaining of late of the 

 ordinary school hours as excessive, and have been 

 denouncing little home-tasks of half an hour long in 

 the elder classes as a " burden too grievous to be borne." 

 He computes that between the ages of seven and ten 

 five hours a day is probably sufficient, and between the 

 ages of ten and fifteen seven hours. When it is con- 

 sidered that even the elder and more diligent pupils in an 

 elementary school are never under instruction more than 

 five and a half hours a day for five days in the week, and 

 that the hardest home-lessons ever given in such a school 

 do not occupy nearly an hour a day : and when it is also 

 considered that even in the girls' high school — in which 

 the justest complaints have been made of excessive home- 

 tasks lasting sometimes two hours — the actual attendance 

 in the school itself is generally limited to four hours, it 

 will be seen that the absurdly exaggerated modern outcry 

 about over-strain receives no countenance from Mr. Paget. 

 His own good sense and experience, in short, lead him to 

 recognise the fact that after all the chief business of the 

 boy's or girl's life is training and instruction ; and that 

 provided all needful precautions are taken for right distri- 

 bution and variety of work, and for securing all the 

 conditions of healthy and cheerful life, the hours usually 

 devoted to education in England do not exceed a reason- 

 able amount, but rather fall short of them. 



It is not the least of the merits of the book that its 

 suggestions are put forth modestly, and with a remarkable 

 absence of dogmatism. When the writer is not quite 

 sure of his ground he is careful to say that his remarks 

 are tentative and suggestive only, intended to awaken 

 interest in the subject rather than to exhaust it ; and to 

 lead the way to a fuller and more careful study of the 

 whole theory of school hygiene with the aid of the 

 numerous appliances now on view at the Exhibition. This 

 reticence on points not yet finally settled tends greatly to 

 increase the confidence of the reader in Mr. Paget's 

 judgment on those topics on which he expresses a decided 

 opinion. 



NOTES FROM THE LEVDEN MUSEUM 



IT was a very happy thought of the late Prof. Schlegel 

 to publish under the above title a quarterly record of 

 the work done in the Royal Zoological Museum of the 

 Netherlands at Leyden. The publication commenced in 

 1879, and the five yearly volumes before us, edited by Prof. 

 Schlegel, will be one of the several enduring monuments 

 to his memory. To all those interested in zoological re- 

 search, the important treasures of the Leyden Museum 

 are of necessity known. However indebted the Museum 

 was to the well-known labours of Temminck, it is to the 

 zeal and knowledge of Schlegel that it occupies its pre- 

 sent high position among the museums of Europe. A 

 very few words will show the importance from a zoologi- 

 cal standpoint of these volumes, which contain on an 



I average 250 pages each. The first volume contains de- 

 scriptions of new species of mammals, birds, reptiles, 



1 insects, Crustacea, and worms. These descriptions are 

 for the most part by the director of the Museum and his 

 Assistants, but help seems also welcomed from every hand, 

 and the well-known names of R. B. Sharpe, P. Herbert 

 Carpenter, Dr. D. Sharpe, Rev. H. S. Gorham, Prof. J. O. 

 Westwood, occur among the British contributors. Be- 

 sides containing numerous diagnoses of new species, 

 these notes also from time to time present us with very 

 important critical essays. Thus, in vol. i. Dr. A. A. W. 

 Hubrecht's " Genera of European Nemerteans critically 

 revised, with Descriptions of New Species," with a first 

 appendix in vol. ii., is of great interest. It gives, so far 



