;5o 



NATURE 



[August 8, 190; 



■view, he took to be a distinct advantage. It lent freedom 

 to the discussions which would take place ; but, on the 

 other hand, it must not be supposed that the Government 

 of this country did anything else but take a keen interest 

 in the proceedings of the congress, and they were well 

 aware that the public departments concerned with the 

 subjects for discussion hoped to learn much in the course 

 of the next few days. He hoped that the result of their 

 meeting might have the best possible effects. It must be 

 a good thing for those belonging to different nations and 

 used to different systems to interchange ideas and to 

 engage in a most honourable and friendly rivalry as to 

 which nation and which system could best carry out the 

 objects they all had in view. He hoped, therefore, that 

 their meetings might leave some permanent mark on the 

 subjects, and that their deliberations would do much to 

 advance the knowledge of school hygiene, and to remove 

 what they must all regard as having been a serious blot 

 on the civilisation of the world. 



After speeches by Lord Londonderry and Lord Fitz- 

 maurice, .Sir Lauder Brunton delivered his presidential 

 address, from which we print the following extracts : — 



After welcoming the delegates, he said that he was sure 

 that the first duty which they would wish him to per- 

 form as their president was to voice their thanl-cs to the 

 King, patron of the congress, for the gracious welcome 

 which they had received from him through his repre- 

 sentative. Lord Crewe. But it was not for words of 

 welcome alone that the congress owed a debt of gratitude 

 to His Majesty. It had also to thank him for most sub- 

 stantial help at a critical time. A fortnight ago things 

 seemed to be going all wrong with the congress; it 

 threatened to be more or less of a failure. At this 

 juncture, through the kind intervention of Mr. Alfred 

 de Rothschild, His Majesty graciously granted him (Sir 

 Lauder Brunton) a personal interview, and asked him to 

 explain the circumstances. He did so, and in a few 

 minutes the King had put everything right, and things, 

 which had been going all wrong before, from that moment 

 went right, and the congress which threatened to be more 

 or less of a fiasco now bid fair to be a brilliant success. 

 Its success would not be due only to the numbers attend- 

 ing it nor to the enthusiasm of its members, but to the 

 work which they trusted it would accomplish, not only 

 during the time of its sitting, but after it was over, for 

 they hoped that arrangements would be made by which 

 its work would become permanent, and would be carried 

 on in the intervals between successive congresses. For 

 his services to the congress the King not only deserved 

 the gratitude of the congress itself, but also of all school 

 children, born and yet unborn, who might owe to its 

 labours health, strength, and happiness. 



They were met from every part of the civilised world, 

 throwing aside every subject of disagreement, and were 

 intent only on one common object — the health of the 

 children. Parental affection was one of the strongest and 

 most fundamental instincts, not only in man, but even in 

 the lower animals. They all desired that their children 

 should grow up healthy, strong, and happy ; and they 

 were all anxious to take the best means at their disposal 

 to obtain such a desirable end. Amongst these, one of 

 the chief was education. In savage communities, where 

 the chief objects of life were war and hunting, education 

 was comparatively simple, and was thoroughly well 

 adapted to the end in view. But in civilised communities 

 the complexity of conditions sometimes led, and indeed 

 had led, to mistakes in education, and the very meaning 

 of the word had been forgotten, so that, instead of draw- 

 ing out and developing in every child all its possible 

 powers of body and of mind — so that in its life it should 

 do the very best of which its nature was capable — educa- 

 tion had degenerated into a system of cramming and 

 cultivating one or two faculties of the mind, and especially 

 that of memory, to the injury of others, while the con- 

 dition of the body as the servant of the mind had, to a 

 certain extent, been lost sight of in this country. They 

 were now awakening to the necessity of attending to the 

 body if the mind was to be developed, and many efforts 

 were being made in various countries to secure a system 

 of mental and physical training which would ensure the 



NO. 197 1, VOL. 76] 



best development of children. The great advantage of a 

 congress like this was that the systems employed in 

 various places were brought together and compared, so 

 that each country might learn from the others the useful 

 plans they ought to adopt and the errors they ought to 

 avoid. 



One of the most important subjects of all in this respect 

 was that of medical inspection in schools, because this 

 was the keystone of physical education. Without it, the 

 defects of eyes, cars, nose, and teeth which affected 

 individual scholars could not be ascertained, and so those 

 children remained backward in their learning, suffering 

 in their bodies and so much damaged in physique that 

 they were unfitted for many occupations, could not enter 

 the Army, and went to swell the numbu-s of the criminal 

 classes. 



The physical training of children during the period of 

 growth was one of the best means of ensuring proper 

 development. In some countries this was carried out more 

 especially by systematic exercise, which developed the 

 muscles, while in this country we depended more upon 

 games. Both of these systems left something to be 

 desired, and the ideal system was to be looked for in a 

 proper combination of both. One of the most difficult, 

 and yet one of the most important, questions of school 

 hygiene was how to combine educational work with 

 physical training, so that both should be productive of 

 benefit, and not of injury, to the child. Proper alternation 

 of mental and physical exercise was one means of prevent- 

 ing this, but attention must also be paid to the nature of 

 the physical exercise. 



But all attempts to develop a healthy race would be 

 ineffectual if they took care only of the children who were 

 at school now. They must look a generation ahead, and 

 consider that the children who were at school now fifteen 

 or twenty years hence would be the fathers and mothers 

 of a fresh set of school children whose physique woujd 

 depend very much upon the way they had been treated 

 and fed in their infancy and childhood. It was, there- 

 fore, of the utmost importance that boys and girls should 

 be instructed in the laws of health, the need of cleanli- 

 ness, the dangers of impure food or water, and the evils 

 of alcoholic abuse. Such instruction should not be given 

 by lectures, which were likely to be misunderstood or 

 forgotten, but by actual demonstration. 



In conclusion, the president said that he felt sure that 

 by cooperation they would obtain the object they had in 

 view — namely, the health of the children. 



At the conclusion of the meeting the following tele- 

 gram was sent to the King : — 



To His Majesty the King, Royal yacht Viciotia and 

 Albert, Cowes. — Your Majesty's most gracious message 

 at the opening of the International Congress of School 

 Hygiene by Lord Crewe this afternoon was received with 

 the most humble and most respectful thanks of the dele- 

 gates from foreign Governments and public authorities 

 and the members of the meeting assembled. Signed, 

 Lauder Brunton, president, James Kerr and E. White 

 Wallis, honorary general secretaries. 

 .\nd in the evening, at the first general meeting and 

 reception of delegates and members, the following 

 reply from His Majesty was read : — 



To Sir Lauder Brunton, lo Stratford Place, London, W. 



The King desires me to thank you and the honorary 

 general secretaries for the telegram he has received from 

 you and to express his hope that the ceremony to-day 

 went off well. (Signed) Knollvs. Cowes. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT LEICESTER. 



AS anticipated, the British Association has been 

 fortunate in its choice of Leicester for this 

 year's annual meeting, and we congratulate the asso- 

 ciation because of the high character of its proceed- 

 ings, initiated by the presidential address, and main- 

 tained in the special discourses of Mr. Duddell, Prof. 

 Miers, and Dr. Dixey, and the sectional papers, and 

 the town itself because of its genuine and hearty 

 welcome to its many visitors, and the carefully con- 



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