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4 
4 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. Ixxv 
_ posed by the British Association, what sect uses each of the existing temples would 
be of much scientific value, as vast numbers of Hindoos are eclectic and worship in 
_ numerous temples of different gods indifferently. 
We have the honour to be, my Lord, 
Your Lordship’s most obedient, humble Servants, 
LANSDOWNE. A. R. SCOBLE. 
F. 8. ROBERTS. C. A. ELLIOTT. 
G. CHESNEY. P, P. HUTCHINS. 
D. BARBOUR. 
THE SCHEDULE CONTAINS APPENDIX A. 
A. Standard Schedule. B. Standard Enumerator’s Abstract. 
C. Standard Block List. D. Instructions to Enumerators. 
(C) ‘ That the Council of the Association be requested to consider the following 
Resolutions of the Committee of Section H, and, if approved, to bring them under 
the notice uf H.M. Civil Service Commissioners and of the chief authorities of the 
Army, Navy, and Indian Civil Service Department :— 
‘(a) That the Committee concur in the opinion of H.M. Civil Service Com- 
missioners (Report xxxiii. p. 15) that there is no especial difficulty in 
assigning marks for physical qualifications with adequate precision. 
‘(6) They urge that it is reasonable to include marks for physical qualifica- 
tions among those by which the-place of a candidate is determined in 
competitive examinations for posts where high physical efficiency is. 
advantageous.’ 
The Council considered this question and resolved to address the 
following letter to the Civil Service Commissioners, the Secretaries of 
State for India and for War, and the Lords of the Admiralty :— 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 
22 Albemarle Street, London, W. 
March 1890. 
The Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science desire to 
‘submit the opinion expressed by the Anthropological Section of the Association last 
year, and subsequently confirmed by a Committee appointed by the Council, of the 
feasibility of assigning trustworthy marks for physical qualifications, and briefly to- 
state some of the reasons for that opinion. 
They feel it to be unnecessary to dwell on the desirability of including such 
marks in the examinations for entrance into services where high physical powers. 
are important, but would merely allude to the fact that it was fully recognised by 
the War Office in 1878, at which time a Joint Committee of the War Office and of 
the Civil Service Commissioners was appointed to inquire into the question ‘ whether 
the present literary examinations for the army should be supplemented by physical 
competition.’ Also that it was agreed to almost unanimously by the various. 
speakers in the House of Lords in connection with that report, on May 21 and June 
7, 1878, and on February 28, 1879. (See ‘Hansard’ for those dates, pp. 352, 1328, 
1941.) The report was presented June 28, 1878. 
j The recommendations of the Joint Committee referred almost wholly to marks. 
‘to be assigned for athletic performance. Objections to this method of examination 
were, however, pointed out by some of the witnesses; they were appreciated by the 
responsible authorities, and were strongly insisted upon by them in the concluding” 
debate. These objections applied principally to the costliness of the necessary pre- 
_ paration, to the difficulty of conducting the tests, to the additional strain they would 
impose on the already severely taxed energies of the candidates, and to the inter- 
ference of physical training with due preparation for the literary examinations. 
_ The consequence was that the recommendations of the Committee were not adopted 
by the responsible authorities, and the subject was laid aside. 
The Council of the British Association now desire to point out that, in the opinion 
_ of anthropologists, athletic performance is by no means the only basis upon which 
_ trustworthy marks for physical qualifications may be assigned. 
This opinion is confirmed by some experiments made at Eton College, of which 
