Ixxvi REPORT—1890. 
an account was submitted to the British Association. Thirty-two youths, most of 
whom were candidates for the army, were inspected and marked by two medical 
men, sitting in separate rooms. The medical men had previously received the same 
general instructions, but otherwise acted independently. The marks they severally 
assigned to the youths were afterwards found to agree with considerable precision. 
Then, nineteen of these youths were set to write an English essay, and their per- 
formances in that respect were submitted to two examiners in turn, to be marked 
independently by them. ‘The marks given by these examiners agreed together only 
one-half as closely as those given by the medical men. No one disputes the sub- 
stantial trustworthiness of such literary examinations as these, however much they 
may be thought capable of improvement. But this experiment (so far as it goes) 
proves that the trustworthiness of physical examinations would be still greater. 
The difficulty of formulating a system for the use of inspectors, according to 
which marks should be assigned on a common and easily understood principle, is 
greatly lessened by the use of anthropometric tests. Much experience testifies to 
the quickness and adequate precision with which the chief elements of physical 
efficiency admit of being measured. These are the breathing capacity and the 
strength, both of them to be regarded with reference to the stature and to the 
weight; the rapidity of muscular action; the quickness of response to a signal made 
either to the eye or to the ear; the keenness of eyesight, and that of hearing, and 
whether the colour-sense is normal or not. 
An experiment made at Marlborough College, which has just been published, 
shows how small may be the differences between the class-places determined by 
these measures and those determined partly, in some cases, by the physical aspect, 
but principally by proficiency in the various school games, or, in other words, by 
athletic competition, Seventeen youths were measured by such apparatus as was 
then available at the College, and copies of their measures were distributed among 
the masters, to be marked by them on whatever principle they severally thought 
best. The individual results proved to be very discordant, but their averages, which 
express the result of the aggregate common sense of all the masters, ranked the boys 
in closely the same order as that independently assigned to them according to their 
proficiency in the various school games and to their apparent physique. It will be 
observed that if the masters had previously conferred and come to a mutual under- 
standing on the principle according to which the marks should be assigned, they 
must necessarily have arrived at identical results, as they had definite and identical 
data to work upon. There happened to be one case of failure, which was instructive. 
This was due to the absence of any test at the College for rapidity of muscular 
action, or of promptness of response to a signal. The consequence was that an agile 
youth was rated too low. 
The Council would point out that the experience gained by the measurement of 
about 2,000 students at Cambridge conclusively proves that success in literary 
examinations is in no manner connected with stature, weight, strength, or breathing 
capacity, and but slightly with keenness of eyesight. Such differences as there 
appear to be in these respects between the men who obtain high honours and those 
who take an ordinary degree are small, and can be accounted for. Successful 
literary men have probably great nervous energy, perseverance, and great power of 
concentrating their efforts, which would cause them to utilise such physical powers 
as they possessed with much effect, but they are shown to be neither superior nor 
inferior in the above-mentioned particulars to those who fail. 
The Council of the British Association have noted with pleasure the opinion 
expressed by the Civil Service Commissioners in their Report of 1889 (xxxiii. p. 15), 
to the effect that they anticipate no greater difficulty in ranking candidates accord- 
ing to their physical than according to their literary qualifications. The Council there- 
upon beg to express the views at which they themselves have arrived as follow :— 
It seems to them that the paucity of available data makes it scarcely possible at ” 
the present moment to elaborate as complete a system of assigning marks for physi- 
cal qualifications as is desirable, and as, in their opinion, would be otherwise feasible. 
They therefore think it very important that suitable steps should be taken to obtain 
these data. For instance, if a temporary system of marks were tried, with the 
avowed determination of reconsidering the subject after some experience had been 
gained, the desired information would rapidly accumulate in the hands of the 
inspectors; the attention of schoolmasters would be strongly aroused, and it is 
probable that they would attempt a variety of experiments analogous to those 
