REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. lxxvil 
alluded to at Eton and Marlborough, but on a much larger scale. In a very few 
‘years it might then become feasible to arrange a system that should be generally 
acceptable. 
In furtherance of these views the Council of the British Association beg to submit 
he following recommendations :— 
(1) That an inquiry should be held as to the best system of assigning marks for 
physical qualifications, on the double basis of inspection and anthropometry, with a 
view to its early establishment as a temporary and tentative system. 
(2) That the marks to be given under this temporary system should be small, so 
as to affect the success of those candidates only who would be ranked by the present 
examinations very near to the dividing line between success and failure, and whose 
intellectual performances would consequently be nearly on a par, though they would 
differ widely in their physical qualifications. 
(3) That determination should be expressed to reconsider the entire question 
after the experience of a few years. 
The following replies have been received :— 
Civil Service Commission, Westminster. 
March 28, 1890. 
Sir,—I am directed by the Civil Service Commissioners to acknowledge the receipt 
of your letter of the 25th instant transmitting a statement in regard to the feasi- 
bility of assigning marks for physical qualifications in the examinations for entrance 
into service where physical powers are important ; and, in reply, Iam to request that 
ou will be good enough to convey to the Council of the British Association the 
thanks of the Commissioners for the communication, and to state that the Commis- 
sioners have the matter under consideration. 
{ I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient Servant, 
The PRESIDENT, EH. HUMPHREYS. 
British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
India Office, Whitehall, S.W. 
April 19, 1890. 
" Sir,—I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknow- 
ledge the receipt of the letter signed by you and by the General Secretaries of the 
itish Assoc ation for the Advancement of Science, dated the 25th ultimo, enclosing 
a statement in regard to the feasibility of assigning marks for physical qualifica- 
tions in the examinations for entrance into services where physical powers are 
important. 
a reply I am desired to state that Viscount Cross is already in communication 
with the Civil Service Commissioners with reference to the question of making 
physical qualifications an element in the competitions for the Civil Service of India. 
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 
JOHN EH. GorstT. 
ofessor W. H. FLOWER, C.B., 
President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
22 Albemarle Street, W. 
War Office, April 24, 1890. 
Sir,—I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt 
of your letter of the 25th ultimo enclosing a statement in regard to the feasibility 
of assigning marks for physical qualifications in the examinations for entrance into 
ervices where physical powers are important. 
_ ‘The subject has received the consideration of His Royal Highness the Commander- 
in-Chief, and of the Secretary of State for War, who concur in the opinion that, with 
regard to the army, it is not desirable to depart from the existing system, which 
exacts from all candidates a certain standard of general health and physical fitness, 
leaving the competitive result to be determined by educational tests. 
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient Servant, 
The PRESIDENT, RALPH THOMPSON. 
British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
The Council have been informed that a proposal to reappoint the 
ommittee on a Uniform Nomenclature for the Fundamental Units of 
