352 REFORT— 1902. 



of the Nile valley and among the tribes of the Soudan ; also whether the 

 Coptic (pre-Mahonimedan) people noticeably differ from the general 

 Moslem population of Egypt. Before publishing the results of this 

 inquiry the permission of the Sirdar has to be obtained. The material 

 collected will supply the necessary data to permit of the preparation of 

 a report on the physical efficiency of the Egyptian Army. 



Pigmentation Surveij of the ScJiool Children of Scotland. — Report oftJie 

 Committee, consistimj of Mr. E. AV. BkaUrook (Chairman), Mr* 

 J. Gray (SeCretanj), Dr. A. C. Haddon, Professor A. Macalistek, 

 Professor D. J. Cunningham, Mr. J. F. Tocher, Dr. W. H. K. 

 Rivers. (Drau-n tip by the Secretary.') 



The progress made with the organisation of this survey during the past 

 year has not been great, chiefly because it was doubtful whether the funds 

 required to pay the cdst of collecting thd statistics could be obtained. The 

 (Scottish Ethnographic Committee, with which this Corhmittee is co- 

 operating, have, however, quite recently obtained the necessary funds, 

 find steps are being taken to secure the co-operation of the school 

 teachers, whose assistance is indispensaljle in carrying out the survey. 

 An application for co-operation has been made to the Secretary of the 

 Educational Institute of Scotland, and a very favourable reply has been 

 received. Applications will also be made to all the local committees of 

 that Institute and, where necessary, to individual teachers. 



Forms are being drafted, and when they have been revised and 

 passed by the Committee they will be sent out to all schools, probably 

 about the end of this year, the time of issue being as far as possible fixed 

 CO suit the convenience of the teachers. 



For the purpose of this survey it is intended to follow, as far as 

 possible, the natural subdivision of the country into river basins, as it is 

 well known that watersheds, when they form mountain ranges, even of 

 moderate size, act as racial barriers. If the ordinary subdivision into 

 counties were adopted, we should have in many cases to include popu- 

 lations with quite different characteristics in the same subdivision, and 

 valuable ethnic distinctions would be lost in taking an average. Each 

 river basin is to be subdivided into disti'icts containing about 3,000 

 school children, except in tlie case of towns having a larger number than 

 this, which will be treated as single districts. 



The Clyde basin, which is tlie most populous in Scotland, has already 

 been subdivided in this manner into twenty -two districts. The Clyde 

 basin contains about one-third of the total number of school children in 

 Scotland. The subdivision of the rest of Scotland is being proceeded with, 

 and will soon be completed. 



Each district will be numbered, and the forms sent to schools in each 

 distinct will be stamped with its number. When all the filled-up forms 

 for a district have been returned, the average for each colour of hair and 

 of eyes for that district will be calculated, and the averages thus obtained 

 will be marked on maps in their proper locality and used as density points 

 for drawing contour lines of pigmentation. 



The Committee ask to be reappointed, and as a considerable amount 

 of actuarial work is involved in working up the statistics after they have 



