ON ANTHROPOMETRIC INVESTIGATION IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 367 
eurriculum reduces the time available for anything outside the absolutely 
essential to a minimum, and the cost of the education of the large majority 
of the children is borne by public funds, it is necessary to confine the 
investigation, so far as possible, to a practical issue more or less 
immediate. 
From an educational point of view the value of an anthropometric 
survey must lie chiefly in the fact that it affords an accurate indication 
of the development of the individual, and at the same time provides those 
responsible for education with some means of judging how far the 
individual, or individuals, of a particular area are modified, physically and 
mentally, by the education provided. 
The Sub-Committee is therefore of the opinion that the aim of 
anthropometric observations in schools should be :— 
1..To determine norms or averages, standard deviations and correla 
tions at different ages, having due regard to sexual, racial, and environ- 
mental differences. 
2. To correlate physical and mental growth with a view to testing 
the efficiency of different systems of education and indicating the amount 
of work that may advantageously be attempted at different ages, thereby 
minimising the dangers of over-pressure. 
3. To mark out the physically or mentally unfit for special educational 
treatment. Where the deviation is abnormal in a number of individuals, 
a whole school, or a whole area, it would point to the necessity for special 
investigations of social conditions and environment. 
4. To correlate physical, mental, and environmental characters with a 
view to providing a scientific basis for the better adaptation of education 
to local needs and character. 
As regards the anatomical measurements, the Sub-Committee re- 
commends the adoption of the schedules suggested for use in schools by 
the Anatomical Sub-Committee (see p. 357). 
The adoption of a particular schedule must depend largely on local 
circumstances and finance. And although it must be remembered that 
more accurate conclusions are to be obtained from a few measurements of 
a large number of individuals than from a large number of observations 
on a few individuals, the value of a survey would be increased in propor- 
tion as a schedule contuining a larger number of observations were 
generally adopted. The Sub-Committee is of the opinion that the 
teachers, with a little practical instruction, would be capable of making 
and recording the necessary measurements. In addition to actual measure- 
ments, careful note should be taken of the general physical condition, and 
a record of average (not record) performances in athletic sports and of 
proficiency in games should be kept. 
In the case of the psychological observations the conditions are some- 
what different. They would necessarily extend over a more or less 
lengthy period, and therefore should, if possible, be entrusted to the 
teacher. Graduated schedules for use in schools have not yet been drawn 
up, but the teachers—who, it must be remembered, at any rate in the 
elementary schools, have received some training in the observation of the 
psychical characters of childhood—may select for themselves from the 
schedule tentatively suggested by the Psychological Sub-Committee (see 
p. ae the characters with which they feel themselves most competent 
to deal. 
With regard to the record of observations, unless a special inquiry is 
