CORRESPONDIISa SOCIETIES. 51 



in working out for itself its own anthropology. If it is the fact, as it 

 seenis to be, that the course of legislation and of ev(Mits in the past 

 century has been to efface as much as possible the traces of special local 

 history and custom, and by centralisation to i-educe us all to a sort of 

 uniformity, it is all the more necessary that local Societies should place on 

 record all these evidences before they finally disappeai-. It is only the 

 local Societies by which this can be done ; no bureau of ethnography 

 could succeed in its mission without their help. By the collection of 

 typical photographs of individuals belonging to families long settled in 

 the district, by the recording of anthropometric measurements and other- 

 wise, local Societies may provide precious material for the anthropologist 

 which no central oi'ganisation could procure. 



Passing on to Section L, is it not the vice of all legislation upon 

 education that it seeks to reduce it to a uniform system, regardless of the 

 local conditions ? Have we not for years been accumulating code upon 

 code, syllabus upon syllabus, with the view of making educational pro- 

 ceedings uniform all over the country ? And is not that precisely the 

 wrong way of setting to work ? Why should not boys in a seaport town 

 1)0 taught seamanship ; boy-j in a business town, bookkeeping ; boys in a 

 manufacturing town, mechanics ; boys in an agricultural district chemistry? 

 Why should not an ample discretion be left to every local educational 

 authority 1 Possibly the answer is that the local educational autliorities 

 as at present constituted are as wooden as the Board of Education itself. 

 Why, then, not constitute proper educational authorities ? And where 

 better can you find educational authorities than among the scientific men 

 of the locality 1 



In this connection I wish to take the liberty of drawing the attention 

 of the delegates to the International Congress on School Hygiene, which 

 is to be held in Loudon from August 5 to August 10, 1907. It is the 

 second of a series of congresses, the first of which was held at Nuremberg 

 in the Easter of 1904. That congress was attended by about 1,.500 

 representatives, drawn from almost every civilised state, and its pro- 

 ceedings are recorded in four volumes. I am assured that its influence 

 has already made itself felt in many countries in the literature, laws, 

 and i-egulations connected with health and education. The forthcoming 

 congress has already been honoured by the patronage and active symj^athy 

 of His Majesty King Edward VII., and by the official recognition of 

 many colonial and foreign governments, and there is room to expect that 

 it will be as numerously attended and as successful in every respect as 

 was the Nuremberg Congress. The important bearing that the healthy 

 surroundings of childhood in school-life have on the welfare of the 

 country and the future of its population will, I am persuaded, be argu- 

 ment suflicient to ensure the interest of the members of the British 

 Association and its Corresponding Societies in this movement. 



So far I have been suggesting work for local Societies and incidentally 

 urging the necessity for such organisations, but, as you are hei'e to repre- 

 sent them, it is presumed you are already convinced of that necessity, 

 and to urge it further would be to preach to the converted. I pass on, 

 therefore, to the next point : Why should the local Societies correspond 

 and be afiiliated and associated ? W^hat is included in the two ideas, 

 affiliation and association, which we are now working out together for 

 the first time ? Let me say at once what I think is not included in them. 

 No sinking of the individual character of any local Society is so included, 



E 2 



