434 REPOKT — 1894'. 



All the objects that it has been possible to move to the Glastonbury 

 Museum have already been placed and arranged there in the cases ; but 

 the finest specimens of cut woodwork are of too perishable a nature to be 

 kept in the museum, and are at present kept in zinc troughs at Mr. 

 BuUeid's house. 



Physical and. Mentcd Deoiations from the Normal among Children in 

 Public Elementarij and other Schools. — Report of the Committee^ 

 consisting of Sir Douglas Galtox (Ghairman), Dr. Francis 

 Warner (Secretanj)^ Mr. E. W. Brabrook, Dr. Garson, Mr. 

 G. W. Bloxam, and Dr. Wilberforce Smith. {Eeport draxun up 

 hy the Secretary.) 



ArrENDIX PACK 



I. Certificate as to a Child requirinff Special Educational Training . . 437 



II. Statistical Report concerning 50,000 Children 437 



III. Bistrihution of the Cases seen as to Standards 43S 



The Committee, acting in conjunction with a Committee appointed for 

 the same purpose by the International Congress of Hygiene and Demo- 

 graphy, are now able to report on 50,000 children seen individually in 

 sixty-three schools by Dr. Erancis Warner, 1892-94. 



The methods of examination employed, and the points observed, were 

 described fully in our last report. A complete actuarial investigation of 

 the 8,941 children deviating from the normal in some respect, of whom 

 notes were taken, is in hand. Some portions of the statistical results ai-e 

 appended. The general conclusions arrived at, and recommendations 

 founded on the observations, are now given. 



It is quite possible to report on any group of children, or group of 

 schools, as to the physical and mental conditions most prevalent among 

 them, and to compare these with an established average. 



Groups of children, arranged according to their physical condition, 

 may be traced through the educational standards of the school, thus 

 showing that unconsciously those of defective body and brain condition 

 remain mostly in the lower standards, and are frequently over age for the 

 standard in which they are found. 



The ages at which the children present certain physical and nerve- 

 irregularities can be traced, thus affording a basis for the determination 

 of the age-prevalence of defective conditions, and the most frequent ages 

 at which they appear and disappear. 



The general results of detailed study of the conditions of school 

 children show that — 



There is a large group of children who appear to need special care and 

 training, including the crippled, maimed, deformed, and paralysed ; children 

 mentally deficient or presenting some deficiency ; and epileptics : — Boys, 

 157; Girls, 147. 



To these maybe added children constitutionally weak and dull, making 

 altogether about sixteen per 1,000 of the child population. As to methods 

 of reporting and certifying these cases, see last paragraph of this report. 



Defects in development indicate inherited and congenital tendency to 

 delicacy, both of body and in brain action ; they are extremely frequent 

 in all classes of society, not least so among the upper social grades. It 



