92 Professor Valmtine on 



wastage, there is friction ; energy under these circumstances is 

 much harder to replace. Interest may unlock the main store 

 of energy again and make us feel fresh. Biologically, it is com- 

 prehensible that keen interest, due to real needs, should give a 

 man energy, but this mechanical theory needs sup[)lementing with 

 a reference to inhibitory impulses set up by fatigue, which act as a 

 safeguard to prevent exhaustion. Various experiments in schools 

 were described showii:g what was the n.ost desirable length of play- 

 interval, etc. Experiments in evening schools have shown that 

 much of the work done late at night was of practically no value 

 owing to the excessive fatigue of the students, 



School Problems. 



We need still further inquiries as to the best time of the day 

 to take the various subjects and to place the recreation periods. 

 Here in Belfast it would be particularly interesting to discover 

 whether the long morning session in the sch(;ols, from 9 — 2 or later, 

 is worse or better than the English system, 9 — 12 and 2 — 4, with 

 a heavy meal between. There is little doubt that, where the 

 English hours are adopted, more work is done by having school 

 on the Saturday morning and giving one or two afternoon holidays 

 during, the week. And the question may well be raised as to 

 whether afternoon school should not be abolished entirely for 

 infants. 



There is considerable evidence already that the strain of work 

 in school and the loss of fresh air and exercise is so harmful to 

 children of 3 to 5 or 6 years that large numbers of them actually 

 lose weight during the first year at school, and the present 

 suggestion that we should economise during the war by giving no 

 instruction to children under 6 years seems almost the most sensible 

 suggestion made just now as to economy in educational expenses. 



Obviously much depends on the nature of the work done in 

 school by these little ones and the length of their play intervals, 

 and it would not be an insuperable task to discover by experiment 

 what the ideal arrangement would be for the sake of both mind 

 and body. 



