San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-09-29
TO FIND THE NORMAL CHILD.
Novel and Valuable Work Now Being Car
ried on In Washington.

ried on In Washington.
A new kind of scientific work is be-
ing carried on in Washington, in which
the testing of twenty-five thousand
school children, mentally, morally and
physically, is the preliminary step. DR..
Arthur Mcdonald is conducting the
work, under the auspices of the United
States bureau of education, and the re-
suits when arranged and tabulated are
expected to throw valuable light upon
a number of mooted questions concern
ing the race.
For example, writes correspondent
of the Boston Transcript, it is desired
to know whether boys of the laboring
class are less bright than the sons of
the well-to-do. Are they as well
nourished? In London not long ago in
vestigation proved that the children of
labOring people in that metropolis were
weighed more at the same age-than
those belonging to higher social strata,
the latter being fed on too much candy
and cake.
The work here being unfinished, con-
illusions cannot be stated. To begin
with, the height and sitting height of
each child were taken. Long-bodied
races, generally speaking, are inferior.
1t is desired to know if long-bodied in
dividuals are less clever or less strong
than the short-bodied of the same race.
Are long-bodied boys and girls apt to
be stupid? Long-headed children are
usually tall. Tall people are most
often long-headed. Tall races are SUI
perior The question naturally fol-
lows: Are long-headed children super
Tor mentally? When it is said that a
man has long head is there not sig
nificance in the remark?
Are tall children then, superior? No
body knows as yet. These are among
the things which DR.. Mcdonald is try
ing to find out. In the classification
the eight thousand negro children in
Washington schools have been kept
separate so as to compare them with
white children. How do they compare
in respect to brightness, weight, phys
zeal measurements, etc? The colOred
child surpasses the white child up to
five years of age in mental develop
ment; then the white child goes ahead.
Comparisons of girls with boys patur-
ally follow. At the age of entering
womanhood girls weigh more than
boys; that age with city girls arrives a
year earlier than with country girls.
Some more interesting comparative
data of the sexes have been already Sc
cured. 1t was determined by a success
sion Of simple, but conclusive. tests,
that girls felt pain more quickly than
boys, and DR.. Mcdonald is convinced
by this and other tests that the conclu-
sion that women are more sensitive to
pain than men is the correct one, al
though the opposite idea widely OBJ
tains. 1t is worth mentioning. by the
way, that in every school there are
more bright girls than bright boys.
Girls are more faithful in studying and
memOrizc more attentively. A girl will
not get impatient and throw her book
into corner as a bOv would.
She Put 1t Onto Him.
A doctor related the following to a
friend after visiting widowed neigh
Dor: "While we were cOnversing | put
my hand on a cushion and said: Wild
ow. this is the incest, softest place l
ever had my hand on in IL my lifer
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