The sun., 1899-05-25
Doctor Arthur Macdonald and His
Measurements of Children.

Doctor" g" Arthur Macdonald and His
Measurements OF Children.
We acknowledge with astonishment and
disgust the receipt from the United States
Bureau Of Education OF volume Of about
four hundred pages, entitled "Experimen-
tai Study OF Children, including anthropo-
metrical and psycho-phy ysical measurements
of Washington school children" by ARTHUR
MACDONALD. The author is described on
the title page as Specialist in the Bureau
Of Education" The book is Government
publication. printed at the public cost by
the Government Printing ONCE.
That a man ,of the mental tastes and
propensities of this Doctor" ARTHUR MAC
DONALD should undertake to make psyche
physical Investigations among the boys
and girls Of the Washington public schools
Is not what surprises us. The astonishing
and disgusting aspect Of the business Is
that he has been permitted by the Bureau
OF Education to enter upon that congenial
inquiry as one of its official specialists )"
and that the heterogeneous statistics he
has collected and the worthless conclusions
he has deduced are gravely put forth In q
puDllC uOcuHeHU WIFI Ln6 SANCTION OF In6
United States Government.
We wonder if the parents Of the girls and
young women whom Doctor MACDONALD
has been measuring and questioning
and tabulating and classifying in the name
OF science would have consented to the
operation IL they had been consulted,
knowing at the same time what sort OF q
scientific person the investigator is
This Is the Doctor" MACDONALD who
was advertising about two years ago that
persons sending fifty cents to a lock box
OF q certain number in the Washington Post
Office would receive his work on "Girls
Who Answer Personals" That book we dis
cussed at the time in language as plain as
1t was proper to use in the columns of
this newspaper. Doctor" MAcDoNA1Ds
favorite speciality Is the investigation Of
the morbid anatomy and morbid psychol-
ogy Of Love, and his various treatises are
principally notable for the light they un-
| consciously throw upon the character and
tastes Of the author himself.
This same lock box was used by him. 1t
appears, not only as an agency for the
distribution OF three or four volumes Of
what he calls "patho-social studies" and Of
at least two treatises on sexual subjects
which could not bear open sale, but also as
trap for the collection Of material concern
Ing feminine weakness or folly. Doctor"
MACDoNALD's method, according to his own
shameless confession. was to insert in the
newspapers the following advertisement:
"Gentleman Of high social and university position
desires correspondence acquaintance not necessary
w cd ms ~ htnh a
financial position. No agents; trihers; must give
detailed account Of life references required. Ad-
dresa Lock Box
The silly or curious or indelicate women
| or girls who were induced by this adver-
| tisement to enter into correspondence with
the United States Bureau OF Education's
specialist" were gradually led on by
him to write confidentially about their
sentiments and passions and elmer
| lives" The more intimate the revela-
tions, the more interesting the ease" be-
came to Doctor" MAcDoNALD When
ever possible he induced his foolish cor
respondents to disclose their real names
and addresses, and to make appointments
for personal interviews with him. Some
| times the interview occurred at a railway
station, sometimes at the homo or board
ing house Of the victim. Some of his
correspondents he favored with free
copies Of his scientific" pamphlets.
Sometimes the correspondence took a
romantic turn, and the silly girl or
matron was led on to address the Doc
tor" in terms Of endearment, which he
gleefully printed afterward in his book.
For the fifty-cent book to which we are
referring was no more or less than collec-
tion OF these letters from women and girls,
procured by deception and published In
many instances with details which might
lead easily to the Identification OF the
author by her relatives or friends. All
this with the pretence Of a purely scientific
object; as II science could be advanced by
the cultivation OF this particularly silly,
and in some respects revolving field OF
sociological investigation"
The abnormal inclination, the unscrupu-
lous inquisitiveness and the personal char.
acteristics of the compiler OF "Girls Who
Write Personals" are sufficiently disclosed
in his avowal that unless he had concealed
| from these indiscreet maidens and fool.
ish wives his intention TO put their letters
into a book, t"such ,uork would hare
been impossible" And in publishing for
fifty cents IN documents thus esss'tsa' acquired