Evening star., 1899-07-08
g 10
Investigations Conducted by the
Bureau Of Education.
some INTERESTING DEDUCTIONS
Shape Of the Head and Its Effect
on intellectually.
DELICATE INSTRUMENTS
Written for The Evening Star.

Parents, teachers and lovers Of children
generally will be greatly interested in the
results of an experimental study of no less
than 22,000 schoolboys and school girls,
white and colered, just completed by the
bureau of education. It has been monster
undertaking, requiring several years.
have just received the first detailed account
Of the work yet given to the press. A tech
nical treatise devoted thereto will be pub
lished in forthcoming report of the bu-
reau.
All Of the youthful subjects If grouped to-
gether would equal in number the men in
the ranks of our standing army at the out
break of the late war. The object of the
investigation was to discover the relation
ship between parentage, surroundings, ma
tionality, stature, weight, size and shape of
head and other conditions, and the conduct
intellect and health of children at different
ages. Almost all of the subjects were Sc
lected from the public schools of this cos
mopolltan city, whose transient population
includes nearly all American and foreign
types of childhood.
For the case of each child was issued
blank calling for as MANY as 1O7 details
covering all facts and characteristics to be
considered. All of these data were collect
ed by teachers in the various schools un-
der the direction of DR.. Arthur Macdonald
the well-known arthropologist who per-
sonaily examined cases demanding the use
of instruments of precision OF such in
struments, devised entirely for measure
mentS of man, the bureau has one of .he
most elaborate collections in existence
They automatically measure the relative
acuteness of the senses, sensitiveness to
pain and other stimuli and the dimensions
and motions of external parts of the body.
besides keeping strict account of the
changes in breathing and the distribution
OF the blood circulation under different con-
ditions. So great has the collection become
after constant additions from month to
month that only a few weeks ago the inter-
esting laboratory in which they are in
stalled had to be enlarged.
Carefully Considered.
The extravagant theories of pseudo
scientists of the spectacular schools of
phrenolegy must be abandoned for conclu-
sons reached by such thorough work as
this. No attempt was made to study the
bumps of the youthful heads, yet the gen.
eral dimensions of the Uranium were care
fuily considered One of the most inter-
esting deductions is that oad-headed chill
dren appear to be brighter than long
headed children, the length of head being
measured from front 10 back of the era
mum. In estimating whether each head
was broad, medium or long a simple for
mula was applied. The maximum width
was always multiplied by 100 and divided
by the maximum length. When the re-
Sulting numeral was 70 or less the subject
was registered as long headed when be-
tween rs and SO he was medium and be-
tween SO and s5 he was broad headed
Another interesting deduction is that the
child with a large head is apt to be more
intelligent than he whose Uranium is small
Diagrams made from the statistics show
that as the circumference of the skull in
creases so does mental ability. Children of
iaborers were found to have smaller heads
than those whose parents work with their
brains rather than with their bodies OF
all ms measurements the anthropologist
says he attaches most Importance to those
of the head. Defects of the cranium saws
he, are probably more significant than
those of other parts, and in general the
nearer bodily defect is to the brain the
more important ii is.
bright Children Are Larger.
Can any relationship exist between a
child's height weight and his mental
ability? was another question. The bright
boys were found to excel the dull ones in
standing height, sitting height and weight
A surprising discovery was that the chill
dren of the laboring classes, whose parents
daily exercise their bodies have a much
smaller average for length of body and
limb as we'll as for weight than those
whose parents belong to the non-laboring
classes and who gain their living mostly
by mind work.
An Interesting instrument was apnlied to
determine the ''sensbility to heat" 1t con-
sists of two thermometers attached to each
other and held against the skin of the
wrists. One bulb was heated while the
other was allowed to remain normally cool
While the warm one gradually cooled and
the two approached each other in register
a point was reached where the subject was
unable to discriminate between the two
The difference between the readings of the
Two at this point measured the diScrimi-
mating power of the subject. 1t was found
that the bright children were more sensitive
to heat than those marked dull by their
teachers, and bows fny1nd to ha
so than girls. Ability to distinguish small
dlHerenceS of temperature of course indi-
Gated higher development of that part of
the nervous system. The brain is now gen.
orally believed to be made of much the
same material as is found In the nerves
Such measurements, the investigator told
me, indicate that we have special warm
and cold nerves blending with the nerves
OF toueh Certain temperature nerves seem
TO record only cold sensations while an
other group record only warm sensations
Interesting Instruments.
The hand-grasp was measured by small
cynamometer succeed in the palm while
the arm was held out horizontally This
instrument is to some extent a means of
measuring mans sociological degree. 1t
distinguishes those who do manual labor
from those who do not. Children marked
as dull were found to have greater strength
or hand-Srasp than those marked as bright
This was probably because dull children
work more with their hands than with
their heads.
Another instrument was used to measure
the relative acuteness of distinguishing the
locality of points on the body by the sense
of touch. This acuteness seems to grow as
the hngerS and toes are approached These
parts are probably the most sensitive be-
cause moved the most. The instrument
used resembles a small shoemaker's scale
The subject closes his seyes and the awo
points gradually drawn further and fur
ther apart are constantly touched against
the skin until the subject can distinguish
that there are two points instead of but
one. Gradually the distance between is not
felt until the points are considerably apart
This distance determines the degree of SEN
sibility. Children were found to be more
sensitive before puberty than afterward;
girls were found to be more sensitive than
boys, and children Off, the non-laboring
classes were found. to dbe more sensitive
than those of Iab9ring classes.
Another interesting conclusion arrived at
is that a mixture, Of ,nationalites in the
parents seems to result unfavorably to the
mental development Of the child. The re-
suit appears to be, reduction in the cir
conference Of the head Children of mixed
nationalities were also inferior in weight,
on an average. @ 10
ColOred and White.