The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-19
lReurinted from May Technical World
Magazine. Chicago, by special
permission.J

wanted I'VE tHOuSdilu IUiIldI
guinea pigs. and | got them"
This, i admit. is an astonishing in
PRODUCTION TO the unique experiment
which the Federal government has
undertaken, TO determine the average
physical and mental endowment of
Southern children.
What have guinea pigs to do with
an endeayor to measure, for the first
time, the peculiar influences which
shape the life and growth of the boys
and girls of the Southland TO find a
proper standard for intelligent meth
DDS OF correction and cultivation and
advancement among them?
Human guinea pi~s?" you exciaim
with horror. Guinea pigs involuntari-
~ suggest vivisection. And human vi
visection-really, that is a barbarous
project.
But the Government is back of the
"barbarous project and Doctor {.
W.. Stiles. Professor of Zoology of
the United States Public Health Ser
vice. is its i~nstigator.
While the Governments representa-
tive is smiling at your horror, ana
filling his pipe, let us take "A quick
inventory. A glance at the small OF
tice-laboratory and the several assist
ants busy over their microscopes Is
r~eassuring. Nor can we associate mo-
tives of human vivisection with tho
man on the OlHpT Sluc VI II USSh'
whom the world knows as the man
who was most closely connected with
the discovery of the American hook
worm and the directing genius IN the
campaign for its eradication III the
South.
A figure in olive drab uniform,
slightly above medium height, and in
Ginning TO overweight; hair just turn
ing gray: short. crisp moustache-
these are details we not only after we
have gazed into a pair of level. gray
eyes which carry Il CONVICTION OF con
scious purpose and The
most likely reason hat Doctor Stiles
got five thousand human guinea pigs,
we surmise, is because he wanted
them. Nor is it a matter for large
wonder. we agree, that the United
States Public Health Service should
permit him to try out under its pat
ronaee an educational experiment of
his own invention.
But the pipe is going well, and the
Doctor is tilted back comfortably in
his chair.
Five thousand human guinea pigs
that's how the thing began. In a
measure, of course. the
crusade is related to-even respsonSi-
bile for-the present investigation. Al
though experiences in different South
ern States clearly show the enormous
kAoA q oSN ~
brought about in backward children
no one can yet measure that improve
ment in terms of the. average South
eru child. No standard of comparison
exists by which results found may bt
checked. Medical examination in thu
schools of the South is not far ad
vanced. Even where it has been pro.
vided. the tests and standards an(
methods have been those developed IL
a different locality and under differ
ent conditions.
Finding a
Obviously. there had to be a home
bred standard. SO Doctor Stiles re
solved to set about finding one. H
wanted. for his one entir
county with five thousand school chill
dren. And he wanted no restraint il
his research.
The Public Health Bureau gave hin
permission to undertake the work
Several reasons led to the selection O
Wilmington. North Carolina, for tn
testing ground. the most important be
ing the fact that the location and III
influence arising from the location ar
fairly typical of the entire South. AT
other important consideration, alst
was the location in Wilmington of
United States Marine Hospital. whic
offered facilities and organization fO
beginning the work Immediately. Ne
ScbhlT, ~ oAlIIldtcl
tive thousand children in its school
wanted medical inspection and as tn
money was not Immediately availabl
for it. the authorities were glad I
meet the Investigators more than ha
way in a spirit Of co operation.
Theoretically, normal physic;
quality is necessary to average meY
tally. If the average school child
certain southern districts is below IL
physical standard Of the children
other sections, how does he correspor
mentally? And il he does not mea
ure up mentally, what are the caas
OF the backward physical conditio
and how may the causes DE remedief
These are the questions which Doct
Stiles and his experts hope to al
swer.
Medical and Mental Tests.
Naturally. therefore. the work IA
into two classes: the physical.
strictly medical part; and the ment
part.
4 mental test has had in the pa
- ~ N ri IN IL