India, Egypt, the South of Spain, and Belgium abroad, while in this country they have been recorded from N.E. Lancashire, Warren Hill, Hastings, and Sevenoaks. They consist of crescents, triangles, trapezoids, and other forms. They are sometimes only five-eighths of an inch in length, and rarely exceed one and a half inch. The flakes removed in their manufacture are often only an eightieth of an inch in width. A more systematic method of working was adopted during the month. of August of this year, adding a vast amount of new material which has yet to be examined, and more work remains to be done. In spite of the vigilance of those in charge, visitors dig into the cliff, and so expose the midden material to the action of the heavy rains, by which it is washed away and lost. The best thanks of the Committee are due to the Mayor and Corporation of Hastings for the interest they have taken in the subject, and also for the permission given to excavate; and to the Rev. W. C. SayerMilward, whose permission to excavate was also necessary. A Remarkable Barrow at the Wildernesse, Sevenoaks, Kent. This barrow is situated near a Neolithic settlement on the property of Lord Hillingdon at Sevenoaks. The bed-rock of the district belongs to the Folkestone beds, and is usually of a deep iron-stained colour. Upon this was deposited a layer of siliceous ironstone, which apparently served as a hearth, then a layer of black carbonaceous unctuous material, through which are distributed fragments of charcoal and small particles of burned bone. This is followed by a layer of calcined flints, all of which appear to have been worked; but the heat applied was so intense that all the flints are in fragments, and the edges are frequently fused. It is possible, however, to restore implements from fragments found close together. These layers were covered by and enclosed in another black carbonaceous layer, in which occur fairly large pieces of charcoal. Next comes another layer of ironstone. This is followed by a layer of white sand: profusely distributed through these are large quantities of flint implements, flakes, &c. This is a foot in thickness near the centre, where the whole of the flints show signs of burning. The latest excavations disclose the lateral extension of the white layer till it is met by the overlying 4 ft. 6 in. of sand. The barrow is round in form, about 90 feet in diameter, and 5 ft. 6 in. high. The implements are in every way identical with those found on the adjoining settlement and at the Hastings Kitchen Middens. There are more horseshoe-shaped scrapers than at Hastings, where the scrapers are nearly all spatulate in form; but all the curiously shaped, diminutive crescents, triangles, trapezoids, &c., are also found at Sevenoaks; in fact, it is impossible to distinguish between them. No metal was found in the barrow except a brass-covered iron bell in the top material. The Rev. Canon Greenwell is of the opinion that this barrow is quite unique. The barrow has now been filled in again. The Committee propose to spend the small balance in hand upon the Kitchen Middens on Castle Hill. There are others on the East Hill which would also repay working. These middens are intimately associated with the remarkable St. Clement's Caves, and an investigation of them might possibly throw a flood of light upon the unknown origin of these structures. Anthropometric Measurements in Schools.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Professor A. MACALISTER (Chairman), Professor B. WINDLE (Secretary), Mr. E. W. BRABROOK, Professor J. CLELAND, and Dr. J. G. GARSON. DURING the past year it has not been deemed advisable to issue any further circular, and the work done has been confined to forwarding copies of the instructions printed with last year's report and advising schoolmasters, medical men, and others as to the taking up and carrying on of physical measurements in the institutions with which they are connected. From the number of communications which have reached the Secretary, it is evident that considerable interest has been awakened in the minds of teachers by the circulars of last year. The first report of school measurements (by Dr. Lancelot Andrewes) which have been carried out under its instructions has recently been forwarded to the Secretary. The Committee ask for reappointment for another year without further grant, the balance of that for 1894-95 being expected to suffice for the ensuing twelvemonth. Mental and Physical Defects of Children.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Sir DOUGLAS GALTON (Chairman), Dr. FRANCIS WARNER (Secretary), Mr. E. W. BRABROOK, Dr. J. G. GARSON, and Dr. WILBERFORCE SMITH. (Report drawn up by the Secretary.) APPENDIX I. Defects enumerated individually and in groups as distributed amongst the Nationalities and Social Classes, &c. II. Groups of Children and their Percentage Distribution on the numbers seen and numbers noted. PAGE 506 508 THE Committee, acting in conjunction with a committee appointed for the same purpose by the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography (1891), in presenting their third report are able to give a further account of the 50,000 children seen individually during the years 1892-94. The methods of observation and the points observed were fully described in our first report. Analysis of the points observed in each child affords material for the arrangement of groups of cases, prepared by established actuarial processes, their distribution, and their co-relations, and enables us to give results of scientific interest and importance, and also to give evidence on questions concerning the education of children and their control by the State. We proceed to give the results of research among the 8,941 cases (boys 5,112, girls 3,829) of whom notes were taken as to the points in which they were below the average in bodily or mental status. As a step towards ascertaining the causation of defects, and the most probable means of removing them, we have arranged the children in twelve groups of schools presented in Table I., which gives the 'numbers seen' and 'the numbers noted' in each group of schools respectively, and the special defects they presented. It is thus possible to ascertain the relative frequency of each defect among the boys and girls of the nationalities and social classes, &c. The numbers of cases presenting individual defects, when distributed among the nationalities and social classes, &c., are comparatively small; for the general purposes of research it appears more satisfactory to deal with groups of cases presenting the main classes of defects. For this reason the Committee have bestowed much labour on preparing a general but exact analysis of the facts in hand, dealing principally with the distribution and co-relations of the main classes of defects, leaving for future work the study of similar relations among the individual signs in such classes. There are four main classes or divisions into which the defective conditions observed may be grouped. A. Defects in development of the body and its parts-in size, form, or proportioning of parts. B. Abnormal nerve-signs: certain abnormal actions, movements, and balances. C. Low nutrition, as indicated by the child being thin, pale, or delicate. D. Mental Dulness.-The teacher's report as to mental ability was added to the record of each child noted, and those stated to be backward or below the average in ability for school work were entered as 'dull.' The relative distribution of these classes of defects is shown in Table II., which also gives the combinations in which they occur, and their percentages upon the numbers of children seen and the numbers noted. It is by studying the distribution and the co-relations of these groups that new information is most readily obtained. Among the children who present some degree of defect those are probably in best condition who present only one main class of defects,' while those with four classes of defects are often so deficient as to need special care and training. The numbers and percentages of these groups are also given in Table II. A full statement of the facts observed has been prepared for early publication by the committee with whom we are allied, which enables us to make certain general statements upon which their report will afford detailed evidence. Defects in development of the body are more frequent among boys than girls in the proportion of 87 to 6.8. A marked exception to this rule is in the cases of small cranium, which are much more frequent among girls this defect appears to some degree endemic in the neighbourhoods of large buildings. It is less frequent among the Irish children, who in other particulars present many noteworthy points. Of the cases with defect in development (A), 16-2 per cent. of the boys and 26.4 per cent. of the girls were pale, thin, or delicate; and 38.4 per cent. of the boys and 450 per cent. of the girls were reported as dull. These facts serve to illustrate the importance of presenting all vital statistics separately for males and females. The greater harm that results from defect of body among girls is shown by the fact that 65.3 per cent. of the boys and 72.5 per cent. of the girls presented other conditions of defectiveness. The evidence accumulated shows the importance of It has not been looking to the four main classes of defect in each case. possible in our examinations conducted in schools to use anthropometric methods to any extent, but new information has been supplied upon an extended basis of observation as to the significance of deviations from the normal proportioning of the bodily development. It has been fairly established by observation, independent of arguments derived from other sources, that the 'nerve-signs' recorded in this investigation correspond to disordered brain conditions, such as produce in their mental function dull and backward children. 6 Of cases with nerve-signs' 41.5 per cent. of boys, 42.6 per cent. of girls were reported as dull; of development defect with nerve-signs,' 45.1 per cent. of boys, 51.6 per cent. of girls, were reported as dull. Ill-proportioned bodies with motor indications of disorderly or slowly acting brains are very apt to be dull mentally. In these facts we find further evidence of a physical basis of mental action and expression. The probability that the children reported by the teachers as dull were backward children is indicated by the large proportion of them found to be over age for the class or educational standard in which they had been placed in school. In Table I. is given a class, 'G. Exceptional Children.' This includes all children whose physical or mental conditions show them to be obviously at a permanent disadvantage therefrom in social life. This group includes idiots, imbeciles, children feebly gifted mentally'; children mentally exceptional or deficient in moral sense; epileptics and children with history of fits during school life; dumb children and all children crippled, deformed, maimed, or paralysed. All these exceptional children need to be considered individually they form about 1.5 per cent. of the school population. Reviewing the work of which we thus give a brief account, it may be stated that the object has been to furnish a reliable statement of the conditions observed among children seen in schools. The inquiry commenced in 1888, and 100,000 children in all have been examined and reported on. The points worthy of note have been defined and enumerated; the children have been distributed in groups according to the combinations of points they presented, and classified in other ways, including special particulars as to the children with mental or other deficiency, the numbers in each class being recorded. The methods of reporting and preparing statistical statements have been carefully elaborated and systematised. Information has from time to time been supplied to the Government departments and other public bodies as to the provision needed for dull and backward children; the classification of children in schools providing secondary education; children in Poor Law schools and other institutions, and on other important questions. It is hoped that the scientific classification of children and enumeration of conditions existing among them will lead to the adoption of means of social improvement, and we recommend the continuation of such inquiries in other parts of the country. The Committee desire to be reappointed, and ask a grant in aid of the work. |