The diagram for the growth in stature, given earlier in this volume, is constructed according to the method shown in Fig. 151. When there are a great number of data to represent, which overlap and interweave, this method of graphic representation still lends itself admirably to the purpose; in such a case we shall have a number of broken lines, either parallel or intersecting, which may be distinguished by different colours or different methods of tracing (dots, stars, etc.), so that they may interweave without becoming confused, thus giving us at a glance the development of several phenomena at once (for example, total stature and sitting stature, length of upper and lower limbs, in one and the same diagram).

For the purpose of practice, a graphic representation of the changes in ponderal weight through the different ages may be constructed in class. The figures for stature and weight at each age should be read aloud; one student can find the corresponding ponderal index in the tables, while another constructs the graphic line upon the blackboard.

In this manner we can see better than by reading the figures, how the ponderal index increases during the first year and becomes much higher during early infancy; and then how it diminishes up to the age of puberty, holding its ground with slight oscillations during the puberal period; after which it again increases when the individual begins to fill out after the seventeenth year, and once again later when he takes on flesh, to fall off again during the closing years, when old age brings lean and shrunken limbs.

Seriation.—Another method of rearranging the figures is that of seriation. Let us assume that we are taking the average of a thousand statures, or of hundreds of thousands. We will try to find some means of simplifying the calculation. Since the individual oscillations of stature are contained within a few centimetres and the individuals amount to thousands, large numbers will be found to have the same identical statures. Accordingly, let us rearrange the individuals according to their stature, obtaining the following result:

By multiplying the 1.50 by 20, 1.55 by 80, etc., and by adding the results, we shall have simplified the process for obtaining the sum total which must then be divided by the number of individuals.

Well, while doing this for the purpose of simplifying the calculation, we have hit upon the method of distributing the individuals in a series, that is, we have regrouped the corresponding figures according to seriation.

Seriation has been discovered as a method of analysing the mean average, and it demonstrates three things: first, the extent of oscillations of anthropologic data, a thing which the mean average completely hides,—indeed, we have seen in the case of the cephalic index the mean averages oscillate between 75 and 85, when calculated for the separate regions, while, in the case of individuals, the oscillations extend from 70 to 90; secondly, it shows the numerical prevalence of individuals for the one or the other measurement; third, and finally, seriation reveals a law, to us, namely, that the distribution of individuals, according to anthropological data, is not a matter of chance; there is a prevalence of individuals corresponding to certain average figures, and the number of individuals diminishes in proportion as the measurements depart from the mean average, equally whether they increase or diminish.

I take from Livi certain numerical examples of serial distribution:

Although these figures are not rigorously exact, there is a certain numerical prevalence of individuals in relation to the stature of 66 inches, and above and below this point the number of individuals diminishes, becoming very few toward the extremes.

The lack of exactness and of agreement in serial distribution is due to the numerical scarcity of individuals. If this number were doubled, if it were centupled, we should see the serial distribution become systematised to the point of producing, for example, such symmetrical series as the following:

This law of distribution is one of the most widespread laws; it ordains the way in which the characteristics of animals and plants alike must behave; and the statistical method which is beginning to be introduced into botany sheds much light upon it.

This law may be represented graphically by arranging the anthropologic data on the abscissæ (e.g., those of stature), and the number of individuals on the ordinates.

In such cases we have a curve with a maximum central height and a symmetrical bilateral diminution (Fig. 121): this is the curve of Quétélet.

Or better yet, it is known as Quétlét's binomial curve, because this anthropologist was the first to represent the law graphically and to perceive that its development was the same as that so well known in mathematics for the coefficients in Newton's binomial theorem.

Newton's binomial theorem is the law for raising any binomial to the nth power, and is expanded in algebra as follows:

(a+b)ⁿ = aⁿ+ na^(n-1)b+ (n(n-1)/2)a^(n-2)b²+ ((n(n-1)(n-2))/(2.3))a^(n-3)b³+ ((n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3))/(2.3.4))a^(n-4)b⁴+ ((n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)(n-4))/(2.3.4.5))a^(n-5)b⁵+ ... +bⁿ

substituting for n some determined coefficient, for example, 10, the binomial would develop, in regard to its coefficients, after the following fashion:

(a+b)¹⁰ = a¹⁰+10×a⁹b+ ((10.9)/2)a⁸b²+ ((10.9.8)/(2.3))a⁷b³+ ((10.9.8.7)/(2.3.4))a⁶b⁴+ ((10.9.8.7.6)/(2.3.4.5))a⁵b⁵+ ((10.9.8.7.6.5)/(2.3.4.5.6))a⁴b⁶+ ((10.9.8.7.6.5.4)/(2.3.4.5.6.7))a³b⁷+ ((10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3)/(2.3.4.5.6.7.8))a²b⁸+ ((10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2)/(2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9))ab⁹+ b¹⁰.

Whence it appears that, after performing the necessary reductions, the coefficients following the central one diminish symmetrically in the same manner as they increased: that is, according to the selfsame law that we meet in the anthropological statistics of seriations.

Indeed, here is the binomial theorem with the reductions made:

(a+b)¹⁰ = a¹⁰+10×a⁹b+ ((10.9)/(2))a⁸b²+ ((10.9.8)/(2.3))a⁷b³+ ((10.9.8.7)/(2.3.4))a⁶b⁴+ ((10.9.8.7.6)/(2.3.4.5))a⁵b⁵+ ((10.9.8.7)/(2.3.4))a⁴b⁶+ ((10.9.8)/(2.3))a²b⁷+ ((10.9)/(2))a²b⁸+10×ab⁹+b¹⁰.

And after calculating the coefficients, we obtain the following numbers in a symmetrical series:

• 10
• 45
• 120
• 210
• 252
• 210
• 120
• 45
• 10

This is why the curve of Quétélet is called binomial.

Let us assume that we wish to represent by means of Quétélet's curves, two seriations, for instance in regard to the stature of children of the same race, sex and age, but of opposite social conditions: the poor and the rich.

These two curves of Quétélet's, provided that they are based upon an equal and very large number of individuals, will be identical, because the law itself is universal. Only, the curve for the rich children will be shifted along toward the figures for high statures, and that for the poor children toward the low statures.

At a certain point A the two curves meet and intersect, each invading the field of the other: so that within the space ABC there are individual rich children who are shorter than some of the poor, and individual poor children who are taller than some of the rich: i.e., the conditions are contrary to those generally established by the curve as a whole. This rule also, of the intersection of binomial curves, is of broad application; whenever a general principle is stated, e.g. that the rich are taller than the poor, it is necessary to understand it in a liberal sense, knowing that wherever we should descend to details, the opposite conditions could be found (superimposed area ABC). For all that, the principle as a whole does not alter its characteristic, which is a differentiation of diverse types (for example, the tall rich and the short poor). The same would hold true if we made a comparison of the stature of men and women; the curve for men would be shifted toward the higher figures and that for women toward the lower, but there would be a point where the two curves would intersect, and in the triangle ABC there would be women taller than some of the men, and men shorter than some of the women. The differences have reference to the numerical majority (the high portions of the curves) which are clearly separated from each other, like the tops of cypress trees which have roots interlacing in the earth. Now, it is the numerical prevalence of individuals, in any mixed community, that gives that community its distinctive type, whether of class or of race. If we see gathered together in a socialistic assemblage a proletarian crowd, suffering from the effects of pauperism, the majority of the individuals have stooping shoulders, ugly faces and pallid complexions; all this gives to the crowd a general aspect, one might say, of physical inferiority. And we say that this is the type of the labouring class of our epoch in which labour is proletarian—a type of caste. On the other hand, if we go to a court ball, what strikes us is the numerical prevalence of tall, distinguished persons, finely shaped, with velvety skin and delicate and beautiful facial lineaments, so that we recognise that the assemblage is composed of privileged persons, constituting the type of the aristocratic class. But this does not alter the fact that among the proletariat there may be some handsome persons, well developed, robust and quite worthy of being confounded with the privileged class; and conversely, among the aristocrats, certain undersized individuals, sad and emaciated, with stooping shoulders and features of inferior type, who seem to belong to the lower social classes.

For this same reason it is difficult to give clear-cut limits to any law and any distinction that we meet in our study of life. This is why it is difficult in zoology and in botany to establish a system, because although every species differs from the others, in the salience of its characteristics and the numerical prevalence of individuals very much alike, none the less every species grades off so insensibly into others, through individuals of intermediate characteristics, that it is difficult to separate the various species sharply from one another. It is only the treetops that are separate, but at their bases life is intertwined; and in the roots there is an inseparable unity. The same may be said when we wish to differentiate normality from pathology and degeneration. The man who is clearly sane differs beyond doubt from the one who is profoundly ill or degenerate; but certain individuals exist whose state it would be impossible to define.

Now, while seriations analyse certain particularities of the individual distribution, by studying the actual truth, mean averages give us only an abstraction, which nevertheless renders distinct what was previously nebulous and confused in its true particulars. The synthesis of the mean average brings home to us forcibly the true nature of the characteristics in their general effect. The analysis of the seriation brings home to us forcibly the truth regarding this effect when we observe it in the actuality of individual cases.

"When, from the topmost pinnacle of the Duomo of Milan or from the hill of the Superga," says Levi in felicitous comparison, "we contemplate the magnificent panorama of the Alpine chain, we see the zone of snow distinguished from that free from snow by a line that is visibly horizontal and that stretches evenly throughout the length of the chain. But if we enter into the Alpine valleys and try to reach and to touch the point at which the zone of snow begins, that regularity which we previously admired disappears before our eyes; we see, at one moment, a snow-clad peak, and at the next another free from snow that either is or seems to be higher than the former."

Now, through the statistics of mean averages, we are able to see the general progress of phenomena, like the spectator who gazes from a distance at the Alpine chain and concludes that the zone of snow is above and the open ground is below; while, by means of seriation, we are in the position of the person who has entered the valley and discovers the actuality of the particular details which go to make up the uniform aspect of the scene as a whole. Both aspects are true—just as both of those statistical methods are useful—for they reciprocally complete each other, concurring in revealing to us the laws and the phenomena of anthropology.

CHAPTER IX
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE PUPIL AND HIS ANTECEDENTS

The child, like every other individual, represents an effect of multifold causes: he is a product of heredity (biological product) and a product of society (social product). The characteristics of his ancestors, their maladies, their vices, their degeneration, live again in the result of the conception which has produced a new individual: and this individual, whether stronger or weaker, must pass through various obstacles in the course of his intrauterine life and his external life. The sufferings and the mistakes of his mother are reflected in him. The maladies which attack him may leave upon him permanent traces. Finally, the social environment receives the child at birth, either as a favoured son or as an unfortunate, and leads him through paths that certainly must influence his complex development.

All of the preceding and theoretic parts of this volume which took up each characteristic for separate consideration, have already explained all that it is necessary to know in order to interpret the characteristics present in a given individual, and the more or less remote causes which contributed to them.

We may now apply our acquired knowledge to individual study, by making investigations into the antecedents of the child and recording his biographic history. It forms a parallel to the clinical history which is recorded in medicine: and it leads to a diagnosis, or at least to a scientific judgment regarding the child.

A biographical history is essentially composed of three parts: the antecedents, which comprises an investigation of the facts antedating the individual in question; the objective examination, which studies the individual personally; and the diaries, i.e., the continued observation of the same individual who has already been studied in regard to himself and his antecedents.

The objective examination and the diaries cannot be considered solely in the light of anthropology, because they chiefly require the aid of psychology. But even anthropology makes an ample and important contribution, first, in the form of an objective morphological examination, the vast importance of which has already been shown; secondly, because it gives us a picture of the biologico-social personality which it is necessary to compare with the reactions of the subject in question, with his psychic manifestations, his degree of culture, etc.; and upon this comparison depends the chief importance of the individual study of the pupil.

Accordingly, in addition to an examination of the individual, anthropology ought to concern itself also with the conditions antedating the individual; therefore, it traces back to the origins (antecedents), while psychology reserves for itself the principal task of following the psychological development of the subject in his school life (diaries); a task in which it will nevertheless go hand in hand with anthropology since the latter must follow at the same time the physio-morphological development of the subject himself.

Accordingly, the gathering of antecedent statistics is the task of anthropology. The antecedent statistics may be called the history of the genesis of the individual; the manner of collecting them is by means of enquiries that are generally made of the child's nearest relations (the mother) or of the teachers who have superintended his previous education. The enquiries are conducted under the guidance of a certain system of which we give the following outline:

We may distinguish biopathological antecedents, which have regard to the organism of the child as a living individual; sociological antecedents, having regard to the social environment in which the child has grown up and which contributes to the formation of his psycho-physical personality; and scholastic antecedents or scholarship, regarding the previous schooling of the child under examination. The biopathological antecedents are certainly of fundamental importance. They are called remote when we refer to the hereditary antecedents of the subject, and near when we have reference to his personal antecedents.

Remote Antecedents.—These include an investigation regarding the ancestors, the brothers and sisters, and the collateral relations. The age of the parents (since we know that too immature or too advanced an age, or a disparity in age between the parents may result in the birth of weak children). Degree of relationship between the parents (since we know that the offspring of parents related to each other may be weak). Maladies incurred by them or prevalent in their families, incidental vices of the parent (since we know that constitutional maladies, such as syphilis, tuberculosis, gout, pellagra, malaria, mental and nervous diseases, etc., alcoholism or an irregular life of excesses, may lead to the procreation of degenerates). Furthermore, since it is known that according to the laws of collateral heredity, maladies may reappear in nephews which previously occurred in uncles and not in the parents, information should be sought, so far as possible, from all members of the family. Information regarding the brothers of the subject offers an interest of a very particular kind, because this gives us an insight into the generative capacity of the parents: for instance, if there were abortions, children who died at an early age of convulsions, meningitis, etc., this argues unfavourably for the normality of the subject.

Near Biopathological Antecedents: Mother, Child.—Our inquiries should centre first of all upon the mother, in order to know the conditions of conception, pregnancy, delivery and lactation, in the case of the child under examination, because we know that frequently an error at the time of conception may produce a degenerate or a weakling. For example, a child generated in a state of physical or mental exhaustion—e.g., after a long trip on a bicycle, or after passing an examination—may be born feeble, predisposed to nervous diseases (idiocy, meningitis), just as he may be born abnormal (epilepsy, anomalies of character, criminal tendencies) if generated by the father during an alcoholic excess, or by the mother while suffering from hypochondria, illness, etc. The history of the pregnancy is also of interest: whether it proceeded regularly to the close of the nine months, whether the mother suffered especially from mental anxiety, illness or received any blow on the abdomen.

Other causes which may affect the health of the child have reference to birth and to lactation. If the delivery requires an operation, it may, for instance, deform the skull; while a hired wet-nurse, or artificial feeding are more or less apt to cause deterioration in the child.

Having completed this first enquiry, we pass on to consider the child itself, from the time of birth onward, lingering especially over its early development and more particularly over the cutting of the teeth, learning to walk and learning to speak, which are the three first obstacles to infantile development. The healthy child overcomes them according to normal laws, while the child of tardy development shows the first characteristic anomaly in these three fundamental points of its early existence (tardiness of development, incomplete and defective development, development accompanied by diseases, etc.).

Usually a tardiness in the development of the teeth denotes general weakness and more especially skeletal weakness (rachitis, syphilis); tardiness in learning to walk may occur in connection with the above-named causes (weakness of the lower limbs); or with difficulty in attaining an equilibrium (of cerebral origin; witness the case of idiots who, without being paralytic, cannot walk, because they cannot learn how to walk); or with paresis, more or less partial or diffused, of the muscles controlling the act of walking (infantile paralysis, Little's disease, etc.). A tardy development of speech is sometimes found together with a notable intellectual development and the child will not begin to speak until he can express thoughts and speak well; but more frequently such delayed development is due to partial deafness; or it originates in the association centres of the brain (the idiot child cannot learn to speak).

It will also be helpful to know whether the child was ever ill. It is very important in this connection to find out whether the child ever suffered from infantile eclampsia in early life (convulsions, or "fits" as the mothers of the lower classes call them). This is an indication of a cerebral malady which leaves behind it permanent alterations of the brain and of its functions. The child may be an idiot, or may belong to one of the various catagories of children who go under the name of defectives; or he may be abnormal in character (cerebroplegic forms). Another important fact to record is nocturnal enuresis (loss of urine during sleep subsequent to the normal age); this is considered by some authorities as a pre-epileptic state—that is, a child that suffers such losses may in the future become subject to epilepsy, and quite probably, if studied, will show various anomalies of the nervous system, such, for example, as too deep sleep, slowness of intelligence, etc. Repeated attacks of infective diseases, even though they are survived, also denote organic weakness, with facile predisposition to infective agencies—in other words, deficient powers of immunity.

Prolonged intestinal maladies or typhus in the early months (denutrition from pathological causes, exhaustive diseases) may, in themselves, be the cause of the child's enfeeblement and its consequent arrest in development.

But in the interpretation of such observations, the physician should be the guide and the direct judge.

The most salient symptoms in regard to the child—intelligence, conduct, character, endurance, etc.—are, for the most part, expressed with great clearness by the mothers. Prof. De Sanctis, for example, has noted that the mother's first words might serve the purpose of a diagnosis; for instance, the mother says of an idiot child: "he doesn't understand," of a child retarded in development, "he is stupid," of an abnormal child, "he understands but he is bad." Accordingly, Prof. De Sanctis begins his diagnostic researches by registering the maternal judgments, because the mother is struck by the salient characteristics of her child; and even if she is uneducated she always finds concise and effective phrases to express her judgment.

To the end of rendering the research into antecedents surer and more complete so far as regards the personal antecedents of the child, certain anthropological tablets are being introduced to serve as maternal diaries. In this way the mothers have a guide for studying their children, and this forms one of the first practical attempts toward the "education of the mothers."

Here is a form of chart for keeping a record of the dentition. The significance of the letters is as follows:

• U. r.: upper right, i.e., the right half of the upper jaw.
• U. l.: upper left.
• L. r.: lower right.
• L. l.: lower left. (The fact must be borne in mind that in
• the first dentition there are twenty teeth.)

FIRST DENTITION

In this way we have an analytical and exact chart of the development of the teeth. Analogous tables are made for the second dentition, for the growth of the stature, for increase in weight, for certain physiological notes, etc. When the first period of growth is ended, the mother's note-books contain annual notes, like the following:

YEAR 190....

Special annual diaries are now employed for keeping a minute record of maladies incurred, symptoms, treatment, etc.

These note-books, similar to those hitherto kept by ladies for their house accounts, or for sentimental notes, would be of great service and aid to pedagogic anthropology, even though their use could not be extended to all mothers (the mothers of the proletariat, immoral women, etc., either could not or would not give similar contributions). The institution of "Children's Houses," if more widespread, could easily facilitate the education of the mothers and the diffusion of "Maternal Note-books" throughout all grades of society. But at most these mother's diaries furnish us only with notes of the near antecedents and not of the remote, which are of extreme importance.

Sociological Antecedents: Vocation, Morality, Culture.—Before all else, in inquiring into the sociological antecedents, it is necessary to know in what sort of an environment the child has grown, and whether it is an environment favorable, or otherwise, to his physical, psychic, intellectual and moral development. This is an exceedingly important matter to determine for the purposes of a clinical history, since the child's moral conduct and the profit derived from study depend to a large extent upon the environment in which the child has grown and lived. To this end inquiries should be made into the economic circumstances of the child's parents, their vocation, moral standards and degree of education, and also into the child's mode of life, whether with the parents or other relations, or with persons not related to him, whether he plays in the street, keeps company with street children, etc.

School Record: Judgments of Teachers.—This is the history of the pupil as made by his teachers, beginning with the first day that he enters school. The judgments of teachers, although not always so precise and so fair as those of mothers, nevertheless have an importance of their own. Inquiry should be made into the child's conduct in school and the profit he derives from his studies.

Illustrative Cases.—There are, for example, certain families so infected with a degenerative or pathological taint that the remote antecedents are sufficient in themselves to stigmatise the biological condition of an abnormal subject. This may be seen in the genealogy of the Misdea family (taken from Lombroso's work):

Grandfather: MICHELE MISDEA
(Not very intelligent, but very active)

Similarly extraordinary is the genealogy of Ada Türcker, an alcoholic, thief and vagabond, born in 1740, a large part of whose numerous descendants it has been possible to trace. Out of the 834 individuals derived from this degenerate woman, the lives of no less than 709 have been followed up, and among these are included 143 mendicants, 64 inmates of asylums, 181 prostitutes, 69 criminals, and 7 murderers, who altogether cost the state upward of seven million francs!

Besides families like these there are others infected with a pathological taint, in which phthisis and gout alternate with epilepsy and insanity. Then again there are other families in which the pathological taint is scarcely perceptible, as for example, the family of an epileptic child with criminal tendencies, personally studied by me; all the members of this family are long-lived and enjoy good health; the father alone is a sufferer from articular rheumatism. Lastly there are families in which there is no sign of pathological or degenerative weakness; and in such cases we say that there is nothing noteworthy in the genealogy, and the near antecedents assume the highest degree of importance.

The study of antecedents not only has a scientific importance, in so far as it contributes to a knowledge of anthropological varieties of mankind (due to adaptation); but it also has an immediate pedagogic importance through its useful application to the school.

Lino Ferriani is the first jurist to investigate the antecedents of juvenile delinquents, by gathering notes not only regarding their parents, but also in regard to their own school standing (by consulting the teachers in the schools where these juvenile criminals received their education!). I have extracted from his volume on "Precocious and senile delinquency" the following statistics of the physico-moral condition of the parents:

Among these notes there is a numerical preponderance of idlers (the idle and semi-idle: degenerates are weaklings who cannot work and who shun work; their only form of work is crime, which is an attempt to reap the fruit of other people's industry) and alcoholism (addicted to wine, alcoholics, and those sentenced for drunkenness; this also is a stigma of degeneration: weaklings have recourse to alcohol, because it gives them an illusion of strength). Furthermore, the majority show, through crime and prostitution, that they belong to the class of social parasites.

In regard to the psycho-physical characteristics of juvenile offenders, Ferriani gives these principal notes:

And now we come to the most interesting part of all, namely, the notes taken by teachers where these children went to school.

Boys.—Age from ten to twelve years. Characteristic notes on 100 children in regard to bad conduct:

Girls.—Age from ten to twelve years. Characteristic notes on 50 children in regard to bad conduct:

The prevailing faults among the boys are: theft, obscene actions, tyranny over the weak; and among the girls: slander, extreme envy and lascivious love-letters.

If we compare the notes regarding the parents with those relating to the children, we find a connection amounting to that of cause and effect. We might almost say that the phenomenon revealed to us in school through the teachers' notes concerns not so much the pupil himself as his past history. To keep this sort of record of misconduct, so damnatory to the pupils in question, would be worse than useless, if we were unable to trace back their source to the presumable causes which determined them. There is an intimate relation between the environment and the products of that environment. If we should read the notes relating to the children who receive prizes for good conduct, and who are held up as moral examples, we could trace back and find the cause of these notes in a favourable family environment; hence, the qualities which we praise in the child are not a merit peculiar to the child, but are due to causes, of which the pupil himself is merely the fortunate epilogue.

And passing from studies taken from works of criminal anthropology to examples contained in works of pedagogic anthropology (these works all being based upon the same scientific standards), I am happy to cite a work which has even earned the praise of Lombroso: Notes on Infantile Psycho-physiology, written by Professor Calcagni.

Notwithstanding that this book of Menotti Calcagni's is inspired by the most advanced pedagogic conceptions, so that it well deserves to be cited in its entirety with much profit, I shall avail myself only of the part which particularly interests me at the present moment. It is the part containing the data collected and arranged by the author in a series of tables, in the form of a brief clinical history, of each pupil in the class studied by the author.

I shall pass over the statistical tables concerning the personal examination of the pupils (anthropological, physiological, etc.), and confine myself to just two tables: one in regard to the examination into the pupil's antecedents (name and surname; day of birth; place of birth; age of father; age of mother; vocation of father; vocation of mother; conditions of home environment, hygienic, economic and moral; conditions of other members of the family; maladies and casualties incurred by the parents before and after the procreation of the child; defects and vices of parents, and details regarding their psychic constitutions; conditions and accidents during pregnancy, birth and puerperal period; illnesses incurred by the child); the other in regard to the pupil's previous school record (name and surname; pupils enrolled at beginning of the year; those transferred to other classes; those promoted without examination; those promoted after examination; those permitted a second trial; those not admitted to examination; those dropped from their class, and for how many different years). I select from these the notes referring to the children promoted without examination and those not admitted to examination; i.e., the privileged ones before whom an obstacle has been withdrawn which the majority must surmount before continuing on their path in life: go forward in peace, you favoured ones! and those who are not even allowed a chance to overcome the obstacle: turn back, you to whom the path of other men is closed!

And I read these notes relative to those promoted without examination: "Father shoemaker, Mother dress-maker, home orderly, frugal and clean; brothers labourers;"—"F. professor of chemistry, M. housekeeping, condition of environment excellent, brothers studious;"—"F. assistant engineer, M. keeps house, conditions of environment good, deaths in family from acute diseases;"—"F. country tradesman, M. keeps house, conditions of environment excellent, very religious family;"—"F. man of means, M. housekeeping, conditions of environment excellent, brothers studious;"—"F. machinist, M. keeps the house, home somewhat damp because of adjoining garden; much anxiety on the part of the mother regarding the children, because her first husband was a consumptive, and the seven children she had by him all died. Children of second marriage all healthy; but the pupil in question frequently had attacks of fever;"—"F. cab-driver, M. keeps house, economic and moral conditions satisfactory;"—"F. antiquarian, M. keeps house, condition good;"—"F. manager of a lottery office, M. keeps house, economic conditions of the very best, moral conditions good," etc.

And here are a few notes on the pupils not admitted to the examinations: "Father itinerant vendor, Mother keeps house, home exceedingly dirty, utmost indifference regarding the children and their education. Insufficient nutriment for the mother both before and after the child's birth;"—"F. cobbler, M. wash-woman, poverty, squalor, and indifference, dwelling gloomy and cramped;"—"F. mason, M. dead, dwelling gloomy and unhealthy, through lack of supervision, Giacinto often runs away from home and goes to play on the banks of the Tiber; the mother died of tuberculosis; the father is an alcoholic; the child was brought up by a wet-nurse, etc."

To recapitulate: in the case of children promoted without examination there is an absolute prevalence of the most favourable social and biologico-moral conditions, while the opposite holds true of the children excluded from examinations.

Finally, in my own modest work on children adjudged to be the highest and the lowest in their classes, I arrived at some very eloquent conclusions.

In the case of children who stand at the foot of their class, the prevailing conditions are not only an unhealthy home but an over-crowded one, with ten or twelve persons sleeping in a single room. On the contrary, in the case of the children standing at the head of their class, the homes are for the most part roomy, comfortable, well-aired and hygienic.

In regard to nutrition, the children who have the lowest standing are those who go to school without their breakfast and who go from the school to the street without having had their luncheon. Those who stand first, on the contrary, bring with them a luncheon that is sufficient and sometimes over-lavish; and after school, they return home, with the assurance that food, care and comfort await them.

The parents of these leaders of their class belong nearly all of them to the liberal professions or the more favoured crafts and trades; consequently the pupils enjoy a more comfortable and respectable environment, a higher standard of culture, a mother who can aid them in their lessons, and who, equally with the father, watches with solicitous care over her children's education.

The others, the dullest pupils, go at the close of school into the street, or else—although fortunately very few of them do so—return directly to the wretchedly cramped quarters that they call home.

Consequently it is not enough to recognise the fact that in school we have to deal with the more intelligent pupil and the less intelligent, with the moral and the immoral, the highest and the lowest; these are effects, the causes of which it is our duty to discover; and that is what the study of antecedents does for us.

Here begins the far-sighted task of the teacher, who no longer praises the pupil who is a product of fortunate causes, nor blames the unfortunate one heavily handicapped by a destiny which is in no way his fault; but he gives to all an affectionate and enlightened care, designed to correct and reform the reprobates and raise them to the level of the chosen few, thus working for the brotherhood and the amelioration of all mankind, and devoting special attention to those that need it most.

The study of antecedents is what contributes most to the interpretation of personality. It is needful, however, that it should be sufficiently thorough; and to this end a certain order of interrogation should be followed. Physicians are well acquainted with this order, from the habit they have acquired of taking the antecedents of the patient in their clinical practice; but for making biographic charts for schools, a guide is needed for the use of whoever puts the questions. Besides, the biographical history is based on different principles from those of the clinical history (e.g., the moral status of the parents, their degree of culture, etc., which are not taken into consideration, in treating a patient). Consequently, the blank forms of biographic charts contain suggestions that are likely to prove helpful in conducting an inquiry into antecedents. Among such models, I have selected that of Pastorello, because it is one of the most complete, and also because it was compiled by an educator (see page (420)).

Nevertheless, the inquiry into his antecedents is only a preparation for the scientific study of the pupil in his present state; a study which should follow the pupil through his daily life (diaries) and thus constitute his complete Biographical History.

Having collected the antecedent details, we pass on to the objective anthropological and psychic examination of the pupil: beginning with the anthropological, which it is more important to secure first; since the psychic examination will produce better results after a prolonged observation of the subject (diaries, school records).

In the anthropological examination it is customary to begin by taking the principal measurements (total stature, sitting stature, weight, thoracic perimeter, perimeter of the head, and its two maximum diameters) which furnish the data needed to give a fundamental idea of the child's physiological constitution and racial type, and to determine the normality of his growth. Many other measurements may be taken (spirometry, dynamometry), according to the custom of the school, and, in private schools, according to the object which the Principal has in view, in the way of contributions to science. For instance, in a school for defectives the examinations as to general sensibility, speech, muscular strength have an importance of the first order, and equally important is the accurate and minute inspection of the different organs, for the purpose of discovering possible malformations. There are various special objects to be attained by gathering anthropological data, and accordingly every school based upon modern scientific principles has its own "Biographical Chart" drawn up according to special forms containing the necessary measurements and observations, and the examiner has only to follow the directions of this guide and to fill in the required information obtained from the individual pupil.

INQUIRY INTO ANTECEDENTS IN PASTORELLO'S BIOGRAPHIC CHART

Here, for instance, is the anthropological form used in the great orphan asylum in New York:

This form has signs of modernity: in fact, it concedes the greater part of the research that is to be made in the first objective examination to anthropological observations, limiting the observations of a physiological nature to those of muscular strength—it being well known that all functions in general, and especially the psychic functions, cannot be determined with reliable accuracy except after repeated and prolonged observations. Furthermore, the modern tendency in anthropologic research is revealed by the preference given to measurements of the body in its entirety, giving first place to those of the bust and limbs, from which the important ratio of their development is obtained (standing and sitting stature, total spread of the arms), and the weight. Furthermore, there is a notable absence of measurements of the face, measurements which it is the modern tendency to abandon where the subjects of research are children, since in this case they have no physiological or ethnical importance, because the face of the child varies from year to year, and has no fixed index like that of the cranium. A study of the facial measurements might be of importance as contributing to a knowledge of the evolution of the face through successive years; but such knowledge can be obtained, so far as is needed, from "special studies and researches," without making obligatory a form of research that is both troublesome and dangerous (the application of pointed instruments to the faces of children). The best method of examining the face is by photographing the full face and the profile at intervals of one year. Accordingly, the biographic form used in the "Children's Houses" contains only questions of an anthropologic nature of importance in relation to growth (see the form of the Biographic Chart of the "Children's Houses," page (423)).

The greatest importance attaches to the stature and weight. Indeed, while all the required measurements are taken once a year on the occasion of the child's birthday, the total stature and the weight are taken once a month upon the day of that month corresponding to the child's birthday. The numerous other physio-pathological and psychic notes, the examination in regard to speech, etc., are obtained partly from the diaries and partly from the physician, according to the necessities of individual cases.

The photograph should complete the examination of the pupil. The methods of observation adopted in the "Children's Houses" represent, I think, the ideal method for the accurate recording of individual characteristics. Since the pedagogical methods there employed are themselves founded upon the "spontaneity" of the manifestations of children, it may be said that they represent the technical and rational means of proceeding to a psychic examination of the child.

I cannot linger upon this point, because the question deserves a special investigation; but it must suffice to point out that in order to render biographic charts a necessary adjunct to the management of schools, so as to offer a real aid to the teacher and not to have them mean to her (as happens to-day only too frequently!), "just so much more work," the immediate utility of which is doubtful, it is essential that the pedagogic methods of instruction should be changed.

So long as a child is required to perform certain definite acts, he will reveal nothing of himself beyond responding, in so far as he is capable, to the requirements of his environment; and any attempt to make psychological deductions from such response would contain profound errors.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL FORM

Used in the "Children's Houses," in Rome and Milan

Nevertheless, the earlier forms of biographic charts, and even the modern ones in general use in Italy (!) frequently contain minute requirements for psychic examination in relation to such points as memory, attention, perception and intelligence.

And even less satisfactory are the requirements in the charts regarding the examination for sensibility—namely, ability to distinguish colours, sense of touch, smell, etc.; because the pedagogic methods in vogue in school (and this applies to-day to all our schools) make no provision for a rational exercise of the senses, nor for instruction in the nomenclature relating to them. An examination of the senses for the purposes of the biographic chart should at most be limited to a test of their acuteness, forming an inquiry analogous to that of sensibility to pain. For an inquiry into the power to discriminate between various sensations ceases to be a simple examination of the senses, and becomes a combined test of psychic powers and of the degree of culture attained (the degree to which the senses have been trained). Furthermore, it is well known that a psychical examination demands preparation on the part of the person to be examined, complete repose from all emotion, isolation of the senses, etc., the preparation depending upon the special research which it is desired to make; all of which is absolutely opposed to the aggressiveness of the tumultuous examination conducted by an investigator whose chief aim is to fill in the blanks upon the biographic charts. The psychic examination of a pupil is a task to be accomplished slowly, by watching the child's behaviour, in the course of its daily life under the eye of an intelligent and trained observer.

Nevertheless, it is sometimes necessary, especially in schools for defective children, to form at once a comprehensive first impression of the psychic condition of a given child; it furnishes the observer with a needed point of departure, and abridges the long and difficult task of a psychological study of the pupil, to be made in the course of the ensuing year. In such a case, the biographical form should not contain such general topics as the following:

• Memory,
• Sense of place and time,
• Judgment,
• Moral sense, etc.,

but a series of very simple questions to be put by the examiner to the pupil, the replies to which must be recorded accurately, without alteration in any manner, but reproducing their incorrectness of speech, their hesitations, etc. In this way such a form of inquiry constitutes not only a first psychical examination, but also a first examination as to defects of speech, which is of much value and reproduces quite exactly the state of the subject at a given moment.

On the contrary, the sort of results obtained according to the older method, e.g.:

• Memory, poor;
• Intelligence, sufficient;
• Attention, easily aroused, etc.;

were practically worthless, especially in absence of any knowledge of the competence of the person who formulated these judgments.

Here is an example of a series of questions to be used as a psychic test, prepared by Professor Sante de Sanctis, and included in the Biographic charts of the Asylum-School for Defective Children at Rome:

1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. What is your mamma's name?
4. Have you any brothers?
5. Have you any sisters?
6. What is your father's business?
7. Is your father (or mother) old or young?
8. At what age is one old?
9. How do you know that a man is old?
10. What is this? (a couch in the corridor).
11. What is it for?
12. What is this? (a table).
13. What is it for?
14. Do you always feel well?
15. Are you hungry?
16. When are you hungry?
17. Do you ever dream at night?
18. What do you dream?
19. What time is it now, more or less?
20. What year is it?
21. What month is it?
22. What season of the year?
23. What day of the month is it?
24. What day of the week?
25. Where do you live?
26. Where are you at the present moment?
27. What are these? (two books or two pictures) and which of the two is the larger?
28. Which of these three glasses has the most water in it?
29. Which will weigh the most and which the least of the three?
30. How many persons are there in your home?
31. Is your home large or small?
32. How many rooms are there?
33. Whom do you love most?
34. What would you do if (the person named) were hungry?
35. What would you do if he were very sick?
36. Or if he died?
37. Do you love some playmate, or some friend? Why do you love him?
38. Do you hate anyone? Why?
39. Do you know the meaning of right and wrong?
40. Do you know the meaning of rewards and punishments?

Out of all the existing forms of biographic charts I have selected four in their entirety; two are historical: 1. the first form for the individual examination of the pupil ever published in any treatise on pedagogy; and 2. the first form printed in Italy by the city authorities with the intention of having it introduced into the elementary schools.

The first of these is the biographic chart proposed by Séguin in his pedagogic treatise relating to the education of idiots (Traitement moral, hygiene, et éducation des idiots, 1846); the second is the one proposed by Sergi for the communal schools of Rome, and printed by the Commune with the intention (1889), never actually carried out, of introducing it into the schools; at all events, this is the first historic document representing an idea twenty years in advance of the time when the idea itself was destined to begin to be popularised.