The Personal Error

In anthropometry, a knowledge of the anthropometric points, the instruments to apply to them, their use and their interpretation, is not sufficient. There is need of prolonged experience in accordance with the accepted method and under a practical guide.

As a matter of fact, the degree of accuracy with which a measurement is taken is always relative, no matter who takes it, but in the case of a person who has had no practice this relativity may present so wide a margin as to be practically useless.

To obtain an approximate figure of a measurement means nothing, unless the figure is supplemented not only by a statement as to which of the accepted methods was used in taking it, but also by a minute description of the manner in which this method was carried out.

It is necessary to bear in mind:

That the ability to find the anthropometric points implies a certain knowledge of anatomy; it is a practical research, to be made under the guidance of a teacher, while the actual finding of the points as well as the taking of the measurements, should be left to the learner.
That the manner of applying the instruments is not without effect upon the resulting figure: for example, if the compass is held horizontally in measuring the frontal diameter, the result is different from what it would be if the instrument were held vertically. If the compass is held by the extremities of the branches, the diameter is slightly different from what it would be if the compass was held by the handle. Accordingly, it is necessary to describe minutely how we are accustomed to hold the instruments.
That the resulting figure differs according to whether or not the screw has been turned, or whether it has been read in position, or by approaching the instrument to the eye.
That when an instrument is old, it registers different results from those it gave when new; consequently, it is necessary to verify it, before proceeding to take a series of measurements. Hence it is proper to state not only precisely what instrument is used, but also that the precaution has been taken to verify it.

But what is still more important is to find out one's own personal data.

If the same measurement is taken twice under precisely similar conditions, the same figure is hardly ever obtained both times; everyone, even the most experienced, has his own personal error. By practice the amount of this error may be steadily lowered, but cannot be eliminated. Constant figures are an evidence of dishonesty, of mere copying; they are almost certainly not authentic.

It is important to know one's own average error.

It is calculated as follows:

Let us suppose that successive attempts have resulted in the following figures relative to the same measurement:

9, 10, 11, 12, 8

The mean average of these numbers is

(9+10+11+12+8)/5 = 10

Let us see how the values obtained differ in respect to 10:

9 10 11 12 8 10

-1, 0, +1, +2, -2 = differences from the mean average figure. We now take the average of these differences, disregarding the plus and minus signs:

(1+0+1+2+2)/5 = 6/5 = 1.2 = mean average error

The personal mean error is a datum that it is necessary to know in order to give value to any measurements that we may wish to give forth.

In taking the various test measurements for the purpose of calculating one's personal error, it is well to use the precaution of not taking them twice at the same sitting, but after an interval of time, not only so that all marks will have disappeared that may have been left upon the skin by the instrument in the act of measuring, but also that the preceding figure will have faded from our memory. Accordingly, the measurements should be repeated on successive days and if possible under the same conditions of time and place.

It is well to make a careful choice of the time and place, because these also have their effect upon the figures.

It will be observed that if the measurements are made in a well-appointed place, with a steady light, without noises, in short, without disturbing causes, the personal error is much more easily decreased, i.e., the measurements are more exact, because the measurer can better concentrate his attention.

Even the hour of the day has an influence upon the figures. It is known that none of us has the same ability to perform our various tasks at all the different hours of the day; for instance, it is not a matter of indifference whether we ask the pupils in a school to solve a problem at one hour of the day rather than at another. This is true of all occupations, and hence also of anthropometry; there are certain hours of the day at which fewer errors in measurement will be made, independently of the state of fatigue.

Consequently, it is well to know this individual datum, and to tell at what hour and in what environment the measures have been taken.

The figures are of more value if they have been compared with the results of other observers; it is necessary, after we have found our own average error, to select, for the purpose of verifying our results, some other observer, of similar experience to our own, and whose personal error is also known.

Here it is necessary to take into consideration still another factor—one's personal susceptibility to suggestion. If we have confidence in the person through whom we verify our figures, we are inclined to obtain figures equal to his own. We have only to compare our earlier figures with those since we began to use him as a test, in order to see whether, and to what extent we are influenced by suggestion. Hence, to obviate this danger it is necessary to obtain our respective figures without communicating them to each other.

It will also be necessary to take precautions not to be influenced by suggestion under any other circumstances. For instance, we are in hopes, while taking a series of measurements of school children, that we shall be able to prove that the heads of the more intelligent are larger than those of the less intelligent. In order that the figures shall be free from alterations due to suggestion, it is necessary that the measurer, while actually taking the measurements, shall be unaware which children are better and which are worse, from the intellectual point of view.

The personal error cannot be calculated in regard to a single measurement and then applied to all the others, but it must be worked out anew for every separate measurement; it oscillates variously, as a matter of fact, in relation to the longer and shorter diameters, the cranial measurements, and the measurements of the trunk and the limbs.

We are sufficiently skilled to take measurements when we have attained for measurements of cranial diameters a mean error of from 1 to 2 mm., for the vertical cranial diameter one of 4 mm., and for the stature, one of from 5 to 6 mm.

Finally, in anthropometry, theory is of no value without a long and intelligent practice, constituting an actual and personal education in anthropometric technique.

All anthropometric figures have a relative value dependent upon the extent of this education in the individual investigator.

This is a case in which it may be said that the figures are worthless without the signature.

CHAPTER VIII
STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY

Having taken measurements with the rigorous technical precision that is to-day demanded by anthropometry, we should know how to extract from these figures certain laws, or at least certain statistical conclusions.

There are two principal methods of regrouping the figures:—mean averages and seriations.

Mean Averages.—Averages are obtained, as is a matter of common knowledge and practice, by taking the sum of all the figures and dividing the result by the number of data. The general formula is as follows:

(a+b+c+d)/(1+1+1+1)

When comparative figures are given, as, for example, those recorded by Quetélét for the stature, the diameters of the head, etc., such figures are always mean averages.

Such averages may be more or less general. We might, for example, obtain a mean average of the stature of Italians, and this would be more general than the mean stature for a single region of Italy, and this again more general than the mean stature for a city, or for some specified social class, etc.

It is interesting to know how the mean will be affected, according to the number of individuals examined, because it is obvious that the mean stature of Italians cannot be based upon measurements of all Italians, but upon a larger or smaller number of individuals. Now, if we take various different numbers of individuals, shall we obtain different mean statures? And if so, what number of subjects must we have at our disposal in order to obtain a constant medial figure, and hence the one that represents the real mean average? It has been determined that a relatively small number will suffice to give the mean, if the measurements are taken with uniform method and from the same class of subjects (sex, age, race, etc.); for the cranium, 25 subjects are sufficient, and for the stature, 100 subjects.

This method furnishes us with an abstract number, insofar as it does not correspond to any real individual, but it serves to give us the synthetic idea of an entirety. In anthropology we need this sort of fundamental synthesis before proceeding to individual analysis for the purpose of interpreting a specified person.

Now, it is evident that the figures representing the mean stature for each region in Italy give us a basis for judging of the distribution of this important datum, while an accumulation of a hundred thousand individual figures would lead to nothing more profitable than confusion and weariness.

The following table, however, is quite clear and instructive:

MEAN STATURE IN ITALY

(According to Departments)

Departments	Stature in centimetres
Piedmont	162.7
Liguria	163.7
Lombardy	163.6
Venetia	165.4
Emilia	164.0
Tuscany	164.3
Marches	162.4
Umbria	162.7
Latium	162.5
Abruzzi and Molise	160.6
Campania	161.3
Apulia	160.4
Basilicata	158.9
Calabria	159.4
Sicily	161.1
Sardinia	158.9

Yet the interpretation of such a table is not simple; it is necessary to read the numbers, to remember them in their reciprocal relation; and it demands effort and time to acquire a clear and synthetic idea of the distribution in Italy of this one datum, stature.

On the other hand, we must lose as little time and spare our forces as far as possible. The value of positive methodology lies in the extent to which it accomplishes these two subjects.

Geographical charts serve the purpose of this desired simplification. Let us take an outline map of Italy, divide it into regions, and colour these different regions darker or lighter, in proportion as the stature is higher or lower.

The gradations and shadings in colour will tell us at a single glance, and without any fatigue on our part, what the table of figures reveals at the cost of a very perceptible effort. Little squares must be added on the margin of the chart, corresponding to the gradations in colour, and opposite them the figures which they respectively indicate—after the fashion in which the scale of reduction is given in every geographical map. In this way we may study these charts, and their examination is pleasant and interesting, while it successfully associates the two ideas of an "anthropometric datum" and of a "region," a result which a series of figures, pure and simple, could not achieve.

We have seen Livi's charts of Italy, both for stature and for the cephalic index. Analogous charts may be constructed for all the different data, for example, the colour of the hair, the shape of the nose, the facial index, etc. In the same manner we may proceed to a still more analytical distribution of anthropometric data among the different provinces of a single region. For example, I myself prepared charts of this sort for the stature, the cephalic index and the pigmentation of the population of Latium.

Sometimes we want to see in one single, comprehensive glance, the progress of some anthropological datum; for instance, in its development through different ages. Quétélet's series of figures for growth in stature, in weight, in the diameters of the head, the cranial circumference, etc., offer when read the same difficulty as the similar tables of distribution according to regions. On the contrary, we get a synthetic, sweeping glance in diagrams, such as the one which shows the growth of stature in the two sexes. The method of constructing such diagrams is very simple, and is widely employed. When we wish to represent in physics certain phenomena and laws; or in hygiene, the progress of mortality through successive years, etc., we make use of the method of diagrams.

Let us draw two fundamental lines meeting in a right angle at A (Fig. 151): AS is known as the axis of the abscissæ; AO, the axis of the ordinates. We divide each of these lines into equal parts. Let us assume that the divisions of AS represent the years of age, and those of AO the measurements of stature in centimetres; and since the new-born child has an average height of 50 cm., we may place 50 as the initial figure. From the figure O (age) and from 50 cm. (measure), we erect perpendiculars meeting at a, where we mark the point. At the age of one year the average stature is about 70 cm., accordingly we erect perpendiculars from 1 (age) and from 70 (measure), obtaining the point c. Since the stature at two years is about 80 cm. the same procedure gives us the point e. Since the stature at the age of three is about 86 cm., I erect the perpendicular from a level slightly higher than half-way between 80 and 90, obtaining the point i; and so on, for the rest. Meanwhile we begin to be able to see at a glance that the stature increases greatly in the first year and that thereafter the intensity of its growth steadily diminishes.

Fig. 151

If we unite the points thus constructed, the line of representation is completed.

The verticals 0a, 1c, 2e, etc., are the ordinates, and the horizontals 50a, 70c, etc., are the abscissæ of the line of representation; and since it is constructed along the intersections of these lines, they are for that reason collectively called coordinates. It is usual in constructing these diagrams to mark the coordinates in such a way that they will not be apparent, instead of which only the axes and the line representing the development of the phenomenon are shown (Fig. 152).

Sometimes a different method of representing the phenomenon graphically is followed, namely, by tracing the successive series of distances developed on the ordinates (Fig. 153); in which case the characteristic arrangement of the lines causes this to be known as the organ-pipe method.

Fig. 152.

Fig. 153.

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:

Stature in metres	Number of individuals
1.50	20
1.55	80
1.60	140
1.61	200
1.62	300
1.63	450
1.70	100
1.75	80
1.80	10

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:

Stature in inches	Number of observations
60	6
61	26
62	32
63	26
64	160
65	154
66	191
67	128
68	160
69	89
70	45
71	7
72	6
73	3
74	1

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:

1	1	1
12	16	15
66	120	105
220	560	455
495	1,820	1,365
792	3,368	3,003
924	8,008	5,005
——	11,440	6,435
792	12,870	———
495	————	6,435
220	11,440	———
66	8,008	5,005
12	3,368	3,003
1	1,820	1,365
	560	455
	120	105
	16	15
	1	1

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.

Fig. 154.

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:

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.

↣ Statures ↣ (Ascending Series)

Fig. 155.

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.

Although this biographic part is eminently practical, certain principal points of research may be indicated for the purpose of guiding the student. But no one will ever make a successful study of medical pedagogy unless he will follow the practical lessons dedicated to the individual study of the scholar, and make a practice of personal observation. In the Pedagogical School of Rome, we provide subjects, taken from the elementary schools or from the Asylum School of De Sanctis for defective children. And we read their biographical history in regard to their antecedents, and then make an objective examination of them, frequently extending it to an examination of their sensibility and their psychic conditions and enquiring into their standard of scholarship. From these lessons based upon theory, profitable discussions often result; and they certainly are the most profitable lessons in the course.

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

Teeth	Dates			Observations
Teeth	of first appearance	of complete development	of shedding	Observations
U. r. 1
2
3
4
5
U. l. 1
2
3
4
5
L. r. 1
2
3
4
5
L. l. 1
2
3
4
5

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....

Date	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Weight
Stature

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)

↓	↓	↓	↓	↓
1st uncle Guiseppe (imbecile)	2nd uncle Domenico (eccentric and violent) ↓	3d uncle Cosimo (quick-tempered killed in a quarrel)	4th uncle Michele (semi-imbecile)	Misdea the father (alcoholic, spendthrift, married to an hysterical woman, one of whose brotherswas a brigand and another a thief). ↓
	↓
↓	↓	↓	↓
1st cousin (idiot)	2d cousin (madman)	3d cousin (imbecile)	4th cousin (imbecile)	↓
				↓
↓	↓	↓	↓	↓
1st brother Cosimo (obscene, Misdea epileptic, drunkard, convicted of assault). ↓	2d brother Salvatore	3d brother (sane)	4th brother (alcoholic)	5th brother (incorrigible)
↓
grandson (obscene)

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:

Convicted of crimes against property	1,237
Convicted of crimes against the person	543
Addicted to wine	2,006
Women leading meretricious lives	581
Doubtful reputation	1,500
Very bad reputation	670
Good reputation	210
Industrious	1,888
Semi-idle	4,000
Idle	2,000
Sentenced for drunkenness	1,590
Sentenced for offences against public morals	240
Alcoholics	1,001
Confined in lunatic asylums	48
Mothers deflowered before the age of 15	1,560
Couples separated through fault of the husband	59
Couples separated through fault of the wife	69
Couples separated through fault of both parties	135

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:

Nervous	1,250
Habitual liars	3,000
Fond of wine and gluttonous	2,501
Proud of delinquency	2,700
Blasphemers	3,900
Cruel to animals	2,100
Excessive emaciation	1,648
Long hands	1,650
Unreliable workers	2,195
Without interest in life	1,347
Desirous of authority	1,000
Scrofulous	700
Rachitic and syphilitic	500
Vindictive	842
Timid and cowardly	900
Obscene	900
Cruel to parents	700
Cruel to companions	700

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:

Humiliating poorer companions	2
Absolute refusal to obey	4
Corrupting companions	4
Mutilating books of poor companions	2
Spirit of rebellion	1
Malicious and headstrong	1
Resentful of routine	1
Stealing food at expense of companions	6
Abnormally spiteful	4
Impertinent answers	7
Proud of inventing misdeeds	2
Stealing from companions and teacher (school stationary, etc.)	10
Calumniating companions	6
Desire to play the spy	8
Obscene writings in toilet room	2
Obscene writings in copy-books	6
Obscene actions in the school-room	9
Obscene writings on the benches	3
Violence with a weapon (pen-knife)	2
Bullying smaller boys	12
Feigning loss of speech for a month, to avoid reciting lessons	1
Blaspheming	1
Afraid of everything and savagely vindictive	1
Frequently absent from school, to play games of chance	3
Spirit of destruction	1
Spirit of contradiction	1

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

Soiling the clothing of their companions	3
Abnormally spiteful	2
Intense envy	4
Frequent absence from school, to play games of chance	4
Tyranny	3
Immoderate vanity	2
Spirit of rebellion	1
Insolent answers	1
Absolute intolerance of supervision	1
Damaging the school furniture	2
Slandering the teacher	4
Slandering school-mates	6
Theft, limited to pens	1
Lascivious love-letters	4
Constantly speaking ill of her mother	1
Attempts to make school-mates unhappy	1
Unkindness toward animals	1
Unkindness toward old persons	1
Unkindness toward small children	1
Obscene writings in the toilet room	1
Harmful anonymous letters	1
Hatred of beautiful things	1
Spirit of contradiction	1
Corrupting companions	1
Thefts in school	1
Mutilating the clothing of companions	1

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

General Information Regarding Pupil's Family
Name And Surname of Parents	Employment
Father	Father
Mother	Mother
What degree of relationship, if any, exists between the parents?	Ancestry
	Father
At what age did the parents contract marriage?.................

How old were the parents at the time of the child's birth?.....	Mother


State of Health	Moral and Financial Condition of the Pupil's Family
Father
Mother
From what diseases have the relatives of the pupil died?	Is the family interested in the education of the children?

Have there been any predominant diseases in the family?

Education	Family Habits, Eccentricities and Vices
Father
Mother

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

NEW YORK JUVENILE ASYLUM Anthropological Examination and Measurements.—No. of page
Date of entrance		Minimum frontal diameter
Sex		Height of head
Age		Inspection: cranium
Date of birth		Face
Name		Eyes
Total stature		Ears
Sitting stature		Gums
Total spread of arms		Teeth
Weight		Palate
Prehensile strength, right hand		Uvula
Prehensile strength, left hand		Strabismus
Power of traction		Limbs
Thorax	Antero-posterior diameter	Body
Thorax	Transverse diameter	Genitals
Maximum circumference of head		Lung
Maximum antero-posterior diameter		Heart
Maximum transverse diameter		Special notes

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

Anthropological Notes
No.						Date of Enrollment
Name and Surname								Age
Name of Parents							Age: M		F
Vocation
Hereditary Antecedents



Personal Antecedents



Total stature	Weight	Thoracic circumf.	Essential stature	Index of stature	Ponderal index	Cranium Cir
Total stature	Weight	Thoracic circumf.	Essential stature	Index of stature	Ponderal index	Circumf.	a.-p. diam.	Transv. diam.	Cephalic index


Physical constitution
Muscular development
Color of complexion
Color of hair
Notes

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:

What is your name?
How old are you?
What is your mamma's name?
Have you any brothers?
Have you any sisters?
What is your father's business?
Is your father (or mother) old or young?
At what age is one old?
How do you know that a man is old?
What is this? (a couch in the corridor).
What is it for?
What is this? (a table).
What is it for?
Do you always feel well?
Are you hungry?
When are you hungry?
Do you ever dream at night?
What do you dream?
What time is it now, more or less?
What year is it?
What month is it?
What season of the year?
What day of the month is it?
What day of the week?
Where do you live?
Where are you at the present moment?
What are these? (two books or two pictures) and which of the two is the larger?
Which of these three glasses has the most water in it?
Which will weigh the most and which the least of the three?
How many persons are there in your home?
Is your home large or small?
How many rooms are there?
Whom do you love most?
What would you do if (the person named) were hungry?
What would you do if he were very sick?
Or if he died?
Do you love some playmate, or some friend? Why do you love him?
Do you hate anyone? Why?
Do you know the meaning of right and wrong?
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.

Here are the two forms in question:

Séguin's Form.—This follows out all of Séguin's pedagogical ideas, and all of his didactic methods; it is a guide for the physician, and a minute guide for the teacher who intends to adopt the Séguin methods of education. Séguin calls his biographic chart a "Monographic Picture," and divides it into five paragraphs, the fifth of which deals with the pupil's antecedents.

Monographic Picture (Séguin)

I. Portrait (Objective Morphological Examination)

Age.
Sex.
Temperament, health.
Illnesses, accessory infirmities.
Detailed configuration of the cranium.
Configuration of the face.
Proportional relation between cranium and face.
Inequality of the two sides of cranium and face.
Hair, skin.
Proportional relation between the trunk and the limbs.
Inequality of the two sides of the trunk and limbs.
General attitude of the body.
Attitude of the head.
Attitude of the trunk.
Attitude of the lower limbs.
Attitude of the upper limbs.
Attitude of the hand and fingers.
Configuration of the organs of speech, and their possible relation to the organs of generation; dentition.
Configuration of the thorax.
State of the vertebral column.
State of the abdomen.

II. Physiological Examination

Activity, general and applied.
Apparent state of the nervous system.
General irritability of the nervous system.
Irritability of special groups of nerves.
Cries, groans, singing, muttering, etc.
The change which certain stimulants such as cold, heat, electricity, odours, etc., produce upon irritability and sensibility, general or special.
Probable state of the brain.
Voluntary articular flexions.
Locomotion.
Positions, recumbent, seated, standing, walking, ascending, descending.
Running.
Jumping.
Grasping objects.
Dropping objects.
Catching objects.
Throwing objects.
Ability to dress, eat, etc., without aid.
Probable state of the spinal marrow.
Probable state of the organic nerves.
Probable state of the sensory nerves.
Probable state of the motor nerves.
Difference of action between the sensory nerves and the motor nerves.
Inequality of action of the motor nerves and sensory nerves on the two sides of the body.
The muscular system, contractibility of muscles, and condition of sphincter muscles in particular.
Muscular movements.
Voluntary movements.
Automatic movements depending on the condition of the sympathetic nerve.
Automatic movements depending on the state of the central nervous system.
Spasmodic movements.
Coordinated and disassociated movements.
Sense of touch.
Sense of taste.
Sense of smell.
Sense of hearing.
Sense of sight.
Erectility.
The voice, abnormal tones.
Speech.
Assimilative functions.
Unnatural appetites.
Manner of taking food.
Mastication.
Swallowing.
Digestion.
Evacuation of fæces and urine, voluntary or involuntary; other excretions, saliva, nasal mucus, tears, sebaceous humor, sweat, perspiration, etc.
Pulse.
Respiration.
Sleep.

III. Psychic Examination

Attention.
Sensorial perception.
Intellectual perception.
Deduction.
Coordination.
Inventiveness.
Unrelated memories.
Foresight and forethought.
To what extent are these intellectual operations, when they exist, applied to concrete phenomena, mixed phenomena (i.e., concrete and abstract) and to ideas of a moral nature?
Are the general ideas of time, space, conventional measurements, relative value, intrinsic or arbitrary, understood and applied in actual daily life?
Comparison.
Judgment.
Reflection.
Have the ordinary rudiments, such as the alphabet, reading, writing, drawing, arithmetic, been taught to the pupil or not, and can they be taught in his present state?
Have his attitude toward music and mathematics, enjoyment of singing, irresistible desire to sing, been brought about naturally?
Has he a perception of the physical proportion of bodies, such as colour, form, dimensions, relations between the parts to form a whole?

IV. Examination Regarding Instincts and Sentiments

Instinct of self-preservation.
Instincts of order, readjustment,
preservation and destruction
of objects.
Aggressiveness, cruelty.
Instinct of assimilation and
possession.
Is the child obedient or
rebellious, respectful or
impertinent, affectionate
or cold, rude or courteous,
grateful, jealous, merry or sad,
proud, vain or indifferent,
courageous or cowardly, timid or
venturesome, circumspect or
thoughtless, credulous or
suspicious?
Has the child a sense of abstract
right and wrong or only in relation
to a small number of acts that
concern himself?
Does the child show spontaneity
an active will—the kind of will
which is the initial cause of all
human actions producing intellectual
or social results?
Has the child only a negative will
associated with instincts and does
he protest energetically against
any extraneous will that tends to
compel the idiot to concern himself
with social or abstract phenomena?
Finally, in what direction and
within what limits has the idiot
passed beyond the boundaries of his
ego in order to enter into physical,
instinctive, intellectual and moral
communication with the phenomena
which surround him?

V. Etiology

Origin of father and mother.
Their constitution.
Hereditary diseases.
Place of residence at the time of
the child's conception,
gestation, birth and lactation.
Possible causes of idiocy.
Circumstances worthy of note during
conception.
Circumstances worthy of note during
gestation, delivery, lactation.
Serious illnesses of the child
during the first year.
Infirmities and illnesses from the
first year down to the first
symptoms of idiocy. Progress,
retrogression or stationary state
from the child's birth down to the
time of examination.

If we realise that this model for a biographic chart was proposed more than one-half a century ago, it makes us marvel at the modern spirit of its concepts: it actually considers the relation between the development of the trunk and of the limbs, the mimic attitudes of the body, the constitution, etc., all of which concepts are foreign to the studies of the medical clinics from which Séguin must have drawn his inspiration, since even to the present day the tendency in the clinics is toward purely analytical investigation, with the exception of Professor De Giovanni's clinic.

In the model proposed by Sergi, the examination was required to be made twice: first upon the reception of the pupil, and again at his departure with the modifications shown below:

BIOGRAPHICAL CHART FOR SCHOOLS (SERGI)

Table I.—Physical Observations

Name.
Age.
Birthplace.
Parentage (father and mother).
Vaccination.
Stature.
Weight.
Pulmonary capacity.
Muscular force.
General state of health.
Past illnesses.
Anomalies, deformities.
Head, horizontal circumference
Head, maximum length.
Head, maximum width.
Cephalic index.
Face, length.
Face, width.
Facial index.
Hair, colour, form.
Eyes, colour.
Skin, complexion.
Incidental remarks.

Name.
Age.
Birthplace.
Parentage (father and mother).
Vaccination.
Stature.
Weight.
Pulmonary capacity.
Muscular force.
General state of health.
Past illnesses.
Anomalies, deformities.
Head, horizontal circumference
Head, maximum length.
Head, maximum width.
Cephalic index.
Face, length.
Face, width.
Facial index.
Hair, colour, form.
Eyes, colour.
Skin, complexion.
Incidental remarks.

BIOGRAPHICAL CHART FOR SCHOOLS (SERGI)

Table II.—Psychological Observations

Sight, acuteness, far- or near-sighted.
Sense of colour, normal, defective.
Hearing, acuteness.
Sense of touch, acuteness.
Intelligence, quick or slow.
Perception, rapid or gradual.
Memory, tenacious or short.
Attention, easily aroused or not.
Speech, rapid or slow.
Speech, pronunciation perfect or imperfect.
Speech, stammering.
Emotional sensibility, dull or easily assumed.
Conduct and character at home.
Affection for parents.
Taciturnity or loquacity.
Preferences during free hours.
Caprices, eccentricities.
Unusual incidental occurrences.

Sight, acuteness, far- or near-sighted.
Sense of colour, normal, defective.
Hearing, acuteness.
Sense of touch, acuteness.
Intelligence, quick or slow.
Perception, rapid or gradual.
Memory, tenacious or short.
Attention, easily aroused or not.
Attention, how long sustained.
Attention, progressive weariness.
Speech, rapid or slow.
Speech, pronunciation perfect or imperfect.
Speech, stammering.
Emotional sensibility, dull or easily assumed.
Conduct and character in school.
Friendships in school.
Taciturnity or loquacity.
Preference during free hours.
Caprices, eccentricities.
Unusual incidental occurrences.

The two other biographic charts that deserve specific mention are, unlike the above, charts in actual use, since they have both been recently introduced into practical service.

The first, which I reproduce in entirety, is the one adopted by the Commune of Bologna for its schools; the second is the one introduced, for the purpose of studying the inmates, into the government reformatories, of Italy, that have recently been transformed into educational institutions, into which a number of important reforms have been introduced, through the influence of scientific pedagogy—among others, these biographical charts and the anthropological researches connected with them.

Biographic chart for elementary schools:

COMMUNE OF BOLOGNA Office X.—Hygiene Biographic Chart of the Pupil
District of		Year 191—
Class
Name and Surname
Age
Place of birth and residence
Parents' Place of birth and vocation
The Teacher.

State of skin, of the subcutaneous tissue, the muscles, the lymphatic glands		Illnesses incurred during the school year
Head	horizontal circumference
	maximum width
	maximum length
Cephalic index		Total number of absences
Face	height
Face	width
Facial index		Number of absences on account of illness
Hair	colour
Hair	form
Eyes	keenness of sight	Profit derived from instruction
	hypermetropia
	myopia
	colour sense
	colour of iris	Conduct and character in school
Hearing, acuteness
Teeth	form	Affection toward parents and school-mates
	number decayed
	number missing
Anomalies of development		Special observations
Weight of body	at the beginning,
Weight of body	at the end of the year
Total spread of arms
Stature
Pulmonary capacity
The Physician		the Master

The biographic chart of the reformatories is among the most complete; nevertheless, it is based upon antiquated methods for the study of the individual, including, for instance, the facial index and ignoring that of the stature; and limiting the psychic examination to abstract notes (reflection, attention, etc.). It constitutes, however, an anthropological record, for it follows the child throughout his whole residence in the reformatory.

What is called, in the chart in question, the moral account, corresponds to our third subdivision in biographic histories, in so far as it represents a summary of the daily records. Under this head mention is made of the moral balance, and the notes tell us that it is founded upon "punishments" and "rewards." In so far as they treat of disciplining children, these notes are not to be taken as a model; they are evidently a relic of antiquated educative methods that have survived amid the efforts of a new scientific movement. There is no mention made of medical treatment bestowed upon the children, who may very often owe their so-called moral anomalies to a pathological condition which must frequently be aggravated by punishments. It is well known that many normal children have periods of agitation which is manifested by the most various kinds of action (impulsiveness, sexual excesses, rebellion), followed by periods of calm during which the child exhibits the opposite characteristics (industriousness, obedience, etc.). The biographic chart is quite likely to show a record of punishments and rewards corresponding to these contrasted periods; and in this respect it follows antiquated pedagogic methods, which are precisely what need to be reformed under the light of science.

An illustration of this is contained in the biographic history of an idiot boy in the asylum of the Bicêtre, a report of which is given below: the periodic anomalies of character in the boy should be noticed. Many epileptic children do not have convulsions, but exhibit instead anomalies of character which become permanent and are naturally aggravated by fatigue and punishment; and the great majority of such children pass eventually into reformatories.

In the forms customarily used for biographic charts, there is liberal provision for daily notes. Accordingly, in the biographic chart of the child in question there are a number of blank pages on which casual notes have been entered (diary). Every fact deserving of notice has been entered; facts of a physio-pathological nature, such as illnesses, strength, endurance in running, appetite, outbursts of anger without cause; school-notes regarding the progress attained by the child in school, especially when he has overcome serious difficulties, correction of incidental defects of speech, etc., and notes of a psycho-moral nature regarding acts committed by the child, tending to show the state of his feelings.

The master has a general register which may be compared to the daily entry book used in book-keeping, and in which all the notes of the day are entered. Days and even months frequently pass without any entry being made in regard to some particular child. From this general register the master later draws up individual summaries which are then transcribed into the corresponding biographic history of each child.

Once in so many years all the measurements and observations are repeated in their entirety (e.g., at the most important periods of growth with especial study of the epoch of puberty). When the child is definitely discharged from the school, a general summary is drawn up; in such a case the biographic chart represents that individual's own personal history; a human and social document of the highest interest to anyone who wishes to know himself, and continue his own self-education! It might serve as a useful guide to a man of intelligence.

These registers and biographic charts may be compared to the record of points and the report cards that are in use to-day in the schools. Even the report cards which are obtained through a fatiguing process of averages represent a summary of notes taken every day by the teacher (although not every day for every pupil). But the report card is of no practical use to the man who wishes to draw up a faithful record of the education he has received that will serve to guide him through life.

Since there do not yet exist any complete biographic histories relating to normal children, I shall reproduce one of an idiot boy who was received into the great Paris hospital for defectives; this history is interesting because it is the result of the methods of Séguin who was the founder of the anthropological movement in pedagogy; it would be still more interesting if we could offer the complete history of a normal man or of a wayward boy redeemed by education. But let us hope for this in the near future!

The summary of the history which I here reproduce does not contain the objective examination of the boy at the time of his reception; because that would only be a repetition of what has already been described, while the part which it now interests us to illustrate is that containing the summaries of the diaries. The antecedents, however, are given because they are indispensable for an understanding of the patient's personality.

Stature in inches	Number of observations
60	6
61	26
62	32
63	26
64	160
65	154
66	191
67	128
68	160
69	89
70	45
71	7
72	6
73	3
74	1

Stature in inches	Number of observations
60	6
61	26
62	32
63	26
64	160
65	154
66	191
67	128
68	160
69	89
70	45
71	7
72	6
73	3
74	1