STUDY OF MOVEMENT AND MENTAL STATUS. 55 
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forty-one per cent. If the nerve signs were removed, the brain would be in 
better order and probably the mental action would be brighter. 
With so difficult a problem before us as the means of improving these 
children’s brains, we must take the ¢“ nerve signs *” separately. Say, the boy 
who is dull at lessons also shows ‘“frontals overacting.” You wish to lessen 
chis sign. Observe: Is it more or less frequent and marked when he is 
spoken to, or when he is controlled through the eye ; when doing arith- 
metic, or when receiving an oral lesson ? Is it more marked before lessons 
or in history class? You will soon find out under what conditions the 
sign is least developed. From my own observations I think this sign most 
frequert when the child is least under mental influences. You see the 
lower eyelids full and baggy. This sign is a frequent accompaniment of 
brain exhaustion, with or without headaches; it may be due to late hours 
over-night, to prolonged work or to ill ventilation at home or in school. 
Children in whom mental processes are otherwise active are often bad 
and inaccurate readers because they have never been trained to move their 
eyes well ; they are also bad observers, and if the eyes move much spontane- 
onsly they see objects imperfectly, and need eye-drill, which should occupy 
an important place in the infant school. This defect can usually be over- 
come. So when the nerve signs are recognized they can be attacked in 
detail. There are two great grcups of ‘“ nerve cases”: those with accom- 
panying defects in development—i.e., “development cases with nerve 
signs ”—and “ nerve cases without development defects.” Of the former 
group forty-three per cenf. were reported as dull ; of the latter, only thirty- 
nine per cent. In tnis last group, removal of nerve signs is more hopeful. 
There are two results to be sought by good training. The normally de- 
veloped children should not present abnormal nerve signs ; while for those 
of defective development much may be done to remove such signs. It isalso 
desirable to lesser. mental dullaess. An assessment of the results of train- 
Ing in a given school may be made by observation and report as described, 
from which calculations may be made contrasting educational results in 
shis school with others. 
It may be shown that in some respects boys differ from girls in their 
constitutional tendencies; girls present a larger proportion of the normal. 
'“ Development defect cases ” among girls present a smaller proportion with 
nerve signs than among boys ; but these girls suffer more from low nutrition 
and mental dullness. There are fewer ill-made girls than boys, but the 
girls of constitutional low make tend in larger proportion to bodily and 
mental feebleness. 
(Tables were appended to this paper giving further detailed information. The work 
of investigation is being continued by a committee appointed by the International 
Congress of Hygiene and Demography; and the secretary, C. W. Wallis, Esq., Parkes 
Museum, London, W., will be glad to supply the tables and any other information 
asked for.)