School standing of the different percentile groups.-The child is a very complex being. Many factors contribute to the development of his school efficiency. Often only by considering a factor in reference to a large number of children can it be determined whether it is favorable or unfavorable to a child's school advancement. In the report of last year we were enabled to say that the evolutionary ideal child stood somewhere above the average in each measurement, and later to demonstrate that the more advanced pupils stood higher in the physical measurements than the backward ones. By taking the average number of school grades made by the several percentile groups of a given age we are enabled to compare the school efficiency of these groups. In order to present this matter on a broad basis, and to reduce it to a form sufficiently condensed to show at once the relation of school standing to physical condition abstractly, and dissociated from age and sex, we have proceeded as follows:

1. The cards representing the individual pupils from 8 to 16 inclusive (irrespective of sex) were first classified into the several ages by years.

2. The cards were then arranged separately for each year of age, with reference to stature, and each year's group divided into its ten percentile groups. Then the average grades of all the pupils in each of these percentile groups were determined. Then the average grades of all the pupils in each of the same percentiles of each age were added together, and this sum divided by 9, the number of ages considered, to determine the average number of grades made by each of the several percentile stature groups. The results thus obtained are given in the first column of Table VI. 3. The same process was repeated for each of the several measurements taken, and the results so obtained are given in the several columns of Table VI under their appropriate headings. In this way it is thought that the relationship of physical condition to mental capacity, as shown by school standing, has been shown completely divested of the influence of age and sex. The total number of pupils involved in this compilation is 5,768.

It will be seen from Table VI that the 90-100 per cent group has made on the average one more school grade, or a year's work, than has the 0-10 per cent group. If we take the average number of grades made by the very tallest pupils, the 100 percentiles, and compare this with the average made by the very shortest pupils, -0 percentiles, for each age, we will find that the tallest have made on the average 6.44 grades while the shortest have made 4.50 grades.

Table VI shows that this greater school efficiency of those physically superior holds good also for height sitting, weight, strength, endurance, and vital capacity, although not to the same degree in each. Part of this gain might possibly be explained on the supposition that those physically superior may have had better health and so have lost less time from school on account of illness than have the smaller and weaker ones, and so in part this higher standing of the larger pupils might be due purely to their physical superiority and not to their superior mental ability. On such a basis it might be easy to explain why certain smaller pupils are below grade, but such an explanation would hardly be so plausible in accounting for the fact that so many of the best physical specimens are above grade. Actual tests of the memory power show that the larger and stronger pupils are superior in native force of memory to the smaller and weaker. The true explanation will probably be found in the fact that those conditions which bring about large growth are favorable to the perfect formation and ideal balance of the brain and vital organs.

TABLE VI.-School standing of the different percentile groups, showing the average number of grades made by the pupils coming under the various percentile groups for the different

An investigation of some of the phenomena of memory was undertaken with two special objects: First, to establish norms for use in the examination of special cases;

second, to gain light on the teaching of spelling. This second practical pedagogical problem was undertaken at the request of Superintendent Cooley. It is hoped that later on added data will enable us to make this report more complete. The scope of the work can best be seen from the following copy of the card on which the data were recorded:

The data to be recorded upon the upper part of the card were furnished in part by the pupil himself and in part by his teacher. Careful check tests were made on sight, hearing, and motor ability. Later, measurements were taken of height, height sitting, weight, strength of grip of the right and the left hand, and vital capacity.

Method. For the purpose of investigating the native power of immediate sense memory of the children of different ages, memory-span tests were made in the following manner: Figures were arranged in series of different lengths of from four to eight digits each, only the nine significant digits being used. These series were printed in very large type on cards. A set constituting a test consisted of ten series, two series of four digits, two of five each, two of six, two of seven, and two of eight. The following is a specimen set of the series used in a test:

In order that the matter might be as homogeneous a mass of material as possible, an attempt was made to avoid all previously established associations. To this end

care was taken that in no case should two digits come in their natural order, as 3, 4, nor were they in any case arranged in their reverse order, as 8, 7. Series representing familiar dates were avoided. A sufficient number of series were thus produced, so that no set was presented twice to the same pupils.

The tests were made on all the pupils of a room at once by having the pupils reproduce the series on specially prepared blanks. These papers were collected and carefully graded. The errors were checked, and the percentage correctly recorded constituted the grade for that test. Seven tests were taken during the day, an hour intervening between the tests. The average made by each pupil in these seven tests constituted his final grade. The compilations include 25,000 individual tests of ten series each.

The series of four digits proved to be easy enough for those with the poorest memory, and the series of eight digits was difficult enough for all except the brightest pupils of the higest grades. In the higher grades were some pupils who probably could have remembered a longer span than eight had such a series been given them in the test; so the final percentages made in the upper grades do not show the full memory power as compared with those in the lower grades. On the other hand, the amount of attention required for writing the figures was greater with the younger pupils, and on this account the percentages made by them probably fall short of showing their full memory power.

It will be seen that in this investigation the attempt has been made to test the native memory power of the child rather than his previous acquirements and school training, as is done in the ordinary examinations, which test knowledge primarily and power only incidentally.

Method in auditory memory.—In order to test the auditory memory a series of digits, as 6, 8, 5, 3, was read to the pupils at a uniform rate of speed and a degree of loudness that was clearly perceptible by all. In the reading care was taken to avoid all rhythm. After a lapse of about five seconds the child was allowed to write this series. The reading was regulated by a metronome beating ninety times a minute. The ten series constituting a set were so arranged that the child could not anticipate the number of digits constituting the series about to be read; nevertheless, a series was given first which would be within the memory span of nearly all the pupils, because it was believed that by using one of the shorter series at first the children would be encouraged, whereas if a span beyond their power to reproduce was given first, some might lose heart and so not put forth their most intense power of attention. Method in visual memory.—In testing visual memory, the card on which the series was printed, after the usual warning, was held before the pupils the same length of time that would have been consumed in reading the series in the auditory tests, namely, two-thirds of a second for each digit composing the series. The type used in printing the card was of such a size that it could be read by the normal eye at a far greater distance than that actually required of any pupil, but at the same time opportunity was given to anyone who experienced difficulty in seeing the figures to change his seat. The figures of a series were not exposed one at a time, and undoubtedly many of the children ran their eyes several times over the line of figures exposed, and so secured the advantage of repetition, which the child did not have in the auditory test. While it would have been easy to have arranged a shutter so as to expose one figure at a time, it was not considered best to do so, as this opportunity for repetition is a natural advantage which one usually has in learning through the eye. While a more rapid rate might be used as far as auditory and visual memory are concerned, and still allow time for clear and distinct enunciation, yet the longer period was selected in order to allow sufficient time for the audio-visualarticulatory and the audio-visual-hand-motor tests. It is believed that the slow rate was slightly to the advantage of the visual memory in comparison with the auditory

memory.