LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 "Rfcttoed A PR. 10..) 893 l8() 
 ^Accessions No. JTO Q C] Q . Class* No. 
 
OVERPRESSURE 
 IN HIGH SCHOOLS IN DENMARK 
 
OVERPRESSURE 
 
 IN 
 
 HIGH SCHOOLS IN DENMARK 
 
 BY 
 
 DR. HEETEL 
 ii 
 
 MUNICIPAL MEDICAL OFFICER, COPENHAGEN 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH 
 BY C. GODFREY SORENSON 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION 
 BY J. CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D., LL.D., RR.S. 
 
 Hontron 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1885 
 
& 
 
 
 oq 
 
 Printtd ly R. 8t R. CLARK, E<tiutur s /i. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 INTRODUCTION vii-xliv 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 THE METHOD OF INQUIRY . . .1-22 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS .... 23-73 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 GIRLS' SCHOOLS . . . . 74-97 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 98-148 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 DURING recent discussions on educational over- 
 pressure in this country it has been repeatedly 
 argued, and sometimes by those who ought to be 
 well informed, that the complaints made must be 
 exaggerated, because in other European countries, 
 in which children of all classes are subjected to 
 school work far more rigorous and protracted than 
 any that is yet known with us, no murmur of 
 dissatisfaction has been heard. Struck by this 
 observation, and anxious to ascertain why it was 
 that English children broke down at a point on 
 the hill of knowledge which their Continental 
 compeers surmounted with ease, I have been 
 at some pains to inquire into the matter and have 
 discovered that the observation is groundless, 
 and the argument founded on it consequently 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 worthless. The fact is, that in every country in 
 North -Western Europe there have been, of late 
 years, some popular agitation on the subject of 
 educational overpressure and scientific protests 
 against it and its attendant evils of a more or less 
 emphatic character. In France, Germany, Swit- 
 zerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway parents 
 and physicians have given audible expression to 
 their discontent with existing educational arrange- 
 ments, and to their fear that the excessive and 
 growing demands, made by schools upon the time 
 and attention of children, will deteriorate the 
 public health, while in several of these countries 
 official inquiries have been held which have re- 
 sulted in a demonstration of the existence of 
 overpressure in certain directions. 
 
 One curious fact which has been brought to 
 light in my survey of European countries with 
 reference to overpressure is, that in every one of 
 them in which the question has been raised, the 
 international argument, if I may so call it, which 
 set me forth on my survey, has been freely em- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ployed to silence those who have presumed to 
 say that overpressure is no myth. Whenever 
 in France, Germany, or elsewhere it has been 
 suggested that the educational coach was being 
 driven a little too fast, the prompt rejoinder has 
 been that its rate of progress must be accelerated 
 rather than slackened if the country is not to be 
 left behind in the race of races, and that no 
 complaints have been made about foreign coaches 
 which go farther and faster. When Germans 
 grumble that their children are over-worked, they 
 are told that they must work harder still if 
 industrial and commercial rivalry with England 
 is to be maintained, and when Norwegians hint 
 that the studies prescribed for their arts examina- 
 tion might be reasonably reduced, they are assured 
 that the requirements of the Danish code are much 
 higher than those of their own, and that in 
 Denmark no objections have been made. A man 
 of any patriotism or " self-respect of race," as Lord 
 Eosebery has called it, is loath to admit that his 
 own offspring are of feebler brain-fibre than those 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of his neighbour across the frontier, and so the 
 comparisons instituted between the educational 
 systems of different countries have materially 
 helped to moderate the severity of the adverse 
 criticism to which all of them have been sub- 
 jected, and to bolster up the vicious elements 
 which each of them contains. But these com- 
 parisons have been, in great degree, based on 
 ignorance or misapprehension, and it has seemed 
 to me very desirable that we, in England, should 
 understand that the cry, which we have heard in 
 our midst, against overpressure is not a mere 
 outburst of insular spleen, but that the grievances 
 and hurtful consequences included under that 
 term have been clearly recognised in other countries. 
 And thus it is, that I have undertaken to intro- 
 duce to English readers Dr. Hertel's little work 
 on Overpressure in High Schools in Denmark. 
 
 In selecting Dr. Hertel's monograph on over- 
 pressure for republication in this country, out of 
 several on the same subject that have been sent to 
 me, I have been influenced, partly by the circum- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 stances that the original is in a language which 
 makes it more inaccessible to English readers 
 than French or German works, and that the 
 ability and kindness of my friend Mr. Sorenson 
 put a good translation of it within my reach, but 
 principally by the conviction that it is an emi- 
 nently careful and scientific treatise, and places in 
 a clear light the dangers and difficulties which 
 beset educational enterprise in the present day. 
 No one can examine Dr. Hertel's tables without 
 being satisfied that they are the fruit of much 
 honest and laborious research, or study his con- 
 clusions without recognising that they are sound 
 and irresistible, or weigh his recommendations 
 without feeling that they are conceived in a spirit 
 of extreme moderation. So temperate are his 
 statements, so modest his demands, in view of 
 revelations as to juvenile serfdom and pedagogic 
 exactions, which might well warrant some warmth 
 and drastic proposals, that no charge of professional 
 bias or Utopian extravagance can possibly be 
 brought against him. He who pleads for only 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 half an hour, for a midday meal, out of a school 
 session of six or seven hours' duration, who asks 
 no more than nine hours' sleep in the twenty-four, 
 for children ten years old, and who would be 
 content, if boys of sixteen were not called on to 
 apply themselves to brain work for more than ten 
 hours a day, six days a week, can scarcely be said 
 to be ultra-sanitarian in his notions or exorbitant 
 in his requirements. Most English medical men 
 and physiologists will hold that Hertel has formed 
 far too high an estimate of the receptivity and 
 power of endurance of nineteenth-century children, 
 and that a far more liberal relaxation than he has 
 adumbrated of the present school system in Den- 
 mark is imperatively needed if the Danes are to 
 remain a vigorous and intelligent people. 
 
 Dr. Hertel's treatise, it will be noted, deals 
 with overpressure exclusively as it exists in 
 high schools, which are attended by the children 
 of the affluent or well-to-do classes, and it may 
 be thought, therefore, that it can have but little 
 bearing on the controversy on that subject which 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 has been going on here, and which has had reference 
 to overpressure as it occurs in elementary schools, 
 which are attended by the children of the humbler 
 classes, of whom a considerable proportion are 
 indigent or miserably poor. But overpressure, 
 although it appears under different conditions 
 and phases, is always very much one and the 
 same thing ; and an attentive study of it in any 
 one of its spheres of operation is sure to facilitate 
 the comprehension of it as a whole. Besides it 
 must not be supposed that overpressure is con- 
 fined to high schools in Denmark and elementary 
 schools in England. Inquiries undertaken sub- 
 sequently to the publication of Dr. Hertel's report 
 have shown that the lower schools in Denmark 
 are infested by it, and abundant evidence may 
 be adduced that high schools in this country are 
 not free from its baleful influence. In Denmark 
 its incidence is more uniform x in schools of differ- 
 ent grades than it is in England, where in high 
 schools it falls chiefly on the clever children, who 
 are capable of being forced forward to win scholar- 
 l 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ships or other distinctions, and in public element- 
 ary schools on the dull children, who must be 
 forced up to the examination level. And, no 
 doubt, there are differences in its consequences 
 corresponding to this difference of incidence, but 
 in both countries it affects similarly large numbers 
 of delicate children, who are taxed beyond their 
 strength and have to work under unhealthy con- 
 ditions, and in both it induces on the large scale 
 the same kind of ailments. Dr. Hertel's observa- 
 tions will therefore be found instructive in relation 
 to overpressure in schools of all ranks, though, of 
 course, they are especially applicable in the case 
 of middle class day schools in this country. 
 
 It may be admitted at once that the state of 
 matters in Copenhagen, described by Dr. Hertel, 
 is far worse than anything that exists with us in 
 schools of the same class. As regards the hours 
 of school work, private study, and preparation 
 required of them, and the distribution of these 
 throughout the day, and the circumstances under 
 which they work, Danish children are obviously 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 placed at a disadvantage when compared with 
 children in England. It seems probable that, 
 owing to faulty guidance in infancy, there are in 
 Denmark a larger proportion of children than in 
 England who begin their school course in a state 
 of debility or tainted with disease ; while it is 
 certain that throughout that course in Denmark 
 the great body of children are deprived of invigor- 
 ating exercise in the open air, and the exhilarating 
 influence of games in a way that would not be 
 tolerated here. But, on the other hand, it may be 
 contended that English middle class children live, 
 on the whole, in an atmosphere of greater excite- 
 ment than do their contemporaries in Copenhagen, 
 and that they are subjected, in far larger numbers, 
 to the stimulus of competition and the worry of 
 examination. " To provoke a boy," says Euskin, 
 " whatever he is, to want to be something better, 
 and wherever he was born to think it a disgrace 
 to die, is the most entirely and directly diabolic 
 of all the countless stupidities into which the 
 British nation has been of late betrayed by its 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 avarice and irreligion." But this diabolic stupidity 
 is, it must be admitted, very prevalent amongst 
 us, and bids fair, if unchecked, to put us very 
 shortly on a level with Denmark in respect of the 
 sickliness of our rising generation. Year by year 
 our children are driven into the struggle for 
 existence at an earlier age ; new incentives are 
 invented to goad or lure them to fierce efforts in 
 the conflict, and greater stress is laid upon shabby 
 intellectual tactics by which they may outwit their 
 opponents. Competitive examination, feverish 
 excitement, and cram are rampant amongst us, 
 and these, if they have not yet afforded in our 
 schools such a copious crop of degeneration and 
 disease as Hertel has found in Copenhagen, have 
 yet borne fruits that are plentiful and deplorable. 
 
 All the varieties of sickliness that Hertel has 
 enumerated are to be found in our schools in this 
 country of every class, though, of course, some of 
 them abound more in schools of a particular order. 
 Thus, scrofula is most prevalent in public element- 
 ary schools, and no observant person can look 
 
INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 round one of these in a poor district of a large 
 town without being painfully impressed by the 
 number of children presenting signs of its actual 
 presence or the well-known characteristics of a 
 predisposition to it, in their fine silky hair, trans- 
 parent skin, delicate features, small bones, and 
 narrow shoulders. Nervousness, on the other 
 hand, is most prevalent in schools of a superior 
 description, and perhaps finds its acme in an 
 intense high school for girls, where all sorts of 
 muscular twitchings and antics signalise the 
 petty nerve-storms that eddy within, and that are 
 liable any day to gather into a devastating cyclone 
 of disease. But in schools of all classes repre- 
 sentative cases of each of Hertel's groups are to be 
 encountered, and the number of cases, belonging 
 to certain groups, occurring in any school is often 
 a fair index of the pitch to which overpressure 
 pure and simple, or reinforced by other unfavour- 
 able hygienic conditions, has reached in it. 
 
 When it is alleged that overpressure prevails 
 extensively in middle-class schools in this country 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 no general censure is thereby necessarily implied 
 on those engaged in the conduct of such schools. 
 It is undoubtedly true that some schoolmasters 
 and mistresses are so recklessly bent on serving 
 their own interests, or are so possessed by the 
 demon of education, that they are regardless of 
 the health of their pupils, and culpably blind to 
 the mischief they do. I heard lately of a lady 
 teacher of much experience and with some pre- 
 tensions to science who stated deliberately and 
 with emphasis that it was impossible to over-work 
 any girl, however hard you tried, and I thought I 
 should have liked to have shown her two little girls 
 who were under my observation at the time one 
 mad, the other coughing away her lungs whose 
 maladies were as clearly due to school work and 
 worry as is smallpox to infection. But scholastic 
 bigotry of this kind is comparatively rare, and the 
 large majority of schoolmasters and mistresses are, 
 it is believed, alive to the existence of overpressure, 
 and anxious to do their best to avoid or mitigate 
 it. Many of them, probably from the want of 
 
INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 physiological insight or from professional near- 
 sightedness, under -estimate its prevalence and 
 make too light of the dangers which attend it ; but 
 a few, at any rate, fully appreciate its extent, and 
 deplore the part they are unwillingly compelled to 
 play in promoting it. Schoolmasters and mistresses 
 are not mainly responsible for overpressure. The 
 blame of it must be laid, in the final resort, on 
 the spirit of the age, on a false notion of the 
 value of life, on an erroneous conception of 
 the aim and office of instruction, and more im- 
 mediately on the vanity and cupidity of parents. 
 Almost before a baby boy has left his cradle in these 
 days, and long before his capabilities can be known, 
 his career has often been marked out for him. 
 Throughout childhood it is constantly impressed 
 on him that his chief end in life is to win scholar- 
 ships and prizes, or to make his way in this world 
 by the sweat of his brain. When he should still 
 be at home in happiness and contentment he is 
 sent off to a preparatory school, where some suc- 
 cessful crammer with relentless grasp squeezes 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 him into the approved form for satisfying the 
 requirements of certain examiners. And almost 
 before he has got his permanent canine teeth he is 
 involved in contest and emulation. The sweep of 
 the past generation who held a lighted straw wisp 
 to the feet of his apprentice to help him up a 
 strait chimney was almost humane when compared 
 with the father of the period, who plagues and 
 goads his son for years together, and sometimes, 
 even when his health is obviously failing, to force 
 him through the narrow and crushing vent of some 
 examination. It is undoubtedly true that foolish 
 and greedy parents compel teachers to overpress 
 very young boys, and that the seeds of suffering 
 and incapacity are therefore sown in preparatory 
 schools. Accurate information as to the health 
 of boys in these schools is not yet procurable, but 
 I have notes of two cases in which boys who had 
 just emerged from such schools and won scholar- 
 ships died of brain fever before they could enter 
 on the enjoyment of them, and I have been told 
 lately by a high authority on all educational 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 questions a fact that perhaps reflects some light 
 on what goes on in them. The fact is, according 
 to my informant, that in one large public school 
 it is the understood rule that no hard work is 
 required for the first year of the scholars who 
 have, it may be presumed, come from preparatory 
 schools or been submitted to processes similar to 
 those which are carried on in them. For twelve 
 months these scholars are allowed to be com- 
 paratively idle in order that they may recover 
 from the severe strain involved in winning their 
 scholarships, and no physiologist will be in doubt 
 whether their tremendous spurt and long rest or- 
 a quiet steady continuous pull would have earned 
 these boys farther in the end. 
 
 It is not, of course, suggested that all preparatory 
 schools are engaged in cramming, or that all of 
 them lend themselves to overpressure even at the 
 instigation of heartless or eager parents. On the 
 contrary, it is well known that many of them 
 perform with the utmost efficiency, discrimina- 
 tion, and forbearance I hi ^iiiiiiiiiiiilnjr work of 
 
 UIU7ERSIT7 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 grounding which devolves on them, and which 
 might perhaps without exaggeration be said to be 
 equal to about three ; fifths of a boy's whole formal 
 education. It is well known that many of them 
 very jealously guard the health and foster the 
 development of the children entrusted to them, 
 but still they are all dominated to some extent 
 by the presiding spirit of strife, vainglory, and 
 emulation ; and in many of them overpressure is 
 strenuously applied. 
 
 In middle-class day schools, which correspond 
 most closely with the schools in Copenhagen 
 examined by Hertel, the extent to which over- 
 pressure prevails cannot be accurately gauged any 
 more than in the case of preparatory schools. But 
 that it does prevail, and to no small degree in 
 some of them, may be inferred from the observa- 
 tions of medical men on the illnesses of boys 
 attending them, from our knowledge of the 
 work they carry on, and the results they attain, 
 and from the complaints of parents. We hear 
 frequently of headaches, nose-bleedings, anaemia, 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 and other nervous affections in boys who are 
 pupils in such schools. We hear constantly of 
 the complaints of parents that their sons have to 
 sit up till eleven or twelve at night to prepare 
 their lessons, and must, if they are at all slow of 
 acquisition, either have skilled assistance or lag 
 hopelessly behind and be branded stupid. We 
 know that these schools are engaged in the 
 universal competition, and that they are controlled 
 by examinations, which Mr. Pridgin Teale, in his 
 statement to the General Medical Council, accom- 
 panying his visitation report, called " the tyrants 
 of education." " Examinations," Mr. Pridgin Teale 
 went on, and his words are entitled to great 
 weight, for they were ordered to be printed 
 by the Council, and are therefore in some 
 degree backed by the authority of the Medical 
 Parliament : " Examinations have been and are 
 not only potent for good, but I fear very often for 
 evil. We who are practitioners are perpetually 
 fighting the battle of poor over-worked young 
 brains, allured by that ignis fatuus of prizes, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 scholarships, and university class lists. Examina- 
 tions at the present time, whether in the univer- 
 sities, or still more in the competitions in civil and 
 military life, are becoming one mighty force of 
 which the result is expressed in their influence 
 upon the brain and nervous system. The outcome 
 of education, training, is about the last thing that 
 seems to be thought of by those who have the 
 planning and the conduct of these examinations." 
 One outcome of education fevered by examina- 
 tion, . which is perhaps not thought of but is 
 certainly realised, is a vast amount of ill-health, 
 and another outcome, which is anything but 
 desired but very surely attained, is a vast amount 
 of ignorance and stupidity. As in elementary 
 schools clever children who would repay the pains 
 spent upon them are left untended, in order that 
 the dull ones, who are to a great extent ineducable, 
 may receive special tuition, so in secondary 
 schools boys of meagre or average ability who 
 would particularly profit by assistance are some- 
 times woefully neglected in order that brilliant 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxv 
 
 boys, who have reached a stage of mental evolu- 
 tion when they can very well help themselves, 
 may be made still more brilliant, if happily they 
 do not burn out prematurely, or are not quenched 
 by some disease. It is truly astonishing to contem- 
 plate the sluggishness of intellect and poverty of 
 information which numbers of boys exhibit after 
 ten or twelve years of expensive schooling, and it 
 is truly pitiful to observe the narrowness of mind 
 and weakness of character which numbers of boys 
 who have been accounted brilliant at school 
 manifest when brought into contact with men and 
 affairs. There are boys who have escaped any 
 actual disease during a long course of overpressure, 
 but who, after its final wave has carried them 
 triumphantly over the last examination, are left 
 stranded in a state of nervous exhaustion. Like 
 young Toots, they seem to leave off having brains 
 when they begin to have whiskers. They are 
 listless and depressed, they seem to have lost that 
 keen interest in life which every healthy young 
 animal should feel. As they grow up they look 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on beauty with lack-lustre eye, hear the great 
 voice of ocean with no heart-stirring, sniff the 
 freshness of the spring with nothing but an 
 apprehension of catarrh, and do not even smack 
 their lips over an oyster. Verily, it was not by 
 men of this sort that the British Empire was built 
 up! 
 
 In the case of boys, a hothouse education, 
 overpressure, and incessant examinations are bad 
 enough ; but in the case of girls, who are far more 
 powerfully affected by emulation, these are still 
 worse in their effects. 
 
 Why, it may be asked, should large numbers of 
 girls be gratuitously subjected to all the tortures 
 of competitive examination, to the hazardous thrill 
 of success, or the disappointment of failure in a 
 prizeless race? For girls who are to enter on 
 teaching as a profession certificates of proficiency 
 are doubtless necessary, but why should multitudes 
 of girls, who have no prospect of having to work 
 for their living or of entering upon any pursuit in 
 which academic distinctions will be serviceable, 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
 
 undergo all the risks of protracted brain labour 
 directed towards a competitive trial in subjects 
 some of which can have no application to their 
 future circumstances ? Why, but simply to gratify 
 their own self-conceit and progenital pride. It is, 
 of course, said that local examinations, senior and 
 junior, licentiateships in arts, and science certifi- 
 cates, induce girls to work who would otherwise 
 be idle, and give steadiness and aim to the studies 
 of all who prepare for them, but it may, I think, 
 be questioned whether these have really promoted 
 true culture, whether they have not often deranged 
 the work of schools, and whether they have not 
 tended sometimes to substitute brittle and paltry 
 pinchbeck for "the pure and ductile gold of 
 ancient womanhood." But however all that may 
 be, it cannot, I am sure, be questioned that these 
 ordeals for girls are injurious to health. They 
 come, be it remembered, at a critical period of 
 life, when the nerve-centres are peculiarly impres- 
 sionable, while the preparation for them extends 
 through those years, when Hertel, adopting the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 recommendation of Miss Zahle, has urged that the 
 school work of girls should be materially lightened. 
 Every physician of authority on the diseases of 
 women who has approached this subject, in 
 England or America, has made virtually the same 
 claim with Hertel, for a reduction and careful 
 regulation of brain labour in girls from thirteen to 
 sixteen years of age, and many of them have 
 pointed out in strong and memorable terms the 
 mischief to the individual and to society which 
 must result from a disregard of hygienic laws in 
 the case of girls at this epoch of .life. Quite 
 recently Dr. Thorburn of Manchester and Dr. 
 Keiller of Edinburgh have condemned boldly the 
 attempt to educate boys and girls on the same 
 lines, and the craze for forcing the latter through 
 examinations which might perhaps in a double 
 sense be said to yield only barren honour. These 
 distinguished physicians have quoted from their 
 own experience cases of numerous disorders and 
 diseases that have, in their judgment, been clearly 
 attributable to the misdirection of the education 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of girls. They have pointed to the increased 
 prevalence of hysteria, neuralgia, and sick-headache 
 amongst young women of the middle and upper 
 classes, and have connected this with the way in 
 which education is now pushed on without any 
 regard to natural periodicity. And they have 
 uttered a well-timed warning that as the girls of 
 to-day are to be the mothers of the next generation, 
 and as the mother plays a pre-potential part in the 
 formation of the nervous systems of her sons, very 
 serious consequences must be anticipated from per- 
 severance in our present system of female education. 
 In my own more limited experience I have 
 seen instances of almost all the disastrous results 
 of the educational overpressure of girls which 
 Drs. Thorburn and Keiller have enumerated, and 
 I would wish now to direct attention to another 
 of its calamitous effects, upon which they have not 
 dwelt, and to which Hertel only indirectly alludes, 
 but which has been brought prominently under my 
 notice, I mean consumption or phthisis, which is, I 
 feel confident, induced during and by secondary 
 
xxx INTRODUCTION. 
 
 education in girls who would have remained free 
 from it had they been content to be a little less 
 learned. 
 
 There is a growing conviction amongst patho- 
 logists, founded on accumulating evidence, that 
 consumption is directly due to a microbe or germ, 
 but this view of the true nature of the disease does 
 not exclude the influence of states of the nervous 
 system in conducing to its development. Every 
 one is aware that a large number of highly 
 educated young men and women succumb to 
 consumption. In a moiety of these the high 
 education and consumption stand in no causal 
 relation to each other, but have their common root 
 in a state of nervous organisation which pre- 
 disposes alike to great cerebral activity and 
 pulmonary failure. But in the other moiety there 
 are good grounds for believing that the exhaustion 
 resulting from prolonged nervous excitement, to- 
 gether with the imperfect expansion of the lungs 
 and impaired nutrition, which are almost in- 
 separable from studious and sedentary habits in 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxi 
 
 early life, have really invited the disease. And 
 this invitation of consumption by nervous over- 
 strain and studious habits is especially apt to 
 prove efficacious in the case of young women at 
 the period of secondary education, because they 
 have then, owing to other conditions, a remarkable 
 proclivity to the complaint. At all ages above 
 thirty -five, men die of consumption in much 
 larger proportion than women ; the rate for Eng- 
 land and Wales calculated on a period of twenty 
 years (1861-80) per million living was 3535 for 
 the one and 2613 for the other. From twenty to 
 thirty-five years of age the death-rate from this 
 disease for the two sexes is almost equal, thus 
 from 1861-80 it was per million living 3688 for 
 men and 3748 for women. But from five to 
 twenty years of age a very different state of 
 matters is met with, for then the death-rate of 
 females from consumption is vastly in excess of 
 that of males. In the twenty years from 1861-80 
 the death-rate from consumption of males from 
 fifteen to twenty years of age was 924 per million 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 living, while that of females from fifteen to twenty 
 years of age was 2740, and in males again from five 
 to fifteen years of age it was 459 and in females 
 669. In infants under five years of age the male 
 death-rate again preponderates. 
 
 Now in this enormously enhanced liability of 
 females from five to twenty years of age to consump- 
 tion, when compared with males, which I do not 
 remember to have seen previously noticed, we 
 have a clear indication of the necessity of avoiding 
 every condition and habit of life that can possibly 
 contribute to the establishment of the disease, 
 and the corollary of this is that we should curtail 
 rather than extend studious application, and insist 
 on far more outdoor exercise for girls than they 
 have hitherto enjoyed. 
 
 That the neglect of these indications up to this 
 time, and the spread of the higher education of girls, 
 have had some influence in causing consumption is, 
 I think, suggested even by the Eegistrar-General's 
 returns. Consumption has, of course, been greatly 
 restricted in its ravages by sanitary reforms, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxiii 
 
 the death-rate from it has been falling steadily 
 at all ages during the last twenty years. But, 
 curiously enough, girls from five to fifteen years of 
 age who ought, one would have thought, consider- 
 ing their indoor life, to have benefited by these 
 reforms more than boys have really benefited by 
 them less. The death-rate has in their case fallen 
 considerably less than that of boys, and during 
 the last five years it has actually ceased to fall, and 
 has indeed risen slightly. 
 
 But other than statistical evidence is available 
 to establish the connection between nervous over- 
 strain and pulmonary consumption, for there are 
 few medical men who cannot adduce cases which 
 have come under their own observation of girls of 
 exceptional ability and industry who have fallen 
 victims to this malady, and who have certainly 
 exposed themselves to its onslaughts by their 
 devotion to their books. A typical case of the 
 kind was that of Ellen Watson, the story of 
 whose pure and spiritual life which coruscated 
 from first to last with vivid intellectual light has 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 been lately published. This gifted woman, who 
 greatly distinguished herself at University College, 
 and attained to a proficiency in mathematics 
 which the late Professor Clifford (himself, by 
 the way, a victim of consumption induced by 
 inordinate mental activity) declared would have 
 been remarkable in a man, died of consumption 
 at the age of twenty-four. Her biographer dis- 
 tinctly states that Ellen Watson's fatal illness was 
 not brought on by overstrain of mental work, but 
 her narrative discredits her assertion. It may 
 have been that Ellen Watson was constitutionally 
 predisposed to consumption, of which indeed other 
 members of her family have died, but every medical 
 man will find in the history of the merciless 
 intellectual discipline which she imposed on her- 
 self, in her incessant and strenuous exertions 
 towards advancement, in the double strain on her 
 energies in studying and teaching, and in her 
 speculative anxieties sufficient to account for the 
 incursion and rapid progress of lung decay, even 
 in the absence of hereditary taint. Almost any 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 young woman of nervous temperament put through 
 the same toil and training would break down in 
 the same way. 
 
 I have mentioned as contributory to the in- 
 vasion of phthisis in over-educated girls a failure 
 of general nutrition, but this in its turn may be 
 attributable to educational overpressure. It is 
 not only amongst the children of the half-starved 
 poor that innutrition and poverty of blood inter- 
 fere with brain function. Both categories of 
 Burns's grace must be borne in mind : 
 
 " Some hae meat and canna eat, 
 
 And some wad eat that want it." 
 
 Besides the child that suffers from overpressure 
 because its pinched brain lacks nutriment owing 
 to an empty larder the child that " wad eat but 
 wants it," we have the child whose brain lacks 
 nutriment because it is overpressed, and is thus 
 bereft of appetite the child that has " meat but 
 canna eat." There are unquestionably many child- 
 ren belonging to the affluent classes in this country 
 who are underfed because they are overpressed. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 They have certainly more wholesome and digestible 
 viands provided for them than the portly sandwiches, 
 which all travellers in Denmark are familiar with, 
 and which constitute, according to Hertel, the sole 
 food of the children there until their late afternoon 
 dinner. But they are without appetite to partake 
 of the tempting comestibles that are placed before 
 them. As the school term goes on, they cease to 
 relish the meals which were so acceptable to them 
 during the holidays, and as the examination 
 approaches, they have sometimes a positive aver- 
 sion to solid food. Breakfast is the chief difficulty, 
 for it is especially characteristic of brain irritation 
 that it creates distaste for the morning meal. Out 
 of a broken and unrefreshing sleep haunted by 
 arithmetical dreams the overpressed child wakes 
 weary. The light which comes "stealing in at 
 morn" and should find it jubilant brings only a 
 sense of fatigue and disinclination to face the 
 trials of the day. But the recollection of evening 
 tasks soon drives away lethargy. After a hurried 
 toilet and perhaps a neglected bath the child comes 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 
 
 downstairs, pale and ill at ease, and with no relish 
 for rolls. It toys with its food, pushes away its 
 plate, drinks greedily a cup of tea, the neurotic 
 properties of which it has already discovered, and 
 then hastens off to school. There is a Scotch 
 apothegm that a man who makes a good break- 
 fast needs no certificate to moral character, and 
 with more truth it may be said that the child who 
 makes no breakfast needs no certificate to bad 
 health. It may be laid down as a sound and 
 universal rule that no brain work should be done 
 by a child on an empty stomach. Buns or sand- 
 wiches at eleven o'clock will not make up for the 
 want of a substantial breakfast. If, as has been 
 alleged, a certain proportion of children of the 
 affluent classes, and especially high-school girls, do 
 go to school frequently without breakfast, or after 
 only an apology for one, that fact may be received 
 as at once a cause and an evidence of overpressure. 
 For the brain, served with poor thin blood, cannot 
 exert itself vigorously without detriment, and the 
 absence of healthy appetite in a growing school 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 child is a sign of cerebral exhaustion or irritation, 
 or of a state of body in which that rapid and well- 
 balanced destruction and construction of tissue 
 which is essential to vigorous health has been 
 seriously disturbed. 
 
 That the whole question of overpressure is 
 deserving of anxious consideration no one who 
 looks at it in connection with the tendencies of the 
 age will for a moment doubt. Dr. James Boss of 
 Manchester, one of the most able and philosophical 
 physicians of the day, has just told us in his great 
 work on the nervous system that psychical dis- 
 turbances are likely to exercise a more and more 
 predominant influence in the production of disease 
 as civilisation advances. " The keen competition," 
 he writes, " evoked by the struggle for existence in 
 the higher departments of social life must subject 
 the latest evolved portions of the nervous system 
 to a strain so great that only those possessing the 
 best balanced and strongest nervous systems can 
 escape unscathed." The same thought has presented 
 itself to Mr. Gladstone's comprehensive mind, for he 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 said some years ago : "The constantly-growing com- 
 plexity of life appears to bring with it a constantly 
 growing complexity of disease. The pace at which 
 we live is quickened, the demands both on thought 
 and emotion are heightened without any corre- 
 sponding increase of force in the organs or faculties 
 which are to meet these demands." Now, if this 
 be so, if modern life is to make ever-increasing 
 calls on the energies of our race, if disease is to 
 increase in complexity, and is to depend more and 
 more on psychical disturbances, it is clearly our duty 
 to provide, as far as may be, against the dangers 
 ahead by strengthening and husbanding the powers 
 of resistance of the young. There is no better 
 preparation for a stormy life than a tranquil and 
 happy childhood, and sound policy should guide 
 us to postpone as long as possible the entrance of 
 our children on that struggle in which so much is 
 to be required of them. But instead of obeying 
 the dictates of sound policy we do exactly the 
 reverse. We " flush to anticipate the scene." We 
 force back the struggle for existence into our 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 schools, abbreviate to the utmost that period of 
 entire dependence on parental support which is 
 the very measure of altitude in the scale of being, 
 and lose not an instant in plunging our children 
 into the vortex of nervous excitement. Instead of 
 holding back, we spur on; instead of labouring 
 steadily to build up a strong stable brain, we are 
 content to hurry up one specious-looking externally, 
 but radically rickety and infirm. 
 
 The brain, it should never be forgotten, is made 
 up of explosive material, the explosiveness of 
 which may be heightened or reduced. In states 
 of disease such as insanity or epilepsy the brain- 
 substance, or certain tracts of it, are raised to a 
 higher degree of explosiveness, as gunpowder is 
 when mixed with nitro- glycerine. In states of 
 idiocy or imbecility it is reduced to a lower degree 
 of explosiveness, as gunpowder is when mixed with 
 moistened clay, so that it only burns slowly away 
 or will not light at all. The discharge from 
 healthy brain-substance, like the explosion of gun- 
 powder, follows the lines of least resistance, that is 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to say, the lines of customary functional activity ; 
 but the discharge of unstable or unhealthy brain- 
 substance is, like the explosion of dynamite, in too 
 great a hurry to discriminate, and operates with 
 extreme violence in all directions, thus causing 
 unusual and confused combinations of action. 
 The difference in action between a stable and 
 healthy or unstable and unhealthy nerve-centre is 
 analogous to that between a steady propulsion and 
 a sudden blow. And this difference in action 
 is dependent on a difference in chemical constitu- 
 tion analogous to the difference between gun- 
 powder and dynamite. The substitution of an 
 atom of one kind for an atom of another, or a 
 rearrangement of atoms, makes all the difference. 
 Now the differences in constitution between gun- 
 powder and dynamite and their cognate nitro- 
 genous compounds are determined in the processes 
 of manufacture, and so the differences in constitution 
 of nerve-centres are determined in the processes 
 of their making or building up. It is manufacture 
 that determines the result in the one case and 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nutrition in the other, and as an artificer presides 
 over manufacture and regulates it, so functional 
 activity presides over nutrition and regulates it. 
 The artificer has the streams of commerce from 
 which to select his materials, and functional 
 activity has the currents of the blood from which 
 to select its. And as the artificer is influenced by 
 antecedent resolutions in his selection of materials, 
 choosing saltpetre and carbon if he desires to 
 produce gunpowder, and sulphuric acid and 
 glycerine if he aims at nitro-glycerine, so functional 
 activity is influenced by antecedent conditions in 
 its calls on the blood, gathering in more or less 
 nitrogen to construct more or less stable 
 nerve-centres as these prescribe. And these 
 antecedent conditions may be summed up under 
 inherited predisposition, toxic agents, and abusive 
 employment. From birth, or at some particular 
 stage of growth, a nerve-centre may assume an 
 explosive condition by virtue of some tendency 
 bound up in its constitution. At any period of 
 life its nutrition may be so interfered with by the 
 
INTRODUCTION. xliii 
 
 action of poisonous agents like alcohol or strychnia 
 that it becomes explosive temporarily or perma- 
 nently. And at any period of life, but particularly 
 at the great epochs of development, it may be so 
 over-stimulated or exhausted by excessive or 
 unsuitable work that mal-nutrition is established, 
 with the train of explosive phenomena that depend 
 on it. It is through the mal-nutrition of the 
 higher nerve-centres which it sets up that educa- 
 tional overpressure induces the nervous disorders 
 for which it is responsible, explosive disorders of 
 unstable equilibrium, such as epilepsy, St. Vitus's 
 dance, and sick headache. But education without 
 overpressure education in which hereditary re- 
 strictions, the laws of growth, the constitution of 
 the organism, the vivifying power of happiness, and 
 the paralysing effects of fear and rivalry are held 
 constantly in view may be made subservient to the 
 better nutrition of all the nerve-centres, and brace 
 and strengthen them to encounter without risk the 
 trials that are in store for them. Education with- 
 out overpressure true education is a supreme 
 
xliv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 want of our time. Hertel has, I think, done some- 
 thing toward freeing education from overpressure, 
 and therefore to promote true education by re- 
 vealing the magnitude of the evil in his native 
 
 country. 
 
 J. CEICHTON-BEOWNE. 
 
 LONDON, June 1885, 
 
OVERPRESSURE 
 
 IN 
 
 HIGH SCHOOLS IN DENMARK. 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 
 
 IN few departments of knowledge has the univer- 
 sal progress which characterises the present time 
 been so considerable as in all matters relating 
 to hygiene. All classes are gradually awakening \ 
 to the truth that prevention is better than cure. ' 
 Great strides have also been made with regard to 
 schools in the matter of hygiene in recent times ; 
 indeed, any improvements in this direction which 
 have been achieved date back only thirty or forty 
 years. In all civilised countries much more atten- 
 tion is now paid to physical development than 
 formerly, and the school itself recognises the duty 
 of uniting the intellectual with the physical 
 B 
 
OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 culture of the child entrusted to its care in such 
 a manner as to secure well-balanced develop- 
 ment. It appears, however, that the schools of 
 the present day have not been very successful 
 in this twofold duty, for not only in Denmark 
 but from Sweden and Germany to take only 
 our next-door neighbours voices have been 
 heard loudly protesting that, while the child's 
 brain is being overtaxed, its bodily development 
 is being proportionately neglected, and that in 
 consequence the rising generation is becoming 
 more and more characterless and sickly. Thus 
 Professor Kjelberg of Upsala says : " Overpress- 
 ure has long existed in schools of all classes, and 
 the close observer has no difficulty in detecting 
 the results in the present generation. It is a com- 
 mon complaint that true power of mind and force 
 of character are wanting among the young men of 
 the present day." Dr. Kjelberg issues, therefore, a 
 strong warning against the overpressure existing in 
 schools, which restricts our youth to an unnaturally 
 sedentary life. In Germany, too, a lively contro- 
 versy on this point is going on, and school- 
 masters as well as doctors maintain with great 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 3 
 
 emphasis that too much is demanded from the 
 young. As many will remember, the same com- 
 plaints have resounded in Denmark from time 
 to time, and notably in 1860 a hot contest was 
 waged on the subject. Mr. C. Fog, headmaster 
 of the Metropolitan School, and several other 
 writers, in a number of treatises, directed powerful 
 attacks against the system of teaching pursued 
 in our classical schools, and especially against 
 the number of subjects required to be got up in 
 too short a time and under too great a press- 
 ure. The pupils, they alleged, did not thereby 
 receive a sound and effective education, but left 
 school worn out, dull, and destitute of mental 
 energy. These writers drew their evidence mainly 
 from their own experience as teachers, and Fog 
 showed by statements and figures, bearing upon 
 the time-table at the Metropolitan School, that 
 nine to ten hours of daily work were very 
 common among the pupils of the higher classes, 
 while only a small number of pupils finished the 
 school course in the normal time. Opposed to 
 these practical teachers was chiefly Madvig, then 
 inspector of schools, who also sought support for 
 
OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 his opinions from his large personal experience. 
 He denied that overpressure existed in general, 
 though admitting the possibility of it in the second 
 and third highest classes, if the teacher did not 
 give particular attention to prevent it. Neither 
 side gave detailed information as to the health of 
 the children, or the amount of work actually done 
 by them. It would appear, however, as if the 
 matter was not satisfactorily disposed of, for in 
 1871 a new system was introduced, dividing the 
 upper school into two sections, in one of which 
 special attention was devoted to languages and 
 history, while mathematics and science formed the 
 principal subjects in the other ; nevertheless, it is 
 somewhat doubtful if this arrangement has afforded 
 any real relief. 
 
 Amongst the most important contributions to 
 the subject tendered by the medical faculty may 
 be mentioned Professor Hornemann's treatise on 
 The Culture of Health and the Schools, and one or 
 two pamphlets by Professor Drachmann on girls' 
 schools. The state of health in general in our 
 schools has naturally been the principal subject 
 dealt with by these writers, but, in particular; the 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 5 
 
 hours of work are mentioned as a chief cause 
 of bad health among children. Several other 
 writers, especially of late years, have also contri- 
 buted articles to newspapers and periodicals, as 
 well as in special pamphlets, on various questions 
 connected with our subject. 
 
 The above short statement will suffice to 
 show that complaints about the unsatisfactory 
 condition of our schools have been heard at 
 intervals for many years, and that they have 
 not only proceeded from the medical faculty 
 but also from the schools themselves. There are 
 many, however, who still regard these complaints 
 as unjustifiable, and the demands for an improved 
 school hygiene as excessive, and these often em- 
 ploy an argument, to which they ascribe much 
 weight, but which really is of no value. " Why," 
 say they, "we, too, have been schoolboys under 
 the present system, and we are nevertheless strong, 
 healthy men, who have suffered no injury from 
 our schooldays." It had been indeed deplorable 
 if many had not escaped free of hurt from school, 
 and that is so in our day as well ; but, apart from 
 that, neither they who thus boast of their own 
 
OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 immunity from harm nor we who receive their 
 protestations with reserve know what was the 
 state of health in those days, for no one inquired 
 into the matter. It is none the less possible 
 that many have suffered from inordinate school- 
 ing in former days without having the slightest 
 suspicion that the school was the cause of their 
 weakness or ailments. Those who now give their 
 opinion on the state of health existing in schools 
 thirty or forty years ago were themselves school- 
 boys at the time, and I would ask if it can 
 really be thought that any schoolboy in our 
 own time could give a trustworthy answer if 
 asked about the state of health in his school. 
 I, for my part, would not ascribe any value to 
 such testimony. But, even supposing that the 
 general health in schools was comparatively good 
 forty years ago, that is no proof that such is 
 now the case. The present generation has quite 
 a different constitution from that of the last 
 one, when anaemia and nervousness (the chief 
 complaints of our time, and in particular of our 
 youth) were not nearly so widespread as they are 
 at present. This must be regarded as a perfectly 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIEY. 7 
 
 well-established fact, and is indeed generally 
 admitted. It is therefore not without cause, nor 
 owing to a merely artificial agitation, that im- 
 proved hygienic conditions are now being so 
 urgently demanded ; they are actually required 
 to a much greater extent than formerly. 
 
 We know as imperfectly now as we did forty 
 years ago the true state of health among children, 
 neither have we accurately ascertained how much 
 they work. Each one judges only from his own 
 experience and according to his own views on 
 these points ; the subjective opinion of the indi- 
 vidual may be more or less correct, but it does 
 not convince others. What we therefore require 
 is a proof that there are in our schools many 
 weak and sickly children, for whom good hygienic 
 conditions are specially necessary; for, if the 
 state of health in schools be good and satisfactory, 
 as some masters and mistresses still believe, it 
 would be absurd to demand improvements which 
 are not absolutely needed, but which must neces- 
 sarily entail an increased expenditure. So, too, it 
 is necessary to know the hours of work in the 
 different classes and for the different ages before 
 
OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 discussing the question as to whether the time 
 spent in work can be supposed to be injurious to 
 the child's health and whole intellectual develop- 
 ment. Nor can this question be disposed of 
 entirely by the school authorities ; it comes fully 
 as much within the province of the doctor, the 
 more so as no knowledge of the principles of 
 health or of physiology is. required of school- 
 masters in our country, at least ; and one can- 
 not, therefore, assume that they are qualified to 
 judge of the health of the child. So many differ- 
 ent factors have to be reckoned with on this 
 point that it is often very difficult to determine 
 how much influence each may exert. Let me 
 remark here, therefore, that hard work is only 
 one of them, although no doubt an important 
 one. It would be preposterous to lay the whole 
 responsibility for the weakness of the present 
 generation upon the school, but it is certain that it 
 ought to bear a large share of the blame. 
 
 The primary object of this essay, then, is to 
 give a series of such detailed and methodically 
 arranged facts as have never hitherto been brought 
 forward, firstly, as to the state of health in 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 9 
 
 schools, because this must always be the principal 
 factor in determining how far improved hygienic 
 conditions are necessary ; and, secondly, as to the 
 hours of work, and a few other matters, as far as 
 I have been enabled to gain information under 
 these heads. 
 
 My investigation has been confined to the 
 better -class boys' and girls' schools in Copen- 
 hagen. I have not been able to extend it to the 
 lower-class schools (though the state of health in 
 the latter is far from satisfactory), partly because 
 the task would have been far too stupendous, and 
 partly because a different system of inquiry would 
 have been necessary, owing to the greater difficulty 
 in getting the parents of the humbler class children 
 to give proper and reliable answers to questions. 
 Even although there may have been children in the 
 schools examined by me from smaller and poorer 
 homes, still the great majority have belonged to 
 the more affluent classes, so that we may reason- 
 ably assume that they enjoy all the advantages of 
 healthy dwellings and sound nourishment. The 
 materials I have collected may therefore be said 
 to come from a pretty uniform source, and may be 
 
10 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 trusted to give a fair idea of the state of health 
 existing in the schools frequented by the children 
 of the well-to-do population. 
 
 The manner in which I have tried to carry out 
 my task is as follows : To each school I sent 
 printed forms, having spaces to be filled in with 
 information on the following points the age and 
 class of each pupil; the number of hours of 
 school-work, and the time employed at home in 
 preparation ; the amount of written exercises to be 
 done at home ; whether a private tutor aided the 
 pupil in any branch, and, if so, for how many 
 hours; whether the pupil had any difficulty on 
 the whole, or in any particular subject ; his state 
 of health, the hour he went to bed, and how many 
 hours' sleep he had ; while a column was left for 
 remarks by the teacher. The teacher was also 
 requested to state whether the pupil in question 
 was one of the best, middling, or dullest in his 
 class as regards capacity ; all the other columns, 
 with the exception of the first two, were to be 
 filled up by the parents. 
 
 The demands thus made upon the parents were 
 by no means inconsiderable, the answer being in 
 
I.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 11 
 
 many cases a matter of some difficulty, and it is 
 therefore the more to be appreciated that the 
 answers on the whole are clear and decided. I 
 asked several headmasters what they thought of 
 the answers returned to me, and they all replied 
 that they considered them, on the whole, accurate 
 and in accordance with their own knowledge of 
 the children. Of course mistakes have arisen in 
 a few cases, and here and there a column has been 
 left unanswered, but I can state positively that 
 such occurrences have been exceptional, and that 
 the information given has been so complete and 
 trustworthy that the result may reasonably be con- 
 sidered to be correct in the main. One column 
 that relating to the child's health has, however, 
 been comparatively often left blank, viz. in eight 
 per cent of the total number of returns ; though, as 
 most well-to-do people have a family doctor, who 
 would have been willing to fill in the answer, it 
 ought to have been easy to have supplied accurate 
 information under that head. In several cases 
 in which that column was left blank I know for 
 certain that the children in question were un- 
 healthy, and that the parents withheld the fact. 
 
12 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 It is not easy to perceive a reason for this if 
 the parents are willing to answer all the other 
 questions. In several cases I fancy the reason 
 was that the parents were in doubt as to the 
 child's state of health ; not being able to call it 
 strong, they have nevertheless been unable to 
 state that it was suffering from any particular 
 disease, and have therefore given no answer at 
 all. Later on I shall have occasion to show that 
 the above is probably the true reason for particular 
 information being withheld in certain cases. Not 
 a few families refused all information whatever, 
 some holding statistics to be misleading and 
 delusive, and others regarding such inquiries in 
 the light of an unjustifiable intrusion on their 
 private family history. 
 
 It would have been satisfactory if those parents 
 who had family doctors had entrusted them with 
 the filling up of the column relating to health; 
 in only 10 per cent of the cases has this been 
 done, in all the others the parents having filled up 
 the column themselves. This duty they have 
 discharged on the whole, in a very clear manner, 
 and in many cases a full description of the child's 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 13 
 
 state of health has been given; the diagnosis 
 would, however, have been more trustworthy had 
 it been countersigned by the family doctor. 
 
 In spite of returns being withheld in many 
 instances, the materials at hand are nevertheless 
 so abundant that the result is only very slightly 
 affected thereby. Where no answer at all has 
 been given I have set the case down as "non- 
 returned," and wherever an answer has exhibited 
 dubiety or incoherency, or wherever the school 
 authorities have signified that any particular answer 
 may have been prompted by a misunderstanding, 
 an entry has been made under the same heading. 
 
 The question as to whether the pupil found 
 difficulty in keeping up with his class has yielded 
 the largest percentage of non-returns. This is 
 owing partly to the difficulty in giving a reply 
 under this head in the case of children in the 
 younger classes, and partly to one of the largest 
 schools having misunderstood the question and 
 left it altogether unanswered. This column, how- 
 ever, is one of the least important, and was only 
 inserted in my form to ascertain if possible 
 whether in certain classes any particular subject 
 
14 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 was regarded as specially difficult, so as to lead to 
 the conclusion that that subject was being too 
 much forced at the stage of education correspond- 
 ing with these classes. 
 
 As it is important for the development of the 
 child that it should go early to bed and get plenty 
 of sleep, especially when much intellectual work 
 is required of it, I have extended my inquiry to 
 this point also. With regard to nourishment, 
 another important factor, I have taken it for 
 granted that children of the class we are dealing 
 with are sufficiently well cared for in this respect ; 
 besides, it would have been very difficult to obtain 
 information on this point through the medium of 
 printed forms. I may add, however, that it is 
 expressly stated in many cases that, whereas the 
 children have good appetites during the holidays, 
 they fall off in this respect during the school-term 
 a statement which many parents and doctors 
 will confirm from their own experience. 
 
 By desire of the schools, the forms were sent 
 out in the autumn months, the majority of them 
 in October and the first half of November, while 
 several schools only circulated theirs towards the 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 15 
 
 end of November. The reasons given by the 
 schools for choosing this period was because it 
 is not broken up by any holidays of importance, 
 and because at this season of the year the school 
 work is carried on under the most normal con- 
 ditions and with least excitement, so that the 
 most truthful results might be expected. This is 
 quite true, but it must also be remembered that 
 the autumn is the most favourable time for the 
 school's side of the case. It is evident that the 
 children are in their best condition for work a couple 
 of months after the summer holidays the longest 
 period of rest which they enjoy in the year. If 
 the school does exercise a bad effect upon the 
 children's health, such injury will hardly have had 
 time to assert itself prominently so soon after the 
 holidays, so that among school-children, as through- 
 out the community at large, the state of health 
 is at its best in the autumn. It is an old ex- 
 perience of doctors that it is not in the autumn 
 but in the spring, after the long and darksome 
 winter days, that the largest number of cases of 
 anaemia and nervousness, from which so many 
 children, especially young girls, suffer, and of 
 
16 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 headache, from which boys so frequently suffer, 
 present themselves. These circumstances, to which 
 I attach much importance, must be borne in mind 
 in the following investigation, which, being founded 
 on an inquiry carried on in the autumn, neces- 
 sarily exhibits the minimum of weakly and sickly 
 children. 
 
 It is essential I should explain what I mean 
 by sickly children. Many headmasters have tried 
 to prove to me from the school sick-lists that 
 the state of health in their schools is excellent ; 
 but the sick-lists are of no value on this point, 
 for they merely show the number of children who 
 are absent owing to temporary illness. It is not 
 to such cases of temporary illness that I refer 
 when I speak of sickly children. By " sickly " I 
 mean unsound children, who suffer from chronic 
 complaints, but who are, nevertheless, able to attend 
 school regularly ; in short, children whose state of 
 health is abnormal, and who require special care, both 
 at home and at school, during their growth and de- 
 velopment. It is only such cases which have been 
 collected here and designated as sickly ; properly 
 speaking, they ought to be called cases of unsound 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 17 
 
 or abnormal health. All children, therefore, who 
 have been returned in the forms as merely suffer- 
 ing from an acute and temporary illness have 
 been included among the healthy. Only when the 
 returns have stated that the child is an habitual 
 sufferer from some definite complaint, or that he 
 is generally delicate, have I put down the case 
 under the heading sickly; in every single case 
 I have carefully considered how to set it down, 
 and if I have erred at all in this matter it has 
 rather been in including sickly children among 
 the healthy than vice versa. Cases of "delicate 
 constitution," "worms," "coughs," or other such 
 indefinite ailments, without further statement as 
 to whether the complaint was recurrent or only 
 temporary, as well as cases of "rapid growth," 
 etc., have been put down either as healthy or 
 non-returned, although it is pretty certain that 
 more or less delicate children are to be found in 
 the above categories, especially those suffering from 
 the disease popularly called " worms." 
 
 The complaints to which I have ascribed most 
 importance are anaemia, scrofula, nervousness, head- 
 ache, bleeding at the nose (as a symptom of a tend- 
 c 
 
18 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 ency to congestion of the brain), curvature of the 
 spine, and diseases of the eye. I had also a column 
 for "other complaints," chief of which are con- 
 sumption, organic weakness of the heart, chronic 
 affection of the kidneys, epilepsy, St. Vitus's 
 dance, chronic catarrh, weakness resulting from 
 lengthened illnesses, such as diphtheria, rheumatic 
 fever, etc. diseases which all tend in a great 
 degree to weaken the child's constitution, but 
 for which the school cannot be held directly re- 
 sponsible. Last of all, a column was set apart 
 for "casual complaints," under which heading 
 come cases of rupture and diseases of the joints, 
 both of which prevent children taking part in 
 gymnastics, besides cases of deafness and chronic 
 diseases of the ear, as it has often been stated in 
 the returns that these complaints prevented the 
 children from making equal progress with the 
 others. The above are entirely chronic com- 
 plaints, which all produce a more or less marked 
 state of weakness in the child. 
 
 It will be seen from the above statement that I 
 have far more separate headings than are generally 
 employed in stating cases of ill health among school- 
 
i.] THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 19 
 
 children; for example, in the Swedish statistics. I 
 have specially desired this, my main object having 
 been to gather information as to the collective 
 number of those delicate children who require 
 special attention on the part of the school, and 
 stand in need of good hygienic conditions. To 
 put down headache, anaemia, and nervousness as 
 specific school complaints would be erroneous, as 
 the returns show that many children suffer from 
 them before going to school, although, as may be 
 supposed, attendance at school often greatly aggra- 
 vates such complaints. 
 
 I am bound to admit one shortcoming in these 
 returns, namely, that the health column has not as 
 a rule been filled up by a doctor. I have several 
 times requested the parents, through the medium 
 of the school authorities, to let a medical man 
 fill in this column, but the forms themselves 
 contained no such direction, as some households 
 have no family doctor, and I feared that in such 
 cases no returns at all might be sent in. I cannot 
 therefore venture to attach much importance to the 
 special diagnoses of the various complaints, but 
 consider it, nevertheless, perfectly safe to include 
 
20 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the cases I have done under the category of 
 delicate, sickly children. It is very improbable 
 indeed that any perfectly sound and healthy child 
 should be returned as sickly, and as suffering, more- 
 over, from specified complaints, as we are rather 
 accustomed not to subject the health of a child to 
 too rigid an examination in order to pass it as 
 healthy. 
 
 On the other hand, in order to have a complete 
 insight into the physical condition of our school- 
 children we ought to have a thorough examination 
 of their eyesight,but that has not yet been instituted 
 at any school in this country. It will probably 
 be known to many of my readers, however, that 
 in other countries the eyesight of school-children 
 has been a matter of investigation in many in- 
 stances with special reference to short-sightedness 
 and that the results have been anything but 
 satisfactory, especially as far as the classical 
 schools are concerned. The importance of such 
 an examination, though very possibly it may 
 sometimes have been exaggerated, is neverthe- 
 less so great, that an inquiry of the kind in our 
 own country is sincerely to be wished for. The 
 
THE METHOD OF INQUIRY. 
 
 21 
 
 few cases of optical complaints given in the 
 returns prove very little; amongst the younger 
 children the optical affection is in the majority of 
 cases probably only a form of scrofula, though 
 amongst the elder ones many cases of short-sighted- 
 ness are emphatically stated to exist. Even if we 
 take the most favourable returns of optical com- 
 plaints given in other countries, it would, in the 
 boys' schools at least, double the percentage of 
 unsound children, as will be seen from the 
 following statistics, taken from Dr. Colsman's 
 work, Die uberhandnehmende KuTzsichtigkeit der 
 deutschen Jugend. The figures give the percentage 
 of short-sighted pupils in each class, the sixth 
 being the youngest. 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 
 Number 
 examined. 
 
 VI. 
 
 v. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ill. 
 
 II. 
 
 I. 
 
 Konigsberg . 
 
 1518 
 
 11 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 24 
 
 49 
 
 62 
 
 Hamburg . 
 
 413 
 
 14 
 
 21 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 48 
 
 61 
 
 Magdeburg I. 
 
 650 
 
 23 
 
 29. 
 
 39 
 
 63 
 
 58 
 
 75 
 
 Magdeburg II. 
 
 776 
 
 23 
 
 27 
 
 42 
 
 47 
 
 56 
 
 70 
 
 These figures show to what extent short-sighted- 
 ness prevails in the German schools, and how it 
 
22 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. i. 
 
 gradually increases from the lower to the higher 
 classes. It is possible that our condition in this 
 respect is better than that of Germany, but a 
 minute examination, official if possible, is ab- 
 solutely necessary. 
 
CHAPTEK II. 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 THE information here collected has been taken 
 from fourteen schools, viz. from all the Copen- 
 hagen schools which have both the classical and 
 modern sides, and from three of the largest pre- 
 paratory schools. 1 As the number of classes in 
 each of these sections is fixed by law, and as by 
 private arrangement the number of preparatory or 
 mixed classes 2 is limited to five or six, it has 
 been possible for me to arrange the children by 
 classes throughout, so that a review of the gradual 
 progress at the different ages is obtained. 
 
 We shall first consider the general health of 
 
 1 In the original the names of the schools are given, but I 
 have not thought it necessary to reproduce them here. (TRANS.) 
 
 2 All the classes in the lower section of the school, which is 
 not divided into classical and modern sides, as well as the pre- 
 paratory classes, are here called "mixed classes." (TRANS.) 
 
24 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the boys. The comparison between healthy and 
 sickly children will be given in percentages 
 throughout, but we can of course only attach 
 importance to the greatest contrasts ; 2 or 3 
 per cent more or less can hardly be regarded as 
 important, as we must allow some margin for 
 chance inaccuracies. 
 
 The fourteen schools have a total of 3141 boys, 
 of whom there were healthy 1900, sickly 978, 
 while in the case of 263 the returns were in- 
 sufficient or altogether wanting. The respective 
 percentages are healthy 60*5, sickly 311, non- 
 returned 84. 
 
 We thus find that out of the total number of 
 boys actually returned one-third is made up of 
 sickly boys, suffering more or less from various 
 chronic complaints. This is truly a sad and 
 startling result, and quite enough to justify the 
 complaints made about the health of our children. 
 The proportion of healthy to sickly children in 
 the different classes is clearly shown on Chart I. 
 The uppermost curve gives the percentage of 
 healthy, the middle one of sickly children, and 
 the lowest that of non- returns. In order to 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 25 
 
 get a criterion of the health of the children on 
 entering school, so as to be able to judge of the 
 influence of school life upon their health, I have 
 taken the two youngest mixed classes together. In 
 many schools there are only five mixed classes, 
 and where there are six the first or youngest may 
 generally be regarded as an infant class, in which 
 formal lessons are but seldom given; these two 
 classes, for all practical purposes, may therefore be 
 taken as one. For these two classes, then, we get 
 the following returns : healthy 74 per cent, sickly 
 184, non-returned 7'6 ; which may be taken as 
 a criterion of the health of the children on entering 
 school. That among 369 pupils there should be 
 184 per cent of sickly ones, although the children 
 come from the best homes, shows more clearly 
 than anything else could do how weakly the rising 
 generation has become, how great the tendency to 
 disease is at so early an age, and how watchful 
 we should be with regard to physical development. 
 It follows therefore, as a matter of course, that 
 such an all-powerful factor as school-life, with its 
 demands upon the tender intellect, and the obliga- 
 tion to remain quiet for hours together not in- 
 
26 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 frequently in a close and unhealthy atmosphere 
 must exercise a considerable influence upon the 
 health of the child. And indeed we see that in 
 the third mixed class the state of things has 
 become much worse ; the figures are healthy 
 56*9, sickly 34*0, non-returned 9*1. The number 
 of sickly children is almost doubled. It is difficult 
 to imagine any other important cause for this 
 remarkable increase of unhealthiness than just 
 school life and its demands. With a few un- 
 important fluctuations the proportions are almost 
 the same throughout the other mixed classes, the 
 proportion in the sixth mixed class being healthy 
 58'4, sickly 33'5, non-returned 81. 
 
 Taking all the mixed classes together the results 
 are 1742 children: healthy 1084, sickly 520, 
 non-returned 138. Percentage: healthy 62*2, sickly 
 2 9 '9, non-returned 7*9. At the age of about twelve 
 the pupil passes from the mixed classes into either 
 the classical or modern division, each of which 
 must be considered separately. 
 
 Modern Division. In the first modern class a 
 marked increase in the percentage of sickly children 
 is observed, that class giving a larger percentage 
 
IL] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 27 
 
 than any other modern class, viz. healthy 49 '7, 
 sickly 38'8, non-returned 11 '5. In the second 
 class the proportion of healthy pupils rises to 
 59*7 per cent, and remains thereabouts in the 
 higher classes. The percentage of sickly falls at 
 the same time in the next three classes to 30*9 
 in the second, 24*3 in the third, and 23*4 in the 
 fourth, but this is partly owing to the exceptional 
 number of non-returns (vide the curve on Chart 
 I.) In the fourth modern class we get healthy 
 57-8, sickly 23'4, non-returned 18'8, while the total 
 for the modern classes is healthy 300, sickly 165, 
 non-returned 66. Percentage : healthy 56'5, sickly 
 31*1, non-returned 12*4. 
 
 Classical Division. In the first classical class 
 the relations are the same as in the sixth mixed 
 class, but in the second classical class a rise in the 
 percentage of sickly pupils takes place similar to 
 that which was observed in the first modern class, 
 the percentages now standing healthy 50*5, sickly 
 41*9, non-returned 7*6 ; which is the highest per- 
 centage of sickly children found in any class. In 
 the third classical class the percentage of sickly 
 boys drops suddenly to 31*8, while those of the 
 
28 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 healthy and non-returned are 63*0 and 5*2 respect- 
 ively. The fourth class is about the same, but in the 
 fifth class the figures are healthy 60'5, sickly 38'2, 
 non-returned 1'3 ; changing to healthy 60'4, sickly 
 26'4, non-returned 13'2 in the sixth class. These 
 apparently great variations in the fifth and sixth 
 classes are, however, accounted for by the number 
 of non-returns, viz. 1*3 in the fifth and 13*2 in 
 the sixth class, which powerfully affects the percent- 
 age of the sickly, while that of the healthy remains 
 pretty stationary in the four highest classes (vide the 
 Tables), ranging only from 63*0 to 60*4. For the 
 rhetorical section of the classical school we get the 
 following results : 783 pupils: healthy 458, sickly 
 269, non-returned 56. Percentage : healthy 58*5, 
 sickly 34*4, non-returned 7*1 ; which is rather 
 more unfavourable than in the modern classes. 
 
 In the mathematical and natural science sec- 
 tion there is only a total of 85 pupils, of whom 
 there are healthy 58, sickly 24, non-returned 3. 
 Percentage: healthy 68'2, sickly 28'3, non-returned 
 3'5. If we take the two highest classical forms 
 (both the rhetorical and mathematical) and regard 
 the figures thus obtained as giving a criterion of 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 29 
 
 the state of health on leaving school, we get out of 
 169 pupils healthy 107, sickly 53, non-returned 9. 
 Percentage: healthy 63*3, sickly 31/1, non-returned 
 5*3, i.e. exactly one-third of the pupils being sickly ; 
 while we must also bear in mind that no special 
 examination of their eyesight has taken place, the 
 importance of which I have already mentioned. 
 
 Specially worthy of note is the sudden rise in 
 the percentage of sickly boys in the first modern 
 and second classical forms, and the equally sudden 
 fall in this percentage immediately afterwards. It 
 is manifestly the same cause that is at work in 
 inducing this rapid development of sickliness in 
 both cases, while the fact of the rise and subse- 
 quent fall taking place earlier in the modern class 
 than in the classical may probably be accounted 
 for by the slight difference between the average age 
 of this class and that of the corresponding classical 
 one, viz. 12'8 years in the first modern and 12*5 
 years in the first classical. The common cause 
 of the increased sickliness in both instances is 
 evidently to be found in the development into 
 manhood, which commences about the thirteenth 
 year, and during which the whole organism of 
 
30 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the boy undergoes a complete change. It would 
 now appear that this change is preceded by a 
 short period of greater delicacy than usual, with 
 greater susceptibility to unfavourable external in- 
 fluences. How radical is the change which at 
 this time takes place in the constitution of the 
 child is clearly shown by the following statement 
 as to growth and weight for those particular years 
 during which it is going on. As the result of a 
 series of very carefully-conducted investigations, 
 Dr. Kotelmann, in his treatise on Die Korperver- 
 hdltnisse der Gelehrtenschuler des JoJianneum in 
 Hamburg, 1 gives the following figures : 
 
 TABLE II. 
 
 Ages. 
 
 Increase in Height. 
 
 Increase in Weight. 
 
 9-12 
 13-16 
 17-20 
 
 5 -71 inches. 
 9-37 
 2-43 
 
 19 Ibs. 
 44 
 23 
 
 From the seventeenth to the twentieth year 
 the increase, particularly in height, is but slight. 
 The figures for each year separately show that it 
 
 1 " The physical characteristics of the pupils of the Johan- 
 neum in Hamburg. " 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 31 
 
 is just at the age of thirteen that development 
 goes on most rapidly. It is exactly the same with 
 regard to the development of the muscular tissue, 
 and of the chest, and indeed of the whole body, 
 growth goes on at a rapid rate during the years of 
 puberty, from thirteen to sixteen, and much more 
 slowly after that period. The importance of that 
 stage of a boy's life has always been recognised, 
 but the few figures quoted above show the exceed- 
 ing importance of allowing free scope to the boy's 
 development at that epoch. This development, 
 both in body and mind, is one of nature's pro- 
 cesses, and if it be forced or retarded in one 
 direction or the other the boy is sure to suffer, 
 and the consequences may never be completely 
 got over. 
 
 If we now review the facts we have collected 
 we find that a considerable proportion of children 
 18 per cent, or about one-fifth are sickly or 
 weakly on entering school. This shows that the 
 children on coming from their homes are affected 
 by ill health, or have a tendency towards it in 
 considerable proportion. But the facts that the 
 percentage of sickly children, after a couple of 
 
32 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 years, advances to 30 per cent, and suddenly rises 
 to 40 per cent shortly before puberty, indicate how 
 great is the influence which school experiences, 
 alone or in conjunction with developmental pro- 
 cesses, undoubtedly exercise upon the health of 
 boys. Even when the body recovers itself after 
 its supreme effort of growth, as it does in the follow- 
 ing years, the percentage of sickly children is only 
 reduced to about 30 per cent, at which it remains 
 throughout the highest classes. No comparison 
 with children who do not go to school, or rather 
 who receive no school education, can of course 
 take place in a country where school attendance 
 is obligatory on all children ; but I do not believe 
 that any other important factor can be pointed to 
 which exercises an influence upon the child's life, 
 between the ages of eight and twelve, at all ade- 
 quate to explain the deterioration of health which 
 has been referred to, besides school life, and the 
 entire change in the habits and feelings of the child 
 which it involves. The discipline of school, with 
 its strictly-defined hours of sedentary work, is in 
 itself no slight contrast to that prior state of exist- 
 ence in which the boy's natural propensity to romp 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 33 
 
 and play was allowed free scope. It must there- 
 fore, I think, be regarded as an established fact, 
 that school as now conducted, with all the con- 
 comitants of school life, undoubtedly exercises a 
 pernicious influence upon the health of the child. 
 This pernicious influence cannot perhaps be alto- 
 gether avoided, but it certainly ought not to be so 
 powerful for evil as it is here shown to be. I 
 am far from asserting that school life is the sole 
 cause of the prevalent sickliness among schoolboys, 
 but it is certain that it plays the principal part 
 in its production, and that its influence can be 
 more clearly proved than any other. 
 
 Whereas the proportion of sickly children is 
 31 per cent for the total number of schools, it 
 naturally varies in the case of individual schools. 
 It ranges between 25 per cent, which is the lowest 
 figure any school can produce, and 35 per cent ; 
 only in a single instance, to which I shall again 
 have occasion to refer, does the percentage come 
 up to 39. 
 
OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 
 
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II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 35 
 
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 '55 o o o o o 
 
 W TH. 1-3 rrj r^J rjH, 
 
 
 
 rH CN CO -* id CO 
 
 TOTAL . 
 (Rhetorical 
 PERCENT 
 
 ijl II 
 
 S'S's a 
 
 g |a ^ 
 ^a^ g 
 
 CO ^ r^ 
 
 1st & 2d Mix 
 PERCENT 
 
 5th & 6th Cl 
 
 {(Rhetorical anc 
 
 Science Sec 
 PERCENT 
 
36 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 Particulars as to the different complaints to 
 which schoolboys are liable are given in Table III., 
 and with regard to these I shall confine myself to a 
 few remarks. Scrofula, it will be observed, occu- 
 pies the foremost place among the complaints of 
 boys up to fourteen, the age of puberty, after 
 which only a small percentage of boys suffer from 
 that disease ; this holds good for girls as well as 
 boys, and corresponds with results derived from 
 other sources. I would specially direct attention 
 to the distinctive nature of the complaints respect- 
 ively prevalent in the youngest and oldest classes. 
 In the two youngest classes scrofula is recorded as 
 the most common complaint, whereas, when we 
 get to the two highest classes, we find that the 
 cases of headache and bleeding at the nose both 
 indications of a tendency to congestion of the 
 brain and diseases of the eye have greatly 
 increased. This would appear to be a strong 
 proof that the mental work plays a momentous 
 part in the deterioration of health in schoolboys. 
 That the number of cases enumerated exceeds the 
 total number of sickly children is of course ex- 
 plained by the fact that a child may have more 
 
IL] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 37 
 
 than one complaint at the same time. Thus, for 
 example, of the eighty-six boys subject to bleed- 
 ings at the nose, thirty -eight were stated to be 
 suffering at the same time from other complaints, 
 and in particular from headaches. 
 
 A comparison of Danish schools with those of 
 other countries would be very interesting; but 
 schools in other countries are in many respects so 
 differently constituted from ours, and such infor- 
 mation as has been collected in them is arranged 
 so differently from mine, that no detailed compari- 
 son is possible. I shall therefore merely allude 
 briefly to some points of interest in connection 
 with Swedish, German, and Norwegian schools. 
 To each of the classical schools in Sweden a 
 medical officer is appointed, whose duty it is twice 
 a year to report systematically upon the health 
 of the seminary under his charge. This regulation, 
 which has only just come into force, was last year 
 carried into effect in the case of a few schools. I 
 append the results obtained from two of them, 
 viz. the New Elementary School in Stockholm 
 and the Landskrona General Institute. 
 
38 
 
 OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 TABLE IV. 
 
 
 
 
 
 GENERAL 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PHYSIQUE. 
 
 STATE OF 
 
 
 
 OT 
 
 05 
 OT 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 HEALTH. 
 
 
 l5 
 
 55 
 
 c 
 
 s 
 
 
 O 
 
 fi 
 
 
 bo 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 I 
 
 
 bO 
 
 -S 
 
 
 ft 
 
 < 
 
 "S 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 
 O 
 
 w 
 
 I 
 
 
 *5j 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 fc 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 i 
 
 New Elementary 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 School . . . 
 
 299 
 
 11-18 
 
 218 
 
 41 
 
 40 
 
 241 
 
 58 
 
 38 
 
 38 
 
 19 
 
 105 
 
 PERCENTAGE . 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 80 
 
 20 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 Landskrona Gen- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 eral Institute . 
 
 119 
 
 10-14 
 
 12 
 
 83 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 PERCENTAGE . 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 70 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 The above table does not show whether the 
 number of cases of complaints represent an equal 
 number of sickly children, or whether some of the 
 children, for example, have had headache in con- 
 junction with bleeding at the nose. My schedules, 
 too, contain a greater number of different headings 
 than does this one, as, for example, scrofula (cases 
 of nervousness, probably, being generally included 
 under anaemia), so that a complete comparison is 
 impossible. There is also a striking difference 
 between the two schools included in this table, 
 especially as regards the physique of the children 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 39 
 
 attending them, so that the collection and treat- 
 ment of the materials in the two can hardly have 
 been the same. 
 
 The Hours of Work in the Different Classes. 
 
 The daily work of school children consists 
 partly of the regular school work and partly of 
 preparation and written exercises done at home, 
 to which, in many cases, private tuition in one or 
 more subjects has to be added ; but it is of course 
 to the work demanded by the school that the 
 greatest importance attaches. Table V. and Chart 
 II. show the number of hours of work of the pupils 
 in each class. The intervals for play generally 
 a quarter of an hour at a time are included 
 throughout in the hours of work, as is the case 
 with the German, Norwegian, and Swedish sta- 
 tistics, singing and gymnastics being also thus 
 included. We thus see that the daily school 
 work i.e. the number of hours spent at school 
 and in preparation at home is 4*6 hours in 
 the first mixed class, after which it rises rapidly 
 in the following classes until we get 7' 7 hours in 
 
40 
 
 OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 
 
 
 
 WEEKLY. 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 8* 
 
 t 
 
 1 
 
 
 bb 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 0> 
 
 c~ 
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 a 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 g 
 
 j? 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 1 
 
 02 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1st Mixed 
 
 161 
 
 5- 9 
 
 6-6 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 0-1 
 
 
 0-10 
 
 0-5 
 
 3-12 
 
 2d do. . 
 
 208 
 
 5- 9 
 
 7-5 
 
 24-30 
 
 ... 
 
 0-3 
 
 0-1 
 
 o-i 
 
 3-8 
 
 0-5 
 
 3-10 
 
 3d do. . 
 
 297 
 
 6-10 
 
 8-5 
 
 22-33 
 
 6-6 
 
 0-4 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 3-6 
 
 2-6 
 
 7-12 
 
 4th do. . 
 
 361 
 
 7-13 
 
 9-6 
 
 28-33 
 
 3- 6 
 
 0-5 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 2-6 
 
 2-4 
 
 6-11 
 
 5th do. . 
 
 369 
 
 8-13 
 
 10-5 
 
 28-36 
 
 6- 9 
 
 0-4 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 2-6 
 
 2-4 
 
 5-10 
 
 6th do. . 
 
 346 
 
 9-14 
 
 11-7 
 
 30-36 
 
 6-11 
 
 0-4 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 2-7 
 
 2-6 
 
 6-10 
 
 Total . 
 
 1742 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1st Modern 
 
 165 
 
 10-15 
 
 12-8 
 
 32-36 
 
 9-11 
 
 2-6 
 
 0-2 
 
 1-2 
 
 1-3 
 
 2-4 
 
 5-10 
 
 2d do. 
 
 191 
 
 11-16 
 
 13-8 
 
 31-36 
 
 9-11 
 
 1-5-7 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 1-3 
 
 2-5 
 
 4-10 
 
 3d do. 
 
 111 
 
 12-16 
 
 14-6 
 
 31-36 
 
 6-15 
 
 1-5-8 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-3 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-3 
 
 3- 9 
 
 4th do. 
 
 64 
 
 14-17 
 
 15-6 
 
 32-36 
 
 9-15 
 
 2-5-6 
 
 0-1 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-1 
 
 0-3 
 
 0- 6 
 
 Total . 
 
 531 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1st Classical . 
 
 241 
 
 10-15 
 
 12-5 
 
 33-36 
 
 11-14 
 
 2-7 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-2 
 
 1-2 
 
 2-4 
 
 4- 8 
 
 2d do. 
 
 186 
 
 11-15 
 
 13-5 
 
 33-36 
 
 11-16 
 
 1-8-6 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-1 
 
 0-2 
 
 2-4 
 
 3- 7 
 
 3d do. 
 
 135 
 
 13-16 
 
 14-5 
 
 33-36 
 
 11-19 
 
 2-5-8 
 
 0-2 
 
 
 0-1 
 
 2-4 
 
 2- 6 
 
 4th do. 
 
 92 
 
 13-18 
 
 15-4 
 
 34-36 
 
 16-19 
 
 1-5-7-5 
 
 0-2 
 
 ... 
 
 
 2-4 
 
 2- 6 
 
 5th do. 
 
 76 
 
 14-21 
 
 16-6 
 
 32-36 
 
 20-22 
 
 1-8-3-5 
 
 0-2 
 
 
 
 2-4 
 
 2- 6 
 
 6th do. 
 
 53 
 
 16-21 
 
 17-5 
 
 33-38 
 
 19-24 
 
 2-4-5 
 
 0-1 
 
 
 
 0-4 
 
 0- 4 
 
 Total . 
 
 783 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3d Nat. Science 
 
 30 
 
 12-16 
 
 14-1 
 
 33-36 
 
 11-13 
 
 2-5-4-5 
 
 0-2 
 
 1-2 
 
 0-1 
 
 2-4 
 
 3- 8 
 
 4th do. 
 
 15 
 
 14-17 
 
 15-7 
 
 34-36 
 
 12-14 
 
 2-5-4 
 
 0-2 
 
 1-2 
 
 
 2-4 
 
 3- 8 
 
 5th do. 
 
 23 
 
 15-18 
 
 16-9 
 
 30-36 
 
 7- 8 
 
 4-11 
 
 0-2 
 
 0-3 
 
 
 1-4 
 
 1- 8 
 
 6th do. 
 
 17 
 
 16-19 
 
 17-5 
 
 27-35 
 
 7- 8 
 
 3-5-9 
 
 
 0-3 
 
 
 0-4 
 
 0- 7 
 
 Total . 
 
 85 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TOTAL . 
 
 3141 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 41 
 
 DAILY. 
 
 PRIVATE TUITION WEEKLY. 
 
 
 
 li 
 
 . 
 
 if 
 
 M 
 
 School Work according 
 
 
 ft 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 "sW 
 
 13 
 
 +* 
 
 to place in Class. 
 
 CM 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 |> 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 f3 
 
 & 
 
 Ij 
 
 h 
 
 03 Krf 
 
 || 
 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 jj 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 i o 
 
 gfi 
 
 rg 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 & 
 
 fs 
 
 
 1-3 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 fc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0-6 
 
 4-6 
 
 5-1 
 
 4-6 
 
 4'5 
 
 5-5 
 
 2 
 
 1-2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 1-1 
 
 5'4 
 
 6-2 
 
 5-4 
 
 5'4 
 
 57 
 
 17 
 
 8-2 
 
 13 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 
 40 
 
 6 
 
 1-4 
 
 6-2 
 
 7-1 
 
 6-0 
 
 6'2 
 
 6-4 
 
 57 
 
 19-2 
 
 47 
 
 i 
 
 9 
 
 87 
 
 5 
 
 -1-8 
 
 6-9 
 
 7'8 
 
 6-6 
 
 7-0 
 
 7-2 
 
 73 
 
 20-0 
 
 60 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 92 
 
 5 
 
 2-0 
 
 7-4 
 
 8-1 
 
 7-1 
 
 7'5 
 
 7'8 
 
 124 
 
 33-6 
 
 102 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 91 
 
 15 
 
 2-0 
 
 77 
 
 8-5 
 
 7'3 
 
 7'8 
 
 77 
 
 101 
 
 29-2 
 
 89 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 98 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 374 
 
 21-5 
 
 313 
 
 10 
 
 51 
 
 424 
 
 42 
 
 2-3 
 
 8-0 
 
 8-9 
 
 7'5 
 
 8-2 
 
 7'9 
 
 60 
 
 35'8 
 
 43 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 24 
 
 12 
 
 27 
 
 8-5 
 
 9-4 
 
 8'5 
 
 8-4 
 
 8-4 
 
 69 
 
 30-9 
 
 40 
 
 9 
 
 20 
 
 32 
 
 7 
 
 2-8 
 
 8-5 
 
 9-1 
 
 8-3 
 
 8-6 
 
 8-3 
 
 38 
 
 34-2 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 3'4 
 
 9-0 
 
 9-3 
 
 8-6 
 
 9-2 
 
 8-9 
 
 29 
 
 45-3 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 196 
 
 367 
 
 123 
 
 20 
 
 53 
 
 68 
 
 24 
 
 2'4 
 
 8-2 
 
 9-0 
 
 8'0 
 
 8-3 
 
 8-4 
 
 98 
 
 407 
 
 75 
 
 4 
 
 19 
 
 43 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 8-4 
 
 9-5 
 
 8-3 
 
 8-6 
 
 8-3 
 
 78 
 
 41-9 
 
 70 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 48 
 
 7 
 
 3-3 
 
 9-1 
 
 97 
 
 9-2 
 
 91 
 
 9'2 
 
 54 
 
 40-0 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 22 
 
 5 
 
 3-6 
 
 9'4 
 
 10-0 
 
 9-1 
 
 97 
 
 9-5 
 
 37 
 
 40-2 
 
 24 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 4-3 
 
 10-0 
 
 11-1 
 
 9-6 
 
 10-2 
 
 9-8 
 
 24 
 
 31-6 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4-5 
 
 10-4 
 
 11 -a 
 
 97 
 
 10-6 
 
 107 
 
 13 
 
 24-5 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 304 
 
 38-8 
 
 236 
 
 23 
 
 45 
 
 121 
 
 18 
 
 3-2 
 
 8-9 
 
 9-5 
 
 8-8 
 
 8-6 
 
 9-5 
 
 12 
 
 40-0 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 3-4 
 
 9'3 
 
 10-5 
 
 8-9 
 
 8-9 
 
 9-8 
 
 10 
 
 66-6 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 3-8 
 
 9'4 
 
 11-2 
 
 9-2 
 
 9-2 
 
 97 
 
 6 
 
 261 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4-1 
 
 9-6 
 
 10-9 
 
 9-5 
 
 9'2 
 
 10-2 
 
 6 
 
 35-3 
 
 5 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 40-0 
 
 19 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 908 
 
 287 
 
 691 
 
 62 
 
 155 
 
 621 
 
 86 
 
 PERCENTAGE " OF PUPILS . . 
 
 22-0 
 
 2-0 
 
 47 
 
 20-0 
 
 2-4 
 
 Do. OF EXTRA WORK 
 
 761 
 
 6-8 
 
 171 
 
 
 
42 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the sixth mixed class, being an average increase 
 of half an hour per class. In the preparatory 
 schools the hours are a little longer in the two 
 highest classes, amounting in the sixth class to 
 eight hours per diem, but this is naturally accounted 
 for by the fact that the children are about to be 
 sent to more advanced schools, for places in which 
 there is lively competition, so that they have to be 
 brought on further than would otherwise be the case. 
 The work hours go on increasing in the higher 
 classes, but somewhat irregularly. In the modern 
 section they only increase from eight hours in the 
 first to nine hours in the fourth and highest class, 
 being the smallest advance among the higher 
 classes. The greatest increase in the work hours 
 takes place in the classical side of the different 
 schools, especially in the rhetorical section, viz. 
 from 8*2 hours in the first classical to 10'4 in the 
 sixth class, the greatest rise being from 84 in the 
 second to 9*1 in the third class, almost three- 
 quarters of an hour. In the natural science section 
 9'6 hours in the highest class is the longest day's 
 work, but the small number of pupils in this 
 section tends to make the result more uncertain. 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 43 
 
 The work demanded by the school in the four 
 highest classical classes is thus very considerable, 
 occupying nearly ten and a half hours daily. 
 
 As already stated, 908 pupils, or 28 lf 7 per cent 
 of the whole number, have private tuition over 
 and above the work done in and for the school, 
 and this increases the daily work by about three- 
 quarters of an hour, though, as shown in Table V., 
 the additional burden thus entailed varies some- 
 what in amount in the different classes. This 
 is no inconsiderable addition to the ordinary work, 
 and in the case of pupils in the highest classes, 
 whose time is already so much taken up, the effect 
 of this extra labour must be very appreciable. It 
 brings up their daily average of work to eleven 
 hours. 
 
 The Distribution of Subjects in the Different Classes. 
 
 Table V. gives the number of hours spent at 
 school, and an analysis of the hours devoted to 
 several subjects, as, for example, languages and 
 those other subjects which do not demand so 
 much mental effort. A considerable difference 
 
44 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 is observable between the various schools, and I 
 endeavoured to calculate the averages, but as these 
 proved rather uncertain and hardly in accordance 
 with the true state of things I did not insert 
 them. The considerable fluctuations with regard to 
 the written exercises are partly attributable to the 
 different ways in which the mathematical exercises 
 have been regarded in answering that question. 
 
 Can the daily work here shown to be required 
 in Danish schools be said to be excessive ? This 
 brings us face to face with the extremely diffi- 
 cult question as to how much work a boy can 
 undertake without detriment at a particular age, 
 and the answers given to this question vary con- 
 siderably. This very question has been the sub- 
 ject of an animated discussion in Germany of 
 late years. In 1875 M. Falck, then Minister for 
 Education in Prussia, required information from 
 the schools as to the time employed by the 
 pupils in home preparation. As the outcome of 
 this investigation the Provinzial Schulcollegium 
 der Provinz Wesphalen issued a circular, dated 5th 
 January 1876, in which, after referring to the 
 great diversities in the returns from the different 
 
IL] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 45 
 
 schools, it is stated : " On account of this want of 
 uniformity in the results we beg to refer to the 
 unanimous resolution at the fifteenth conference 
 of Westphalian School Directors, by which the 
 time to be spent in home preparation by pupils 
 of ordinary capacity was limited to a maximum 
 of four hours daily for the upper, three for the 
 middle, and two for the lower classes, including 
 all private reading which the pupil had to do." 
 This circular was inserted in the ministerial paper 
 and thus officially recognised as valid for Prussia, 
 and in order to appreciate its full significance we 
 want to know now how many hours a day are 
 spent at school in that country ; and I therefore 
 append the averages taken from twelve Prussian 
 gymnasia or high schools. 1 
 
 When comparing these Prussian schools with 
 our own it must be borne in mind that the period 
 of school tuition in Prussia is longer than with 
 us, the average age of pupils on leaving these 
 gymnasia being 19 '7 years, as compared with 18*1 
 in Danish schools, so that German boys are a year 
 
 1 I am indebted for the following particulars to the courtesy 
 of M. C. Werner of Halle. 
 
46 
 
 OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 and a half older on leaving school than Danish 
 ones are. In Germany two years are spent in each 
 of the three highest classes, and one year in each 
 of the three lowest, the whole course thus occupy- 
 ing nine years. The average age on leaving school 
 and the daily hours of work in each class in the 
 Prussian gymnasia are as follows : 
 
 TABLE VI. 
 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Weekly 
 Total of 
 School 
 Hours. 
 
 Gym- 
 nastics 
 and 
 Singing. 
 
 Home 
 Work 
 daily. 
 
 Number 
 of Hours 
 of daily 
 Work. 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 28 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 7-2 
 
 V. 
 
 
 12| 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 7'5 
 
 IV. 
 
 . 
 
 13* 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 8-5 
 
 III. 
 
 Lower . 
 Upper . 
 
 1*4 
 
 15* 
 
 - 30 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 8-5 
 
 II. 
 
 Lower . 
 Upper . 
 
 16* 
 17* 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 9-3 
 
 I. 
 
 Lower . 
 Upper . 
 
 184 
 194 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 9'3 
 
 Thus in the highest classes 9*3 hours' daily 
 work, including singing and gymnastics, is regarded 
 as the extreme limit of permissible application to 
 study. Whether the German pupils really do not 
 exceed that limit I cannot tell, but that is the 
 maximum of daily work, including private tuition, 
 which the instructors of the German youth con- 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 47 
 
 sider compatible with a due regard for health, and 
 even these regulations as to the hours of work are 
 still deemed too high by pedagogues as well as 
 German doctors. 
 
 If we wish to compare the German hours with 
 our own we must do so by age, because, as I have 
 pointed out, the German average in the highest 
 class is a year and a half above our own. It 
 would also appear that we devote more time to 
 gymnastics than the Germans, Copenhagen school- 
 boys having on an average from two to three hours 
 of gymnastics weekly some of them even four 
 hours in almost all the classes, while gymnastics 
 only occupy one to two hours weekly in the first 
 and second classes in German schools. Taking my 
 standard mainly from the above expression of opinion 
 by German school authorities, I drew up a scale of 
 " normal " work hours applicable to each class, and 
 then computed how many pupils had "normal" 
 work and how many had more than normal, i.e. 
 " hard work" in Danish schools. Only those cases 
 in which the limit of "normal work" has been 
 exceeded have I included under the heading " hard 
 work." As the hours of work increased gradually 
 
48 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 from class to class I made out my scale accord- 
 ingly, and not by such sudden transitions as the 
 German pedagogues allowed. My scale is higher 
 throughout than the German limits, not because 
 I think them too narrow quite the reverse but 
 partly because it was not apparent from the German 
 statistics, which I originally used, which subjects 
 were obligatory, so that I took the weekly hours 
 of school work to be longer than I now find they 
 are, and partly because of my desire to escape the 
 accusation of having fixed the limit too low. It is 
 evident that a maximum of 9*3 hours for the high- 
 est classes (instead of the ten hours I have taken 
 as my standard of normal work) would show a result 
 even more unfavourable to our schools than the 
 one I shall presently give. Then, again, 9 '3 hours 
 is the maximum, which is not to be exceeded, so 
 that a fair medium ought rather to be something 
 like nine hours. 1 
 
 The following table shows for each separate 
 class the hours actually spent in work by the 
 pupils, the standard of normal work I have taken, 
 
 1 To prevent all possible misunderstanding let me here ex- 
 press as my personal conviction that what I have taken as the 
 " normal " standard of work is decidedly pitched much too high. 
 
II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 49 
 
 and the maximum decreed by the Germans. The 
 pupils in the corresponding German classes are, 
 moreover, six months older on an average than in 
 ours. 
 
 TABLE VII. 
 
 
 
 
 No. of Hours 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. of Hours 
 
 of School 
 
 Nor- 
 
 Ger- 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 Age. 
 
 of daily 
 
 Work and 
 
 mal 
 
 man 
 
 AToVT 
 
 
 
 School Work. 
 
 Private Tui- 
 tion. 
 
 Work 
 
 .Biaxi- 
 mum. 
 
 1st Mixed .... 
 
 7 
 
 4'6 
 
 51 
 
 6-0 
 
 
 2d do. . 
 
 8 
 
 5 '4 
 
 6 '2 
 
 7 '3 
 
 
 3rd do 
 
 9 
 
 6'2 
 
 7'1 
 
 7-5 
 
 
 4th do. 
 
 10 
 
 6 '9 
 
 7'8 
 
 7 '8 
 
 
 5th do. (VI.) 
 
 11 
 
 7'4 
 
 8-1 
 
 8-0 
 
 7-2 
 
 6th do. (V.) 
 1st Classical (IV.) 
 
 12 
 13 
 
 77 
 8-2 (8'0) 
 
 8-5 
 9-0 (8-9) 
 
 8-3 
 8'5 
 
 7-5 
 8-5 
 
 2d do. (III.) 
 
 14 
 
 8-4 (8-5) 
 
 9-5 (9-4) 
 
 8-8 
 
 8-5 
 
 3rd do. (III.) 
 
 15 
 
 9-1 (8-5) 
 
 97 (9-1) 
 
 9-0 
 
 8'5 
 
 4th do. (II.) 
 
 16 
 
 9-4 (9-0) 
 
 10-0 (9.3) 
 
 9-0 
 
 9-3 
 
 5th do. (II.) 
 
 17 
 
 10-0 
 
 111 
 
 10-0 
 
 9-3 
 
 6th do. (I.) . 
 
 18 
 
 10-4 
 
 11-2 
 
 10-0 
 
 9'3 
 
 Particulars as to the hours of work in all the 
 classes will be found in Table V. The ages given 
 for both Danish and German schools are the 
 average ones attained by the pupils at the end of 
 the school year. The figures in brackets in Table 
 VII. show the work hours in the modern classes, 
 the Eoman figures indicating the German classes 
 corresponding with those in the Danish schools, 
 the numbers of which they stand opposite. 
 
50 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 Thus we see that in all the classes, with the 
 exception of the first and second classical, the work 
 hours in the Copenhagen schools exceed the maxi- 
 mum which is considered by the German peda- 
 gogues to be permissible. In the case of those 
 pupils who receive private tuition the excess is 
 still greater, and surpasses even the higher stand- 
 ard employed by me. 
 
 In the Swedish schools the daily hours of school 
 work appear almost to correspond with our own. 
 Twice a year the Swedish scholars send in a state- 
 ment of the time employed in preparation and 
 written exercises at home, and I have taken as 
 illustrative the returns for three schools, viz. the 
 New Elementary School in Stockholm, the Caroline 
 Cathedral School in Lund, and the General Educa- 
 tional Institute in Malmo. According to the regular 
 system each class in the classical section has the 
 following number of school hours (including half an 
 hour of gymnastics daily, which is probably the 
 shortest time ever devoted to gymnastics in Swedish 
 schools). 
 
II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 51 
 
 TABLE VIII. 
 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. i 
 
 VI. 2 
 
 VII. ! 
 
 VII. 2 
 
 Number of Hours 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 at School . . 
 
 5-0 
 
 5-5 
 
 5-5 
 
 5-5 
 
 5-5 
 
 5-8 
 
 5-8 
 
 5-5 
 
 5.5 
 
 c /Stockholm 
 
 1-5 
 
 1-5 
 
 2-5 to 
 
 37 
 
 5-4 
 
 4-8 
 
 ... 
 
 5-3 
 
 
 !ld 
 
 
 
 3-5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ||| \ Lund. . 
 
 1-0 
 
 1-5 to 
 2-0 
 
 1-5 to 
 2-0 
 
 2-5 
 
 3-5 
 
 3-0 
 
 5-0 
 
 5-0 
 
 5-0 
 
 Ifl Malmo 
 
 0-5 to 
 
 1-0 to 
 
 1-5 to 
 
 2-0 
 
 2-5 
 
 3-4 
 
 3-4 
 
 2-5 to 
 
 5-6 
 
 B| I 
 
 1-0 
 
 1-5 
 
 2-0 
 
 
 
 
 
 4-5 
 
 
 One or two other schools show even higher 
 returns of work done at home, viz. Kalmar, 
 Class Yip six hours; Class VL 2 , six to seven hours; 
 Halmsted in 1876, Class VIL 2 , seven hours ; but 
 these are exceptional cases. 
 
 It seems that the home work done by Swedish 
 schoolboys is rather heavier than in our country 
 (where the longest time spent in preparation is 4*5 
 hours daily), at least amongst the higher classes. 
 When reviewing the work done in Swedish schools, 
 however, we must remember that the holidays, and 
 especially the summer vacations, are much longer 
 in them than with us, and that the average age, on 
 leaving school, is nineteen years as against eighteen 
 in Denmark. The school time is divided into fore- 
 
52 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 noon and afternoon sessions, not more than two 
 or at the outside three hours of continuous work 
 being allowed, after which an interval of at least 
 two hours is compulsory. With us the school 
 hours are not broken up by longer intervals than 
 a quarter of an hour at a time, and schools are even 
 known to exist in which, after five hours of school 
 work, without any break whatever, the pupils have 
 to spend other two hours in preparation, making 
 seven continuous hours of brain labour. One long 
 uninterrupted spell of work such as this is much 
 more exhausting to children than a like duration of 
 work broken up into portions of two or three hours 
 each, with as many intervals. 
 
 In Norway the question of children's school 
 work has been subjected to a very minute investi- 
 gation. In 1865 a Eoyal Commission was ap- 
 pointed to consider a revision of the education 
 code for advanced schools. The schools were re- 
 quired by the Commission to furnish statistics as 
 to the school work, and the results (which are to 
 be found in the seventh and eighth volumes of the 
 Norwegian School and University Annals) are 
 very interesting in many respects. Several 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 53 
 
 schools, through their official spokesmen, state that 
 their pupils are overloaded with work ; and all 
 of them protest vigorously against any increase in 
 the demands made for the Examination in Arts 
 which is taken on leaving school. 
 
 From Stavanger school the statement comes 
 that many pupils in the highest classes work 
 eleven hours daily. 
 
 Herr Vibe, rector in Christiania, reports that 
 the school work is five and six hours daily, and 
 the home work as follows : 
 
 TABLE IX. 
 
 1st Class ... 1 Hour 54 Minutes. 
 
 2d ... 2 Hours 19 
 
 3d ... 2 29 
 
 4th ... 3 39 
 
 5th ... 3 56 
 
 6th ... 3 14 
 
 7th ... 2 30 
 
 He declares this to be " much too much," and 
 speaks of the present state of things as " an over- 
 loading with educational matter, and consequent 
 apathy and want of interest on the part of the 
 pupil, an overtaxing of youthful strength, a con- 
 stant driving and forcing on in every subject" 
 
54 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 (vol. viii. p. 269). The college of teachers of 
 Tromso school declare eight hours of sedentary 
 work, exclusive of gymnastics, to be the maximum 
 of permissible school teaching. Several teachers 
 point out besides that although the school hours 
 may not be longer than they formerly were, yet, 
 the subject-matter now demanded being much 
 more difficult and requiring more concentrated 
 attention on the part of the learners than was the 
 case thirty years ago, the work is altogether much 
 more exhausting. 
 
 In its Eeport the Norwegian School Commission 
 (part i. p. 214) expresses its opinion that the work 
 prescribed for the Arts Examination should and 
 could be less exacting in many subjects than it 
 now is, though the Commission does not regard the 
 heavy demands of this examination as chiefly to 
 blame for the grievous overpressure which exists 
 in many schools ; it attributes this rather to an im- 
 proper method of teaching, for which the teachers 
 are mainly responsible, as well as to the use of 
 bad school books, etc. The principal reason 
 given by the Commission for not considering the 
 demands excessive is that in the Danish schools 
 
BOYS' SCHOOLS. 55 
 
 the prescribed work is much greater, and that a 
 Commission of Danish pedagogues had declared 
 that no danger of overpressure could possibly 
 arise in their highly favoured land. Thus at page 
 109 of the Eeport it is stated "In these (the 
 Danish) schools the pupils have to get up more 
 Latin and Greek than is prescribed by our code. 
 Besides this, Natural History, Physics, and Astro- 
 nomy are taught from advanced books, as well as 
 Conic Sections, Plain and Spherical Trigonometry. 
 In our Norwegian schools the subjects taken in- 
 stead of all these are only Church History and, as 
 a voluntary subject, English." That the authorities 
 attached considerable importance to the "much 
 greater " demands instituted by the Danish code is 
 also apparent from a circular, dated 6th February 
 1867, issued to the schools by the Education 
 Department, in which this point is specially 
 emphasised. 
 
 At the instigation of school teachers the Medical 
 Society of Christiania made the question of over- 
 pressure the subject of a discussion, which ex- 
 tended throughout seven sittings (vide Norwegian 
 Magazine of Medical Science, 1866-67). A large 
 
56 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 number of the most eminent physicians took part 
 in the discussion, and all without exception 
 declared it to be decidedly their experience that 
 school children boys as well as girls were as a 
 rule overburdened with work, greatly to the pre- 
 judice of their bodily and mental development. 
 It was significantly pointed out at the time that 
 there had seldom been unanimity so striking on 
 any subject on the part of the medical profession. 
 Now it is to be remembered that the Danish school 
 code was stated to be much more exacting, as to 
 its demands for the Arts Examination, than the 
 Norwegian one. 
 
 Having thus briefly glanced at one or two 
 features of the educational systems in neighbouring 
 countries, I will proceed to give the result ob- 
 tained by applying my standard of "normal" work 
 to the schools more immediately under discussion. 
 
 Table X. shows the number of pupils in each 
 class who have "normal" and "super-normal" 
 work, showing, at the same time, in what propor- 
 tion any excess of work beyond the normal limit 
 is due to school work alone or to private study. 
 
 Seventy-two per cent, i.e. almost three-fourths 
 
II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 57 
 
 TABLE X. 
 
 
 NORMAL 
 STANDARD. 
 
 NORMAL 
 WORK. 
 
 HARD WORK. 
 
 NON- 
 RETURNED. 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 u 
 
 * ' 
 
 f 
 
 o ,22 
 
 1 
 
 ^ . 
 
 gj 
 
 SJ 
 
 f 
 
 
 ii 
 
 0% 
 
 & 
 
 8 
 
 o'| 
 
 1 
 
 .fl 8 
 
 *J 
 
 o < 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 ** 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 1st Mixed . 
 
 6-0 
 
 153 
 
 95-0 
 
 2 
 
 1-2 
 
 2 
 
 
 6 
 
 3-8 
 
 2d do. 
 
 7'3 
 
 201 
 
 96-2 
 
 2 
 
 1-0 
 
 1 
 
 "i 
 
 6 
 
 2-8 
 
 3d do. 
 
 7-5 
 
 270 
 
 91-2 
 
 19 
 
 6-4 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 2-4 
 
 4th do. 
 
 7-8 
 
 286 
 
 79-2 
 
 67 
 
 18-6 
 
 45 
 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 2-2 
 
 5th do. 
 
 8-0 
 
 261 
 
 707 
 
 105 
 
 28-5 
 
 64 
 
 41 
 
 3 
 
 0-8 
 
 6th do. 
 
 8-3 
 
 235 
 
 67-9 
 
 108 
 
 31-2 
 
 77 
 
 31 
 
 3 
 
 0-9 
 
 
 
 1406 
 
 80-7 
 
 303 
 
 17-4 
 
 202 
 
 101 
 
 33 
 
 1-9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 67% 
 
 33% 
 
 
 
 1st Modern . 
 
 8-5 
 
 114 
 
 691 
 
 51 
 
 30-9 
 
 37 
 
 14 
 
 
 ... 
 
 2d do. 
 
 8-8 
 
 111 
 
 581 
 
 80 
 
 41-9 
 
 59 
 
 21 
 
 
 ... 
 
 3d do. . 
 
 9-0 
 
 77 
 
 69-4 
 
 34 
 
 30-6 
 
 21 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 4th do. 
 
 9-0 
 
 32 
 
 50-0 
 
 32 
 
 50-0 
 
 26 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 334 
 
 62-9 
 
 197 
 
 371 
 
 143 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 73% 
 
 27% 
 
 
 
 1st Classical (Rhet.) 
 
 8-5 
 
 145 
 
 60-2 
 
 95 
 
 39-4 
 
 66 
 
 29 
 
 1 
 
 0-4 
 
 2d do. 
 
 8-8 
 
 95 
 
 511 
 
 85 
 
 457 
 
 60 
 
 25 
 
 6 
 
 3-2 
 
 3d do. 
 
 9-0 
 
 51 
 
 37'8 
 
 82 
 
 60-7 
 
 55 
 
 27 
 
 2 
 
 1-5 
 
 4th do. 
 
 9-0 
 
 28 
 
 30-4 
 
 64 
 
 69-6 
 
 57 
 
 7 
 
 
 ... 
 
 5th do. 
 
 10-0 
 
 41 
 
 54-7 
 
 35 
 
 45-3 
 
 31 
 
 4 
 
 ... 
 
 
 6th do. 
 
 10-0 
 
 22 
 
 41-5 
 
 31 
 
 58-5 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 
 382 
 
 48-8 
 
 392 
 
 50-2 
 
 299 
 
 93 
 
 9 
 
 1-0 
 
 3d Classical 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 76% 
 
 24% 
 
 
 
 (Natural Science) 
 
 9-0 
 
 13 
 
 43-3 
 
 17 
 
 567 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 4th do. 
 
 9-0 
 
 4 
 
 26-6 
 
 11 
 
 73-4 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5th do. 
 
 10-0 
 
 14 
 
 60-9 
 
 7 
 
 30-4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 "2 
 
 87 
 
 6th do. 
 
 lO'O 
 
 12 
 
 70-6 
 
 5 
 
 29-4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 50-6 
 
 40 
 
 471 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 2-3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 70% 
 
 30% 
 
 
 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 2165 
 
 68-9 
 
 932 
 
 297 
 
 672 
 
 260 
 
 44 
 
 1-4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 72% 
 
 28% 
 
 
 
58 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 of the total number of cases of hard work, are due 
 to school studies alone, leaving only 28 per cent 
 due to private study. The pressure of the school 
 work is seen to be most severe from the fourth to 
 the sixth classical rhetorical section. Thus about 
 one-third of the total number of pupils have hard 
 work ; while in the rhetorical section of the classi- 
 cal side the number of boys who do " hard " work 
 is greater than the number doing " normal " work, 
 particularly in the third and fourth classes, where 
 60 to 70 per cent have hard work. These are 
 just the classes, too, in which most overpressure 
 has always been alleged to exist. In the fourth 
 modern class the proportions of normal and of 
 hard workers are equal. 
 
 Now if the German standard had been taken, 
 the percentage of hard -worked pupils would 
 have been much greater; for example, in both 
 sections of the classical side (for which the 
 maximum is 9'3 hours, including private study) 
 only 34 pupils out of 169, or 20 per cent, 
 would have appeared as doing normal work ; 
 whereas 133 pupils, or 79 per cent, would have 
 been classified as hard -worked, with two cases 
 
II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 59 
 
 (1 per cent) non- returned. According to my 
 standard, however, 89 pupils (53 per cent) of 
 these four classes have normal and 78 (46 per 
 cent) hard work. The difference is seen to be 
 very considerable. Expressed in percentages, the 
 results for each section are as follows : 
 
 TABLE XI. 
 
 CLASSES. 
 
 Normal 
 Work. 
 
 Hard 
 
 Work. 
 
 Non-re- 
 turned. 
 
 Mixed .... 
 
 807 
 
 17-4 
 
 1-9 
 
 Modern .... 
 
 62-9 
 
 37-1 
 
 
 Classical (Rhetorical] 
 Classical (Natural Science] 
 
 48-8 
 50-6 
 
 50-2 
 47-1 
 
 1-0 
 2'3 
 
 AVERAGE . 
 
 68-9 
 
 297 
 
 1-4 
 
 The question as to whether the boys in our 
 Copenhagen schools are overworked is now more 
 easily answered. So high a limit of "normal" 
 work has been adopted here that I am sure every 
 one will admit that anything beyond it is really 
 hard work. Besides, this normal standard 
 which, in the case of most of the classes, is higher 
 than the foreign pedagogues consider right and 
 proper is only justifiable on the distinct supposi- 
 
60 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 tion that the pupils are perfectly strong and sound 
 boys. But this is far indeed from being the case, at 
 least one-third, as we have seen, being sickly deli- 
 cate children, whose state of health demands special 
 consideration, and that, too, just at the age of 
 their school life when the work is most severe, 
 viz. during the period of puberty. I maintain, 
 therefore, most emphatically that the school does 
 not work with strong and healthy children ; the 
 proportion of delicate ones among them is so great 
 that it must be taken into special consideration in 
 connection with the demands made upon the pupils 
 in general. The work now demanded of the 
 scholars exceeds, in a very large number of cases, 
 those limits which, even for perfectly sound 
 children, can be admitted to be justifiable. There 
 can therefore be no doubt that the demands made 
 at present upon all groups of schoolboys, but more 
 especially upon those in the classical divisions of 
 schools, and which are fixed by law, are so con- 
 siderable that the work entailed upon the pupils, 
 in order to fulfil them, must necessarily exercise 
 an injurious influence upon the health of a con- 
 siderable proportion. 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 61 
 
 In judging of the ages of our schoolboys in 
 relation to their work, it must also be remembered 
 that the estimated age of, for example, 18 in the 
 sixth class is only attained on leaving school. In 
 the month of November the average age of the boys 
 in that class was IV'S, and those of the boys in other 
 classes in proportion. As the age given for each 
 pupil is the number of years actually completed, 
 they are of course all above the age stated. I 
 have therefore added half a year throughout to 
 the average obtained from the ages returned 
 that of the sixth class was really 16*9 and I 
 think I have thus got as near to the truth as is 
 possible. 
 
 It has often been said that the clever boys in 
 particular have to work hardest. In order to see 
 if this is really the case I requested the schools 
 to state on each schedule whether the pupil to 
 which it referred was reckoned among the clever- 
 est in his class, among those of ordinary ability, 
 or among the dullest. The result is exhibited in 
 Table V., where, under the heading " School Work 
 according to place in Class," 1 marks the cleverest, 
 2 the ordinary, and 3 the dullest pupils. There 
 
62 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 does not appear to be any great difference, nor 
 any invariable relation in this respect. 
 
 Of the subjects included in the extra or private 
 work music is the most important. Out of the 
 total of 908 boys who have private tuition, 691, 
 or 76*1 per cent, take music lessons, while only 
 62, or 6*8 per cent, receive private tuition in 
 languages, and 155, or 17*1 per cent, in other 
 subjects, chief of which are mathematics and 
 religious instruction. The numbers for each class 
 are given in Table V. It is principally the 
 pupils in the middle classes who have private 
 study. The work of these pupils is increased on 
 an average by about three-quarters of an hour 
 daily no slight addition by their private work ; 
 but even if we disregard private work, a large pro- 
 portion of the boys, as has been shown, would still 
 be found to have longer hours than are allowed 
 by the standard for perfectly healthy children. 
 Nor, from a pedagogic point of view, can it be held 
 to be right for the schools to absorb so much of 
 their pupils' time that none is practically left for 
 other teaching, where such may be thought 
 desirable. 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 63 
 
 Private lessons in dancing and gymnastics are 
 not included in the time devoted to extra work, as 
 both these exercises tend to strengthen the body. 
 The table shows that 621 (20 per cent of the total 
 number of pupils) have dancing lessons, while 
 only 86 (24 per cent) receive private instruction 
 in gymnastics, including riding and fencing. This 
 is in characteristic and striking contrast to the 
 numbers who have music lessons, in spite of the 
 much more beneficial results which would accrue 
 to many of these anaemic, delicate children from 
 gymnastics and bodily exercise. 
 
 Table XII. shows how many pupils find 
 difficulty in keeping up with their class, and the 
 subjects in which this is particularly the case. 
 As already mentioned in the Introduction, the 
 results here are somewhat uncertain, and the large 
 proportion of non-returns still further diminishes 
 their value. It is, however, curious to note how 
 many pupils in the rhetorical section have difficulty 
 with mathematics, and in the natural science 
 section with Latin. This may be taken to show 
 how necessary and practical is the division be- 
 tween these two branches of education. 
 
OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 TABLE XII. 
 
 
 3 
 
 No. of Boys who have difficulty in 
 keeping up with Class in : 
 
 
 
 f=? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t-' 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 fl 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 g 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 )f Boys who lu 
 in keeping up 
 
 All Subject 
 
 )anish Compos 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ,5 
 
 M 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 33 
 
 I 
 
 Scandinavian 
 
 5 
 
 Geography 
 
 metic and Mat 
 
 8 
 
 E 
 
 t5 
 
 Non-retu 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 1st Mixed 
 
 58 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 96 
 
 2d do. ... 
 
 123 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 61 
 
 3d do 
 
 173 
 
 38 
 
 4 
 
 9, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 56 
 
 4th do. ... 
 
 210 
 
 41 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 26 
 
 g 
 
 65 
 
 5th do. ... 
 
 188 
 
 39 
 
 15 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 37 
 
 3 
 
 66 
 
 6th do. ... 
 
 173 
 
 42 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 67 
 
 TOTAL . . . 
 
 925 
 
 182 
 
 35 
 
 18 
 
 26 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 31 
 
 105 
 
 8 
 
 411 
 
 1st Modern . . . 
 
 48 
 
 22 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 35 
 
 2d do. ... 
 
 76 
 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 54 
 
 1 
 
 22 
 
 3d do. ... 
 
 30 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 4th do ... 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 TOTAL . . . 
 
 
 52 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 121 
 
 
 95 
 
 170 
 
 19 
 
 51 
 
 38 
 
 13 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 1st Classical . . 
 
 128 
 
 22 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 5 
 
 46 
 
 2d do. . . 
 
 91 
 
 q 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 
 98 
 
 
 
 
 
 8? 
 
 
 32 
 
 3d do. . . 
 
 67 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 4th do. . . 
 
 51 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 5th do. . . 
 
 26 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 6th do. . . 
 
 25 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 TOTAL . . . 
 
 388 
 
 63 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 68 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 93 
 
 16 
 
 40 
 
 3d Natural Science 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 4th do. 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 , 
 
 2 
 
 5th do. 
 
 15 
 
 9 
 
 -. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 6th do. 
 
 12 
 
 
 9, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 TOTAL . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
IL] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 65 
 
 My reason for thus strongly emphasising the 
 influence of school life upon the health of children 
 has been partly because I believe it to be very 
 considerable, and partly because the existing evils 
 can be diminished to a great extent when once 
 their seriousness is recognised. But it would be 
 most unjust to impute to the schools the entire 
 blame for the unsatisfactory state of health of the 
 pupils attending them ; the large number of sickly 
 children found in the lowest classes shows clearly 
 how predisposed the children are to divers com- 
 plaints and diseases. Besides this the domestic 
 conditions under which even high -class school 
 children live are in many cases not so favourable 
 to their natural development and vigorous health 
 as they could and should be. Many influences 
 have to be considered, and it is difficult to ascribe 
 to each one its due share in the production of the 
 evils indicated. Thus, with respect to the hours 
 of work, it is of importance that the pupils should 
 have the necessary quiet for study without being 
 disturbed by brothers and sisters, or having their 
 attention dissipated by too much gaiety ; also that 
 they should have some guidance in their home 
 F 
 
66 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 preparation, for many, especially young children, 
 understand but imperfectly how to work by them- 
 selves until after some considerable experience. 
 
 The nourishment supplied to the children under 
 consideration in this inquiry may be taken to be 
 as good as is ever given to children in our country, 
 though hardly as substantial as it ought to be. 
 School children with us do not generally get their 
 dinner until late in the afternoon ; and until 
 dinner they subsist all day on sandwiches, an 
 article of food which, I think, enjoys too prominent 
 a place in our dietary. It would decidedly be a 
 great boon if it became customary to give children 
 a good substantial meal in the morning in place of 
 the cup of tea now generally indulged in before 
 going to school, and which, along with a few sand- 
 wiches hastily devoured during the intervals be- 
 tween classes, is all the food that many school 
 children get before their late dinner. 
 
 There can be no doubt that, next to good 
 wholesome nourishment, a sufficient quantity of 
 rest after hard mental toil ranks as most essential 
 to the preservation of health. It is not so easy to 
 state precisely how much sleep is necessary at 
 
II.] 
 
 BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 67 
 
 different ages, but all will agree that on the whole 
 children require plenty of sleep, considerably more 
 than adults. A sufficiency of sleep is more par- 
 ticularly needed by children doing hard brain work, 
 which is certainly the most exhausting form of 
 labour, so that mind and body may have time to 
 recruit. Abundance of sleep is more than ever 
 requisite when the development of the body is 
 not sufficiently provided for at the same time by 
 physical exercise. At what hours the pupils in 
 the different classes go to bed, and how many 
 hours' sleep they get, will be seen from the fol- 
 
 lowing table. 
 
 TABLE XIII. 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 In Bed 
 
 No. of 
 hours of 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 In Bed 
 
 No. of 
 hours of 
 
 
 at 
 
 Sleep. 
 
 
 at 
 
 Sleep. 
 
 
 
 
 1st Classical 
 
 
 
 1st Mixed 
 
 8-Oo'clk. 
 
 10-9 
 
 (Both Sections) 
 
 9'4o'clk. 
 
 9-3 
 
 2d , 
 
 8-1 
 
 10-7 
 
 2d 
 
 9-6 
 
 9-2 
 
 3d , 
 
 8-4 
 
 10-4 
 
 3d 
 
 9-9 
 
 8-8 
 
 4th , 
 
 87 
 
 101 
 
 4th 
 
 10-3 
 
 8-4 
 
 5th , 
 
 8-9 
 
 9-9 
 
 5th 
 
 10-9 
 
 7-9 
 
 6th , 
 
 9-2 
 
 9-6 
 
 6th 
 
 11-2 
 
 7'9 
 
 1st Modern 
 
 9'6o'clk. 
 
 9-3 
 
 
 
 
 2d 
 
 97 
 
 9-0 
 
 
 
 
 3d 
 
 9-9 
 
 8-9 
 
 
 
 
 4th ,, 
 
 101 
 
 87 
 
 
 
 
68 
 
 OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 Whereas the table shows the average returned 
 for each class, and which, at least as far as the 
 younger classes are concerned, may be said to be 
 satisfactory, still there is a considerable number 
 who manifestly do not get enough of sleep. 
 
 I have drawn up a table showing the number 
 of boys who do not get sufficient rest, and the 
 amount of sleep which I regard as insufficient for 
 children at the respective ages enumerated. 
 
 TABLE XIV. 
 
 CLASSES. 
 
 No. of hrs'. 
 sleep. 
 
 No. of 
 Children. 
 
 Percent- 
 age. 
 
 Mixed 1-3 
 
 ,. 4-6 
 
 9-0 
 
 8-5 
 
 27 
 
 42 
 
 4 
 
 Modern 1-4 
 
 8-0 
 
 63 
 
 12 
 
 Classical 1-4 
 
 5-6 
 
 8-0 
 7'5 
 
 97 
 
 55 
 
 18 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 284 
 
 9 
 
 Mention is, of course, only made here of those who 
 are reported as getting too little sleep, but there 
 must be many more boys who are often allowed to 
 remain up much past their usual bedtime, though 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 69 
 
 the forms do not divulge this irregularity. As 
 might have been expected, it is more particularly 
 amongst the older boys that cases of insufficiency 
 of sleep are most frequent, and of these there are 
 many who sit up far too late, it being no uncom- 
 mon thing for some of them to protract their 
 studies till midnight or even till one in the morning. 
 Taking the average work done by the pupils of 
 the various classes, we naturally find that many 
 fall short of this, while many, again, greatly 
 exceed it ; and it is very interesting to see what 
 is done in individual cases in the way of work. 
 Thus, in the mixed classes, of the 73 boys 
 working beyond the "normal" standard, 22 
 exceed it by as much as two hours, while 6 
 work over eleven hours a day, and such instances 
 are even to be found among children between 
 nine and ten years old. In several forms it is 
 stated that boys have to practise music for one 
 and a half to two hours a day. So, too, there 
 are some little fellows from eight to nine years old 
 who only go to bed at eleven o'clock. In the 
 modern department there are 68 boys and in the 
 classical 174 who work at least one hour over and 
 
70 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 above the "normal" limit, and of these, 41 moderns 
 and 74 classicals thus exceed in school work alone. 
 Even in the youngest classes there are one or two 
 boys who do twelve hours' work daily, including, 
 however, extra work ; in the oldest classes this is 
 by no means unusual, there being no less than 10 
 boys in the fifth classical form who work their 
 twelve hours a day. A few scholars even attain to 
 thirteen and fourteen hours of work daily, but in 
 these cases it is stated that they are far behind in 
 one or two subjects, and have therefore to make 
 special exertions. That such an enormous amount 
 of daily work performed by immature beings can 
 fail in the long run to affect the health is incred- 
 ible, and it is perhaps still more doubtful whether 
 the advantages to be gained by such intemperate 
 industry can in any degree outweigh its inevitable 
 injurious consequences ; it is more probable that 
 the boy thus overtasked at last ceases to learn 
 anything at all. 
 
 Only in a very few cases probably have the 
 school authorities been aware of the actual extent 
 of the work entailed by their requirements ; for, 
 where so much labour is necessary, the pupil ought 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 71 
 
 certainly either to diminish his studies or else 
 remain a year longer in the class; and some 
 arrangement of this kind would doubtless have 
 been insisted on in many cases had the preceptors 
 been cognisant of the weight of the load of home 
 work which their zeal was imposing. It is abso- 
 lutely and cruelly wrong to let any boy proceed 
 with such exhausting work. I know, too, of cases 
 in which, after having seen from my schedules 
 how long certain boys had to work, and after 
 having convinced itself of the truth of the state- 
 ments made, the school has conferred with the 
 parents, and by arrangement with them curtailed 
 the work and caused the pupil to remain another 
 year in the same class. This is very proper, 
 and shows of what consequence it is for the 
 school authorities to know exactly how long the 
 boys work at home. When the schoolmaster 
 hears of a pupil working longer than is warrant- 
 able in proportion to his age and strength, it is 
 undoubtedly his duty to call the parents' atten- 
 tion to the fact, and in conjunction with them to 
 take the necessary steps to bring about a more 
 reasonable state of things. In German school pro- 
 
72 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 spectuses I have seen earnest appeals to parents and 
 guardians to give instant notice to the school if 
 they consider that the pupil is forced to spend more 
 time upon his home preparation than is reasonable. 
 In the Swedish high schools the pupils have to 
 state, twice a year, how much time they devote to 
 home work ; and if, as may be expected, this rule 
 is enforced in our country, let us hope that, in the 
 event of a similar inquiry being made, we may 
 not discover so many abnormal conditions as I 
 have here shown to exist. The mere fact of calling 
 attention to these points is sure to secure some 
 good results. 
 
 In exceptional cases, such as I have quoted 
 above, it is more especially the parents and guard- 
 ians upon whom the responsibility rests. When the 
 children have already enough to do with their 
 school tasks they ought not to be saddled with 
 extra work, and I must here specially make men- 
 tion of music lessons, which undoubtedly form 
 the addition to the daily toil which can best 
 be omitted. Many boys practise music for from 
 one and a half to two hours a day. When a 
 child gives proof of any special musical talent, 
 
ii.] BOYS' SCHOOLS. 73 
 
 that ought of course to be cultivated, but for 
 the most part the music lesson is only a burden 
 which heavily oppresses the already overloaded 
 pupil and prevents him from getting as much out- 
 door exercise as he ought to have. There are prob- 
 ably but few boys who keep up their music when 
 they grow older, so as to derive any real benefit 
 from it. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 I HAVE collected statistics from ten girls' schools, 
 all of them belonging to the largest and best class 
 of Girls' High Schools in Copenhagen. There 
 being no legal regulations as to the amount of work 
 to be done in girls' schools, nor any exit examina- 
 tions as in the case of boys' schools, the head- 
 mistresses have it in their own power to pre- 
 scribe what work they think best, and to arrange 
 the classes at their own discretion. In the main 
 there is probably but little difference between the 
 work done in the various girls' schools, so that for 
 all practical purposes they may be taken to be upon 
 an equal footing. Like the boys, the girls included 
 in this inquiry belong to the well-to-do upper classes 
 in town, and live under the best external condi- 
 tions. Owing to the power of the headmistresses 
 
CHAP, in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 75 
 
 to organise their schools as they think proper, so 
 that the classes in the various schools do not 
 correspond, it has been impossible for me to arrange 
 the girls by class, as in the case of the boys' schools. 
 I have therefore had to classify them according to 
 age, whereby, no doubt, an equally good review is 
 obtained, though certainly this process has been 
 much more troublesome. In all other respects 
 the statistics have been arranged in exactly the 
 same manner as in the case of the boys' schools. 
 
 Altogether 1211 girls, between the ages of five 
 and sixteen, have been examined. Of these there 
 were healthy 644, sickly 477, non-returned 90. 
 The percentages being healthy 531, sickly 39*4, 
 non-returned 7'5. 
 
 The percentage of sickly is much greater than 
 in the boys' schools, in which it will be recol- 
 lected the percentages were healthy 60*5, sickly 
 311, non-returned 8'4, and this result corresponds 
 with the common experience that girls are on the 
 whole more delicate than boys. 
 
 The state of health of the girls at different ages 
 is clearly shown by the curves on Chart III. and by 
 Table XV. The black line in the Chart indicates 
 
76 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the healthy, the dotted one the sickly, and the 
 lowest the non-returned. The percentage of sickly 
 girls rises rapidly in the first three years from 
 12-7 to 32 per cent, while the percentage of healthy 
 declines inversely from 79*7 to 594. Thus in the 
 third school year the results are about the same as 
 in the boys' schools, and remain pretty stationary 
 until the eleventh year, when a sudden rise brings 
 the percentage of sickly almost up to that of the 
 healthy children. Between the ages of twelve and 
 sixteen the number of sickly girls increases until it 
 exceeds that of healthy by 10 per cent, except at 
 the age of fourteen, where the figures are equal. 
 The non-returns remain almost unvaryingly at V 
 per cent until the very end, at the age of sixteen, 
 when the health column is filled up in every case, 
 with the result that there is a sudden rise in the 
 percentage of sickly, without any corresponding 
 fall in the percentage of healthy cases. The 
 number of girls in each age -section, with the 
 exception of the sixth and highest ones, is on an 
 average 120 or more, and is thus large enough to 
 justify us in regarding the results as trustworthy. 
 Sickness among schoolgirls here shows itself un- 
 
in.] GIKLS' SCHOOLS. 77 
 
 mistakably to be so great that we must put aside 
 all illusions and openly confess that the present 
 generation of young girls is weakly, ansemic, and 
 nervous to an extraordinary degree. Our school- 
 girls are alarmingly far from being as healthy and 
 strong as they should be, especially when it is 
 remembered that those here dealt with belong 
 socially to the best class in Copenhagen. 
 
 If, as in the boys' schools, we regard the first 
 two years as a criterion of the state of health at 
 the commencement of the process of education 
 we get the following percentages : healthy 71'0, 
 sickly 22'0, non-returned V'O. 
 
 Thus girls have a strong predisposition to 
 various diseases to start with, and it is therefore 
 easy to understand that school routine and private 
 tuition, which must affect girls even more potently 
 than boys, soon induce various diseases, and espe- 
 cially anaemia, to assert themselves more strongly 
 than before. More particularly during the years 
 of puberty does sickness prevail to a great extent, 
 at least one-half of the pupils being at this period 
 more or less debilitated or ill. It is universally 
 acknowledged that the period of puberty is at least 
 
78 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 as momentous an epoch in the development of a 
 young girl as it is in that of a boy ; but J am not 
 in possession of such statistics relating to girls as 
 Dr. Kotelmann furnishes with reference to the rate 
 of growth of boys at this time, and cannot there- 
 fore give detailed proof of a girl's growth during 
 this stage of evolution. My investigation shows 
 this much however, that a sad number of young 
 girls of fifteen and sixteen years of age, on leaving 
 school, suffer from ansemia, nervousness, and head- 
 ache the complaints which specially characterise 
 our time. If we take the numbers in the oldest 
 classes as an indication of the state of health on 
 leaving school, we get out of 78 pupils healthy 
 32, sickly 41, non-returned 5. Percentages 
 healthy 41, sickly 53, non-returned 6. 
 
 There is thus a considerable preponderance of 
 sickly, which is still further emphasised by a 
 comparison with the two youngest classes (vide 
 Table XV.). It is impossible but that so much 
 sickliness for four or five years and that, too, at 
 a period when the whole body should be in a 
 state of active nutrition must exert a great 
 influence upon the whole future physical develop- 
 
in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 79 
 
 ment of a girl, and it is therefore readily ex- 
 plained how in widely different ranks of life we 
 meet with so many weakly women. The health 
 of many a girl receives at this period an injury 
 the effects of which are never completely sur- 
 mounted. This is of most serious consequence in 
 the case of the numerous young girls who, almost 
 immediately after leaving school, without having 
 time to recover their strength, are obliged to pre- 
 pare for pass-examinations as teachers or to enter 
 upon a commercial training. The work demanded 
 of them in such cases is very arduous, and it is prob- 
 ably a rare thing to find among those engaged in 
 these callings a really strong and healthy young 
 woman ; the great majority suffer very much from 
 chronic anaemia and nervousness. The work is 
 often of a highly oppressive description, and 
 interferes with appetite and sleep. 
 
 That school life, and indeed the whole system 
 of educating young girls at present in vogue in 
 our country, are largely responsible for this sad 
 state of things can scarcely be doubted. We 
 must some 'time or other face this truth boldly 
 before any real improvement can be secured. 
 
80 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 There are, of course, headmasters and mistresses 
 who perceive that the state of health of their pupils 
 is bad, but these are comparatively few ; and I have 
 so often heard it said, under circumstances where 
 such a complacent pronouncement was only too 
 obviously incorrect, " Well, fortunately in our 
 school the health is really very good," that I feel 
 fully justified in saying that many teachers are 
 quite blind to, or incapable of judging of, the 
 health of their scholars. I have heard the above 
 assertion boldly made in girls' schools which this 
 investigation has proved to have 40 per cent of 
 sickly scholars, and in boys' schools in which there 
 were up to 35 per cent of sickly scholars, that is to 
 say in schools which have an unusually high per- 
 centage of sickly inmates. It may perhaps be 
 argued against me that the statements received from 
 parents as to the enfeeblement of health in children 
 are exaggerated. The reverse is, however, the 
 case. I have received intimations from some 
 schools to the effect that several children who, in 
 the opinion of the school, are weak and sickly 
 have not been entered as such upon the schedules, 
 the health column being either left blank or the 
 
in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 81 
 
 children returned as healthy. The headmaster of 
 one large boys' school in particular has in many 
 cases expressed his opinion, in the column for 
 remarks by the school, as to the health of the 
 children, and thereby supplemented the statement 
 from home in such a manner as to warrant me 
 in classifying as sickly several children who would 
 not otherwise have appeared in that group. 
 When, for example, " cough " has been set down 
 in the health column, without any further state- 
 ment as to whether it was an acute casual catarrh 
 or a chronic affection of the chest, I have classified 
 the child as non-returned ; when, however, the 
 school adds "often absent on account of com- 
 plaint," this remark completely supplements the 
 insufficient information on the part of the parents. 
 A still better proof is obtained from the curves 
 of Chart I., which represents the state of health in 
 boys' schools. From the third to the sixth classical 
 form the line indicating the percentage of "healthy " 
 remains almost at the same figure throughout, 
 while the line which registers the percentage of 
 " sickly " takes a sudden leap upwards in the 
 fifth classical form and falls as rapidly in the 
 
82 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 sixth. If we compare this with the line of 
 " non-returns " we find that the large percentage 
 of sickly children in the fifth classical form is due 
 to the fact that there are hardly any non- returns 
 (only 1-3 per cent), whereas the rapid decline in 
 the sixth form is accounted for by the large 
 number of non-returns in that class (nearly 14 
 per cent). We find the same relation in the 
 third and fourth modern forms; the percentage 
 of healthy children hardly varies from the second 
 class upwards, while that of the sickly falls 
 from 30 to 23 per cent, simultaneously with the 
 percentage of non -returns in these classes from 
 9 to 18. On the girls' chart exactly the same 
 thing takes place in the sixteenth year. Thus 
 it invariably happens that a decrease in the per- 
 centage of non -returns is accompanied by a 
 proportional increase in the number of sickly, 
 and vice versa, while the percentage of healthy 
 is not materially affected by the fluctuation of the 
 non -returns. Indeed the returns of " healthies " 
 are the most correct and reliable, whereas the 
 percentage of " non-returns " properly ought to be 
 added to that of the " sicklies." When we reflect, 
 
in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 83 
 
 too, that all these returns have been made in the 
 autumn a couple of months after the summer 
 holidays and at a time when, as a matter of 
 fact, the health of the community at large is better , 
 than at any other season ; and that last year, when 
 the investigation was made, we were exempt from 
 epidemics such as measles or scarlet fever, which 
 might have confused the returns ; and, finally, 
 that a minute examination of the eyesight is 
 absolutely wanting, it must be decidedly main- 
 tained that, in spite of the excessively high per- 
 centage of sickly we have obtained, it must be 
 regarded as a minimum in the case of the girls' 
 as well as the boys' schools. 
 
 Particulars as to the various complaints from 
 which Danish schoolgirls suffer are given on 
 Table XY. The most prevalent ones are clearly 
 seen to be anaemia, nervousness, and headache, 
 and up to the fourteenth year scrofula. In the 
 oldest classes one of the most common complaints 
 is also headaches. Four per cent of the total 
 number of girls are seen to be suffering from 
 curvature of the spine no small proportion con- 
 sidering that probably only the worst cases are 
 
OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 ^> OO <O (N OO r-l VO xp <p ^- . 
 
 (NOSCMC<IC<1VO7 IT ICOOr-l 
 
 (NOS 
 
 T l(N 
 
 9 . <? 
 
 G<J CO 
 
 CO t>. i-H CO O OO T-I O5 O iO 
 
 co 10 
 
 autdg aq^ 
 
 CO 
 
 r-l <M (M CO 
 
 8SOJI 
 
 co <N -i <N id eo co co co 
 
 t-l<NC5<MOl<r>OCOCOO 
 i ( i 1 i 1 (N (N i 1 i ( 
 
 6S9USnOA.I9JSI 
 
 OO t^ 
 i-H 
 
 etraesuv 
 
 J^ rH 
 
 O5 CO 
 
 (M (N CO 
 
 ^S 
 
in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 85 
 
 reported here. The percentage of sickly varies 
 from 33, which is the lowest, to 45, which is the 
 highest percentage in any school. 
 
 Hours of Work at different Ages. 
 
 As previously mentioned, private tuition plays 
 an even more important part in the case of girls' 
 than in that of boys' schools, as a much larger pro- 
 portion of girls (62 per cent) take private lessons. 
 This is more particularly the case after the tenth 
 year, when from 75 to 92 per cent of the girls have 
 extra work. On Chart IV. I have indicated the 
 work hours by two lines the lower giving the 
 number of hours of school work daily, and the 
 upper the number of hours of daily work includ- 
 ing private tuition. Both lines rise, on the whole, 
 pretty equally, the average increase due to private 
 work being one hour per diem. There is a gradual 
 addition of about three-tenths of an hour for each 
 year, except from the fourteenth to the sixteenth 
 year, when no increase of importance takes place. 
 Eight hours a day is in no case reached through 
 school work alone, but as private tuition un- 
 doubtedly is the rule after the tenth year the actual 
 
86 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 work time is increased by one hour. . Thus at 
 the age of eleven the girls have on an average eight 
 hours of work, and between the ages of fourteen 
 and sixteen almost nine hours daily (vide Table 
 XVI.), so that the limit fixed for boys in perfect 
 health is thus slightly exceeded by girls of from 
 fourteen to fifteen years of age. 
 
 I will not go the length of asserting that, as 
 a rule, girls are not able for as much work as 
 boys ; though, for my part, I do not think they are. 
 It is true that their sewing lessons afford them 
 a change from mental work which boys do not 
 enjoy, but they are compelled none the less to sit 
 still during these and in a stooping position 
 while, on the other hand, the counteracting effect 
 which gymnastics exert is less pronounced in 
 their case ; the girls in most of the classes have 
 only an hour and a half of gymnastics weekly, and 
 in two of the schools this healthy exercise forms 
 no part of the programme whatever. 
 
 It is certain, therefore, that girls have a great 
 deal of work far more than they should have 
 particularly when one reflects that the majority 
 of them, as has been shown, are not normally 
 
III.]. 
 
 GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 87 
 
 VATE TUI 
 WEEKLY 
 
 sipafqng J9IKO 
 
 i ("*!->. OiOi lOiOlO 
 
 sndnj 
 
 OA\. unpeg; 
 id 'looqog 
 
 'glllAVag rH rH rH rH 
 
 ^^cococococococococo 
 
 SuiSmg 
 
 sndnj jo jaqtunji 
 
 ooco^cococococococo 
 
 6 6 i rH rH r^ A A rH r^ rH 
 
 d d 6 d 6 d d c> d d .2 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ H 
 
 
 && 
 
 I -8 
 
 L_ O 
 
 3 
 
 is 
 
88 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 healthy, but delicate and anaemic, requiring to be 
 strengthened in every possible way. Instead of 
 this, however, they are daily permitted to do 
 sedentary and exhausting work for eight or nine 
 hours, and I am guilty of no exaggeration in say- 
 ing that in' my practice, when I have advised 
 parents to see that their children take a proper 
 walk every day, I have almost invariably been 
 met with the reply, "You really mustn't expect 
 that; the children have no time for it." This 
 answer is to a certain extent true. Let us con- 
 sider for a moment how a young girl of fourteen, 
 with nine hours of daily work, spends her day. At 
 nine o'clock, after having partaken of a cup of 
 tea and some plain bread and butter, she goes 
 to school, where she remains until two or three 
 o'clock. Thence she proceeds to her music lesson, 
 or goes home to practise for an hour, and some- 
 times for two hours ; then comes dinner, and after 
 that, at five or half-past, she sets to work at pre- 
 paration, which occupies her for three hours or 
 more in fact, until tea-time. How can she then 
 find time for a walk, especially in winter when 
 the days are short ? It is a matter to be thankful 
 
in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 89 
 
 for if she has some little distance to go to school, 
 and can in that way get a daily walk, which is 
 indeed the limit of the muscular exercise now 
 enjoyed by many young girls in Denmark. The 
 performance of household work of any kind by 
 schoolgirls is a thing rarely, if ever, heard of. If 
 they have any spare time at all it is generally 
 spent in sewing or reading a novel. The above is 
 the case in very many places, though, of course, 
 there are exceptions. With the predisposition of 
 the present generation to anaemia and nervousness 
 a sedentary life like this cannot fail to produce its 
 effects, and the tremendous number of sickly cases 
 during the years of puberty is a proof of this. The 
 blame does not rest on the school system alone, 
 but quite as much upon the whole system of edu- 
 cating young girls at the present day. 
 
 The hours of work at the various ages are 
 given in Table XVI. Here, too, the hours vary 
 so much in the different schools that it has been 
 impossible to give reliable averages. 
 
 In all, 753 girls receive private tuition. It is 
 for the most part after the tenth year that extra 
 work becomes common. 707 have music lessons 
 
90 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 (which is 93 per cent of those having private 
 tuition), while only 7 per cent receive instruc- 
 tion in other subjects chiefly languages. It is 
 thus almost entirely music lessons with which we 
 have to deal here, and perhaps a modest doubt 
 may be raised as to whether so many girls really 
 have a special aptitude for music, and whether to 
 the majority of them it is not just a vexation 
 a thing from which they will derive neither profit 
 nor pleasure in after life, but which, at the period 
 when school claims so much of their time and 
 energy, is actually distressing and injurious to 
 them. The fact that one-third of the total number 
 of girls devote more than six hours a week to 
 music shows that it is often a considerable addi- 
 tion to the daily work. Many girls practise nine 
 hours, and not a few from twelve to sixteen hours 
 a week, and music lessons are certainly as wearying 
 and exhausting as any other kind of enforced work. 
 As in the case of the boys' schools, I have 
 made out a table showing how many girls have 
 " hard work," for which purpose I have employed 
 the same standard as for the boys. The result is 
 as follows : 
 
III.] 
 
 GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 91 
 
 TABLE XVII. 
 
 
 NORMAL 
 WORK. 
 
 NORMAL 
 WORK. 
 
 HARD WORK. 
 
 NON-RE- 
 TURNED. 
 
 AGES. 
 
 
 i 
 
 & 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 
 No. of 
 Hours. 
 
 
 
 % 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 P-4 
 
 % 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
 g 
 
 1 
 S 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 1 
 
 ji 
 
 g 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 QQ 
 
 H 
 
 ft 
 
 
 5-6 Years 
 
 6 
 
 72 
 
 91-1 
 
 5 
 
 6-4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2-5 
 
 7 do. 
 
 6 
 
 74 
 
 71-8 
 
 26 
 
 25-2 
 
 21 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 3-0 
 
 8 do. 
 
 7'3 
 
 118 
 
 901 
 
 11 
 
 8'4 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 1-5 
 
 9 do. 
 
 7'5 
 
 114 
 
 80-3 
 
 27 
 
 19-0 
 
 10 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 0-7 
 
 10 do. 
 
 7'8 
 
 78 
 
 60-9 
 
 47 
 
 36-7 
 
 18 
 
 29 
 
 3 
 
 2-4 
 
 11 do. 
 
 8 
 
 97 
 
 63-0 
 
 54 
 
 35-1 
 
 10 
 
 44 
 
 3 
 
 1-9 
 
 12 do. 
 
 8'3 
 
 82 
 
 56-2 
 
 60 
 
 41-1 
 
 14 
 
 46 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 13 do. 
 
 8-5 
 
 74 
 
 61-7 
 
 44 
 
 367 
 
 13 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 1-6 
 
 14 do. 
 
 8-8 
 
 67 
 
 51-5 
 
 61 
 
 47-0 
 
 23 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 1-5 
 
 15 do. 
 
 9 
 
 36 
 
 55-4 
 
 27 
 
 41-5 
 
 1 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 31 
 
 16 do. 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 69-2 
 
 4 
 
 30-8 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Total .... 
 
 821 
 
 67'8 
 
 366 
 
 30-2 
 
 118 
 
 248 
 
 24 
 
 2-0 
 
 Percentage . . 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 32 
 
 68 
 
 
 ... 
 
 Of the total number of girls no less than 30 per 
 cent have " hard work," i.e. almost one- third, and 
 chiefly at the ages of twelve, fourteen, and fifteen, 
 in which sections the percentages are over 40. 
 In the majority of cases (68 per cent) this is due 
 to extra work, but in 32 per cent the limit is 
 exceeded by school work alone. The relations 
 between school and extra work are thus reversed 
 as compared with the boys' schools, where, in the 
 
92 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 majority of cases, the excess was due to school 
 work alone. 
 
 As in the boys' schools, no constant or regular 
 difference is observable in the work hours of the 
 clever, middling, or dull girls respectively (vide 
 Table XVI.). 
 
 There are several girls too, who, like many of 
 the boys, have to work far beyond the so-called 
 " normal " time. As I have not come across any 
 statement of the maximum number of hours during 
 which girls should be allowed to work I have taken 
 the same standard for them as for boys, although a 
 lower one ought certainly to have been adopted. 
 I do not think any one would fix a higher limit 
 than this, and yet about one -third of the girls 
 exceed it ; indeed there are 97 girls (8 per cent of 
 the whole) who work at least one hour beyond the 
 " normal " time, 8 of them doing more than eleven 
 hours' work, 4 twelve hours, and 2 working even 
 between thirteen and fourteen hours daily. It is 
 not surprising to find that the majority of these 
 children are returned as sickly (the percentages 
 being 37 healthy and 56 sickly, with 6 non-re- 
 turned), but one cannot help wondering how their 
 
in.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 93 
 
 parents could have allowed them to go on strug- 
 gling with such excessive work. In many cases 
 the teachers have been ignorant of the inordinate 
 burdens laid on their pupils, several of the children 
 having as much as twelve hours of music lessons 
 weekly, which, of course, are beyond the jurisdiction 
 of the school. Even the medical men who have 
 signed the forms cannot be supposed to have known 
 before they did so how long the children worked, 
 else they must surely have entered a protest 
 against such a state of things. I shall quote one 
 or two instances. One girl of fourteen spends 
 10 J hours daily at school and in preparation of 
 school work, besides practising music for an hour, 
 so that she has 11 J hours of daily work. According 
 to the doctor's return she had a slight attack of 
 inflammation of the brain about six months ago, 
 and still suffers constantly from headaches ; while 
 it is expressly mentioned that there is some danger 
 of the disease being brought on again by overwork. 
 Another case is that of a girl of twelve, who is 
 5 hours at school, spends 6 hours daily in 
 preparation, and practises 8 hours a week, 
 giving a total of nearly 12 J hours of daily work. 
 
94 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 Her doctor states in the return that she suffers 
 from scrofula, nervous headache located in the fore- 
 head, heartburn, vomiting, diarrhoea at intervals, 
 anaemia, and also that her right shoulder has a 
 tendency to droop. The above returns are each 
 signed by a medical man. I could add several cases 
 of a similar nature, but the above are sufficient to 
 show that we doctors must not forget to ascertain 
 exactly how long our juvenile patients work, for 
 we may often be greatly aided by the information 
 which inquiries on this point will bring to light 
 in discovering causes of sickness. As a rule, it 
 would be well if parents would consult the doctor 
 oftener than they do at present about the educa- 
 tion of their children. Many children are now 
 sent to school far earlier than their physical and 
 mental development warrants, and this crying evil 
 would be put a stop to were the advice of the 
 family doctor systematically taken on all educa- 
 tional proceedings. 
 
 The average bedtime and number of hours of 
 sleep of girls at each age are given in Table 
 XVIII. 
 
III.] 
 
 GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 95 
 
 TABLE XVIII. 
 
 AGES. 
 
 In bed at 
 
 No. of 
 hrs. of 
 Sleep. 
 
 AGES. 
 
 In bed at 
 
 No. of 
 hrs. of 
 Sleep. 
 
 5-6 Years 
 
 7-8 o'clk. 
 
 ll'l 
 
 12 Years 
 
 9-4 o'clk. 
 
 9'6 
 
 7 , 
 
 81 
 
 10-6 
 
 13 
 
 9-6 
 
 9-3 
 
 8 , 
 
 8-4 
 
 10-5 
 
 14 
 
 9-8 ,, 
 
 9-0 
 
 9 , 
 
 8'6 
 
 9-9 
 
 15 
 
 9-9 
 
 8-9 
 
 10 , 
 
 9-0 
 
 9-9 
 
 16 
 
 10-0 
 
 8-7 
 
 11 , 
 
 9-1 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 
 If the children went to bed at the average 
 hours stated, they might, on the whole, be sup- 
 posed to get enough sleep. There are, however, 
 many who get much less. Applying the same 
 rule as we did for the boys we find that the 
 following get too little rest : 
 
 TABLE XIX. 
 
 AGES. 
 
 No. of hours 
 of Sleep. 
 
 No. of 
 Pupils. 
 
 Per- 
 centage. 
 
 7-9 Years 
 
 9-0 
 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 10-12 
 
 8-5 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 
 13-16 
 
 8-0 
 
 62 
 
 19 
 
 Total 
 
 102 
 
 8 
 
 Thus 8 per cent of the total number of girls get 
 too little sleep, and in particular many amongst 
 the older classes. 
 
96 
 
 OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 [CHAP. 
 
 312 girls, or 26 per cent, take dancing lessons, 
 which are pretty evenly distributed throughout all 
 the age-sections, except the two oldest ; only one 
 or two have private lessons in gymnastics. The 
 dancing lessons are not included in the time spent 
 in private work. 
 
 TABLE XX. 
 
 AGES. 
 
 Have no difficulty in 
 keeping up with the 
 Class. 
 
 Have difficulty in keeping up the 
 class in : 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 26 
 32 
 34 
 24 
 17 
 14 
 15 
 8 
 8 
 4 
 1 
 
 183 
 
 | 
 
 1 
 
 It 
 
 p P 
 
 i 
 
 c 
 
 ci 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 g 
 
 ^5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 >> 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 _o 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 gb 
 
 II 
 
 fcw 
 
 5-6 Years 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 
 48 
 61 
 82 
 85 
 80 
 91 
 76 
 61 
 69 
 33 
 6 
 
 692 
 
 3 
 7 
 8 
 18 
 12 
 19 
 15 
 24 
 23 
 9 
 2 
 
 140 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 6 
 8 
 9 
 10 
 7 
 6 
 3 
 2 
 
 54 
 
 "2 
 5 
 3 
 4 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 "2 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 6 
 5 
 5 
 6 
 6 
 
 "2 
 1 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 5 
 3 
 
 5 
 1 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 1 
 l 
 l 
 
 8 
 6 
 1 
 4 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1 
 2 
 4 
 8 
 8 
 7 
 9 
 6 
 2 
 
 47 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 9 
 1 
 3 
 1 
 
 22 
 
 35 
 
 
 Total 
 
 10 
 
 Table XX. shows how many children have 
 difficulty with their work. These returns seem 
 to have given some little trouble to prepare, and 
 no less than 15 per cent of parents have altogether 
 
m.] GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 97 
 
 omitted to fill in this column. One thing only 
 seems pretty clear, viz. that a comparatively large 
 number find more or less difficulty in doing the 
 work of the class. 
 
 A good many girls (53 or 54 per cent) have 
 not taken all the subjects worked by their classes, 
 one or more languages in particular having been 
 omitted. It is a great advantage that this is 
 allowed in girls' schools, and the system ought to 
 be much more generally adopted, either when the 
 child shows no turn for a particular subject or 
 cannot stand as much work as the rest. In the 
 boys' schools, in which an examination prescribed 
 by law is the goal, this relief can only be afforded 
 under very exceptional circumstances. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 IF we now look back upon the results we 
 have obtained in our inquiry into the condition 
 of the children in Danish high schools, they 
 appear truly sad and appalling, but, it may 
 be asked, can these results be regarded as 
 really reliable? To this I emphatically answer 
 in the affirmative. They are as reliable as any 
 information which is based upon a single inquiry 
 can be. Knowing, as I do, that some people cast 
 doubts upon the trustworthiness of the returns, 
 and that these doubts have already been expressed 
 in some quarters, I may perhaps (as this is, of 
 course, an important point) be allowed to point 
 out that the schedules have been filled in by 
 the most intelligent and best informed portion 
 of the population of Copenhagen, and that there 
 
CHAP, iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 99 
 
 is not the slightest ground for insinuating that 
 cultivated and well-informed parents have not 
 bestowed due care and reflection upon the an- 
 swering of questions, to which they were in all 
 earnestness urged to reply. 
 
 That amongst several thousand returns some 
 mistakes and errors should not have crept in it could 
 never occur to me to deny, and I know besides that 
 one or two of the pupils have filled up the forms 
 themselves without the knowledge of their parents, 
 but such cases are quite exceptional, as I took 
 occasion to point out in the introduction. The 
 great majority of schedules are signed by the 
 parents, who thus vouch for the correctness of the 
 answers. The perfect regularity with which from 
 class to class the work hours increase, and the 
 hours of sleep decrease, tallies with what one 
 might expect; nor is there a single detail in 
 which the results take the form of an improb- 
 ability. Looked at in the aggregate, the results 
 all bear evidence of being genuine. There are 
 no sudden leaps or bounds, no unexpected fluctua- 
 tions, but a perfectly gradual development from 
 the youngest to the oldest classes. Added to this, 
 
100 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 my special request to the school teachers to mark 
 all statements which appeared to them doubtful 
 has been in most instances complied with, and 
 such statements have been reckoned amongst the 
 non- returns. The results for both boys' and 
 girls' schools correspond, too, with one another in 
 all important particulars in which the influences 
 at work are not totally different, as is the case, 
 for example, with regard to the state of health in 
 the oldest classes. All the calculations have been 
 made as carefully and conscientiously as possible, 
 and the result of each accurately stated. As it 
 is the home work in particular which is supposed 
 to have been over-stated, I may be allowed just 
 to refer to the fact that it is shown to be even 
 more in several classes in the Swedish schools. I 
 maintain, therefore, that my results must be con- 
 sidered absolutely reliable until clear proof to the 
 contrary can be adduced ; the vague arguments of 
 men who perhaps have had no opportunity of 
 seeing for themselves how the questions have been 
 answered cannot be held to carry any weight. 
 
 This investigation has proved the existence 
 in boys' schools of so great a number of delicate 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 101 
 
 sickly children, that our school authorities ought 
 most unquestionably to have regard to this fact 
 in fixing the hours and standards of work, 
 which as they now stand, even in the case of 
 perfectly sound and healthy children, must be 
 regarded as excessive. This applies even more 
 forcibly to girls' schools, in the higher classes of 
 which sickliness prevails to such an extent that 
 the sickly preponderate over the healthy children ; 
 there are classes in which the number of sickly 
 girls exceeds 70 per cent. It is thus perfectly 
 certain that in boys' and girls' schools alike the 
 influence of school work prejudicially affects the 
 children's physical development. This is clearly 
 shown by the considerably larger percentage of 
 healthy children in the lowest classes ; as the 
 school work increases, so does the sickliness, and 
 of the young lads and girls who leave school 
 a great number do so with constitutions more or 
 less impaired and weakened some of them to 
 such an extent that they never get over the bad 
 effects of their early training. Many a young fellow 
 only recovers his health after his time of service 
 in the army, which is favourable to his bodily 
 
102 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 development ; but this advantage is not given to 
 all young men, many students, in particular, being 
 rejected on account of shortsightedness. 
 
 And what is gained by all this? Are the 
 results with respect to the young people's attain- 
 ments and mental grasp so brilliant that they 
 counterbalance the injury which their bodily 
 growth and vigour have sustained? I do not 
 think any one will maintain that they are. On 
 the contrary, we hear constantly, on all hands, 
 loud complaints of the meagreness of the mental 
 attainments of our youth boys as well as girls. 
 Among the many persons with whom I have 
 spoken about these matters I have not yet met 
 one individual who has expressed himself as fully 
 satisfied with the results of the training given in 
 our schools. I have heard many severe criticisms 
 of that training by men and women whose posi- 
 tion entitled them to an opinion on the subject. 
 
 I have also frequently heard thoughtful and 
 competent men express their conviction that many 
 of our young students lack the mental ripeness and 
 development which are necessary in order that they 
 may pursue with full advantage their studies at the 
 
iv. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 103 
 
 university. I have had no opportunity of person- 
 ally making any observations in this matter, and 
 can only repeat what more experienced men have 
 told me, but the same comment has been made in 
 other countries. Professor Kjelberg of Upsala 
 expresses himself very decidedly to the same 
 effect, and from Germany come similar com- 
 plaints. Besides, it is most unlikely that ten to 
 eleven hours of daily school work for several years 
 should tend to develop a mature mind and a 
 strong independent character. The latter is much 
 more likely to become enfeebled by the ceaseless 
 daily grinding at the prescribed tasks, which all 
 tend to check any independent development. 
 Many young men declare, too, that their memories 
 have been seriously weakened. I shall not enter 
 further into these questions, which rather fall 
 within the province of the pedagogues, to whose 
 careful consideration I commend them. 
 
 In the girls' schools the state of health is even 
 worse ; so deplorable a result as my investigations 
 have revealed cannot fail to open the eyes of all to 
 the necessity of making some change in the present 
 system of educating girls. That this was fully 
 
104 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 recognised on the part of teachers themselves as 
 far back as 1872, is seen from the proposal then 
 made by Miss Zahle. In a little treatise On the 
 Culture of Women in Denmark Miss Zahle sug- 
 gested that the period of education for girls should 
 be extended to their eighteenth or nineteenth year, 
 and also that the school work proper should be 
 considerably diminished from the thirteenth to the 
 fifteenth year ; these years should, she urged, be 
 spent chiefly in a manner far more calculated to 
 develop the body than they now are, and the girl 
 should only receive as much teaching as might 
 suffice to keep up what she had previously learned. 
 This is certainly sound advice ; I hope it may be 
 acted upon and prove itself practically useful. 
 
 The very one-sided culture which both boys 
 and girls have hitherto received in this country 
 has unhappily afforded painful demonstration of 
 the inevitable consequences of neglecting the 
 physical development, the care of which must 
 rank in future as a far more important feature of 
 education from early infancy up to manhood than 
 it has yet done. The nervous and anaemic young 
 people of the present day need much more con- 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 105 
 
 siderate treatment than has hitherto been accorded 
 to them if there is to he any prospect of de- 
 riving from them future generations physically 
 and mentally strong. I do not mean to say that 
 a child should not have a thoroughly good educa- 
 tion, but he must be spared all unnecessary 
 burdens, and must be physically strengthened 
 and developed, so that he may be enabled to 
 throw off the general weakness from which the 
 present generation suffers. In order to attain this 
 end certain duties must be undertaken, and I 
 now propose to glance at some of them, especially 
 those incumbent upon the schools. 
 
 The chief characteristics of the last decade are 
 the enormous strides in natural science and the 
 immense development of all mechanical appliances 
 machines of all kinds, railways, telegraphs, etc. 
 But with their general use has arisen a hitherto 
 almost unknown state of restlessness and competi- 
 tion, in which he who cannot keep up must 
 either succumb or be out-distanced. Simultane- 
 ously, personal requirements have grown in 
 number and extent, while the desire for luxury 
 and enjoyment has increased enormously and 
 
106 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 become exceedingly peremptory in its demands. 
 Everything and everybody is impelled onwards ; 
 there is no rest or breathing time either for the 
 individual or for the general community. The 
 consequence is that large numbers suffer from 
 mental and bodily over-exertion and exhaustion. 
 This is certainly a chief cause of the immense 
 growth of anaemia and nervousness, which is so 
 disastrous to the present generation. It is asserted 
 from various quarters that as nervousness becomes 
 more common mental diseases too are greatly on 
 the increase ; Dr. Hasse has even gone the length 
 of instancing certain phases of insanity which he 
 
 ascribes directly to overpressure in schools. 
 
 i 
 
 The nervous person is far less truly energetic, 
 and is less able to endure sorrow and misfortune, 
 than the man of stable temperament ; he is easily 
 affected by trifles, and becomes irritable and capri- 
 cious in short, loses all that mental equilibrium 
 and physical endurance which a healthy man 
 possesses. Instead of a hearty and natural enjoy- 
 ment of the blessings of life a morbid craving for 
 sensuous pleasure asserts its dominion over him, 
 for an enfeebled nervous system requires constant 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 107 
 
 stimulation. Women are most quickly affected, 
 because they have, as a rule, a smaller stock of 
 physical strength than men. Many a woman who 
 has to support herself by her own efforts suffers 
 from this anaemic nervous state ; she is never 
 quite well, never happy and contented, and is often 
 obliged to give up the work she has undertaken 
 because her bodily strength fails her. And as 
 regards the married woman, who has a house and 
 children to look after, we all know how difficult it 
 often is for her to fulfil the important duties which 
 devolve upon her not so much from want of will as 
 from want of strength ! We all know how often a 
 home under the guardianship of a woman thus- 
 enfeebled gradually exchanges its air of happiness 
 and contentment for one of gloom and careless- 
 ness ! The children's training suffers in conse- 
 quence sorely ; on the one hand they are petted 
 by the anxious mother, who is afraid of the 
 slightest cold in the head, and therefore wraps 
 them up in greatcoats and comforters, and forbids 
 them to go out if there happens to be the least 
 wind; while on the other hand, when in the 
 house, they are not allowed to stir lest they should 
 
108 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 make a noise, but are enjoined to sit still with a 
 book in their hands, or engaged in some other 
 quiet occupation because their mother cannot en- 
 dure the exuberance and restlessness, which are 
 inseparable from sound and lively child life, where 
 the natural tendency is to do anything but sit 
 motionless in one place for any length of time. 
 The mother suffers from their noise ; she is fatigued 
 by their restlessness, by their running about and 
 constant questions, and therefore she tries as far 
 as possible to repress them. Thus the children 
 are prevented both from romping outside and 
 from stirring at home; they are petted at one 
 moment and scolded without any justification the 
 next ; their whole training is carried on without 
 proper consistency or earnest method. We doctors, 
 alas! have frequent opportunities of seeing ex- 
 amples of such treatment, and they are very often 
 due to the nervous character and weak health of 
 the parents, the mothers in particular. 
 
 To be "a little nervous," as it is termed, is 
 thus (except in cases of a slight and temporary 
 nature) not an insignificant disadvantage it is a 
 real misfortune, a daily cross, and consequently 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 109 
 
 of much greater importance than is commonly 
 supposed. Those who suffer from this nervous 
 state, who feel themselves weak and void of energy, 
 will admit the truth of my statement that this 
 condition of feebleness is a very serious and em- 
 barrassing factor in all relations of life. 
 
 Nervousness, which consists in a morbid sus- 
 ceptibility to all impressions, is, moreover, heredi- 
 tary. In the case of children, who are born with a 
 predisposition to nervousness, it depends greatly 
 upon their environment whether this tendency be 
 checked or developed, and here it is that training 
 is of the greatest importance. Now what sort of 
 training do the children of the better classes get ? 
 Is it one which is calculated to modify or intensify 
 the natural predisposition of the child when that 
 tends to nervousness? It is, as a rule, so one- 
 sided as to aim only at the development of the 
 mental faculties, and that, too, in such a manner 
 that " to give a child a good education " is almost 
 synonymous with cramming it with as much of 
 as many subjects as possible. When our great 
 aim should be to counteract any morbid tendency 
 in the nervous system, we force on the mental 
 
110 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 work to excess, and thereby to a great extent 
 weaken the child's entire physical constitution. 
 He thus becomes less capable of carrying on the 
 fight for existence, which proves far more arduous 
 to him than it ever required to be. I do not mean 
 to assert that we can entirely exempt ourselves 
 from the perturbing influences, the restlessness 
 and bustle which characterise our time and set 
 their mark upon us all, but we ought to do far 
 more than we have yet attempted to counteract 
 their effects. To find out the proper means to do 
 so should now be our task, and it is one which, of 
 course, cannot be accomplished in a short time, but 
 we ought not to delay setting about it, and we must 
 all work together, with the object of securing a 
 powerful and healthy race of men and women 
 self-reliant, strong in character and will. 
 
 I have shown in the foregoing pages that there is 
 a large number of sickly children in our schools, 
 and that the percentage increases with the work. 
 The work, therefore, must be curtailed, especially 
 in the boys' schools. How this relief can be 
 brought about whether by a reduction in the 
 number of subjects (let it be remembered that five 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. Ill 
 
 or six languages are taught in the rhetorical 
 section), or by not exacting as much in the various 
 subjects as is now done must be a matter for 
 pedagogues to decide; it must, however, be a real 
 relief that is obtained, not merely a little ineffective 
 lopping-off here and there. It is hardly fair, either, 
 on the part of school teachers to claim of the child 
 an exclusive right to his time. There is much 
 which he ought to learn beyond what the school 
 imposes upon him ; if he has any special talent or 
 tastes music or drawing, for example he should 
 have time at his own disposal in which to cultivate 
 them. He should be able to pursue privately any 
 of his school studies which specially attract or 
 interest him, and altogether have more opportu- 
 nities of independent growth allowed him than he 
 has hitherto had. Are there not many students 
 who have so little knowledge of themselves, their 
 own powers, tastes, and inclinations, that it is a 
 mere matter of chance what course of study they 
 take up when they go to the university ? For this 
 reason many a young man, after having wasted a 
 year or two, often makes a complete change and 
 begins upon a totally different career. Those 
 
112 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 wasted years might often have been saved had 
 he had opportunities while at school of studying 
 a little by himself, and thus of judging in what 
 direction his talents and predilections lay. 
 
 It may also be possible that a wrong system of 
 teaching is in many cases to blame, and that 
 relief might be afforded by making some change 
 therein. Schoolmasters are specialists nowadays, 
 and each is perhaps rather too apt to regard his 
 own subject as all-important, forgetting how much 
 work of a different kind his pupils have to do 
 besides. This point is specially mentioned in the 
 Keport of the Norwegian School Commission of 
 1867, and regarded by the Commission as the 
 chief cause of the excessive work by which many 
 of the Norwegian pupils have been oppressed. 
 It is also very probable that insufficient 
 attention is paid to the preparation of lessons in 
 the school itself, as many children, especially 
 among the younger ones, do not understand how 
 to set about preparing their tasks without help ; 
 it is also possible that the hearing of lessons plays 
 too conspicuous a part, and, further, the school 
 time tables are often faultily arranged; but all 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 113 
 
 these are purely pedagogic questions, which I 
 merely take the liberty of mentioning. The main 
 need, after all, is a considerable lightening of the 
 work throughout the school curriculum, from the 
 age of twelve at the least. 
 
 The other plan, that of keeping boys at school 
 a year longer, which of course would be a con- 
 siderable gain in time, is not advisable for many 
 reasons. A lad of eighteen ought not, as a rule, 
 to go to school any more. The pupils' societies in 
 Germany, where nineteen is the age for leaving 
 school, and the demoralisation they have introduced 
 may serve as warnings to us in many ways. Dr. 
 Pilger, who has given his special attention to the 
 subject, expresses the following severe judgment 
 on the German youth : "It is a matter of fact that 
 within the last few decades a considerable proportion 
 of the youth at our high schools has mentally and 
 morally degenerated to a great extent." He attri- 
 butes the blame rather to home than to school influ- 
 ences, though others again hold the opposite opinion. 
 We have hitherto enjoyed immunity from such 
 evils, but we ought certainly to avoid taking any 
 step which might be the means of introducing them. 
 1 
 
1 1 4 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 With the girls' schools the case is different. 
 It is possible that the work prescribed by them 
 might be retained, with perhaps some slight modi- 
 fications two foreign languages, thoroughly taught, 
 should be enough; but in that case the school 
 education of girls must not, as now, terminate at the 
 age of fourteen or fifteen ; it must be continued till 
 the seventeenth or eighteenth year at the least, 
 i.e. until the girls arrive at the age when they begin 
 to understand the meaning of intellectual work and 
 to derive advantage from it. It is an extraordinary 
 fact that in the girls' high schools (to which this 
 inquiry has been exclusively confined) the majority 
 leave school when only fourteen years old, the num- 
 ber of girls of fifteen years old being only half as 
 large as that of girls of fourteen. A girl's education 
 stops far too early. It is quite impossible that her 
 intellectual culture can be complete at that age, or 
 that she can have mastered those attainments 
 which are expected of, and indispensable to her as 
 a well-educated woman. On the other hand, a con- 
 siderable abatement of work is necessary from the 
 eleventh year for four years onwards. To continue 
 in the same manner as hitherto, after it has been 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 115 
 
 shown that there are more sickly than healthy 
 girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen, would 
 be absolutely indefensible. Miss Zahle's proposal 
 to reduce the school work during these years ought 
 certainly to be considered afresh. 
 
 Girls' schools have the great advantage of being 
 exempt from law -prescribed examinations, for 
 which a certain amount of work has to be done, 
 and it is therefore in the power of every head- 
 mistress to introduce the necessary measures of 
 relief, and to arrange the instruction in such a 
 manner as may best meet the needs of the children. 
 
 The main thing now is to make a beginning and 
 set an example which would deserve imitation. A 
 proper measure of reform would be as great a relief 
 to the school as to the scholars ; the former could 
 then carry out its functions comfortably, without 
 having to hurry through everything, and there is 
 no doubt that the attainments acquired, deliber- 
 ately and thoroughly taught, would be better 
 remembered than the acquirements now, hurriedly 
 and superficially picked up. 
 
 Now that so much sickliness has been shown to 
 exist in our schools the demand for good hygienic 
 
116 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 arrangements will surely be acknowledged to be 
 a just one. As I have elsewhere had occasion to 
 mention, we are very far behind in this respect in 
 Denmark. As early as 1866 Professor Drachmann 
 proved statistically how bad was the accommoda- 
 tion in the girls' schools in Copenhagen. Since 
 then improvements have been effected in some 
 schools, and in particular in several of those 
 which have furnished me with information. But, 
 in spite of Professor Drachmann's testimony, no 
 general improvement has taken place in school 
 accommodation ; indeed, in this respect we stand 
 exactly at the same point as we did thirty years 
 ago. In the last few years I have repeatedly 
 come across schoolrooms (not, however, in any of 
 the schools included in this inquiry) with less than 
 50 cubic feet of air for each child. The minimum 
 of 70 cubic feet prescribed by law is ludicrously 
 small from a hygienic point of view, but certainly 
 nothing short of it should be for one moment 
 tolerated. This is the only legal regulation we 
 have on the subject of school hygiene. As I have 
 elsewhere l criticised the defectiveness of our legis- 
 
 1 Berling's Gazette (the Danish official daily paper), 1880, 
 Nos. 212, 213. 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 117 
 
 lation on all questions relating to school hygiene I 
 shall not again enter upon that topic here. That 
 it is extremely difficult for our large schools, 
 if dependent upon their own resources, to find 
 really good accommodation is unfortunately true. 
 The schools here examined have, as far as I 
 have had opportunities of judging, on the whole 
 pretty serviceable class-rooms, if not always quite 
 as good as might be desired. Many of them 
 have begun to adopt more suitable furniture, which 
 must in time entirely supplant the old and faultily- 
 constructed desks and forms. Those weak and 
 anaemic children stand in great need of well- 
 adjusted seats during their long school hours, 
 otherwise they are apt to fall into a crooked stoop- 
 ing posture, which is not only unsightly as re- 
 gards carriage but affects the natural growth and 
 functions of all the internal organs ; the stooping 
 position is also very favourable to the develop- 
 ment of shortsightedness. 
 
 As the more old-fashioned buildings do not 
 admit of a proper system of ventilation, the class- 
 rooms must be carefully aired, and what is of 
 the utmost importance kept very clean ; but in 
 
118 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 this respect our boys' schools leave much to be 
 desired. The girls' schools are, as a rule, much 
 more cleanly. It is no uncommon thing to come 
 upon boys' schools in which the floors are only 
 scrubbed four times a year ; however lofty and 
 well ventilated such rooms may be, the air can 
 never be good if the floors are not kept scrupu- 
 lously clean. It is in the power of every school 
 to keep its premises clean ; the smaller they 
 are, the greater the necessity. Cleanliness, 
 scrupulously enforced, is at the root of all 
 hygiene ; if that be neglected, other measures 
 are of no avail. It would be a great boon if all 
 the floors in our schools (as is prescribed by law 
 in Sweden) were polished. Not only the floors, 
 however, but the cupboards and desks, should be 
 regularly washed and kept dusted ; quantities of 
 dust containing decomposed organic matter accu- 
 mulate upon all objects, and in the cracks in the 
 floors. The tramping of the children sets the dust 
 in motion, and it is inhaled with every breath. 
 Owing to this great want of cleanliness not only 
 the children but the teachers suffer, and the 
 hoarseness and chronic catarrh which so often 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 119 
 
 trouble the latter are more often due to impure 
 air than to the so much dreaded cooling down of 
 the rooms by leaving the windows open during the 
 intervals of school work. It is not the cold fresh 
 air, which soon gets warm, but the hot and dusty 
 air, loaded with germs, which is injurious. A 
 small and badly-aired room, moreover, affects the 
 work of the class ; the powers of attention of the 
 children are impaired, they get tired and have 
 difficulty in following what they are taught, as 
 every teacher will admit. An improvement in the 
 hygienic arrangement is therefore as much to the 
 advantage of the teacher as of the pupils. That 
 the cleansing and ventilating of schoolrooms have 
 been so long neglected is an additional reason 
 for losing no more time in carrying out the 
 necessary improvements. 
 
 I am convinced that many high schools, after 
 having been shown that there are so many sickly 
 children amongst their pupils, will do all in their 
 power to bring about a better state of things ; but 
 a complete and comprehensive improvement in 
 the lower schools as well, will not be effected until 
 we obtain legislation commensurate with the needs 
 
120 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 of the present day. It is very desirable that we, 
 in Denmark, should follow the example of France 
 and Sweden in appointing to all our schools 
 medical officers, whose duty it should be not only 
 to see that hygienic regulations are fully carried 
 out, but to give the masters valuable hints about 
 individual pupils. Only when medical men thus 
 appointed can watch the progress of the different 
 pupils throughout their school career, can abso- 
 lutely reliable school statistics be gradually col- 
 lected. 
 
 The proposal made by Professor Hornemann in 
 1860, to keep a record book, in which the health 
 of every pupil should be entered from a medical 
 certificate signed by the family doctor at the 
 beginning of every term, would, if carried out, 
 prove of much value and furnish very instructive 
 information, pending the organisation by law of a 
 more complete system. 
 
 After all these revelations it is pretty evident 
 that some medical superintendence for all schools 
 is a necessity, more especially as we do not re- 
 quire of our teachers any, even the most ele- 
 mentary acquaintance with the laws of hygiene. 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 121 
 
 We have thus no guarantee whatever that the 
 measures which are necessary to the children's 
 physical well-being will be observed. As far as I 
 know, only those ladies who qualify as teachers 
 for the Poor Schools receive any instruction in the 
 principles of hygiene, Professor Hornemann's 
 handbook On Education, which they must all 
 read, containing a particularly well -written and 
 concise exposition of the chief physiological pro- 
 cesses and their significance, besides the leading 
 rules of school hygiene. Of how much importance 
 he, as a pedagogue, considers it that teachers 
 should have some knowledge of hygienic principles 
 may be gathered from the following extract from 
 his book : " The ignorance of, and indifference to 
 the nature and functions of the organic life which 
 are commonly found, even in those teachers who 
 are otherwise intelligent and well informed, are no 
 less surprising than deplorable. We make con- 
 siderable sacrifices to give our children a good edu- 
 cation, while at the same time we bestow no thought 
 upon the circumstance that we are sending them 
 to places where, frequently, every breath they take 
 frustrates all our efforts and all our sacrifices. 
 
122 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 "The teacher who does not make himself 
 sufficiently acquainted with matters relating to 
 health is responsible for his own ignorance ; but 
 what are we to say of those masters who well 
 know the importance to health of fresh air, but 
 who, from carelessness and indifference, omit to 
 air their class-rooms ? The time will come, it is 
 to be hoped, when the truth will be much more 
 generally known and recognised by parents, that 
 to inhale carbonic acid is to inhale poison. "When 
 that time arrives, the law and the sanitary authori- 
 ties will also have advanced so far in efficiency 
 that every schoolmaster who does not air his class- 
 rooms several times a day will be called to account 
 for a serious omission of duty ; but as the school- 
 master is the self-elected champion of enlighten- 
 ment, he must not be content to allow himself to 
 be forced onward by the current of public opinion 
 he must lead the way himself." 
 
 It is of the greatest importance for a teacher to 
 know something about the physical development 
 of a child, and the conditions which are necessary 
 to his well-being and proper bodily and mental 
 growth ; and he should also be able to study the \ 
 
iv.] . GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 123 
 
 child so as to determine whether periods of slack- 
 ness in work are due to laziness and inattention 
 or to physical weakness. Mistakes in this respect 
 are common, and may do much harm to the child. 
 I have known cases of boys being punished almost 
 daily because they did not write as well as they 
 used to, when it has turned out that the com- 
 mencement of St. Yitus's dance or some affection 
 of the brain was the cause. It frequently happens 
 that children who, by reason of a rapid accession 
 of anaemia or some similar disease, become dull 
 and slow at their work, are kept in daily, and 
 have thus some hours of additional work heaped 
 on to their already crushing burden ; such treat- 
 ment cannot but have a most unfortunate result, 
 seeing that the children in such cases, above all 
 things, stand in need of a reduction of work, and 
 a break in the long school hours. In these days of 
 nervousness and relaxed constitutions, cases occur 
 constantly in which children for a time can hardly 
 do any work, and have to be taken from school 
 for several months. The school might often be 
 the first to observe the falling off in the child's 
 capacity for work, and to call the attention of the 
 
124 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 parents to the fact; by diminishing the work in- 
 time it would often be possible to prevent the 
 disease from developing. 
 
 A knowledge of the laws of health should there- 
 fore be required of all intending schoolmasters 
 and mistresses ; they should understand clearly 
 that considerations of the highest importance are 
 involved, and that they cannot despise or over- 
 look these if they wish to fulfil in a conscientious 
 manner their duties as guides and preceptors of 
 youth. 
 
 But when the necessity for medical control is 
 recognised, it will also be time to grapple much 
 more energetically than heretofore with another 
 evil which seems to be gaining ground. I allude 
 to the numerous so-called private classes here in 
 town which under that pleasant -sounding but 
 deceptive appellation elude all official control. 
 These private classes differ in no way from the 
 schools; they often force on the children to a 
 degree that no well-regulated school would 
 sanction, and the parents congratulate themselves 
 on the rapidity with which their children learn, 
 in which they only see a proof of the excellent 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 125 
 
 system of the private classes without giving a 
 thought to the injury such teaching may cause to 
 the children later on. The rooms of those estab- 
 lishments are usually of the most humble descrip- 
 tion, and as twenty children are often taught at a 
 time in these small rooms it is difficult to perceive 
 in what respect the form of teaching pursued in 
 them differs from that of the public schools, except 
 that the former, being subject to no control or 
 inspection, can set aside with impunity those con- 
 siderations to which even the worst public schools 
 must always have a certain amount of regard. A 
 well-regulated public school offers much greater 
 advantages ; it has at its disposal superior means 
 of illustration, such as diagrams, maps, etc., which 
 are great helps to instruction, and those private 
 classes which are in a position to afford the same 
 must be exceptionally well placed. In the ones 
 I allude to there are no such aids to teaching, the 
 substitute for them being relentless cramming. 
 
 It must be mentioned as an important stride 
 in the matter of hygiene that pupils in whose 
 homes infectious diseases may have arisen are 
 now prohibited from attending school, and it 
 
126 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 deserves to be specially mentioned that the initia- 
 tive in this matter was taken by the schools. 
 
 Complaint has been made about the length of the 
 consecutive school attendances, and it is certainly 
 very unfortunate that an arrangement such as 
 that now in vogue should ever have been intro- 
 duced. Six or, as is not unusual, seven hours' work 
 at a stretch, without any long interval, and on 
 some days without even gymnastics, is equally ob- 
 jectionable, whether regarded from a hygienic or a 
 pedagogic standpoint, and a change in this respect 
 is very desirable. I am not aware that this system 
 is allowed in any other country. 1 Having regard, 
 however, to the social and domestic habits which 
 have obtained general acceptance in our capital, it 
 is evident that a complete rearrangement of our 
 school hours would involve many practical diffi- 
 culties, and that we should therefore ponder well 
 any new proposal lest we lose more in other 
 respects than we gain in the matters of tuition and 
 health. Amongst the better classes the dinner- 
 hour is no longer in the middle of the day, but in 
 
 1 In the Danish schools the pupils have six full days' work 
 every week, whole holidays or half -holidays being unknown 
 throughout the school term. [TRANS.] 
 
iv.] . GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 127 
 
 the afternoon, usually from four to five o'clock. 
 If the children were required to return to school 
 about that time they would have to dine at a 
 different hour from the rest of the family, which 
 would be unfortunate in every way. Dinner is, 
 as a rule, the only substantial meal which children 
 get, sandwiches otherwise forming the bulk of 
 their diet ; if they were not to dine with the rest 
 of the family the probability is that they would 
 not get such a good dinner, not to mention the 
 inconvenience and in many cases the impossibility 
 of making two dinners. In addition to this, the 
 dinner-hour is very often the only time which a 
 father can spend in the society of his children, and 
 when his influence and authority are felt ; and these 
 I consider to be so all-important in the training of 
 children, especially of boys, that everything should 
 be avoided which might curtail a father's inter- 
 course with his children, already, in the case of 
 many business men, so very limited. The school 
 hours would therefore in any case have to be so 
 arranged that they could be over before the dinner- 
 hour, and the evening then left for preparation. 
 If we could succeed in introducing a more natural 
 
128 OVERPRESSURE. . [CHAP. 
 
 arrangement of the day and begin work earlier, 
 say at seven o'clock in the morning, as in Sweden, 
 much would be already gained. Any changes, 
 however, would have to be carefully thought out 
 before being put into practice. Being compelled, 
 meanwhile, to retain the present most unfortunate 
 system, we must not lose sight of the fact that one 
 long spell of work is far more exhausting to the 
 child than the same number of hours would be if 
 split up by a considerable interval. Besides, when 
 the children are at home all the afternoon, from 
 two or three o'clock, the three or four hours they 
 spend in preparation do not seem to the parents 
 to be much, and it is assuredly owing to this that 
 parents often request the school to give their 
 children more work. If the school hours were 
 divided in a natural and proper manner it would 
 soon be evident to all that the children's time 
 was more than sufficiently taken up, and we 
 should in all probability hear no complaints to 
 the effect that the children lacked occupation. 
 
 But if we cannot at present look for any con- 
 siderable break in the daily school hours, it is, 
 at any rate, absolutely necessary that the children 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 129 
 
 should have a longer play-hour about noon half 
 an hour at the very least not only to give them 
 a short rest from work but mainly to allow them 
 sufficient time for lunch. It is strange that the 
 need of this has been so entirely overlooked. 
 Most schools, it is true, allow eight or ten minutes 
 between each class, but this is far too short a time 
 for a boy to eat his lunch in. A meal should be 
 taken at one time, and not in snatches at hourly 
 intervals; this is totally opposed to all physiological 
 teaching, as it weakens the appetite and impairs 
 digestion. It is true that children sometimes make 
 up for the inadequate lunch-time by eating or rather 
 devouring their sandwiches surreptitiously in class, 
 but that this is wrong requires no proof. Many 
 children eat slowly, and if they are interrupted 
 they do not eat any more ; it is a common com- 
 plaint, and one which has been stated in many of 
 my schedules, that as soon as they go back to 
 school the children lose their appetites and bring 
 back half their lunch, while throughout the holi- 
 days they eat heartily enough. Very often this 
 is due to the scant time allowed for lunch, but 
 for nervous and anaemic children and the school 
 K 
 
130 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 must always bear in mind that it has to deal 
 with a large proportion of such good substantial 
 nourishment is of the highest importance ; if their 
 appetite is poor, everything ought to be done to 
 improve it. 
 
 I know that the schools will reply to all this, 
 that they cannot give a longer lunch-time without 
 increasing the school hours, but this just shows 
 how forced is the work, and how essential it is 
 that some relief should be obtained. 
 
 As an instance of the importance which other 
 countries attach to a proper distribution of school 
 hours, I will give a short report of a discussion in 
 the Swedish Medical Society, Stockholm (Hygeia, 
 Sept. and Oct. JSTos., 1880). By the Education 
 Act of 1878 it is enacted that in the five youngest 
 classes in all the Swedish High Schools the 
 pupils must not be worked for more than two 
 hours at a time, after which an interval of two 
 hours is enjoined, though half an hour of this 
 may be devoted to singing or gymnastics. This 
 arrangement was introduced because the Swedish 
 pedagogues thought that longer spells of work 
 must fatigue the children. The result of this 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 131 
 
 was that on some days the school hours were 
 divided into three sections, e.g. in summer from 
 seven to nine, eleven to one, and three to four. 
 In many places this splitting up of the time 
 proved rather a disadvantage, particularly if any 
 of the pupils lived far from school, but also be- 
 cause the home work was interrupted thereby. 
 Several schools therefore applied for permission 
 to extend the limit to three hours at a time, with 
 an interval of two hours, confining the work, 
 however, as much as possible to the early part of 
 the day. Before granting this request the Govern- 
 ment demanded the opinion of the Medical Society, 
 of which the following is a re'sume' : " Three 
 hours' consecutive work is permissible if an in- 
 terval of ten minutes be allowed for every hour, 
 and one hour of the three set apart for easy work, 
 such as singing, writing, or the like. After that 
 there must be two hours' complete rest, not mere 
 nominal rest devoted to singing or gymnastics, 
 partly to allow the children plenty of time for 
 lunch and recreation, partly to admit of the class- 
 rooms being properly ventilated. After these two 
 hours the work should be recommenced, so that 
 
132 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 it might be over before the dinner-hour, leaving 
 the afternoon for preparation." 
 
 Such an arrangement appears to entirely cor- 
 respond with pedagogic and hygienic demands for 
 a proper distribution of work hours, and its main 
 features may well be taken by us as a model. 
 The extreme care with which all such questions 
 are treated in Sweden, and the fact that no change 
 is ever made without the opinion of medical men 
 being taken as to its probable influence on the 
 health of the children, contrast strongly with our 
 educational legislation and regulations, which are 
 committed entirely to the hands of pedagogues, 
 without any such provision on behalf of the 
 children's health as consultation with medical 
 men would ensure. The result is that hygienic 
 considerations are with us completely overlooked. 
 
 Quite as important as the reduction of mental 
 work is it that the physical development of school 
 children should be promoted by bodily exercise. 
 This ought to take a much more prominent place 
 than it does in the school curriculum, and not 
 be regarded as less important than any other 
 branch of instruction. In boys' schools gymnas- 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 133 
 
 tics are undoubtedly taught more extensively 
 than they used to be ; there are classes in some 
 schools in which four hours a week are devoted 
 to gymnastics, but this is far from being the 
 case throughout, three hours a week being an 
 exceptional average for any one class of the 
 aggregated schools. This is not enough ; as a 
 rule one hour's bodily exercise (gymnastics or some 
 organised game) should be the daily allowance. 
 I doubt whether the gymnastic training generally 
 given in schools is properly adapted for children. 
 The powers of endurance which gymnastics are 
 intended to call forth in soldiers are not so 
 necessary in the case of children ; with them the 
 main thing is to strengthen all parts of the body, 
 especially the muscles of the arms and trunk, 
 which they have fewer opportunities of exercising, 
 and which are most apt to become relaxed by the 
 sedentary work of school. The exercises are 
 certainly better in many schools than when I was 
 at school, when the " horse " was the great thing, 
 while the trapeze, parallel bars, etc., were almost 
 unknown. These are certainly much better for 
 schoolboys, the more so as the greater variety in 
 
134 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the exercises, besides being more beneficial to the 
 body, greatly tends to kindle a useful spirit of 
 rivalry. Instead of boring a boy, gymnastics 
 ought to possess attractions for him, so that he 
 may be induced to continue the exercises after he 
 leaves school, as so very rarely happens now. It 
 is therefore very desirable for the instructor to 
 know the right exercises to choose, and to direct 
 them with life and energy so as to awaken the 
 zeal of the pupils. We can hardly expect this 
 unless the instructor, however splendid a gymnast, 
 be also specially qualified to teach children. It 
 is very characteristic of the want of interest in 
 bodily exercises existing in Denmark, that out of 
 the 3141 boys examined by me there were only 
 86 who had private lessons in gymnastics, riding, 
 or fencing. If sufficient energy and zest were 
 imparted to the instruction at school many more 
 boys would undoubtedly go in for these exercises 
 out of school, and in many cases this would be 
 most beneficial. 
 
 Matters are much worse in the girls' schools, 
 those examined giving an average of one and a 
 half hour of gymnastics weekly; but in many, 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 135 
 
 particularly of the smaller schools, these are not 
 taught at all, while in some the instruction is so 
 loosely conducted as to be almost useless. I 
 must add, however, that in other schools again it 
 is really a pleasure to see how well the girls go 
 through their exercises, and with what evident 
 relish. They only lack opportunities; the taste 
 for bodily exercise is, I think, quite as great with 
 girls as with boys, and the need of it is often 
 much greater. It would be a real blessing if these 
 nervous and anaemic girls could daily exchange an 
 hour of reading or music for one of gymnastics, 
 properly directed, and adapted to their strength 
 and sex. I have often had opportunities of con- 
 vincing myself of the healthy effect of such exercise 
 upon the whole development, carriage, and motions 
 of young girls. The rank which gymnastics now 
 take in girls' schools is quite disproportionate to 
 their value as compared with any other pursuits, 
 but the instruction in them must be thorough, 
 efficient, and energetic ; in many schools they are 
 taught in a most desultory manner, and can hardly 
 be said to be more than tolerated, whereas their 
 proper place is among the chief subjects. 
 
136 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 The same writer who has denounced long con- 
 secutive school hours says : " Give boys back their 
 games; let them romp for an hour or two every day. 
 . . . What benefit can a boy derive from a forced 
 and formal constitutional walk, which, during the 
 greater part of the year, has to be taken in the 
 darker hours of the day ? A man, who feels that 
 it is good for him to walk deliberately, can do so, 
 but for a boy, the exercise he takes ought to 
 contain an element of pleasure and amusement; 
 he will not exert himself unless he is thoroughly 
 animated or sees something to be gained thereby. 
 Games afford both exercise and enjoyment, and 
 in these his natural predilection for associating 
 with boys of his own age is indulged. Once more, 
 then, I say, ' Give schoolboys their games again.' " 
 
 The above quotation undoubtedly touches one 
 of the most universally felt wants in our system 
 of training, viz. the absence of facilities for children 
 to romp and play in a natural way ; if they are 
 deprived of these they soon cease to be boys, and 
 too early regard themselves as men, and conse- 
 quently above all childish pastimes, amongst which 
 they include gymnastics and physical exercises. 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 137 
 
 In this they are not infrequently encouraged by 
 unwise parents, who feel flattered at seeing their 
 sons so early developed into sedate and reflective 
 beings, as they fondly imagine. But if we are 
 to hope for success in our efforts to make the 
 present race healthier and stronger, we must not 
 expect that the reformation qf the school system 
 alone is to accomplish it. The out-of-school train- 
 ing must also be carried on in a rational and 
 suitable manner, otherwise the result will be a 
 meagre one. In this respect there are many pre- 
 judices and mistaken ideas to be overcome. I 
 have heard even highly cultivated and intelligent 
 men remark : " Let boys have plenty to do at 
 school, or else they will spend their time in 
 reading unwholesome literature, which is per- 
 nicious to them." True, if this really would be 
 the necessary result of more leisure ; but does not 
 this seem rather a weak admission on the part of 
 parents that they do not know how to awaken 
 their children's interest for improving literature, 
 or to aid and encourage them in private study, 
 according to their different tastes ? And is it not 
 very characteristic evidence of the fact that be- 
 
138 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 sides reading they know of no other employment 
 for their children's time ? When children have 
 their nine hours' work a day it is not reading 
 they should have in the scrap of waking life that 
 remains to them; they require physical occupa- 
 tion. Encourage them in winter to go in for 
 gymnastics, shooting, skating, etc. ; let them learn 
 a little of some useful handicraft in short, let 
 them take up anything that exercises and employs 
 their physical powers, and then at night they will 
 be more inclined to go early to bed than to sit up 
 reading rubbish or worse. 
 
 On the other hand, when the days are longer, 
 it would be a great boon if such games as football, 
 cricket, and tennis were played in our country as 
 in England and Sweden; they form a necessary 
 complement to gymnastics, and may indeed often 
 partly supersede them. Without games it is 
 scarcely possible to call forth children's interest for 
 all sorts of physical pursuits ; the long, sedentary 
 school work makes them, in the older classes, 
 languid, lazy, and averse to the exercise of which 
 they stand in so great need. If they are not 
 habituated to, and trained in manly sports when 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 139 
 
 quite young they will hardly be induced to take 
 them up as they grow older. Well -organised 
 games under the supervision of the masters tend 
 also to promote good discipline upon which latter 
 point some of our schools have no reason to pride 
 themselves. 
 
 There is a great dearth in Copenhagen of good 
 well -fitted -up gymnasia, which might be used 
 both by boys' and girls' schools, and, after school 
 hours, by other children as well. The only large 
 gymnasium in the town is very defective; the 
 floor is of concrete, the place cannot be heated up 
 in winter, and it is altogether so cheerless that, as 
 proved sufficiently by experience, it rather repels 
 than attracts the young. There is so little taste 
 for physical exercise amongst us, and so little is 
 done to stimulate it, that if we would not sink 
 into a state of utter lassitude and effeminacy we 
 must make earnest and constant efforts not only 
 to convince the young of the necessity of develop- 
 ing their muscular framework but to supply them 
 with the means of doing so. 
 
 Let children be allowed to romp and play in 
 the open air as much as possible, and do not send 
 
140 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 the young ones at the early age of five to stuffy 
 private schools in order to get rid of them at 
 home. The custom of sending infants to school 
 before their faculty for assimilating knowledge 
 has appeared, has done a great deal of harm, and 
 many schools complain of this. Lessons ought 
 not, as a rule, to he begun before the age of six or 
 seven. The age-columns in Table V. show that 
 in all classes there are boys who are two or three 
 years too. young for their respective classes, and 
 who thus are forced beyond their natural stages of 
 development, which, of course, can only be injurious 
 to them. 
 
 Later on, when the real work of school begins, 
 in the shape of home preparation and exercises, it 
 is still more necessary for parents to be on their 
 guard. There are children who, as we have seen, 
 at the age of nine have to work ten hours a day 
 or more, including music lessons. This is not 
 altogether the fault of the school ; it is the duty 
 of the parents to carefully observe how long the 
 child works, and, particularly if he is weak and 
 sickly, to avoid all forcing or superfluous toil. 
 Schools are constantly complaining that many 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 141 
 
 parents try to force their children far beyond 
 their strength and capacity, and reproach the 
 school into the bargain for not teaching them 
 enough. False ambition often induces parents, 
 against the advice of the school, to keep boys at 
 their studies who would be far better and healthier 
 at some practical work. Thus parents, though 
 they may make great personal and pecuniary 
 sacrifices to bring them on, are often to blame for 
 the children not being rightly and properly de- 
 veloped. This will continue to be the case until 
 it be more widely recognised that knowledge is 
 not the only thing we must give our children, 
 but that a healthy frame, a strong and resolute 
 character, are equally if not more necessary to 
 the young who have to go out into the world and 
 make a way for themselves. Knowledge is a 
 thing which they can to a great extent acquire 
 later on, if they possess energy and endurance; 
 but a delicate frame and a feeble character will 
 hamper and depress them in every relation of life. 
 As for girls, regular constant participation in 
 household duties is both a useful and a healthy 
 occupation ; this, instead of the excessive amount 
 
142 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 of study between the ages of thirteen to sixteen, 
 together with a few hours daily at school, would 
 help to fill up their time in a much more natural 
 manner, and, along with gymnastics, which is as 
 necessary for girls as for boys, would give them 
 the physical exercise which they now lack. Many 
 a young wife must often have regretted that her 
 mother did not instruct her in any of those matters 
 so necessary to make a home comfortable, and for 
 which she now has to pay dearly in experience. 
 Unless her school education be discontinued at 
 an unnaturally early stage, her mental and physical 
 powers will in this manner be much more effect- 
 ually strengthened and developed. Only, be it re- 
 membered, if a girl is to derive any real advantage 
 from this work she must apply herself to it with 
 as much diligence as to any other kind of study. 
 
 In our capital there is another factor which 
 often works much mischief, viz. that many children 
 are too early and too frequently allowed to go out 
 to parties. All teachers, both in boys' and girls' 
 schools, are loud and unanimous in their com- 
 plaints that children often come to school unpre- 
 pared and knocked up, or remain away altogether, 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 143 
 
 because their parents have allowed them to par- 
 ticipate in all sorts of gaiety and amusements. 
 This, of course, is bound to have a bad effect 
 both upon work and health. Children who go to 
 school, and from whom a considerable amount of 
 daily work is required, must live regularly and 
 go to bed at proper hours, so that they may be 
 fresh for their tasks, otherwise they get little good 
 from the teaching ; if they repeatedly come to 
 school tired and worn out they lose all relish 
 and capacity for work, besides becoming nervous 
 and fretful from want of sleep. 
 
 Besides those children who more or less ex- 
 ceptionally sit up late at night there are, as I 
 have shown before, no less than 8 per cent of 
 the total number of children who may be said 
 as a rule to get too little sleep. Here, again, it is 
 the duty of the parents to see that the children 
 conform to sound physiological rules; if this be 
 neglected, the children will suffer in the long run. 
 It is most often the elder pupils who sit up late 
 at night, and as the reading of unwholesome books, 
 which many are justly afraid of, most often goes 
 on at that time, it would be doubly well if parents 
 
144 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 always saw that their children went to bed at a 
 proper hour, and of course did not continue their 
 reading there. 
 
 In my opinion it is a great mistake in our 
 system of education that our chief endeavours 
 have been so exclusively directed towards teaching 
 as many different subjects as possible. It is un- 
 doubtedly a very good thing to possess varied 
 acquirements, but it is necessary to know how to 
 make use of them, otherwise they are a dead 
 weight on the mind of the possessor. With fewer 
 mental attainments, but with a thorough grasp of 
 what 'he knows, a strong and healthy man will 
 accomplish far more than will one who, with per- 
 haps more numerous acquisitions, is nevertheless, 
 owing to his weaker character and will, anxious 
 and over-cautious, fearful of all responsibility, and 
 unable consequently to prosecute anything with 
 vigour and energy. As the training of the young 
 is at present carried on with us, soft and flaccid 
 characters are likely to be developed, but it is not 
 such this age requires; it demands strong and 
 hardy natures, for it uses roughly those who have 
 to make their own way in life. 
 
iv.l GENERAL COXCLTSIOXS. 145 
 
 To expect everything from a reformation of 
 school training would only lead to disappointment ; 
 the home and the school must work hand in hand 
 and assist each other. Then, and only then, will 
 a truly satisfactory result be attained. It will re- 
 quire a vast amount of persevering attention, and 
 not least on the part of those who, as school- 
 masters and mistresses, are specially charged with 
 the guidance and development of the coming race, 
 to secure the abolition of educational overpressure 
 and its attendant evils. 
 
 It has not been my intention in this work to 
 produce complete and exhaustive statistics of all 
 the higher boys' schools in Denmark. My inquiry 
 only embraces the boys' and girls' high schools in 
 Copenhagen. It is possible that a better state of 
 things exists outside our capital; at all events 
 the children in our villages and small provincial 
 towns have the great advantage of being able to 
 romp and run about with much greater freedom 
 than the Copenhagen children. Perfectly reliable 
 statistics can of course only be obtained by means 
 of extensive and repeated investigations; I have 
 L 
 
146 OVERPRESSURE. [CHAP. 
 
 merely taken the first step. Here, for the first 
 time, has proof been adduced to show how great 
 is the sickliness in our schools, and how long are 
 the work hours ; both these conditions were 
 hitherto unknown. New inquiries must be set on 
 foot, and these will, I am sure, go to prove that 
 in the main my results are correct ; but we have 
 already obtained enough upon which to base a 
 profitable discussion, and as a contribution to this 
 I beg that the latter half of this work be regarded. 
 Although much of it has been said by others in 
 various papers and periodicals I have deemed it 
 advisable to collect it all here. 
 
 On the subject of the lower class schools we 
 have as yet absolutely no information of the kind. 
 
 In No. 213 of Berling's Gazette, 1880, I took 
 the liberty of urging the Government to appoint 
 a commission, consisting of pedagogues, doctors, 
 architects, and other professional men, to institute 
 a minute inquiry into the state of our schools, with 
 a view to making some proposals as to the best 
 means of improving their hygienic condition. I 
 now make free again to urge that this be done. 
 
 Not until Government takes the matter up will 
 
iv.] GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. H7 
 
 it be possible to collect the mass of information 
 necessary for a complete solution of the questions 
 connected with this subject. My contributions 
 have only thrown light on a few points, but the 
 results have been such, I think, as to show the 
 necessity of a complete and comprehensive inquiry. 
 
 NOTE. Since the publication of Dr. Hertel's report 
 a Government Commission, composed of public officials, 
 teachers, and physicians, has held an inquiry into the 
 state of health of Danish school children, and has fully 
 confirmed the conclusions at which he arrived. The 
 Commission included in its investigation schools of all 
 grades, and collected exact information respecting the 
 health state of 28,225 children, 16,889 boys and 11,225 
 girls. Of the boys 29 per cent and of the girls 41 per 
 cent are, the Commission declares, in a sickly state of 
 health. It will be recollected that Dr. Hertel's percent- 
 ages of sickly were 31 for boys and 39 for girls. The 
 Commission finds, as Dr. Hertel did, that anaemia, scrofula, 
 and headaches are the most prevalent complaints amongst 
 school children. As regards failure of eyesight in the 
 young in Denmark the Commission makes some startling 
 revelations. It ascertained by special examination that 
 in the classical department of the largest schools in 
 Copenhagen cases of shortsightedness occur amongst the 
 boys in the different classes in the following proportions : 
 
 No. of Class ... I. II. III. IV. V. VI. 
 Percentage of short- 
 sighted boys . . 147 15-1 29-6 27-2 38'3 45'5 
 
148 
 
 OVERPRESSURE. 
 
 Denmark, in its disregard of natural laws, is evi- 
 dently fast approaching the plight of the nation men- 
 tioned by Ezekiel, " which have eyes to see and see not ; 
 they have ears to hear and hear not, for they are a 
 rebellious house." 
 
CHAKT I. 
 STATE OF HEALTH BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 MIXED CLASSES 
 
 CLASSICAL & MODERN CLASSICAL 
 
 95 
 
 90 
 
 85 
 
 80 
 
 75 
 
 70 
 
 65 
 
 60 
 
 V, 
 
 55 
 
 50 
 
 45 
 
 49-7 
 
 40 
 
 ^ 
 
 35 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 -34^ 
 
 38-8* 
 
 -30-7 
 
 
 
 24-3 
 
 23-4 
 
 
CHART II. 
 HOURS OF WORK per diem BOYS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 ED CLASSE 
 
 CLASSICAL &. MODERN 
 
 11 
 
 10* 
 
 10 
 
 / 9-0 
 
 .9.0 
 
 X 
 
 A/torf <5- Classical (Rhetorical sect:) 
 Preparatory schools 
 
 Classical (Natural science sect:') 
 
 ~~ ~~ ~" Modern 
 
CHART III. 
 STATE OF HEALTH GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 PER- 
 CENTAGE 
 
 AGE 
 6 
 
 AGE 
 
 7 
 
 AGE 
 8 
 
 .AGE 
 9 
 
 AGE 
 IO 
 
 AGE 
 
 AGE 
 12 
 
 AGE 
 13 
 
 AGE 
 14 
 
 AGE 
 15 
 
 AGE 
 IB 
 
 
 1.00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 75 
 
 - 
 
 7 Heal 
 
 liy 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 65 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 ' 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 
 6p 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 61.0 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 S9-4 
 
 SS.5 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 5j^ 
 
 Jtf 
 
 
 >>' 
 
 S 
 
 
 45 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ::\ j 
 
 / 
 
 4 
 
 6.2^6. 
 
 X 
 I 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 Y 7 - j 
 
 Ao 
 
 / \ 
 
 S 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^+ 
 
 39-o 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 31-3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /*?* 
 
 
 ~rj* 
 
 25 
 
 
 f*9- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 ; 
 
 12.7 < 
 
 ickly 
 
 
 Q ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 7.6 
 
 
 
 6.8^,. 
 
 ~~*NO, 
 
 ^SA 
 
 'Ret fir 
 
 **. 
 ned 
 
 -< 
 
 .^./^ 
 
 ^--. 
 
 7-5 
 
 _?_ 
 
 -2f 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 ^0 
 
 
CHAET IV. 
 HOURS OF WORK per diem GIRLS' SCHOOLS. 
 
 11 
 
 10* 
 
 10 
 
 81 
 
 6* 
 
 8.S 
 
 8.T - 
 
 7^9; 
 
 4* 
 
 School 
 
 vork 
 
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