4. The weather was very stormy. The boughs of the trees were blowing to and fro in the wind. Clouds were chasing each other across the sky. The crows were watching the ploughman in the field. Mistakes were marked according to the directions in the text. Thus "bows" for "boughs" counted three mistakes. The results were as follows: -----------------+------------------------------------ |Average Mistakes in Test Sentences. Age of Children.+--------+--------+--------+--------- | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. -----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------- 6 to 7 years | 0.32 | 2.64 | -- | -- 7 " 8 " | 0.22 | 1.77 | 3.45 | 6.18 8 " 9 " | 0.2 | 0.36 | 1.68 | 5.91 -----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------- [10] The complete set of tests as revised in 1911 is given in the Appendix, with notes regarding their subsequent use in Britain and America. [11] "Les Débilités Mentales," _Rev. de Psychiatrie_, 1902. [12] _Année Psychologique_, vol. vii., 1901, p. 296. CHAPTER IV THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF DEFECTIVES Hitherto we have been studying the defective from the point of view of his school relations. This point of view is incomplete, and should not make us forget that there is another--the medical. It is quite certain that in the organisation and the practical working of the special schools the doctor has a rôle, and an important rôle, to fill. All foreign countries recognise this, and give him a large place. It is even regretted in some countries that doctors detach themselves too much from such questions, and are content to make a rapid and superficial examination of children on their entrance to school, instead of collaborating actively in the important work of the teacher. After this declaration of principles, it may not be without interest to fix precisely the rôle which belongs to the doctor and the services which he can render. It seems to us, in fact, that there is often some confusion as to his attributes, and two opposite tendencies may be recognised. According to one, the more widespread, the defective are often, if not always, invalids, and belong to him by right. It would be an encroachment upon his privileges to concern oneself with them. The opposite opinion consists in not committing to him any particular authority in the matter. This is the case in Germany, where there are schoolmasters who carry things with a high hand in the special schools. Let us add that the doctors themselves have done nothing to bring about an entente. Speak of defectives before them, and they say, "That is our business," and they are perfectly right; but having affirmed their right, they pay very little attention to the territory they defend.