er have, a fourth of a pie, or a
half of a half?" "Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a
pound of lead?" "If you had twenty cents what would you do with
it?"

A great many based their judgment mainly on the general appearance of
the face and eyes. An "active" or "passive" expression of the eyes was
looked upon as especially significant. One teacher thought that a mere
"glance of the eye" was sufficient to display the grade of intelligence.
If the eyes are penetrating, reflective, or show curiosity, the child
must be intelligent; if they are heavy and expressionless, he must be
dull. The mobility of countenance came in for frequent mention, also the
shape of the head.

No one will deny that intelligence displays itself to a greater or
less extent in the features; but how, asks Binet, are we going to
_standardize_ a "glance of the eye" or an "expression of curiosity" so
that it will serve as an exact measure of intelligence?

The fact is, the more one sees of feeble-minded children, the less
reliance one comes to place upon facial expression as a sign of
intelligence. Some children who are only slightly backward have the
general appearance of low-grade imbeciles. On the other hand, not a few
who are distinctly feeble-minded are pretty and attractive. With many
such children a ready smile takes the place of comprehension. If the
smile is rather sweet and sympathetic, as is often the case, the
observer is almost sure to be deceived.

As regards the shape of the head, peculiar conformation of the ears, and
other "stigmata," science long ago demonstrated that these are
ordinarily of little or no significance.

In reply to the second question, some teachers stated that they never
made a mistake, while others admitted failure in one case out of three.
Still others said, "Once in ten years," "once in twenty years," "once in
a thousand times," etc.

As Binet remarks, the answers to this question are not very enlightening.
In the first place, the teacher as a rule loses sight of the pupil when
he has passed from her care, and seldom has opportunity of finding out
whether his later success belies her judgment or confirms it. Errors go
undiscovered for the simple reason that there is no opportunity to check
them up. In the second place, her estimate is so rough that an error
must be very great in order to have any meaning. If I say that a man is
six feet and two inches tall, it is easy enough to apply a measu