Obituary Notice
The Late Dr Francis Warner.
The recent death of Dr Warner in his eightieth year, is an event which must command the sympathy and regret of the readers of Mental Welfare.
For many years past he had been retired from active work, but in the l’atter part of last century his name was one of the best known among those working in the field to which this journal is devoted. He was, indeed, a leader in the way in which he approached the subject of mental deficiency, emphasising, as he d;d, the indications of defective brain action that could be obtained by the close and skilled observation of movements and postures. He pointed out that from a careful study and appreciation of certain physical signs, a fair inference as to the nervous stability, brain action, and mental capacity of the child could be deduced.
On this basis he conducted an extensive enquiry into the mental and physical conditions observed in 100,000 school children, and deduced many valuable conclusions therefrom. It was an enquiry demanding great industry and much time, and was followed by others on similar lines. His teaching was expounded in several books, and particularly in ” The Study of Children and their School Training ” (Macmillan, 1897). The evidence based upon these statistical researches which was given by him before various Government Committees of enquiry produced its impress on legislation for the benefit of the Blind and Dumb, the Defective and Epileptic, and on measures dealing with Education and Physical Training. To further his teaching he was largely concerned in the formation of the Childhood Society, which was later amalgamated with another Society, and still carries on its work as the Child Study Society. His work and teaching were in the days before the Medical Inspection of School Children had been established, and there can be little doubt that its introduction owed not a little to his researches and to his persistent advocacy of such a scheme.
He was physician to the London Hospital, and also to the East London Hospital for Children, and interested in the study and teaching of botany, from which he drew much inspiration in his work. Altogether he was a man who did a vast amount of good and original work for the good of suffering children and for the enlightenment of his fellows, and he leaves a memory deserving of honour.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.