ABSTRACT
For the sake of convenient and rapid reference, the term 'bloods' is used to mean 'the weekly, fortnightly, or monthly adventure and story papers and magazines for boys and girls'. The existence of a total abstention from such reading, and its consistent growth as the boys grow older, suggests that such reading represents an intellectual and emotional stage which boys pass through and beyond. It might be supposed that those who read a great many 'bloods' have no time for anything else–that they are 'misusing' or 'wasting' their time. The comparative backwardness of the Senior School groups is demonstrated once more by the wide and persistent reading of quite childish magazines of the 'comic' type. Even in the Secondary Schools the juvenile magazines continue to be read–not to as great a degree as in the Senior Schools; and a more rapid and complete decline is apparent.
