BIOMETRIC IDEAS AND METHODS 43 



considerable degree as the stimulus for an exten- 

 sion of quantitative ideas and methods into other 

 and broader fields of biology. 



Nor was physical anthropology the only phase 

 of biology which had been definitely cultivated 

 along quantitative lines before 1895. Certain 

 branches of physiology have long been highly 

 developed in this direction. One thinks par- 

 ticularly in this connection of the study of the 

 physiology of nerve and muscle. It is probably 

 no exaggeration to say that so complete and 

 detailed a knowledge of the quantitative as well 

 as qualitative relations of the phenomena in- 

 volved as we possess for nerve-muscle physiology 

 does not exist to-day in any other branch of 

 biology. 



But both in anthropology and physiology quan- 

 titative methods of work were only an incident. 

 In many cases, as we can now see, the mathemati- 

 cal methods used were inadequate, or incorrect. 

 Until Pearson, following the pioneer investiga- 

 tions of Galton, began his work no one had ever 

 made any consistent and systematic attempt 

 to develop a special calculus directly adapted to 

 the discussion and analysis of biological data. 

 Because he did just this thing Karl Pearson will 

 stand as the founder of biometry as a definite 

 technical subdivision of the science of biology. 



The publication of the earlier memoirs in Pear- 

 son's fundamental series of Mathematical Contri- 



