ANTHROPOMETRIC LABORATORIES 249 



One hears so much about the extraordinary sensi- 

 tivity of the blind, that I was glad of an opportunity 

 of testing" a large number of children in an asylum. 

 The nature of the test was fully explained to them, 

 and that the most successful ones were to receive a 

 sweetmeat. It was evident that all did their best, 

 but their performances fell distinctly short of those 

 of ordinary persons. I found afterwards a marked 

 correlation between at least this form of sensitiveness 

 and general ability. 



After the Health Exhibition was closed in 1885, 

 it seemed a pity that the Laboratory should also 

 come to an end, so I asked for and was given a room 

 in the Science Galleries of the South Kensington 

 Museum. I maintained a Laboratory there during 

 about six years, and found an excellent man, Sergeant 

 Randal, for its Superintendent. Useful data were 

 obtained from this Laboratory, but I found that it 

 ought to be either in the hands of a trained scientific 

 superintendent, who would be competent to undertake 

 much more refined measurements than mine were 

 intended for, or else that a great many more persons 

 than I could tempt to attend should be roughly 

 measured. 



Some few notabilities came, among whom I would 

 especially mention Mr. Gladstone, whose measure- 

 ments proved very acceptable to Mr. Brock the 

 sculptor, in making a posthumous statue of him for 

 Liverpool. Mr. Gladstone was amusingly insistent 

 about the size of his head, saying that hatters often 

 told him that he had an Aberdeenshire head "a fact 

 which you may be sure I do not forget to tell my 

 Scotch constituents." It was a beautifully shaped 



