MEASUREMENT OF CHARACTER. 733 



as a human machine at the time it was made. It is impossible to be 

 sure of the adequacy in every respect of the rearing of a man, or of 

 his total efficiency, unless he has been measured in character and 

 physique, as well as in intellect. A wise man desires this knowledge 

 for his own use, and for the same reason that he takes stock from 

 time to time of his finances. It teaches him his position among his 

 fellows, and whether he is getting on or falling back, and he shapes 

 his ambitions and conduct accordingly. " Know thyself" is an ancient 

 phrase of proverbial philosophy, and I wish to discuss ways by which 

 its excellent direction admits of being better followed. 



The art of measuring various human faculties now occupies the 

 attention of many inquirers in this and other countries. Shelves full 

 of memoirs have been written in Germany alone, on the discriminative 

 powers of the various senses. New processes of inquiry are yearly 

 invented, and it seems as though there was a general lightening up 

 of the sky in front of the path of the anthropometric experimenter, 

 which betokens the approaching dawn of a new and interesting sci- 

 ence. Can we discover landmarks in character to serve as bases for 

 a survey, or is it altogether too indefinite and fluctuating to admit of 

 measurement? Is it liable to spontaneous changes, or to be in any 

 way affected by a caprice that renders the future necessarily uncer- 

 tain ? Is man, with his power of choice and freedom of will, so dif- 

 ferent from a conscious machine that any proposal to measure his 

 moral qualities is based upon a fallacy ? If so, it would be ridiculous 

 to waste thought on the matter ; but if our temperament and charac- 

 ter are durable realities, and persistent factors of our conduct, we 

 have no Proteus to deal with in either case, and our attempts to grasp 

 and measure them are reasonable. 



I have taken pains, as some of my readers may be aware, to obtain 

 fresh evidence upon this question, which, in other words, is whether 

 or not the actions of men are mainly governed by cause and effect. 

 On the supposition that they are so governed, it is as important to us 

 to learn the exact value of our faculties as it is to know the driving 

 power of the engine and the quality of the machine that does our 

 factory-work. If, on the other hand, the conduct of man is mainly 

 the result of mysterious influences, such knowledge is of little service 

 to him. He must be content to look upon himself as on a ship, afloat 

 in a strong and unknown current, that may drift her in a very differ- 

 ent direction to that in which her head is pointed. 



My earlier inquiries into this subject had refei'ence to the facts of 

 heredity, and I came across frequent instances in which a son, happen- 

 ing to inherit somewhat exclusively the qualities of his father, had 

 been found to fail with his failures, sin with his sins, surmount with 

 his virtues, and generally to get through life in much the same way. 

 The course of his life had, therefore, been predetermined by his in- 

 born faculties, or, to continue the previous metaphor, his ship had not 



