March 31, 19 10] 



NATURE 



129 



When transforming the portrait into a formula, the 

 reverse process has to be followed with little altera- 

 tion. Before finally adopting any formula, the por- 

 trait should be reconstructed from it and the formula 

 revised where necessary. It is easy after a little prac- 

 tice mentally to compose a formula so far as the seven 

 small letters are concerned, from a brief inspection, 

 either of the picture or of the living face; also to 

 reproduce by copying by eye the symbols from Fig. 4 

 without caring to trace them. In short, the whole 

 operation may be satisfactorily gone through by an 



traits are by no means deficient in resemblance to 

 their originals. I think they are considerably more 

 like to them than the sketches, usually printed in the 

 illustrated newspapers, are to the public characters 

 whom they profess to represent. They are, to say 

 the least, of considerable negative value, sufficing to 

 eliminate at the rate of about nineteen out of every 

 twenty individuals as not being the person referred to. 



Any form of telegraphy suffices to transmit these 

 four-word profiles. In other respects they are far 



inferior to those complete pictures now transmitted 



IS. UAMES BOSWCLU 



I 10. BENN6T LAN&TOM.Li-O. 



I«. JOHN FLAXMAN.R.A 



113. ARCHBtSHOP AJAR- 





; 



28 5 10 I 16 5 96 



26 I 02 



6 / /2 



34 SL \S \ 17 2 06 

 30 f 06 i •6 8 26 



28 5 12. I to 3 03 



28 2 OI 



3 6 6/t 



III JOHN PETER 5ALOMOM. 



2.8 2. \if 16 (04- 

 26 3 02. I '5 8 25 



ILlO.DnHOMAS BARM ARC. 



30 7 13 i 16 9 OA- 



27 2 0^1 -5 7 35 



31 24. CHARLES KNTVETT. g 31. J8MW,eARL oc CUAREMOWr. 



31 5 ri I 17 2 02.; 



28 / 03 I 'd A- 28 



33 7 13 

 27 L^. 06 



f6 5 Q5 

 •6 2 6/ 



xplanation of the first formula, namely, that of James Boswell ; the others are to be read on the same principle. N, 

 Nj,, 13. Ux, 28 ; U^, 03. Lx, 18 ; Ly, 03. The small letters are, «, 6 ; «, 6 ; i^, 4. d, $ ; £, 2 ; //, 2 ; i, 5. 



30 



intelligent person in a rapid and oflf-hand way. This 

 might become a popular game for the members of a 

 party to practise their art upon one another, care being 

 taken that the five cardinal points should be truly laid 

 down, perhaps by tracing a shadow. 



Eight couplets of very different features are given in 

 Fig. 5, both for illustration and for the reader to 

 practise upon. Each couplet contains the original por- 

 trait on the left, its formula along the bottom, and the 

 reproduction from the formula (to the standard scale) 

 on the right. 



It will be seen from Fig. 5 that four-word por- 

 NO. 2109, VOL. 8;^] 



between certain offijces, by means of costly and deli- 

 cate apparatus, by a method at present not developed 

 to its utmost. 



It will be observed that in the second of the portraits, 

 namely, that of Dr. Bennet Langton, the point L lies 

 to the left of CY, and has therefore a negative value. 

 This is —04, but is expressed here as 96, an artifice 

 which practically transfers the horizontal measure- 

 ment from CY to another vertical line drawn 

 parallel to CY and 100 mm. to its left. No con- 

 fusion need arise through this transformation, 

 since it leads to very large values lying adjacent to 



