RECORD OF FAMILY FACULTIES. 



accessible for testing it in different persons ; there are no anthropometric 

 laboratories as yat in existence to which any one may go, and on payment 

 of a small fee have all his faculties measured and registered by the 

 various ingenious appliances known to modern science. We must therefore 

 be content for the present with such definite facts bearing on the keenness 

 or imperfection of the various senses as may have been incidentally 

 observed. 



(ii) The mental powers, like the bodily ones, must be measured by 

 achievement ; relatively as in competition with others, or absolutely by 

 the amount and quality of intellectual work actually accomplished. Facts 

 bearing on precocity or on the slow development of the mental powers, 

 deserve mention. 



(12) Character and temperament. Nearly every individual is notable 

 for some peculiarity of mind or disposition, and in some few persons the 

 sanguine, melancholy, nervous, or lymphatic temperament is well marked. 

 All such peculiarities should be noted as they are strongly hereditary 

 and may throw much light on the faculties of the family. IMoreover the 

 study of them is peculiarly attractive. 



(13) Favourite pursuits, and interests, and artistic capacities, are facts 

 useful to record as being definite expressions of character and temjDera- 

 ment. 



We now come to the medical data which rank as the most important 

 of all in statistical investigations into the rise and fall of families. Medical 

 men are in an excellent position to supply these in respect to their own 

 families. They know precisely what is wanted and how to express it. 

 They have less of that shrinking from putting maladies on record which 

 most persons feel even against their better judgment, because they are 

 habituated to read and write medical cases. Moreover, they can obtain 

 medical facts concerning members of their own families more easily than 

 other people, being on freer terms with their professional brethren. 



(14) Minor ailments. A knowledge of these gives considerable help 

 towards understanding the " constitution " of a person, and it is a 

 matter of great interest to learn the connection between the family 

 tendency to minor and to graver maladies. The former may be 

 outlets and safety valves to prevent the occurrence of the latter. Among 



c 9 



