PMifr/inloffirnl InrcHtujnttnim 231 



groups wn« Higiiificuntly flifferent. If this were 8uh«tantiated, the composite 

 photofijraph.s of the three orimo-groups should 1h» nmrkedly flitferentuited. 

 The rejuler wlio hiis studied cjirefuUy the iilwve account will uiipreciate what 

 Galton was seeking in the composite photograph. He looked upon the 

 mental traits as "transmissihle })y inheritance," he held that the physical 

 traits were also iidierited, and he was searching to divide man up inUi 

 varieties in which the physiognomic characters should he indices of the 

 mental tniits. The common inheritance of both was fundamental to his idea. 



"The AnthropolojfiHt lius n<'xt to consider tho life-liistory of thoHo varietirH, and eapocially 

 their tendency to iMTiictuiito thcinselves, whether t<> displace other variotien and to upread, or 

 else til die out. In illustration of this, I will procwd with what appeani to be the history of 

 the criminal class. Its ]K'rpotuation liy heredity is a <|ueNtion that desj-rves more careful in- 

 vesti^ation than it ha.s received ; but it is on many accounts more ditticult to grapple with 

 than it may at first si^ht app<>4ir to Im. Tho vagrant habits of the criminal clames, their 

 illegitimate unions, and extreme untruthfulneK.H, are among tho difficulties. It is, howerer, 

 easy to show that the criminal nature tends to be inherited ; while, on the other hand, it is 

 imp<w8ible that women who spend a large portion of the best years of their life in pri.Hon c«n 

 contribute man}' children to the population. The true state of the case appl^ar8 to be that the 

 criminal |)opulation receives accessions from classes who, without having strongly marked 

 criminal natures, do nevertheless belong to a type of humanity that is exceedingly ill suite<l 

 to play a respectable part in our modern civili.sation, though well suited to flourish under half- 

 savage conditions, being natiirall}' both healthy and prolific. These pt-rsons are apt to go to 

 the bad; their daughters consort with criminals and become the parents of criminals." 

 (pp. 13-14.) 



Galton then cites the now fiimous Jukes family', of which an account had 

 been published in the preceding year. 



"I have alluded to the Jukes family in order to show what extremely important topics lie 

 open to inquiry in a single branch of anthropological research and to stimulate others to follow 

 it out. There can be no more interesting subject to us than the quality of the stock of our 

 countrymen and of the human race generall}-, and there can be no more worthy inquiry than 



that which leads to an explaii'>'i'>" <>f tli m. lit ions under which it deteriorates or improves'." 



(p. 15.) 



The genealogy of other " criminal " families published since, confirms 

 Galton's views, out his call to scientific criminology met with little re- 

 sponse for nearly thirty years. Even to the present day English anthro- 

 pologists do not seem to grasp that a study of the menial varieties of their 

 own race may be of more importance than recording the discovery of another 

 Romano-Briton or the funereal trappings of an Egyptian monarch. 



Fi-om the time of this paper onwards for several years Galton worked 

 hard at composite photogi-aphs. There has been on the whole a great deal of 

 unjustified di-sappointment in regard to them. This has largely arisen from 

 a misunderstanding of what was expected from them, and a neglect of 

 Galton's purpose in suggesting their use. That puij)o.se is quite evident from 

 this first paper : It was to ascertain whether men's mental characteristics 

 were intraracially correlated with their facial characteristics. The fact that 



' Thirty-Jimt AnniuiJ lieport of the Prison A»socuil\on of Xew York, 1876. 



' In these wonls Galton definitely lays down the principle that anthropology is not a mere 

 antiquarian investigation, but is essentially occupied with some of the most urgent of our 

 present social problems. 



