•_M>4 Life and Lettern of FroMcitt (iaiton 



Platk XXXV, Left (Profile). Platk XXXV, Right (Full Face). 



6 18 the comjKwite of five portraits of young f is the conipoRito of the five full-faced 



Jewish Iwys; ami similarly c is the coHijx>sit<' ]K)rtrait.s corrosjK)n(liug to h, while g \» the 



of five others, i/ is a c<>-coinj>osite of b and c composite of those corrcsp<>ii(liiij» to c. A is a 



reversed in position, and thus repr<>.s«'nt.s all co-composite of /'and (/, and represents there- 



thc ten components, a is a i-ompixsite of five fore all ten components, e is a coiiiposit<' of 



other oHer faces; the oonijwnonts of h and c the five older face*. The influence of a black 



»re given in Gallon's original ]ilates. curl on the forehead of J\ can Ik; traced in /, 



and even in h, where it is reversed (or as in/,). 



The great bulk of Galton's own paper in the earlier issue deals with 

 moditications and improvements of his technique, and should be consulted 

 even to-day by any would-be compounder. His final advice with regard to 

 composite photography may l)e cited : 



"It must be borne in mind by tlioec who attempt it, that ofThand methods will not avail. 

 The adjustments must be made with judgment and extreme care to produce good efli-cts. The 

 difference between a very carefully-made composite and one that has been combined with only 

 moderate care is great." (p. 24.5.) 



In the paper Galton also gives for the first time his fiducial system for 



Erofiles ; it consists of a sloping straight line with two horizontal straight 

 nes proceeding from it to the right. The portrait is adjusted .so that tiiis 

 sloping straight line touches the forehead, and passes through what the 

 photographer estimates to be the alveolar point, i.e. the point of the gum 

 between the middle incisors of the upper jaw'. The horizontal lines are then 

 taken to bisect the pupil and to coincide as far as possible with the lip line 

 respectively. Galton further notices that if he brings one of the fundamental 

 points A of his fiducial system on to the marked optical axis of his instru- 

 ment, and makes the corresponding point A' of his image agree witii A, 

 then throughout all further adjustments A will coincide with A', and this 

 will much simplify the complete adjusting. Beautiful as Galton considered 

 the adjustments of his own compounding camera to be, he believed great 

 improvements might l)e made in it, especially in the duection of auto- 

 matically setting the component in position after taking a series of measure- 

 ments upon it. He further emphasised the need of a simple optical method 

 of combining a considemble number of pliotogra|)hs t« test what the com- 

 pound would be like before actually photographing a composite. 



The success of the 'Jewish type' convinced (Jalton that the future of 

 composite photography lay largely in ethnological and genetic work. He 

 refers in this matter to the typical crania of different races prepared by 

 Dr Billings, Surgeon-General of the U.S. War Department', Mr A. Thomson 

 of the Edinburgh Medical School (see our p. 2'JO ftn.), and earlier by himself, 

 using composite photography. But he clearly placed less stress on this than 

 on purely ethnographic portraiture of the living. 



In 1879 Galton gave a Friilay evening lecture at the lloyal Institution 



' The alveolar point is a wcli-recognised craniometric |x>int, and it seems slightly better in 

 this respect to use it than to make with Galton the sloping fiducial line touch the upper gum 

 between the mid-inci8f>rs. It might even avoid the difficulties of the superciliary ridges in 

 adult males to take the fiducial line from nasion to alveolar point. 



• Copies of these are to be found in the Gallon Laboratory. 



