PhottHjraphir Ht-Haii'vUej* and Pni'traiture 296 



on c(itnpo8ite portmiture '. The lecture is calU^l "Generic Images," according 

 to what (ialton terms *' the happy phrase of Professor Huxley." 



"Tlir wiird goncrii' jin'suppow.s a j^fiius, tliiit is to wiy, a coIlnction of inclividualH who have 

 much ill coiiiinon, and aiui>ii;( wlioiii iii<-<liuiii cliariictcriNticH art; vnry mui.-h iiiori- frecfueiit than 

 ' 'iirt'int! oiii'M 'I'lio siiiim idea is soim-tiim's exprcJtsc*! liy tlu) word typical, wliicli wa« much 

 iseil by C^u«'t<'l('t, who was tlie first to givt; it a ris{or(>iiM iriU-rpretatioii, and whowf idea of a 

 type lies at tli(3 Iw.sis of his statistical views. No statistii-iaii dreams of coiiihiniiig uhjvctx into 

 the same fjotieric group tliat do not ohisUir towards a common c-entrti, no more can we compoHe 

 generic portmits out of heterogeneous elementti, for if the attempt be made to do so the reHult 

 is monstrous and meaningless." (p. 162.) 



We thus see that Gal ton demands a clustering round Quetelet's ' mean 

 man ' as a success for a composite portrait ; in such a case the mediocre 

 characteri.sticH prevail over extreme ones; the common traits reinforce e^ich 

 other and the extreme ones tend to disappear. \\\ the course of the lecture 

 Galton showed the following composites : 



{<i) A family portrait of two brothers and a .sister. He built this up by 

 the aid of three converging magic lanterns carefully adjusted, and showed 

 that he obtained the same effect as a composite photograph of the three 

 component.s. 



(6) Alexander the Great [(>] (reproducetl in printed lecture : see our 

 Plates XXXVI and XXXVII). 



(c) Antiochus, King of Syria [6] (not hitherto published : see our Plate 

 XXXVIll). 



(d) Demetrius Poliorcetes [6] (not hitherto published : see our Plate 

 "'IX). 



(c) Cleopatra [5]. The composite was here as usual better than the 

 components, " none of which gave any indication of her reputed beauty ; in 

 fact, her features are not only plain, but to an ordinary English taste are 

 simply hideous " (not hitherto jnihli.shed : see our Plate XL). 



(/) Nero [11] (not hitherto published : see our Plate XLI). 



((/) Greek female fiice [5] (not hitherto published: see our Plate XLI I). 



(A) Iloman female face [6] (reproduced in printed lecture: see our Plate 

 XLI II). 



ii) Napoleon I [5] (reproduced in printed lecture: see our Plate XLIV). 



{j) The English criminal [18| (re})roduced in printed lectvn*e). Galton 

 here recognises two types of criminals, one with brojul and massive features 

 like Henry VIII, but with a much smaller brain ; the other with a we^ik 

 and certainly not a common Engli.sh face' (see our Plates XXVIII and XXIX). 



While Galton exhibited in this lecture more composite portraits than 

 I think he showed on any other occtision, his main object was to compare 



' I'rotxedinyt of the Royal Institution, April 25, 1879, Vol. ix, pp. 161-70, with an 

 autotype reproduction of the Roman Lady, Alexander the Great, Napoleon the Great, and the 

 English criminal. 



- The iniiterial oi\ which all these composites were ba-sed is still in the Galton I.*lK)mtory, 

 illhough many of the photographs are sadly faded and some of the negatives have perishtxl 

 (owing U> the use of piK>r chemicals, or to inadequate wa-sliiug). With the exception of the 

 phthisical plate all our reproductions an. frnni the original material. 



