lotngrnphic Researches and Portraiture 



"Tlu< iimiii rtwult of this pxp«'riiiient haii lieen to prove the fcawbility of tAkiiig jihotoxrapliM 

 of horsiM at :v Show, that shall Ini accoptahlo an ordinary portruita, and will at thu wuiie time 

 \mi of Hterling Mcicntilic value. I \>cg in oonstMiupiico to expr^Hs a hope that the Hoyal Com- 

 niisHioncTM may think fit to arrange that photogniphy umh-r Htnndard conditions* Hhnll lM>conie 

 a |M'rniaii)Mit feature of their annual Show8, it iMiing ini|>oHHihle to ensure that thcwe coiulitionH 

 nhall l)e Htrictly att<^ndi>d to whi'ii animals ar«» photngniphe<l at their homes, th" . ' '" '\" 



so at a puhlie exhihition. The i'X|MTieiife ;{aiiied liy IIiIh trial. ..proven how inex] 'I .1' 



the .sanii' time how neoes.sary it is t'O have an appropriate- inst^illation, one that iiii^lil Im' 



remove*! and replaced when deMirt!<l If the Itoyal C'oMimi.ssioners led the way, other siK-ieties 



who exhihit at the Kuyal Ajjrieidtural llall would d<iuhtles.s Ix- gliul t<i follow their example 

 and to avail themwlveH of the iriHtallation. The managers of local exhiliitions would in time 

 pursue a like practice, until the cu.stom of utilising exhibitions fur tlie pur|M>ge of photeigraphing 

 prize winners under stAndard conditions liecame general, and proltahly mon; or less K4*lf-KUp- 

 porting, and the principal ohject of tho Connnittet; of the British AK.S4)ciation...would be 

 attainiKl. Horses and other p<>digre«i animals are usually oxhibittMl nion^ than once, so occasional 

 failur(>s «lue to ImmI weather admit of U'ing substnjuently roctitietl." (p. 13.) 



The general idea of standard photoj^raphs of j)edigree stock wjia a splendid 

 one; the re.sult.s <^f the trials seem to have heeii (piite .satisfactory, hut I can 

 find no trace after lH'.)i) eitiicr of further work hy the British Aas(x;iation 

 Committee' or of further photography at the Agricultural Hall. Galton was 

 already 77 years of age, and tliis was only one of many incpiiries he had in hand. 

 Tiiere wa.s need proliahly of an active and younger man to pusii the matter to 

 a complete success. Tiiis want w.os not satisfied, and Galton's suggestion did 

 not at that t ime hring forth fruit. Po.ssihly after another tpiarter of a century 

 we shall find it successfully carried out in America or in some continental 

 country with a keener appreciation than our own of the value of scientific 

 breeding. 



(E) Indexing and Numcrcdisation of Portraits. 



For i;J years after 1 893 (see our p. 307), Galton j)uhlished nothing further 

 about methods of indexing and numeralising portraits, hut he worked most 

 energetically at them. He divided the profile into parts — forehead, nose, lips, 

 chin. He had di.scovered what is soon forced on the craniolotrist — that the 

 component bones of the skulls of two individuals may Ije extremely alike, but 

 that great differences may be ])roduced by change in angle at the sutures or 

 joints. Now Galton's collection of profiles was most extensive; it ran to many 

 hundreds. He obtained them from drawings-he took 68 from Dance alone — 

 from photographs, and from engravings of all sorts, and again directly by sil- 

 houettes; he proceeded to break up his profiles into component ptirts. From 

 hundreds of noses or chins, he constructed a mean nose or chin. Then he pro- 

 ceeded to measure deviations from these mean noses or chins, and constructed 

 standard patterns of noses or chins. A new profile might l)e descriljed as having 

 Forehead No. 3, Nose No. 31, Lips No. 26 and Chin No. 8. The individuality 

 of the profile was thus determined and a means given for indexing it. All 

 that was needed in order to get something of a likeness was to add the angles 

 between the joints and fix tne magnification to be given to ejich component. 



' No further rciwrt was made and the Committee lapsed in 1901. I do not know the 

 reason why; nor have I been able to discover what Iwcame of tho material collected by the 

 Committee. Pi-ofessor Poulton knows nothing about it; it is not in the OullonianeL, nor 

 among Weldon's papers. 



41—2 



