I 



Statiiitiral Intritfigadons ' 349 



The schedule contains spaces not only for the facts illustrating the special 

 vigour in old age of the suhject, hut for the ages of his parents at his hirth, 

 the size of his co-fraternity and his position in it, and further for other 

 instances of exceptional longevity in the kinship. Among the somewhat 

 meagre data collecte<l are several instai»ces of marked hei-editarv lonjjevity, 

 and one of a man who ahove eighty became the father of healthy chddren. 

 (JaltoM was undouhtedly interested in this incpiiry owing to the hereditary 

 longevity in his own family', hut the knowledge of this fact did not relieve 

 him from having at times considerable anxiety as to his own health, and in 

 the sense of the proverb "that cranky doors hang longest on their hinges," 

 he was interested to know whether " a considei-able pro{)ortion of aged persons 

 have been more or k^ss ailing through a great portion of their lives." 



I am not sure whether a printed document I have found with the longevity 

 dossier wjis issued with the schedule or prepare<l for some later inquiry; it 

 In^irs evident traces of Galton's complete or co-operative production. It is 

 so suggestive for an iiujuiry which ai)parently has never been made, and still 

 might be made with great profit, that 1 have reproduced it Ixxlily here. 



Those who knew (Jalton personally will trace some of" his Ijeliefs and some 

 of his doubts seeking statistical confirmation in this document. 



An Inquiry concerning Persons who have attained or passed the Age 



of Eighty Years. 



Tliis inqviiry, as will Ix* seen by the card, is intended to bo genenil, the object btung to obtain 

 by Collective Investigation on a large scale, information ros|)ecting the present and past condi- 

 tion, habits, and maladies, as well as the family history and other circumstances, of those who 

 have attjii net! toadvunced periods of life, in order that we may be able to ascertain, with greater 

 certainty than we now can, what are the circumstances which favour longevity, the means by 

 which it may be promoted, and the maladies which are most, and those which are least inci- 

 dental to it. 



The following are some of the questions which arise in connection with this subject, and for 

 answers to which we may look. 



What bodily conformation, tem]>erainent, and habits, are most associated with, or conducive 

 to, longevity? 



Do women more frequently attain to great age than men, and have women somewhat below 

 the ordinary stjiture the atl vantage in this respt-ctl 



Are the married or the unmarried, the stout or the 8p>are, the active or the sedentary, the 

 industrious or the idle, the indoor student or the outdoor workers, the well-to-do or the poor, 

 the town dwellers or the country dwellei-s, the more likely to lx;come octogenarians? 



It is said that " small eaters and short sleepers are long livers." Is this sol Will the "early 

 to be<l and early to rise " maxim receive confirmation ? SVhat is the influence of alcohol t 



It has In'en remarked that a considerable pro|>ortion of age<l persons have l)een more or less 

 ailing during a great part, or the whole, of their lives. Is that the ca.se? It has also been 

 remarked that many of them have been troubled with constipation, and that many have long 

 been in the habit of resorting t<) aperient medicine. 



The cjirtilages of the ribs and the tnichea have Ijeen found soft and elastic in some very 

 aged people, old Parr forming no exception in this. Should this be shown to be generally the 

 case, the inference would follow that persons in whom they are not so are not destined to attain 

 to great ago. 



Do octogenarians often suffer, or do they enjoy a comparative immunity from affections of 



' See Memories of my Life, p. 7 — a paragraph wiiich contains the only reference I have 

 seen to the age of Elizabeth Collier's mother at death, if it be not a slip for the ajte at death 

 of Erasmus Darwin's mother. 



