3r)6 Lif* ami Letters of Francis Galton 



him a great teacher, but a teaching post would probably have cost him that 

 travel-experience and that leisure to ruminate on which so much of his 

 scientific success depended. He loved to work and to play with aKsolute 

 freedom, and fixed duties would probably have l^een irksome to him, even if 

 his health could have stood the opus cathedrae strepkusque. 



The " Biognij)hicid Register" was followed by a "Genealogical Table of the 



family of bivthers and sistere that includes ." We need not linger over 



this, it was the inmiediate forerunner of the " Family Records," which when 

 Galton hit upon the idea of offering money prizes for filling in scliedules 

 became at once a gi'eat success — the material source whence sprung his two 

 books the Li/e-JIistori/ Album and Natural Inhentaiice. The latter will be 

 duly considered in our chapter on Galton's contributions to Heredity. 



One remaining schedule may be noticed here — Galton's circulai- letter of 

 March, 1882 entitled: "Application of Composite Photographic Portraiture 

 to the Production of Ideal Family Likenesses." This circular is remarkable 

 for its artistic printing and "get up." It is an appeal to amateur photographei-s 

 to provide full-face and ])rofile portraits of members of families, and contains 

 a characteristic family composite. The "bribe" in this case was a print of 

 the family composite together with the negative if they desired it. Galton 

 also stated that he should await with great interest the family's opinion on 

 the family likeness. The response to this circular was very considerable, and 

 the ruins of the material — for most of the photographs have perished or are 

 perishing — are still in the Galtoniana. The conditions Galton demanded for 

 the composite are worthy of preservation : 



1. The set of jxtrtraits must be all absolutely in full-face, looking straight 

 at the camera just above the lens, or they must be all in profile, with the 

 eyes directed straightforward along their own level. 



2. The light must fall from the same direction in every case; it is best 

 that the sittere should occupy successively the same seat. 



3. The portraits of which the head alone is used, must be of about the 

 size of the slcetches on the previous page, that is, a little more than an inch 

 from the chin to the top of the head'. 



Galton considered these three conditions essential, 



"if the portraits differ in aspect the composite would be blurre<l; if the shmiows fall differently 

 they are mixed up with the lights and the composite becomes ineffective — it will Ix; like a por- 

 trait taken in cross-lights; if the photographs are too small the difficulties of adjustment are 

 greatly increased and success is uncertain.... It is, however, important that they should be 

 forcible and well contrasted in light and shade." 



Galton adds that the composite is invariably softer and more regular than 

 its components; this statement was, perhaps, the inducement which led to 

 the disp.itfli of some of the originals now in the Galtoniana] 



• More recent investigations have shown that far larger "standard" photographs can b<' 

 •dvuiUgeonaly employed. 



