Sfad'sfiraf /iirrMtii/atiotut 359 



((/) Keenness anil discrimination of the senses are next eniphaflisfvl an 

 indispensable tests. 



(e) Ueaction times and judgment times follow ; memory of form and 

 memory of number. Th(«e points are sufficient to indicate that Galton from 

 the earliest time laid as inticb stress on the j)sychical as on the physiad tests 

 of an anthropometric laboratory. Nay, he went further; he asserted that: 



(/') There is need for a medico-metric section in an anthropometric 

 laboratory. This section would make Jis exact and complete a report of the 

 physiological and medicid status of an individual as is feasible in the present 

 state of science by the help of the microscope, chemiail tests and physiological 

 apparatus. 



Such a "medico-metric" laboratory Galton holds would l)e useful to the 

 general practitioner who could send his patients to be examined in the same 

 manner as physicists send their delicate instruments to Kew Observatory to 

 have their errors ascertained. Great stress is laid on the physician writing 

 ai.se notes of the succe.ssive illnesses of private patients even as he takes 

 clinical notes at the bedsides of his hospital patients. These notes should be 

 preserved by the patient and accunndating with the yeara would form his 

 medical life-history, and l>e a unit-contribution to the medical hi.story of the 

 family. (Jalton emphasises the value they would l)e as an heirloom to the 

 children of the subject and to their mediail attendants in future years by 

 throwing light on hereditary peculiarities. In short Galton saw in the anthro- 

 pometric laboratory a centre for standardised family records of biographical 

 mterest to all»menibers of the family, of value from the medical point of view 

 to each individual during his life, and to his descendants as suggesting 

 hereditaiy dangers and vital probabilities. Lastly and perhaps for Galton 

 himself the most important advantage was the material they would ultimately 

 provide for uuicli needed statisticjil research into human genetics. 



For the race the value of such records is incontestible, but all men have 

 not Galton's power of calm self-introspection, and the effect of studying his 

 family medical hi.story in the case of a neurotic subject might well lie 

 disastrous for the individual. 



The idea of medical family histories was further developed by (ialton in 

 a paper entitled "Medical Family Registers" in the Fortnijhtli/ for 

 August, 1883'. 



In this paper Galton defines more closely what he means by medical 

 histoiies ami states that he hsis consulted a number of eminent medical men 

 (Simon, Beddoe, Duncan, Gull, Ogle, Ord, Richardson and Wilkes) who 

 have approved the scheme. In this article he suggests for the firet time — as 

 far- as 1 am aware— a system of monetaiy prizes. 



"I have made arrangements to initiate the practice of compiling them [Medical Family 

 Regi-sters] thn)ugh the offer of substantial prizes, open to competition among all members of 

 the niodical profession. The prizes will lie awarded to those candidates who shall best 8uccee<i 



(h pencil oirried in measured time round the convolutions of a maze without touching the sides), 

 neetlle (a fine knitting needle put through a series of holes of decreasing diameter without 

 contact) atui otiier .similar tests have been introduced replacing skill in games. 

 ' N.S. Vol. .\xxiv, pp. 244-50. 



