StfitiMtinil fnirnt it/at Ions 873 



deterinino the pmition in the curve uf tlio |>enM>n wh(i woh being tested. They would show what 

 ho WII.S cuj«il)li' of at the tiniu, uiid apiinixiiiiatttly how much conscious or unconscious practice 

 ho hiul alrciuly gone through, and the niaxiniuui etlicioncy to which thi* faculty undt^r test 

 iidmittod of being educated." (p. 208.) 



Oil the siune piij^e Gallon raises a proto-st aguiiist pursuing, in anthro- 

 pometric meuKiirt'iMfiits, tlu- strict methods appropriate to |>syclii)-|ihysi('ul 

 investigations. 



"We do not want to analyse how much of our jxiwer of discriminating Ix-twwn two objects 

 is due to this, that or the other of the many elementary perceptions called iiit<> a<'tiiiii It is tin- 

 total result that chiefly interests U8." 



Galton is content if the judgment finally made rests u|K)n a blend of many 

 different fixctors. 



A good deal of the paper is taken up with a discussion of the means of 

 passing people rapidly through a long series of tests with a minimum of 

 supervision. This was on account of the finite period for which the laboratory 

 vviis open and the cost of attendants, a necessity in Galton's case, but it is, I 

 think, open to a certain amount of reasonable criticism. Our own plan in 

 the Galton Laboratory is to have as far as possible one supervisor for each 

 test or at leiust kindred group of tests. He is able to explain what is needed, 

 assist the examinee when in doubt and save delicate instruments from rough 

 handling. If such supervision is feasible I feel certain that examinees pass 

 through at the maxiinuni speed, and there is greater accuracy in therecoids. 

  In Galton's first laboratory no head measurements were made, and he 

 discusses the omission on p. 210. They were purposely omitted under the 

 peculiar circimistances of a mixed crowd. 



"I feared it would be troublesome to perform on most women on account of their bonnets, 

 and the bulk of their hair, and that it would lead to objections and difficulties'." 



However, Galton actually designed a spanner to take the height of the 

 head from the auricular psissages, and it came into use in Cambridge in 1885. 

 In the case of this instrument he measures the maximum height 



"above the plane that passes through the upp>er edges of the orbits and the orifices of the ears." 

 (p. 210.) 



Presumably he means the central line of the orifices and the upper 

 border of the orbits. It is clear that Galton's standard plane differs on both 

 counts from the Frankfurt horizontal plane'. 



The reader will find on pp. 211 and 217 descriptions of Galton's firat in- 

 strument for measuring the swiftness of a blow (see our p. 220) and of what 



' It may be worth noting that we feared the same trouble in our Hnthi-o[x)metric laboratory 

 at University College, but it has proved an idle fear. It is true bonnets no longer exist and hair is 

 often 'bobbed.' Even if bulky it lies now-a-days low on the head and the head length is generally 

 taken without disturbing it. Occasionally the tape measurements are a difficulty, but if help 

 is iwsked for, I have found it most i-eadily given as in passing the tape under the hair knot, or 

 i-elea.siiig the knot if nei-essary. T have been told occasionally that the hair will be let down 

 if retiiiired, but there is usually a little justitiable pride about this offi-r, and a practised operator 

 cjvii tiike all the usual moasureiuents fairly accurately without accepting it! 



-' The change to the lower bonier of the orbits was made at Cambridge later, but I do not 

 know when. 



