376 



Life and Letters of Francis fialton 

 A nthroponu'tric PercvntUcs \ 



To/mm SnrpoMtd and VoImm Unreached, hy variant percenlagns of the persona meatured 

 at the AiUhropomelric Laboratory at the late International Healtli Exhibition. 



Vftlnea larpaassd by peroento. below 



Taking the table, it can l)e shown by plotting in reverse directions thai 

 the male and female ogive curves, for squeeze of hand say, intersect at 7 7. 

 or if we had to select the 100 strongest individuals out of 100 men and 10( 

 women taken at random, we should select 93 men and seven women. Oi 

 this Galton makes the comment: 



"Very powerful women exist, but happily perhaps for the repose of the other sex, sue 

 gifted women are rare." (p. 278.) 



It is probable that if Galton had taken the fisherfolk of Aberdeen, th4 

 peasantry of the Tyrol, or any primitive people, he would have found a conJ 

 sideniblv greater percentage of women in his 100 strongest individuals. Hfl 

 wjis largely dealing with a town population. Our ex])erience in the GaltoE 

 Lal)oratory shows that there are quite a few characters in which the absolute 

 values reached by the women ecjual or excel those of the men, notably ii 

 Memory of Form, iJiscrimination of Coloui-. Stoadiness of Hand, and Speed^ 

 Accunicy of Hand. 



' The value that is unreached by n*/, of any large group of measurements and sur 

 by (100- n) 7. u called the nth peroentile. 



