I 



I 



Statistical /nvfutitjatiaim 379 



of luiukH fiir nliysical tests, and the problem of the symmetry of the two 

 sides of the lK>uy. Such iiKiuirieH icMjuiiecl an ever avaihible scientific director, 

 and ( Julton luniself was far t(M) husy with tlio multitude of chiims on his energy 

 and executive skill to undertake such duties. He writes: 



"Fn briof, what littln Ims Ikwii ncconipliHhwl at lh«> la))oratory (luring the Uiree yearn of ita 

 t'xistt'iict" justifies to my own mind tlio trouble and oxpense I have Invn put to in building, 

 0(|uip|>ing and niaint-iiining it. Hut it never reaelie<l to my ideal. Besides the obje<'tM alreiuly 

 luinied, I wa.s almost o<|ualiy desirous of cstaldisliinK a place where the keenness of the wnses 

 and other faculties in any individual who applied, might lie niea.surtxJ with all the accuracy and 

 ))ainstakiiig that is achieved l)y the few biologists who occupy themselves seriously in such 

 pursuits. To etlect this it would be neces-sary to Hecure the occasiotial services of a skilled 

 experimenter and to ensure at the same time that a sufficiency of persons should come to be 

 measured. The time did not .seem to have arrived for such an enlargement of the existing methods, 

 though T hoped and still hoj)e that it may not be far distant, as the utility of the lalwratory 

 IxHJomes nwtv widely appreciat<'d. The measurements thus far employe<l are of a comjiaratively 

 rude, but not ineffective, character. It would give me pleasure at any time to receive sugges- 

 tions as to new and useful special inquiries, such as might be carried out and brought to con- 

 clusion without a too serious exp»!nditure of time and etFort." 



But although Galton was very modest about what his laboratory could 

 jtchieve in the future without a scientific staff, it really had accomplished a 

 great deal. 



"Persons of all ranks went to it', a knowledge of its existence was extending, and it was 

 becoming increasingly frequented up to the day of its closure. Many correspondents in the 

 Unite<l Kingdom, in America, and elsewhei-c, have moro or less adopted its methods, and it was, 

 I may add, a givat consolation to me to receive, on the very day that I l)egan to dismantle it, 

 the proof sheets of the register, and other forms in many respects like my own, that are to be 

 u.sed in the lalwratory at Dublin, which has been set on foot through the efforts, and will be 

 carrietl on under the superintendence, of Professors Cunningham and Haddon." (p. 32.) 



Immediately following' Galton's Itetrospect is a paper by Cunningham 

 and Haddon entitled "The Anthropometric Laboratory of Ireland." They 

 say that Mr Galton, who has given them every encouragement in their work, 

 proposed that they should give some account of the steps they were taking 

 to introduce anthropometric work into Ireland and their aims in doing so. 



"We need hardlyexplain in the Institute where the important and interesting results obtained 

 by Mr Galton in this field of inquiry have been so largely made known, that it was these that 

 stimulated us to endeavour to do likewise in Ireland." (p. 35.) 



Directly or indirectly Galton's Laboratory was the parent of Anthro- 



t)ometric laboratories at Eton, Dublin and Cambridge ; indeed of the much 

 ater work also of Schuster at Oxford. Just as Galton generally transferred 

 his laboratory to the varying loci of the British Association, so Cuiuiingham 

 and Haddon proposed peregrinations for their laboratory during the Long 



' Among whom we may note Mr W. E. Gladstone, whose head measurements afterwards 

 were as serviceable to Mr Brock, as those of the Biometric I^aboratory on the head of Professor 

 Weldon were to Mr Hope Pinker — both being used for jiosthumous portraiture. Gladstone was 

 amusingly insistent on the size of his head, saying that hattt>rs often told him that he had an 

 Aberdonian head — a fivct which he did not forget to tell his Scottish constituents. It was not, 

 however, of very great circumference and rather low (like Sir Thomas Browne's and Bentham's). 

 It was less than Spottiswoode's, ISharpey's and Galton's own. " Have you ever seen as large a 

 head as minel" Gladstone said to Galton, on which the latter observed: "Mr Gladstone, you 

 are very unobservant!" 



 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, Vol. xxi, pp. 35-9. 



48— a 



