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382 Life and fjetteri* of Francis Oalton 



The next advantage of anthropometry Gal ton finds ii 

 natter which some of our moderns believe they ha^ 



in its indtistrial value, 

 a matter which some of our moderns believe they have discovered for the 

 first time. 



" Employers of labour might often find it helpful to require a list of l)ilHiniU)ry iiicji.surcin«'iit> 

 when selecting l)etween many candidates wlio otherwise might lie equal in merit. Certainly n 

 man who was then^hy shown t«i be meajiurahly much more highly endowe^l than the generalitx 

 of his class with physical efficiency, would have a corresponding high chance of being selected for 

 any post in which physical efficiency of the kind tested was of advantage. I have great hope of 

 seeing a system of mo<lerate marks for physical efficiency introduced into the competitivi 

 examinations of candidates for the Army, Navy and Indian Civil Services." (p. 8.) 



We have here a point to which we must shortly return — the que.stion oi' 

 marks for physical proficiency, which Gallon strongly advocated. 1 might be 

 inclined to go somewhat further and suggest that when there is doubt — and 

 there often is — between the intellectual merits of two candidates the mental 

 tests of a well-organised anthropometric laboratory would effectively discrimi- 

 nate. The County Council educational authorities are annually in difficulty in 

 the award of their secondary scholarships, not about the boys or girls at the top, 

 but those at the bottom of the selected list, where there are numbers on a 

 nearly dead level, with no adequate examinational differences to guide the 

 judgment. It would be a valuable and justifiable procedure to further sepa- 

 rate out the better of these ciindidates by well-chosen anthropometric tests, 

 which would be certain to appeal to faculties whose difierentiation could not 

 be achieved by a written examination. 



Another advantage Galton finds in anthropometry is the i-egistration of 

 individuals for identification. Honest men may need identification as well ius 

 rogues, and the measurements, especially if finger-prints are included, would 

 si^ce to identify any one between the ages of 20 and 60. 



Apart from the — shilling's worth of— advantage to the individual, Galton 

 emphasises the scientific ends which can be attained by anthropometric 

 laboratories. He refers to problems such as whether the promises of youth art' 

 fulfilled in adult life; if a boy is of liigh rank among his compeers is it an 

 indication of sujierior future efficiency in the man? Another problem is tliat 

 of the infiuence of education or practice upon both mental and physical 

 characters. Again the influence of environment could be tested as soon as 

 we have precise measures of faculties. Galton notes that even if there be a 

 rapid rise in the efficiency of any factor due to training or environment, it 

 soon reaches a condition in which the daily improvement lessens and at last 

 stands still ; the limit of perfectibility has been reached. 



"Experiences of this kind on a large enough scale to give trustworthy results would have a 

 direct bearing on the science of education." (p. 10.) 



Lastly Galton deals with the educational value that a habit of measure- 

 ment has in promoting accuracy in ideas and language : 



"The present vague way in which men mostly estimate and describe the performances of 

 themaelTea or others, testifies to much muddlcheadedness and to a sad lack of expression.... 

 Tliere is a world of interest hidden from the minds of the great majority of cfiucatod men, to 

 whom the conceptions and laws of the higher statistics are unknown. A familiarity with these 

 cfmceptions would soon Ije gained by the habit of dealing with human measurements, as by the 



