Statistical /nveatif/atiouM 383 



aAsigmneiit r>{ i-ank in a class, or by making other deductiono that I have not apace to refer to 

 her«>, Huch a« the nuniurictil valuns by which the nearncHs of different degree* of kinnhip may 

 b«' t>xpr««8ed, or t\w cloNfiioss of corruliition iM'twtH-ii different parts of th« Ividy. There in no 

 intrinsic dirticulty in );ni.sping the conceptions of whicli I RjM'ak, but <■ ■■> to prettont 



UHago and limk .strange at first sight. They are conmnjuenlly very dill. brietlyand 



intelligibly to thotiu to whom they are wholly new." 



It will be se(Mi that Jis early a« 1889 Galton \va« fully ajSfiuixKl that the 

 ideas of a correlational calculus opened a new world of thought, not only to 

 the trained scientist, but to every man of education who could maater his 

 natural inertia and endeavour t<> grasp the new conceptions. 



Chapter II of the pamphlet is entitled " Human Variety." This waa Galton's 

 final address to the Anthropological I nstitute at the end of the four years during 

 wliich he had held the office of president'. The paper opens with a paragraph 

 on finger-prints which shows that Galton w.'is working at the subject, and 

 already fully recognised its importance for identification. He especially refers 

 to Sir William Flerschel's use of the method m India, and suggests its use in 

 North Borneo for identifying the coolies, and in other cases wliere there may 

 be fraud from impersonation of pensioners and annuitants. Galton then turns 

 to correlation, 



"a very wide subject indcwi. It c.\ist.s wherever the variiilioiis of two objects iire in piirt due 

 to coniinon causes; but on tliis occasion I must only speak of such correlations as have an 

 anthropological interest." 



He tells us that the particular problem he first had in view was to ascertain 

 the pmctical limitations of the nigenious method of anthropometric identifi- 

 cation due to M. Alphonse Bertillon, which was then in habitual use in the 

 criminal administration of France. Correlation between the various measure- 

 ments would obviously l)e a serious defect of the Bertillon .system, and 

 Galton suspected strongly the existence of this source of error'. An element 

 of history is now revealed : 



"The (irst results of the inquiry, which is not yet completed, have been to myself a grateful 

 surprise. Not only did it turn out that the measure of correlation between any two variabli-s is 

 exceedingly simple and definite, but it became evident almost from the first that I hml uncon- 

 sciously explored the very same ground before. No sooner did I Iwgin to tabulate the data than 

 I saw that they ran in Just the same form a.s those that referre<l to family likeness in stature, 



' Delivered Jan. 22,1889. SoeJoiirnalo/theAnthropoioffiealIngtitHte,Vr>\.xvm,ppAOl-\9. 



'' The first complete analysis of these correlations was given by the late Dr W. U. Macdonell 

 and ho indicated how an index could be constnicted of artificial functions of the Bertillon 

 measurements in which this difliculty of correlation would be satisfactorily surmounted. Bio- 

 meh-iAn, Vol. i, 1902, pp. 177-227, "On Criminal Anthropometry and the Identification of 

 Criminals." He shows that the correlations of the Bertillon measurements are high, far too 

 high for indexing purpo.scii. Galton first expressed his doubt,s on this point after Bertillon's 

 discourse on his system before the .\ntliropological Institute. "There may be room for reasonable 

 doubt among anthropologists whether the precision with which the living body can be measured 

 is quite as great, and whether its dimensions are quite as permanent, as they are considered to 

 be by M. Bertillon; and again there may be some hasitation in believing that a very large 

 collection of measures would admit of lieing so surely catalogued on the Bertillon system as to 

 be ransacked with a promptitude at all corresponding to that with which a won! may be found 

 in a huge dictionary" (Journal of the Anihropoloyical InMitule, Vol. XX, p. 198). This was one 

 of the early clashes in the contest l)etween the Bertillon and Galton systems, which was to end 

 ultimately with the victory of the latter. 



