388 Life ami Letters of Francin Gallon 



ciation between physique and intellect, and we cannot therefore argue from 

 examinational success to any physical fitness. The high honours men, the 

 low honours men and the poll men were alike in their average bodily efficiency, 

 except for slightly worse vision in the high chiss honours men. 



"The intelleotiud diflferenoM are usually small between the candidate-s who are placed, 

 aooording to the present literary exaniinatioiis, near to the dividing line betwe(*n Huccess and 

 failure. But their ph^'sical difference* are as great as among an equal number of other candidates 

 taken at random. It snems then to be most reasonable whenever two candidates are almost on 

 a par intellectually, though one is far superior physically, that the latter should be preferred. 

 This is practically all I propose. I advocate no more at present than the introduction of new 

 marks on a very moderate scale sufficient to save from failure a few very vigorous candidate^ 

 for the Army, Navy, Indian Civil Service, and certain other Government ap^xMntments in which 

 hi^h bodily powers are of service. I would give the places to them that would be occupied under 

 the present system by men who are far their inferiors physically, and very little their superiors 

 intellectually. I am sure that every succeii.sful employer of men would assign as much weight 

 as this to bodily efficiency, even aniong the highest class of those whom he employs, and that 

 Government api>ointments would be still better adjudged than they now are if considerations ut 

 high bodily efficiency were taken into some account." (p. 2&; B. A. R. p. 473.) 



Gralton considers that the desirable tests should involve measures of 

 strength, vital capacity, agility or promptness, keenness of eyesight and of 

 hearing. We could now add a number of tests, such as have been applied 

 recently to candidates for the Air Force. The chapter concludes with the 

 remark : 



"It would certainly be grateful to many parents who now lament the exclusively bookish 

 character of the examinations, and are wont to protest against a system that gives no better 

 chance to their own vigorous children of entering professions where bodily vigour is of high 

 importance than if they had lieen physically j'u«< not unfit to receive an appointment." (p. 26 ; 

 li. A. R. p. 473.) 



Chapter IV is entitled: "On the Principle and Methods of Assigning 

 Marks for Bodily Efficiency'." CJalton starts by saying that we may either 

 give marks for ranks or for achievements, and apparently proposes in each 



permission to have copies taken of some of the schedules and worked out the actual correlations 

 for over 1000 cases with the following results: 



Length of Head and Intelligence + -111 + 020, 

 Breadth of Head and Intelligence + 097 + -021. 



Schoolboys and schoolgirls at age twelve gave similar results. (See "Relation.ship of Intclli 

 gence to Shape and Size of Head," Biometrika, Vol. v, p. 120.) Thus Ualton \ins formally correct 

 in saying there was association, but the correlation is so low as to be absolutely idle for any 

 individual prognosis. 



Galton's interest in the Cambridge Anthropometric Laboratory was very great and in asso- 

 ciation with Mr (now Sir) Horace Darwin not only new anthropometric instruments were 

 devised, but the old ones improved or modified. The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company 

 produced "A Descriptive List of Anthropometric Apparatus, consisting of Instruments for 

 Measuring and Testing the Chief Physical Characteristics of the Human Body. D&signed under 

 the Direction of Mr Francis (Jalton." Of this, the fourth issue (May, 1890) lies before me; it 

 is rather a reasoned account of the meaning of an anthropometric laboratory, of the measure- 

 ments which may be taken and of the methods of taking them, than the price list of a manu- 

 facturing firm. 



' This was also contributed as a memoir to the British Association, see Rfport, 1889, 

 pp. 474-8. The diagrams of the pamphlet fail in this B.A. memoir. They were, however, given 

 in a paper in AWure, OcUjber 31, 1889, Vol. xi., pp. 650-51. On the other hand the B.A. Report 

 has the pap<-r by A- A. Somerville discussing Eton experiments on the relative reliability of 

 phjraical t<«t« and of literary examinations. A system of marking having Ixjen devistid for physical 

 1 and for iiKtIicnl flim-ss in certain directions two medical men examined indepcndrntly 32 



