394 Life antJ Letters of Frnneis Cioltoii 



The next eflfort of Galton was a lecture before the SocieUj of Arts on 

 Noveniljer '26, 1890', entitled: "Physical Tests in Examinations." This 

 lecture tells us a little more of the history of the movement. Galton's pro- 

 positi to give marks for physical efficiency was sent by the Anthropological 

 section to the Council of the British Association, and the latter drew up 

 a report on the subject which was distinctly favoural)le, although cautious! >• 

 expressed; finally the recommendations reached were submitted to varioi: 



g)vernment departments. Not improbably the original draft was due i 

 alton. The recommendations ran : 



(1) That an inquiry should l)e held as to the best system of assigning 

 marks for physical (jualifications, on the doul)le basis of inspection and 

 anthro|)ometry, with a view to its early establishment as a temporary and 

 tentative system. 



(2) That the marks to be given under this temporary system should 1 

 small, so as to affect the success of those candidates only, who woidd In 

 ranked by the present examinations very near to the dividing line between 

 success and failure, and whose intellectual performances would consetjuentl \ 

 l)e nearly on a par, though they would differ widely in their pnysical 

 qualifications. 



(3^ That a determination should be expressed to reconsider the entii 

 (]uestion afler the experience of a few yeai-s. 



The replies received from the government departments were more or le.ss 

 of the usual type. 



"The Civil Service Commissioners, moved thereto by the India Office, are now engaged in 

 considering the practicability of the proposals." 



They probably would wait to see what force of public o])inion was l)ehind them. 

 Galton states that — subject to such reservations as that training for 

 physical efficiency must not distract the candidate from his books, that it 

 should not exhaust his energy, and that it should not displace any of the 

 usual examination subjects or the medical pass-examination — it was a truism 

 to say that physical efficiency ought to be taken into account in selectin 

 men to fill pcjsts where high physical powers are advantjigeous. Our lectur( i 

 next dealt with the means of testing physical efficiency. Athletic competitions 

 he discarded as in no way suitable; he wanted to test natural capacities and iw 

 these capacities after a severe course of training. He then turned to inspection 

 and suggested that medical examiners might not only pass men, but mai k 

 them. Galton appeared to lay some stress on judgment of physical efficiencv 

 by inspection and cited the manner in which horse dealers and slave dealer 

 rapidly reach on inspection fairly accurate estimates'. Galton next turns t 

 physical tests and mentions those with which this book has rendered tli 



' Journal of the SociHy o/ Arts, VoL xxxix, pp. 19-27. 



' Qalton illu8trnte<l this from an experience of his own when traveliiiif; in IMG in tli 

 Soodan. "An KKyptian, who possesHcd little besideK a sword, had iittachiKl himself t<i tl: 

 caravan with which I was traveliiiij^. He was on his way to join a slave-raiding t'xjHtlitidii on 

 the Jwnlem of Abyssinia, and he had, I found out, considerable experience in slave markets. 

 I aaked him many questions, from time to time, about the valuing of slaves, and at last l^>gg< 



