StatUtlcnl InveMtitjatinitH 407 



Galton of a« grejit influence as the vagaries of the jiulicial mind ? His material 

 Ih heterogeneous, in that it covers a great variety of clas8<« of crime from 

 misdcineaiiom's to felonij^H. For many of these offt'iiccK a peritnl of iniprison- 

 nicnt, or iit least a inaxiintun period of iniurisonment, has been fixed by the 

 legislature Itself, and however much a jucige might consider an ofleruler to 

 deserve a longer period of iniprisoiinieiit he could not inflict it. I think the 

 irregularity which inidoubtetlly nianifests itself in these results is <lue as 

 much to the 'vox legislatorum as to the 'vox judicum.' This might be easily 

 ascertainefl l)y discussing the returns separated out into individual cl.'usaes of 

 crime. Whatever may be the exact origin of the anomalies — which are 

 certainly present if we hold that anti-social conduct is a continuous variate — 

 we may safely conclude with Cialton : 



"by moralising on the Inrjre efii'cts upfin tho duninco of ii prisontT, thiit (low from such irn-levant 

 influences as the a-ssociations connoctwl with decimal or duiKlcciiiml hahitu and tlie iinconHcioUN 

 favour or disfavour felt for particular nunilxirs. These tritles have \toen now shown on fairly 

 trustworthy evidence to determine the choice of such widely different 8ent*<nce8 as imprisonment 

 for 3 or 5 years, of 5 or 7, and of 7 or 10, for crimes whaso penal deserts would otherwise be 

 rate<l at 4, 6 and 8 or 9 yeai's respectively." 



There is a passage in this memoir which would have delighted the heart 

 of the " Passionate Statistician." It runs: 



"We test the acquirements of youths by rt^peat*-*! examinations, but do not as yet employ 

 the nietho<ls of statistics to test the performances of professional men. Examiners, for example, 

 should themselves l)e tested in this way', and I have a fancy that a discussion of the clinical 

 reports at the various large hospitals might enable a cautious statistician to express with some 

 accuracy the curative capacities of different medical men, in numerical term.s. Before putting 

 oneself into the hands of any new professional adviser, it would certainly be a grateful help to 

 know the indices of ca]>acity of those among whom the choice lay, not such a.s might l>e inferred 

 from their performances in school and undergratluate days, or by their unchecked professional 

 repute, but as they really are in their mature and practical life." (p. 176.) 



What a readjustment of values there would be if those "indices of 

 capacity " were fotmd one morning attaclied to the brass plates of Harley 

 Street or inscrilied in the more sober black and white of the pas.sages in 

 Lincoln's Inn! 



Two further contributions of Francis Galton may be just mentioned. 

 On the death of I)r Samuel Haughton he wrote' pointing out that amid 

 Haughton's many-.sided activities he had introduced the "long drop," an the 

 most painless death by hanging by the neck. Haughton had experimented 

 on the tensile strength of the spine and mu.scles of the neck and published 

 a formula for the length of drop dependent on the height and weight of the 

 culprit. Galton lielieved Haughton to have omitted a small factor in the 

 increased section of the muscles of the neck in fat men. The matter, if an 

 unpleasant one, still needed scientific investigation as a death by l)ehetiding — 

 which in one case occurred — was not carrying out the sentence of the law. 



' All universities ought to take periodic stock of their examiners in the manner suggested. 

 I have no hesitation in as.serting that in many case.s the success or failure of candidates is not 

 a measure of their iutelligence, but of their choice of subject and still more of the particular 

 examiner in that subject who has marked their script. 



' Nature, Vol. Lvn, p. 79, November 25, 1897. 



