Correlation and, Application of Statistics to Problems of Heredity 125 



Sir Francis' solution. Broken lines show intended cuts ; ordinary straight 

 lines the cuts that have been made. The segments are kept together by an 

 elastic band. 



Fig. 13. 



Always assuming, which I feel some doubt about, that both consumers 

 of this cake ate their daily allotment of the circular rind, the method leaves 

 an unconscionable amount of dry rind (some fth) for the third day's con- 

 sumption ! I rather suspect that the cook would have been instructed by the 

 lady of the house to bake in rectangular tins in future. 



Another amusing contribution: "Number of Strokes of the Brush in a 

 Picture," was made to Nature, June 29, 1905 (Vol. lxxii, p. 198). Galton 

 as I have already noted* sat in 1882 for his portrait (not a very successful 

 one) to Graef. The source of the failure is, perhaps, revealed, for Galton 

 finding it tedious to sit doing nothing counted the painter's slow methodical 

 strokes per minute and then averaged them up. As he knew only too well 

 the number of hours spent in the sittings, he obtained the total he desired 

 to ascertain, some 20,000 strokes to the portrait. About 22 years later he 

 was painted by Charles Furse f , whose method was totally different from that 

 of Graef. He looked hard at Galton while mixing his colours, then he made 

 dabs so fast that Galton found difficulty in keeping up his count. The 

 difference of the two artists' work will be recognised, if the reader compares 

 the Graef picture (Vol. n, Plate XI) with the Furse picture (Frontispiece to 

 Vol. i). It may, however, destroy his pleasure in both, if he thinks of the 

 two artists both having caught the aspect of Galton when silently counting! 

 However to Galton's great surprise Furse's dabs came out about 20,000 to 

 Graef's 20,000 strokes! Only we must remember that Furse did not fully 

 complete his portrait. For comparative purposes Galton computed the 

 number of stitches in an ordinary knitted pair of socks and found 102 stitches 

 in the widest part to each row and 100 rows to 7 inches, whence he computed 

 that the leg parts of a pair of socks would contain over 20,000 separate 

 movements, or rather more than required for a portrait. Galton concludes : 



" Graef had a humorous phrase for the very last stage of his portrait, which was ' painting 

 the buttons.' Thus, he said, ' in five days' time I shall come to the buttons.' Four days passed, 

 and the hours and minutes of the last day, when he suddenly and joyfully exclaimed, ' I am 

 come to the buttons.' I watched at first with amused surprise, followed by an admiration not 

 far from awe. He poised his brush for a moment, made three rapid twists with it, and three 



• Vol. ii, p. 99 and Plate XI. 



t Furse died October 16, 1904, of phthisis. His unfinished portrait of Galton must have been 

 one of his last works. 



