NA TURE 



[May 24, 1906 



In the statistical treatment Dr. Woods first examines 

 the interesting question of whether there is any con- 

 nection between mental and moral qualities, and by 

 means of Pearson's " fourfold-table " method finds the 

 high value of 0-3403 ±0-0419 for the coefficient of corre- 

 lation, and he then proceeds to show that the average 

 number of adult children increases with the higher 

 grade of morality of the parent. It is a pity that no 

 correlation table is given in this last case, as the result 

 is interesting. It is, of course, a conclusion th^t would 

 be expected from general considerations ; for the dis- 

 solute members of any community tend to die at an 

 earlv age, which leads one to expect them to have few 

 children, while the fact of their being dissolute gener- 

 ally means that the children born are less healthy and 

 therefore more often die in childhood. The other 

 statistical results can be conveniently summarised as 

 follows : — 



Coefficients of correlation between 



Mental qualities 

 Moral qualities 



Offspring and Offspring and Offspring and 

 fathers ^Grandfathers great-grandfathers 



... o'3oi ... o'i6r ... o'i53 



... 0298 ... o'i75 ... not calculated 



The first four of these agree closely with the 03 and 

 015 expected by the Law of Ancestral Heredity. In 

 comparing the figures given with those obtained from 

 other sources it should be borne in mind that assortative 

 mating is probably very slight among members ot 

 Royal Families, w-hile elsewhere it plays an important 

 part. We think it would have been well to give some 

 information about the correlation between brothers, and 

 also between offspring and mothers ; the maternal lines 

 have in fact been neglected almost entirely in the 

 statistical work. 



Dr. Woods states as his reason for using the " four- 

 fold-table " method for finding coefficients of correla- 

 tion, that his grades do not necessaril)' represent 

 quantitative measurements, " for we do not know that 

 grade (4) is twice as intellectual as grade (2), &c." 

 This is incorrect ; the ordinary method merely requires 

 the groups to be equidistant, and the remarks on pp. 

 ig and 20 on the distributions of the people in their 

 grades of intelligence or morality leave the impression 

 that Dr. Woods attempted to make them so. In his 

 correlation tables he always divides the offspring and 

 parents into " below the mean " and " above the 

 mean," instead of saying "grades (i) to (5)" and 

 " grades (6) to (10)." The latter represents the real 

 division, as the mean cannot be fixed without knowing 

 the relative distances between the grades. 



The book would be the better for a good index, and 

 one or two misprints such as Fredericfc Harrison and 

 homogomy and father for brother on p. 235 have been 

 allowed to pass, while we think the description of the 

 condition of Portugal during the reign of .•\lfonso IV. 

 as " progress, especially against the infidels," an un- 

 happy one. 



The conclusions reached in the two books are much 

 alike, as the authors find a few centres about which 

 the intelligence seems to collect rather than a chance- 

 distribution of highly intelligent individuals through 

 the population. We cannot help feeling, however, that 

 there is some doubt as to whether the collection of 

 NO. 1909, VOL. 74] 



information among special groups is as satisfactory 

 as the investigation of random samples of the popula- 

 tion. This objection can be urged against the " Note- 

 worthy Families " rather than against the " Royalty," 

 because in the former work we do not know for 

 certain how many very able persons spring from the 

 general public, but a similar question does not arise 

 in dealing with Royalty, and the only point is how far 

 we may apply results obtained from one class to persons 

 in another. 



We are inclined to think that both books may find 

 readers among those who have not made a special 

 study of the statistics bearing on heredity, for both 

 give information in a clear and interesting manner, 

 and the lists of families in the one case and the dis- 

 cussion of Royal personages in the other will attract 

 many who would never look at a work containing 

 nothing but statistical investigation. Is it too much 

 to hope that some of these readers may be led to 

 appreciate that the ultimate proof of historical or bio- 

 logical theories must have a statistical basis? That 

 they will appreciate the painstaking energy of the 

 authors is beyond doubt. I. 



TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYING. 

 Text-hook of Topographical and Geographical Survey- 

 ing. By Major C. F. Close, C.M.G., R.E. Pp. 

 iv + 288. Printed for H.M. Stationery Office. 

 Price 3^. 6d. 



I "HE art of topographical surveying was almost 

 ■^ invariably known in this country until recent 

 years as " military topography," a phrase which may 

 be taken to mean not that the topography of a region 

 presented special features to the soldier, but that little 

 attention w-as paid to topographical surveying of any 

 sort until military necessity arose. The fact that 

 interest in and knowledge of surveying of this kind 

 is no longer confined to the Army is largely due to the 

 active influence of the Royal Geographical Society in 

 London and in the Universities of Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge, as a result of which an increasing number of 

 intending' travellers, explorers, naturalists, and 

 colonists go through some training in surveying before 

 setting out for distant parts, but it is scarcely less due 

 to the work of the Royal Engineers in constantly 

 developing and testing new instruments and methods 

 in the field, and in making the results of trial and 

 experiment generally accessible. 



That the extent of the field before the topographer 

 is great is abundantly evident from Major Close's 

 statement in an introductory paragraph that " exclud- 

 ing Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India, the 

 total unmapped area of the British Empire amounts 

 to about 3,700,000 square miles." Now we cannot 

 expect that the whole of this area will be mapped for 

 purely military purposes. It is to be hoped that sooner or 

 later Government surveyors will lay down a primary 

 triangulation over it for the benefit of the topographer 

 who may follow, but We can scarcely expect more. 

 The topographic map must in the end be made by the 

 civilian who is to use it; the most he can look for 



