iv.] SCHEMES OF DISTRIBUTION AND OF FREQUENCY. 37 



the distribution of any faculty has been ascertained, we 

 can tell from the measurement, say of our child, how he 

 ranks among other children in respect to that faculty, 

 whether it be a physical gift, or one of health, or of 

 intellect, or of morals. As the years go by, we may 

 learn by the same means whether he is making his way 

 towards the front, whether he just holds his place, or 

 whether he is falling back towards the rear. Similarly 

 as regards the position of our class, or of our nation, 

 among other classes and other nations. 



Schemes of Distribution and their Grades. — I shall 

 best explain my graphical method of expressing Dis- 

 tribution, which I like the more, the more I use it, 

 and which I have latterly much developed, by showing 

 how to determine the Grade of an individual among his 

 fellows in respect to any particular faculty. Suppose 

 that we have already put on record the measures of 

 many men in respect to Strength, exerted as by an 

 archer in pulling his bow, and tested by one of Salter's 

 well-known dial instruments with a movable index. 

 Some men will have been found strong and others weak ; 

 how can we picture in a compendious diagram, or how 

 can we define by figures, the distribution of this faculty 

 of Strength throughout the group ? How shall we 

 determine and specify the Grade that any particular 

 person would occupy in the group ? The first step is 

 to marshal our measures in the orderly way familiar to 

 statisticians, which is shown in Table I. I usually work 

 to about twice its degree of minuteness, but enough 



