ANTHROPOMETRIC LABORATORY; FRANCIS GALTON, ERS, {THE DETERMINATION OF HEIGHT, WEIGHT, SpaN, BREATHING POWER, STRENGTH OF PULL AND SQUEEZE, QUICKNESS (OF BLOW, HEARING, SEEING, COLOUE-SENSE, ‘AND OTHER PERSONAL DATA ‘THE LABORATORY 1S SITUATED IN THE EAST CORRIDOR ANNEXE, ENTRANCE FROM THE SOUTH GALLERY. Adomision the Laboatny 36, for eich a Shae fed up with ‘he above dis site furnished, Lowpon: WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Liwtren, ‘> 1, CHAMING CROSS, BW 1884.aera wy wittar SLOWS A Sox, Lar, International Health Exhibition, LONDON, 1884, ANTHROPOMETRIC LABORATORY FRANCIS GALTON, FRS. ‘Tite object of the Anthropometric Laboratory isto show to the public the great simplicity of the instruments and methods by which the chiet physical chavactristes may ‘be measured and recorded. The instruments at presen in action deal vith Keennese of Sight; Colour-Sense ; Judg- ment of Eye; Hearing; Highest Audibie Note; Breathing Power; Strength of Pull and Squeeze ; Swiftess of Blow : Span of Arms; Height, standing and sitting ; and Weight! ‘Such i the ease of working the instruments thata person can be measured in these respects, and a card containing the results furnished to him, and a duplicate made and preserved for statistical purposes, at a total cost of 3a. ‘The use of periodical measurement is two-fold, personal and statistical The one shows the prograse of the Indivi- ‘dual; the other, that of portions of the nation, or of the ration as a whole We will consider these two uses separately Personal uce-Periodical measurements aford a. sure test whether the physical development of the child or4 youth is preceeding normally. They draw attention to faults in wearing to be cligenty cought for and remedied, lest the future efficiency of the child, when it grows to ‘manhood of womanhood, be compromised, There are Inundreds of thousands of eases in arhich eyesight has been Deedessly injured beyond repair by pure neglect; of lop- sided growth, and of stunted chest capacity which meastre= ‘ment would have manifested in their eatier stages, and hich could have been checked iFattended to in time, The necessity of periodical measurement is thoroughly recog ised by thove who have studied the subject of health, but it has not yet obtained that hold on popular opinion which it deserves, and which i will Rereafter undoubtedly Statistical wie ~ Anthropometric records are” treated statistically to discover the efficieney of the nation as a ‘whole and in its several parts, andthe diecton in which it fs changing, whether for better or worse. ‘They enable us ‘compare schools occupations, residences, races, &e, The Anthropometric Committee of the British Associstion tole reat pains to collect avalable data for inquiries of this Kind, but their returns were by no means adequate to solve even the more important national questions although ‘many interesting facts were derived from them, ‘There is reat need for a more systematic registration of physical ‘measurements. Their value is indiputable, the cost of ‘making them is trifing, and the failty of registation in ‘any permanent institution is obvious Te seems sttange that they should be neglected at any school or university. ‘To show the use of preserving even the minor personal data, twill Be well to dell for 8 moment on the colour ofthe Eyes and Hal, which might be thought at fst sight tohave no obvious bearing on the general efficiency of the ‘nation, This is ir from being the case, The British nation is partly a blend and partly a mossie of very distinct types ‘The short black-haived ancient British race unites iaper fectly with the tl fatshaired Danish or Seandinavin, Thelt union resembles what druggists eal an emulsion, that i 5 mixture of cil and water, so well shaken together the they form an apparently homogeneous abstance; but the com. bination fs not durable. Leave the emulsion alone, and after a longer or shorter time it will separate into its component elements. Types are stable, but the forms of ‘heir mongrel offpring are net; and whenever the extemal features of the old types are found in something of thee ‘original pity, itis reasonable to suppose that thei inward characteristics are present also ‘Whether it be a5 a race peculiarity of not, the colour of the hair is related, at least in America, to cetain forms of jmmunity fiom disease or susceptbily to it This is shown by the statistics published by the Amesican War Office in 1875, under the divetion of Dr, Baxter. At the time of the war of their rebellion all male citizens of the United States between the ages of 20 and 43 years were ‘medically inspected with great minuteness, 0 Teaen how ‘many were fit for service. About one quarter of those ‘examined were rejected, and the diseases that incapacitated ‘them are specified in ‘Dr. Baxters book, together with various particular, including the coloue of the hair and eyes, Te appears from an analysis of between 330,000 and Hoo00 of the best reported cases of invaldis, that the roportion of the light eomplexioned mien who were unfit for service was larger than that of the dask, The light haired men in America were moce affected than the dark Aare by every form of disease except chronie rheumatism A Giagram in which these proportions are shown is hung up inthe laboratery. Tt follows that even the eolour of the hair is @ proper subject for anthropometric record; much more may we fel assured that obviously imporeant personal data deserve ‘measurement and registration