Life history album / prepared by direction of the Collective Investigation Committee of the British Medical Association ; edited by Francis Galton.

  • British Medical Association. Collective Investigation Committee.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Life history album / prepared by direction of the Collective Investigation Committee of the British Medical Association ; edited by Francis Galton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    14/201 (page 5)
    Anthropometric Observations.—The observations specified on the next form should be made at the end of the fifth year of age, and in each subsequent year up to the twenty-fifth. The hearing and sight of children should be tested at frequent intervals, for it not uncommonly happens that children are blamed for carelessness and inattention when they are really suffering from loss of sight or hearing, and these defects, if detected, can often be remedied or their advance arrested. The colour of the hair and eyes is liable to change during childhood and youth, and should be recorded. The age at which the hair becomes grey should be noted ; also that at which baldness appears. The questions on the form are sufficiently explicit, and require no further remarks. To test the strength of pull a small spring weighing machine is used, with a handle attached to each hook. It is held in the position of a bow, in the act of being drawn by an archer. The observation, though of interest, is not of primary importance. The returns of the Anthropometric Committee give 77^ lbs. as the most frequently observed pull for an adult male, and 40 lbs. for an adult female. The highest pull recorded by their Committee is 150 lbs., the lowest 20 lbs. PHOTOGRAPHS.—Two pages are left in the portion of the album devoted to each successive five years to receive photographs of the owner that have been taken during the period. They should be obtained from the photographer “unmounted,” and be pasted in the book, and the date at which each was taken should be written below it. If the photographs are especially taken for this purpose, they should be reductions to one-seventh the size of the original face. The vertical distance in an ordinary adult face between the line of the pupils of the eyes and that passing between the lips worn 1 then be four-tenths of an inch. An exact full-face and a profile should be obtained. It is desirable that these portraits should be printed by some “ permanent” process. Marriage and Children.—At the end of the book a few pages are left, on the first of which the name of the wife or husband of the owner and the date of marriage may be inscribed ; a subsequent page should be devoted to notes upon each one of the children, giving the date of birth, the nature and date of any illness, any noticeable peculiarities of character or ability, and any other facts about the child that may seem especially worthy of record.