ID# 2173:
"On the Anthropometric Laboratory at the late International Health Exhibition," by Francis Galton
Date:
1885
Pages: (1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30)
Source:
University College London, GP, 182

&quote;On the Anthropometric Laboratory at the late International Health Exhibition,&quote; by Francis Galton

at the late International Health Exhibition. 11 considerably in efficiency without the person being aware of the fact, who ought in that case to use appropriate glasses. The apparatus (Plate XII, fig. 1) is a long and light frame with a single eye-hole. Blocks of wood about 1 1/4 inch wide and 2 1/2 inches high, each with a sentence in diamond print pasted upon its face, are fastened square to the line of sight at distances of 7, 9, 11, and so on up to 41 inches. The number of inches is painted in bold figures on the upper part of the face of each block. The block are disposed in a curve, so that when viewed from the eye-hole each stands just clear of the preceding one (see fig. 1a); the curve of the frame is, in fact, an equiangular spiral. First the right eye is tested, and then the left eye, and the greatest distance at which the type can be read by each of them is recorded. If the print cannot be read at all by the unaided eye, a cross is marked on the schedule. [italics]b. Colour-Sense. - A series of bars are packed closely side by side in a frame, looking something like the keys of a pianoforte. Fig. 2, Plate XII, shows only a portion of the instrument, as the right hand part has been broken off in order to exhibit its construction more distinctly. The two flaps are half opened for the same reason. When the upper flap is closed, the part B keeps the bars in an even row, and the part C nips their tops. When the lower flap is closed, the numbers on the bars are hidden. Along the middle part of each of these bars a differently coloured wool is wound lengthways, and the foot of each bar is stamped with a separate number. In the frame there are as many peg-holes as there are bars, one hole to each bar. The order of the bars can be changed when the instrument is unlocked. The frame is placed before the person to be tested, the numbers are hidden by flap A, and he is required to insert a peg opposite each of the bars that has any shade of green wound round it. After he has leisurely done this to his satisfaction the attendant lifts up the flap and displays the numbers of the chosen colours, and records the fact of his having judged rightly or wrongly as the case may be. [italics]c. Judgment of the Eye as regards Length.[end italics] - A board (Plate XIII, fig. 3) has two pairs of parallel strips of wood fastened across it, between each of which a bar slides freely. In each case a square rod, 15 inches long and somewhat longer than the bar, is hinged to it along its edges, and when closed down upon it, hides it altogether. There is a movable pointer attached to the lower of each pair of strips. The position of the pointers is shown in the figure, but the scale of the drawing is too small to show the slot and the rest of the easily-to-be-imagined arrangement by which they are rendered movable. In the one pair, the pointer is set somewhere about midway, and the person to be tested is desired to slide the rod until its middle is brought as nearly as he can judge opposite the pointer. When he has done this, the hinged rod is lifted and the face of the bar is exposed. This has a central fiducial mark, and bear graduations on either side of it each equal to 1/100 of the total length of the rod. The error of adjustment is thus determined in percentage. [end]

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