ID# 2182:
"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

20 Francis Galton. - On the Anthropometric Laboratory have the records exhausted, but requested him to take as many as seemed in each case to be sufficient to give a trustworthy result for these and certain other purposes to which I desired to apply them. The precise number was determined by accidental matters of detail that in no way implied a selection of the measurements. The summarised form in which I finally took them in hand is shown in the two upper lines of the following specimen: -- [tabular material] Height, Sitting, of Female Adults, aged 23-50, in inches. 29- & 30- & 31- & 32- & 33- & 34- & 35- & 36- & 37- & Total 775 2 & 8 & 52 & 116 & 226 & 227 & 108 & 31 & 5 2& 10 & 62 & 178 & 404 & 631 & 739 & 770 & 775 & Abscisse ) to 775 30 & 31 & 32 & 33 & 34 & 35 & 36 & 37 & 38 & Corresponding Ordinates. [end tabular material] The meaning of the two upper lines is that in a total of 775 observations there were 2 cases measuring 29 and under 30 inches, 8 cases measuring 30 and under 31 inches, and so on. The third line contains the sums of the entries in the second line reckoned from the beginning, and is to be read as follows: -- 2 cases under 30 inches, 10 cases (=2+8) under 31 inches, 62 cases (=2+8+52) under 32 inches, and so on. I plotted these 775 cases on French "sectional" paper, which procurable on long and inexpensive rolls, roled crossways by lines 1 millimetre apart. I counted the first line as 0[degree symbol] and the 776th as 775[degree symbol]. Supposing the measurements to have been plotted in order of their magnitude, in succession between these lines, the first would stand between 0[degree symbol] and 1[degree symbol], the second between 1[degree symbol] and 2[degree symbol], and so on. Now we see from the Table that the second measurement was just short of 30 inches, consequently the third measurement was presumably just beyond it, therefore the abscissa whose value is 2[degree symbol], and which separates the second from the third measurement, may fairly be taken to represent the abscissa of the ordinate that is equal to 30 inches exactly. Similarly, the abscissa whose value is 10[degree symbol] divides the measurement that is just under 31 inches from that which is presumably just above it, and may be taken as the abscissa to that ordinate whose precise value is 31[degree symbol], and so on for the rest. The fourth line of the Table gives the ordinates thus determined for the abscissae whose values are entered above them in the third line. I dotted the values of these ordinates in their right places on the sectional paper, and joined the dots with a line, which in every case, except the breathing capacity, fell into a [end]

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