--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 09:44:46 +0100
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Galton's Beauty map of the British Isles? <fwd>
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Brendan:

This was discussed about three years ago on 'MapHist' (I believe Ed Dahl
either raised the question or commented on it): you should be able to find
this on the MapHist indexed CD-ROM.

Francis
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http://www.rgs.org [see 'Collections'/'Unlocking the Archives']


-----Original Message-----
From: Johnnie Sutherland [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 October 2002 20:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Galton's Beauty map of the British Isles? <fwd>


--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 11:12:19 +1000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Galton's Beauty map of the British Isles?
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An article in today's Melbourne Age mentioned Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
and the fact that he produced a "Beauty Map of the British Isles". According
to his memoirs: "I may here speak of some attempts by myself, made hitherto
in too desultory a way, to obtain materials for a "Beauty-Map" of the
British Isles. Whenever I have occasion to classify the persons I meet into
three classes, "good, medium, bad," I use a needle mounted as a pricker,
wherewith to prick holes, unseen, in a piece of paper, torn rudely into a
cross With a long leg. I use its upper end for "good," the cross-arm for
"medium," the lower end for "bad." The prick-holes keep distinct, and are
easily read off at leisure. The object, place, and date are written On the
paper. I used this plan for my beauty data, classifying the girls I passed
in streets or elsewhere as attractive, indifferent, or repellent. Of course
this was a purely individual estimate, bat it was consistent, judging from
the conformity of different attempts in the same population. I found London
to rank highest for beauty; Aberdeen lowest."

Was this map ever produced in published or unpublished form, or even as a
table of raw data? There are a number of websites mentioning that he at
least collected the data, but no reference to the actual data or map...

Brendan Whyte
Geography Department
University of Melbourne
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