--- 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> Sender: [log in to unmask] 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 [log in to unmask] 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? Sender: [log in to unmask] 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 Was this map ever produced in published or unpublished form, or even as a table of raw data?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 -- [log in to unmask] --- End Forwarded Message --- --- End Forwarded Message ---