THE FOUNDATION OF EUGENICS. 89
tions of strongly marked Skew curves would be exhibited and their genesis briefly described.
It will then be explained that while the ordinate at any specified centesimal division in two normal curves of deviation measures their relative variability, the Quartile is commonly employed as the unit of variability under the almost grotesque name of I Probable Error,' which is intended to signify that the length of anyDeviate in the system is as likely as not to exceed or to fall short of it. This, by construction, is the case of either Quartile.
(New words and meanings-Scheme of Distribution of Deviates, Axis, Normal, Skew, Quartile, and Probable Error.)
In the fourth lesson it has to be explained that the Curve of Normal Distribution is not a direct result of calculation, neither does the formula that expresses it lend itself so freely to further calculation, as the curve of Frequency. Their shapes differ ; the first is an Ogive, the second (Fig. 7) is Bell-shaped. In the curve of Frequency the Deviations are reckoned from the Mean of all the Variates, and not from the Median. Mean and Median are the same in Normal Curves, but may differ much in others. Either of these normal curves can be transformed into the other, as is best exemplified by using a Polygon (Fig. 8) instead of the Curve, consisting of a series of rectangles differing in height by the same amounts, but having widths respectively representative of the
