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OCR Rendition - approximate
418 Life and Letters of Francis Galton "This concluded all that I had to undergo. I had spent about one hour under anthropometric tests, and from half-an-hour to one hour under each of the other three, besides the hour in essaywriting, or about { four hours in all, exclusive of intervals. Candidates were undergoing examinations in different parts of the Hall at the same time, but not necessarily in the same order. The Medical Room was wholly separated from the rest. The Examination Hall was in full use during 6 hours, so with duplicated examiners, more than 20 candidates could be wholly and easily examined in a single day. Four such days dealt with all the 80 candidates. The clerks were simultaneously employed, each in copying and in reducing entries and adding up figures, which after being checked by other clerks were submitted to the chief examiners. Those gentlemen had also acted as overseers and taken some part in the examinations. " The maximum number of positive marks that could be gained by each candidate is four times 30 or 120. A star (*) might also be gained in each subject. The marks were totalled, and about half of these totals usually range between + 45 and + 70. None of the candidates were given negative marks, those who would otherwise have received them having been weeded out by the Pass Examination. The names and marks of those who gained 70 marks and upwards are published in the newspaper, together with such brief notes as each case might call for. This part of the publication is official and wholly under the editorship of the Registrar. I learnt that supplementary marks might be, and often were, accorded for especially good service to the community subsequent to the examination. They had to be proposed by the Board of Examiners, and the grounds for the proposal had to be set forth in their Annual Report. This was submitted to the final approval of the General Meeting, which was almost always given as a matter of course. These Supplementary Marks are supposed to attest that the natural capacity of the person who receives them really exceeds that which was expressed by the number of marks he had received at the original examination.. , " I do not know much in detail about the examination for girls. It is carried out by women examiners who had taken medical degrees elsewhere, and is, I was assured, as thorough as that which I had myself undergone, and was considered to be as trustworthy. "There is a bifurcation of the Examinations both for girls and boys, part of each of them being intended for the more cultured class and part for the hard workers, whether on farms or in town. I need not go into particulars. "I inquired minutely whether they were unable to devise some test for endurance or staying power, which seemed to me one of the most important of those they had to consider. It seemed that they had not as yet succeeded in eliminating the effect of practice. Neither were they enabled to examine into character directly as a separate subject, partly because it was not fully developed at the usual age of examination, and partly because of the extreme difficulty at that age of estimating it justly, the teachers and the comrades of a girl or boy often making sad mistakes of judgment. " I was assured that no doubt was felt as to the trustworthiness of the marks given by the examiners, as a general rule, subject rarely to exceptions such as might be expected. The sons of College Marriages were unmistakably superior in bodily and mental gifts to those of the ordinary folk of Kantsaywhere, and these again compare very favourably with those of neighbouring colonies. Besides this, numerous results are published in which comparisons are made between the children of high-diplomaed parents and of those who are less highly graded. All concur in showing the general superiority of the former, just as much but not more than would be expected of the offspring of various qualities of any domestic animal. A general conviction of this truth forms the firm basis of the customs and ideals of Kantsaywhere. "CHAPTER VI. The Calendar of Kantsaywhere. I returned to my host's house, where I was congratulated on having gone through my ordeal. I felt sure of success in the anthropometric part because I was something of an athlete, having rowed in a University race. I was also good in other respects, being reputed by good judges to be so prompt and sure a shot, that I have been urged, in all seriousness, to go to Monte Carlo and compete there for the valuable pigeonshooting prizes. I knew I was all right medically, and thought I might do fairly in aesthetics. I, however, saw clearly that I was not even yet received with perfect freedom, except by Tom; the others evidently waited to learn how I should be placed, before letting themselves go, so to speak. They did not as yet invite me to accompany them to the houses of their friends, so I had much spare time, and thought the best way of occupying it until the lists were out, was to stay indoors and to make a careful study of the Calendar of Kantsaywhere College. I saw little
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