The Non-Correlation of Biometrics and Eugenics: Rival Forms of Laboratory Work in Karl Pearson's Career at University College London,Part 2

Galton Francis , letter to Karl Pearson, 15 November 1906 (Papers and Correspondence of Francis Galton, University College London (hereafter referred to as FG:UCL)).

Pearson Karl , letter to Francis Galton, 25 October 1906, in Pearson, op. cit. (ref. 37), 298.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 103).

Pearson Karl , letter to Mrs Weldon, 22 December 1906 (KP:UCL, 266/8).

Pearson Karl , letter to Francis Galton, 22 December 1906, in Pearson, op. cit. (ref. 37), 304.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 37), 306.

Pearson retained Schuster's services when he appointed him as the zoologist on this committee.

Galton Francis , letter to Karl Pearson, 4 February 1907 (FG:UCL).

Pearson Karl , letter to Francis Galton, 2 January 1908 (FG:UCL). Also in Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 15), 333.

Galton Francis , letter to Karl Pearson, 4 February, 1907 (FG:UCL).

Fisher R. A. Wright Sewall both developed later statistical methods which were based on Pearsonian correlations to determine the hereditability of certain traits.

In 1913 the Principal of the University of London, Edwin Dellar, bought 719 copies of Galton's Noteworthy families from John Murray who had first published the book. Dellar gave most of the copies to Pearson. Dellar wanted the book published “out of regard for Sir Francis Galton, who was an old friend of my father's and my own. We regard the book as a creditable one to ourselves, and are quite content to go on selling copies at present”. Edwin Dellar, letter to John Murray, 30 May 1913, enclosed with Pearson's copy of “Resolutions adopted by the Senate on 19 February 1913” (KP:UCL, 242).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 37), 264.

Mackenzie , op. cit. (ref. 5), 176. See his chapter “On the politics of the contingency table”.

Mackenzie , op. cit. (ref. 5), 177.

Pearson Karl Heron David , “On theories of association”, Biometrika, ix (1913), 159–315, p. 210.

Pearson Heron , op. cit. (ref. 117), 213.

Stocks Percy Karn Mary Noel used the chi-square goodness of fit test in their paper on “A cooperative study of cancer and control patients”, Annals of eugenics, v (1933), 292–353.

Moul Margaret used sorting-cards in “Problems of alien immigration”, Annals of eugenics, i (1928), 5–127. A full description of this procedure is given on p. 91.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 36), 3.

Pearson Karl , “The position of the Galton Laboratory at the end of the War”, letter to the Editor of The Times, June 1919 (KP:UCL, 247).

Pearson Karl , “Report on the work of the Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics, February 1908 to June 1909” (KP:UCL, 235).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 36), 361.

Pearson Karl , letter to Major Greenwood, 14 April 1908 (KP:UCL, 915).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 123), 57.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 123), 56.

Pearson Karl , “On the inheritance of mental disease”, Annals of eugenics, iv (1932), 362–80.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 128).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 37), 103–4.

Pearson Karl , “Nature and nurture: The problems of the future”, Eugenics Laboratory lecture series, 28 April 1910. The reproduction of the plates used here are amongst Pearson's papers on “Work on the inheritance of diseases and insanity” (KP:UCL, 199/1).

Mazumdar Pauline M. H. , Eugenics, human genetics and human failings (London, 1992), 87.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 128), 362.

Ibid., 366.

Ibid., 374.

Ibid., 379.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 131), 3.

Ibid., 27.

Mazumdar , op. cit. (ref. 132), 4.

Ibid., 60.

Pearson Karl , “The treasury of human inheritance issued by the Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics”, Drapers' Company research memoirs. Studies in National Deterioration, i (1910), Foreword.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 121), 57.

Ibid., 56–57.

For a fuller account of Pearson's influence on the medical profession, see Magnello M. Eileen , “The introduction of mathematical statistics into medical research: The roles of Karl Pearson, Major Greenwood and Austin Bradford Hill”, in Magnello M. Eileen Hardy Anne (eds), The road to medical statistics (forthcoming).

Elderton William Palin , letter to Karl Pearson, 16 June 1910 (KP:UCL, 682/8).

Enclosed with letter of 16 June 1910 to Pearson (KP:UCL, 692/8).

Elderton William Palin Perry Sidney J. , “A third study of statistics of pulmonary tuberculosis: The mortality of the tuberculosis and sanatorium treatment”, Drapers' Company Research Memoirs. Studies in National Deterioration, i (1910), 3–20, p. 3.

Pearson Karl , “Prefatory Note” to Elderton Perry , op. cit. (ref. 147), 2.

Elderton Perry , op. cit. (ref. 147), 3.

Ibid.

Ibid., 3.

Ibid., 20.

Elderton W. Palin , letter to Karl Pearson 1912 (KP:UCL, 682/8).

Elderton W. Palin Flippard Richard C. , The construction of mortality and sickness tables: A primer (London 1914).

Karn Mary Noel , “An inquiry into various death-rates and the comparative influence of certain diseases on the duration of life”, Annals of eugenics, iv (1931), 280–326, p. 280.

Ibid., 280.

Ibid., 292–3.

Ibid. , 303. The first observation made of the increase in cancer death rates was made by Farr William , Assistant to the Registrar General in 1872 in the Thirty-fifth annual report of the Registrar General (1874).

Karn , op. cit. (ref. 155), 293.

Ibid., 315.

The annual report of the Registrar General, xcvi (1933), 91.

Ibid.

Karn Mary Noel , “A further study of methods of constructing life tables when certain causes of death are eliminated”, Biometrika, xxv (1933), 100–39, p. 100.

For an account of the range of Huxley's writings, see Desmond Adrian , Huxley: Evolution's high priest (London, 1997).

Pearson Karl , letter to Raymond Pearl, 16 April 1925 (Raymond Pearl papers, The Library of the American Philosophical Society (hereafter: RP:APS)).

Ibid.

Raymond Pearl, letter to Karl Pearson, 30 April 1925 (RP:APS).

Martin H. J. , “A biometric study of the weights of infants during the first days of life”, Annals of eugenics, iv (1931), 327–38, p. 327.

Morant Geoffrey M. , “Studies in Palaeolithic Man”, Annals of eugenics, i (1928), 257–77, p. 257.

Galton Francis , letter to Karl Pearson, 16 October 1908 (FG:UCL).

Galton Francis , “Codicil to the Will of Francis Galton”, in Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 15), 437.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 37), 436.

Ibid.

Galton , op. cit. (ref. 171), 437.

Memorandum on the Proceedings of the Committee on the Vacancy in the Chair of Applied Mathematics & Mechanics (KP:UCL, 11/10).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 2), 3–4.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 122), 1.

Ibid.

Ibid., 2.

Ibid., 2–3.

Pearson Karl , letter to Mrs Weldon, 4 December 1922 (KP:UCL, 266/8).

Harte Negley North John , The world of UCL: 1828–1990 (London, 1991), 92. For further information on William Ramsay's chemistry laboratory see Watson K. D. , “Aspects of a career in science: Sir William Ramsay and the chemical community 1880–1915”, D.Phil. thesis, Oxford, 1994. Also see Travers Morris W. , A life of Sir William Ramsay, KCB, FRS (London, 1956).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 122), 2.

Ibid., 2–3.

Pearson Karl , “Draft proposal of the Department of Applied Statistics”, December 1912 (KP:UCL, 11/10). Pearson included his floor plans with this copy.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 122), 4.

Ibid., 2–3.

Pearson Karl , “University of London. Opening of the new building given by Sir Herbert Bartlett, Bt., for the Department of Applied Statistics Drapers' Company and the Galton Laboratories at University College”, 4 June 1920 (KP:UCL, 247).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 122), 2–3.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 2), 4.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Herbert Edward Soper left to do work on electrical apparatus for war purposes; P. F. Everitt left to train women in the polishing of prisms and lenses for periscopes; Beatrice M. Cave went as a computer to the Admiralty for naval air-plane work; David Heron left as a statistical adviser to a large insurance company, of which he subsequently became secretary.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 2), 4.

Pearson Karl , “Prefatory note”, Drapers' Company research memoirs: Biometric series, x (1919), 2.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 2).

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 122).

Ibid., 3.

Pearson Karl , letter to Mrs Weldon, 27 May 1920 (KP:UCL, 266/8).

Pearson Karl , “Report to the Court of the Worshipful Company of Drapers for the years 1922, 1923, and 1924”, 29 February 1924 (KP:UCL, 233).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Pearson Egon , “Karl Pearson”, Biometrika, xxviii (1936), 193–257, p. 205. Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 200).

Ibid.

Pearson , op. cit. (ref. 13).

Pearson Karl , letter to Edwin Embree, 24 April 1924 (Galton Laboratory Archives (1924–1930), Rockefeller Archive Centre, North Tarrytown, New York, Genetics 401A (hereafter: GLA), 16/317).

Pearl Raymond , letter to Karl Pearson, January 1925 (RP:APS), Henry Ruger, letter to Edwin Embree, 20 August 1926, and Gaius E. Harmon, letter to Edwin Embree, 16 September 1926 (GLA, 16/218).

Harmon Gaius E. , letter to Edwin Embree, 16 September 1926 (GLA, 16/218).

Embree Edwin , letter to Gaius E. Harmon, 20 September 1926 (GLA, 16/218).

Pearson Karl , “Report to the Court of the Worshipful Company of Drapers”, 1930 (KP:UCL, 233), 1.

Pearson Karl , letter to Florence Joy Weldon, 26 May 1933 (KP:UCL, 890).

Greenwood Major , letter to Raymond Pearl, 12 February 1934 (RP:APS).

Pearson Egon , “Karl Pearson, Part II”. Biometrika, xxix (1938), 161–248, p. 232.

These methods include the standard deviation, the coefficient of variation, product-moment correlation, phi-coefficient, teterachoric correlation, the chi-square test of association for contingency tables, and the chi-square goodness of fit test.

Yet it is not only Pearson whose interests in eugenics have been overemphasized to the neglect of his many other activities. There are other biometricians and biologists who have received similar treatment, including one of Pearson's successors, R. A. Fisher, and the American biologist and biometrician Charles Davenport (who spent some time in Pearson's Biometric Laboratory).

As I have argued in Magnello , op. cit. (ref. 8, 1996), the impetus and much of the development of Pearsonian statistics owe more to Weldon than to any other person, and certainly Pearson himself acknowledged Weldon's contributions throughout his life. Also see Magnello , op. cit. (ref. 8, in preparation), where I show how Weldon's relationship was a factor critical in Pearson's change of careers from an elastician to biometrician and that all of Pearson's use of mathematics in his statistical work is due to his Cambridge training.