and there
is a much greater resemblance between faces generally than we who
turn our attention to individual differences are apt to appreciate.
A traveller on his first arrival among people of a race very
different to his own thinks them closely alike, and a Hindu has much
difficulty in distinguishing one Englishman from another.

The fairness with which photographic composites represent their
components is shown by six of the specimens. I wished to learn
whether the order in which the components were photographed made any
material difference in the result, so I had three of the portraits
arranged successively in each of their six possible combinations. It
will be observed that four at least of the six composites are
closely alike. I should say that in each of this set (which was made
by the wet process) the last of the three components was always
allowed a longer exposure than the second, and the second than the
first, but it is found better to allow an equal time to all of them.

[Illustration: The accompanying woodcut is as fair a representation
of one of the composites as is practicable in ordinary printing. It
was photographically transferred to the wood, and the engraver has
used his best endeavour to translate the shades into line engraving.
This composite is made out of only three components, and its
threefold origin is to be traced in the ears, and in the buttons to
the vest. To the best of my judgment, the original photograph is a
very exact average of its components; not one feature in it appears
identical with that of any one of them, but it contains a
resemblance to all, and is not more like to one of them than to
another. However, the judgment of the wood engraver is different.
His rendering of the composite has made it exactly like one of its
components, which it must be borne in mind he had never seen. It is
just as though an artist drawing a child had produced a portrait
closely resembling its deceased father, having overlooked an equally
strong likeness to its deceased mother, which was apparent to its
relatives. This is to me a most striking proof that the composite is
a true combination.]

The stereoscope, as I stated last August in my address at Plymouth,
affords a very easy method of optically superimposing two portraits,
and I have much pleasure in quoting the following letter, pointing
out this fact as well as some other conclusions to which I also had
arrived. The letter was kindly forwarde