Sent W.H.R. Rivers to K. Pearson, 11th Jan. 1897.
11 Jan 1897
Description:

‘Dear Professor Pearson,

We are going to alter our eyesight apparatus so that artificial light may always be used & I am very glad that you have written before this is done as it is obvious that we must alter our present arrangement. I would suggest the type and candle should be mounted in a corner which can be run along a scalre & the distance at which it becomes illegible read off. I have been trying our present arrangement today with different degrees of correction of my abnormal vision & find that the apparatus is very defective & only measures at wide intervals. In any case however I am afraid our method must be very imperfect as the same amount of limitation of vision may be due to myopia, astigmatism or some other abnormality. I should very much like in the future to supplement our present scheme w. a sensory examination but this would require more skilled assistance & I am afraid will not be possible for some time.

I have arranged that in future every man shall be asked about brothers & if any, that the fact shall be entered on the card. I was just in time today to catch two brothers. As regards the past, it will not be easy now to find out about brothers but something could certainly be done with the men of[?] the last 3 years, many of whom will still be up.

I see you say “the 4000 cards you already have.” It occurs to me that you may not know that the 4000 cards which the Librarian has copied for you are only part of our total number. We have now 8000 altogether.

Yours sincerely,

W.H.R. Rivers.’

Sent W.H.R. Rivers to K. Pearson, 21st May 1896.
21 May 1896
Description:

‘Dear Professor Pearson,

At a meeting of the Anthropometrical Committee on the 19th it was agreed to ask you to become a member of the Committee.

I hope that you are getting all the data you require.

Believe me,

Yours truly,

W.H.R. Rivers.’

Sent W.H.R. Rivers to K. Pearson, 2nd March 18[97?].
2 Mar 1897
Description:

‘Dear Professor Pearson.

If I had not been leaving England next week for some time, I should have been very pleased to do something towards getting together data for relation between head index & intellectual capacity. After my return I think I could arrange for a continuous record of the kind you mention. I believe that Dr. Venn and I think I could arrange...’

Sent W.H.R. Rivers to K. Pearson, 2nd May 1896.
2 May 1896
Description:

‘Dear Professor Pearson,

The anthropometric Committee are very pleased to hear that you propose to make use of their measurements. The details are entered on cards, and the Committee prefer that the cards should not be removed from the Philosophical Library. If you would like to have the details copied by some one here, I have no doubt that the Librarian (who takes the measurements) would do it at a moderate cost. We have now over 8000 cards of men, any of which are at your disposal.

Believe me,

Yours truly,

W.H.R. Rivers.’