Medical power in prisons: the prison medical service in England 1774–1989

"the discovery and confirmation of universals". The genealogy of this enterprise is from A. Quetelet and Francis Galton to James McKeen Cattell, Lewis M. Terman, and David McLelland. The present book is primarily about the methodological problems involved in applying orthodox statistical and psychometric techniques to data pertaining to "historical individuals"; quantification, sampling, validity, reliability, and regression analysis are all dealt with. However large the samples of philosophers, composers, Presidents, novelists, absolute monarchs, etc., being dealt with, the focus is ultimately on individual psychological characteristics. Psychology, with its individualist focus, is "the premier behavioural science". How readers react will largely depend on their attitude to the historiometric project as such. Here the reviewer has a fundamental difficulty in that, disclaimers of a priori conceptual assumptions notwithstanding, the implicit premise is that there is some ahistorical subjectmatter, "human nature", the laws governing which it is the psychologist's scientific task to identify. In conjunction with the assumption that the individual is the appropriate and privileged unit of analysis this clearly places historiometrics beyond the pale for social constructionists and kindred spirits. From one point of view the whole enterprise is scientism gone mad, and occasional sentences like "There are at least 2,012 thinkers who exerted some influence on Western intellectual history, and at least 2,026 scientists and inventors boast a permanent spot in the annals of science" do not help. They seem as daft in their way as the vague generalizations offered by historians, which rightly arouse Simonton's impatience. You can also find herein a "trend line for repertoire melodic originality for 15,618 classical themes by 479 composers active from 1500 to 1950", "standardized scores on personality dimensions for U.S. Presidents" (Reagan second only to Kennedy in "wit") and "all-time eminence rankings of classical composers" (Sousa 80.5, Elgar 91, J. S. Bach 1). But Simonton is an old hand by now, and not unaware of the conceptual pitfalls; on the contrary, the whole book is about mapping them out. From another point of view Simonton is heroically extending psychology's sampling, earthing airy historical hypotheses in empirical data, and pressing doggedly on with a faith in the Galtonian vision increasingly rare even within mainstream psychology. Granted an initial suspension of one's disbeliefs, the book is full of interesting (often bemusing) information, wise methodological advice, and frequent insights into specific issues, written in an often engaging style. However different from my own the drum to which Simonton is marching, I am happy to keep him in earshot. He might be number 2,027 after all.