In the small collection of composites given in the Plate facing p. 8, I have purposely selected many of those that I have previously published, and whose originals, on a larger scale, I have at various times exhibited, together with their components, in order to put the genuineness of the results beyond doubt.  Those who see them for the first time can hardly believe but that one dominant face has overpowered the rest, and that they are composites only in name.  When, however, the details are examined, this objection disappears.  It is true that with careless photography one face may be allowed to dominate, but with the care that ought to be taken, and with the precautions described in the Appendix, that does not occur.  I have often been amused when showing composites and their components to friends, to hear a strong expression of opinion that the predominance of one face was evident, and then on asking which face it was, to discover that they disagreed.  I have even known a composite in which one portrait seemed unduly to prevail, to be remade without the component in question, and the result to be much the same as before, showing that the reason of the resemblance was that the rejected portrait had a close approximation to the ideal average picture of the rest.

These small composites give a better notion of the utmost capacity of the process than the larger ones, from which they are reduced.  In the latter, the ghosts of individual peculiarities are more visible, and usually the equal traces left by every member of a moderately-sized group can be made out by careful inspection; but it is hardly possible to do this in the pictures in the Plate, except in a good light and in a very few of the cases.  On the other hand, the larger pictures do not contain more detail of value than the smaller ones.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPOSITES.

The medallion of Alexander the Great was made by combining the images of six different medals, with a view of obtaining the type of features that the makers of those medals concurred in desiring to ascribe to him.  The originals were kindly selected for me by Mr. R. Stuart Poole from the collection in the British Museum.  This composite was one of the first I ever made, and is printed together with its six components in the Journal of the Royal Institution, in illustration of a lecture I gave there in April 1879.  It seems to me that it is possible on this principle to obtain a truer likeness of a man than in any other way.  Every artist makes mistakes; but by combining the conscientious works of many artists, their separate mistakes disappear, and what is common to all of their works remains.  So as regards different photographs of the same person, those accidental momentary expressions are got rid of, which an ordinary photograph made by a brief exposure cannot help recording.  On the other hand, any happy sudden trait of expression is lost.  The composite gives the features in repose.