102 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



written in collaboration with Edgar Schuster, the first Galton 

 Research Fellow in Eugenics in the University of London. Ma- 

 terial for the Noteworthy Families was obtained from answers to 

 circulars sent to all of the Fellows of the Royal Society whose 

 names appeared in the Year Book for 1904. Replies were re- 

 ceived from 207 of the 467 addressed, and as over half of these 

 were incomplete in regard to several members of the family, the 

 inquiry was limited to 100 of the most complete records. 



Probably a better selection could not be made for the purpose 

 of studying the inheritance of ability. The Fellows of the Royal 

 Society are very carefully chosen by the Council of that society on 

 the basis solely of distinguished achievement. Political influence, 

 financial status, or the many other aids which sometimes place 

 men of mediocre talents in positions of prominence have practi- 

 cally no weight in the choice of a man for the honor of a F. R. S. 

 An inspection of the list of families with their imposing array of 

 great names can scarcely fail to convince any one that they 

 represent an aristocracy of ability of the most noteworthy kind. 

 The first family on the list, the Balfours, includes: 



(1) Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister, 1902, President of the British 

 Association, 1904, noted statesman and author. 



(2) Francis M. Balfour, F. R. S., his brother, Professor of Animal 

 Morphology at Cambridge, brilliant investigator in Embryology, 

 and generally regarded as one of the most able and promising of 

 English biologists at the time of his early death. 



(3) The Right Hon. Gerald W. Balfour, P. C., Fellow of Trinity Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, and president of the Board of Trade, in 1902. 



(4) Eleanor M. Balfour (Mrs. Henry Sidgwick), Principal of Newn- 

 ham College, Cambridge. 



(5) Evelyn, wife of Lord Rayleigh, F. R. S., and mother of Robert J. 

 Strutt F. R. S. 



(6) The Marquis of Salisbury, K. G., P. C., F. R. S., Prime Minister, 

 Chancellor of the University of Oxford, president of the British 

 Association, statesman and essayist. 



Surely environment does not explain the distinction of a family 

 like this, or of many others in Galton's list. The appendix of the 



