180 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



and racial competition. Between this and " Hereditary Genius " a 

 period of sixteen years elapsed, during which the " Origin of Species " 

 had appeared. Thus neither of these volumes was the product of a 

 running pen. The book, he tells us, grew out of a purely ethnological 

 inquiry into the mental peculiarities of different races. 



" The theory of hereditary genius," Mr. Galton says in the preface, 

 " though usually scouted, has been advocated by a few writers in past 

 as well as in modern times. But I may claim to be the first to treat the 

 subject in a statistical manner, to arrive at numerical results, and to 

 introduce the ' law of deviation from an average ' into discussions on 

 heredity/' 



This is a late date to review a book like " Hereditary Genius. " 

 Some day it may take its proper rank alongside the " Origin of 

 Species." If one wants higher praise than that in the " Descent of 

 Man " he may read Mr. Darwin's letter. 



Down, Beckenham, Kent, S. E. 

 3d December 

 My dear Galton: — I have only read about 50 pages of your book (to 

 judges) but I must exhale myself, else something will go wrong in my inside. 

 I do not think I ever in all my life read anything more interesting and original 

 — and how well and clearly you put every point! George, who has finished the 

 book, and who expressed himself in just the same terms, tells me that the earlier 

 chapters are nothing in interest to the later ones I It will take me some time 

 to get to these latter chapters, as it is read aloud to me by my wife, who is also 

 much interested. You have made a convert of an opponent in one sense, for I 

 have always maintained that excepting fools, men did not differ much in intel- 

 lect, only in zeal and hard work; and I still think this is an eminently important 

 difference. I congratulate you on producing what I am convinced will prove a 

 memorable work. I look forward with intense interest to each reading, but it 

 sets me thinking so much that I find it very hard work; but that is wholly the 

 fault of my brain and not of your beautifully clear style. 



Yours most sincerely, 



(Signed) Ch. Darwin 



In 1874 " Hereditary Genius " was supplemented by a little book 

 entitled " English Men of Science, their Nature and Nurture." 

 Abandoning a chronological sequence for the moment we may mention 

 "Noteworthy Families" by Galton and Schuster, published in 1906. 

 These two volumes supply " what may be termed a natural history " of 

 modern English men of Science. 



"Inquiries into Human Faculty" of 1883 embodied the supple- 

 mented essentials of papers which had appeared subsequently to " He- 

 reditary Genius" of 1869, and which "may have appeared desultory 

 when read in the order in which they appeared " but which had never- 

 theless " an underlying connection." Possibly the work falls some- 

 what short of his others, but it is fascinating and above all suggestive 

 reading for the psychologist. Among the topics discussed, such as color 

 blindness, capacity for distinguishing shrill sounds, criminality and 



