286 Britain's Heritage of Science 



College of Science and Technology, in London, and though 

 he was by no means a fluent lecturer, he was a stimulating 

 and inspiring teacher. 



Walter Frank Raphael Weldon (1860-1906), another 

 Cambridge man, succeeded Moseley as Professor at Oxford. 

 He was a brilliant teacher, full of enthusiasm, and did much 

 sound morphological work. The last years of his life he 

 devoted to the subject of Biometrics, and he was the co- 

 founder with Karl Pearson of Biometrika. 



The mention of Biometrics recalls the name of one who, 

 though not a zoologist in the strict sense of the word, deserves 

 a distinguished place in the history of our subject. Francis 

 Galton (1822-1911) began active life as a student of medicine, 

 but, on his father's death, inherited independent means and 

 abandoned the professional career. He spent some time on 

 an extensive journey in Africa, but his mind soon turned 

 to science. It was, probably, his experiences as a traveller 

 that directed his attention, at first, to meteorology, and he 

 did some useful work hi that subject. On the publication 

 of the " Origin of Species," Galton at once adopted the 

 views advocated by Charles Darwin, who was his cousin. 

 He then became interested in the laws of heredity, and during 

 a series of years endeavoured to introduce scientific measure- 

 ments into the study of a subject in which previously quali- 

 tative estimates were considered sufficient. Feeling the 

 want of proper statistics, he instituted, during the National 

 Health Exhibition in 1884, an anthropometric laboratory, 

 for the purpose of collecting satisfactory data. This was 

 the forerunner of the present biometric laboratory at 

 University College, London. Following up suggestions by 

 Sir William Herschel and Dr. Foulds, who had proposed the 

 use of " finger-prints " as a means of identifying persons. 

 Galton proved the method to be reliable, and devised a 

 workable scheme for classifying the prints so as to make 

 them serviceable for rapid identification. He was also the 

 originator of the word " Eugenics " for the study of the 

 methods of improving the human race by breeding from the 

 best, and restricting the offspring of the worst ; and he must 

 be considered to be the founder of that branch of science. 

 Endowed with exceptional originality and a sympathetic 



