444 



NATURE 



[February 2, 191 1 



if we could discover the physiological causes of 

 heredity. To this, we think, answer may be made 

 that Nature does not work like the breeder by testing 

 gametic qualities. She proceeds by selecting- with 

 stringency certain grades of somatic qualities, and the 

 intensity of quality, not the gametic value of the indi- 

 vidual is her index to survival. Without some degree 

 of correlation between somatic character and gametic 

 value, the Darwinian theory must collapse.. This point 

 Francis Galton had ever in mind, and his views on 

 heredity, and his treatment of the subject, always 

 turned on the effect of somatic selection of the ancestry 

 in modifying the somatic characters of the offspring. 

 Hence the establishment of a definite theory of 

 physiological heredity would at once have to be fol- 

 lowed by a theoretical deduction from that theory of 

 the degree of resemblance between somatic characters 

 in ancestry and offspring in a population living under 

 natural conditions. The questions of fertility and 

 death-rate in such a population are actuarial studies. 

 No physiological inquiry as to heredity can supersede 

 those studies, but such an inquiry may well confirm, 

 or it may modify, the laws originally stated by Francis 

 Galton for populations mating at random. So far as 

 it is possible to judge at present, current physiological 

 theories of heredity tend rather to confirm than refute 

 Galton 's conclusions. 



Of the work of the last decade of Galton's life, it 

 is possibly too early yet' to speak with any decisive 

 judgment. Darwin, writing to Wallace in 1857, uses 

 the following words : — 



"You ask me whether I shall discuss 'man.' 1 

 think I shall avoid the subject as so surrounded with 

 prejudices, though I fully admit it is the highest and 

 most interesting problem for the naturalist." 



Darwin's later writings testify that he did not avoid 

 the subject, but probably the existence of the pre- 

 judices to which he refers prevented him from accen- 

 tuating the direct practical bearing of the doctrine of 

 evolution on human conduct. The result of this 

 attitude of the earlier evolutionists was that their 

 strength was opposed to one wing only of the army 

 of intellectual inertia. Their critics were theologians 

 and metaphysicians ; there was no question raised of 

 the bearing of evolution on social habit. Evolution 

 appeared merely as a problem of a man's intellectual 

 attitude towards the universe, it was a philosophical 

 belief, not a practical code of conduct. Francis 

 Galton's Huxlev lecture of 1901 "On the possible 

 Improvement of the Human Breed under existing 

 conditions of Law land Sentiment," slender as it 

 seemed at the time, was really the clarion call which 

 told us that the time was ripe for the recognition that 

 the doctrines of evolution and heredity were more than 

 intellectual belief, they were destined to control the 

 conduct of men in the future and determine the rela- 

 tive efficiency of nations. Others may have thought, 

 some mav have said, the same thing before ; ^ but to 

 Francis Galton belongs the credit of havine said it at 

 the psychological moment, and said it with the em- 



1 For example, Sir W. Lawrence wrote in iStq : — " The hereditary trans- 

 mission of physical and moral qualities, so well understooH and familiarly 

 arted on in the domestic animals, is equally true of min. A suoerior breed 

 of human beings could only be produced hy selections and exchi'sions 

 similinr to those so successfully employed in breeding our more valuable 

 animals. Yet.inthe human species, where the objc-t is of such conse- 

 ouence, the principle is almost entirely overlooked. Hence all the native 

 deformities of mind and body, which spring up so plentifnilv in our artificial 

 mode of life, are handed down to posterity and tend by their multiplication 

 and extension to degrade the race. Consequently the mass of the population 

 m our large cities will not bear a comparison with that of savage nations, in 

 which, if imperfect or deformed individuals should survive the hardships of 

 their first rearing, they are prevented bv the kind of aversion they inspire 

 from propagating their deformities" What finer text for the eueenist? 

 But Lawrence spoke to a nation still flushed with Waterloo, while Galton, 

 eighty-five years later, appealed to its grandchildren still smarting from 

 South African _ defeats, and dimly conscious that all was not well with 

 either its physical or mental vigour. 



NO. 2153, VOL. 85 J 



phasis that made many earnest men and women 

 understand its gravity. Later, in his paper of 1904, 

 "Eugenics: its Definitions, Scope, and Aims," Galtoa 

 more closely defined the lines of development he had 

 in view for the new science : — 



" Persistence in setting forth the national importance 

 of eugenics. There arc three stages to be passed 

 through : firstly, it must be made familiar as an 

 academic question, until its exact importance has been 

 understood and accepted as a fact; secondly, it must 

 be recognised as a subject the practical development 

 of which deserves serious consideration ; and thirdly, it 

 must be introduced into the national conscience, like 

 a new religion. It has, indeed, strong claims to be- 

 come an orthodox religious tenet of the future, for 

 eugenics cooperate with the workings of Nature by 

 securing that humanity shall be represented by the 

 fittest races. What Nature does blindly, slowly, and 

 ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly and 

 kindly. As it lies within his power, so it becomes his 

 duty to work in that direction ; just as it is his duty 

 to succour neighbours who suffer misfortune. The 

 improvement of our stock seems to me one of the 

 highest objects that we can reasonably attempt. We 

 are ignorant of the ultimate destinies of humanity, 

 but feel perfectly sure that it is as noble a work to 

 raise its level in the sense already explained, as it 

 would be disgraceful to abase it. I see no impossi- 

 bility in eugenics becoming a religious dogma among 

 mankind, but its details inust first be worked out 

 sedulously in the study. Over zeal leading to hasty 

 action would do harm, by holding out expectations of 

 a near golden age, which will certainly be falsified 

 and cause the science to be discredited. The first and 

 main point is to secure the general intellectual accept- 

 ance of eugenics as a hopeful and most important 

 study. Then let its principles work into the heart of 

 the nation, who will gradually give practical effect to 

 them in ways that we may not wholly foresee." 



We have cited the whole paragraph, for it is essen- 

 tially typical of the man, and some word of his 

 message to his nation may fitly appear here. Con- 

 spicuously moderate in tone, the study at each point 

 placed before the market-place, it was, indeed, a won- 

 derful appeal for a man more than eighty-two years of 

 age to make from the public platform. It signified that 

 the time was ripe for the labours of the biologist to be 

 turned to the breeding of man. Galton called upon 

 the biologist, the medical man, and the sociologist to 

 grasp what evolution and heredity mean for man, to 

 make out of their science an art, and work thereby 

 for the future of their nation. Nor has that appeal 

 miscarried ; its effect may be traced even amid the din 

 of controversy and clash of diverse opinions in almost 

 every recent book, or discussion of hereditv or evolu- 

 tion. Those of us, who initially doubted the wisdom 

 of propagandism beyond the acaden>ic field, have lived 

 to see a very wide public impression made, not only in 

 this country, but notably in Germany, America, and 

 some of our colonies. If that movement remains 

 within the lines Galton assigned to it — " no over- 

 zeal leading to hastv action" which will "cause the 

 science to be discredited " — then we firmly believe that 

 to the future Galton's life will appear as a rounded 

 whole — the youth of experience and observation, the 

 manhood of development and discovery of method, the 

 old age of practical application. 



His school and disciples have lost a leader, but not 

 before he had lived to put the final touches to his 

 work. Of his generosity and helpfulness, his personal 

 modesty and simplicitv of nature, many of those who 

 came in touch with him can bear evidence by remem- 

 bered talk, by letter, and by act. Someday, perhaps, 

 these things may be put together as a memento of 



