6 Life and Letters of Francis Gallon 



And again in the Fortnightly Review for 1887 : 



" I shall have fulfilled my object in writing this paper if it leaves a clear impression 

 of the great range and variety of temper among persons of both sexes in the upper and 

 middle classes of English society ; of its disregard in Marriage Selection ; of the great 

 admixture of its good and bad varieties in the same family ; and of its being nevertheless 

 as hereditai-y as any other quality." 



Or lastly in 1904, writing in Nature (August 11) of his investiga- 

 tions into "Natural Ability among the Kinsfolk of Fellows of the Royal 

 Society," Galton says : 



"The result of this inquiry is to prove the existence of a small number of more or 

 less isolated hereditary centres round which a large part of the total ability of the 

 nation is clustered, with a closeness which rapidly diminishes as the distance of kinship 

 from its centre increases." 



To these and many other published statements of Francis Galton 

 could be added many memories of private talks. But perhaps the 

 memorable letter of 1869', in which Charles Darwin acknowledges the 

 receipt of Galton's Hereditary Genius, may suffice to demonstrate how 

 early Galton taught the heredity of the mental characters. It runs as 



follows : 



Down, Beckenham, Kent, S.E. 

 Dec. 23 (1869?). 

 My dear Galton, 



I have only read about 50 pages of your Book (to the 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 expresses himself just in 

 the same terras, tells me the earlier chapters are nothing in interest to the latter ones ! 

 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 intellect, only in zeal and hard work ; and I still think there 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, Ch. Darwin. 



The point to which Charles Darwin was converted was the 

 principle that intellectual ability is hereditary. That much of that 

 ability consists in the faculty for hard work is a further principle with 



' The letter is so characteristic, that I have reproduced it here followed by 

 Galton's reply on the day of receipt : see Plates I and II. 



